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LOUIS JOSEPH PAPINEAU. 
 
THE 
 
 CANADIAN REBELLION 
 
 OF 
 
 1837- 
 
 BY 
 
 D. B. READ, QC. 
 
 Author of " The, Lives of the Jnd(jes oj Upper Canada," " Life of Lieut. 
 Governor Simcoe," ''Life of Sir Isaac Brock." 
 
 Toronto : 
 C. BLACKETT KOBINSON 
 
f 
 
 
PREFACE 
 
 Carlyle, in the introductory chapter to his relation 
 of Cromwell's first civil war, wrote : " How has pacific 
 England, the most solid pacific country in the world, 
 got all into this armed attitude ; and decided itself to 
 argue henceforth by pike and bullet till it get some solu- 
 tion?" My object in writing the History of the Eebellion 
 of 1837 in Canada has been to endeavour to solve the 
 same problem in relation to that colony of the British 
 Empire. How far I have succeeded I leave to each 
 reader's individual judgment. I have sought to make fair- 
 ness and impartiality my governing prmciples in describing 
 the events of the time. The History is in some measure 
 political, but is not, I trust, written in the spirit of a partisan : 
 that I have tried to avoid. T submit the narrative to my 
 readers in the hope that they will justify my pretension. 
 
 The Author. 
 Toronto, April, 1896. 
 
 269188 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS 
 
 Introduction — French Surrender to Lord Amherst, 1760 — Terms of 
 Surrender— Treaty of Paris, 1763 — King's Proclamation Bring- 
 ing into Force the Treaty — Quebec Constitutional Act, 1774 — 
 Intendant Bigot — French Laws and English Laws — Difficulty of 
 Administration — General Murray Appointed Governor-General — 
 Major Irving, Administrator — Sir Guy Carleton, Governor. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Constitutional Act, 1774, Unsatisfactory to British-Canadians — Peti- 
 tion to Annul — American Revolution of 1776— Sympathy of 
 French- Canadians — Clergy Opposed — American Congress Attempt 
 to Tamper with French-Canadians — Montgomery and Arnold — 
 Seignors and their Tenants — Canadian Merchants in London 
 Demand Repeal of Quebec Act — Legislative Council, its Unpopu- 
 larity — Haldimand Succeeds Carleton as Governor — The Mibtia 
 Organization— French-Canadians Chafe Under English Rule — Du 
 Calvet's Opinion of Canadian Sentiments — Bigots and Agitators — 
 Treaty of Peace, 1783--America and England — Close of Haldi- 
 mand's Administration — Lord Dorchester's Second Term as Gov- 
 ernor — U, E. Loyalists — Their Appeal to Divide Quebec — Con- 
 stitution of 1791. 
 
 CHAPTEK III. 
 
 Pi-ovinces Divided— Legislative Assembly— Battle of Races — Papi- 
 neau, Member of Assembly — Panet's Patriotic Speech — Education 
 and Religion — Assembly's Claim to Regulate Supplies — Lord Dor- 
 
vi. REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 Chester's Instructions — French Minister Genet — Dissimulation 
 and Treachery — Bishop Plessis' Advice to French-Canadians — 
 Legislative Assembly Decidedly French— Judge Osgoode — French 
 Language, its Use in Parliament — Tithes — Immigration — Sir 
 James Craig — Acceptable to the French, but not to the English — 
 Advises Re-Union of Provinces. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 U. E. Loyalists— John Graves Simcoe, First Governor of Upper 
 Canada — First Parliament of Upper Canada— Simcoe's Death — 
 Peter Russell Administrator — British and American Insur- 
 gents — Irish Rebellion of 1798 — Governor Hunter and his 
 Administration— Discontent in Lower Canada — Governor Gore's 
 Administration — Joseph Willcox, M.P., his Contempt of Parlia- 
 ment and Imprisonment — Mr. Justice Thorpe — Judge Scott — 
 Difference of Parties on Local Government. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 U. S. Declaration of War Against Great Britain, 1812 — French-Cana- 
 dians and EnglisK-Canadians at One in Defending Canada — 
 American Hopes Built on Canadian Disappointments — The War 
 of 1812, its Lessons and Consequences— Sir George Prevost, his 
 Administration — A Party in Opposition to Government — Louis 
 Joseph Papineau Elected Speaker of Assembly of L. C. — His 
 Great Ability — Sir John Sherbrooke, Governor of Lower 
 Canada — Concessions to the Province— The Duke of Richmond 
 Succeeds Sherbrooke — Napoleon and Waterloo — The Duke of 
 Richmond Offends the Lower Canadian Assembly — The Duke's 
 Death in Canada— Louis J. Papineau Delivers a Thoroughly 
 British Speech to Electors in Montreal — Claim of L. C. Assem- 
 bly — Legislative Council and Assembly at Loggerheads — Colonial 
 Office Endeavour to Heal Differences— Constitution of 1791 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS. vii. 
 
 Threatened — Re- Union of Provinces Agitated — Bill Brought 
 into House of Commons — Bill Rejected — Lord Dalhousie's 
 Administration — Governor's Refusal to Recognize Papineau as 
 Speaker. 
 
 > CHAPTER VI. X 
 
 Governor Gore's Second Term — War of 1812 and Its Rewards — 
 Slow Fulfilment — Robert Fleming Gourlay — His Life in Canada 
 and his Trials — He was Strong, Impetuous, Honest in his 
 Convictions — His Advoca cy of Immigration — He_Calls a Con- 
 vention to Discuss ^Canadian _Affairs;^Indicted for Seditious 
 Libel — Twice Tried, Twice Acquitted — Finally Expelled from 
 the Province on Other Grounds — His Address to the King — 
 Imprisoned in England — Return to America — Declines to Sup- 
 port Mackenzie's Rebellion — Subsequent Life — Sir Peregrine 
 Maitland, Governor— His Administration— A Tory House — 
 Liberal Measures — Barnabas Bidwell Elected to Parliament — 
 His Subsequent Expulsion — Marshall S. Bidwell Elected — Promi- 
 nent Figure in the Rebellion of 1837 — William Lyon Mackenzie, 
 his Birth, Parentage and Early Life — Mackenzie's Politics — His 
 Arraignment of the Governor and its Consequences — His Ban- 
 ishment Advocated. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Papineau and Republicanism — Personalities — Lord Dalhousie a 
 Soldier — Sir Walter Scott's Estimate of Him — Inaugurated 
 Monument to Wolfe and Montcalm — His Departure from the 
 Province — Sir James Kempt Succeeds Lord Dalhousie —Endeav- 
 ours to Conciliate the French- Canadians — Petitions to the King 
 Commending Constitutional Act of 1791, but Asking for Redress 
 of Grievances — Sir James Kempt Receives Papineau as Speaker — 
 Committee for Redress of Grievances — Committee of House of 
 Assembly Disapprove Constitution of 1791 — Arraignment of 
 
viii. REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 Legislative Council— Council and Assembly on Granting Sup- 
 plies—Sir James Kempt's Opinion of Legislative Council — Not 
 Prepared to Revolutionize the Government— Assembly Makes 
 Demands that Could Not be Granted— The People and the 
 Press— Rival Factions— Riots in Montreal— The Cholera Year- 
 Legislative Council Increased — Governor's Censure on House of 
 Assembly for Refusing Supplies— House Asks for an Elective 
 Legislative Council — The Legislative Council Advise the King 
 that the Legislation of Lower Canada Assembly was Alarm- 
 ing — Mr. Viger, Delegate in London — Assembly Arraigns Lord 
 Aylmer, Governor — Judges in the Assembly. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. ( ^ S 
 
 Mackenzie and the Reform Party — Defects in Government — Macken- 
 zie's Printing Office Attacked — Type Distributed and Thrown 
 Into the Bay — Action for Damages — Mackenzie Profited by the 
 Rash Act — Collins and the Newspaper, " The Freeman " — Collins 
 Prosecuted for Libel — Young Men who Attacked Mackenzie's 
 Office on Trial — Convicted— Mackenzie Did Not Countenance 
 Prosecution — Report of Select Committee of House of Assem- 
 bly — " The Advocate's " Comments Thereon OflFensive and Libel- 
 lous—Mackenzie Prosecuted for Libel — Appeal to the Electoral — 
 Alien Laws — Mackenzie Makes Friends of Old Settlers — Mac- 
 kenzie Not Admirer of the American Constitution — Mackenzie's 
 Address to Electors, County of York, 1827 — Dr. Baldwin— Mac- 
 kenzie^ "Black List "—Mackenzie and Small Opposed — Sir 
 Peregrine Maitland's Administration — Colonial System of Gov- 
 ernment — Mackenzie's Activity— Mackenzie's Thirty-two Resolu- 
 tions-Grievances — Sir John Colborne, Governor — The Execu- 
 tive Council — Governor Responsible to English Government — 
 Incongruous Position of Executive and Legislative Council — 
 Colonial Despatch to Sir James Kempt — Death of George 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS. ix. 
 
 lY. — Dissolution of House— Tory House — Reform Not a Suc- 
 cess — Mackenzie Expelled the House of Assembly — The Elec- 
 tion for York. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 The Rebellion in Lower Canada— Mr. Papineau and Despotism— Des- 
 patch of Lord Stanley— The King Will Not Assent to Elective 
 Legislative Council — In the Future Institutions of Canada May 
 Be Modified— The Monarchical Form Must Be Maintained— Papi- 
 neau's Ninety-two Resolutions— His Speech on Introducing to 
 Assembly — The Resolutions — Resolutions Revolutionary — Mr. 
 Morin Sent to England — No Supply Bill Passed by Assembly — 
 Mr. Roebuck and the English House of Commons — Roebuck 
 Champion of Lower Canada — Lord Stanley Checkmates Roe- 
 buck — Resolutions Referred to Committee — O'Connell and 
 Bulwer Members of Committee — Hume and "Baneful Dom- 
 ination of Mother Country " —Report of Committee on Ninety- 
 two Resolutions — Mackenzie in London — Agent of Malcontents 
 in Upper Canada — Report of Committee Censured by Macken- 
 zie's Followers— Grievance-mongers— Roebuck and Hume Favour 
 Mackenzie and Papineau and Their Principles — "Reform Com- 
 mittees and Constitutional Associations " — A French Canadian 
 Killed — His Blood Must Be Avenged— French Ascendancy in 
 Lower Canada — Lower Canada Assembly of 1835 — Papineau at 
 the Pinnacle of his Power — Assembly Expunge Governor's 
 Speech from Journals — Morin Moves Resolution to Consider 
 State of Province of Lower Canada — Speeches of Papineau and 
 Gugy thereon. 
 
 CHAPTER X. / ^ 
 
 Mackenzie's Prophecy in 1832— Papineau and Mackenzie in Con- 
 cert — Reform Central Committee and Montreal Committee in 
 Correspondence -Petitions to Home Government For and 
 
X. REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 Against a Change in the Constitution — Lord Aylmer Informs 
 Lower Canada House that the British Government Were About 
 to Adopt Coercive Measures to Allay Discontent — Papineau's 
 Speech Defiant — House of Commons Appoint Special Com- 
 mittee to Report on Canadian Grievances — Gosford, Grey, and 
 Gipps — Instructions to Commissioners — Lord Gosford's Address 
 to Canadians — Montreal Constitutional Association Organizers — 
 Concession of Lord Gosford and British Government — British 
 Party Dissatisfied— Colonial Secretary's Concession to Macken- 
 zie — Attorney-General Boulton — Mackenzie, Mayor of Toronto — 
 Mackenzie Acquitted of Personal Resentment — House of 1835 — 
 Reform House — Mackenzie's Seventh Report on Grievances — 
 Reform Party Loyal to ♦the Grown — Lord Glenelg's Answer to 
 Seventh Report on Grievances — Sir F. B. Head, Governor — 
 Parliament of 1836 — Governor's Speech and Assembly's 
 Answer — Instructions of Government to Lord Gosford and 
 Criticisms Thereon — Assembly s Answer — Papineau's Address 
 to House — Shows Determination to Resist All Attempts at Con- 
 ciliation — Dunn, Baldwin and Rolph Made Executive Council- 
 lors in Upper Canada. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 6- ♦- 
 
 Hon. Robert Baldwin — Conservative by Nature — Mackenzie Not 
 the Reform Party — Reform Society of Upper Canada— Their 
 Principles Announced — Address to Inhabitants of British North 
 America — Governor Dissolves Upper Canada House, 20th May, 
 1836— Lower Canadians Distrust Royal Commission —Report of 
 Royal Commissioners — Disappoints the Hopes of Revolutionists — 
 Mr. Morin s Comments Thereon — "Vive Papineau ; Vive la 
 Liberty " — Death of William IV. — Ascension of Queen Victoria — 
 Lord Gosford's Attempt to Reconcile Lower Canada — Excitement 
 at High Pitch in Upper Canada — Upper Canada Elections of 
 1836 — Riots and Disturbances — " Bread and Butter " Parlia- 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 ment— Question of Union of Upper Canada and Lower Canada 
 Agitated — Confusion in the House -Declaration of Reformers 
 V to People of Upper Canada, June, 1837 — Public Meetings — 
 "Liberty or Death" — Plan for Revolt. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Move ment j^fl.rfls Rabellion^^^j'med^ VIen — Frejoch and English 
 Organizations in Lower Canada — Revolutionary Meetings — 
 Inflammatory Speeches— Papineau and Dr. Wolfred Nelson — 
 Riot in Montreal — Incipient Rebellion — Warnings of the 
 Church — Recommends Obedience to Authority — Fire of Rebel- 
 lion Stronger than Ever — Birthplace of the Rebellion— St. 
 Eustache, St. Charles, St. Denis— Battles and Defeat of Insur- 
 gents — "The Doric Club" — Death of Lieut. Weir — Papiheau's 
 Abandonment of Insurgents and Flight to United States — His 
 Character and Aims. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Revolutionary Clubs — Council of War — Mackenzie Unfolds his 
 Plans — How to Take Toronto and Carry Off the Governor — 
 Hon. R. Baldwin Disclaims Knowledge of Rebellion— Jack 
 Cade's Rebellion— Mackenzie's Similar— Mackenzie's New Con- 
 stitution — Publication in Mackenzie s Newspaper — Trip to the 
 Country to Promulgate Constitution— Mackenzie as a Recruit- 
 ing Sergeant — Appointment to Meet in Toronto on 7th Decem- 
 ber — Declaration of Independence — Arms and Ammunition — 
 Samuel Lount — Dr. Rolph Alters the Day for Rising — Discon- 
 certs Mackenzie — His Plans Upset — Tries to Retrieve — Sir F. 
 B. Head Reluctant to Believe There Would Be Rebellion — Col. 
 FitzGibbon's Activity and Foresight— College Bell Rings Out 
 Alarm — Mackenzie and Force at Montgomery's — Col. Moodie 
 Shot— Threshold of Rebellion. 
 
REBELLION OF 1S37. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Sir F. B. Head Made to Realize the Situation — Leaves Government 
 House at Night— Makes City Hall the Headquarters, Tuesday^ 
 5th December — Preparing for Defence of City — Picket Placed 
 at McGill Street — Attack on Picket — Rebels Retire — Gover- 
 nor Sends Message to Mackenzie Under Flag of Truce — 
 Result — Rolph and Baldwin — Wednesday, 6th December — Arms 
 Removed to Parliament Buildings— *' The Men of Gore" — 
 Rebels' Threat to Burn Toronto —Mackenzie Urges Attack on 
 City on Wednesday, fith December— His Men Refuse to Move — 
 Dr. Rolph Flees for Safety— Rebels at Yorkville— Fire Dr. 
 Home's House— Lount and Mackenzie Intercept Mail — Van 
 Eamond - His Arrival in Rebel Camp — Plan to Attack City — 
 Loyalists Force Take Rebels — Attack Rebels at Montgomery's — 
 Dispersion of Rebels— Mackenzie's Escape — Battle of St. Eus- 
 tache, Lower Canada. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Bishop of Montreal Deplores the Rebellion and Its Result — Sends 
 Out Circular to his Flock — Bishop of Quebec Gives Thanks 
 that his Diocese Not in Rebellion — American Sympathizers — 
 Meeting in Buffalo -Rochester Follows Buffalo— Doughty Deeds 
 in Contemplation — Mackenzie Occupies Navy Island — Pro- 
 visional (lovernment for Canada Formed — Van Rensselaer 
 Commander-in-Chief — Proclamation to Inhabitants of Upper 
 Canada — Loyalists at Chippewa, Sir Allan McNab in Com- 
 mand—Operations Before Navy Island — Burning of the Steamer 
 Caroline — Evacuation of Navy Island— " Bois Blanc" Island 
 at Mouth of Detroit River— Gen. Sutherland's Army of Inva- 
 sion Occupies -Sutherland's Proclamation — Dr. Duncombe and 
 Rebel Rising at Brantford and Scotland — Dispersed by McNab — 
 Sutherland s Failure at Bois Blanc — Sugar Island — Van Rens- 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS. xiii. 
 
 selaer Occupies Hickory Island in St. Lawrence — Rebels and 
 Sympathizers Occupy Pelee Island, Detroit River— Invaders 
 Attacked by British Troops and Dispersed — Projected Attack on 
 Windsor and Fort Maiden — Short Hills — Hunter's Lodges — 
 Prescott, the Battle of the Windmill — Van Shultz. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 American Sympathizers — Rebellion Carried On Without the Prov- 
 ince-sJForelgn War Carried On by Irresponsible Americans — 
 Determined to Avenge Prescott — Assemble at Detroit — Gen. 
 -Handy 's Proclamation— Land at Windsor — Destroy Property — 
 Met by Loyalists and Repulsed — Cfl. Prince — Mackenzie Dis- 
 satisfied with the American Allies— Will Rely on Himself and 
 Canadians — Mackenzie Has no Faith in the United States — 
 Regrets the Rebellion that he Had Stirred Up — Admits his 
 Mistake — Should he Be Forgiven ? — His Penitence Sincere — 
 Trials, Imprisonments and Executions — Lord Durham, Gov- 
 ernor — His Report — Constitution of 1841 — Mackenzie, Papineau 
 and Rolph Members of the Union House — Conclusion. 
 
CHAPTEE I. 
 
 Introduction — French Surrender to Lord Amherst, 1760 — Terms of 
 Surrender — Treaty of Paris, 1763 — King's Proclamation Bring- 
 ing into Force the Treaty — Quebec Constitutional Act, 1774 — 
 Intendant Bigot — French Laws and English Laws — Difficulty of 
 Administration — General Murray Appointed Governor-General — 
 Major Irving, Administrator — Sir Guy Carleton, Governor. 
 
 He who undertakes to give an account of the Eebellion in 
 the Canaclas in the year 1837, will not do his duty fully 
 unless he take into consideration the state and condition of 
 things as they existed in the Colony for some considerable 
 time before the actual breaking out of the Eebellion. 
 Especially is this the case in regard to the Province of 
 Lower Canada, the principal seat of the rebellion, in which 
 a war of races has been carried on more or less ever since 
 Canada became a British possession. The French Cana- 
 dians, in what is now the Province of Quebec, are a loyal 
 people — loyal to the British Crown. The longer they were 
 under British rule, their allegiance from a variety of 
 circumstances grew stronger, until they attained to the 
 full measure of political manhood. But this was not 
 always so. It is ever to be borne in mind that at the 
 beginning, the French Canadians were intensely French, 
 and that they were newly created British subjects by virtue 
 
2 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 of conquest, and the surrender of their country by a French 
 king, who was so neglectful of his French-Canadian subjects 
 as to withhold from them the necessary aid when most 
 needed to successfully contend with British power. 
 
 When Lord Amherst took over the old Province from 
 Vaudreuil, the French Commander at Montreal, in 1760, 
 the French Commander in the interests of his people 
 exacted from the British certain conditions and stipulations 
 which the British Commander on his part freely accepted. 
 The stipulations which were proposed and agreed to, or 
 rejected, were in substance as follows : — 
 
 1. French troops to evacuate ; British troops to take possession. 
 
 2. French troops and militia to go out with honors of war. 
 
 3. Same privilege granted to outer posts. 
 
 4. Militia to return to their homes without being molested. 
 
 5. The same in effect as stipulations 2, 3^ 4. 
 
 6. Deserters to be pardoned. 
 
 7. French arms and ammunition of war to be delivered up to His 
 
 Britannic Majesty's Commissaries. 
 
 8. Wounded or sick officers and soldiers, seamen and even Indians 
 
 to be treated the same as British officers and soldiers. 
 
 9. Matter of detail as to Indians. 
 
 10. In effect the same as 9. 
 
 11. Marquis of Vaudreuil and all other officers to be masters of their 
 
 own houses in Montreal, and to embark when the King's 
 ships shall be ready to sail for Europe, and all possible con- 
 veniences granted them. 
 
 12. Marquis of Vaudreuil to be conveyed to the first seaport in 
 
 France by the straightest passage. Archives necessary for 
 Government to remain in Canada. 
 
 13. Provides for eventualities in case peace declared, and if by Treaty 
 
 Canada to remain to His Most Gracious Majesty of France, 
 then the status quo to be established. 
 
TERMS OF SURRENDER. 3 
 
 14. Provides for deportation of Chevalier De Levis and officers to 
 
 France. 
 
 15. Same as to M. Bigot. 
 
 16. Same as to the Governor of Three Rivers and his equipage. 
 
 17. Same as to soldiers and seamen. 
 
 18.) 
 
 19. > Unimportant matters of detail. 
 
 20. ) 
 
 21. Provides for deporting of the Indians and other civil officers if 
 
 they think fit to go, or they may remain. 
 
 22. French officers, if consent of Marquis of Vaudreuil obtained, 
 
 may remain in Canada till next year to look after their 
 families. 
 
 23. French King's Commissary may remain in the Colony till next 
 
 year to settle up his affairs. 
 
 24. ] 
 
 25. > Unimportant details. 
 
 26. J 
 
 27. Proposal of Vaudreuil: "The free exercise of the Catholic, 
 
 Apostolic afid Roman religion shall subsist entire in such 
 manner that all the states and the people of the towns, 
 countries, places and distant posts shall continue to assemble 
 in the churches and to frequent the sacraments as heretofore, 
 without being molested in any manner, directly or indirectly. 
 These people shall be obliged by the English Government to 
 pay to the priests the tithes and all taxes they were used to 
 pay under the Government of His Most Christian Majesty." 
 Answer of Amherst to 27: "Granted as to the free 
 exercise of their religion ; the obligation of paying tithes to 
 the priests shall depend on the King's pleasure." 
 
 28. The chapter, priests, curates and missionaries shall continue with 
 
 an entire liberty the exercise and functions of their cures in 
 the parishes of the towns and countries. 
 
 29. The Grand Vicars granted free exercise of their functions 
 
 (granted, except what regards article 30). 
 
 30. If by the Treaty of Peace Canada should remain in the power of 
 
 His Most Christian Majesty, His Most Christian Majesty 
 shall continue to name the Bishop of the Colony, who shall 
 
4 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 always be of the Roman communion, and under whose 
 authority the people shall exercise their religion. 
 Answer of Amherst : " Refused." 
 
 31. Comprised in 30. 
 
 32. Community of nuns preserved in their constitutions and privileges. 
 
 33. Proposal same as 32, as to Jesuits, Recollets and St. Sulpice. 
 
 Answer of Amherst : '* Refused till the King's pleasure 
 be known." 
 
 34. Provides for preservation of movables and estates of priests. 
 
 35. The communities or orders in 33 may go to France, if they choose, 
 
 in King's ships free of expense, and take their movables or 
 sell them in Canada. 
 
 36. Permission given to French, Canadians and Acadians to go to 
 
 France if they choose, and the English general to procure 
 them a passage. 
 
 37. French and French Canadians in Canada to be allowed to retain 
 
 their possessions. 
 38 ^ 
 
 39. > As to Acadians and Indians. 
 
 40. J 
 
 41. Neither the Acadians or French remaining in the Colony forced 
 
 to take arms against His Most Christian Majesty. 
 
 Amherst's answer : " They remain subjects of the King." 
 
 42. Proposal. ''The French and Canadians shall continue to be 
 
 governed according to the customs of Paris and the laws 
 and usages established for the country, and they shall not be 
 subject to any other imposts than those which were estab- 
 lished under the French Government." 
 
 Amherst's answer : *' Answered by the preceding article 
 and particularly the last." 
 
 43 ) 
 
 to > Of no political importance. 
 
 55. ) 
 
 The stipulations entered into between the two Com- 
 manders at Montreal were but initiatory to a treaty being 
 afterwards concluded between the French and English 
 nation, and culminated in the Treaty of Paris, 1763. 
 There are 22 articles or clauses in the treaty which are of 
 
TREATY OF PARIS. 5 
 
 importance from a Canadian point of view. The 4th is the 
 most important, as relating to the future government of 
 Canada. This article, after agreeing to the cession of 
 Canada to Great Britain, proceeds as follows: "His 
 Britannic Majesty on his side agrees to grant the liberty of 
 the Catholic religion to the inhabitants of Canada^ He 
 will consequently give the most precise and effectual orders 
 that his new Eoman Catholic subjects may profess the 
 worship of their religion according to the rites of the 
 Eomish Church as far as the laws of Great Britain permit." 
 There were three " separate articles " having the same 
 force as if they were inserted in the treaty and are appended 
 to it. The 2nd of these is as follows, \" It has been agreed 
 and determined that the French language, made use of in 
 all the copies of the present treaty, shall not become an 
 example which may be alleged or made a precedent of, or 
 prejudice in any manner, any of the contracting Powers ; 
 and that they shall conform themselves in the future to 
 what has been observed with regard to, and on the part of, 
 the Powers who are used, and have a right to give and 
 receive copies of like treaties in another language than 
 French ; the present treaty having still the same force and 
 effect as if the aforesaid custom had been therein observed.' 
 
 A Eoyal Proclamation was issued by His Britannic 
 Majesty to carry into effect the Treaty of Paris on the 7th 
 October, 1763, and this Proclamation really formed the 
 Constitution of the old Province of Quebec, which comprised 
 the whole of Canada, from 1768 to 1774, when the British 
 
6 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 Parliament passed the Quebec Act, under which Canada was 
 governed from 1774 to 1791. An examination of the two 
 documents, the stipulations entered into at Montreal and 
 the treaty, reveals some marked differences. As, for 
 instance, the 27th Proposal of Vaudreuil in the stipulations 
 was — '' that the free exercise of the Catholic, Apostolic and 
 Eoman Eeligion should subsist entirely, in such manner 
 that all the states, and the people of the towns, country 
 places and distant posts, should continue to assemble in the 
 churches and to frequent the sacraments as heretofore, 
 without being molested in any manner, directly or in- 
 directly, and that these people should be obliged to pay to 
 the priests the tithes and all taxes they were used to pay 
 under the government of His Most Christian Majesty." 
 
 Lord Amherst seems to have been willing to grant the 
 French Canadians the exercise of their religion, but either 
 would not or could not impose on the people the obligation 
 to pay tithes to the priests. This he reserved for the King's 
 pleasure. We find that when the King's pleasure came to 
 be expressed. His Majesty was not willing to grant the free 
 exercise of the Catholic religion, except in a modified form : 
 hence, in the 22nd article of the treaty it is said — " That 
 the Eoman Catholic subjects may profess the worship of 
 their religion, according to the rites of the Eoman Church 
 as far as the laws of Great Britain permit." 
 
 As under the laws of Great Britain the Eoman Catholics 
 at that time labored under many disabilities, the difference be- 
 tween the treaty and the stipulations become more marked. 
 
TREATY OF PARIS. 7 
 
 The proposal of Vaudreuil by the 42nd article was — 
 ** That the French Canadians should continue to be 
 governed according to the custom of Paris and the laws 
 and usages established for the country, and that they 
 should not be subject to any other imposts than those 
 which were established under the French Eegime." 
 
 Amherst's answer to this proposal seems to have been 
 simply that the French Canadians should " remain subjects 
 of the King," in other words that they were to conform to 
 English laws. There is neither in the articles of surrender 
 nor in the Treaty any stipulation granting to the French 
 Canadians the ancient law, language or customs of France, 
 or of Canada under French Government. The terms on 
 which the evacuation was based were most liberal. It is 
 questionable if any other power than Britain would have 
 been as generous to the vanquished. Not only were the 
 French officers and soldiers given free choice to return to 
 France or remain in the colony, but free passage was 
 granted them if they chose the former alternative. The 
 result was that 185 officers, and 2,400 soldiers, 500 sailors, 
 domestics, women and children, all embarked for France, 
 and that, too, at the expense of Great Britain. Besides 
 the soldiers and officers of the Regular Army of France, 
 many of the French Canadian officers who had fought for 
 France in defence of the Colony, and others, the most 
 notable French and French Canadian people of the Prov- 
 ince emigrated to France. It has been estimated that 
 after this exodus no more than 70,000 people, most of 
 
8 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 whom were of French extraction, were left in the whole of 
 Canada. M. de Vaudreuil in a letter to the French 
 Ministry, lamenting the great loss the French nation had 
 sustained by the cession of Canada to Great Britain, said, 
 "With these beautiful and vast countries France loses 
 " 70,000 inhabitants of a rare quality, a race of people 
 *' unequalled for their docility, bravery and loyalty. The 
 " vexations they have suffered for many years, more 
 ** especially during the five years preceding the reduction 
 " of Quebec, all without a murmur, or importuning their 
 "King for relief, sufficiently manifest their perfect sub- 
 " missiveness." 
 
 In this letter Vaudreuil comments on the loyalty of the 
 French Canadian people. This loyalty was loyalty to 
 France, for which indeed they had been conspicuous, and in 
 a degree higher than the French people had been to the 
 Colony. To this day the French Canadians believe that if 
 France had acted up to her duty and supplied the Colony 
 with regular troops, in anything like the proportion 
 required to cope with the British invading army, she 
 would not have had to deplore the loss of a country which 
 her subjects had originally explored, appropriated and held 
 for one hundred and fifty years. The time had arrived 
 however when the corruption of the French officials 
 governing in Canada had reached such a pitch that it were 
 better for the world that some other power should relieve 
 them of authority. With men like Intendant Bigot in the 
 high places of the country, the country was suffering from 
 
MILITARY RULE. 9 
 
 a disease which strong measures only could cure. It 
 seemed not in the power or will of France to apply the 
 necessary remedy, and thus it fell to Britain to rescue the 
 country from the vultures that were preying on the old 
 domain. 
 
 '* The beautiful and vast countries " depicted by Vau- 
 dreuil in his letter to the French Ministers, by the cession 
 at Montreal certainly changed owners, but in regard to 
 loyalty it could hardly be expected that their loyalty to the 
 French Crown could or would in a day be merged in 
 loyalty to the English Crown. 
 
 The kind of government which superseded the French 
 government, covering the years 1760, 1761, 1762, 1763, 
 when the treaty was made with France, was necessarily 
 one of military rule, and it can be easily conceived that a 
 people wholly French could not easily become reconciled 
 to English laws, administered by English officers, who 
 understood neither the language, manners nor customs of 
 France as they existed in Canada at the time of the 
 surrender of the Colony. It is to be borne in mind, too, 
 that until the capitulation was confirmed by treaty, it was 
 a matter of uncertainty with the French Canadians whether 
 after all England might not restore to France her ancient 
 Colony. She had on a previous occasion, in 1625, taken 
 Quebec, thereby becoming master of Canada, and after an 
 occupation of three years, given back by the Treaty of St. 
 Germain-en-Laye, Canada, Acadia and Cape Breton to 
 France. Might she not now again in a spirit of generosity, 
 
10 REBELLION OF 1837. . 
 
 or for an equivalent, surrender Canada to her ancient 
 Mother Country ? The articles of the capitulation show that 
 there was hope left to the French Canadians that the old 
 regime might still claim their allegiance. The 13th article 
 of Capitulation provided for eventualities in case peace was 
 declared, and — " if by Treaty Canada should remain to His 
 Most Christian Majesty," the status quo was to remain. 
 The Treaty of Paris was signed in September, 1763 ; never- 
 theless that did not make an end of military rule. It is 
 difficult to conceive how any other rule would have answered 
 the circumstances of the situation. Here was a people but 
 recently conquered, with hardly a Briton amongst them, 
 the Military only excepted. It would have been just as un- 
 wise on the moment to give them representative institu- 
 tions as it would have been at once to have given repre- 
 sentation to the newly conquered people of India. England 
 did the best she could, adjusting differences through 
 military channels, with interpreters where necessary, to 
 aid in the taking of evidence and making the decisions of 
 the tribunals understood. All this however was very gall- 
 ing to the French Canadians, so long used to the laws and 
 customs of old France. Many of the inhabitants, where 
 differences between them arose, constituted a tribunal of 
 their own and submitted their disputes to this tribunal. A 
 large number bowed themselves to Ecclesiastical authority 
 and accepted the priest as their law-giver and judge. 
 Thus was brought about a confidence between the Church 
 and the people, which has ever been a leading characteristic 
 of French Canadian polity. 
 
GOVERNOR MURRAY. 11 
 
 The people, always restless under British rule, through 
 agents they had in London applied to Lord Halifax, the 
 Secretary of State, for a restoration of French jurisprudence 
 and maintenance of the old Colonial Church establishment, 
 complained against Martial law, and even went so far as to 
 make demands for the maintenance intact of the Quebec 
 See. The British Government could not yield to these 
 demands. The King on the 17th September, 1764, made 
 an ordinance, " that in the Supreme Court, sitting at 
 Quebec, His Britannic Majesty was present in the person 
 of his Chief Justice, having full power to determine all 
 civil and criminal cases, agreeably to the laws of England 
 and to the ordinances of the Province of Quebec." This 
 ordinance was no doubt made by the King to encourage 
 English immigration into the Colony. The French were 
 not satisfied ; they would like to have had control of the 
 Province and all its resources, though but a recently 
 subjected people. 
 
 This was the condition of affairs when, in 1764, 
 General Murray was appointed Governor-General of Canada 
 in place of Sir Jeffrey Amherst, then in England on leave, 
 who did not return to the Province. 
 
 On the inauguration of General Murray the form of 
 governing took a somewhat different shape. The purely 
 military character of government was changed into a quasi- 
 civil government, the Governor-General attaching to him- 
 self an Executive Council composed of twelve persons, all 
 of whom, with the one exception, were British born. The 
 
12 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 exception was a native Canadian of no note in the Colony, 
 appointed, as the French Canadians considered, merely to 
 give some colour of Colonialism to the new institution. The 
 Canadians plainly saw in this a determined policy of the 
 British Government to exclude them from any considerable 
 participation in the government of the country. There 
 can be no doubt whatever that this was the policy of the 
 Home Government, and it is difficult to see how, at that 
 time, any other policy would be safe, in the conservation of 
 the country, obtained through the spilling of much British 
 blood. The instincts of the Canadians were French to the 
 core, and being largely in the majority and permitted to 
 rule, the case would have been one of the conquered ruling 
 the conquerors. From a French Canadian point of view 
 the condition of things was very embarrassing. They 
 sighed for their old laws and customs, which they could 
 not have under a Council constituted for the palpable pur- 
 pose of administering British law ; and they could not have 
 representative institutions, because the British Government 
 well knew that if such institutions were granted there 
 would be no hope for the British settlers in the Province, 
 who, if few in number, were strong in their affections for 
 the purely British system of government, or one as near to 
 it as was consistent with Colonial government, especially 
 in a Colony composed, as it was, of people nine-tenths of 
 whom were alien to the British race. Suspicion of the 
 loyalty of the Canadians to the King of England constantly 
 affected the British mind in the Province. So great was 
 
GOVERNOR MURRAY. 13 
 
 this suspicion and fear of conspiracies that the Executive 
 Council would not permit an assemblage of the French 
 Canadians without two of the Council being present and 
 with power to disperse the meeting if they thought fit. 
 During Murray's time a few English settlers came to the 
 Province, mostly artisans and adventurers on the lookout for 
 some official position under the Government. The native 
 Canadians were so much distrusted that Canada afforded 
 a field for persons of this latter class — and the consequence 
 was that the Governor became surrounded with a body of 
 individuals who had no sympathy with the Canadians, and 
 the Canadians had no respect for them. Besides, the new 
 comers were all Protestants. In an estimate made by 
 General Murray for the information of the British Govern- 
 ment, he computed the number of Protestants in Canada 
 in 1765 to have been 500. In the District of Montreal 
 there were only 137 Protestants. 
 
 With a Protestant population so disproportionate to 
 the French Catholic population, and yet the Protestants 
 appointed to office and not the French, it was inevit- 
 able that there should not only be antagonism between 
 the French and English Colonists, but also that re- 
 ligious strife should prevail. Thus we find that during 
 the whole of Murray's administration, there was more or 
 less of a rebellion, inactive it is true, but nevertheless a 
 rebellion, in that part of the Province of Quebec contiguous 
 to the towns of Quebec and Montreal, caused by religious 
 and political differences on the part of the population. 
 
14 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 General Murray was followed by Major Irving,* who 
 was administrator of the Province for the period interven- 
 ing between General Murray's resignation and the appoint- 
 ment of Sir Guy Carleton, which took place in 1766. 
 
 About this time trouble was brewing in the New Eng- 
 land Colonies, and Sir Guy Carleton, well knowing the 
 wishes and the interest of the British Government in view 
 of a revolt in the Colonies, was disposed to pursue a pacific 
 policy with the French Canadians. The French Canadians 
 on their part knew how necessary it was for the British to 
 secure their allegiance, at a time when Britain would 
 require the service of every able-bodied man she could 
 secure in the Canadian Colonies, to oppose the rising tide 
 of American Eevolution. The whole subject of the govern- 
 ment of Canada was brought before the British Ministry. 
 The Canadian high officials and the English high officials, 
 civil and military, were active in endeavoring to propound 
 some scheme by which the French Canadians would become 
 reconciled to their position as British subjects. Some were 
 for rigidly enforcing English law in its entirety for the 
 governing of the Colony, with the English language alone 
 as the official language. Some would have re-established 
 the " Coutume de Paris " and the old French laws in their 
 entirety. Others were for a combination of English law 
 and French law, an amalgamation of the English language 
 with the French language, and a general consorting of 
 opposing elements. To put an end to the matter. Sir Guy 
 
 ♦^milius Irving, Q.C., Treasurer of the Laty Society, is a grandson of Major 
 Irving. 
 
GOVERNOR CARLETON. 15 
 
 Carleton rtepaired to London to inform the official mind of 
 the condition of affaire in the Colony and the necessity 
 that there was of reconciling contending interests. The law 
 officers of the Crown, both in England and the Colony, were 
 consulted, and the result was a partial victory for the French 
 Canadian party. In the words of the French Canadian His- 
 torian Garneau, who glories in the triumph of his race, " The 
 British Government deferred, till the year 1774, yielding the 
 points at issue ; and it may be said that the revolution 
 (American Eevolution) which saved the freedom of the 
 United States, obliged, (mark the word obliged), Great 
 Britain to leave the Canadians the enjoyment of their 
 institutions and laws, in other words to act justly by them, 
 in order to be able to retain for herself at least one Province 
 in the New World." 
 
 It may be quite truly asserted by Garneau that the 
 American Revolution had much to do in influencing the 
 British Government to yield to Canada concessions for 
 which the French Colonists had been long clamoring, but 
 it ought not to be overlooked that the British party in the 
 Province was as strongly opposed to the system of govern- 
 ment then existing as were the French. It is evident that 
 both parties were acting on the same lines, only in a 
 different way and for a different object. The British party 
 wanted a Representative Assembly on the model of the 
 British House of Commons, in which Assembly there should 
 be none but Protestants, as was then the case in the British 
 House of Commons, and so would have excluded the 
 
16 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 French Catholics from all participation in goVernment ; 
 while the French party would have had a Representative 
 Assembly, including the French Catholics, which, from their 
 superior numbers, would have given them the full control 
 of the civil and religious institutions of the Province. In 
 short, the British party sought for British rule, while the 
 French party were willing to submit to British form of 
 government, but wanted actual French rule, j The out- 
 come of the whole matter was that a compromise was 
 effected, and the Quebec Act of 1774, the first written 
 Constitution of the Province of Quebec, was enacted by the 
 British Parliament, which gave to the Canadians their 
 old civil law, but in order to secure good government 
 retained the British system of criminal law. \ 
 
CHAPTEE II. 
 
 Constitutional Act, 1774, Unsatisfactory to British Canadians — Peti- 
 tion to Annul — American Revolution of 1776 — Sympathy of 
 French-Canadians — Clergy Opposed — A^merican Congress Attempt 
 to Tamper with French-Canadians— Montgomery and Arnold — 
 Seignors and their Tenants — Canadian Merchants in London 
 Demand Repeal of Quebec Act — Legislative Council, its Unpopu- 
 larity — Haldimand Succeeds Carleton as Governor — The Militia 
 Organization — French-Canadians Chafe Under English Rule — Du 
 Cal vet's Opinion of Canadian Sentiments — Bigots and Agitators 
 — Treaty of Peace, 1783 — America and England — Close of Haldi- 
 mand's Administration— Lord Dorchester's Second Term as Gov- 
 ernor — U, E. Loyalists — Their Appeal to Divide Quebec — Con- 
 stitution of 1791. 
 
 The Quebec Act of 1774 must be carefully considered in 
 order to trace the causes which led to the Eebellion of 
 1837. By this Act the Province was given the laws of 
 Canada, " Coutume de Paris " (the custom of Paris), as 
 the foundation of their civil law, the English law in regard 
 to criminals being retained. The Governor of the Province 
 was to appoint a Legislative Council of not less than 
 seventeen, - nor more than twenty-three members, to be 
 composed of the French and English colonists. This 
 Council was to have power to make any necessary laws, 
 subject to the approval of the British sovereign, and the 
 Catholic inhabitants were relieved of the operation of the 
 
18 REBELLION OF 1837 
 
 Test Act. At the outset this Act was very satisfactory in 
 the eyes of the French-Canadians, as by it they gained the 
 control of public affairs. It was not so satisfactory to the 
 English settlers, who had begun by this time to pour into 
 Canada in considerable numbers. Especially was this the 
 case in the Ohio valley, then a part of Canada, in which 
 region there was a population of twenty thousand English. 
 The English settlers on the banks of the St. Lawrence, 
 about Montreal and Quebec, were not so much exasperated 
 with the Act, inasmuch as they were near enough the sun 
 of the political world to enjoy the benefit of its rays. 
 
 Petitions were got up in the Colony and in London 
 praying that the Act should be annulled. The Canadian 
 petition was presented to the House of Lords in May, 1775, 
 but at the instance of Lord Dartmouth was rejected. 
 
 By this time the guns of the American Eevolution were 
 being heard in New England, reverberating throughout the 
 English- American Colonies, and extending even to the 
 bank of the St. Lawrence and the French settlement in the 
 Province of Quebec. Nor were there wanting sympathizers 
 with the Eevolution among the Anglo-American as well as 
 among the French-Canadian population .of the Colony. It 
 is to the credit of the Canadian clergy and the seigniors 
 that they did not ' countenance defection in Quebec. The 
 clergy, indeed, well knew that if the Eevolutionists suc- 
 ceeded in their rebellion against the British Government 
 and became a separate nation, the danger of maintaining 
 French laws and the Eoman Catholic religion in Quebec 
 
INVASION OF AMERICANS. 19 
 
 would be immensely increased. The seigniors well knew 
 that the success of the Americans implied the depriving 
 them of the dues and exactions which they enforced on 
 the inhabitants. The masses, however, of the French- 
 Canadians were not unfavourable to the cause of the 
 Revolutionists. A large number, led away by the cries of 
 "liberty and equality," the catch-words spoken, and the drag- 
 nets thrown out to captivate the unthinking and uneducated, 
 were shaken in their allegiance and well nigh engulfed. 
 After the affair at Lexington, in April, 1775, and the sub- 
 sequent capture of Forts Ticonderoga and Crown Point, the 
 Americans, in the autumn of the year, sent an army under 
 Schuyler and Montgomery to take the fort of St. John, in 
 the Province of Quebec. Sir Guy Carleton, the Governor, 
 had then but 800 regular troops at his disposition, and called 
 upon the surrounding parishes to assist in repelling the 
 invasion. This, however, they declined to do, and remained 
 passive. 
 
 The Chambly parishioners were actively hostile in their 
 demonstration, and according to Garneau, the French 
 historian, " nearly the whole militia of the district of Three 
 Eivers refused to march at the command of the Governor, 
 . . . the Chambly villagers joined an American detach- 
 ment, under Majors Brown and Livingston, whom Mont- 
 gomery sent to take a small fort there, which was disgrace- 
 fully yielded up after thirty- six hours' investment by Major 
 Stopford. Stop ford struck his flag and gave up his sword 
 to the lucky Americans, who found in the fort seventeen 
 pieces of ordnance and much gunpowder — a warlike 
 
20 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 munition of which Montgomery was all but destitute pre- 
 viously, and whose acquisition now enabled him to press 
 the siege of St. John vigorously, the men of Chambly 
 taking part therein. Thus did the frontier contest, 
 through the partisanship of some Gallo-Canadians, take 
 the colour of civil law." 
 
 It is not to be disguised that there were also many of 
 the British settlers in Quebec, and more American settlers 
 who were favourable to the American cause, the former 
 very much influenced by what they termed the un-British 
 government given to the Province of Quebec, and the latter 
 by the same spirit of revolution which animated the 
 Colonial Americans. Thus we find that in the old French 
 Province, more than sixty years before the Eebellion, there 
 was, to say the least, an unsettled state of things which 
 showed how lightly the people of that Province, or the major- 
 ity of them, esteemed the Government which had been given 
 them, by the Imperial Parliament. During the American 
 Kevolution the greatest efforts were made by the American 
 Congress to induce the French-Canadians as a whole to 
 declare for independence and secession from Great Britain. 
 In this they never succeeded. The French-Canadians of 
 the Province of Quebec were divided in their allegiance. 
 Fathers were against sons and brothers against brothers. 
 The allurements held out by the Americans induced some 
 even to join their ranks, but the influence of the seigniors 
 and clergy was sufficient to restrain the French Colonists 
 as a people from accepting the advantages offered them by 
 their neighbours south of the St. Lawrence. 
 
AMERICANS RETREAT. 21 
 
 Addresses were made to the French-Canadians by the 
 American Congress urging them to join the Eevolutionary 
 standard. Commissioners were sent from Washington to 
 persuade the French clergy to look favourably upon the 
 American revolt. All was of no avail. While sundry of 
 the French-Canadians were willing to profit by the Revolu- 
 tion, their leaders could not be prevailed upon to see that 
 their condition would be improved by going over to the 
 Eevolutionists. 
 
 The defeat of Montgomery and Arnold at Quebec, and 
 the retreat of the Revolutionary Army which had invaded 
 Canada, strengthened the hands of the British Loyalists 
 and the unaffected French-Canadians, and the habitants 
 were able once more to sit down by their own firesides and 
 once more enjoy the comforts of peace. The Governor was 
 no longer prevented from exercising his civil functions, and, 
 in 1777, was able to call together the Legislative Council, 
 given by the Quebec Act of 1774, for despatch of business. 
 This Council proceeded to enact measures in harmony with 
 the design for which it was created, a design to promote 
 and foster British influence in the Colony. The French 
 element of the Council at first submitted with a good grace 
 to the situation, but soon began to perceive that events were 
 directing their deliberations into a channel not so favour- 
 able to the French -Canadians as they had hoped for. 
 
 The American Revolution was still in progress, and it 
 became necessary to protect the militia from the seeds of 
 rebellion which the revolting Americans were sowing in 
 their midst. 
 
22 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 The seigniors, members of the Council, abandoned by 
 most of their tenants during the American invasion, were 
 now wilHng to place restraints on those tenants ; they were 
 now disposed to uphold British supremacy, which in the 
 view of many of the French-Canadians was the abasement 
 of their race. Many ordinances were passed during the 
 first session of the Council, lasting several days, which 
 while fulfilling the desires of the wealthy and more aristo- 
 cratic class of the community, were distasteful to the lower 
 and middle classes and to the rural population. It was 
 said of the seigniors that they leaned to the side of the 
 British to protect their own interests, and this was true in 
 more senses than one. The seigniors had use for their 
 tenants at home, instead of encouraging their engagijag in 
 revolutionary propaganda. Their tithes and dues were the 
 source of their income, and how could those tithes and rents 
 be got in if the tenant was neglecting his fields and his 
 crops in the glorious uncertainty of war ? 
 
 The antagonism to the Council had gained such head, 
 that Canadian merchants in London presented a memorial 
 to the Colonial Secretary, demanding either the repeal of 
 the Quebec Act of 1774 or the creation of a Legislative 
 Assembly. The answer of the Colonial Secretary was that 
 it would be dangerous to change the Constitution so long 
 as the rebels were still in arms on the Colonial frontier. 
 The Legislative Council, as created, does not seem to have 
 been satisfactory either to the British party or to the French 
 party. The habitants had not full confidence in their 
 French-Canadian colleagues, while the French-Canadians 
 
GOVERNOR HALDIMAND. 23 
 
 of the Council found the Council to be too British. Governor 
 Carleton endeavoured to be as neutral as his position would 
 allow. Whether acting on their own opinion, or whether on 
 the recommendation of Governor Carleton, it is not neces- 
 sary to enquire, but in 1776, the British ministry for some 
 reason instructed Governor Carleton to constitute a Privy 
 or Executive Council, to be carved out of the Legislative 
 Council ; and Carleton, acting on these instructions, formed 
 a Privy Council composed of five members, himself and 
 four other members of the Legislative Council, all British 
 in nationality and sentiment. Governor Carleton did not 
 long remain to exercise these functions, as his services 
 were required in other fields, and General Haldimand was 
 appointed to succeed him in the government. 
 
 Haldimand was a man of imperious disposition — a very 
 soldier ; he could not tolerate anything akin to disaffection. 
 In the midst of a hostile community he knew how to keep 
 down revolution. If he was obliged to resort to what seemed 
 arbitrary measures the fault was not his, but is to be attri- 
 buted to his surroundings. His first step was to look well 
 to the militia. He compelled these to train and place 
 themselves in a position to resist a second invasion by the 
 revolting Americans, which he had good reason to suspect. 
 He was not over confident of the loyalty of the militia, and 
 knew that the Americans were directly or indirectly tamper- 
 ing with the allegiance of King George's French-Canadian 
 subjects. Full of well-founded suspicion and distrust. 
 General Haldimand ordered many persons to be committed 
 to prison, some of whom may have been innocent, but the 
 
24 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 majority were tainted. All this was necessary to preserve 
 the Colony to the British Crown, but nevertheless was re- 
 garded as despotism by the French-Canadian population. 
 Indeed it is difficult to say what conduct on the part of the 
 British officials of whatever degree was not considered 
 tyrannical by the French-Canadians. The history of the 
 times abundantly proves that they were chafing under 
 British rule, but where could they turn for relief? Their best 
 advisers, their clergy, were able to show them that if they 
 joined the Americans in their revolt and should gain inde- 
 pendence, their second state would be worse than the first ; 
 and if they turned their eyes to France, there they would 
 find a country on the verge of revolution, making herculean 
 efforts to get rid of the monarchy and the clergy and replace 
 them by a Eepublic of Keason. The French, Spanish and 
 Americans were in alliance to overturn Monarchical and 
 Colonial rule in America. The French-Canadians were true 
 sons of old France, and had inherited love for the institu- 
 tions of their aijcestors. England had given them a Con- 
 stitution, which if properly worked would, in their estima- 
 tion, cure all the evils they endured, or at any rate it was 
 better than joining themselves to a Eepublic such as 
 America was likely to become, and be submerged in the gulf 
 of democratic assertiveness. The real feelings of the French- 
 Canadians at the time is well illustrated by Du Calvet, a 
 prominent French Colonist, a Protestant Huguenot, who 
 suffered imprisonment at the hands of General Haldimand. 
 After dwelling on his personal grievances, he said : '' How 
 sad a thing it is to be vanquished ; our brothers' blood shed 
 
FRENCH DISCONTENT. 25 
 
 on the field of battle cries to us from the ground ; but 
 bodily wounds, however deep, will heal in time. It is the 
 constant pressure of the victor's hand when the struggle is 
 over that is the ' iron ' which enters the soul ; and to be- 
 come the bondmen of another race, itself living in freedom, 
 is the most intolerable part of our fate. Can it be that our 
 slackness in not holding out longer against our conquerors, 
 has merited their contempt, as our first earnest efforts in 
 shunning the yoke excited their ire." 
 
 The racial question here unmistakably " peeps out from 
 the blanket of the dark," and shows the Frenchiness of the 
 Canadian mind. Nor was this at all unnatural. A con- 
 quered people are not likely soon to forget their old nation- 
 ality. It takes time to reconcile them to the new order of 
 things. The British Government has ever been solicitous 
 to make their lot a happy one. Leaving out the disturb- 
 ances which sometimes crop up under the inspiration of 
 bigots and agitators, the French population of the Province 
 of Quebec are as happily situated as any people of the 
 colony of any nation in the world. It is too early, how- 
 ever, to enlarge on this at this stage, as there is much more 
 to be considered before we can fully comprehend the spirit 
 which has constantly from the time of the conquest been 
 giving vent to complainings at the existing state and con- 
 dition of affairs. 
 
 At thisperiod of Haldimand's administration the French- 
 Canadian had much to disturb him on all sides. He was 
 discontented at home, and still so kept in restraint that he 
 could not conveniently take refuge abroad, even though 
 
26 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 Lafayette and his followers from France, espousing the 
 quarrel of the American Colonists in their contest with 
 England, would fain have had them join the Kevolutionary 
 flag. General Haldimand took great care to keep the 
 inhabitants he was sent to govern well within the lines of 
 their allegiance. It is in a sense surprising that the 
 French-Canadians were not caught in the toils of the rebel- 
 lious Americans. They saw them, towards the conclusion 
 of the Kevolutionary War, gaining successes. Lafayette 
 was a French hero fighting the battles of the Americans, 
 and a French army was operating in the cause of the 
 Eevolutionists ; yet, notwithstanding all this, the French 
 Canadians as a people were never gained over to the 
 Eevolutionary cause. In the prevention of this, as has 
 been said, much was due to the French clergy, but at the 
 same time too much credit cannot be given to General 
 Haldimand for his firm hand in upholding British rule in 
 th§ old French Colony. 
 
 Events were now so shaping themselves that General 
 Haldimand's official connection with Canada would be soon 
 brought to a close. The Americans and their allies, the 
 French, were successful in defeating General Abercrombie 
 at Yorktown in 1783, and this led to a Treaty of Peace 
 between England and America in September, 1783, thus 
 ridding Canada, at all events for the present, of the med- 
 dling of the Americans in Canadian affairs, and their efforts 
 to undermine the loyalty of the Canadians. The treaty 
 had another beneficial effect on the Province, as it was the 
 means of abrogating Military government in the Colony, 
 
LORD DORCHESTER GOVERNOR. 27 
 
 remitting the people to their ancient condition and peace- 
 ful pursuits, thus enabling them to ponder over the past, 
 and make comparison between the periods of turbulence 
 and peace. As a proof that at this time the French 
 descendants very much preferred Canada, and its Constitu- 
 tion, to American Eepublicanism, there is the significant 
 fact that many of the Acadians, whose woes have been so 
 eloquently described by Longfellow in his beautiful 
 "Evangeline," came to settle in Canada upon the coasts 
 of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. 
 
 General Haldimand's administration, after six years' 
 good service in the Colony, was brought to a close in 1784, 
 when he repaired to London, where he was met by Du 
 Calvet, who did his utmost to discredit him with the British 
 Government. This is not surprising, however, when it is 
 considered that Du Calvet had his private grievances to 
 avenge, on account of his imprisonment by Haldimand, 
 as a subject in friendly intercourse with the revolting 
 Americans. 
 
 Du Calvet was in Paris in 1783, and there applied to 
 Benjamin Franklin, the resident Ambassador of the United 
 States, and sought his interest to obtain payment from 
 Congress for the equipments he had furnished the Ameri- 
 cans, which established pretty clearly that he was more of 
 a Gallo-American than a Gallo-Canadian. In the year 
 1785, Sir Guy Carleton, under the title of Lord Dorchester, 
 was again called upon to take charge of the government 
 of Canada, a government with which he had become 
 familiar from his past experience in the Colony. At this 
 
28 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 time, the Legislative Council of the Constitution of 1774 was 
 in great disrepute. Its members were divided into camps, 
 some English, some French, some of a hybrid character, 
 indifferent to the real welfare of the Colony, so long as 
 they basked in the sun of Vice-Eegal favour and enjoyed 
 the emoluments attached to their official position. Matters 
 had got to be so bad in this respect that Lord Dorchester 
 was instructed to institute an enquiry into the whole 
 political condition of the country, civil, military, judicial, 
 agricultural, educational and commercial. This he set 
 about doing on his arrival and assuming the duties of his 
 high office of Governor General. It was found that 
 affairs were in a very bad condition. Judges were on the 
 Bench, some of whom would administer law according to 
 the French system, while others contended that the Act of 
 1774 conflicted with previous ordinances, and ought not 
 to be obeyed. Others again agreed that in matters of 
 descent and property generally, the French law was to pre- 
 vail, while some went so far as to contend that the Britons 
 should have the advantage of English law, while the French - 
 Canadians should be regulated by "La Coutume de 
 Paris." 
 
 In civil matters, it was found that there was a great 
 divergence of opinion among the people. The British party 
 wanted English law in its entirety, with trial by jury in 
 civil cases, and the English system of conveyancing, etc.; 
 while the French party, still clinging to their old laws of 
 property and civil rights, would have had a change in the 
 Constitution, a representative assembly, abolition of the 
 
UNITED EMPIRE LOYALISTS. 29 
 
 feudal tenure, and other measures of a like kind, which 
 would have given the control of the whole machinery of 
 government to the persons most unfitted to carry out a 
 British government in a British colony. In religious 
 matters, the French-Caniadians demanded full control, quite 
 independent of British or any other interference. In 
 matters of education, the Colony was sadly deficient. 
 Before the conquest there had been the Jesuit College at 
 Quebec, where young men received a liberal education, but 
 that was now a thing of the past. The college existed no 
 longer. The Seminaries in a measure supplied the place 
 of the Jesuit College, but in a minor degree, while as to the 
 rural population, they were wholly without education or 
 the means of obtaining it. The consequence was that such 
 education as there was, was confined to the few who could 
 afford to pay for the advantages offered by the Seminaries. 
 Some of the priests in the outer districts gave instruction 
 to a few of their parishioners, less in secular than in 
 religious teaching. It can easily be gathered from this 
 how much better able the British part of the population 
 was to administer public affairs, so that everything con- 
 spired to place the French-Canadians in an inferior position, 
 though they were in a very great numerical majority. 
 
 The American Eevolution being now over, and the Treaty 
 of Peace between Great Britain and the United States 
 signed, those who had been loyal to the King's cause during 
 the Eevolution were obliged to take refuge in other lands. 
 These, who received the designation of United Empire 
 Loyalists, flocked into Canada in great numbers. What is 
 
30 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 now called Ontario, and before that Upper Canada, was 
 not then known as a Province. The whole territory, to- 
 gether with a great portion of what is now known as the 
 United States, was called the Province of Quebec. A con- 
 siderable number of the United Empire Loyalists took up 
 their homes on the seaboard of the lower St. Lawrence 
 Eiver. Lord Dorchester well knew that these United 
 Empire Loyalists would not long submit to be governed by 
 French law, such as was then enforced in Quebec. In 
 order to meet this emergency, an ordinance in Council was 
 passed, which Lord Dorchester proceeded to carry out, 
 dividing the whole of Quebec into five districts, giving to . 
 what was afterwards Lower Canada the name of the Gaspe 
 district, and dividing what was afterwards known as the 
 Province of Upper Canada, into four districts, under the 
 names respectively of Lunenburg, Mecklenburg, Nassau 
 and Hesse. This was done with the view of simplifying 
 the government of the whole region. In 1789, the United 
 Empire Loyalists, who had settled in the four latter districts, 
 demanded to be governed by the English and not by the 
 French law, which they neither cared for nor understood. 
 The British party in the district of Gaspe, now largely 
 composed of United Empire Loyalists, sympathising with 
 those in the other four districts, also demanded the absolute 
 repeal of the Constitution of 1774, and the entire suppres- 
 sion of French law in every part of Canada. 
 
 The United Empire Loyalists, used to representative 
 government in the New England States, were not willing 
 to do with less in Canada, where they had taken refuge for 
 
PROVINCES DIVIDED. 31 
 
 their protection. Two parties thus arose in the Canadian 
 Colony, the United Empire Loyalist party, and the French 
 party, and these parties were, if possible, more English 
 and more French than those which had preceded them. 
 The United Empire Loyalists had been at war with their 
 neighbours in the United States for many years, and it 
 was not to be expected that they would willingly succumb 
 to French rule in a British Province. How then could the 
 Colony be governed in such a way as to satisfy the aspira- 
 tions of both parties ? Should British representative insti- 
 tutions be given to the whole of Canada, or should that part 
 of it, the district of Gaspe, in which the French-Canadians 
 were largely in the majority, be left to rejoice in their 
 ancient laws, and the rest of Canada be given the English 
 law ? Here was a problem for British statesmen to solve, 
 and Mr. Pitt, who was Prime Minister at that time, was 
 not unequal to the situation. 
 
 He introduced a Bill in the House of Commons, to divide 
 the Province of Quebec into two sections, to be called res- 
 pectively Lower Canada and Upper Canada, on the lines 
 previously stated. In introducing this Bill, he said that this 
 separation will put an end to the competition between the 
 old French inhabitants and the new settlers from Britain 
 and the British Colonies. In imitation of the Constitution 
 of the mother country, he should propose a Council and 
 House of Assembly for each ; the Assembly to be constitu- 
 ted in the usual manner, and the members of the Council to 
 be members for life ; all laws and ordinances of the Province 
 to remain in force till altered by the new Legislature. The 
 
32 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 Habeas Corpus to be coDtinued as a fundamental principle 
 of the Constitution. Land tenures were to be settled in 
 Lower Canada by the Local Legislature. In Upper Canada, 
 the settlers being chiefly British, all such tenures were to 
 be in common socage. To prevent any the like dispute as 
 that which separated the thirteen states of the mother 
 country, it was provided that the British Parliament should 
 impose no taxes, but such as might be necessary for the 
 regulation of trade and commerce ; and to guard against 
 the abuse of this power, all imposts were to be levied and 
 disposed of by the Legislature of each Province. 
 
 The Bill remained in abeyance for some time, meeting 
 with very vigorous opposition from the British party in the 
 Colony as well as by merchants of London, who had trade 
 relations with Canada. It was thought by these opponents 
 that the provisions of the Bill were entirely too favourable 
 to Lower Canada. Notwithstanding the opposition, however, 
 it went to a third reading, and was passed without a division 
 by both the Lords and the Commons. This was the Con- 
 stitutional Act of 1791, which for many years was the law 
 for the government of affairs in both the Canadas. The 
 principal features of this Act were : — 
 
 1. The English Criminal law for both Provinces. 
 
 2. A Legislative Council, the members of which to be appointed by 
 
 the Crown for Life ; Lower Canada to have fifteen members 
 and L'pper Canada seven. 
 
 3. A Legislative Assembly, of at least j&fty members in Lower 
 
 Canada, and sixteen in Upper Canada, for the time. 
 
 4. Electors to have property qualifications, two pounds sterling 
 
 annual value in the rural districts, and five pounds in the 
 towns. Tenants in rural districts paying an annual rent of 
 ten pounds could vote. 
 
CONSTITUTION OF 1791. 33 
 
 5. All powers of legislation for the Colony to reside in the Assembly 
 
 and Legislative Council conjointly, the King having a veto, 
 and his representative a power of delaying any act he might 
 disapprove of. The duration of edch Parliament not to 
 exceed four years ; the two houses to be convoked in session 
 once at least in every year, and all questions in debate to be 
 decided by a simple majority vote. 
 
 6. An Executive Council, to be of Royal nomination, to advise the 
 
 Governor, was instituted, with the powers of a Court of 
 Appeal in Civil matters. 
 
 So far as the Province of Lower Canada was concerned, 
 the different sections or parties in the Province, in order to 
 understand the full meaning of the Act, thought it necessary 
 to form a Club, called a " Constitutional Club," for the 
 disseminating the requirements of the Act, and to make 
 plain its provisions. It is always to be borne in mind 
 that the French-Canadians were the dominant party, and 
 that in the chief City of Montreal nine-tenths of the 
 population were French. The political opinions of the 
 Club may be gathered from the toasts which were drunk at 
 a meeting of the Club shortly after the Act of 1791 was 
 proclaimed. They were : 
 
 1. Abolition of feudal tenure. 
 
 2. Civil and Religious freedom. 
 
 3. Liberty of the press. 
 
 4. Freedom and integrity of jurymen. 
 
 5. The French Revolutfion. 
 
 6. The Polish Revolution. 
 
 The most noticeable toast was the first — Abolition of 
 the feudal tenure. There can be no doubt that for many 
 years before the Act of 1791, the feudal tenure was con- 
 sidered to be a real grievance by the habitants of the 
 
34 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 Lower Province, and now that an opportunity is afforded, a 
 public assembly of a quasi-national Club, regardless of 
 ecclesiastical influence or Seigniorial power, declares for 
 abolition of the tenure. As we proceed with the relation 
 we will see whether or not the boon of the new Constitution 
 given to Quebec proved a cure for the ills to which the 
 Province was subject. 
 
GHAPTEK III. 
 
 Provinces Divided— Legislative Assembly — Battle of Races — Papi- 
 neau, Member of Assembly — Panet's Patriotic Speech — Education 
 and Religion — Assembly's Claim to Regulate Supplies — Lord Dor- 
 chester's Instructions — French Minister Genet — Dissimulation 
 and Treachery — Bishop Plessis' Advice to French -Canadians — 
 Legislative Assembly Decidedly French— Judge Osgoode — French 
 Language, its Use in Parliament — Tithes — Immigration — Sir 
 James Craig — Acceptable to the French, but not to the English — 
 Advises Re-Union of Provinces. 
 
 The dividing of the old Province of Quebec, and the estab- 
 lishment of the two Provinces of Upper and Lower Canada 
 by the Act of 1791, was thought by the English people to 
 mark an epoch in Colonial history, inasmuch as the Prov- 
 inces now established were given Legislative Assemblies, 
 which was considered by many to be equivalent to giving 
 the right of self-government to the Colonies. The French - 
 Canadians had clamored for a government which should 
 enable them to manage their own affairs, but had they got 
 it ? Were they even able to work out their destiny by this 
 toy, so comely to look at, but difficult to manage ? The 
 first difficulty they met with was the constitution . of the 
 Assembly. By virtue of their great numbers, they had the 
 power to exclude wholly froni this branch of government 
 everyone who was not in accord with French-Canadian 
 
S6 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 sentiment. This course, however, if adopted, would not 
 only have been ungracious, but would have shown the on- 
 looking world how incapable they were of driving the car of 
 state. The mass of the French-Canadians were devoid of 
 that education which fits a man for parliamentary service. 
 There were educated men among them, chiefly of the 
 seignior, notary and avocat class, but the rural population 
 had not had the means of storing their minds with the 
 knowledge necessary for representatives of the people. The 
 want of such men could only be supplied by drawing on the 
 British element for legislators, in sufficient numbers to at 
 least fulfil the duties of one of the four wheels of the coach, 
 and thus prevent a breaking down of the equipage. 
 
 It was felt that the experience of the Anglo-Canadians 
 would be of service in the guiding of the chariot of 
 state, until such time as sufficient knowledge could be 
 gained to enable them to conduct affairs unaided. 
 
 In the first Assembly under the Act, the majority of 
 whose members were French-Canadians, there were never- 
 theless fifteen members of British origin, who owed their 
 election to French -Canadian support. This support was 
 generously given, but whether or not it was as generously 
 received the reader must judge. There may be a great 
 divergence of opinion on this as on other matters which 
 affect the relations existing, or which did exist, between 
 the different races in the Province of Quebec. 
 
 When the Assembly met, and it became necessary to 
 elect a Speaker, the question at once arose whether the 
 Speaker should be English or French. The British party 
 
BATTLE OF RAGES. 37 
 
 wanted one of their race elected Speaker, while the other 
 party wanted a French-Canadian. Much discussion took 
 place in the House over this matter, the British contending 
 that in a British Province there should be a British Speaker, 
 and one who spoke the English language, and the French- 
 Canadians contending that the very object of the Imperial 
 Parliament, in granting a Eepresentative Assembly to the 
 Province of Quebec, was to give the French-Canadians con- 
 trol over, at least, this branch of the Legislature and that 
 the Speaker should be of their race, whether he could speak 
 English or not. The speaking part of his functions could 
 be accomplished through an interpreter. 
 
 The battles of the races waxed hot and furious. M. 
 Papineau, a member of the Assembly, and father of that 
 Louis Joseph Papineau so celebrated in the history of 
 Canada as leader of the Piebellion of 1837, emphasized his 
 adherence to the interests of the French-Canadians by de- 
 claiming : " Is it because Canada forms a part of the British 
 Empire that Canadians who speak not the language in use 
 on the banks of the Thames, are to be deprived of their 
 natural rights ? " Thus we have the race and language 
 question cropping up for the first time in a Canadian Eepre- 
 sentative Assembly, and who so likely to have raised the 
 question as a Papineau, the ancestor of that great man who 
 for national love sacrificed much, rebelled fiercely, suffered 
 much, but at the last died a peaceful death at his home, 
 Montebello, on the banks of the Ottawa, a faithful subject 
 of the Queen. 
 
38 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 The French-Canadians in the House generally favoured 
 the election of a French-Canadian Speaker, but one among 
 them, more liberal than the majority, impressed with the 
 importance of maintaining the English character of the 
 Assembly, was very outspoken in his opposition to the 
 sentiments expressed by the Fren<}h majority. This mem- 
 ber was Mr. P. L. Panet, who said : *' Is not this country a 
 British possession ? Is not the English language that of 
 the Sovereign and the British Legislature ? Ought we not, 
 then, to speak English in British legislational halls, whether 
 located in London or Quebec ? " 
 
 It was in vain that the British party in the House, 
 augmented by the support of M. Panet, heroically fought 
 against a French-Canadian being elected to preside over 
 the Assembly. Mr. J. A. Panet, a namesake, if not a rela- 
 tive of the M. Panet who had taken a part with the English 
 side, was duly nominated and elected to the Speakership by 
 the proportion of two to one of the members in a full House. 
 Mr. J. A. Panet could speak both languages, English and 
 French, so no harm was done, except showing the cleavage 
 between the two races, English and French. 
 
 An equally difficult question as that of the election of 
 Speaker engaged the members at this first attempt at 
 legislation, in the beginning of the representative period in 
 the Province of Lower Canada. This was, how were the 
 minutes of the proceedings of the House to be kept ? In 
 French or in English ? Again the parties divided, each 
 according to his nationality espousing the French or 
 English side, with as much zest and vigour as in the old 
 
SUPPLY BILLS. 39 
 
 days before the American Eevolution, when the Colonial 
 New Englanders and the French assailed each other, as 
 they felt in duty bound, to mark the enmity which existed 
 between their respective parent states. In this case a com- 
 promise was effected and the minutes ordered to be kept in 
 both languages. 
 
 A fruitful subject of discussion during the first session, 
 which lasted into 1792, was the subject of education. The 
 Jesuit Estates — what should be done with them ? And the 
 Convents, the Eecollets and Ursulines — what was to become 
 of them ? Were they to be razed to the ground, or to be 
 preserved ? These are subjects, however, which cannot 
 be said to have had any direct bearing upon the Eebellion 
 of 1837. They had their day, and may be suffered to pass 
 into oblivion. The Eebellion of 1837 was neither an educa- 
 tional or religious war, hence we are relieved from consider- 
 ing these questions, foreign to the matter in hand. 
 
 Another and much more important question, in a poli- 
 tical sense, than either education or religion, next disturbed 
 the Legislative Assembly. The French-Canadians were 
 fully alive to the fact that unless their Assembly could 
 obtain full control of taxation and finance, the Act of 1791 
 would be of but- little value to them ; so they at once set 
 their faces against any part of the supplies for the support 
 of Government being provided for by the Imperial-Gotern- 
 mentj^^>K)ne of the most, if not the most important resolu- 
 tions of the House in the first session, was that in which 
 the House declared that the voting of subsidies belonged 
 
40 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 I exclusively to them, and that no supply bill could of right 
 Ibe amended by the Legislative Council in any way. 
 ^ It looks strange to us at this day, so well have we become 
 acquainted with the British Constitutional form of govern- 
 ment, that it should have been found necessary to raise 
 such a question in the Assembly. But we must remember 
 that in 1792, Colonial Government had not, nor indeed had 
 the British Parliament itself, attained that pitch of excel- 
 lence which is exhibited at the present day. At that time 
 Colonial rights were hardly regarded. The Eoyal prerogative 
 held sway over all the British Dominions. The British 
 Government, at the very time the Assembly's resolution 
 was passed, was furnishing part of the funds for carrying 
 on the government of the Province, and demanded, in 
 return, a controlling and active part in the administration 
 of the affairs of the Colony. 
 
 Nor was this altogether unreasonable, when we consider 
 that if a different course had been pursued at that time, 
 the British part of the population would have thought 
 themselves entirely forsaken by the parent state. British 
 emigration would have been discouraged, if not altogether 
 prevented, and that which was supposed to be a British 
 Colony handed over to the alien race who could never forget 
 the laws, the customs, the language and the religion of 
 their ancestors. 
 
 Lord Dorchester, who was never at any time an 
 unpopular Governor, resumed the office in 1793, armed 
 with new powers for the endeavour of pacifying the French- 
 Canadians. He came to the Colony with instructions from 
 
GENET. 41 
 
 /the Home Government that the two Seminaries of Quebec 
 and Montreal, as well as the religious communities of 
 women, should remain in perpetuity, being administered in 
 accordance with the rules of their foundation. 
 
 Lord Dorchester realized his position and responsibility, 
 at a time when the spirit of Eevolution was abroad. France 
 was in a condition of wild delirium over her success in 
 getting rid of her king, by regicide, and was, as she vainly 
 imagined, the instrument by means of which all monarchies 
 were to be felled to the earth and the brazen idol of 
 Eepublicanism set up in their place. In the year 1793, 
 she had as her Minister in the United States a fit emissary 
 of such a government, built on treachery, dissimulation, 
 fraud, massacre and murder. Genet was this man. 
 France had declared war against England, and Genet 
 did his utmost to embroil the United States in the war, 
 and would have succeeded, if President Washington had 
 not, with firm hand, opposed his schemes. 
 
 Genet next intrigued with the French-Canadians. He 
 sent emissaries among them with the purpose of under- 
 mining their allegiance. Lord Dorchester was on the 
 watch tower. In the session of 1793, he directed the 
 attention of the Legislature to the organization of the 
 Militia, and, to thwart the design of Genet, induced the 
 Eiegislature to pass an Act authorising the Executive ip 
 ^spend the operation of the Habeas Corpus Act, and thyis 
 ofetained a ready means of disposing of any agents that the 
 French Minister might send into the Province, to propagate 
 Kevolutionary notions. 
 
42 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 The session of 1793 was a long one, lasting from 
 November to June. It was a stormy session, and resulted 
 in the passing of only six acts, which goes to prove that 
 the legislators of that day were in no special hurry to get 
 through with their business. The Governor, in proroguing 
 the session, cautioned the members, when returning to 
 their homes, to diffuse among the people a spirit of loyalty, 
 and the avoidance of all traitors and traitorous con- 
 spiracies. 
 
 M. Plessis, the then parish priest of Quebec and after- 
 ward bishop, on a public occasion took particular pains 
 to admonish his flock that gratitude as well as interest 
 should prevail with them to be loyal to the British Crown. 
 His words were : " Our conquerors, regarded at first with a 
 jealous eye and lowering brow, inspired in us feelings 
 only of detestation or aversion. We could not be 
 persuaded that a race of men, strangers to our soil, to 
 our language, to our laws, to our worship, could ever 
 be willing to render to Canada an equivalent to- Canada 
 for what it lost by changing its masters. Generous Nation ! 
 which has made us aware by so many evidences 
 how ill founded were our prepossessions. Industrious 
 nation ! which has developed the earth's fecundity 
 and explored its hidden riches. Exemplary nation ! 
 that in critical times, taught the attentive world 
 wherein consists that liberty which all men desire to obtain, 
 but so few know how to keep in proper bounds. Pitying 
 nation ! which has just welcomed, with so much humanity, 
 the most faithful, yet worst used subjects of that realm to 
 
BISHOP PLE8SIS. 43 
 
 which ourselves once belonged. Beneficent nation ! which 
 daily gave us men of Canada fresh proofs of its liberality. 
 No, no, your people are not enemies of our people, nor are 
 ye despoilers of our property, which rather do your laws 
 protect ; nor are ye foes to our religion, to which ye pay all 
 due respect. Pardon us, then, for that our first distrust- 
 fulness of a foreign race, whose virtues, being as yet unex- 
 perienced by us, we had not the happiness to know ; and, 
 if after being apprised of the overthrow of the monarchy 
 and the abolition of the only right of worship in France, 
 and after experiencing for thirty-five years the gentleness 
 of your domination, there remain among us some natures 
 purblind enough, or of such an evil disposition, as to revive 
 past antipathies, or awaken in the popular mind disloyal 
 wishes to revert to French supremacy, let Britons be 
 assured that such beings are rare among us; and we beg 
 that what may be true of the malcontent few, will not be 
 imputed to the well-disposed many."* 
 
 These were noble words from such a distinguished man 
 as M. Plessis. The sentiments thus expressed were the 
 sentiments of the best disposed of the French-Canadians, 
 but there was then, as there ever has been in Canada, both 
 French-Canadian and English-Canadian, a class of men, 
 who, not content with the great privileges they enjoy under 
 the British system of government, stretch out their hands 
 for Kepublicanism, whose name sounds so well to many 
 ears, but to others is but as sounding brass or a tinkling 
 cymbal. But in the words of M. Plessis, *' We beg that 
 
 * This refers to the emigrant nobles and priests driven from France by the 
 Revolution, who sought refuge in England and her Colonies. 
 
44 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 what may be true of the malcontent few, will not be im- 
 puted to the well-disposed many." 
 
 In 1795, the Seigniorial question was again to the front, 
 owing to the fact that many of the old French Seigniories 
 had fallen into the hands of Britons, who were not satisfied 
 with the old tenure and the old scale of rents. 
 
 The French-Canadians, always attached to their old 
 laws and customs, to the contribution of just so much corn 
 to the Seigniorial Mill, to the exact payments demanded by 
 the Seigniorial system, to the established rents under the 
 old laws, would not hear of a change being made. Despite 
 the efforts of the English Seigniors, all of which were 
 directed to an increase of charge, the old habitants would 
 not move an inch. The House of Assembly, reflecting their 
 opinions, refused to alter the terms of land holding, thus 
 disappointing the hopes of what the French-Canadian called 
 the avaricious landlord. 
 
 The Second Legislative Assembly was more pronouncedly 
 French than the first. The course taken by the English 
 members of the First House in regard to the exclusion of 
 the French language, their vote on the Speakership, and on 
 other questions which the French-Canadians claimed were 
 antagonistic to their interests, impelled the Electorate, so 
 largely French- Canadian, to exclude from the halls of 
 Parliament many of the English members to whom they 
 had formerly given their support. Mr. Panet was again 
 elected Speaker by a large majority of the votes of the House. 
 
 General Prescott was Governor when the second Parlia- 
 ment assembled. It was indeed convened by him. The 
 
GOVERNOR PRESCOTT. 45 
 
 name of Prescott is familiar to most Canadians, from the 
 fact that Prescott, in the County of Grenville, where the 
 Battle of the Windmill, in 1837, was fought, is so named to 
 commemorate him. 
 
 Perhaps the most important of the political acts of 
 Governor Prescott, was that he obtained from the Parlia- 
 ment an Act vesting the Executive Council, or any three ofi 
 its members, with the power of ordering the arrest of parties\ 
 accused or merely suspected of treason or seditious prac- \ 
 tices. Nor was this power untimely conferred, for the j 
 French Eepublic had been continuously industrious in / 
 spreading Eepublican notions in Canada. Many of the/ 
 habitants, allured by the successes that the French troops 
 had gained in Spain, Austria and Italy, were disposed to 
 be rebellious. The French Minister to the United States 
 had boldly advised the Canadians to throw in their lot with 
 the French Eepublic, which intended to invade the Colony 
 and raise troops there to fight the battles of the French 
 agamst the English. 
 
 It was at this time that a man named McLane came 
 into the Province of Lower Canada and, visiting Quebec, 
 was detected making drawings of the fortifications. He 
 was arrested, tried and condemned to death as a traitor. 
 
 A general feeling of uneasiness among the officials pre- 
 vailed in Canada. Many of the haUtants were suspected 
 of Eevolutionary tendencies, which caused the Governor to 
 tighten the reins of government. There were not wanting 
 those who insisted that there was no cause for uneasiness, 
 and who asserted that this uneasiness was brought about 
 
46 ■ REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 by self-interested hangers-on of the Government, who 
 instilled such notions into the minds of their superiors for 
 the purpose of profiting by their suspicions. 
 
 The Crown lands afforded a fine field for the exploitation 
 of enterprising Englishmen, and not a few of them were 
 tempted to engage in speculation in wild lands. The Land 
 Board, at this time, was made up of members of the Legis- 
 lative Council, and we have seen how^ largely the British 
 interests predominated in that body. Judge Osgoode 
 was a member of the Council and consequently of the 
 Land Board. The Imperial Government warned Governor 
 Prescott to allow nothing to take place in this department 
 which might irritate the French-Canadians, and when 
 Judge Osgoode espoused the cause of the British claimants, 
 he was immediately brought into collision with the 
 Governor. It was not convenient, at this time, that 
 important political differences l;et.ween high government 
 officials should be allowed to pass unnoticed, and the 
 breach between the Governor and the Judge was 
 summarily healed by the removal of both from the 
 scene of conflict. The Governor was recalled and Osgoode 
 resigned his position. 
 
 These events occurred in the years 1798 and 1799. 
 It is a singular fact, of apparent inconsistency, that 
 while there were undoubtedly French-Canadians who 
 were made uneasy by the French Revolution, Sir 
 Robert Shore Milnes, who succeeded General Prescott 
 as Governor, on opening the session of Parliament in 
 1799, was able to thank the Canadians for moneys 
 
GOVERNOR MILNES. 47 
 
 they .had subscribed to defray the cost of the war of 
 Britain against the French Kevolutionists. 
 
 During the session, one of the members of the 
 Legislative Assembly named Bone was expelled from 
 the House for swindling, notwithstanding which he 
 was twice subsequently returned by the electors, and 
 was only finally rendered ineligible by an Act of the 
 Parliament of 1802. 
 
 The subject of language was one which very much 
 concerned the British inhabitants of Lower Canada at 
 ^this time. In this second Parliament, one-fifth of the 
 members were British, and four-fifths French and 
 French-Canadian. The English members, not being 
 able to speak the French language, were not able to 
 make themselves understood by the other members of 
 the House. Hence, their presence there was of very 
 little benefit to themselves or their constituents. Still, 
 the English representatives v/ere not without influence 
 with the Government, which influence reacted to a 
 
 certain extent in the legislative body. Th& Efigli&h 
 
 representatives were all State officials, thre e Jud ge^, 
 four Executive Councillors and other office holders. 
 They may also be said to have been the Government. 
 They were able to induce the Legislature to pass an^ 
 Act for the foundation of a Eoyal Institution of ^ 
 learning, and to endow the same with Crown lands. ( 
 The appointment of the President and Directors of( 
 this body was placed in the hands of the Governor, 
 Sir Robert Shore Milnes. The Governor was verv 
 
48 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 well known to very much favour the existing party, 
 and it was now hoped that by diffusion of knowledge, 
 by means of the English language, throughout the 
 Province, under control of the Eoyal Institution, the 
 much desired object, Enghsh government and institu- 
 tions would be obtained. 
 
 Two colleges, one for Quebec and the other for Mont- 
 real, were accordingly established to make the system 
 complete. Unfortunately, in carrying the scheme into 
 operation, the Protestant Bishop was appointed President 
 of the Eoyal Institution. This was quite sufficient to 
 prevent the French-Canadians from giving the Institution 
 or the Colleges any support whatever. They became 
 alarmed lest their faith and their language should be 
 sacrificed to the evil designs of the English party. There 
 was no use for colleges or schools without scholars. With 
 the Canadians standing aloof the experiment was a decided 
 failure, and the English idea and the English language 
 received a blow from which it took some years to recover. 
 
 Another subject which agitated the people about this 
 time was the creation of new parishes. The Executive 
 attempted to lay out new parishes. To this the Church 
 took exception. The Eoman Catholic Church, in the Prov- 
 ince of Lower Canada, has always maintained that, under 
 the Treaty, the ecclesiastical authorities, and they alone, 
 have the right to set apart parishes ; that the State has no 
 control whatever over them ; that a disarrangement of 
 them would seriously interfere with the system of levying 
 tithes ; that, at^all events, their retention is necessary to 
 
DISPUTE AS TO TAXATION. 49 
 
 preserve the status of the Eoman CathoKc Church in the 
 Province. There was a ma*n in the Government service, 
 who held his post for many years, who was always ready 
 to combat this ecclesiastical pretension. That man was 
 Mr. Eyland, the Secretary of the Province. Mr. Eyland 
 was a man of great influence, and, had his advice been 
 followed, the Church in the Province of Lower Canada 
 would have been shorn of much, if not all its power. He 
 would not only have done away with tithes, but with the 
 licensing of priests by the .papal authority and every other 
 semblance of ecclesiastical jurisdiction. 
 
 We have now arrived at the year 1804, and find the 
 racial differences not only not lessened but, if anything, 
 increased. British merchants were commanding the trade 
 of Canada. With British merchants, other Britons, of 
 the agricultural and artisan classes, were taking up thei 
 positions in the Province. It may be that it was in conse- 
 quence of this immigration we hear more of the racial 
 difficulty than before. With population comes taxation. 
 The public necessities of the Province required that taxes 
 should be levied in some shape to meet the expenditure. 
 The question was, what form should this levying of imposts 
 take ? Should the tax be levied on land or goods, in other 
 words, ^ land tax or a, commercial tax ? The British mer- 
 chant was very averse to a tax being levied on his goods, 
 thus increasing the price to the consumer. The French 
 party, on the other hand, were equally opposed to levying 
 a tax on land, which was for various reasons not adapted 
 
50 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 to new countries. -JXlt^A&sfijXLbl:^ largely French, favoure d 
 ^e taxation of commerce. 
 
 As was often the case in Lower Canada, when questions 
 of this nature arose, and there were radical differences 
 between the parties, appeals were made to the British 
 Government and to the British Parliament. The Colonial 
 Office was deluged with petitions urging the different views. 
 The question was an important one as settling, once for 
 all, the future government of the Province in the matter 
 of taxation. As was more frequently the case than other- 
 wise, the French-Canadians got the ear of the British 
 Ministry.^ An Act of the Assembly for levying the required 
 tax oil goods was assented to by the Governor, no doubt 
 under instructions from the Imperial Government, and all 
 French Lower Canada was jubilant. The habitant, always 
 docile to his religious superiors, ready to pay a tax to the 
 Church, escaped the unpleasant duty of a tax to the State, 
 and was happy. The Church was happy because the 
 habitant was pleased and was not rendered less able to pay 
 his tithes. 
 
 But what of the British residents ? Sour and discon- 
 tented, they submitted because the higher authority so 
 decreed, but rage and chagrin rankled in their breasts. 
 The Quebec Mercury, the organ of the British party 
 in the Province, was moved to say, "This Province is 
 far too French for a British Colony. After forty-seven 
 years' possession, it is now fitting that the Province 
 become truly British." 
 
SIB JAMES CRAIG, GOVERNOR. 51 
 
 Whether or not it was to emphasise the opinion 
 of the English inhabitants, so expressed in the 
 Mercury^ or for other reasons, Sir James Craig was 
 sent out to Lower Canada as Governor in time to open 
 the Parhament of 1808. There has perhaps never been 
 a Governor of Canada who had the misfortune to 
 so thoroughly antagonize the French-Canadian party as 
 Sir James Craig. 
 
 A military man, with no experience in the Senate, he 
 was essentially a man of war and not of peace. The 
 new Governor had not been long in the Province 
 before he waged war upon the Assembly, and showed 
 his want of confidence in the Militia by having 
 erased from its rolls several of the most important 
 officers. Mr. Panet, who had the confidence not only 
 of this Assembly, but of the two previous Assemblies, 
 and was their Speaker, met with the displeasure of 
 the Governor because he was, or was supposed to be, ^ 
 one of the proprietors of a nQ^^^^^i^QTc/Li^^^GanadienJ 
 published in the French interest. This newspaper 
 was very outspoken in its comments on Govern- 
 ment and Government p lacemen , which brought it 
 into disfavour with the reigning powers. There was 
 nothing treasonable in Le Canadien's utterances, 
 but it was sufficiently abusive to earn the resentment, 
 not only of the Governor and those surrounding him, 
 but of a majority of the British population. 
 
 The first session of the Assembly, under Sir James 
 Craig's administration, was a stormy one. The Governor, 
 
52 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 the Legislative Council, and the Assembly were at 
 logger-heads. Sir James, a Briton, believed it his 
 duty to act as a Briton, and always favoured the 
 Council, the majority of whose members were British, 
 as against the Assembly which was French-Canadian. 
 The session only lasted thirty-six days, and, for all 
 the good that was effected, might as well have never 
 been called. The Governor, in proroguing the Assembly, 
 which he also dissolved, after lecturing the members 
 in a style more appropriate to a despotic Sovereign 
 than a Constitutional Governor, wound up his speech 
 by saying to the Hous^ "You have wasted by fruitless- 
 debates, excited by private and personal animosity, 
 or by frivolous contests upon trivial matters of form, 
 that time and those talents, to which, within your 
 walls, the public have an exclusive title." 
 
 As if to add fuel to the fire, the Governor took 
 occasion to discriminate between the Council and the 
 Assembly, by telling the Council that the meagre 
 result of the sessional labours did not lie at their 
 door. There were only five bills passed during the 
 whole session, of which three were renewals of former 
 Acts. 
 
 The British party, in the principal towns in the 
 Province, were delighted with the rating the Governor, 
 had given the Assembly, which tended to widen the 
 breach between the Governor and the French-Canadians. 
 Le Canadien, in relation to the Governor's speech, 
 said : *' The King's Eepresentative has power by law to 
 
FRENCH AGGRESSION. 53 
 
 dissolve the House when he thinks fit to do so, but 
 he has no right whatever to make abusive remarks, 
 such as ^ his b ara,r>gnfi. contained, upon the action of 
 the Legislature, a body whic'h i^ absolutely independent 
 of his authority. The resp^t due to this branch is 
 as sacred and as inviolable as that due to His 
 Excellency himself, and those reflections became him 
 all the less, that upon the Governor is the duty 
 specially imposed of paying due respect to that branch 
 of legislature as well as to all other parts of the 
 Government." 
 
 As was to be expected, the strong language used 
 by the Governor was resented, not only by the French- 
 Canadian organ of French-Canadian opinion, but by 
 the Assembly. This branch of the Legislature, at 
 the succeeding session, declared the Governor's strictures 
 a breach of privilege and dangerous to the liberties 
 of the people. The Deputies, members of the 
 Legislature, thought that the Governor's action was 
 prompted more by the officials surrounding him than 
 by his own natural impulses. It Jiow became quite 
 evident to the Assembly that they must bring these " 
 officials under their influence and control. The way 
 to eiiect tnis was ^o make the placemen dependent^ 
 on the Assembly for their salaries. Hitherto, they 
 •^Tiad^'receive d LhBii ' " "Mc uiiit^ fium Iht; -E ng li s h exchequer, 
 or from sources entirely independent of the Eepre- 
 sentatives of the people in Parliament. The embroglio 
 between the Governor and the Assembly was in the 
 
54 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 end productive of ^ood, as it caused the Assembly 
 to declare that it was now prepared to assume the 
 whole cost of civil government. 
 
 There had before this date been established in 
 the Province a Court, called the Court of King's 
 Bench ; Monsieur De Brune was judge of that Court 
 and partial to the Government. He was also a 
 member of the Assembly. This body, in order to get 
 rid of him, humble the Governor, and assert their 
 complete independence of office holders, declared that 
 Judge De Brune should be expelled the House. 
 Sir James Craig thereupon in turn became incensed 
 at the House and their proceedings, stigmatized the 
 act of the Assembly as unconstitutional, and prorogued 
 the Legislature. According to the Constitutional system, 
 then in force, the Governor was right and the 
 Assembly wrong. It may have been a mistake 
 that judges should engage in politics and be elected 
 members of the Assembly, but there was no law 
 against it at that time ; and the Assembly had no 
 more right to expel Judge de Brune than they would 
 \ have had to expel any other member of the Legis- 
 lature. 
 
 The repeated causes of diJBference between the 
 Governor and the Assembly, together with the apparent 
 disposition of the members of that body to oppose 
 everything British, or British-Colonial, so influenced 
 the Governor that he thought the time had come to 
 apprise the British Government that Canada was on 
 
RE UN ION ADVISED. 55 
 
 the brink of a volcano. He saw, or affected to see 
 before him the spec tre of a Eevolution, in imitation 
 of the Eevolution in France, if of smaller dimensions, 
 and in communicating with Lord Liverpool, the British 
 Minister, denounced the French-Canadians, in no 
 stinted terms, as unworthy of confidence ; that they 
 were ignorant, disloyal, enemies of Britain, and in 
 every way disreputable ; that a mistake had been 
 made in entrusting the destinies of Lower Canada to 
 an Assembly whose constituents were French or French- 
 Canadian and so entirely opposed to British interests. 
 Sir James even went so far as to advise the British 
 Government to suspend the Constitution and to reunite 
 the Provinces of Upper and Lower Canada, and in 
 this way give the British portion a commanding 
 influence. 
 
 The advice tendered by Sir James Craig was not 
 acceptable at that time to the British Government, 
 though it was followed at a subsequent period. Sir 
 James Craig's administration was brought to a close 
 just before the breaking out of the war of 1812. It 
 may be said of it that it was of a stormy character 
 and fittingly ended in the foreshadow of a war, which 
 was destined to try the loyalty not only of the French- 
 . Canadian, but of every subject of Canada. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 U. E. Loyalists— John Graves Simcoe, First Governor of Upper 
 Canada — First Parliament of Upper Canada— Simcoe's Death — 
 Peter Russell Administrator— British and American Insur- 
 gents — Irish Rebellion of 1798 — Governor Hunter and his 
 Administration— Discontent in Lower Canada — Governor Gore's 
 Administration — Joseph Willcox, M.P., his Contempt of Parlia- 
 ment and Imprisonment— Mr. Justice Thorpe — Judge Scott — 
 Difference of Parties on Local Government. 
 
 The Constitutional Act of 1791 had been obtained 
 principally through the exertion of the United Empire 
 Loyalists. After the Treaty of Peace of 1783, between 
 Great Britain and the United States, had been declared, 
 numerous loyalists of the American Colonies, some 
 compelled by force, some voluntarily, turned their backs 
 forever on the revolted Colonies and hewed out for 
 themselves homes in the wilderness of Canada. At 
 the time of the passin^g of the Act of 1791, there 
 were not more than twenty thousand inhabitants in that 
 part of Canada forming Upper Canada, and these mostly 
 United Empire Loyalists, men who had sacrificed every- 
 thing they possessed in defending the cause of the King 
 in the New England and other States of America. 
 
 In the period between 1783 and 1791 the Loyalists 
 in Upper Canada had, with almost superhuman labour 
 
GOVERNOR SIMCOE. 57 
 
 in cutting down large forest trees, removing great 
 boulders, putting up log houses and log barns, 
 managed to make settlements on the St. Lawrence 
 west of Cornwall, on the Bay of Quinte, in the 
 Niagara district and London and Western districts. 
 These settlements were far removed from each other, 
 and there was but little intercourse between them, 
 but such as there was, was of the most friendly 
 character. 
 
 There was one man in the British House of 
 Commons at the time of the passing of the Imperial 
 Act of 1791, who was able to give Mr. Pitt, the 
 Prime Minister, very valuable advice and assistance 
 in the passing of that Act. This was John Graves 
 Simcoe, who in time became the first Governor of 
 Upper Canada. 
 
 John Graves Simcoe had gone through the Rebellion 
 of the American Colonies, and had acquitted himself 
 with honour in command of the Queen's Rangers, 
 that corps which performed such eminent service to 
 the Crown in more than one campaign in the struggle 
 which the Americans successfully made for their 
 independence. On the defeat of the British under 
 Cornwallis at Yorktown, a defeat largely brought about 
 by French aid to the Americans, Colonel Simcoe was 
 made prisoner, paroled and returned to England. 
 When it became necessary to appoint a Governor to 
 the newly created Province of Upper Canada, what 
 better selection could be made than to send to the 
 
58 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 Province the man who above all others enjoyed the 
 confidence of the population of Upper Canada, the 
 greater number of whom had been with him and 
 many had even served under him throughout the 
 American Eevolutionary war. 
 
 Colonel Simcoe arrived out from England in 1791, 
 and in passing up the St. Lawrence was received at 
 Johnstown by quite a number of U. E. Loyalists 
 with a salvo of artillery from a gun taken from the 
 old French fort on an island down the river. On 
 his arrival at Kingston, the first Government of the 
 Province of Upper Canada was organized, with a 
 solemnity befitting the occasion. In the church in 
 this town was read and published His Majesty's 
 Commissions, one appointing Lord Dorchester Captain 
 General and Commander in Chief, and the other Col. 
 Simcoe Governor of the Province of Upper Canada. 
 According to the Royal instructions the Governor was 
 given an Executive Council composed of five members. 
 
 In July, 1792, the Executive Council met at 
 Kingston, when the following gentlemen were appointed 
 members of the Legislative Council : Robert Hamilton, 
 Richard Cartwright and John Monroe. It is to be 
 presumed that the Governor took counsel with his 
 new Councillors, all of whom were prominent men in 
 the Province, as to the future government of the 
 country. Governor Simcoe, however, combined strength 
 with judgment. He might consult others, but he was 
 guided by his own opinions. 
 
UPPER CANADA. 59 
 
 When he came to select a capital for the Province 
 he considered that Newark, now Niagara, was the 
 proper site. Fort Niagara at that time on the 
 opposite, or American side, of the river was in 
 possession of the British, retained by them after the 
 Treaty of Peace of 1783 as a hostage for the per- 
 formance of certain articles of the treaty by the 
 Americans. Pitching his tent at Newark, he was 
 under the protection of the old Fort, and could look 
 around him with security and contentment. When he 
 afterwards discovered that it was the intention of the 
 British Government to hand this Fort over to the 
 Americans, he no longer thought Newark a fit place 
 for the seat of government. Hence it was that in 
 1793 the seat of government was removed from 
 Newark or Niagara to Toronto, newly christened York 
 by him in honour of the successes of the Duke of 
 York, on the continent, in the French war. 
 
 The Constitution of 1791, which Governor Simcoe 
 was called upon to administer in Upper Canada, was 
 in the main the same as the Constitution of Lower 
 Canada. There was, as we have seen, an Executive 
 and Legislative Council, and there was also a Legis- 
 lative Assembly of sixteen members. Governor Simcoe had 
 a much easier task in governing Upper Canada under this 
 Constitution than had the Governors of Lower Canada. 
 
 In the Province of Lower Canada there was a 
 mixed community, while in the Upper Province the 
 population was composed of United Empire Loyalists, 
 
60 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 not only with not a drop of French blood in their 
 veins, but men who, when residents in the New England 
 States, before the American Eebellion, had been in con- 
 stant warfare with the French-Canadians. 
 
 The Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada occupied 
 its early days in passing Acts for the material 
 advancement of the Province. There was none of 
 that bickering, occasioned by racial and other causes, 
 which affected the body politic in Lower Canada. 
 During Simcoe's time there was but little political 
 discussion in the Province ; the people had neither 
 time nor inclination to discuss political subjects. 
 There was but one newspaper in the Province, and 
 that was the official gazette, published once a week, 
 which generally contained foreign news a month or 
 two old. As to home matters, the people were mostly 
 concerned about how to secure houses and homes for 
 themselves in the new country. The representatives 
 in the Assembly reflected the wishes of the people, 
 and the Governor was sufficiently occupied in exploring 
 the country, tranquillizing the Indians and establishing 
 a cordon of his old veterans of the Eevolutionary 
 war along the rivers and lakes of the frontiers of 
 the Province, ready to resist any future depredations 
 that the Americans might attempt to make on the 
 Province committed to his charge. 
 
 How well Governor Simcoe administered the affairs 
 of the Province may be gathered from the histories 
 of the time. A reading of the Smith manuscripts. 
 
DEATH OF SIMGOE. 61 
 
 which will be found in the Public Library at Toronto, 
 will convince the reader that his government was a 
 paternal one. He looked upon the United Empire 
 Loyalists as his children, and the widows and children 
 of the United Empire Loyalists as his wards. In 
 
 1806, at which date he had been promoted to the rank 
 of Major-General, that he enjoyed the confidence of the 
 sovereign to the full is evidenced by the fact that on his 
 return to England he, conjointly with Lord St. Vincent, 
 was placed in command of an expedition to thwart the 
 designs of Napoleon Bonaparte, who had threatened to 
 invade Portugal with an army of thirty thousand men. 
 He was taken ill on the voyage to Portugal and he was 
 obliged to return to England. On the 7th February, 
 
 1807, the Upper Canada Gazette published the following 
 notice as a communication from London : — 
 
 " London, November Gth, 1806. 
 " Governor Simcoe, we regret to state, died on Tuesday last, at 
 Topsham in Devonshire." 
 
 In Exeter Cathedral, a monument, with the following 
 
 inscription, was erected to his memory : — 
 
 ' ' Sacred to the Memory 
 
 of 
 
 John Graves Simcoe, 
 
 Lieutenant General in the Army and Colonel of the 22nd Regiment 
 
 of Foot, 
 
 who died on the 25th October, 1806, 
 
 Aged 54 years ; 
 
 In whose life and character the virtues of the Hero, the Patriot and 
 
 the Christian were so eminently conspicuous, that it may be justly 
 
 said, he served his King and his country with a zeal exceeded only by 
 
 his piety toward God." 
 
62 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 The Ontario Government has voted a substantial sum 
 towards the erection of a monument to Governor Simcoe's 
 memory in Toronto, made by him the capital of the 
 Province. 
 
 Major General Peter Hunter, the successor of Governor 
 Simcoe, assumed the government of the Province in 
 August, 1799. The intervening period, between the 
 departure of Governor Simcoe and the arrival of Hunter, 
 was filled by the administration of the Honorable Peter 
 Eussell, as senior member of the Council. Nothing of a 
 startling nature occurred during the administration of 
 Mr. Eussell. As President of the Council, it fell to his 
 lot to issue or order the issue of grants of land. There 
 is a tradition that he had favourites, and that in the 
 exercise of his office some of those favourites profited 
 by his care of their interests. A playful saying, which 
 passed current for many years but has now passed into 
 oblivion, was that grants of land were made 
 which might read — " I Peter Eussell grant to you Peter 
 Eussell." There was little, if any, foundation for the 
 pleasantry. It arose from the fact that it was claimed 
 that his position as a private citizen conflicted with his 
 official duty when he became a purchaser of public 
 lands, and gave an opportunity to his opponents to 
 lay on him the reproach of an unfaithful trustee. There 
 were no political opponents in those days, in a party 
 sense, as there were no defined lines between political 
 parties. There were, however, land opponents. Every 
 one was on the look-out for lands, and if one man 
 
GOVERNOR HUNTER. 63 
 
 crossed the path of another he was an opponent. Presi- 
 dent Eussell had no doubt opponents of this class, who 
 gladly utilized the humorous idea of Peter Russell 
 granting to Peter Russell. 
 
 By the time General Hunter was installed in office 
 as Governor of the Province, a considerable trade had 
 sprung up between the settlers in Upper Canada and their 
 American neighbours. It was much cheaper for the 
 merchants of Upper Canada to get in goods from Albany 
 and New York, than from England by the route of the 
 St. Lawrence. There were no canals in those days, 
 and the rapids of the St. Lawrence offered an almost 
 insurmountable barrier to the importation of goods 
 by that channel. With the importation of American 
 goods, there came into the country a large number of 
 Americans, spying out the richness of the land. The 
 American immigrant was welcome, so long as he con- 
 formed to the laws and institutions of the country, but 
 panoplied with the coat of republicanism, he found it 
 difficult to divest himself of republican prejudices, and 
 it was not long before he attempted to use his persua- 
 siveness to make the Canadians believe that they were 
 terrible sufferers from the want of republican govern- 
 ment. Thus it is that trade and commerce between 
 old countries and new frequently induces an undermining 
 of the new edifice, to gratify the whims . of denizens of 
 the old. 
 
 The American import of goods was thought better 
 than the import of American men. Out of the goods 
 
64 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 there could be collected a revenue, but not out of the 
 men. The Canadian Parliament, to provide for the 
 expense of civil government, during the first years of 
 General Hunter's administration, passed laws to levy 
 a tax on American goods. The levying a tax on goods 
 involved the appointment of collectors and ports of entry, 
 all of which tended to strengthen the country, the 
 revenue financially, and the collectors and ports of entry 
 acting as watchmen and watch towers in defence of the 
 Province. While Canada, and e^ecially Upper Canada, 
 was importing goods from the United States,' she was 
 active in importing men from England, Scotland and J 
 Ireland. The Irish Eebellion of 1798 was the cause of' 
 a large number of the men of the land of the sham- 
 rock leaving the old land for the new. Upper Canada 
 afforded a fine field for the labourers and men accustomed 
 to hard work to better their condition. England and 
 Scotland, (England less than Scotland) contributed their 
 quota of emigrants, so that by the time that Governor 
 Hunter was half through his administration, he was 
 able to report that Upper Canada was being settled by 
 a hardy class of Britons, as a counterpoise to the enter- 
 prising American citizens who were getting a foothold 
 in the country. 
 
 At the period of which we are writing, the first germ of 
 discontent made itself manifest, in the same quarters and 
 from the same cause as had occurred in Lower Canada, 
 that is in the Legislative Council. This body, consisting 
 of five members and the Governor, virtuallv ruled the 
 
GOVERNOR GORE. 65 
 
 Province. The Assembly could pass Acts, but the Council 
 could reject them, and thus stifle public opinion. The 
 Province had not indeed got a Constitution under which, as 
 in England, there was an Executive responsible to the 
 Crown. Barnacles had attached themselves to the 
 Governor and Council, in the shape of needy adventurers 
 out of employment. It was quite evident that in the near 
 future some one, more independent than his fellows, would 
 make an assault on the Government, and the Governor 
 himself might not escape. The explosion, however, was 
 reserved for the reign of a future Governor. General 
 Hunter's administration on the whole was beneficial to the 
 Province. A reference to the statute book will show that 
 the material, if not the political interests of the Province 
 had been well looked to, and that peace and contentment 
 rested with a large majority of the people. 
 
 Governor Hunter was recalled to England in 1805, 
 Alexander Grant, President of the Council, taking his place 
 for a short period, and being succeeded by Francis Gore as 
 Lieutenant-Governor. Governor Gore first met the House 
 of Assembly at the opening of the third session of the 
 Fourth Parliament, on the 2nd February, 1807. In his 
 address to the House he asks the Assembly to unite with 
 him in sentiments of loyalty and gratitude, while reflecting 
 on the very liberal supplies annually afforded to the 
 Province, hy the bounty of the parent state, for its neces- 
 sary expenditure, and to consider whether the mother 
 country ought not in some measure to be relieved from the 
 expense of civil government. 
 
66 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 The Governor is said to have been a man of generous 
 disposition, easily influenced by others. There were not 
 wanting then in Upper Canada plenty of men willing to 
 give their services to the Governor for a consideration. 
 When such men got into the Governor's confidence, he 
 became surrounded by a party who manifested too 
 plainly the insolence of office not to become a mark for 
 men of independent thought. Joseph Willcox was a man ._ 
 of the latter class. He was an Irishman, and in addition to | 
 a sharp tongue, wielded a vigorous pen. He established, 
 or had established for him, a newspaper called the Upper 
 Canada Guardian for the avowed purpose" of acting as a 
 counterfoil to the Canadian Gazette, the Government 
 organ. 
 
 This may be said to have been the first step in forming 
 a new or reform party in the country. Mr. Willcox was 
 enabled to obtain a seat in the Legislature, and become 
 a thorn in the side of the Government party. On the 
 18th February, 1808, it is recorded in the Journals that 
 Captain Cowan, a member of the Assembly, stated on 
 the floor of the House that an honourable member, 
 Joseph Willcox, had made use of language out of doors 
 derogatory to the honour and integrity of the House, 
 and nearly in these words : " That the members of the 
 House of Assembly dared not proceed against him. He 
 was sorry they did not. It would have given him an 
 opportunity of proving they had been bribed by General 
 Hunter, and that he had a member of the House ready 
 to come forward to give testimony to that effect." 
 
JUDGE THORPE. 67 
 
 This rash charge, made by Mr. Willcox, was taken 
 into consideration by the House, and on the report of a 
 Committee and vote of the House, after hearing evidence 
 pro and con., it was unanimously resolved, '' that Joseph 
 Willcox be committed to the common jail of the District 
 (Home), and the Speaker do issue his warrant for that 
 purpose." 
 
 Mr. Gore, the Governor, did not fail to do justice to 
 General Hunter, his predecessor, at the same time expos- 
 ing the total ignorance of Mr. Justice Thorpe, who was 
 a firm ally of Mr. Willcox in his crusade against Governor 
 Hunter, and who had listened to idle stories about the 
 Governor, which were not by any means credited by the 
 respectable people of the Province. In a communication 
 made by Governor Gore to Mr. Windham, Secretary of 
 State, under date of the 29th October, 1806, the Governor 
 thus wrote : "Judge Thorpe has not been in this Colony 
 much more than twelve months, he only saw Lieut.- 
 Governor Hunter at Quebec a short time before his death, 
 whose character and memory he has endeavoured, both 
 in private and public, to degrade, and can only know by 
 report many of the circumstances he thinks proper to 
 allude to, respecting the Government of this Province. 
 . . . It is but justice to General Hunter's character, whom 
 I had not the honour of knowing, to say, that as I am able 
 to judge, his conduct was firm and decided to the pro- 
 moting of the good of this country." 
 
 Mr. Willcox and Justice Thorpe were so intimately 
 connected with the political affairs of the Province at the 
 
68 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 period of which I am writing, 1806-1807, that it is 
 necessary to give some consideration to these two gentle- 
 men, the one a member of Parliament and the other a 
 judge, more particularly as the latter, at all events, had 
 the opportunity and the inclination, both of which he 
 exercised to the fullest extent, to excite the people to dis- 
 content and incipient rebellion. It is not by any means 
 certain that either gentleman was an advocate of a 
 separation of the Colony from the Mother Country, but 
 their acts were such, that considering thei rofi&cial posi- 
 tions, the more unthinking of the people might easily be 
 led to believe that such was their design. There were a 
 good many Americans in the Province, who were but too 
 willing to point to the conduct and sayings of those 
 prominent individuals, as indicative of a desire on the 
 part of the Colonial authorities themselves to change their 
 allegiance. 
 
 Judge Thorpe, from the time he came to the Province 
 to the time he left it, was at perpetual war with the 
 Colonial authorities, and made himself most obnoxious 
 to them. An examination of the correspondence, letters, 
 papers and other documents, official and non-official, 
 which are on file in the archives at Ottawa, and copies 
 of which are to be found in the library of the County of 
 York Law Association at Toronto, will enable a tolerably 
 fair estimate to be made of the character of this gentle- 
 man, both as a judge and as a citizen. In truth he was 
 much more of a politician than a judge, and had a 
 natural bent for intrigue. If, after his appointment to a 
 
JUDGE THORPE. b^^ 
 
 judgeship in the Colony, he had confined himself to 
 official duties, he would have saved himself a great deal 
 of trouble, the Government a great deal of annoyance, and 
 the Province a great deal of discontent, a discontent 
 roused by him to promote his own ends. It is to be 
 presumed that the Government of England, in sending 
 him out in the capacity of judge, considered that he was 
 fitted for the office. His letters and correspondence 
 show that he, at least, thought himself fit for the position 
 he occupied, and that he was worthy of a higher position 
 than that of puisne Judge of the Court of King's Bench, 
 to which he was appointed. He had not been long in 
 the Province when he aspired to be Chief Justice of the 
 King's Bench, or failing that, the head of a Court of 
 Chancery, which he wished to see established. 
 
 On the 5th March, 1806, Judge Thorpe wrote to his 
 friend Edward Cooke, Under Secretary of State, a letter 
 in which is contained the following passage, from which 
 it is clear that he was apprehensive that Judge Scott 
 would be promoted to the Chief Justiceship instead of 
 himself : " Unless you wish to entail misery on the new 
 Governor (Mr. Gore) let no representation induce Lord 
 Castlereagh to do anything for Mr. McGill or Mr. Scott, 
 until the Governor knows them and the present state of 
 this Province. 
 
 " Mr. Allcock is appointed to Lower Canada. He 
 became Chief Justice of this place from the seat I now fill 
 on the Bench, but I do not press that as an inducement 
 for Lord Castlereagh to place me there ; I hope the 
 
70 REBELLION OF 1837.' 
 
 knowledge I have shown in my profession, the exertion I 
 have made for the Government, and the confidence the 
 pubhc have of my ability and integrity, will have its full 
 weight with His Lordship, but if anything should induce 
 him to disgrace me, by sending any one over me, I only 
 beg you will intercede to have me removed, for to remain 
 would kill me." 
 
 The judge speaks of the confidence " the public have 
 of his ability and integrity." This confidence was im- 
 parted by political speeches made by him to Grand Juries 
 when on circuit. In these speeches he was evidently 
 paving the way for a candidature to the Legislative 
 Assembly. In his remarks in making his address to 
 juries, he had no scruple in attacking the Government in , 
 their administration, and not content with that, arraigned 
 their capacity for governing. at all. At the assizes of 
 the London District he was favoured with an address from 
 the Grand Jury of that District, and in answer he said 
 among other things : — 
 
 " The act of governing is a difficult science, know- 
 ledge is not intuitive, and the days of inspiration have 
 passed away; therefore when there was neither talent, 
 education, information, or even manner in the administra- 
 tion, little could be expected and nothing was produced. 
 But there is an ultimate point of depression as well as 
 exaltation from whence all human affairs naturally ad- 
 vance or recede. Therefore, proportionate to your depres- 
 sion, we may expect your progress in prosperity will 
 advance with accelerated velocity." 
 
JUDGE THORPE'S ELECTION. 71 
 
 These addresses of the judge to Grand Juries and 
 replies elicited by him were during the month of Septem- 
 ber, 1806, and evidently bore fruit. It is recorded in the 
 journals that at a meeting of freeholders, held at Moore's 
 Hotel, on the 20th October, 1806, for the purpose of 
 considering of a proper person to represent them in 
 Parliament, William Willcox, Esquire, in the chair, 
 it was resolved unanimously, that Mr. Justice Thorpe 
 be requested to represent the counties of York, Durham 
 and Simcoe, in the place of the late lamented William 
 Weeks, Esquire, deceased. Justice Thorpe accepted the 
 nomination thus tendered, and was elected member of the 
 House of Assembly. It is quite clear that Judge Thorpe 
 was elected by the democracy of the counties named, 
 that is by those who had been drawn into the belief that 
 the Government of Upper Canada was too exclusive and 
 not sufficiently democratic. 
 
 Mr. Thomas B. Gough was the opposing candidate, 
 and after his defeat, under date of January 8th, 1807; he 
 issued an address to the electors thanking them for the 
 support they had given him, though unsuccessful, and 
 said: "You went to the hustings, gentlemen, under the 
 banners of liberty, loj^alty and union, with hearts 
 animated with pure love of King and Constitution, and 
 many of you have proved your attachment thereto by 
 shedding your blood in their support ; but your opponents 
 were preceded by the standard of discord, anarchy and 
 rebellion, which in another part of the Empire has led 
 thousands to a premature death," etc., etc. 
 
72 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 To this address of Mr. Gough, the supporters of Judge 
 Thorpe made answer, in which they defended themselves 
 against the charge of discord and anarchy, referred to the 
 loyal flags carried by them, inscribed with the King's 
 Crown and initials G. E., " Freedom of election," the 
 crown and harp, surrounded with the words " The King, 
 the People, the Law, Thorpe and the Constitution," 
 and then resolved : " That we know no discontented 
 demagogues, nor if we did could not be deluded by them. 
 Many of us have fought, bled and sacrificed our families 
 and properties for the British Government ; we have 
 exerted and ever will exert ourselves to preserve the 
 freedom of election from all undue influences, and to 
 the last moment of our lives shall be ready to support 
 our King and Constitution." 
 
 These deliverances abundantly prove that the real 
 cause of difference between the parties was not on 
 account of the Home Government, but rather the local 
 Government of the Province. Proof also is afforded 
 that Judge Thorpe had among his supporters United 
 Empire Loyalists, and others who claimed to be as 
 loyal as those who were content with the existing order 
 of things. There were many of the U. E. class who felt 
 themselves under obligation to Judge Thorpe, for exer- 
 tions he had made in their behalf at a former period, 
 to obtain their grants for land, as compensation for the 
 loss they had sustained in the service of the Crown. 
 
 Governor Gore had not so high an opinion of Judge 
 Thorpe as had the electors of York, Simcoe and Durham. 
 
JUDGE THORPE IN THE HOUSE. 73 
 
 In a conversation which he had with the Governor's 
 Secretary on the 31st October, 1806, Judge Thorpe placed 
 before him a list of certain grievances which he thought 
 affected the body politic, the character of some of which 
 may be gathered from the comments thereon made by 
 the Governor and forwarded to England. The Governor 
 said : ''Truth is always consistent, but what can be said 
 of a man who in the course of one conversation asserts 
 that the people are so discontented, that it has been 
 said, ' two hundred Americans might take the Province, ' 
 and a little after, that the ' people were extremely well 
 disposed, and that the smallest coincidence with their 
 wishes would do a great deal.' The plain English of 
 all this is, let me dictate to you, and everything will go 
 well. I, the people, though not the actual language is 
 in reality a characteristic motto of Mr. Thorpe and 
 every other factious demagogue." 
 
 To return to Judge Thorpe as a member of the 
 Legislative Assembly. On the 9th February, 1807, a 
 petition was presented to the House by electors of the 
 Counties of Durham, Simcoe and East Riding of York 
 against his return as member of those counties and 
 riding, on the ground that he was ineligible, being a 
 Judge of the King's Bench, " that the election of a judge 
 to be a member of the Assembly was unconstitutional, 
 inasmuch as being an attempt to clothe, arm and blend 
 in one person the conflicting powers, authorities and 
 jurisdiction of its legislative functions." On the 10th of 
 February, 1807, the prayer of this petition was rejected 
 
74 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 by the House. Thus we have the spectacle presented 
 of the Upper Canada Assembly recognizing the right of 
 a judge to sit in Parliament, while in Lower Canada 
 that right was denied to Judge de Bonne, who was 
 expelled the Legislature. In Upper Canada the judge 
 allowed to retain his seat was a violent opponent 
 of the Government, while in Lower Canada the judge 
 was a supporter of the Government, a French-Canadian, 
 and expelled by the votes of his compatriots. Who then 
 were the Liberals — the Parliamentary representatives of 
 Quebec, or those of Upper Canada ? 
 
 It is not necessary to discuss Mr. Thorpe at any 
 greater length. His conduct was sure at some time to 
 bring upon him the displeasure of the Governor and his 
 Council, and even the Home Government. 
 
 On the 19th June, 1807, Lord Castlereagh, Prime 
 Minister, addressed to Lieut.-Gov. Gore a letter in which 
 he said, " The various particulars which you have stated 
 of Mr. Justice Thorpe's having exceeded his duties as a 
 judge by mixing in the political parties of the Province 
 and encouraging an opposition to the administration, 
 afforded such well grounded reasons for believing that 
 his continuance in office would lead to. the discredit and 
 disservice of His Majesty's Government, that I am com- 
 manded to signify to you His Majesty's pleasure that you 
 suspend Mr. Thorpe from the office of judge in Upper Canada, 
 and measures will be taken for appointing a successor." 
 
 In the same communication Lord Castlereagh took 
 occasion to say that he might be able, "to recommend 
 
JUDGE THORPE RE-GALLED. 75 
 
 Judge Thorpe to some other professional situation under 
 an assurance that he will confine himself to the duties 
 of this profession hereafter, and abstain from engaging 
 in Provincial party politics." 
 
 The careers of Joseph Willcox, sheriff, and of Judge 
 Thorpe as politicians were of an extraordinary character. 
 Both were officials of the Government, and yet were 
 strong adversaries of that Government. Both came from 
 the Old Country, no doubt to improve their positioner, 
 and yet waged war with the Colonial authorities. It is 
 too late in the day to recognize in the old Canadian 
 Colonial Government, under the Act of 1791, a system 
 of government most conducive to British liberty. The acts 
 of both Justice Thorpe and Mr. Willcox may have been 
 instigated by a desire to improve the system of Colonial 
 Government then existent, but unfortunately in their case, 
 especially in the case of the former, they had the 
 appearance of being instigated by personal ambition 
 and party spite. If Judge Thorpe had been made Chief 
 Justice it might have been that his better nature would 
 have dominated, and himself and the colony spared 
 much anxiety and political excitement. The country 
 survived the judge's deposition. Governor Gore, whom 
 he made his enemy, in IBll left the Province for 
 England on temporary leave of absence, leaving the 
 affairs of the Province in charge of Major General Brock, 
 who had too many military duties to attend to to concern 
 himself about political affairs, except so far as was necessary 
 to maintain the honour and dignity of the Province. 
 
CHAPTEK V. 
 
 U. S. Declaration of War Against Great Britain, 1812— French Cana- 
 dians and English-Canadians at One in Defending Canada — 
 American Hopes Built on Canadian Disappointments— The War 
 of 1812, its Lessons and Consequences— Sir George Prevost, his 
 Administration — A Party in Opposition to Government — Louis 
 Joseph Papineau Elected Speaker of Assembly of L. C. — His 
 Great Ability — Sir John Sherbrooke, Governor of Lower 
 Canada — Concessions to the Province— The Duke of Richmond 
 Succeeds Sherbrooke — Napoleon and Waterloo — The Duke of 
 Richmond Offends the Lower Canadian Assembly — The Duke's 
 Death in Canada — Louis J. Papineau Delivers a Thoroughly 
 British Speech to Electors in Montreal — Claim of L. C. Assem- 
 bly — Legislative Council and Assembly at Loggerheads — Colonial 
 Office Endeavours to Heal Differences— Constitution of 1791 
 Threatened — Re-Union of Provinces Agitated — Bill Brought 
 into House of Commons — Bill Rejected — Lord Dalhousie's 
 Administration — Governor's Refusal to Recognize Papineau as 
 Speaker, 
 
 With the opening of 1812, war's alarm is sounded and 
 British, British-Canadians and French-Canadians march 
 shoulder to shoulder to the conflict. The Americans 
 may have secured their independence with the aid of 
 Lafayette, but notwithstanding the seeds of dissension 
 which had been sown among them by interested repub- 
 licans from across the border, the Canadians of all 
 classes were determined to defend their country to the 
 last extremity. 
 
WAB OF 1812. 11 
 
 The United States Government declared war against 
 Great Britain on the 18th June, 1812, relying no doubt 
 on the assistance they might expect to get from France 
 in 1812, as they had previously had in the war of the 
 Eevolution, as also, because they were aware, as Mr. 
 Eobert Christie has well said in his History of Lower 
 Canada, " that recent events had soured the temper of 
 the great body of the French-Canadian population, and 
 the American Government built upon the circumstance, 
 expecting that far from opposing, they would hail the 
 invaders of Canada as their deliverers." 
 
 That they built their hopes of conquering Canada 
 on an insecure foundation, so far as assistance from 
 the French-Canadians was concerned, is made manifest 
 from the alacrity with which the French- Canadians 
 pledged the resources of their Province for the public 
 defence. The session before the actual declaration of 
 war by the United States was opened by the Governor, 
 Sir George Prevost, on the 21st February, 1812. The 
 Parliament at once set about preparing for the defence 
 of the Province. Twelve thousand pounds were granted 
 for drilling the local militia, twenty thousand pounds 
 for incidental measures of defence, while a further sum 
 of thirty thousand pounds was placed at the Governor's 
 disposal should war be declared between Great Britain 
 and the United States. 
 
 Taking into account the fact that the total revenue 
 of the Province was seventy-five thousand pounds, 
 charged with the expenses of the civil list of fifty-nine 
 
78 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 thousand pounds, the war defence fund was a splendid] 
 contribution by the Province of Lower Canada. Morel 
 than this, when it became known at Quebec on the 
 24th June, 1812, that Congress h^^L^actually-d^elai;^ 
 war, a Provincial Statute wa^ at once passed to 
 legalize the issue of army billsj to the amount of two 
 hundred and fifty thousand pounds, in order to replenish 
 the public exchequer, and an annual grant of fifteen , 
 thousand pounds made for five years, to pay whatever 
 interest might accrue. On the 6th July, 1812, the 
 whole Militia of the Province had been directed to 
 hold themselves in readiness to be embodied, while/ 
 the flank companies of the Montreal Militia wer^ 
 formed into a battalion and armed. 
 
 These acts of public spirit and beneficence afford 
 an object lesson to all, that it is not safe to trust 
 to political differences which exist, and will doubtless 
 continue to exist in Canada, as a permission to foreign 
 nations to make war upon a peace-loving people. In 
 the war of 1812, the Canadians, French and English, 
 acquitted themselves nobly, and under skilful com- 
 manders were able to transfer their country to their 
 descendants unscathed, purified by the blood of patriotic 
 men of both nationalities, shed in its defence. 
 
 It should be noticed that Sir George Prevost, the 
 Governor General and Commander-in-Chief, throughout 
 the war had, by his liberality towards the French 
 element in Lower Canada, aroused the ire of the 
 ultra-British element of that Province. In acting as 
 
 1 
 
SIR GEORGE PREVOST. 79 
 
 be did, however, he had a purpose in view, in which 
 he succeeded. This was to gain the entire confidence 
 of the French-Canadians, so necessary at a time when 
 every man was required to do his part in defence of 
 the Province. 
 
 During the war domestic strife was buried in the 
 performance of public duty. The war ended in 1814. 
 As may be supposed, the Canadas, Upper and Lower, 
 were much exhausted by the strain that had been placed 
 upon them. Leaving out of account the lives that had 
 been lost in the struggle, there was much else to mourn 
 over. Fields were untilled, houses were unbuilt, 
 improvements neglected, and the country generally 
 deprived of nourishment, the product of honest labour. 
 
 It behooved, then, the survivors of the war to set 
 about building up what had been pulled down, and to 
 place their country in a position to compete with other 
 nations in progress and advancement. 
 
 Both the Provinces of Upper and Lower Canada 
 had shared in the perils of the war. It will now be 
 our task to see how they vied with each other in their 
 onward march in the paths of peace and development. 
 We have seen in previous chapters that before the 
 commencement of the war, there was a wide difference 
 of opinion among the inhabitants of Lower Canada as 
 to the excellence of the Colonial administration of 
 government, and that in Upper Canada there had 
 gun to be formed a party in direct opposition to 
 e Government. 
 
80 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 In the session of the Lower Canada Legislature^ 
 which assembled on the 16th January, 1817, M. Panet 
 having been called to the Upper House, Mr. Louis 
 Joseph Papineau was elected Speaker of the Assembly. 
 Louis Joseph Papineau's father had been an ardent 
 supporter of the British Government in its rule over 
 Lower Canada. He himself was no less an admirer 
 of the British system of government, but was at the 
 same time opposed to the Colonial government, which 
 was not in his opinion a fit representation of the 
 mother government. He held indeed that it was a 
 government which had to be pruned of its useless 
 branches, or else the trunk would fall to the ground. The 
 members elected to the Legislature were of his opinion and 
 shared his sentiments, which, added to his commanding 
 ability, signalled him out as the most worthy successor of 
 M. Panet, but lately appointed to the Legislative Council. 
 
 Sir John Coape Sherbrooke had at this time suc- 
 ceeded to the Governorship of the Province. He made 
 himself very popular in Lower Canada by the lively 
 interest he took in the affairs of the Province. Early 
 frosts having destroyed the wheat crops of the Province, 
 so that starvation threatened many parishes, he took 
 the responsibility of advancing from the public chest 
 a sum of nearly fifteen thousand pounds for the 
 relief of the distressed. The Assembly on its meeting 
 made this good to him, and at the same time acceded 
 to his recommendation to vote ^0 1,000 per annum to Mr. 
 Speaker Papinep^u during that Parliament. 
 
SIB JOHX SHERBROOKE. 81 
 
 In this way complete harmony was established 
 between the Governor and the Assembly. In the 
 meanwhile much progress was being made in Lower 
 Canada in the development of civil government. The 
 Colonial office had by this time become convinced 
 that it was necessary to 'make some concessions to 
 the popular feeling of the Province. Sir John Sher-, 
 brooke, on opening the Provincial Legislature of 1818, 
 was enabled to inform the Assembly that its' former 
 offer to defray the expenses of the civil list had been 
 accepted by the Home Government. The Assembly 
 welcomed this concession as a great boon, and voted 
 three thousand pounds towards the expenses of the 
 civil government. By this means they acquired some 
 control over Government officials, who, hitherto baskmg 
 in the sunshine of Government favour, were becoming 
 arrogant and offensive to the French-Canadian part of 
 the community. 
 
 Before the close of the year. Sir John Sherbrooke 
 returned to England on the plea of ill health. His 
 departure was signalized by a most ostentatious show 
 of regret on the part of the people of the Province, 
 both French and English. Though in the estimation 
 of the British part of the population he had leaned 
 more than was to their liking to the French-Cana- 
 dians, they nevertheless did him honour. As a soldier 
 he had distinguished himself in the British service in 
 India, and had served under Wellington in the Peninsula. 
 The British inhabitants of the Colony were too generous 
 
82 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 to allow even a fault of administration, if it were a fault, 
 to prevent them doing honour to His Majesty's Eepre- 
 sentative in a Province which ever since its inauguration 
 had, owing to racial difficulties, been a source of constant 
 concern to those clothed with authority, both at home 
 and in the Colony. 
 
 Sir John Sherbrooke was succeeded in the govern- 
 ment by the Duke of Richmond, who came to the 
 Province with the prestige of having been Lord Lieu- 
 tenant of Ireland. This is the same Duke of Richmond, 
 who the night before the battle of Waterloo, gave a 
 ball at Brussels, which was attended by the flower of 
 the military then at Belgium's capital and in its vicinity, 
 awaiting the attack of Napoleon Bonaparte on the allied 
 forces of Britain and Prussia, who were combined in 
 defending the liberties of Europe. Many a brave heart 
 that beat strong that night, beat no more after the 
 sanguinary engagement at Waterloo. 
 
 This was the ball that Byron has commemorated 
 in the well-known lines in " Childe Harold." 
 
 When he arrived in Canada as Governor-General, 
 the Duke was accompanied by Sir Peregrine Maitland, 
 his son-in-law, who had been appointed Lieutenant 
 Governor of Upper Canada. 
 
 The people of Lower Canada thought that in being 
 honoured with a Duke for ruler they had been ushered 
 into the presence of Royalty itself. The Duke 
 endeavoured to make himself and his administration 
 agreeable to the people he had come to govern. He 
 
DUKE OF RICHMOND. 83 
 
 brought with him to the Province a large retinue, 
 and was disposed to rule the country in truly princely 
 fashion. The French-Canadians, who predominated, were 
 disappointed in their expectations of the Duke in the 
 matter of government, and were struck with amaze- 
 ment at this extravagant pretension. The Duke was 
 not a thrifty man ; on the contrary, he had by lavish 
 expenditure well nigh impoverished himself, and from 
 a French-Canadian point of view would impoverish the 
 Province of Lower Canada if the native element did not 
 interfere on behalf of the Province. 
 
 On the meeting of the Assembly on the 12th 
 January, 1819, that body was startled at finding that in 
 the estimated expenditure of the year sent down by 
 the Government there was a large increase over previous 
 years. The Duke was soon apprised that the Assembly 
 could not justify to their constituents any increase 
 whatever of the expenditure". On the contrary, the 
 Assembly was for a rigid economy and decrease 
 expenditure. The Assembly was not in a mood at 
 this time to leave the making of the civil list to the 
 Government of the day. They were contending for aT 
 complete control of the list, even so far as to fixing 
 the amount to be paid to each individual engaged 
 in the civil service. This was too serious a claim 
 for the Government to submit to with equanimity, 
 and on a subsidy bill passing the Assembly in the 
 shape that that body demanded, namely specifying 
 the sum to be paid to each officer of the Governor i 
 
 / 
 
84 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 f ^ his sem ces, the bill was promptly rejected by 
 the Legislative Council who declared, " that the mode 
 adopted in it (the Legislative Assembly) was unconstitu- 
 tional, unparalleled and incompatible with the rights, 
 even - in direct violation of the prerogatives of the 
 Crown." This language seems strange at the present 
 day when we know that the popular branch of the 
 Legislature has absolute control over the public 
 expenditure. 
 
 / It had been the settled policy of the British 
 Grovernment to maintain a check on the French-Cana- 
 /dians, through the agency of the Legislative Council. 
 / Thus, Lord Bathurst, in the previous year, 1817, dis- 
 cussing the matter of the finances of Lower Canada 
 with Sir James Sherbrooke, the then Governor, had 
 said : " The necessity of a concurrence of the whole 
 Legislature in a money grant is the only tight curb 
 which can be put on the action of the Assembly. 
 You will agree with me in opinion, that now more 
 than ever, it should not be relaxed or abandoned." 
 
 The Duke of Eichmond approved of the action of 
 the Legislative Council in thwarting the Assembly's 
 bill of supplies and on proroguing Parliament took 
 occasion to censure the Assembly, while commending 
 the Council for the steps taken by that body in 
 rejecting the supply bill. To the two bodies he said : 
 " As for you, gentlemen of the Council, I must 
 say you have not disappointed my hopes, and I beg 
 to return you my thanks for the zeal and alacrity 
 
DEATH OF DUKE OF RICHMOND. 85 
 
 you have shown in all that more immediately belongs 
 to your body, but it is with much concern I feel 
 myself compelled to say, that I cannot express to 
 you, gentlemen of the Assembly, the same siatisfaction, 
 nor my approbation of the general result of your 
 labours (at the expense of so much valuable time)^ 
 nor yet of the principles upon which they rest, as 
 recorded in your journals. . . . The bill of appropria- 
 tion which you passed, was founded upon such principles 
 that it appears, from the journals of the Upper 
 House, to have been most constitutionally rejected." 
 
 This address of the Duke gave great offence to the 
 French-Canadians. The distinguishing between the 
 relative merits of the Council and Assembly expressed 
 in the address was well calculated to annoy the sensi- 
 tive French-Canadians, and-^hey^were loud in their 
 condemnation of the ducal utterances. 
 
 Notwithstanding the Duke's lecture, he was willing 
 to accord to Lower Canada his meed of praise for 
 their loyalty to the Sovereign of Great Britain. He 
 .wrote to Lord Bathurst, Colonial Minister, that the 
 people of Lower Canada were satisfied with their Con- 
 stitution ; and that perfect reliance might be placed in 
 their loyalty, should the United States ever invade 
 the Colony. 
 
 The Duke of Eichmond lost his life in Canada. 
 He died at Eichmond, a village not far frona Ottawa, 
 where he succumbed to injuries brought about by the 
 bite of a tame fox. His body was interred at Eichmond, 
 
86 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 and was afterwards removed to the citadel of Quebec, 
 where his bones now repose. His reign was a short one, 
 brilliant in the eyes of the English-speaking inhabitants 
 of the Province, but too magnificent to be altogether 
 satisfactory to the French-Canadians. Owing to his 
 sudden death the administration of the government 
 devolved on the senior member of the Council, who 
 dissolved the Assembly on the 9th February, 1820. 
 
 It was found on the meeting of the next Parliament 
 that the French-Canadian element in the Province had 
 by their votes resented the insult, or supposed insult, 
 offered to the members of the last Assembly, and that 
 the habitants had returned to the new Assembly a 
 majority of members who had declared themselves opposed 
 to the Executive Council. 
 
 The demise of George III., news of which reached 
 Quebec in April, caused another dissolution of the 
 Parliament, followed by an election held under the 
 administration of Lord Dalhousie, appointed to succeed 
 the Duke of Eichmond as Governor of the Province. 
 This election was chiefly remarkable for a speech delivered 
 to the electors of the West Ward of Montreal by Mr. 
 Louis Joseph Papineau, which shows how Mr. Papineau 
 then appreciated his status as a British subject, and for 
 the comparison he made between British rule and French 
 rule. Mr. Papineau said : '* Then," (referring to the 
 French regime) " trade was monopolised by privileged 
 companies, public and private property often pillaged, 
 personal liberty daily violated, and the inhabitants 
 
LORD DALHOUSIE. 87 
 
 dragged year after year from their homes and families 
 to shed their blood from the shores of the great lakes, 
 from the banks of the Mississippi and the Ohio, to 
 Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Hudson Bay. Now, 
 religious toleration, trial by jury, the Act of Habeas 
 Corpus afford legal and equal security to all, and we 
 need submit to no other laws but those of our making. 
 All these advantages have become our birthright, and 
 shall, I hope, be the lasting inheritance of our posterity. 
 To secure them, let us only act as British subjects and 
 free men." 
 
 How strange do these words sound in our ears, 
 knowing as we do that before two decades were over, 
 Papineau was a leader in rebellion against the Govern- 
 ment of the country. Papineau was the undoubted 
 leader of the French party in the Province of Lower 
 Canada. He had been elected Speaker in the last 
 Assembly. He was now again elected to the House, 
 notwithstanding the opposition of the Government 
 party. 
 
 Everj_ne^LJlavernor who came t^ Lower Canada was 
 furnished with instructions to carry out the same course 
 as his predecessor ; that course was to resist all attempts 
 on the part of the Assembly to obtain control of the 
 civil list, the public expenditure of the country The 
 address of Lord Dalhousie on opening the Legislature 
 elicited from the Assembly a clear exposition of their 
 position in regard to the civil list. ^^^TEey claimed 
 absolute and unequivocal control over the entire list, not 
 
88 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 recognizing the Government's claim to share in the con- 
 trol of any part of it. They claimed that the Governor 
 had no constitutional right to dictate to their body 
 how the civil list should be made up, or for how long 
 a time voted. Th^y demanded that_the appropria- 
 tions shoul d be j jumal, and not for the_ life oPlEEfi^ 
 Sov^reigUj, as^was contended for by^ the king^s repre- 
 sentative. They insisted that they, and not the 
 Tjfovernoror^Council, had the right to initiate the bill 
 of supplies. 
 
 As might be supposed, these claims of the Assembly 
 
 'ere all rejected by the Legislative Council, as wholly 
 
 untenable and unconstitutional, if not revolutionary. 
 
 The Council not only rejected the civil list prepared 
 
 by the Assembly, and voted by that body, but in doing 
 
 so proclaimed their right to exercise a full and. entire 
 
 control over the public expenditure. They saM_ " That^^ 
 
 the Council had an incontestible right to join in voting 
 
 the supplies ; that the right extended to the 0£tion of 
 
 / accepting or rejecting the ways and means devised by 
 
 ' the Assembly and sent for the consideration of the 
 
 I Council ; that any grant of money without the Council's 
 
 Y concurrence was in itself literally null : that the Council 
 
 >rwouId entertain no enumeration of supplies till such ■ 
 
 >^ere first demanded by His Majesty's representative, 
 
 nor if it were, dividedjitp chapters and items, nor if 
 
 the civil list were not fixed for the whole reign of the 
 
 kihg. Finally, that the Cou ncil would pay no heed to 
 
 anyy bill of supply initiated by the Assembly, unless 
 
COUNCIL AGAINST ASSEMBLY. 89 
 
 it were one relating to payments for its own mainten- 
 
 ance, as a constituted body, or else to meet some unfore- 
 seen and urgent call upon it." 
 
 There was thus a complete issue between the 
 
 Assembly and the Council. The Council would not 
 
 deld to the Assembly, nor the Assembly to the Council. 
 
 ^he Governor sided with the Council, as he could not 
 
 i^lp doing, carrying out the general instructions he 
 
 had received for the performance of his duty as chief 
 
 executive officer of the Colony. As has been said before, 
 
 it was the constant policy of the Colonial office to keep 
 
 co ntrol ove r %]).& disbursements _ne ce s s ary Jo„ .lie. Jliaie^ 
 
 in the man agement of the affairs o^ the Province, and 
 
 this was d one through the channels of the Lieutenant 
 
 Governor and Legislative Council. 
 
 accuse the Assembly 
 
 le Council did not hesitate to 
 of sedition and seditious practices, for their attempts to 
 resist the demands of their honourable body, and the 
 Governor was inclined to share with the Council the senti- 
 ments which they entertained towards the popular branch. 
 This state of things could not be allowed to continue 
 for a very long time. The friction between the Assembly 
 and the Council had now reached that stage that sonie 
 remedy must be found to cure the evil. The Colonial 
 office set about the task. In discussing the matters of 
 differences between the Council and the Assembly it 
 was found that they were irreconcilable, /it was further 
 faiiad'-that^iiifferences had sprun g up b etween jj pper 
 Canada and Lower Canada arising^ out of the claim of 
 
90 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 U^ per Canada to a larger port ion of the cus toms 
 revenuej han Lower (jana^da wafe Willing t o concede. TEe" 
 only cure of these differences seemed to be a revocation 
 of the Canadian Constitution of the year 1791, and 
 there-union of the Provinces. /The British Government 
 resolved to execute this project and introduced to the 
 Parliament a bill to effect that object, but this coming 
 to the ears of the French Canadians they strongly 
 remonstrated, and the bill was withdrawn. \ 
 
 The circumstances connected with ^his attempt at 
 re-union of the Provinces might almost be called 
 romantic. The idea of such a re-union had for some 
 time engaged the attention of the Colonial office in 
 London, but did not come to a head till 1823. The 
 Anglo-Canadian population of the Province had the 
 ear of the Governor, and brought such influences to 
 bear that the measure had the almost undivided 
 'support of the British party of the community. The 
 object in view was, by a union with Upper Canada, to 
 neutralize the attempts being made by the French- 
 Canadians to render the carrying out of the existing 
 constitution impracticable. Now there was at this 
 time in the Province of Lower Canada one man who 
 had great influence with the British residents, as well 
 as with the British ministry. That man was Mr. 
 Ellice, the seignior of Beauharnois, who had for a wife 
 a daughter of Earl Grey. 
 
 In 1820, Mr. Ellice had almost persuaded the British 
 Cabinet to propose the measure to the British Parliament. 
 
PROPOSED UNION OF PROVINCES. 91 
 
 The measure itself was one which could not help meeting 
 violent opposition from the French-Canadian party 
 in the Province, as soon as it became known such a 
 bill was to be introduced into the House of Commons. 
 It gave jt o Low er Canada a smaller representation than 
 to the Upper Province, notwithstanding the larg e^ major ity 
 of French-Cana dians over the Anglo-Canadians in the 
 former Province. It vested in the Council the privilege of 
 taking part in the discussions of the Assembly, thus 
 giving to that body a mixed nominative and elective 
 character. It abolished the use of the French language 
 in the debates and public acts of the Legislature, and 
 limited the religious liberty and rights of the Catholic 
 Church, or let it rather be said the rights and privileges 
 claimed by the Catholic Church. It retained the right 
 of the Assembly touching the disposal of revenue derived 
 from taxes. 
 
 When this measure was introduced to the British 
 Commons there was in England a Mr. Parker, a trader, 
 who in his ventures in trade, had become acquainted 
 with the French-Canadians' susceptibilities ; he was 
 then living in retirement in England. He lost no time 
 in acquainting the Colonial office that such an act would 
 be most obnoxious to the French-Canadians, and imputed 
 its introduction to the work of Mr. Ellice. He only 
 asked time for Canada to be heard from. The Colonial 
 office was deaf to his remonstrances, but the measure 
 coming before the Commons, Sir James Mcintosh and 
 
92 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 his political friends espoused the cause of the French - 
 Canadians, and the bill was shelved for a year at all 
 events. 
 
 When it became known in the Province that such a 
 bill had been introduced, the excitement of the French- 
 Canadians knew no bounds. It expressed itself in meet- 
 ings got up to oppose the bill, in public and private 
 remonstrances, and in petitions, containing 60,000 sig- 
 natures, sent to the Colonial Office and the British Par- 
 liament, couched in respectful language but loudly protest- 
 ing against the proposed legislation. These petitions were 
 confided to Messrs. Papineau and Neilson, who went to 
 England to lay them before the proper bodies. This was 
 during the recess of the Lower Canadian Assembly. In 
 its next session that body proceeded at once to pass strong 
 resolutions against the measure. 
 
 As to Upper Canada, it was also strongly opposed to 
 the union. The people of that Province, on the whole, 
 were contented with the Constitutional Act of 1791. There 
 were some discontented spirits of the Thorpe type, but 
 the majority were content to live under the Constitution, 
 though perhaps they were not given by it that measure of 
 liberty enjoyed in the old land, and which new-comers 
 to the Province, not distinguishing between a parent state 
 and a colony, would have wished to see in the Province. 
 
 Even the Legislative Council of Lower Canada joined 
 in hostility to the Bill, and sent addresses to Messrs. 
 Papineau and Neilson for transmission to the King and 
 House of Parliament against . the measure. This was the 
 
OPPOSITION TO UXIOX. 93 
 
 only occasion for a long time in which the Legislative 
 Council and the Assembly, though for entirely different 
 reasons, met on common ground. The Councillors were 
 opposed to the bill because, if it passed, their hold on 
 the Government would be disturbed ; the Assembly, because 
 the passage of the bill would have threatened their very 
 existence. Thus opposed, the measure for a time received 
 its quietus in the House of Commons, but only for a time, 
 as at a later day it was revived in a different form, and at 
 length gained the assent of the British Parliament. 
 ^ The next session of the Lower Canada Legislature met 
 
 /in November, 1823. Lord Dalhousie then found it to be 
 his duty to inform the Chambers that the Keceiver-Gen6ral 
 was a defaulter to the extent of £96,000, equal to two 
 years' revenue of the colony. 
 
 It was* found on enquiry that the officer in question 
 had been appointed to his responsible office without any 
 security having been exacted for the faithful performance 
 of his duties. His appointment was by the Home, not 
 the Colonial Government. Here was a fresh grievance 
 made to hand, justifying the Colonial Assembly in the 
 war they had made on the Colonial Government in regard 
 to the appointment of Colonial officials. The Assembly, 
 
 ^as we have seen, was constantly demanding the control 
 of the civil list, the appointment of officers to carry on 
 the government, their incomes and tenure of office ; 
 while this was as constantly resisted by the Legislative 
 Council and the Governor, acting no doubt under instruc- 
 tions of the Colonial Office. The defalcation of the 
 
94 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 yileceiver-General being brought under notice of the House, 
 a committee of that body declared the Home Government 
 responsible for the malversation in office of the functionary. 
 As was to be expected, this mishap again brought up 
 the question of the civil list. When the estimates were 
 brought down, the Assembly, under the leadership of 
 Mr. Papineau, rejected the Government proposals, and 
 demanded a reduction of twenty-five per cent, in all sal- 
 aries, which not being acceded to, they stopped the sup- 
 plies and left the Government to carry on public affairs 
 as best they could. This was a sorry position for the 
 Government. The moneys they ought to have received 
 from the Eeceiver-General unaccounted for, the Colonial 
 treasury empty, and the Assembly unwilling to come to 
 the rescue, there was nothing for it but that the Governor 
 prorogue Parliament, which he did on the 9th of March, 
 1824. 
 
 Soon after the close of the session. Lord Dalhousie 
 returned to England. In the ensuing summer the Pro- 
 vincial Parliamentary election was held, and served only 
 to increase the number of members elected in opposition 
 to the Government. This election took place under the 
 presidency of Sir F. Burton, who took the place of Lord 
 Dalhousie in the administration of the government while 
 the latter was absent in England. It was hoped now 
 that with the change of Governors there would come a 
 change of policy. Sir F. Burton did the best he could 
 to reconcile the Assembly to the Government and partially 
 succeeded. He even so far conceded to their demands 
 
ASSEMBLY STOPS SUPPLIES. 95 
 
 as to submit a civil list and estimates in such a shape 
 that the Assembly could criticize its items, and allow or 
 reject them as circumstances might require. 
 
 Lord Dalhousie returned to his official duties as Gov- 
 ernor in January, 1826, and the temporary peace which 
 reigned during Sir F. Burton's administration was broken 
 up soon after Lord Dalhousie returned to the Govern- 
 ment. There was, however, a lull during the first session 
 after his return. The Colonial Ofiice in June, 1825, by 
 a despatch to the acting Governor Burton gave him to 
 understand that what he had done in regard to the 
 estimates, recognizing some right of control in the Assem- 
 bly, might be allowed for that session but must not occur 
 again. Lord Dalhousie being made aware of those instruc- 
 tions had no alternative iut to carry out the policy of 
 the Home Government. /The Assembly in its next session 
 attempted to pass th^ supplies in the same manner as 
 under Sir F. Burton, but met with a rebuff, the Legislative 
 Council absolutely refusing to sanction them in that form. 
 The result was that the supplies were not granted.} 
 
 The next day after the refusal of the supplies Lord 
 Dalhousie prorogued Parliament, and in addressing the 
 two Houses, following the example of the Duke of Eich- 
 mond on a former occasion, he made it a point to dis- 
 criminate between the two Houses, the Legislative Council 
 .and Assembly. 
 
 ^^nr^^aveTcome," said he, '* to 'l)rtDg~4Q-^a clnae^this 
 session of the Provincial Parliament, being convinced that 
 nothing likely to promote the public interest can now 
 
96 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 be expected from your deliberations. To you, gentlemen 
 of the Legislative Council, who have attended to your 
 duties in this session, I offer my thanks on the part of 
 His Majesty, as an acknov^ledgment of the regard which 
 by your presence you have shown to the welfare of your 
 country, and also of that proper respect which you have 
 manifested to the Sovereign from whom your honours 
 are derived. Gentlemen of the Assembly, it is painful to 
 me that I cannot speak my sentiments to you in terms 
 of approbation and thanks. Many years of continued 
 discussion of forms and accounts have proved unavailing 
 to clear up and set at rest a dispute which moderation 
 and reason might have speedily terminated." 
 
 This address by the Governor of course gave offence 
 to the Assembly and members of that body. Mr. Papineau, 
 in the lead, thought it necessary to issue a counter-address 
 to the electors, censuring the Governor and justifying 
 their refusal of supplies. The newspapers at this period 
 became very violent in their language, the Government 
 and Opposition papers hurling epithets at each other with 
 a freedom worthy of Billingsgate fish-wives. Some of 
 the French-Canadians affected to believe that the Gov- 
 ernment contemplated reducing the compatriots to the 
 position of slaves worse than Spartan helots. These patriots 
 were not content to use the- Provincial press for the 
 airing of their grievances, but must forsooth send forth 
 their fulminations from foreign soil. It is in evidence that 
 the patriots aforesaid were at the time not actually resi- 
 dent in the Province, but rather that they had betaken 
 
UAMI DU PEUPLE. 97 
 
 themselves to the State of New York. There they estab- 
 lished a newspaper, at Plattsburgh in that State, and 
 gave it the name, UAmi du Peuple, a favourite name 
 for those who place their faith in democracy and repub- 
 lican government. Here is a specimen of the writing in 
 that paper: "Canadians, chains are forging for you; it 
 n )w appears that you are doomed to annihilation, or to be 
 rilled with a sceptre of iron. Your liberties are invaded, 
 your rights violated, your privileges abolished, your reclama- 
 tions contemned, your political existence threatened with 
 utter ruin. Now is the time to manifest your strength, to 
 display your energy, and to convince the Mother Country 
 and the horde which, for half a century, has played the 
 tyrant's part among your homesteads, that if ye be sub- 
 jects, ye are not slaves." 
 
 It would be interesting to know whether the editor 
 of UAmi du Peuple was an American or a Gallo- 
 Canadian — more probably the former, a wolf in sheep's 
 clothing. Past action and subsequent events prove that 
 the border men of the United States are ever too ready 
 to foment the troubles of the dissatisfied citizens of Canada, 
 hoping to profit by their success. 
 
 / Lord Dalhousie's prorogation of the Parliament was 
 followed by a dissolution of the Assembly. It was an ' ' 
 appeal to the electorate to confirm or condemn the with- 
 holding of the supplies. It shows how strong was the 
 faith of the Canadian people in their leaders that the 
 rench-Canadian representatives to Parliament were sent 
 back to the House, the majority against the Government 
 
98 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 being increased rather than diminished. This by no 
 means proves that the Governor was wrong and the con- 
 stituent body right. As a matter of fact, the Governor 
 was right, as he was but carrying out the policy of the 
 Home Government and the instructions of his superiors. 
 The habitants, however, were not concerned about Home 
 Governments and instructions. All they knew or cared 
 to know was that the system that prevailed and the Colo- 
 nial administration of affairs were not in accordance with 
 the principle that majorities should govern. The Canadian 
 Spectator, a Lower Canada journal, commenting on the 
 elections, while they were still in progress, said : *' The 
 elections are nearly over ; the friends of our King, country 
 and Constitution have achieved a signal victory. The 
 functionaries of Lord Dalhousie and his whole government 
 system have been practically condemned generally and 
 formally." 
 
 It is difficult to understand how the Spectator could 
 call the opposers of the Government friends of the Con- 
 stitution, when we reflect that the Governor was only per- 
 forming his duty in carrying out the Constitution. If the' 
 Constitution were at fault, it was not his fault. However, 
 the turn the elections had taken afforded a good oppor- 
 tunity for utteri ng a ph ilipiufi^ against the Governor, and 
 it was seized upon with avidity. One cannot but express 
 a feeling of sympathy with the Governor. Here was an 
 officer of much distinction placed in the position of gov- 
 erning a Province under a Constitution which subjected 
 him to the appearance, if not actuality, of always being 
 
DALHOUSIE ATTACKED. 99 
 
 at war with the people, while it may be that his sympathies 
 may always have been with those who were clamorous 
 for reforms in the government. Lord Dalhousie's subse- 
 quent administration in India shows that he was a man 
 most worthy of his Sovereign's favour. 
 
 Lord Dalhousie was not the people's favourite, their 
 compatriot Papineau was. The time had now come to 
 try a fall with this gentleman. In ^he new House the 
 question of Speakership necessarily arose. The Governor 
 would have preferred that Papineau of all men should 
 not have been elected President of the Assembly. The 
 Governor's wishes, however, were not in the least 
 regarded. The Assembly, rightly, no doubt, considered 
 themselves an independent body, and in making choice 
 of the mouthpiece of the House cast^their votes almost 
 unanimously for Mr. Papineau. Mr. Papineau with 
 several others had since the prorogation of the House 
 issued a manifesto on public affairs, in which, not 
 content with giving voice to his politi cal opinions and 
 condemnation of the Government, he very unadvisedly 
 f m a^de _a l^ j^i.^y gnrl i]f] - warranted personal attack upon 
 the Governor. In his individual capacity Lord Dal- 
 housie could have overlooked this attack, but as His 
 Majesty's Representative in the Province he felt bound 
 to resent it in the most marked and public manner. 
 The Governor now regarded Mr. Papineau as a fomenter 
 of discord, as a disturber of the public peace, as an 
 enemy seeking to destroy the props by which the Govern- 
 ment was upheld. When the House presented Mr. 
 
100 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 Papineau to the Governor as their Speaker, on His 
 Excellency going down to open Parliament, the Governor 
 refused to recognize him. 
 
 The Assembly returned crestfallen, but not beaten. 
 They in confidence determined that if the Governor 
 desired to address the House should do so with Papineau 
 as their Speaker, or not at all. The Governor absolutely 
 refused to open Parliament while Papineau was Speaker, 
 and no compromise being effected or offered immediately 
 prorogued the House, the British part of the population 
 highly commending him for this act of firmness in 
 dealing with the leader of what was considered by them 
 a rebellious party. 
 
 These proceedings produced a large crop of addresses 
 to the British Parliament and to the Home Government 
 from the partisans of both sides of the House. Jlba — 
 French-Canadian « ^p^^ ap^i^s ed of sedition , the Govern - 
 TnftTvj^gx ty nf iy mnny. Violent diatribes wer^^Tren^ed 
 in the public press, an(t~ the Province was in the throes 
 of a political revolution. Agents were sent to England 
 by both parties to represent their various views to the 
 British Government. 
 
 When the addresses were laid before the House of 
 Commons there opened a field day for the discussion of 
 Canadian affairs. The Canadian Constitution and its 
 administration came under review in the Commons in a 
 manner refreshing to those who were desirous of ripping 
 to pieces the Colonial system. Mr. Hume was specially 
 aggressive ; he warmly espoused the cause of the French- 
 
DISCUSSION IN THE COMMONS. . 101 
 
 Canadians. Mr. Hume was seconded by Mr. Labouchere, 
 a member of the Commons of French descent. His 
 attack was more on the administration of the Constitution 
 than on the Constitution itself. He said : "I look upon 
 the act of 1791 as the Magna Charta of Canadian 
 freedom. I am of the opinion that if the intentions of 
 Pitt and his coadjutors had been better followed out by 
 those who came after him and them, Lower Canada 
 would have attained to that height of prosperity they 
 destined for that Province ; and that it would at this 
 hour be in the enjoyment of the concord and tranquillity 
 its connection with Britain must have assured." 
 
 Mr. Huskisson, Government Minister, recognizing that 
 there was a crisis in Lower Canada, felt it necessary to 
 propose that a Committee of the House should be 
 nominated to enquire into the condition of the two 
 Canadas. He, at the same time, took occasion to defend 
 the Constitution, though he did so in a rather apologetic 
 manner. He said : "There maybe many defects in the 
 Colonial Constitution ; but this was inevitable at the 
 epoch of the initiation ; and it is not at all to be wondered 
 at, that imperfections should exist in that Constitution, 
 although it was drawn up by the greatest contemporary 
 statesman of Britain." 
 
 The Committee appointed on the motion of Mr. 
 Huskisson had before it the various addresses to Parlia- 
 ment, and besides a petition from traders in London 
 asking for a re-union of the Provinces of Lower and 
 Upper Canada. After due deliberation the Committee 
 
102 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 reported, but in such a manner as to be satisfactory to no 
 one. Lord Dalhousie condemned it as being too favourable 
 to the French-Canadians, while the French-Canadians, 
 thankful for some concessions, were not contented because 
 they did not get more. The result was that nothing came 
 of the report. Matters were left to drift along in the old 
 way. The Colonial office exercised supreme control. 
 Lord Dalhousie left the Province and was appointed 
 Commandant of the forces of India. The Lieutenant 
 Governor of Nova Scotia, Sir James Kempt, was transferred 
 to Lower Canada and the wheels of government once 
 more set moving under his administration. 
 
CHAPTEK VI. 
 
 Governor Gore's Second Term— War of 1812 and Its Rewards — 
 Slow Fulfilment — Robert Fleming Gourlay— Q>a Life in Canada 
 and his Trials — He was Strong, Impetuous, Honest in his 
 Convictions — His Advocacy of Immigration — He Calls a Con- 
 vention to Discuss Canadian Affairs — Indicted for Seditious 
 Libel — Twice Tried, Twice Acquitted — Finally Expelled from 
 the Province on Other Grounds — His Address to the King — 
 Imprisoned in England — Return to America — Declines to Sup- 
 port Mackenzie's Rebellion— Subsequent Life— Sir Peregrine 
 Maitland, Governor — His Administration— A Tory House — 
 Liberal Measures — Barnabas Bidwell Elected to Parliament^- 
 His Subsequent Expulsion — Marshall S. Bidwell Elected — Promi- 
 nent Figure in the Rebellion of 1837 — William Lyon Mackenzie, 
 his Birth, Parentage and Early Life — Mackenzie's Politics — His 
 Arraignment of the Governor and its Consequences — His Ban- 
 ishment Advocated. 
 
 In the year 1811 Lieutenant Governor Gore left Upper 
 Canada for England on temporary leave of absence. 
 He did not return to the Province till after the war. 
 Governor Gore had not been long in the Province, after 
 his second assumption of the duties of government, when 
 he found that the body politic was in a less friendly frame 
 of mind than he had anticipated. The loyalists of the 
 Province had nobly acquitted themselves in the war which 
 their kinsmen of the United States had waged against 
 them, but the honours and rewards, which they believed 
 
104 REBELLION OF 1837. . 
 
 themselves entitled to, were slow in coming, and might 
 possibly never reach them. The Volunteers and Militia 
 had been promised grants of land, but for some reason 
 the patents were withheld, and the people murmured and 
 denounced the Government in no stinted terms. Besides 
 this there was no longer that large expenditure of money 
 which had been made during the war. The people would 
 almost rather the war had continued than to find them- 
 selves reduced to a comparative state of poverty by the 
 peace. There was no immigration, no trade, no com- 
 merce. The people would gladly have welcomed immi- 
 grants from the country with which they had been at war, 
 rather than to be without their capital and their enter- 
 prise. The Government had set its face against grants 
 of land being made to Americans, and indeed was opposed 
 to Americans even being admitted into the country. 
 
 This was the state of things when the Legislature met 
 in 1817. The Assembly after meeting lost no time in 
 going into committee to take into consideration the state 
 of the Province. The feeling which prevailed among the 
 people in regard to the matters of which they complained 
 had its reflex in the Legislature. Eesolutions on these 
 subjects were submitted to the House, and the Govern- 
 ment was about to be called to account. This did not 
 suit the views of the Lieutenant Governor or his Council. 
 In reviewing the proceedings of the Lower Canada Legisla- 
 ture, we have seen how common it was for a Governor, 
 when the Assembly became too independent or outspoken 
 to prorogue, and in some instances to dissolve the House. 
 
ROBERT FLEMING GOURLAY. 105 
 
 Governor Gore followed this precedent in Upper Canada. 
 When he found that the Assembly had the temerity to 
 threaten to probe into the affairs of government, he 
 prorogued the House in a curt speech of three paragraphs. 
 
 The members of the House of Assembly of Upper 
 Canada were not the men to submit to be treated con- 
 temptuously by any man, though that man should occupy 
 the position of Governor of the Province and be the 
 Monarch's Eepresentative. It no doubt galled the 
 Governor to find the people's agents so independent, but 
 then it is to be remembered they were independent in a 
 good cause. The lands which they had fairly earned by 
 their services in the war were withheld. The Clergy 
 Eeserve lands, one- seventh of the lands of the Province, 
 were withheld from settlement. Favourites of Govern- 
 ment and the ruling party were accused of securing 
 grants of wild lands, holding them for speculative pur- 
 poses. The settlement of the country was retarded and 
 there was great discontent. 
 
 At this time there crossed the sea for Canada, a Scotch- 
 man, the son of a lawyer (but not himself bred to the law), 
 who took advantage of a proclamation inviting emigrants 
 to settle in Upper Canada, for the improvement of their 
 condition. 
 
 Kobert Fleming Gourlay, born in Fifeshire between 
 1780 and 1784, was a remarkable man. Endowed with 
 great natural abilities, he had not arrived at the age of 
 twenty-one years when he was employed by the Govern- 
 ment to enquire into the condition of the English poor and 
 
106 • REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 suggest a remedy for prevailing distress. This was in 
 about the first year of the century, when great poverty 
 afflicted the people of the British Isles. 
 
 He made a report, which led to a bill being introduced 
 in the House by the President of the Board of Agriculture, 
 which, however, was thrown out. 
 
 After this Gourlay seems to have taken up the role 
 of agitator in his own land, and took up the cause of the 
 people against the landlords and the Church. In 1808, 
 according to his own statement, he took up the cause of 
 the farmers against the Lairds of Fife. In 1809, he pub- 
 lished an appeal for Parliamentary reform, and in 1815, 
 attacked the Church property, demonstrating, to his own 
 satisfaction, at least, that Church property was the 
 property of the people, and in the same year, as he says, 
 posted the Bath Society as rogues for deserting the com- 
 mutation of tithes. He rented a farm from the Duke of 
 Somerset in Wiltshire, and seems to have been an 
 advanced student of agriculture and to have been fairly 
 prosperous. 
 
 Having acquired some land in Upper Canada, in 1817, 
 he determined to make a visit to the country, intending 
 to be away about six months. Arrived at Quebec he 
 travelled through Upper Canada and New York State, and 
 resolved to establish a land agency for his own benefit and 
 promote emigration. He had not been long in the 
 Province before he became convinced that the existing 
 system of government, or rather the administration of it, 
 retarded the settlement of the Province. The govern- 
 
A D VOCA TES IMMIGRA TION. 107 
 
 ment of the Province, which was largely in the hands of the 
 original settlers, was opposed to free grants. If immigration 
 increased there would be a demand for grants of Crown 
 lands, while those who had the control of public affairs 
 preferred to have control of the lands also, and sell their 
 own lands to the people who came to the country with 
 means to buy, which was not the class of immigration 
 Gourlay had in view. 
 
 There were many land agents in the Province, many 
 of whom were employed to look after soldiers' claims, and 
 U. E. rights, as they were called. This consisted in 
 securing for the United Empire Loyalists the lands to 
 which they were entitled under King George III. bounty 
 for losses occasioned by the War of the Pievolution. Mr. 
 Gourlay was shrewd enough to observe that this kind of 
 business might be made remunerative. He set about 
 acquiring a knowledge of the national resources of the 
 Province and the wants and wishes of the people. He 
 prepared, at the cost of much labour, a compilation called 
 " Statistical A.ccount of Upper Canada, with a view to a 
 grand system of Emigration." This book of several hundred 
 pages must have cost him much time as well as labour. 
 He was indefatigable. Some people might say, and some 
 people did say — as is generally said of men with an idea — 
 that he had a " bee in his bonnet," especially on this sub- 
 ject of emigration. 
 
 When he found that the Governor had prorogued the 
 Legislature, and for the reason, as was thought, that the 
 Ass6mbly was too free in criticizing the land policy of the 
 
108 REBELLION OF 1837. ' 
 
 Government, Gourlay conceived the idea of calling dele- 
 gates from all parts of the Province to meet in convention 
 " to deliberate upon the propriety of sending commissioners 
 to England to call attention to the affairs of the Province." 
 If Mr. Gourlay had been a man of judgment, or had under- 
 stood the people of Canada, he could not have done a more 
 harmful thing to himself or his reputation than propose 
 a convention. The very name of " convention " was 
 odious to Canadian ears. It was a mode of procedure so 
 much in favour with the rebels in the Colonies before the 
 American Eevolution of 1776 that anything in the shape 
 of convention or congress was considered insulting to a 
 Canadian community, and their promoters hostile to the 
 best interests of the country. 
 
 Mr. Gourlay, in promoting his immigration scheme, 
 addressed to the farmers throughout the country a circular 
 containing a number of queries with a view of ascertaining 
 the probabilities of success, if immigrants on his recom- 
 mendation should determine to take up lands in the 
 Province. One of the questions calculated to bring 
 answers that the people favoured emigration was this : 
 ** What in your opinion retards the improvement of your 
 township in particular or the Province in general, and 
 what would most contribute to the same ? " This was a 
 very innocent question, but was construed by the Gov- 
 ernment as intended to invite a reply that the want of 
 immigration and the mismanagement of the public lands 
 were the cause of Upper Canada's backwardness. The 
 Government must look into this. Here was a new-comer 
 
CALLS A CONVENTION. 109 
 
 interfering with the province of Parliament, proposing 
 conventions, suggesting deUberations as to the propriety 
 of sending commissioners to England to call attention 
 to the affairs of the Province, and criticizing the Governor 
 and the Government party on the land policy. This 
 stranger in the land must be got rid of in some way, and it 
 did not seem necessary to be very particular as to the way 
 to go about it. 
 
 The convention, the idea of calling which arose in the 
 fruitful brain of Mr. Gourlay, was actually held. This 
 in itself shows what influence Mr. Gourlay had obtained 
 with the masses. The convention, or Gourlay's circular, 
 seconded by the writings of the Scotch immigrant in the 
 public press, produced the hoped-for effect, so far as the 
 Assembly was concerned. At the next meeting of the 
 Legislature, in 1818, a resolution for an enquiry into the 
 affairs of the Province was carried in the Assembly, but 
 before the resolve of that body reached the Executive, 
 the Governor again hastily prorogued the House. 
 
 The outcome of the convention was that the militia 
 embodied during the war got their patents. Mr. Gourlay, 
 in continuance of the proceedings of the convention, pub- 
 lished the draft of a petition to the Crown, to be adopted 
 by the people as far as they thought proper. Never choice 
 in his language, and often offensive, this petition had 
 in it the following passage : " Corruption indeed has 
 reached such a height in this Province that it is thought no 
 other part of the British Empire witnesses the like. It 
 matters not what characters fill situations of public trust 
 
110 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 at present ; all sink beneath the dignity of men and have 
 become vitiated and weak." 
 
 This language, to the minds of the Executive Govern- 
 ment, afforded an opportunity for indicting Mr. Gourlay 
 for seditious libel : accordingly he was twice indicted, but 
 on each occasion acquitted. An Act, however, was seized 
 upon to enable his enemies to attain their object. He 
 was arrested, brought before two members of the Assembly 
 under an Act of 1804, aimed at persons, not being inhabi- 
 tants, who should give cause to suspect that they were 
 endeavouring, or about to endeavour to engage in sedition, 
 and providing for their expulsion from the Province. 
 
 By these members of the Assembly he was ordered 
 to leave the Province, and, choosing to disregard their 
 order, Gourlay was. arrested and confined in the jail at 
 Niagara for eight months. Weak in body, the heat and 
 confinement seemed to have partially affected his mind. 
 He was prevented from having free consultation with 
 friends and brought at last into Court in August, 1819, 
 where he appeared indifferent to what was going on. 
 As was said by the witnesses at the Parliamentary enquiry 
 afterwards held, his speech was incoherent, and he 
 appeared in a great measure unconscious of what was 
 going on around him. This was attributed to his physical 
 condition, brought about by his confinement. However 
 this may be, the unfortunate Gourlay was convicted and 
 sentenced to banishment from the Province. 
 
 Gourlay now made his way back to England, his mind 
 full of resentment at the wrongs he had suffered. Arrived 
 
RETURNS TO ENGLAND. Ill 
 
 there he found his affairs in disorder. In his absence 
 ^is landlord, the Duke of Somerset, had preferred a claim 
 for rent, although Gourlay claimed that when he left 
 England the Duke owed him some hundreds of pounds. 
 The action of the Duke so oppressed Gourlay's wife, whom 
 he had left in care of his farm, that she gave it up, and 
 Gourlay found himself banished from Canada and home- 
 less in England. Nevertheless, his indomitable heart was 
 not yet broken. He sought redress in law through that 
 most tedious Court of that day, the Court of Chancery. 
 Six years were consumed in bills, interrogatories, refer- 
 ences, and all the endless proceedings of the Court of that 
 period. In the end Gourlay got judgment, but did not get 
 his costs. A most barren result, as no doubt the costs 
 consumed all that was gained by the judgment. 
 
 During this time, Gourlay had proceeded to petition 
 Parliament with regard to his treatment in Upper Canada, 
 but no attention was paid to his complaint. He had con- 
 fided one petition to Mr. Brougham to present, and con- 
 ceiving that Mr. Brougham had neglected his case, the 
 man seems to have become desperate. He made a pre- 
 meditated assault on Mr. Brougham in the lobby of the 
 House, was at once arrested and committed by the Speaker 
 and the House to confinement during the session of the 
 Parliament for his contempt. On Parliament rising, he 
 was released from the custody of the Sergeant-at-arms, 
 only to be arrested again and committed to the House of 
 Correction, in default of bail, as a dangerous person of 
 unsound mind. Here he remained for nearly four years, 
 
112 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 making endless appeals to the public through the press, 
 and publishing an appeal to the nation of some two 
 hundred pages. 
 
 Gourlay had many friends in his own country, and had 
 a friend in the House in Mr. Hume, then a prominent 
 Eeformer. Through the efforts of friends, he was at last 
 released from confinement in March, 1828, and went 
 to Scotland, where he resided till November, 1833, 
 tortured as he says by unsettled affairs. He then set 
 sail again for the New World, landing in New York in 
 December of that year. On board ship he indited the 
 following address to his creditors : 
 
 "Notice to Creditors. 
 
 " The Pacific— At Sea, Nov. 9, 1833. 
 
 " I hereby intimate that I have sailed for America, not to evade 
 payment of debts, but that all may be paid in full, for which funds 
 are more than sufficient. 
 
 " Witness my hand, 
 
 "Robert Gourlay, 
 
 " Late of Leith, subject of the King, now Robert Fleming 
 Gourlay of the ocean and subject of Neptune ! '' 
 
 Arrived in New York, he opened communication with 
 his Canadian friends, who invited him to return to the 
 Province, in which there was a large class which 
 still maintained feelings of animosity to the Govern- 
 ment of the Province. Gourlay, however, refused all 
 their overtures, and in fact exhibited a profound distrust 
 of the leaders of the Eeform party. Following his 
 own course, he addressed a series of remonstrances 
 
PETITIONS TO THE GROWN. 113 
 
 to the Lieutenant Governor, Sir John Colborne, and 
 his successor, Sir Francis Bond Head, and to the 
 Duke of Wellington, then at the head of the Home 
 Government, in his addresses to the latter urging an 
 enquiry into the affairs of the Colony, as well as 
 reparation of his own wrongs. During the year 1835, 
 he addressed several communications to the Duke, 
 urging that the Canadians should be given the right 
 to legislate for themselves, in all matters, civil and 
 religious. He expressly explained that he had no 
 desire to see the Colony separated from the Empire. 
 Gourlay was in fact always a constitutional agitator, 
 and his writings show he had no sympathy with those 
 who incited revolt or sedition. His last address, prior 
 to the breaking out of the Eebellion, was to Her 
 Majesty Queen Victoria, then lately come to the 
 Throne, in October, 1836, urging her to visit the 
 Colony in p^son, and free it from the existing abuses 
 of government. 
 
 In 1837, when William Lyon Mackenzie was leading 
 the armed revolution, he was informed that Mackenzie 
 wanted his assistance in the movement headed by 
 him. He communicated with Mackenzie, and urged 
 him to abandon the course he was pursuing. He 
 reminded him that there were constitutional means 
 for reform in Canada, and (Mackenzie's movement 
 having at the time met with a check), assured him 
 that had he succeeded, so far from rejoicing, he would 
 have turned his back on America forever. He had. 
 
114 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 it is true, been in sympathy with Mackenzie until 
 about 1829, when, as he says, '' finding he had no 
 stabiHty, he cut correspondence with him." In 1834, 
 Mackenzie wrote to him in New York. Gourlay would, 
 have no dealings with him, and said that while he 
 had " no bad feeling personally towards him, he 
 wished to have no correspondence with him on 
 political subjects." Mackenzie writing twice to him 
 again, he peremptorily desired him to desist. In 
 his methods entirely differing from Mackenzie, Gourlay 
 was always a loyal subject. Amid all his trials 
 and losses, and although his mind was at times 
 clouded, possibly by the troubles he had endured, 
 he never lost faith in Canada, or in the Empire. 
 His differences were in truth more with the administra- 
 tion of affairs in Canada by the ruling party there, 
 than with the Home Government. 
 
 In 1841, after the fall of the Eebellion, Gourlay peti- 
 tioned the Canadian House of Parliament, gave a detailed 
 account of his sufferings, and demanded redress. The 
 petition was referred to a select Committee which reported 
 — " That the Petitioner's imprisonment in 1819 was 
 illegal, unconstitutional, and without the possibility of 
 excuse or palliation." 
 
 The« Government felt that Gourlay deserved better 
 treatment than he had received during his short career in' 
 Upper Canada, and Sir Charles Bagot, while Governor of 
 the Province, offered him a pension of fifty pounds, from 
 the civil list. Gourlay considered himself insulted by this 
 
GO UB LAY'S SUBSEQUENT LIFE. 115 
 
 offer : he refused to accept any grant made on the score of 
 compassion, and decUned to accept the pension. 
 
 What he wanted was not a state pension, but full 
 indemnity for the wrongs that had been inflicted on him, 
 acknowledged to be such by the Legislature. He con- 
 tinued his addresses to the Government and to the Legis- 
 lature, but they, feeling that they had endeavoured to 
 make compensation and that their efforts had not met 
 with success, did no more for him. He returned to Scot- 
 land, where he lived till 1863, when he died at the ripe 
 age of eighty.* 
 
 To return to chronological sequence, we find that 
 Alexander Smith was Administrator of the Province in 
 the spring and summer of 1818, and was followed by Sir 
 Peregrine Maitland, who was Governor of the Province in 
 succession to Governor Gore. He opened Parliament on 
 the 12th of October, 1818. 
 
 Mr. Gourlay's imprisonment occurred during the early 
 administration of Sir Peregrine Maitland. The popula- 
 tion of the Province at this time was about one hundred 
 and twenty thousand, and was steadily increasing. Sir 
 Peregrine, on opening the eighth Parliament, in January, 
 1821, was enabled to congratulate Parliament that the 
 current of immigration was now setting steadily into the 
 Canadas. In contrast with Lower Canada, the Upper 
 Province presented an entirely different aspect. In the 
 former the Executive was stoutly opposed by the 
 
 * " The Banished Briton and Neptunian," published by Gourlay in 1843, is the 
 principal authority for the facts relating to Gourlay's connection with Upper 
 Canada. 
 9 
 
116 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 Assembly, while in Upper Canada, the Governor, the 
 Council and the Assembly were in complete accord. The 
 House might be called a Tory House, and yet the statutes 
 show that the Assembly thoroughly appreciated the wants 
 of the people, and even their prejudices were considered. 
 Several acts of a liberal character were passed. Certain 
 persons in the Province had endeavoured to persuade 
 the electorate that it was the purpose of Parliament to 
 endeavour to exact tithes, for the support of a Protestant 
 clergy. Parliament, however, soon undeceived the people 
 by passing an Act declaring — " That no tithes should be 
 claimed, demanded or received by any ecclesiastical 
 parson, rector, or vicar of the Protestant Church within 
 thfe Province." 
 
 There were at this time agitators in the Province^ 
 willing to set afloat any tale, to deceive credulous people 
 as to the administration. The truth seems to have been, 
 that the new settlers in the Province were imbued with 
 the idea that the old settlers had too many favours from 
 Government, and these agitators continually worked, so 
 that whenever these old settlers held office, they should be 
 worked out from that office, for the accommodation of the 
 new comers. That, however, was not the idea of the 
 United Empire Loyalists, who, it must be admitted, had 
 the principal control of affairs. Their opinion on this 
 subject may perhaps be best gathered from an address 
 of the House of Assembly to the Governor, when referring 
 to Mr. Gourlay and hiq proceedings. '' We remember," 
 said they, " that this favoured land was assigned to our 
 
BARNABAS BID WELL. 117 
 
 fathers as a retreat for suffering loyalty, and not as a 
 sanctuary for sedition. We lament that the designs of 
 one factious individual [Gourlay] should have succeeded 
 in drawing into the support of his vile machinations, so 
 many honest men and loyal subjects of His Majesty." 
 
 If there was one class of men that the United Empire 
 Loyalists abhorred more than another, it was the Ameri- 
 can, who leaving the United States, had come to Canada 
 to there make his home. The schoolmasters, the singing 
 men, the quack doctors and the peddlers, who were in the 
 habit of invading the Province, were looked upon with 
 suspicion, not because of their professions or trade, but 
 because of their continual endeavours to undermine 
 the loyalty of the settlers, and to convert them to Eepub- 
 licanism. 
 
 The first session of the eighth Parliament was 
 prorogued by Sir Peregrine Maitland on the 14th April, 
 1821, and the second session opened in November, 1821. 
 In the recess between the two sessions a vacancy occurred 
 in the representation of the Counties of Lennox and 
 Addington. 
 
 Barnabas Bidwell was then a resident of those counties. 
 He had been Attorney-General of the State of Massachu- 
 setts, and had been indicted for some offence in that 
 state and fled to Canada. He taught school for some 
 time in the village of Bath. A lawyer by profession, and 
 gifted of speech, he had no difficulty in ingratiating 
 himself with the electors. When the election to 
 fill the vacancy came to be held, he was put forward 
 
118 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 as a candidate for the suffrage of the constituents, 
 and was elected member of Parliament. It is but fair to 
 say, that the majority of the electors did not know that 
 Mr. Bidwell was a fugitive from justice, and for those who 
 had heard it so stated he had a ready explanation, which 
 was that his political enemies there had got up an 
 • accusation against him for misapplication of public 
 moneys, but that he had not been convicted of that 
 offence. The fact was that Mr. Bidwell had fled the 
 country on account of a warrant having issued for his 
 apprehension. 
 
 Whether innocent or guilty of the charge it was not 
 necessary to enquire, as he was a foreigner, foreign-born, 
 and owed allegiance to the United States. His election 
 was petitioned against on this ground, and he was expelled 
 the House. 
 
 Barnabas Bidwell had allied himself with the party 
 of Reformers which had by this time sprung into existence, 
 and as he could not be a member of the Legislature him- 
 self, Marshall S. Bidwell, his son, ran for the same con- 
 stituency and was elected. An attempt was made to unseat 
 him also, but the attempt failed, and he became a promi- 
 nent politician and one of the most shining lights of the 
 Eeform party. 
 
 Marshall S. Bidwell was technically a British subject, 
 having been born in Massachusetts before the revolt of 
 the American colonies. He had not held office under the 
 United States Government, and had not taken the oath 
 of allegiance to the Government. Nevertheless, he was 
 
MARSHALL S. B J DWELL. 119 
 
 a Eepublican at heart, and would have been glad if Canada 
 could have been prevailed upon to cast in her lot with 
 the United States. Mr. Bidwell was a man much respected 
 by those who knew him, was a profound lawyer, and well 
 qualified to hold the highest position in the state. His 
 Eepublican proclivities, however, operated to his disadvan- 
 tage, and he ultimately left the Province, residing many 
 years in New York, where he practised his profession with 
 great success. He died in the land of his birth, mourned 
 by many friends, amongst whom may be classed those 
 who knew him best in Canada.* 
 
 At or about the same time that Robert Fleming Gourlay 
 emigrated to Canada, William Lyon Mackenzie, a young 
 man of Scotch birth, the son of Daniel Mackenzie, of 
 Dundee, Forfarshire, crossed the Tweed and took up his 
 abode in England. Mackenzie was an active, pushing 
 young man, and going out into the world to make a 
 living at an early age, he did not neglect any opportunity 
 to strengthen both body and mind for the arduous duties 
 of life. His mother was a woman of great force of char- 
 acter and resolute will. An ardent Presbyterian, she 
 doubtless instilled into her son's mind that love of inde- 
 pendence which was a characteristic of his life. Or was 
 it that, left without the care of a father when but a month 
 old, deprived of the restraining influences of the head of 
 
 * Mr. BidwelLdied in 1872. He is buried in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. The 
 following inscription on his tomb is supplied by the Rev. Arthur Lawrence, the 
 Rector of th^'Epiacopal Church there : 
 
 " He hath showed thee, O, Man, what is good ; 
 And what doth the Lord require of thee 
 But to do justly, and to love mercy. 
 And to walk humbly with thy God." 
 
120 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 the family, a fond and widowed mother allowed him a 
 latitude which subsequently affected his erratic and restless 
 life ? Unfortunately, Mackenzie's independence of character 
 was always swayed by his extreme and restless disposition. 
 Mrs. Mackenzie, the mother, was left in rather strait- 
 ened circumstances on her husband's death, in 1795. 
 Notwithstanding this, she strove to educate her son. He 
 had not only home, but school education. Her circum- 
 stances compelled the mother to allow her son William 
 to ** gang his gait," and strike out for himself. He first 
 entered a counting-house in Dundee. After being there 
 for a short time he entered into the employ of a wood 
 merchant. In the year 1814, when only nineteen years 
 of age, he went into business for himself, keeping a general 
 shop, with a circulating library, in a small place called. 
 Alyth, near Dundee. He was a great reader, and natu- 
 rally joined the book business with his general store 
 keeping. His business not being profitable, he crossed 
 the Tweed in 1817, and went to England, where he became 
 managing clerk to a canal company in Wiltshire. / It 
 would be interesting to know if at this time he made 
 the acquaintance of Gourlay, for we find him in Wiltshire 
 about the same time. After leaving Wiltshire he was 
 for a brief period in London ; he then made a flying visit 
 to France, and, in 1820, being then twenty-four years 
 of age, he emigrated to Canada. Comparing dates, it will 
 be seen that this was but a short time after Gourlay 
 had gone through his trial experience, and had been ban- 
 ished the Province. 
 
WILLIAM LYON MACKENZIE. 121 
 
 The sound of Gourlay's voice still echoed in the 
 ears of the people of the Province, but was soon to be 
 stilled by the more potent voice of this his countryman, 
 who had come to Canada prepared to show the people 
 the way they should walk. 
 
 Sir Peregrine Maitland was doomed to have /his 
 administration clouded by the aggressiveness of this 
 intruder upon the public peace of the Provincie. It 
 cannot be said that these aggressions were not in sotae 
 measure good for the future of the Province, but a 
 scrutiny of the list of those who had been in the Prov- 
 ince for years before either Gourlay or Mackenzie |set 
 foot on her soil, will show that there were many men, ,^ 
 quite as well qualified as either the one or the other 
 of these gentleman for reforming the laws, manners 
 and customs of the Province. It was galling to these 
 to find comparative strangers entering upon a crusade 
 to change the institutions of the country. 
 
 Mackenzie had not been long in the Province 
 before he undertook the office of General Censor. This 
 was about the year 1824. He had occupied his time 
 between his arrival in 1820, and 1824, in selling 
 drugs and general merchandise, at one time in Toronto, 
 then Dundas, and then Queenston. He was for fifteen 
 months in the general store and book business with 
 Mr. Leslie, in Dundas. The style of the firm was : 
 " Mackenzie & Leslie, druggists and dealers in hard- 
 ware, cutlery, jewellery, toys, confections, dye stuffs, 
 and paints," and in their posters, the business was 
 
122 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 said to be carried on "at the Circulating Library, 
 Dundas." It is probable they divided the business 
 according to their respective tastes, Mr. Mackenzie 
 taking to himself the profits of the '' Circulating 
 Library" part of the business, and Mr. Leslie the 
 general, but more profitable part of the venture. 
 
 Altogether the businesses in which Mr. Mackenzie 
 had engaged were not unprofitable, and if his restless 
 nature had not prevailed on him to leave the count- 
 ing desk for the life of a journalist and politican, he 
 would without question have been among the foremost 
 in commercial life. 
 
 While still at Queenston, in 1824, he abandoned 
 the business in which he had been engaged, and, on 
 his own account, and wholly unaided, he established and 
 published a newspaper, giving it the name of The 
 Colonial Advocate. As its very name implies, Mr. 
 Mackenzie had constituted himself the champion of 
 Colonial rights. The building is still standing in 
 which this first newspaper, in the modern sense of 
 what a newspaper should be, was published. It is a 
 brick building, on the main street of Queenston, at 
 the foot of the hill. It is now without a roof, but it 
 is still known as the " Printing House." Thus does 
 tradition keep in remembrance the occupation of 
 William Lyon Mackenzie, the greatest agitator that 
 ever Upper Canada has had within her limits. 
 
 The reason Mr. Mackenzie had for establishing 
 this paper was that, at that time, there was really 
 
"WILLIAM LYON MACKENZIE. 
 
MACKENZIE'S POLITICS. 123 
 
 no independent organ of public opinion in the Prov- 
 ince. There was the Upper Canada Gazette, published 
 at York, by Mr. Fothergill, the Government printer; 
 but that was an official paper, principally used for 
 official notices, with now and then a guarded reference 
 to political events, but in its general character absolutely 
 and essentially a Government organ. 
 
 Mr. Mackenzie held views in some respects similar 
 to those entertained by Mr. Gourlay, especially on the 
 subjects of immigration, and the monopoly of public 
 lands. There were two other subjects which gave 
 him much concern. These were the Clergy Eeserves, 
 and the Provincial University. Neither of these sub- 
 jects need have disturbed him in his daily round or 
 prevented his sleeping at nights. Before he started 
 The Colonial Advocate, the people were alive to the 
 necessity of a change in the distribution of the 
 revenues of the Clergy Eeserves, which were claimed 
 to belong exclusively to the Church of England. One- 
 seventh of the lands of the Province had been set 
 apart by the Constitutional Act of 1791, for "the 
 support and maintenance of a Protestant Clergy." 
 The term, "Protestant Clergy," opened a very wide 
 field for political discussion and difference of opinion. 
 While adherents of the Church of England, who were 
 the minority of the population, contended that the 
 revenues were dedicated to their Church, all other 
 Protestant denominations contended they were entitled 
 to a share. If the revenues were to be divided 
 
124 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 between all Protestant Churches, of which there were 
 many, the income would have been filtered away, no 
 one receiving the benefit intended by the grant of the 
 lands by the king. 
 
 Mr. Mackenzie well understood the prejudices of 
 the majority of the people on this question. There 
 were many, who although supporters of the Government 
 on other questions, were ready to cast in their lot witb- 
 the opposition, if any agitation were commenced, leading 
 to an issue on this particular subject. 
 
 The Constitutional Act had wisely provided that 
 the Colonial Parliament might, at any time, vary or 
 altogether repeal the law which had devoted one-seventh 
 of the Crown lands and their revenues to the support 
 and maintenance of a Protestant Clergy. There was 
 thus a ready-made opportunity for an agitator to get 
 up an excitement on this important question. Mr. 
 Mackenzie was not the man to lose the opportunity. 
 
 In the first number of the Colonial Advocate, distri- 
 buted broadcast through the country, free of expense, 
 he expressed a hope that a law would be enacted 
 ''by which the ministers of every body of professing 
 Christians, being British subjects, should receive equal 
 benefits from the Clergy Eeserves." 
 
 In the same number of the journal, Mr. Macj5:enzie 
 assailed the Governor, Sir Peregrine Maitland, the 
 Executive Council, and the Legislative Council. The 
 latter he represented as being " always selected from 
 the tools of servile power." 
 
BANISHMENT ADVOCATED. 125 
 
 As viewed nowadays, there was probably not much 
 in Mr. Mackenzie's expressions which would be regarded 
 as a poHtical crime. There was nothing clearly 
 indicated by his writings, further than that he was 
 a Kadical reformer, and as such desired to catch the 
 ear, and it may have been with a view at some future 
 time to capturing votes of the people. It is fair to 
 presume that Mr. Mackenzie, in establishing a newspaper, 
 printing it at his own expense, and distributing it all 
 over the Province, had some object in view other 
 than pure patriotism and a desire to sacrifice himself 
 on the altar of liberty. It was his privilege to criticise 
 the Government and its acts ; if he had confined 
 himself to this and not assailed the Governor, no 
 doubt his effusions would have gone unheeded. But 
 when he went so far as to arraign the Governor and 
 to declare that the Legislative Council was " always 
 selected from the tools of servile power," these tools 
 could not be expected to view with equanimity the 
 actions of this man, a comparative stranger in the Prov- 
 ince, and but little known to the ruling dynasty. 
 
 It was left to the organ of the official party to take 
 up the cause of the Government, and to mete out such 
 punishment to him as he seemed to deserve. ' The organ 
 referred to suggested that Mr. Mackenzie should be ban- 
 ished the Province, and that the whole edition of his 
 newspaper should be seized and suppressed. However, 
 the advice came too late. The offending edition of the 
 Advocate was not seized, since it had already been dis- 
 
126 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 tributed throughout the Province ; neither was Mr. Mac- 
 kenzie banished the Province, and it is quite sure that 
 if he had been expelled he would have soon found his 
 way back again. Mr. Mackenzie was as agile as he was 
 clever, and it would have been found pretty difficult 
 either to have kept him behind bolts and bars in the 
 Province, or if sent out of the country, to keep him from 
 wandering back again to his '' printing house " in Queen- 
 ston. At any rate, here he was to be found, after the 
 sentence of banishment was pronounced against him by 
 the organ of the official party, periodically sending out 
 the Advocate and his fulminations among the people. 
 
 The paper had not got further than its fourth num- 
 ber when Mr. Fothergill, the Government printer, under- 
 took to describe him in the Gazette as a thorough-going 
 Democrat and a disloyal subject. This was a grave charge 
 to bring against a Mackenzie of the Mackenzies, and 
 more than he could submit to without reply. In the 
 Advocate of the 10th June, 1824, he took Mr. Fothergill 
 to task for the supposed libel on his character. Mr. 
 Mackenzie was a Democrat, but certainly not, at this 
 time at least, a disloyal subject. He certainly opposed 
 the local Government, but his disloyalty to the Empire 
 at that time could not be proved. In his reply to Mr. 
 Fothergill, he said: "I will refer to every page of the 
 four numbers of the Advocate now before the public ; I 
 may ask every impartial reader ; nay, I may even ask 
 Mr. Eobinson* himself, whether they do not, in every 
 
 * Mr. Robinson was the Attorney- General, afterwards Sir John Robinson, 
 Chief Justice of the Province. 
 
MACKENZIE PROFESSES LOYALTY. 127 
 
 line, speak the language of a free and independent British 
 subject." ... 
 
 In another place he said : "It may be proper that 
 I should for this once add a few other reasons why dis- 
 loyalty can never enter my breast ; even the name I 
 bear has in all ages proved an insurmountable barrier." 
 He then gives his reasons, protesting the loyalty of all 
 the Mackenzies, reflecting on the horrors of alliance with 
 a foreign power, and the fearful responsibility of him 
 who goes in battle array against the heritage of his ances- 
 tors. Prophetic thought ! How lightly it was regarded 
 in Mackenzie's future action. 
 
 Notwithstanding the differences between Mr. Fother- 
 gill and Mr. Mackenzie, Mr. Fothergill soon afterwards 
 from his place in Parliament gave credit to Mr. Mac- 
 kenzie for the accuracy with which he reported the pro- 
 ceedings of the Assembly in the Advocate, and even went 
 so far as to get a sum of money placed in the contingency 
 account of the House expenses as some remuneration 
 to him for this service. The item passed the House, 
 but was afterwards struck out by the Lieutenant-Governor. 
 
 In July, 1824, the general election was held for the 
 return of representatives to the House of Assembly, when 
 the Government party was defeated and a majority 
 returned who were in favour of the Eeform party. There 
 were twenty-six new members elected to this House, the 
 majority of whom were for reforming the Government. 
 Marshall S. Bidwell was returned as a member for Lennox 
 and Addington, his colleague being Peter Perry. These 
 
128 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 were no doubt doughty champions of reform, but, on the 
 other hand, the old party sent many able men to the 
 House, among whom were John Beverley Eobinson and 
 Archibald McLean, Chief Justice of the Province, 
 return of a majority opposed to the Government in those 
 days did not necessarily cause a change of Government. 
 This was a defect in the Constitution of which the Eeform- 
 ers loudly complained. The complaint was a just one, 
 but such was the form of Colonial government at the time. 
 The Constitution of both the Provinces of Upper and 
 Lower Canada was founded on a similar principle, the 
 mainspring of which was the retention , by the Imperial 
 Government of power to regulate Colonial affairs through 
 a Governor and Legislative Council. The people had 
 only a semblance of power in the Assembly, which was 
 constantly subject to the control of the Government and 
 Government appointees. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Papineau and Republicanism — Personalities — Lord Dalhousie a 
 Soldier — Sir Walter Scott's Estimate of Him — Inaugurated 
 Monument to Wolfe and Montcalm — His Departure from the 
 Province — Sir James Kempt Succeeds Lord Dalhousie— Endeav- 
 ours to Conciliate the French- Canadians — Petitions to the King 
 Commending Constitutional Act of 1701, but Asking for Redress 
 of Grievances — Sir James Kempt Receives Papineau as Speaker — 
 Committee for Redress of Grievances— Committee of House of 
 Assembly Disapprove Constitution of 1791 — Arraignment of 
 Legislative Council -Council and Assembly on Granting Sup- 
 plies — Sir James Kempt's Opinion of Legislative Council — Not 
 Prepared to Revolutionize the Government — Assembly Makes 
 Demands that Could Not be Granted — The People and the 
 Press — Rival Factions — Riots in Montreal — The Cholera Year — 
 Legislative Council Increased — Governor's Censure on House of 
 Assembly for Refusing Supplies — House Asks for ari Elective 
 Legislative Council — The Legislative Council Advise the King 
 that the Legislation of Lower Canada Assembly was Alarm- 
 ing — Mr. Viger, Delegate in London — Assembly Arraigns Lord 
 Aylmer, Governor — Judges in the Assembly. 
 
 Glancing back at the history of the events happening 
 just before the nineteenth century entered upon its 
 third decade, one is struck with the progress which public 
 men in Lower Canada, especially Mr. Papineau and 
 others of the Liberal party, were making towards that kind 
 of government then called Republican, but now rather 
 constitutional, as opposed to the mixed form of govern- 
 ment of a limited monarchy. Mr. Papineau started out 
 
130 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 well as a politician, applauding the British Government, 
 and the Colonial Government instituted in Canada, but 
 was now opposing, not only measures taken by that 
 Government within the limits of its jurisdiction, but in 
 a most violent manner assailing the Governor sent out 
 to carry out the will of the Imperial power. 
 
 When a man descends to personalities, he weakens his 
 arguments, and he is sure to bring on himself the indig- 
 nation of the better class of people. The French- 
 Canadians of the higher classes, and all English-Cana- 
 dians, were indignant with the Speaker-elect for his 
 unmerited abuse of Lord Dalhousie, the retiring Governor, 
 in 1828. Lord Dalhousie was a soldier who had seen 
 much service under Wellington before coming to Canada, 
 and on the occupation of Bordeaux by a division of the 
 British army, under that great Commander, was left 
 Commandant of the Garrison. 
 
 Sir Walter Scott in his " Life of Napoleon," referring 
 to that occupation, said of Dalhousie : " If excellent sense, 
 long experience, the most perfect equality of temper and 
 unshaken steadiness be necessary in so delicate a trust, 
 the British Army had not one more fit for the charge." 
 
 It would thus seem that Lord Dalhousie succeeded in 
 his governorship of Bordeaux, but in the opinion of Mr. 
 Papineau and the habitants who followed his lead, he 
 entirely failed in the government of Lower Canada. It 
 was Lord Dalhousie who inaugurated the movement for 
 the erection of the monument to Wolfe and Montcalm, 
 in Quebec, and under his auspices subscriptions were 
 
DEPARTURE OF LORD DALHOUSIE. 131 
 
 obtained from the military and civilians in the Province, 
 for the accomplishment of that object. The subscribers 
 to the fand were nearly all British and British-Canadians, 
 not French-Canadians. One would have thought that 
 the noble act of the Governor, in thus commemorating 
 the French Commander Montcalm, in conjunction with 
 the hero Wolfe, would have at least animated Mr. 
 Papineau and softened his feeling towards Lord Dalhousie. 
 Lord Dalhousie had the satisfaction of knowing that 
 he left Canada sincerely regretted by those whose opinion 
 he most valued. The manly character of the Governor 
 is seen in a reply to an address he received at Three 
 Eivers previous to his departure. He said : " I have 
 never varied from the course of my duties, so far as I could 
 comprehend those of the representatives of our most 
 gracious Sovereign, in the distant colonies of the British 
 Empire. I have studied to walk the path of honour as 
 a man and as a soldier. I have above all things studied 
 to do justice with impartiality, without any respect of 
 persons. I have disregarded popular clamour and the 
 slander of wandering scribblers. My sense of duty has 
 never been influenced by such common weapons, and I 
 leave them behind me, utterly inoffensive. The favour- 
 able opinions expressed in the language of this address 
 are to my mind the highest reward of public life ; they 
 are lasting and imperishable to me and to those who shall 
 follow me to sustain my name. I can leave no better 
 record to guide the young to a close as honourable as that 
 which you now testify to me." 
 
 10 
 
132 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 Sir James Kempt succeeded Lord Dalhousie as 
 Governor-General in the autumn of 1828. Sir James' 
 instructions were to pursue a more conciliatory policy to- 
 ward His Majesty's Lower Canadian subjects. At the same 
 time he was not to loosen the reins of Imperial control b}^ 
 negativing the powers and duties of the Legislative Council. 
 To satisfy the French, he ordered the prosecutions for libel, 
 which had been commenced under his predecessor, to be 
 discontinued. He also warned the press that the ribaldry 
 and license in which they had indulged should cease. In 
 this regard he was more attentive to the ministerial than 
 to the opposition press. Both parties had gone beyond 
 the bounds of decency in criticising the acts of opponents, 
 but it was thought wise to leave the opposition press to 
 the discipline of their leaders and the agents of the French 
 party, who had returned from England, whither they had 
 gone to present petitions to the Imperial Government .and 
 Parliament, praying for redress of grievances. 
 
 One of these petitions may be given as a sample of the 
 whole. It was signed by the greatest number of the 
 habitants, at the instigation of their leaders, and may be 
 presumed to pretty well represent the grievance-mongers' 
 complaints. 
 
 " To the King's Most Excellent Majesty : 
 
 "We, your Majesty's faithful and loyal subjects, inhabitants of 
 your Province of Lower Canada, most humbly supplicate your Majesty 
 to receive graciously . this, our humble petition, which we now lay at 
 the foot of your Imperial throne, with hearts full of gratitude and in- 
 violable attachment to your Majesty's paternal Government. 
 
PETITIONS TO THE KING. 133 
 
 " Among the numerous benefits for which the inhabitants of Lower 
 Canada are indebted to your Majesty's Government, there is none 
 that they more highly prize than the invaluable Constitution granted 
 to this Province by the Act of Parliament of Great Britain passed in 
 the thirty-first year of the reign of our beloved Sovereign, your august 
 father, of ever-revered memory. 
 
 " Called by that Act to the full enjoyment of British constitu- 
 tional liberty, and become the depositaries of our own rights 
 under the protection of the Mother Country, we contracted the 
 solemn obligation of preserving inviolate this sacred deposit, and 
 transmitting it to our descendants, such as it was confided to 
 us by the great men who then presided over the destinies of 
 your powerful and glorious Empire. 
 
 "Deeply impressed with a sense of this obligation, alarmed 
 by the abuses which have crept into the administration of the 
 Government of this Province, and suff'ering under the evils which 
 weigh on its inhabitants, we entertained an anxious hope that 
 the House of Assembly, in the session of the Provincial 
 Parliament called for the despatch of business on the twentieth 
 of November last, would take into consideration the state of 
 the Province, and adopt efficacious measures to obtain the 
 remedy and removal of these abuses and evils. We had a sure 
 reliance on the well-tried loyalty and disinterested zeal of our 
 Representatives, but we had the mortification of seeing our hopes 
 frustrated by the refusal, on the part of His Excellency the 
 Governor in-Chief, to approve of the Speaker elected by the 
 Assembly, and by the Proclamation of the twenty-second of the 
 same month of November, proroguing the Provincial Parliament. 
 In these circumstances, deprived of the services of our Repre- 
 sentatives, suffering under great evils and threatened with others 
 still greater, we humbly implore the protection of your Majesty, 
 the source of all grace and of all justice. 
 
 "The enlightened and patriotic statesman, who devised our 
 Constitutional Act, and the British Parliament by which it was 
 granted, intended to bestow on us a mixed Government, 
 modelled on the Constitution of the parent state : the opinions 
 
134 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 publicly expressed at the time in Parliament and the Act itself, 
 record the beneficent views of the Imperial Legislature ; a Governor, 
 a Legislative Council and an Assembly were to form three 
 distinct and independent branches, representing the King, the 
 Lords, and the Commons ; but the true spirit of that funda- 
 mental law has not been observed in the composition of the 
 Legislative Council ; for the majority of its members, consisting 
 of persons whose principal resources for the support of them- 
 selves and of their families, are the salaries, emoluments and 
 fees derived from offices which they hold during pleasure, they 
 are interested in maintaining and increasing the salaries, emolu- 
 ments and fees of public officers, paid by the people, and also 
 in supporting divers abuses favourable to persons holding offices. 
 The Legislative Council, by these means, is in effect the Executive 
 power, under a different name, and the Provincial Legislature 
 is in truth reduced to two branches, a Governor and an Assembly ; 
 leaving the Province without the benefit of the intermediate 
 branch, as intended by the aforesaid Act : and from this first 
 and capital abuse, have resulted, and still continue to result, a 
 multitude of abuses, and the impossibility of procuring a 
 remedy. 
 
 " We acknowledge that the Legislative Council ought to be 
 independent, and if it were, we should not be entitled to 
 complain to your Majesty of the repeated refusals of that branch 
 to proceed upon various bills, sent up by the Assembly, however 
 useful and even indispensable they might be ; but considering 
 these refusals as the natural results of the composition of that 
 body, and of the state <>f dependence in which the majority of its 
 members are placed, we are compelled to consider its acts as the 
 acts of the Executive Government ; and we most humbly represent 
 to your Majesty, that the Legislative Council of this "province, 
 the majority of which is composed of Executive CJuncillors, 
 Judges and other persons dependent on the Executive, have, year 
 after year, rejected such bills, refused and neglected to proceed on 
 seveial other bills sent up by the Assembly, for the remedy of 
 abuses, for encouraging education, promoting the general conve- 
 
PETITIONS TO THE KING. 135 
 
 nience of the subject, the improvement of the country, for 
 increasing the security of persons and property, and furthering 
 the common welfare and prosperity of the Province particularly, 
 
 "Various annual bills granting the necessary sums for all 
 the expenses of the civil government of the Province, but 
 regulating and setting limits to the expenditure. 
 
 "For affording a legal recourse to the subject having claims 
 against the Provincial Government. 
 
 " For regulating certain fees and offices. 
 
 " For enabling the inhabitants of the towns to have a voice 
 in the management of their local concerns, and a check on the 
 expenditure of moneys levied upon them by assessment. 
 
 "For facilitating the administration of justice throughout 
 the Province, for qualifying and regulating the formation of 
 juries and introducing jury trials in the country parts, and 
 diminishing the expenses occasioned by the distance of suitors 
 from the present seats of justice. 
 
 " For providing a new and sufficient gaol for the district 
 of Montreal. 
 
 "For qualifying persons to serve in the office of justice of 
 the peace. 
 
 " For continuing the Acts regulating the militia of the 
 Province. 
 
 "For increasing and apportioning the representation in the 
 House of Assembly equally among the qualified electors throughout 
 the Province, particularly in the new settlements and townships. 
 
 "For the • security of the public moneys in the hands of 
 His Majesty's Receiver-General in the Province. 
 
 " For the independence of the Judges, by securing to them 
 their present salaries, upon their being commissioned during good 
 behaviour, and for providing a tribunal for the trial of impeach- 
 ments by the Assembly, so as to ensure a just responsibility in 
 high public officers within the Province. 
 
 " For appointing and providing for an authorized agent for 
 the Province, to reside in England, and attend to its interests 
 there." 
 
136 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 If the two first paragraphs of that petition expressed 
 the true sentiments of the French-Canadian population 
 of Lower Canada, there ought not to have been a rebellion 
 in that Province, for they undoubtedly, in an unneces- 
 sarily pointed manner, lauded the Constitution which 
 had been given by the Act of 1791, acknowledged that 
 the population were *' in the full enjoyment of British 
 Constitutional liberty," and that " they had become 
 the depositaries of their own rights under the protection 
 of the Mother Country." 
 
 It is a singular commentary on this petition of the 
 people, that the people's House were presenting a very 
 different view of the situation. At or about the same time 
 a Comno ittee of the House of Assembly proposed and the 
 House adopted the following resolutions : 
 
 " 1. That it is the opinion of this Committee, that from the 
 instant when by the capitulations, the inhabitants of Lower Canada 
 became British subjects, they had a right to the benefit of the repre- 
 sentative system and to the liberties and political rights of English- 
 men. 
 
 " 2. That it is the opinion of this Committee, that the provision of 
 the Act 31st Geo. Ill, Chap. 31, which invests his Majesty with the 
 power (at once extraordinary, unusual and contrary (!d the pinciples 
 of the British Constitution,) of composing according to his pleasure, 
 one entire branch of the Provincial Legislature, is incompatible with 
 the principles of free government. 
 
 *' 3. That it is the opinion of this Committee, that experience of 
 more than forty years has demonstrated that the Constitution and the 
 composition of the Legislative Council of the Province were not, and 
 are not, adapted to assure contentment and good government to this 
 Province, nor, therefore, to favour the development of its resources 
 and its industry." 
 
PA PINE A U AS SPEAKER. 137 
 
 The Legislative Council was always the hete noir of the 
 French party. It disturbed their work by day and their 
 sleep by night, and yet how could the British Parliament, 
 as it were in a day, give to its Canadian subjects the 
 same measure of liberty that had taken it hundreds of 
 years to establish ? The House of Assembly of Lower 
 Canada seemed to forget that the government of Canada 
 was Colonial, not Imperial, nor as yet advanced to the full 
 measure of manhood. 
 
 Sir James Kempt's first official act, after he assumed 
 the duties of his office, was to recognize Mr. Papineau as 
 Speaker of the House of Assembly, which was convened 
 shortly after his arrival. It may be said, generally, of the 
 whole of Sir James Kempt's administration that it was 
 eminently conciliatory. He endeavoured in every way to 
 reconcile the differences existing between the Council and 
 the Assembly. It was his happy privilege, in a week after 
 the opening of the session of Parliament, to lay before 
 that body a message from the Imperial Government, which 
 it was announced went a long way in granting the reforms 
 which the Assembly had asked for. 
 
 The message, in fact, proposed a compromise between 
 the Assembly and the Government. The Assembly, after 
 referring the message to a committee, for consideration, 
 arrived at the conclusion that the compromise offered by 
 the Home Government would prove nugatory, and passed 
 a series of resolutions which were embodied in an address 
 to the Imperial Parliament, which, at their request, was 
 transmitted by the Governor to England. This address 
 
138 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 asked for several redresses, among others — (1) That the 
 judges be independent and secluded from the political busi- 
 ness of the Province. (2) Eesponsibility of public officers. (3) 
 Independence of support from public revenue. (4) Appli- 
 cation of Jesuit estates to educational purposes. (5) 
 Eemoval of obstruction to land settlement. 
 
 "When Sir James Kempt opened the second session of 
 Parliament he congratulated the House on substantial 
 progress having been made in the trades, commerce and 
 general improvement of the Province, and he assured 
 them that the petition would be submitted by the British 
 Ministry to Parliament, although they had not been able, 
 up to that time, to do so. 
 
 There was one incident which occurred during this 
 session, which goes to show that there was, in the minds 
 of supporters of the Government, a suspicion that the 
 leaders of the French-Canadian party were imbued with 
 rebellious designs. Mr. A. Stuart was a prominent mem- 
 ber of the Assembly and supporter of the Government. 
 It so happened that Lord Dalhousie, during his term of 
 office, for reasons satisfactory to himself, had recourse 
 to the old militia ordinances, passed for the protection of 
 the Province. The House had resolved that these ordi- 
 nances were still in force. They were thought to be too 
 stringent in their operation, and were but .poorly obeyed. 
 Mr. Papineau, speaking to a motion for an address to the 
 King, on the subject of these ordinances, and to harmonise 
 some difference of opinion as to whether they were 
 abrogated or not, said : *' If the House yields to the 
 
■ CONDITIONAL GRANT OF SUPPLIES. 139 
 
 desires of the inhabitants, then these ordinances are 
 abrogated, for when all the people in a country unani- 
 mously repudiate a bad law, there is no possibility of 
 executing it, therefore I say, the laws in question are 
 already abrogated." Whereupon Mr. A. Stuart exclaimed, 
 " This is rebellion." 
 
 This session of the Legislature may be considered a 
 memorable one, as in granting supplies the Assembly 
 declared they only did so conditionally that the grievances 
 of which they complained should be redressed, the 
 grievances being mostly those specified in the petition of 
 which mention has been made; The Legislative Council 
 were much agitated over this method of granting supplies, 
 — with..ihfi.-candition attached, but finally, in order to con- 
 ciliate the Assembly, passed the bill, with a majority of 
 one, the minority strongly protesting against the Act. 
 Sir James Kempt was the means of bringing about this 
 temporary peace, and thought he had succeeded in 
 harmonising the contending branches of the Legislature. 
 The sequel will show that his expections were wholly 
 fallacious. 
 
 A despatch from the Colonial Minister apprised him 
 that the question was being considered by the Imperial 
 Government, whether or not it might be possible to 
 reconstitute both the Executive and Legislative Councils. 
 The despatch asked for Sir James' opinion in the matter. 
 The Governor replied that the Legislative Council was 
 composed of twenty-three members, twelve of whom were 
 placemen ; and in religious profession, sixteen Protestants 
 
140 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 and seven Catholics ; that the Executive Council had nine 
 members ; that only one of them could be said to be indepen- 
 dentof the Government, and all were Protestants but one. 
 
 The Governor further stated that although he thought 
 more independent members, than those in the Legislative 
 Council, might be gradually introduced, he, nevertheless, 
 was of opinion that no organic change in the Consti- 
 tution of the Council was desirable. The opinion of the 
 Governor, so expressed to the Home Government, proves 
 that however desirous he may have been to modify existing 
 institutions, and in every way to improve the existing order 
 of things, especially in the Legislative Council, he was not 
 prepared to radically change the existing form of govern- 
 ment. ^ 
 ^^^-^ ' Th^^rench-Canadians, on the other hand, were deter- 
 mined, if possible, to get rid of the Council, root and 
 branch. So soon as it came to their ears that Sir James 
 Kempt had sent a despatch to England, pronouncing 
 against any organic change in the Council, the habitants 
 in those counties and parishes about Montreal, which 
 afterwards were most open in promoting the rebellion, 
 viz., Eichelieu, Vercheres, St. Hyacinthe, Eouville and 
 Chambly, met at St. Charles in public meeting, and pro- 
 tested against the action of the Governor, adding that, 
 " if the Executive and Legislative Councils were not to 
 reformed, the most serious disorders might be expected 
 to ensue." 
 
 Sir James Kempt, like many another Governor before 
 him, became convinced that, notwithstanding concessions, 
 
LORD AYLMER GOVERNOR. 141 
 
 the majority of the population of Quebec were determined 
 to force a conflict with the British Government, a conflict 
 in which he did not care to engage. He accordingly 
 retired from the Government. 
 
 Sir James Kempt was succeeded by Lord Aylmer, 
 who opened his first session of the Colonial Parliament 
 in January, 1831. Lord Aylmer came to the Parliament 
 at a most critical time in the administration of the affairs 
 of the colony. He had to face a powerful opposition to 
 the Government, one that was more powerful than at 
 any former period. The malcontents were getting the 
 upper hand, almost to the point of revolt. The British 
 Government would fain have quieted the people by even 
 more concessions than those already made. Lord Aylmer 
 informed the Parliament that the Government of the 
 Empire were willing to give over to the colony full con- 
 trol over all revenues levied in the Province, on condi- 
 tion that a civil list of ^19,000 a year were granted to 
 His Majesty for life. It was thought that the French - 
 Canadians would be satisfied, and all apprehensions as 
 to the future would be thus allayed. This was not to 
 be so. The Assembly was unwilling to accept this over- 
 ture of peace and good will, or to be satisfied with any- 
 thing less than the abolition of the Council, which the 
 British Government still esteemed the safeguard of British 
 dominion in the Province. 
 
 The more advanced of the French-Canadian party 
 boasted, that situated as they were, in a province bor- 
 dering on the American Eepublic, England, to avoid 
 
142 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 complications, would in the end grant them all that 
 their most extreme wishes could desire. Things were 
 going from bad to worse, and the Assembly began to brow- 
 beat the Governor, and finally decided to refuse all sup- 
 plies until the public income, without excepting any part 
 of it whatever, should be put under the control of their 
 House, till the judges were finally excluded from the 
 Council, and__the Council reformed in all other respects. 
 These demands were so opposed to the instructions of 
 the Governor, and so far outside of the Constitution, 
 under which he held his commission, that they could 
 not possibly be acceded to. The constant demands made 
 on the Imperial Government, added to reiterated com- 
 plaints made to the Governor, induced him to think that 
 the French-Canadians had other designs than mending 
 the Constitution. When a committee of members of the 
 House of Assembly placed in his hands a petition to the 
 King, asking for further concessions, he enquired of the 
 committee if there were not something behind, and desired 
 to know if the petition contained all that they sought or 
 were likely to seek to obtain. The committee could not 
 but perceive that the Governor more than suspected that 
 influences were at work to thwart, or make wholly unwork- 
 able, the office which he held under the Crown. And, 
 indeed, he was not far astray in his conjectures, as there 
 were at that time a number of ardent young men in the 
 Assembly who were forcing their leaders to make unlimited 
 demands on the Imperial authorities, with the purpose 
 of throwing the country into a state of revolution, from 
 
ELECTION RIOTS OF 1832. 143 
 
 which they hoped to derive benefit to themselves and 
 the French- Canadian people. 
 
 During all this period one is struck with the fact that 
 many reforms were gradually being made under the 
 tutelage of the British Government ; and this in spite of, 
 or perhaps indeed on account of the ceaseless clamour 
 for immediate action on the part of the French-Canadians 
 and the Colonial Assembly. Impatience seemed to char- 
 acterize all the proceedings of those who were moving 
 against the Government in Lower Canada. This was 
 owing, possibly, to the impulsive nature of the French- 
 Canadian people, especially their young people, which 
 kept the whole Province in a state of excitement, and 
 which neither the Government nor the elders of the 
 Province were in the least able to control. The news- 
 papers of the Province were inspired to spare neither 
 the Governor or Council in their most offensive criticisms. 
 At the same time they proceeded to overload the Assem- 
 bly, the people's House, with praise and laudation. 
 
 A Parliamentary election was always a time of excite- 
 ment in the Province of Lower Canada. This was especi- 
 ally the case in 1832, when was held the first general 
 election under Lord Aylmer's administration. The rival 
 factions had been goaded on to a state of frenzy. Parties 
 met in the streets of Montreal, fought, bled and killed. 
 Three men lost their lives in the riots that took place, 
 and two were wounded. The military were called upon 
 to quell the disturbance, which they did effectually, and, 
 as it would appear, very distastefully to the French- 
 
144 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 Canadian faction. The French-Canadians succeeded in 
 having the colonel and captain of the troops which were 
 called upon to perform their duty arrested. They were 
 under arrest, however, for a few hours only and then 
 were admitted to bail. 
 
 The affairs of shooting the citizens engaged in the 
 riots created a great sensation among the habitants. 
 " Were the citizens to be shot down by the soldiers 
 of the king ? Never." " Aux armes, citoyens, aux 
 armes ! '' was the battle cry. It was with the greatest 
 difficulty that the public feeling was appeased. These 
 occurrences took place in 1832, the year of the intro- 
 duction of the Asiatic cholera into Canada. The cholera 
 itself, terrible as it was, more than three thousand 
 persons dying of it in Quebec, was powerless to stay the 
 political conflagration which raged in the Province. The 
 habitants assembled in great numbers to denounce the 
 Government and the military .^To pacify the French, eight 
 French-Canadian members were added to the Legislative 
 Council. It was thought this would satisfy the French-- 
 Canadian element, but all in vain. The Governor, not 
 wishing to offend the Legislature, passed over the insults 
 that had been heaped upon him and his Government. 
 In his address to the Assembly, when he met the Legis- 
 lature a second time, in 1832, he proved how able and 
 willing he was to sink his private feelings in the falfil- 
 ment of duty and obligation" to the Crown. 
 
 In the performance of the service, which he was 
 required to render, however, he had to communicate to th6 
 
ADDRESS OF LEG IS LA TI VE CO UNGIL. 145 
 
 Assembly the intelligence that the Home Government 
 treated the refusal of the supplies, at the last session, as 
 equivalent to a declaration that the Government must cease, 
 if it was to depend on Colonial sustenance. The King 
 would, therefore, apply other funds, which he had in his 
 disposition, to meet the public expense. 
 
 This determination of the British Government did but 
 add further fuel to the flames. The districts about Mont- 
 real were again in a condition nigh bordering on rebellion. 
 A meeting of the whole House of Assembly was called for 
 the 14th January, 1833. 
 
 After consuming a month's time in discussing 
 grievances, the House, by a resolution of a considerable 
 majority, addressed the King, praying that he would 
 reconstitute the Legislative Council as an elective body. 
 This may be regarded as another proof that the French 
 party were aiming at complete control of the Province. 
 
 On this occasion the Council acted with great dignity. 
 In place of exchanging ungraceful compliments with the 
 Assembly, they addressed themselves to the King, pointing 
 out that the evils flowing from the legislation of His 
 Majesty's French-Canadian subjects were alarming; that 
 a state of prosperity was being turned into a state of ruin ; 
 that the races, French, French-Canadian and English, 
 were divided ; that the trade and commerce of the country 
 was being seriously affected ; that the Elective Council was 
 but another term for an additional Elective Assembly, and 
 that if the 150,000 subjects of his Majesty of British birth 
 and descent in the colony were to be made secure, it was 
 
146 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 absolutely necessary that the existence of the Council, as 
 then constituted (a nominative and not an elective body), 
 should be maintained. 
 
 The Council further informed the King that His 
 Majesty's subjects in Upper Canada would not look calmly 
 on and see Eepublican institutions introduced into Lower 
 Canada, but would resent it, even if it brought about 
 fraternal war. However well the Council may have 
 thought they were serving British interests, by plain speak- 
 ing, their address was not so well received as they had 
 expected. Nothing better illustrates how completely the 
 Council wete, at the home office, considered to be the King's 
 servants, than the reply made by the King to their address. 
 His Majesty could not help commending their loj^alty and 
 attachment to the Constitution. He took occasion, how- 
 ever, to rebuke them for not confining themselves to more 
 temperate language in their references to the Lower 
 Canadian Assembly. He said : " His Majesty cannot but 
 wish that the Council had abstained from using, with 
 reference to the other branch of the Canadian Legislature, 
 language less temperate in its tone than is consistent with 
 its own dignity, or calculated to maintain or restore a good 
 understanding between the two bodies. More especially 
 His Majesty laments the introduction of any words having 
 the appearance of ascribing to a class of his subjects of one 
 origin, views at variance with their allegiance." 
 
 It is to be borne in mind that when this reply was 
 written, Mr. Yiger, the Lower Canadian Assembly's re|)re- 
 sentative in the capital of the Empire, was in London, 
 
MR. VIGER IN LONDON. 147 
 
 and that his presence there added much to the strength of 
 the Galilean party in the Province of Lower Canada. Mr. 
 Viger was too loyal a French- Canadian to be within 
 hearing of the King's ministers and not impart to them 
 sentiments not far different from those expressed in the 
 King's reply to the Legislative Council. 
 
 If the sailor King could have lived to the time of the 
 actual rebellion in Lower Canada and to receive the report 
 of High Commissioner the Earl of Durham on the affairs 
 of Canada, made to his successor, Her Most Gracious 
 Majesty Queen Victoria, in 1839, he would have had cause 
 to commend the Legislative Council, not for a part only, 
 but for the whole of their address to the Sovereign. 
 
 The Earl of Durham frankly admitted that he, in 
 common with the people of England, had been deceived 
 in regard to the true condition of affairs in Lower 
 Canada, and had wholly misunderstood the causes of 
 the differences which had existed in the Province. 
 He said : "I expected to find a contest between a 
 Government and a people. I found two nations warring 
 in the bosom of a single state, a struggle, not of principle, 
 but of races." 
 
 Eeference has been made to the insults which the 
 Lower Canadian Assembly, in their own way, heaped 
 upon the Governor of the Province. Lord Aylmer did 
 not deserve this at their hands, as he was conscientiously 
 desirous of promoting the interests of the French-Cana- 
 dian, as of other subjects of the Crown. Here is a 
 
 specimen of the Assembly's deliverance, on a subject 
 11 
 
 \ 
 
148 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 which really was of little importance in itself, but 
 was regarded by the people's House as a great breach 
 of their privileges. A vacancy occurred in the repre- 
 sentation of the County of Montreal, on the 24th 
 November, 1833. The Speaker's warrant for a new 
 writ of election was issued on the 27th of the same 
 month. The Governor, owing to the special circum- 
 stances under which the vacancy occurred, conceived 
 it to be his duty before issuing the writ of election, 
 to refer the matter to the Colonial Office, and so informed 
 the Assembly by message, stating at length the reasons 
 that had prevented him from issuing the writ, and that 
 he was awaiting instructions from his superiors in 
 England. 
 
 The communication between England and her Colony 
 was not at that time as rapid as the present. To give 
 time for the ^ Home Office to deliberate on the matter, 
 and to inform the Governor of the result of their 
 deliberations, necessarily consumed some time. The 
 Assembly, on the 5th March, addressed the Governor 
 on the subject of the delay. Lord Aylmer informed 
 the House that no answer had yet been received from 
 the Colonial Ofiice to his application for guidance. His 
 message to the Assembly was delivered on March 8th, 
 and was at once referred to a Committee of the House. 
 The Committee, with great precipitancy, considering the 
 more important business that was then engaging the 
 attention of Parliament, reported that — " His Excellency 
 had, in violation of the Constitution and laws of the 
 
ASSEMBLY ARRAIGNS LORD AYLMER. 149 
 
 Province, and in infringement of the privileges of the 
 House, for a long time, and until the present time, 
 prevented the County of Montreal from being represented . 
 Under these circumstances, which must put an end 
 to every feeling of good understanding between His 
 Excellency the Governor-in-Chief and the House of 
 Assembly, the House ought perhaps to suspend all 
 further proceedings, and all communication whatever 
 with His Excellency, until he has made reparation for 
 this breach of its rights and privileges. The only circum- 
 stance which may induce them to defer the communication 
 of such a determination to the Commander in Chief, is the 
 indispensable necessity of passing a bill with the view of 
 preventing, as far as human means may permit, by a 
 proper system of quarantine, the return of the cholera 
 morbus, or to diminish its ravages, if it breaks out afresh 
 in this Province, as there is but too much reason to fear." 
 The Quebec Gazette, published at the time, refers to 
 the expulsion of Mr. Mondelet from the House for accept- 
 ing the position of member of the Executive Council, which 
 was the very same thing that Mr. Panet had done with 
 the approbation of the House, and relates how the 
 Governor had been assailed with addresses for information, 
 and the palpable object and character of some of those 
 addresses. *' How very strangely the warrant for a writ 
 for the west ward of the City of Montreal was delayed, on 
 the ground of danger of riot, and the magistrates and the 
 military, while an immediate issue of the writ, calling on 
 the very same electors to act in the immediate neighbour- 
 
150 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 hood of the same magistrates and military, is urged and 
 made a suhject of disrespectful expressions and accusa- 
 tions against the Governor. A just ground for "putting an 
 end to the whole business of the country and throwing 
 everything into confusion, were it not for fear of the 
 cholera." And adds — '' Well, we are glad the cholera 
 has at last been found good for something."* 
 
 A fruitful subject of discussion in Lower Canada, which 
 came to a head during Lord Aylmer's administration, in- 
 volved the right of the judges of the Province, or any of 
 them, to sit or vote in the Legislative Council. T-he 
 practice had been for the Crown to nominate the judges, or 
 some of them, to the Legislative Council, and, as the judges 
 were mostly of British origin, the French-Canadian party 
 made of this one of the grievances they were subjected to. 
 The judges in the Province held their office during pleasure. 
 The British Government was of opinion this ought not to 
 be. Not only was it contrary to the English system, but 
 the judges, by being made subject to the whim or caprice 
 of the Assembly, for the annual vote of their salaries, were 
 thus deprived of their independence. 
 
 The Assembly, in order to incapacitate the judges from 
 sitting or voting in the Executive or Legislative Council, 
 on the 10th April, 1832, passed an Act, designed to 
 accomplish that purpose. When the Act came to be sub- 
 mitted to the British Government, it was found to be 
 wanting in the essential element of creating a fixed salary 
 for the judges. Viscount Goderich, Colonial Secretary, J 
 
 » Christie's Lower Canada, Vol. II T, p. 501. 
 
JUDGES IN THE ASSEMBLY. 151 
 
 thereupon addressed a despatch to Lord Aylmer, in which 
 he informed him of the King's command to acquaint the 
 House of Assembly, that His Majesty was not only pre- 
 pared, but was most desirous to co-operate with them in 
 the enactment of the law, which should render the tenure 
 of the judicial office dependent on the good behaviour of 
 the judges, and the salaries independent of the future 
 votes of the House of Assembly. The Governor com- 
 municated a copy of this despatch, which was found to 
 contain a clause announcing to Lord Aylmer that with no 
 ordinary feelings of regret he was informed that His 
 Majesty would not be advised to assent to the particular 
 Bill passed by the Assembly. The despatch was not a 
 bald one, but entered minutely into the whole question 
 covered by the Bill, and fully explained why it was neces- 
 sary that the judges should not be made subject to an 
 annual or uncertain vote for their salaries. It said, — 
 *' The Bill does not make a fixed and permanent provision 
 for the maintenance of the judges. I observe that the 
 enactment itself amounts to nothing more than a declara- 
 tion that the judges shall be paid out of those collective 
 funds of which the House of Assembly have, or claim to 
 themselves, the right of appropriation. Such a provision 
 will not supersede the necessity of an annual vote of the 
 House to sanction the payment of the judges' salaries, nor 
 authorize the Governor to issue his warrant to the Receiver 
 General for the sums, in the event of such a vote being 
 withheld. The popular branch of the Legislature would, 
 therefore, retain the power of diminishing the official 
 
 V 
 
152 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 incomes of the judges, or of stopping the payment of them 
 altogether, and would thus exercise an influence over the 
 Bench, subversive of that sense of independence of all 
 parties in the state, so requisite in the members of a body, 
 whose high office it is to ascertain and protect the rights 
 of all with strict impartiality. The British Parliament 
 have studiously divested themselves of all such means of 
 C9ntrolling the freedom of the judges." 
 
 The conclusion to be drawn is, that while the Assem- 
 )ly and their electors were clamorous to have the judges 
 independent of the Crown, they were quite willing to have 
 them dependent on the Legislature. This is not, however, 
 surprising, as all the energies of the French party in the 
 Province of Quebec were directed to making, not only the 
 judges, but everybody and everything, dependent on that 
 branch of Parliament controlled by themselves. 
 
CHAPTEE VIII. 
 
 Mackenzie and the Reform Party — Defects in Government — Macken- 
 zie's Printing Office Attacked — Type Distributed and Thrown 
 Into the Bay — Action for Damages — Mackenzie Profited by the 
 Rash Act — Collins and the Newspaper, " The Freeman " — Collins 
 Prosecuted for Libel — Young Men who Attacked Mackenzie's 
 Office on Trial — Convicted — Mackenzie Did Not Countenance 
 Prosecution — Report of Select Committee of House of Assem- 
 bly — " The Advocate's " Comments Thereon Offensive and Libel- 
 lous — Mackenzie Prosecuted for Libel — Appeal to the Electors — 
 Alien Laws — Mackenzie Makes Friends of Old Settlers — Mac- 
 kenzie Not Admirer of the American Constitution — Mackenzie's 
 Address to Electors, County of York, 1827 — Dr. Baldwin — Mac- 
 kenzie's "Black List "—Mackenzie and Small Opposed — Sir 
 Peregrine Maitland's Administration — Colonial System of Gov- 
 ernment — Mackenzie's Activity — Mackenzie's Thirty-two Resolu- 
 tions—Grievances — Sir John Colborne, Governor — The Execu- 
 tive Council — Governor Responsible to English Government — 
 Incongruous Position of Executive and Legislative Council — 
 Colonial Despatch to Sir James Kempt — Death of George 
 IV. — Dissolution of House — Tory House — Reform Not a Suc- 
 cess — Mackenzie Expelled the House of Assembly — The Elec- 
 tion for York. 
 
 As in nature and the life of man, so in the political life 
 of a nation, there are periods of gloom and of brightness, 
 sunshine and shade, of storm and of calm. The period 
 in the life of Upper Canada between the years 1824 and 
 1830 may justly be called the stormy period, and William 
 Lyon Mackenzie was the stormy petrel which followed 
 in the wake of the ship of state, foreboding wreck for 
 it at every turn. 
 
154 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 What may be termed a Eeform House was elected 
 for the Parliament which commenced its first session in 
 January, 1825. There was a considerable majority of the 
 members of this House who adopted the principles, or 
 some of the principles, espoused by Mr. Mackenzie. 
 Prominent among the Eeform members were the well- 
 known names of Kolph, Perry and Bidwell. Those in 
 the Province, opposed to the policy and procedure of the 
 Government, were much elated at the success they had, 
 for the first time, attained in the political development 
 of the Province. 
 
 Mr. Mackenzie, by his writings, had contributed not 
 a little to the success of the Eeform party, if that may 
 be called a success which placed a number of gentlemen 
 in a House of Assembly, the principal function of which 
 was to pass resolutions, without power to carry them 
 into effect. The defect in the colonial system of gov- 
 ernment was that the Legislative Council, composed of 
 Government nominees and Government place-men, could, 
 when so disposed, block all legislation that did not accord 
 with their views, or, it may be, conflict with their interests. 
 It was not the fault of the men who constituted either 
 the Executive or Legislative Council that they owed no 
 responsibility to the people's House. These men were 
 given their places by the higher or sovereign power of 
 the State, and under the Constitutional Act, which they 
 were bound to respect. If they erred at times, it was 
 nothing more than human, and they might well have 
 been spared the virulent attacks made upon them by 
 
MACKENZIE'S OFFICE SACKED. 155 
 
 Mr. Mackenzie in his paper, The Colonial Advocate. This 
 weapon, in the hands of Mr. Mackenzie, enabled him, 
 metaphorically speaking, to throw vitriol into the face 
 of the officials of the Government, calculated very seri- 
 ously to disfigure them in the eyes of the inhabitants of 
 the Province generally. 
 
 The officials had no means of parrying the attacks 
 made upon them, unless they had recourse to the law 
 courts, which would have been tiresome and expensive. 
 Fifteen ardent young men, the most of them officials, or 
 the sons of officials, in the month of June, 1826, deter- 
 mined to punish Mr. Mackenzie for the offences, many 
 and oft-times committed by him, in libelling themselves, 
 their sires, or immediate relatives in the columns of the 
 Advocate. In broad daylight, they visited Mr. Mackenzie's 
 printing office, at the corner of Caroline and Palace 
 Streets (the latter now Front Street), in the City of 
 Toronto, and distributed some of the type over the floor of 
 the office, as freely as Mr. Mackenzie had distributed 
 his paper through the length and breadth of the Province. 
 Other types they threw into the bay, broke a new printing 
 press that they found in the building, and committed havoc 
 generally. All this was done to resent the calumnies of 
 Mr. Mackenzie. It was a very foolish act on the part 
 of these young men, for even supposing that Mr. Mac- 
 kenzie had been more vituperative than he need have 
 been, or even more censorious of the official conduct of 
 the fathers or kinsmen of the young men than the cir- 
 cumstances and condition of things demanded, a destruc- 
 
156 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 tion of his property, besides making a martyr of tlie 
 individual attacked, would compel the law officers of the 
 Grown, however unwilling, to take action against the 
 offenders. 
 
 One of the first results of this attack of the young 
 men was that one of the party of assault, Mr. Lyons, 
 who held the office of private secretary under Governor 
 Maitland, was dismissed from his position, no doubt with 
 a view to pacifying public opinion. Mr. Mackenzie 
 commenced a civil action against the perpetrators of the 
 trespass on his property. The case went to trial, and the 
 offenders were mulcted in $2,500 damages, which was, 
 however, raised by private subscription of their friends. 
 This destruction of Mr. Mackenzie's property gained for 
 him considerable sympathy from the non-official class 
 in Toronto (York). The official class, on the other hand, 
 rather gloried in the act, and the Governor, or Govern- 
 ment, condoned the offence by rewarding the offenders. 
 Mr. Lyons, who lost his position as secretary, was 
 appointed to the office of Eegistrar of the Niagara District. 
 Mr. Samuel Peters Jarvis, another of the rioters, obtained 
 an Indian Commissionership. Mr. Charles Kichardson, 
 student in the office of the Attorney-General, was given 
 the office of Clerk of the Peace for the Niagara District, 
 no doubt recognizing his services to the Crown. That 
 these young men should have been promoted, rather 
 than degraded, on account of this illegal act of theirs, 
 in destroying Mr. Mackenzie's property, shows very clearly 
 that Mr. Mackenzie was regarded by the, ruling powers 
 
MACKENZIE PROFITS BY THE ATTACK. 157 
 
 as a nuisance, which they would be glad to get rid of 
 by any means. 
 
 Mr. Mackenzie, for his part, rather prided himself in 
 being considered a nuisance by the of&cials. It seems 
 to have been his mission in life always to have been at 
 war with the official class. Mr. Macaulay, afterwards 
 Chief Justice, was a practising lawyer in York at the 
 time of the press destruction, and endeavoured to bring 
 about a settlement of Mr. Mackenzie's claim, without a 
 trial at law. A passage in his letter to Mr. Small, who 
 acted for Mackenzie, to this end, shows that he con- 
 sidered Mr. Mackenzie was not blameless in the matter, 
 and that if there was no legal justification, there was at 
 least some excuse for the conduct of the young men in 
 attacking the printing office. The passage is this : " The 
 real cause of the step is well known to all ; it is not to be 
 ascribed to any malice, political feeling, or private animosity; 
 the personal calumnies of the latter Advocates point out 
 sufficiently the true and only motive that prompted it, 
 and I have now to offer to pay at once the full value of 
 the damage occasioned to the press and type, to be deter- 
 mined by indifferent and competent judges selected for 
 that purpose." * 
 
 This episode shows the extreme party spirit of 
 the time, and the relation in which Mr. Mackenzie, the 
 principal promoter of the rebellion, stood with the Gov- 
 ernment and its adherents. Mr. Mackenzie could not 
 but profit by the occurrence which brought about the 
 
 * See Lindsey'a Life of William Lyon Mackenzie, pp. 78-100. 
 
158 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 trial, and put $2,500 of good money in his pocket. 
 Without this assistance the Advocate would probably 
 have been discontinued, and the officials relieved from 
 its irritating remarks. After the trial, Mr. Mackenzie 
 himself, according to his biographer, Mr. Charles Lind- 
 sey, referring to the result, said : " That verdict re-estab- 
 lished on a permanent footing The Advocate press, 
 because it enabled me to perform my engagements, without 
 disposing of my real property." 
 
 A series of accusations, recriminations, assaults, 
 libels and other proceedings, legal and illegal, followed 
 in the wake of the trial of the young men who destroyed 
 Mr. Mackenzie's property. Mr. Mackenzie was not the 
 only libeller of those days. At this time (1828), Mr. 
 Frank Collins edited a paper in York, which, following 
 in the footsteps of the Advocate, was very unsparing 
 in its attacks on the officials of the Government. 
 
 In April, 1828, Mr. Eobinson, afterwards Sir John 
 Kobinson and Chief Justice, felt it his duty to prosecute 
 Collins criminally for four libels published in his 
 paper, The Freeman. Mr. Collins, by way of retaliation 
 on the Attorney General, determined to make it hot 
 for the young men, whom Mackenzie had prosecuted 
 for the attack on his office. These young men were 
 friends and political supporters of the Attorney General, 
 and so Collins would stab the Attorney General 
 and the members of the House, his friends, named 
 in the article, by instituting criminal proceedings. 
 Seven were tried, and after a prolonged trial were 
 
CONVICTION OF MACKENZIE'S ASSAILANTS. 159 
 
 found guilty. To the credit of Mr. Mackenzie, be it 
 said, that he was no party to this prosecution. In 
 giving his evidence at the trial, he disclaimed all 
 connection with it, and expressed the wish that the 
 rioters, if convicted, should be let off with but nominal 
 damages, and this was the result. 
 
 Prosecutions for libel seem to have been the order 
 of the day. Mr. Neilson, a publisher in Lower Canada, 
 was at the same time undergoing the ordeal of trial 
 for libel, keeping pace fairly with Mr. Collins and 
 Mr. Mackenzie. One could almost have wished that 
 Mr. Mackenzie, owing to his generous conduct in the 
 Collins' trial, would have been excused for his next 
 offence. His restless nature would not allow him to 
 stop. It was not long before he gave an opportunity 
 to the authorities for another prosecution for libel. 
 
 In an article in the Advocate, which dealt with a 
 report of a select committee of the House of Assembly, 
 on the complaint of one Forsyth of Niagara Falls, 
 complaining of the conduct of the Crown officers, and 
 of the defective and partial administration of justice, 
 Mackenzie said: "The report speaks a language not 
 to be misunderstood ; and we trust that a perusal of 
 it will serve to stir up the dormant energies of the 
 wholesome part of the population, and induce them to 
 exert themselves manfully to clear the House of 
 Assembly next election of the Attorney General, Speaker 
 Wilson, Jonas, David and Charles Jones, Messrs. Burn- 
 ham, Coleman, McLean, Vankoughnet, and the whole of 
 
160 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 that ominous nest of unclean birds, which have so long 
 lain close under the wings of a spendthrift executive and 
 (politically to speak) actually preyed upon the very vitals 
 of the country they ought to have loved, cherished and 
 protected. No wonder is it that Parliament should find 
 its energies all but paralyzed when such an accumula- 
 tion of corrupt materials is left unswept with the besom 
 of the people's wrath from out of these halls they have so 
 long and so shamefully ' defiled with their abomination.' 
 
 The incisiveness of the libelous matter was no doubt 
 the cause of the prosecution which inevitably followed. 
 The article was evidently intended as an " avant courier '* 
 in the race for the next Parliamentary election, an 
 election which Mr. Mackenzie and his friends hoped 
 would sweep every particle of Toryism out of the 
 Assembly. The indictment was laid, but was never 
 brought to trial before a jury, but seems to have been 
 laid over for trial by the electors of the Province. 
 
 Before the time fixed for the next Parliamentary elec- 
 tion, Mr. Mackenzie was given an opportunity to make 
 friends in the constituencies of very many who had been 
 supporters of the Government. The means to this end 
 was afforded by the wretched condition of the Alien Law. 
 As this law then stood, American citizens, even those 
 who had taken up arms on the British side during the 
 Colonial Eevolutionary War, were denied the rights of 
 British subjects in Canada, if born in the old Colonies 
 before the Treaty of 1783, or if they had continued to 
 reside in the United States for the period of one year 
 
THE ALIEN LAWS. 161 
 
 after 3rd September, 1783, and a British subject who 
 came to Canada, by way of the United States, was held 
 to have become an alien. We have seen how, in 1825, 
 the law was pressed in the case of Gourlay. This state 
 of affairs was by virtue of Imperial legislation, and the 
 treaty between Great Britain and the United States, 
 under which the Americans secured their independence. 
 By the joint operations of these measures, such persons 
 were considered American citizens. Besides the class of 
 old colonists of ante-revolutionary days, the latter-day 
 Americans, that is to say, Americans born under the 
 Stars and Stripes, who had no ideal but the Eepublican 
 form of government, sought to get a foothold in Canada 
 by taking up land, more for speculative purposes than 
 otherwise. 
 
 The rights of such last named persons to hold lands in 
 Canada was disputed by the old settlers. When the alien laws 
 and the treaty came to be consulted, and a legal decision 
 had on the subject, it was found that the old settlers 
 were in no better condition in the matter of citizenship 
 than the new. Mr. Mackenzie came to the rescue of the 
 old settlers, and strongly denounced the alien laws, at 
 the same time advocating legislation to place the old 
 settlers on the same level as British subjects born within 
 the boundaries of the British Isles. When it is considered 
 that a great portion of the lands of these old settlers 
 were in jeopardy, because of the alien law, and their being 
 placed in the category of aliens, it will readily be seen 
 what a powerful lever Mr. Mackenzie had to work with. 
 
162 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 This lever he used for its full power. He roused the 
 interested, got an agent sent to England to advocate 
 repeal of the laws, and finally succeeded in getting the 
 law placed on a footing that secured to the old Canadian 
 settlers titles to their lands, thus gaining the confidence 
 of many former opponents, and paving the way for a 
 seat in the Legislature, which, at no distant day, would 
 have to receive, if not to welcome him within its halls. 
 
 Mr. Mackenzie was not an admirer of the American 
 Constitution. On the contrary, he preferred the British 
 Constitution, and would have been satisfied with that Con- 
 stitution enforced in its entirety, including responsibility 
 of the Executive to the Elective House and so to the 
 people, instead of its responsibility to the Crown, as it 
 prevailed in Canada. When he succeeded in getting Mr. 
 Randall appointed a delegate to England, to advocate a 
 repeal of the alien laws, he addressed letters to Lord 
 Dalhousie, Governor-General, in which, after making 
 strong profession of loyalty, and referring to the Ameri- 
 can Federal Union and its then threatened disruption, 
 he said : " And is this the Government, and are these 
 the people whose alliance and intimacy we ought to court 
 instead of those of England ? No,' my Lord, their con- 
 stitutional theory is defective, and their practice neces- 
 sarily inconsistent. Their Government wants consolida- 
 tion. Let us take warning by their example." * 
 
 The Ninth Provincial Parliament, the last held under 
 the administration of Sir Peregrine Maitland, was dissolved 
 
 ♦Lindaey, Vol. I, p. 128, 
 
ELECTION OF 1828. 163 
 
 in July, 1828. Mr. Mackenzie, always in advance of the 
 times, issued his first Parliamentary address for the 
 election to follow the dissolution so early as the 17th 
 December, 1827. This address was to the Electors of the 
 County of York. In his address to his constituency Mr. 
 Mackenzie exhibited the same independent attitude and 
 uncompromising opposition to the ruling power, as he had 
 shown by his writings in the press. He said : " That 
 corrupt, powerful and long endured influence, which has 
 hitherto interfered with your rights and liberties, can only 
 be overthrown by your unanimity and zeal. I have been 
 a careful observer of the conduct of the people's represen- 
 tatives in the Colonial Assemblies. I have seen men, in 
 whom was placed the utmost confidence, fall from their 
 integrity and betray their sacred trust. But there are 
 others who continue to maintain and uphold the interests 
 of their country. . . . Among this latter class I am 
 desirous of being numbered." * 
 
 An independent House of Assembly would be an 
 inestimable boon for Upper Canada, and Mr. Mackenzie, 
 to attain that end, desired to clear the House of all office- 
 holders. Especially was it his desire to dispossess the 
 existing Legislative Council, and if possible to have their 
 places filled with men of advanced ideas, such as Marshall 
 S. Bidwell, Peter Perry, Ketchum, Eandal and others who 
 had espoused the Mackenzie political faith. 
 
 There was one man in the Eeform ranks of that day, 
 who, while strongly impressed with reform doctrines, was 
 
 * Lindsey, Vol. I, p. 144. 
 12 
 
162 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 This lever he used for its full power. He roused the 
 interested, got an agent sent to England to advocate 
 repeal of the laws, and finally succeeded in getting the 
 law placed on a footing that secured to the old Canadian 
 settlers titles to their lands, thus gaining the confidence 
 of many former opponents, and paving the way for a 
 seat in the Legislature, which, at no distant day, would 
 have to receive, if not to welcome him within its halls. 
 
 Mr. Mackenzie was not an admirer of the American 
 Constitution. On the contrary, he preferred the British 
 Constitution, and would have been satisfied with that Con- 
 stitution enforced in its entirety, including responsibility 
 of the Executive to the Elective House and so to the 
 people, instead of its responsibility to the Crown, as it 
 prevailed in Canada. When he succeeded in getting Mr. 
 Eandall appointed a delegate to England, to advocate a 
 repeal of the alien laws, he addressed letters to Lord 
 Dalhousie, Governor-General, in which, after making 
 strong profession of loyalty, and referring to the Ameri- 
 can Federal Union and its then threatened disruption, 
 he said : " And is this the Government, and are these 
 the people whose alliance and intimacy we ought to court 
 instead of those of England ? No," my Lord, their con- 
 stitutional theory is defective, and their practice neces- 
 sarily inconsistent. Their Government wants consolida- 
 tion. Let us take warning by their example." * 
 
 The Ninth Provincial Parliament, the last held under 
 the administration of Sir Peregrine Maitland, was dissolved 
 
 *Lind8ey, Vol. I, p. 128. 
 
ELECTION OF 1828. 163 
 
 in July, 1828. Mr. Mackenzie, always in advance of the 
 times, issued his first Parliamentary address for the 
 election to follow the dissolution so early as the 17th 
 December, 1827. This address was to the Electors of the 
 County of York. In his address to his constituency Mr. 
 Mackenzie exhibited the same independent attitude and 
 uncompromising opposition to the ruling power, as he had 
 shown by his writings in the press. He said : *' That 
 corrupt, powerful and long endured influence, which has 
 hitherto interfered with your rights and liberties, can only 
 be overthrown by your unanimity and zeal. I have been 
 a careful observer of the conduct of the people's represen- 
 tatives in the Colonial Assemblies. I have seen men, in 
 whom was placed the utmost confidence, fall from their 
 integrity and betray their sacred trust. But there are 
 others who continue to maintain and uphold the interests 
 of their country. . . . Among this latter class I am 
 desirous of being numbered." * 
 
 An independent House of Assembly would be an 
 inestimable boon for Upper Canada, and Mr. Mackenzie, 
 to attain that end, desired to clear the House of all office- 
 holders. Especially was it his desire to dispossess the 
 existing Legislative Council, and if possible to have their 
 places filled with men of advanced ideas, such as Marshall 
 S. Bidwell, Peter Perry, Ketchum, Eandal and others who 
 had espoused the Mackenzie political faith. 
 
 There was one man in the Eeform ranks of that day, 
 who, while strongly impressed with reform doctrines, was 
 
 * Lindsey, Vol. I, p. 144. 
 12 
 
164 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 of the more conservative class of Eeformers, not disposed 
 to be led, but rather wishing to lead Mr. Mackenzie and 
 his friends. He was a man of excellent judgment, honest 
 in his convictions and deservedly popular. That man was 
 Dr. Baldwin. Dr. Baldwin was a Whig, Mr. Mackenzie 
 was a Eadical. In that lay the difference. 
 
 In seeking the suffrages of York, Mr. Mackenzie made 
 a good choice. It was the county in which the capital of 
 the Province was situated. There was his home, and there 
 he bad built up for himself a reputation ; true, a bad repu- 
 tation in the eyes of the reigning powers, but, in the eyes 
 of those opposed to the prevailing system, he was looked 
 upon as the man to force the citadel of Toryism, and to 
 open the gates for the incoming of men who were to shake 
 the fortress to its foundations, and plant upon the ram- 
 parts the banner of Reform, if not the flag of Revolution. 
 
 Mr. Mackenzie commenced the campaign for the 
 election of 1828 by publishing a " Legislative Black List," 
 in which he set down the names of members who had, 
 as they believed, faithfully served their constituents in 
 the Ninth Parliament, but who had not been able to see 
 eye to eye with Mr. Mackenzie. Mr. James E. Small, of 
 York, was a Reformer, but not of the advanced school of 
 Mr. Mackenzie. Mr. Small had indeed been Mr. Mac- 
 kenzie's attorney in his actions for damages against the 
 type distributors, and, strange to say, it was Mr. Small who 
 contested with Mr. Mackenzie the constituency, and was 
 made to feel that Mackenzie the Radical was master of a 
 power greater than that exercised by the moderate re- 
 
I 
 
 SIB JOHN COLBORNE. 165 
 
 formers of his own class. Mr. Mackenzie was elected 
 over his political friend, but less advanced reformer, 
 James E. Small. 
 
 Sir John Colborne succeeded Sir Peregrine Maitland 
 as Governor, and opened the Tenth Provincial Parliament 
 in January, 1829. Mr. Bidwell was elected Speaker, and 
 from this circumstance the political complexion of the 
 House may be gathered, as also from the address of the 
 House, in reply to the Governor's speech at the opening. 
 The House said : " Although we at present see your 
 Excellency unhappily surrounded by the same advisers 
 as have so deeply wounded the feelings and injured the 
 best interests of the country, yet in the interval of any 
 necessary change, we entertain an anxious belief that 
 under the auspices of your Excellency, the administra- 
 tion will rise above suspicion." 
 
 ''Unhappily surrounded by the same advisers," — 
 " Intervals of any necessary change." That was it. The 
 House fondly hoped there would be a change in the 
 personnel of the Government, in its policy, in its general 
 administration. And so there would have been if there 
 had existed in the Colony Eesponsible Government, as it 
 exists at the present day. Unhappily that was not the 
 system of Colonial Government in Canada, or in any other 
 British Colony, at the time, the great difference being 
 that then, the Colonial Government was responsible to the 
 Colonial Office, now, the people's representatives have it in 
 their power to change the Government, whenever, in their 
 wisdom, they think it should be changed. 
 
166 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 Mr. Mackenzie, as a member of the Assembly, showed 
 the same unflagging energy, which he had shown in every- 
 thing he had midertaken in life. In Committee, or 
 in the House, he was the same prying, inquisitive, 
 irritating Mackenzie. Everything, in his estimation, had 
 gone wrong. He first attacked the Post Office Depart- 
 ment, which was then under Imperial control. It 
 was urged that the postage on letters and newspapers was 
 unnecessarily high, that the Department was inefficiently 
 managed, that it should be taken out of the control of 
 the Imperial Government, and placed under local control. 
 The principle he advocated was no doubt a good one, but 
 in this, as in everything else, Mr. Mackenzie was in 
 advance of his contemporaries, and of the times, and this, 
 his biographer, Mr. Lindsey, has frankly admitted. Mr. 
 Lindsey has had much experience in political matters, 
 and no one is better qualified to give an opinion on such a 
 subject. 
 
 Mr. Mackenzie, before the close of the first session of 
 the Assembly, introduced to the House thirty-one Resolu- 
 tions, enumerative of grievances, that, in his judgment, 
 afflicted the Province, and required to be remedied. 
 
 The principal grievances of which he complained were : 
 
 The absence of local self-government — substantially Responsible 
 Government 
 
 The institution of criminal prosecutions at the instance of the 
 Crown for political libels. 
 
 The want of independence of the judges. 
 
 The power of the sheriffs, holding office during pleasure, in the 
 selection of juries. 
 
THE THIRTY-ONE RESOLUTIONS. 167 
 
 The patronage exercised by the Crown and the Lieutenant- 
 Oovernor of the Province, uncontrolled by the Legislature. 
 
 The unpaid war losses (War of 1812), or their being charged 
 to the Provincial, instead of the Imperial Government. 
 
 The absence of a protective system in the trade of the Province. 
 
 The budget of grievances was enlarged by other com- 
 plaints, but they were of a minor kind or administrative 
 character. 
 
 The resolutions were not pressed on the House for 
 adoption, but were referred to a special committee, of 
 which Mr. Mackenzie was chairman, called *' The Com- 
 mittee on Grievances." 
 
 Mr. John Beverley Eobinson was Attorney- General of 
 the Province throughout the first session of the Tenth 
 Parliament, in which Mr. Mackenzie had a seat. It fell 
 to his lot to defend the Government against the assaults 
 of the new member. There had never been in the House, 
 up to this time, so fearless a denunciator of the ruling 
 powers, and all connected with them, as Mackenzie. The 
 nature of the Government was such, however, that he 
 was powerless to alter the existing state of things. The 
 Government had the patronage and control of the purse. 
 They cared no more for hostile resolutions of the House 
 of Assembly than they would have cared for as many 
 blank cartridges, fired into their midst. Mr. Mackenzie 
 had hoped, that with the incoming of Sir John Colborne 
 as Governor, the Parliamentary majority would have had 
 a voice in the regulation of the affairs of the Province. 
 He soon found it was a very small voice, not louder 
 
168 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 than the utterance of the Assembly of Lower Canada, 
 explained in a previous chapter, and for the same reason — 
 the controlling power of the Legislative Council. 
 
 Mr. Mackenzie was comforted by one thing during 
 the recess following the session of 1829. A vacancy 
 in the representation of York having occurred through 
 the elevation of Mr. John Beverley Eobinson to the 
 Bench, as Chief Justice of the Province, Mr. Mackenzie 
 was enabled to welcome, as a member to fill his place, 
 Mr. Kobert Baldwin, who, if he did not share all Mr. 
 Mackenzie's opinions, was more congenial to his tastes 
 than the talented Attorney-General. Mr. Baldwin had 
 been opposed in his candidature for a seat in the 
 House by Mr. James E. Small, who, as we have seen, 
 was the candidate in opposition to Mr. Mackenzie, 
 when he was elected for York. 
 
 The second session of the Tenth Parliament was 
 opened by Sir John Colborne, in January, 1830. The 
 Legislative Assembly seized at once upon the oppor- 
 tunity to inform His Excellency that the advisers 
 about His Excellency, in other words the Executive 
 Council — " from the unhappy policy they had pursued 
 in the late administration, had long deservedly lost 
 the confidence of the country." This they did in reply 
 to His Excellency's speech, at the opening of the House. 
 Such a reply to the speech from the throne, in England, 
 would inevitably have led to a change of the Monarch's 
 advisers. Why should not the same result follow in the 
 case of the Canadian Executive Council? 
 
DESPATCH TO GOVERNOR KEMPT. 169 
 
 It must not be supposed that the British Govern- 
 ment was not impressed with the incongruous position 
 of the Executive and Legislative Councils in the Prov- 
 inces. Sir George Murray, the Colonial Secretary, in 
 1829, had, in September of that year, written to Sir 
 James Kempt, administrator in chief, who advised Sir 
 John Colborne of the despatch : " The constitution of the 
 Legislative and Executive Councils is another subject 
 which has undergone considerable discussion, but upon 
 which His Majesty's Government must suspend their 
 opinion until I shall have received some authentic 
 information from your Excellency. You will, therefore, 
 have the goodness to report to me, whether it would be 
 expedient to make any alteration in the general consti- 
 tution of those bodies, and especially how far it would 
 be desirable to introduce a larger proportion of members 
 not holding offices at the pleasure of the Crown ; and if 
 it should be considered desirable, how far it may be 
 practicable to find a sufficient number of persons of 
 respectability of this description." 
 
 The newspaper organs of the two recognized parties 
 in the Province in 1830, the Tory and the Reform 
 parties, were but a little less chary in their calumnies, 
 charges and recriminations than were the newspapers in 
 Lower Canada. The Reformers and their leaders being 
 accused of disloyalty by the Tory press, Mr. Mackenzie, 
 the champion of Reform, advocated their cause with all 
 the energy he could master. He published a series of 
 letters, addressed to Sir John Colborne, aimed at removing 
 
172 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 The expulsion of Mr. Mackenzie caused a great 
 sensation at the time. His constituents, and those 
 sympathizing with him, to the number of nearly a 
 thousand, petitioned the Lieutenant-Governor against 
 the proceedings of the House, commenting on the 
 unfairness of visiting on Mr. Mackenzie the penalty 
 of expulsion, when it was contended that Tory papers 
 had been equally culpable and had not been prosecuted. 
 The Governor dismissed the petition by merely 
 acknowledging its receipt and making no further reply. 
 This incensed the petitioners, and they determined to 
 show the Government and the Assembly that they 
 would stand by the expelled member. They proceeded 
 to his house, took him under their protection, carried 
 him through the streets of the town of York, and 
 visited the Parliament House, when the procession halted 
 and cheered the honorable member to the echo. On 
 the same day that Mr. Mackenzie was expelled the 
 House a writ was issued for a new election in the 
 constituency. " The freedom of the press " became 
 the watchword. On the 2nd January, 1832, the electors 
 of York reversed the judgment of the House of Assembly, 
 and returned Mr. Mackenzie as their member, his 
 opponent receiving but one vote. 
 
 Mr. Mackenzie's constitutents, to the number of a 
 thousand or more, escorted him to the House when he 
 went to take his seat on his re-election, with great 
 parade and loud acclamations. His triumph was com- 
 plete, but did not last long, as he was again expelled 
 
MACKENZIE EXPELLED THE HOUSE. 173 
 
 in a few days after his triumphant entry to the Halls 
 of Legislation, for another libel on the Assembly, 
 published in his Colonial Advocate of the 5th January, 1832. 
 On this occasion, the House, by its vote, not only expelled, 
 but declared him disqualified to be a member of the House. 
 
 This second expulsion of Mr. Mackenzie from the 
 House was the cause of great excitement in many parts 
 of the Province. Public meetings were held, denouncing 
 the whole proceedings as tyrannical and arbitrary. At 
 the meeting at Hamilton, on the 19th March, 1832, the 
 opposing parties nearly came to blows on the preliminary 
 question as to who should be chairman of the meeting. 
 At the meeting held in the town of York, on March 
 23rd, 1832, there was much violence. The turbulence 
 rose to the dimensions of a riot, and Mr. Mackenzie's 
 printing office was again robbed, a portion of the 
 building destroyed, and some of the type scattered. At 
 this meeting Mr. Mackenzie was burnt in effigy. 
 
 The Governor, hearing of the disturbance, ordered a 
 company of soldiers to be in readiness to act, in 
 case the civil authorities should prove that they were 
 unable to put down the rioting or prevent its renewal. 
 
 Amidst all this excitement, Mr. Mackenzie found 
 time to have petitions to the King and to the Imperial 
 Parliament signed by a great number of persons, 
 complaining of grievances, and he himself became bearer 
 of the petitions to England. 
 
 In April, 1832, he sailed for England, where he met 
 Mr. Viger, the agent of Lower Canada. They got a 
 
174 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 hearing at the Colonial Office, and Mr. Mackenzie was 
 surprised to find that he was courteously received. It 
 was something new to him to be received with con- 
 sideration in Government circles. This had not been 
 his experience in Canada. 
 
 When the petitions were laid before the House of 
 Commons by Mr. Hume, whose interest and influence 
 Mr. Mackenzie had gained, Mr. Hume said that he 
 presented the petition, not only with the knowledge and 
 consent of the Government, but : ** he was happy to have 
 the assurance of Viscount Goderich, Secretary of State 
 for the Colonies, that his Lordship was busy inquiring 
 into the grievances complained of with a view of afford- 
 ing relief." After an interview of three hours with the 
 Colonial Secretary, on the 3rd August, accompanied by 
 Messrs. Hume and Viger, Mr. Mackenzie wrote to his 
 friends in Canada : " We left the Colonial Office, well 
 satisfied that measures are about to be taken that will 
 go a great way towards neutralizing the existing discon- 
 tent." 
 
 The discontent referred to by Mr. Mackenzie had, in 
 many cases, been aroused and promoted by himself. It 
 was not the discontent of the people of Upper Canada 
 as a whole, but of a faction led by Mr. Mackenzie; but 
 whatever it may have been, the Governor was now 
 instructed by the Colonial Office to apply remedies quite 
 sufficient to cure, without the attempt to kill the patient, 
 an attempt afterwards made by Mr. Mac^kenzie and -his 
 followers in the Province of Upper Canada. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 The Real Rebellion in Lower Canada — Mr. Papineau and Despotism — 
 Despatch of Mr. Stanley— The King Will Not Assent to Elective 
 Legislative Council — In the Future Institutions of Canada May 
 Be Modified — The Monarchical Form Must Be Maintained — Papi- 
 neau's Ninety-two Resolutions — His Speech on Introducing to 
 Assembly — The Resolutions — Resolutions Revolutionary — Mr. 
 Morin Sent to England — No Supply Bill Passed by Assembly — 
 Mr. Roebuck and the English House of Commons — Roebuck 
 Champion of Lower Canada — Mr. Stanley Checkmates Roe- 
 buck — Resolutions Referred to Committee — O'Connell and 
 Bulwer Members of Committee — Hume and "Baneful Dom- 
 ination of Mother Country " — Report of Committee on Ninety- 
 two Resolutions — Mackenzie in London — Agent of Malcontents 
 in Upper Canada — Report of Committee Censured by Macken- 
 zie's Followers— Grievance-mongers — Roebuck and Hume Favour 
 Mackenzie and Papineau and Their Principles — "Reform Com- 
 mittees and Constitutional Associations" — A French- Canadian 
 Killed — His Blood Must Be Avenged — French Ascendancy in 
 Lower Canada — Lower Canada Assembly of 1835 — Papineau at 
 the Pinnacle of his Power — Assembly Expunge Governor's 
 Speech from Journals — Morin Moves Resolution to Consider 
 State of Province of Lower Canada — Speeches of Papineau and 
 Gugy thereon. 
 
 Let us now return to the narrative of still more im- 
 portant events in Lower Canada, which lead to the 
 Rebellion, and which has been left in order to deal with 
 Mr. Mackenzie and his group of friends in Upper Canada. 
 For the really, serious Rebellion had' its seat in Lower 
 Canada, the part or share in it which developed itself in 
 
176 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 Upper Canada, bearing to it about the same proportion 
 that the smallest stream in Canada bears to the mighty 
 St. Lawrence, 
 
 In April, 1832, the Governor-in-Chief, Lord Aylmer, 
 communicated to the House of Assembly a despatch from 
 the Home Government, refusing sanction to a Colonial 
 Act to incapacitate the judges from sitting or voting in the 
 Executive Council, and giving the reasons for such refusal. 
 The House of Assembly had now become convinced that 
 the reforms asked by it would not be granted by the 
 Imperial Government. Mr. Papineau set to work to 
 prepare a stupendous series of Resolutions for submission 
 to the House of Assembly, declaratory of the grievances 
 of which the French party in Lower Canada complained, 
 as affecting their political condition. These Resolutions 
 were prepared as an offset to a despatch from the Colonial 
 Office, then presided over by Mr. Stanley, in answer to 
 an address from the House of Assembly to the King, which 
 was laid before the Assembly in January, 1834. 
 
 Referring to the address of the Assembly, Mr. Stanley 
 wrote, that : " The object of this address was to pray His 
 Majesty to sanction a national convention of the people 
 for the purpose of superseding the Legislative authorities 
 and to ascertain whether in order to destroy the Constitu- 
 tion it was better to introduce the Elective principle to 
 the Legislative Council, or abolish that body entirely. 
 His Majesty was willing to put no harsher construction on 
 such a proposal than that of extreme inconsiderateness ; 
 but he can never approve of such a measure, inconsistent 
 
PAPINEAU'S NINETY-TWO RESOLUTIONS. 177 
 
 as it would be with the very existence of monarchical 
 institutions ; yet His Majesty on the other hand was well- 
 disposed to sanction every measure likely to secure the 
 independence and raise the character of the Legislative 
 Council. 'y^ He said he was not prepared to advise the 
 ^~King to propose to Parliament a measure of such import 
 as a repeal of the Act of 1791, but if events should con- 
 strain the British Legislature to interpose its supreme 
 authority to compose the internal dissensions of the 
 Colony, it would then, indeed, become his duty to submit 
 for the consideration of Parliament some modifications of 
 the charters of the Canadas, not, however, for introduc- 
 ing institutions inconsistent with monarchy, but to main- 
 tain and strengthen the connection with the Mother 
 Country, adhering ever to the spirit of the British Consti- 
 tution, confirming too, within their due limits, the rights 
 and privileges of all classes of His Majesty's subjects. 
 
 An idea of the purport and intent of the Eesolutions 
 prepared by Mr. Papineau may be gathered from his 
 speech in introducing these to the House. 
 
 " Long have we uttered our complaint," said he, " and 
 we are all of one mind regarding our grievances ; there is 
 no doubt as to the parties who inflict them upon us ; 
 the only difficulty is, how to find a remedy : it is time 
 now to set about obtaining it. There are persons among 
 us, whose minds, preoccupied with the workings of Euro- 
 pean institutions, would have us to adopt their ideas in 
 this matter. But it is not for us, imperfectly informed 
 as we are of the nature of such institutions, to judge 
 
178 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 of their merits or demerits. Let us enquire rather into 
 things that more nearly concern our own destiny, and 
 strive to build up our liberties as socially and durably as 
 possible. /It is certain that before long the whole of] 
 America will be republicanized. If a change be necessaryj 
 in our present constitution, is it to be undertaken in view 
 of such a conjuncture as I have just mentioned ? Would 
 it be a crime were I to demand that it should ? The 
 members of this House are all answerable to their con- 
 stituents for whatever decision they may come to in this 
 regard, and even though the soldiery should slaughter 
 them for it, they ought not to hesitate, for a moment, 
 to pronounce for any change which they may consider 
 beneficial to their country. It needs not that we enquire 
 what is our present, what was our past situation in America. 
 Britain herself has founded mighty Eepublics on this 
 continent, wherein flourish liberty, morals, commerce 
 and the arts. The French and Spanish-American colonies, 
 with political institutions much less free, have been 
 unfortunate, and had to struggle against the inherent 
 vices of their constitutions. But British rule in the 
 Colonies, what has been its nature ? Has it been more 
 aristocratic than democratic ? It is therefore a great 
 mistake on the part of Mr. Stanley to discourse to us 
 of British Monarchical sway in this present year, eighteen 
 hundred and thirty-four. In the days of the Stuarts, 
 those who maintained that the monarchic principle was 
 paramount in Britain lost their heads on the scaffold. 
 Ever since that age Britain has had a government called 
 
FA PINE A U \S SPEECH. 1 79 
 
 mixed, and no other qualification can we apply to it. 
 Owing to this, its true quality, it is that Mr. Stanley has 
 got into place and power, the entry to which would have 
 been barred against him, if a vote of the House of Com- 
 mons had not constrained Eoyalty to give up its own 
 wishes. The King was told to yield, else he would be 
 discrowned. And yet this man, despised as he is by the 
 British people, now enlarges, for our edification, on the 
 monarchic government of Britain. We, the while, well 
 knowing that the British people, so great for their com- 
 merce, for their institutions, for their progress in civiliza- 
 tion and the arts, and yet more for the liberty which they 
 have borne to the ends of the earth, are free at any 
 moment to upset the monarchy thus spoken of, whenever 
 they list." 
 
 Following his speech, Mr. Papineau introduced his 
 ninety-two Eesolutions, which, in the published proceedings 
 of the Assembly, are dated 21st February, 1834. In their 
 printed form they take up forty- six pages of the proceed- 
 ings. 
 
 The first five Eesolutions are protestations of loyalty 
 to the Empire on the part of the people of Lower 
 Canada. 
 
 Eesolutions 6 and 7 refer to a Petition, in the year 
 
 1827, of 87,000 persons of the Province to Imperial 
 
 Parliament, complaining of grievances ; that such 
 
 grievances did then, and still exist ; that a Committee 
 
 of the House of Commons after investigation reported 
 
 i on 18th July, 1828 :— 
 13 
 
180 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 1st. That the embarrassments and discontents that 
 had long prevailed in the Canadas, had arisen from 
 serious defects in the system of laws and the constitu- 
 tions established in those colonies. 
 
 2nd. That these embarrassments were in a great 
 measure to be attributed to the manner in which the 
 existing system had been administered. 
 
 3rd. That they had a complete conviction that neither 
 the suggestions which they had made, nor any other 
 improvements in the laws and constitutions of the 
 Canadas will be attended with the desired effect, unless an 
 impartial, conciliating and constitutional system of govern- 
 ment were observed in these loyal and important colonies. 
 
 Eesolution 8. Bad administration continued ; recom- 
 mendations of committee not carried out. 
 
 9 to 39. Condemn the Legislative Council, the mode 
 of appointment thereto. Its partiality and abuse of power. 
 Its antagonism to the Assembly and general unsuitable- 
 ness for the Colony. 
 
 Eesolution 40. Expresses a wish that : " the Imperial 
 Legislature will comply with the wishes of the people and 
 of this House, and will provide the most effectual remedy 
 for all evils, present and future, either by rendering the 
 Legislative Council elective in the manner mentioned in 
 the Address of this House to His Most Gracious Majesty 
 of 20th March, 1833, or by enabling the people to express 
 still more directly their opinions as to the measures to be 
 adopted in that behalf, and with regard to such other 
 modifications of the Constitution as the wants of the people, 
 
THE NINETY-TWO RESOLUTIONS. 181 
 
 and the interests of His Majesty's Government in this 
 Province may require ; and that this House perseveres in 
 the said address." 
 
 Eesolutions 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46. That the 
 neighbouring United States have a form of govern- 
 ment very fit to prevent abuses of power, and very effective 
 in repressing them : that the* reverse of this order of things 
 has always prevailed in Canada under the present form 
 of government. That there exists in the neighbouring 
 States a stronger and more general attachment to the 
 national institutions than in any other country, and that 
 there exists also in those States a guarantee for the pro- 
 gressive advance of their political institutions towards 
 perfection, in the revision of the same at short and deter- 
 mined intervals by conventions of the people, in order that 
 they may without any shock or violence be adapted to the 
 actual state of things. 
 
 Eesolutions 47 to 52. Condemnatory of the despatch 
 of Mr. Stanley, Colonial Secretary, to which allusion has 
 been made. That such despatch w^as ill-timed and abusive, 
 and that if it was meant to contain a threat to introduce 
 into the Constitution any other modifications than such 
 as are asked for by the majority of the people of the 
 Province : " This House would esteem itself wanting in 
 candour to the people of England if it hesitated to call their 
 attention to the fact that in less than twenty years British 
 America would be as populous as the old American 
 Colonies when they threw off their allegiance." i 
 
V 
 
 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 Eesolutions 52 to 54. That th« majority of the inhabit^ 
 ants of this Province are in no wise disposed to repudiate 
 any one of the advantages they derive from their origin, 
 and from their descent from the French nation, which, in 
 the progress it has made in science, letters and the arts, 
 has never been behind the British nation. 
 
 Eesolutions 54 to 62. Principally concerning seigniorial 
 tenure, and the opportunity that had been given the 
 seigniors to obtain grants direct from the Crown, to the 
 prejudice of the people's claim. 
 
 Eesolutions 63 to 74. Condemn Executive Govern- 
 ment. Eepudiation of its claims, set up for many years, 
 to the control and power of approi3riating public revenues- 
 levied in the Province. 
 
 A Eesolutions 74 to 78. That the preponderance of the 
 
 /French over English population was very great, yet that 
 
 / all the best offices were given to English, or those of 
 
 I British descent. That judges were brought out from Eng- 
 
 \ land, or lawyers of English birth not familiar with 
 
 \ Canadian laws were made judges. 
 
 V XEesolutions 79, 80, 81. House of Assembly claims all 
 ^he rights, immunities and privileges of the English House 
 of Commons. 
 
 V / Eesolutions 81 to end. General maladministration. 
 /Complain of composition of Executive Council, the mem- 
 
 / bers of which are judges of the Court of Appeal. Exorbi- 
 / tant fees exacted in public offices. Judges frequently 
 I called upon in Executive Council to give their opinions on 
 
THE RESOLUTIONS IN THE ASSEMBLY. 183 
 
 / tion and plurality of offices. Members of the Legislative 
 Council interfering in elections. Military force interfering 
 in elections. Crown lands appropriated by officials and 
 official favourites. Increase of the expenses of government 
 without the authorityofJiagiekit«ir<f: — -Too' frequent reser- 
 
 ^jga ii u n u o f bi ltg: Soglect of Colonial Office. 
 
 Although Mr. Papineau was the author of these 
 Eesolutions, and the acknowledged leader of the French 
 party as a whole, there were, nevertheless, in that party 
 some members of the Assembly who were of opinion 
 that the Eesolutions were more revolutionary than the 
 condition of the Province called for. There was a Quebec 
 party, as well as a Montreal party in the Province, the 
 Montreal party being the more revolutionary of the two. 
 Mr. Bedard was understood, sub jnodo, to lead the Quebec 
 party, while at the same time he was a personal friend 
 and supporter of Mr. Papineau. The members of his 
 section of the party had nothing to gain, but much to 
 lose by a revolution. ^ha_J3F«rriaon of Quebec was a 
 source of revenue to the people of that town, and, not 
 only the town, but the whole surrounding country pro- 
 fited greatly by the great lumber and ship-building trade, 
 then carried on so largely at this seaport. This business 
 was chiefly in the hands of British merchants. British 
 interests had therefore more charm for the Quebecers, 
 of whatever race or religion, than for the inhabitants 
 of the district of Montreal, where French influences and 
 interests were largely in the ascendant. It would be a 
 politic move, therefore, on the part of Mr. Papineau, to 
 
184 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 secure the support of the Quebec party in favour of hi& 
 Eesolutions ; not that the Eesolutions might not have 
 carried in the House, without the aid of that party; 
 still, it would give greater prominence to his radical 
 measure, if he could gain the confidence of the more- 
 conservative members of the party of the Quebec district. 
 At the previous session of the Legislature, Mr. Bedard " 
 had showed symptoms of distrust in Mr. Papineau. It 
 was therefore necessary that he, and with him the 
 Quebec section of the French-Canadian party, should be 
 captured and reconciled to the great leader Papineau 
 and to all his works. Mr. Papineau, with characteristic 
 shrewdness, entrusted the introduction of the ninety-two 
 Eesolutions in the House to Mr. Bedard, which office 
 Mr. Bedard undertook, having secured certain modifica- 
 tions which freed the Eesolutions of their more offensive 
 assumptions. After the elimination of the more objection- 
 able parts, enough was left to satisfy the discontented 
 French-Canadian and his aspirations. 
 
 The Eesolutions were debated for several days. Mr. 
 Neilson, a Scotch member of the House, and a party 
 supporter of Mr. Papineau, was not prepared to break 
 with the British Government, and moved an amendment,, 
 which, if it had been adopted, might have saved the 
 Province from turmoil and bloodshed. Mr. Neilson's 
 amendment was as follows: "That as the despatch 
 of the Colonial Minister of date July 9th, 1831, in 
 reply to the address of the House of March 16th 
 previous, contained a formal promise that the Colonial 
 
MR. NEILSON'S AMENDMENT. 185 
 
 Office would co-operate with the Assembly in redressing 
 the chief grievances complained of, it now became the 
 duty of the Chamber to labour in conformity with the 
 spirit of the despatch for the improvement of the 
 Colonial Government within the limits of the existing 
 Constitution, and to endeavour to maintain the tran- 
 quillity of the country meanwhile^ That as the despatch 
 from the Colonial Office, dated 14th January last, 
 confirmed the promise already adverted to, the House 
 ought to undertake the duty of ameliorating the con- 
 dition of the Province generally, and that especially 
 it ought to regulate the occupancy of waste lands, 
 amend the laws affecting property, secure judicial 
 independence, improve judicial procedure, increase official 
 responsibility, bring in order the public accounts and 
 abolish every useless office." 
 
 Mr. Neilson in support of his amendment, having 
 due regard to his liberal principles and party prejudices, 
 wishing for reform but not revolution, thus spoke : — 
 
 "I cannot vote for these Resolutions as they now stand. In 
 Britain and the United States alike, I would observe, the rather 
 because the example of the latter has been just held up for our 
 imitation, that defenders of popular interests laboured to effect 
 changes, not from a mere craving for reforms, but because their 
 rulers were ever endeavouring to violate constitutions already existing. 
 The line of demarcation is quite distinct, therefore, between our 
 position and theirs in time past. It is this, that whereas the 
 American Revolutionists and the British Liberals combined for the 
 maintenance of franchises already acquired, we oppositionists are 
 reaching out our hands, over-eagerly extended, for freedom we 
 never yet possessed. The result in our case must necessarily differ. 
 
186 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 History is always t.he safest guide for our direction ; it is a monitor 
 which tells us that consequences are always conformable to 
 principles." 
 
 Notwithstanding Mr. Neilson's able attempt to stem 
 the tide of Eevolution, seconded as he was by the 
 more conservative members of the French party, notably 
 by Messrs. Cuvillier, Quesnel, and a few others, Mr. ' 
 Neilson's amendment was defeated, and in February, 1834, 
 the ninety-two Eesolutions of Mr. Papineau were carried 
 by a vote of fifty-six members, while only twenty-six 
 members recorded their votes for Mr. Neilson's amend- 
 ment. 
 
 The Eesolutions having been carried in the House, 
 the next step was to present them to the Governor, Lord 
 Aylmer, for transmission to the Imperial Government ; 
 and Mr. Morin, who lent his support to them in the 
 Assembly, was despatched to England to convey the 
 address of the House, consequent on the passage of the 
 Eesolutions, to Mr. Viger, the Lower Canadian agent in 
 London, for presentation to the Lords and Commons of 
 England. No Supply Bill was passed at the session in 
 which the Eesolutions were passed, and the Governor, 
 for want of a quorum, on the 18th March, prorogued the 
 House. 
 
 TT'Eoebuck, the champion of the Lower Canadians 
 in the House of Commons, on the 15th April, moved 
 for the appointment of a select committee of the 
 House to enquire into the means of remedying the evils 
 which existed in the form of government of the two 
 
THE RESOLUTIONS IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS. 187 
 
 Provinces of Upper and Lower Canada. Mr. Stanley, 
 the Colonial Secretary, feeling that if blame was to be 
 ^attached to any Government, the Liberal Government 
 of England, of 1828, should bear its fair share of the 
 blame, moved in amendment for j ^_ ^lect committee t o 
 enquire into and report to the House, how far the 
 grievances complained of in the year 1828, on the part 
 of certain inhabitants in Lower Canada, had been 
 redressed, and whether the recommendation of the com- 
 mittee, which sat thereon, had been complied with. 
 
 This move, on the part of Mr. Stanley, discon- 
 certed Mr. Roebuck and the other Liberals of the 
 Commons, and he withdrew his motion, thus giving 
 place to Mr. Stanley's amendment. To this com- 
 mittee, composed of members on both sides of the 
 House, the ninety-two Resolutions were submitted. 
 Bulwer, the celebrated novelist, and Daniel O'Connell, 
 the Irish patriot, were members of this committee ; 
 and Mr. Hume, the special champion of the Lower 
 Canadians, would have been on the committee had he 
 not contrived to have his name withdrawn, suspecting 
 that the report of the committee would not sustain 
 him in the somewhat extreme position he had assumed 
 on Canadian affairs, thereby indirectly censuring his 
 past course in relation thereto. 
 
 ' xVLr. Hihne was that honourable member of the Com- 
 mons who wrote a letter addressed to William Lyon 
 Mackenzie, published in the English newspapers, in 
 which the Canadians were called upon to resist the 
 
188 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 " baneful domination of the Mother Country," which 
 rang through all Canada, and brought down upon him 
 the censure of the greater part of the British in the^ 
 two Provinces. 
 
 The report of the Committee of the House of Com- 
 mons, to whom these Eesolutions were submitted for 
 investigation, stated, in effect, that the Home Government 
 had been unremitting in their endeavours to carry out 
 the suggestions of the select committee of 1828, and 
 that any want of success on their part was entirely 
 owing to the quarrels between the two branches of 
 the Canadian Legislature, and between the House of 
 Assembly and the Home Government. The report further 
 stated that it would be inexpedient to lay before the 
 House the evidence taken, or the documents which had 
 been submitted to the committee, and that the interests 
 of the Empire would be best subserved by leaving 
 practical measures, for the future administration of 
 Lower Canada, entirely in the hands of the Imperial 
 Government. 
 
 William Lyon Mackenzie, impressed with the 
 conviction that affairs were approaching a crisis, had 
 got himself appointed agent of the malcontents of Upper 
 Canada, and was at this time in London, pressing on 
 the attention of the British Government and Parliament 
 the grievances alleged to exist in Upper Canada. He 
 had, by this time, gained the confidence of the Reform 
 and Liberal party in Lower Canada, the Central Com- 
 mittee of which passed a resolution strongly eulogizing 
 
ACTION OF HOUSE OF COMMONS CONDEMNED. 189 
 
 Mr. Mackenzie and Mr. Bid well for the active interest 
 they had taken in promoting the reform of grievances 
 in Upper Canada. Mr. Mackenzie's followers in Upper 
 Canada, and the followers of Mr. Papineau in Lower 
 Canada, were much incensed on learning the decision 
 of the House of Commons Committee. Especially were 
 they incensed at that part of the report which declares 
 " that the interest of the Empire would be best subserved 
 by leaving practical measures for the future administra- 
 tion of Lower Canada entirely in the hands of the 
 Imperial Government." 
 
 Mr. Mackenzie and his friends contended that this 
 was declaring, in e£fect, that the state of affairs 
 was such, in Canada, that the seat of government should 
 be removed from the Province to the Capital of the 
 lilmpire. Here was a splendid opportunity for the 
 grievance-monger to ply his trade. Imperial rule, 
 Arbitrary despotism, Tyrannical oppression, were phrases 
 common in the speeches of the discontented. 
 
 The people had been clamorous to obtain the control 
 of affairs, and here was a Committee of the House of 
 Commons declaring that the people of Canada were 
 not able to govern themselves, but ought to be 
 governed by the Imperial Government, in which they 
 had no voice or representation. It was said that this 
 was but a repetition of the means which brought about 
 the Eevolution of the American Colonies, in 1776. 
 Meetings were called in different parts of Upper and 
 Lower Canada to protest. Committees were appointed 
 
190 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 to give voice to the opinions of the people, or rather 
 that part of the people that took the same stand as did 
 Mr. Mackenzie and Mr. Papineau. The Montreal Com- 
 mittee was in correspondence with Mr. Eoebuck. He 
 wrote that committee that he had no hope of reform 
 in the affairs of Canada so long as Mr. Stanley was 
 in office, but he had better hope of Mr. Spring Eice, 
 
 t who seemed more tractable. Mr. Eice had at this time 
 
 j 
 
 j been appointed to the office of Colonial Secretary, in 
 a Liberal administration, succeeding Mr. Stanley, Colonial 
 1 Secretary in the Tory administration, which had gone 
 * out, owing to differences among its members regarding 
 the affairs of Ireland. Mr. Eoebuck recommended the 
 \ committee to allow time to Mr. Eice to show his 
 \ hand. He added, " It were better to fight for the 
 privilege of self-government than to yield one's natural 
 rights, but all other , means ought assuredly to be tried 
 before having recourse to force of arms." Mr. Eoebuck 
 was a strong advocate for the abolition of the Legis- 
 lative Council ; more than that, he advised that the 
 people should be stirred up to stand by the principles set 
 forth in the ninety-two resolutions, and the other 
 resolutions which attacked the existing form of govern- 
 ment of Canada, and sought to set it up on a new 
 basis. Mr. Eoebuck had much to answer for in 
 fanning the embers of the flame of Eebellion in the 
 Canadas. Mr. Hume was equally to blame. It was 
 all very well for these Honorable gentleman, while 
 sitting on the opposition benches in the House of 
 
REVOLUTIONARY COMMITTEES FORMED. 191 
 
 Commons to hurl their anathemas at the heads of 
 politicians, both in Canada and England, who did not 
 see through the same spectacles as themselves. The 
 evil effect of their course was felt when a Liberal 
 Government, responsible for the administration of Colonial 
 affairs, had come into power. In August, 1834, on 
 occasion of a motion made in the House of Commons 
 by Mr. Hume, relative to the ninety-two resolutions, 
 Mr. Spring Piice, then Colonial Secretary, referring to 
 the letter of Mr. Hume, in which he had called on 
 the Canadas to resist '* the baneful domination of the 
 Mother Country," said : '' It does not befit a man sitting 
 in security here among us, and so far removed from 
 the scene of action, to promulgate counsels inciting 
 others to do that which may call down so many ills on 
 Britain and Canada as ever attended on civil war. If 
 a recourse be had to arms ultimately, I hope that those 
 who conspired to bring it on will be signalized for 
 conspirators, if not denounced as rebels." The advent 
 to power of a Liberal administration in England gave 
 great encouragement to the followers of Papineau and 
 Mr. Mackenzie in both the Canadas : committees 
 already formed were urged to increased activity and new 
 committees of a revolutionary character formed both in 
 Upper and Low^er Canada. 
 
 The Tory party in the Province, not to be behind 
 their political adversaries, were up and doing also. 
 " Constitutional Associations " were formed, members 
 enrolled, and all necessary steps taken to cope with 
 
! 
 
 192 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 a rebellion, if unhappily the malcontents should go so 
 far as to jeopardise their lives and liberties in an 
 attempt at revolt. In Lower Canada, the British 
 party, composed of the English, Irish and Scotch in 
 that Province, felt that their Anglo-Saxon and Celtic 
 origin demanded that the people of another race should, 
 at all hazards, be prevented from having ascendancy 
 in a British Province. Not that some of them did not 
 feel that certain reforms would be beneficial to the 
 Province, but that the French-Canadians, according to 
 th:ir catechism, were seeking to oust the British 
 population from the Province, and, let us add, from its 
 offices and emoluments. 
 
 In Upper Canada, the " Eeform Association " placed j 
 itself in communication with all the standing com- 
 mittees in Lower Canada, and thus was established an 
 entente cordiale between the opportunists of the two 
 Provinces. 
 
 It was becoming more apparent every day that 
 unless the British Government acted vigorously there 
 would be civil war in the Province of Lower Canada, 
 if not in both Provinces. There really was not at this 
 time any great fear in the minds of the more con- 
 servative people of Upper Canada, that a rebellion 
 would occur in that Province. There was not a race 
 and religion question to contend with in Upper Canada, as 
 there was in Lower Canada. The majority of the people 
 of Upper Canada, Protestant and Catholic, were loyal 
 to the British Crown. The Eeform party in that Province 
 
ELECTION RIOTS AT SOREL. 193 
 
 was not all Mackenzieites ; indeed, the majority of that 
 party were just as loyal to the Crown as were the 
 members of the Tory party. It is true that they joined 
 with Mr. Mackenzie in opposing the Tory Governments 
 of the Province ; they were with him in the taking of 
 all steps leading to constitutional reform, but they 
 were not with him in promoting rebellion. 
 
 The year 1834 was not to pass without some blood 
 being shed, but it was not shed in armed rebellion, 
 and was only one of the incidents of a severe political 
 contest in the election for the House of Assembly in 
 the latter part of the year. In Montreal, the relations 
 between the British and French party were very 
 strained. In that city, the violence of the political 
 contestants was so great that the elections had to be 
 suspended for a time. No blood was shed, but at Sorel a 
 French- Canadian was shot during an election brawl. 
 As may be imagined, the incident added fresh fuel to the 
 flame already spreading with great heat over the whole 
 horizon. The blood of the French-Canadian must be 
 avenged ; such was the cry of the Papineau party in the 
 Province of Lower Canada. 
 
 The elections terminated in favour of the French - 
 Canadians. Their majority in the Assembly was greater 
 than ever. This was found to be the case when the 
 Legislature met in February, 1835 ; it was found also 
 that by the assistance of the French-Canadian elector- 
 ate, several members of British or American origin, 
 but of French-Canadian sentiment, had been returned 
 
194 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 members of the Assembly. These members were from 
 the Eastern Townships, that part of the Province 
 bordering on Veriliont, one of the United States of 
 America. Mr. Papineau was now at the pinnacle of 
 his power and in the height of his glory. His com- 
 patriots had expressed their entire confidence in him 
 and his principles, however radical his principles may 
 have been, and, besides this, he had members of British 
 origin who lent him their support. 
 
 The first proceeding of the new House was to 
 expunge from the journals the report of the speech of 
 the Governor, made at the last prorogation of the 
 House. What would be thought of expunging the King's 
 or Queen's speech from the journals of the House 
 of Commons ? It certainly w'ould be regarded as tan- 
 tamount to a declaration of war by the Commons 
 against the Crown. And in like manner in Canada, 
 the expunging of the Governor's speech from the journals 
 was looked upon as a declaration of war against the 
 Crown Eepresentative. 
 
 The second proceeding of the Assembly was when 
 Mr. Morin moved the House into a Committee of the 
 Whole, for taking into consideration the state of the 
 Province. Mr. Gugy, afterwards Colonel Gugy, had 
 been returned a member to this House. He opposed 
 Mr. Morin's motion, observing that he would prefer 
 to have an administration composed of men born in 
 the Province. This gave Mr. Papineau an opportunity 
 to make a speech, in which he, with great force and 
 
LOWER CANADA ASSEMBLY OF 1835. 195 
 
 eloquence, denounced exclusiveness, especially that ex- 
 clusiveness which prevented his French-Canadian 
 countrymen from sharing in the honours and responsi- 
 bilities of government. 
 
 Mr. Papineau was essentially a French-Canadian. 
 It galled him to the quick to see places in the Govern- 
 ment given to men whose homes and hearts were in 
 England. He demanded justice for his countrymen, 
 but not preference. In reply to Mr. Gugy's statement, 
 that he would prefer to have an administration com- 
 posed of meii born in the Province to any other, Mr. 
 Papineau said : " I have no such preference ; the Govern- 
 ment that I long for is one composed of friends of 
 legality, liberty and justice, a Government which would 
 protect indiscriminately every proper interest, and 
 accord to all ranks and to each race of the inhabitants 
 equal rights and privileges. I love, I esteem all good 
 men as men, not preferentially because they are of this 
 or that descent, but I detest those haughty dominators 
 who come among us and dispute our right to enjoy 
 our own laws, customs and religion. If such be not 
 jontent to intermix with us, let them remain in 
 leir own country. There is no lawful distinction 
 between their status in the Province and ours, the same 
 ights and a like just claim for protection are common 
 us both. Assuredly I should prefer a Government 
 )mposed of such men as I have indicated, and as 
 jrtain is it, too, that my own countrymen have given 
 roofs of a capacity and the possession of such integrity 
 
 14 
 
196 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 as would enable them to become members of a most 
 desirable Government. Those parties even who claim 
 exclusive governing privileges disapprove of them in 
 their hearts, and, if obtained, will themselves be 
 victimized by them in the end. For supposing that 
 the Exclusionists succeeded in making an Acadia of 
 Canada, and could expel from it all its French derived 
 people, they would soon fall out with each other. Did 
 they find means to constitute rotten borough repre- 
 sentation, it would quickly be turned against its creators. 
 It is natural to the mind of man to abhor all exclusive 
 privileges, but passion and party spirit pervert the 
 judgment of too many. The call is made upon us, 
 ' Let us all be as brothers.' I respond, so let* us not 
 be, if you, who thus adjure us, keep a selfish grasp 
 of all place, power and emolument, and refuse to share 
 these with us. That is unjust, and we cannot suffer 
 such injustice. Briefly, we demand for ourselves such 
 political institutions as are in accordance with those of 
 the rest of the Empire and of the age we live in." 
 
 No one can read the sentiments of Mr. Papineau, 
 as expressed in this address, but must feel that he was 
 animated by a high feeling of love for his fellow-country- . 
 men. The greatness of the man is evidenced by his 
 love of liberty and justice. Those, however, who are 
 not French-Canadian will, perhaps take exception to 
 that part of Mr. Papineau's speech wherein he strenu- 
 ously claims the right of the French-Canadians to enjoy 
 their laws, customs and religion, and implies that this 
 
 
DEMANDS OF FRENCH-CANADIANS. 197 
 
 right was denied them. Now there never has been 
 a time when these rights were denied . to the French- 
 Canadians, so far as those laws, customs and exercise 
 of religion were granted to them by the British Empire. 
 It is only when they showed a disposition to place 
 these laws and customs and their religion above the 
 laws of the Empire, and beyond the rights and privileges 
 secured under the Treaty of Paris and the Constitution 
 of the country, that they came in conflict with the 
 English. The disaffected French-Canadians of that 
 time made claims to rights as existing under the 
 Treaty which never did so exist. As against all such 
 claims the British-Canadians set their face. Beyond 
 that, they ought not to be subject to the reproach of 
 endeavouring to hinder the patriotic French-Canadian 
 from enjoying all the liberty he was entitled to, as a 
 subject of the Empire and of his native Canada. Such 
 grievances as he could justly complain of were common 
 to all inhabitants of the Canadas, and were owing to 
 the want of self-government ; and, as has been seen, 
 England very naturally hesitated to give absolute self- 
 government to a people animated as they were with 
 ' feelings inimical to the British race, and with no desire 
 but the absolute supremacy of the French-Canadian, 
 a supremacy which it was justly feared would operate 
 most harshly upon the British minority. 
 
CHAPTEE X. 
 
 Mackenzie's Prophecy in 1832 — Papineau and Mackenzie in Con- 
 cert — Reform Central Committee and Montreal Committee in 
 Correspondence — Petitions to Home Government For and 
 Against a Change in the Constitution — Lord Aylmer Informs 
 Lower Canada House that the British Government Were About 
 to Adopt Coercive Measures to Allay Discontent— Papineau's 
 Defiant Speech — House of Commons Appoint Special Com- 
 mittee to Report on Canadian Grievances— Gosford, Grey, and 
 Gipps — Instructions to Commissioners — Lord Gosford's Address 
 to Canadians — Montreal Constitutional Association Organizes — 
 Concessions of Lord Gosford and British Government — British 
 Party Dissatisfied- Colonial Secretary's Concessions to Macken- 
 zie — Attorney-General Boulton — Mackenzie, Mayor of Toronto — 
 Mackenzie Acquitted of Personal Resentment — House of 1835— 
 Reform Majority ^Mackenzie's Seventh Report on Grievances- 
 Reform Party Loyal to the Crown — Lord Glenelg's Answer to 
 Seventh Report on Grievances — Sir F. B. Head, Governor- 
 Parliament of 1836 — Governor's Speech and Assembly's 
 Answer — Instructions of Home Government — Lord Gosford's 
 Criticisms Thereon — Assembly's Answer— Papineau's Address 
 to House — Shows Determination to Resist All Attempts at Con- 
 ciliation — Dunn, Baldwin and Rolph Made Executive Council- 
 lors in Upper Canada. 
 
 In a narrative of the Canadian Eebellion it is impossible 
 to dissociate the names of Papineau and Mackenzie. They 
 were joint leaders in the two Provinces of a movement 
 which each must have seen, must, if persevered in, almost 
 inevitably end in bloodshed. That this was apparent to 
 Mackenzie is shown by what he afterwards termed a 
 
FA PINE A U AND MACKENZIE CO-OPERATE. 199 
 
 prophecy, made by him when in London in 1832, pressing 
 the Government to take immediate steps to remedy the 
 grievances which he complained of as existing in Canada. 
 On this visit he had many interviews with the Colonial 
 Secretary, and was permitted to place his views in writing 
 before that official. This he did in many papers. In 
 those papers he gave the Colonial Secretary to understand 
 that unless the system of government in Upper Canada 
 were ameliorated the result must be civil war. We have 
 seen that a correspondence was carried on between the 
 Central Eeform Committee in Montreal, and the Upper 
 Canada Committee formed for similar ends. It is therefore 
 apparent that the two leaders must have been well 
 acquainted with the designs which each had in pushing 
 his demands to the utmost length. 
 
 The petitions which Mr. Mackenzie carried with him 
 to England, craving redress of grievances, had attached to 
 them upwards of twenty-five thousand signatures, but on 
 the other hand Lord Goderich had before him petitions 
 signed by upwards of twenty-six thousand persons, who, 
 as Lord Goderich informed Mr. Mackenzie, " concurred in 
 expressing their cordial satisfaction in those laws and 
 institutions which the other set of petitioners had 
 impugned." The Colonial Office was in fact deluged with 
 petitions both from Upper and Lower Canada, presenting 
 entirely different views as to the alleged grievances exist- 
 ing in Canada. 
 
 In the session of the Parliament of Lower Canada 
 held in 1835, the Governor, Lord Aylmer, having become 
 
200 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 hopeless of reconciling Mr. Papineau and his party to the 
 Government, opened the House by a speech, in which he 
 informed the House of the change in the office of Colonial 
 Secretary ; that he expected further instructions, which he 
 would communicate ; that he had issued warrants for pay- 
 ment of the officials, in consequence of the last House 
 having stopped the supplies, and that beyond this he had 
 nothing in particular to communicate to Parliament. The 
 Assembly took this to mean that Lord Aylmer felt himself 
 bound in some measure to show his entire dissatisfaction 
 with the proceedings of that body, and had taken this 
 means to do so. The Governor, in the performance of 
 his duty, on the oth of March, communicated to the House 
 a despatch from the Colonial Secretary, stating that 
 the decision of the Committee of the House of Commons, 
 to which their petitions of the previous session had been 
 referred, was adverse, and that while the Government 
 had not decided to introduce a bill suspending the powers 
 of the Assembly, it might be necessary to introduce a bill 
 of that character, although the new Secretary, Mr. Spring 
 Eice, trusted that the necessity for any such measure 
 might be averted. The Assembly voted an address to the 
 British Parliament, reiterating former complaints, and 
 demanding the recall of the Governor, to whose requests 
 they paid no attention, and whose address, in closing the 
 last session, they now formally ordered to be expunged. 
 
 A debate occurred on the address. The members of 
 Mr. Papineau's party even were not unanimous in voting 
 for this address. Some of the recalcitrants, especially Mr . 
 
LORD AYLMER AND THE ASSEMBLY. 201 
 
 Bedard, declined to vote for it, as the address, in its terms^ 
 in a peremptory manner, contained a refusal to comply with 
 the wishes of the Governor, complained of his " arbitrary 
 and unbecoming conduct," and even went so far as to say 
 that they considered his conduct, in neglecting the applica- 
 tion of the corporation of Montreal for extended quarantine 
 regulations, was one of the principal causes of the fright- 
 ful ravages committed by the Asiatic cholera during the 
 preceding summer. In speaking on the motion for the 
 address in the Assembly, Mr. Papineau said : "It would be 
 a libel on Britain to assume that she may possibly pass a 
 coercive bill against us and send ten regiments over to 
 enforce it. If such were the case, however, we ought to 
 be prepared all the sooner to rid ourselves of so tyrannical 
 a domination. If there is ground for apprehending such 
 a struggle, we may say that the danger exists at this 
 hour, and that we have already gone much further in 
 bringing it on than the stride taken in this address." 
 After such an inflammatory speech from the acknowledged 
 leader of the French party in Lower Canada, the surprise 
 is not that there was a rebellion in that Province, but 
 rather that the insurrection did not take place at once, 
 instead of being delayed for more than a year. 
 
 The address was carried in the House, and was sent to 
 England, to be presented to the House of Commons by 
 Mr. Eoebuck, the champion of the French-Canadian 
 interests in the Commons ; but long before it reached 
 England, and in fact before the address was passed, the 
 Government of E norland had determined to make an 
 
202 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 exhaustive investigation of Canadian affairs, and to this 
 end to send to the Colony commissioners, charged with 
 the duty of examining into all alleged grievances, who 
 should report the result to the Home Government. Lord 
 Aylmer called Parliament to meet, and, on the 30th of 
 May, communicated the intention of the Home Govern- 
 ment to appoint this Commission Extraordinary, which 
 should have the advantage of personal instructions from 
 the Government and would know their views better than 
 coald be communicated by means of despatches. 
 
 Notwithstanding the fact that Lord Aberdeen, the 
 Premier, had stated in the House of Lords that ''if he 
 could have prevailed on himself to recall Lord Aylmer, he 
 should never have thought of sending out a commissioner," 
 the Government decided upon his recall, which was 
 announced in a despatch in the official Quebec Gazette 
 of June 25th. We are told by Mr. Christie* that his 
 recall created a very general feeling of regret among the 
 British population of Lower Canada, who joined in 
 presenting addresses to him, regretting what they termed 
 his " untimely recall," and a farewell entertainment was 
 given to him and Lady Aylmer by the principal citizens 
 of Quebec on the eve of his departure, which took place 
 on September 17th. Lord Aylmer seems to have been 
 actuated in all his public acts by the highest motives. 
 That he had no antipathy to the French is shown by the 
 fact that he erected a marble slab to the memory of 
 Montcalm in the Ursuline Convent at Quebec. Before 
 
 ♦ Christie's Lower Canada, Vol. IV, p. 84. 
 
THE SPECIAL COMMISSION. 203 
 
 leaving Canada he now erected, at his own expense, a 
 monument on the Plains of Abraham, marking the spot 
 where Wolfe fell, which, having been almost destroyed by 
 memento seekers chipping off pieces, was, in 1849, super- 
 seded by the more ambitious shaft now there, erected 
 by the officers of the British army serving in Canada, 
 
 The Commission, that was to settle the interminable 
 complaints of the Fj^gjj^iiirCanadians, was composed of 
 three persons whose capacity and aptitude in political 
 affairs were sufficiently acknowledged to enable them to 
 undertake the important task laid before them. The 
 Commissioners were the Earl of Gosford, Sir Charles 
 Orey and Sir James Gipps. Lord Gosford was not only 
 Commissioner Extraordinary, but was also appointed 
 Governor-in- Chief, to succeed Lord Aylmer. The supposed 
 advantage to be gained in having Commissioners was that 
 people of all classes, creeds and parties could go before 
 the Commission and be heard. The Commissioners were 
 specially instructed to hear complaints from whatever 
 quarter arising ; that they were to put themselves in 
 familiar relations with all manner of applicants, to note 
 the acts and discourses passing and spoken at public 
 meeting, to study social relations, to make inquests in 
 different parts of the country, and generally to remark 
 all that took place which might in any way assist them 
 in forming an opinion as to the cause of the unsettled 
 state of affairs in the Province. 
 
 Nothing goes further to show that the policy of the 
 English Government at this time, as it had been the 
 
204 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 policy of all Governments since the Act of 1791, and even 
 before that Act was passed, was to retain a legislative 
 control, not only in Canada, but in all other colonies, 
 than the restraint placed on this commission. Whatever 
 else they might do they were not to lay their hands on 
 the Legislative Council, the very institution which above 
 all others caused contention in Canada. 
 
 The Commissioners arrived at Quebec in August, and 
 Lord Gosford at once set about the duties he had under- 
 taken. He was very gracious to all with whom he came 
 in contact. The French party especially he moved with 
 marks of evidence of his solicitude. He invited the 
 leaders to his house. He visited their religious institu- 
 tions, and sought in everyway to gain their confidence. But 
 just so much as he fondled and conciliated the French 
 party he estranged the British residents. To do what 
 he thought was necessary to satisfy the French-Canadians, 
 he informed them that their social institutions would 
 remain intact. In opening the session of Parliament,^ 
 in October, 1835, he spoke both in the French and 
 English languages, a delicate compliment to the nation- 
 ality of the great majority of members of the House. 
 Appealing to the Colonists, he said : " To the Canadians, 
 both of French and British origin, I would say, consider 
 the blessings ^''ou might enjoy, but for your dissensions. 
 Offsprings, as you are, of the two most foremost nations of 
 the earth, you hold a vast and beautiful country, having a 
 fertile soil, with healthful climate ; while the noblest river 
 in the world makes seaports of your most remote havens.'" 
 
LORD GOS FORD'S ADDRESS TO HOUSE. 205 
 
 The British party in the Province, from the tone of 
 the French press, the speeches of members of the 
 Assembly, and the general demeanor of the French party, 
 were still suspicious of the loyalty of their fellow- subjects 
 of French-Canadian origin. The Montreal Constitutional 
 Association resolved to organize District Committees in 
 each quarter of that city, in case union and force became 
 needful. This organization believed in the adage " to 
 be forewarned is to be forearmed." It raised a body of 
 volunteer riflemen, with cries of " God save the King." 
 
 This determination of the Montreal Constitutional 
 Association was incited, at the present time, by the feeling 
 which prevailed among the British residents that their 
 rights, which they had enjoyed as British subjects, were 
 about to be surrendered to a French-Canadian domination. 
 It was true that the language of the French press had 
 not been as insulting as it had been before Lord Gosford's 
 advent, but then they attributed this to the desire of 
 the French party to gain concessions, and so their real 
 aspirations were veiled. Lord Gosford's speech, in his 
 address on opening the House, was too full of concessions 
 to please the British party. He said, " Some of the 
 grievances complained of could be redressed by the 
 Executive alone, others by the aid of one or both branches 
 of the Legislature, but some of their demands could only 
 be complied with by the act of the Imperial Parliament." 
 He declared himself prepared to act impartially in every 
 respect. Plurality of offices should no longer exist, and 
 French -Canadians of talent and standing would have 
 
206 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 the path of official preferment opened to them equally 
 with their British fellow-citizens. In future every infor- 
 mation with regard to public accounts and all other 
 public matters should be rendered to the Assembly, 
 and copies of the Blue Book, or general, annual, financial 
 and statistical return, which he invited both Houses to 
 make in future as complete as possible, would be 
 presented to each branch of the legislature. Bills should 
 not, unless on the gravest grounds, be reserved for the 
 decision of the Crown, nor would any undue partiality 
 be given to the English language over the French. 
 Whatever abuses might exist in the law courts, the mem- 
 bers of the Legislature were themselves invited to 
 remedy, as well as to regulate by enactment the matter 
 of the Clergy Eeserves. He offered his warrant to both 
 Houses without any condition attached. '* The Home 
 Government was prepared," he said, " to surrender the 
 control of all public revenues arising from any Canadian 
 source, on condition of a moderate provision being made 
 for the civil list." As regarded the inhabitants of British 
 descent he urged, "they had nothing to fear on the score 
 of commerce, the main support of the Empire," while 
 to those of French origin he repeated, " that there was 
 no design to disturb the form of society under which 
 they had so long been contented and prosperous." 
 
 To ordinary minds the action of the Government, 
 in appointing the Commission, and this assuring speech 
 of the Governor to Parliament, ought to have been 
 sufficient to quench the fire of discontent in Lower 
 
ASSEMBLY CANNOT BE SATISFIED. 207 
 
 Canada. Not so, however, with Mr. Papineau. He had 
 in fact become imbued with the idea that Canada 
 should be a Eepublic, with perchance Louis Joseph 
 Papineau at the head of it. In a speech which he 
 made at the Assembly, he said : " Tlie time has gone 
 by when Europe could give monarchies to America. 
 On the contrary, an epoch is now approaching when 
 America will give Eepublics to Europe." 
 
 The House of Assembly, in answering the Address 
 from the Throne, avoided all notice of the Commission, 
 and an amendment being moved expressing satisfaction 
 at the appointment and hoping for a satisfactory 
 result to its labours, it was negatived by the House. 
 Mr. Papineau declaimed at great length, as usual. He 
 said that he considered the appointment of the Com- 
 mission an insult ^to the House. The Commissioners, 
 he contended, had no constitutional powers whatever. 
 They might, it is true, report to the Home Govern- 
 ment, and, if it coincided with the wishes of the House, 
 well and good. But if they differed from the demands 
 of the Assembly they might be assured that body 
 would not recede one iota, but would force its claims 
 to the utmost. Such was the attitude of the Lower 
 Canadian French party. 
 
 The British Government at this time was prepared 
 to make concessions, not only to Lower Canada, but 
 to Upper Canada also. Mr. Mackenzie had gained 
 considerable success in his mission and interviews with 
 Lord Goderich, the Colonial Minister. Lord Goderich, 
 
^08 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 after full consideration of the grievances urged by Mr. 
 Mackenzie, determined to take action. In order to 
 relieve the Canadian Government from the imputation 
 of favouritism in the allotment of public lands, the 
 King, on the advice of his Colonial Minister, forbade 
 the gratuitous disposition of public lands, and directed 
 that they should be made subject to public competition, 
 with a view "to the utter exclusion of any such 
 favouritism as is thus deprecated." In fact the Colonial 
 Minister made so many concessions to Mr. Mackenzie 
 that the Government party in the Upper Canadian 
 House and in the country were disposed to treat Lord 
 Goderich's despatch con^inins those concessions with 
 a certain degree of c«iiiiSpf^The Legislative Council 
 refused so much as to place it on their journals, and 
 returned it to the Lieutenant-Governor. The view they 
 took was that Mr. Mackenzie, an irresponsible agent, 
 had gone to England, interviewed the Colonial Minister 
 on grievances when they were not represented, gave a 
 colouring to statements not borne out by facts, and 
 had thus warped the mind of the Minister. Mr. Boulton, 
 the then A.ttorney General of the Province, with more 
 asperity than dignity, when the question came up in 
 the Assembly, and the House was made acquainted 
 with the representations, both verbal and written, 
 which Mr. Mackenzie had made to the Colonial Secre- 
 tary, said it ill became the Colonial Secretary to " sit 
 down and answer all this ignoble trash," and that *' it 
 would much less become the House to interfere with 
 
MACKENZIE MAYOR OF TORONTO. 209 
 
 it by giving it publicity." Mr. Mackenzie was not a 
 man to be thwarted. Though, for the time being, while 
 the Reform party was in the minority, the journals 
 of the House were freed from the Colonial Secretary's 
 despatch and the accompanying documents, Mr. Mackenzie, 
 at a subsequent period, in a Reform House, caused the 
 documents to be remembered in his celebrated " Seventh 
 Report on Grievances." 
 
 It is a remarkable fact with reference to Mr. 
 Mackenzie, that the more he was opposed by the 
 Government and Government party, the more popular 
 he became with a section of the people. Though 
 five times expelled from the House, he was, in the year 
 1834, elected the first Mayor of Toronto. His election 
 to the Mayor's chair was undoubtedly due to the 
 sympathy felt for him by many in the capital of the 
 Province who were not of his party. The combined suf- 
 frages of his party supporters and of the more moderate 
 Tories placed him in the office of chief magistrate of 
 the city. It has never been doubted that the choice 
 then made was a good one. It is but fair to the 
 memory of Mr. Mackenzie to say that, in all his 
 political conduct and extravagances, he was not actuated 
 by personal resentment. He was a determined advocate 
 of reform, and in his political course made himself 
 many enemies, but they were not personal but political 
 enemies. His trenchant pen and carping style of criticism 
 were his bane. The nature of the man was such that 
 he could not mend his ways. Speaking of himself, he 
 
210 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 said, " I entered the lists of the opposition to the 
 Executive, because I believed the system of govern- 
 ment to be wretchedly bad, and was uninfluenced by 
 any private feeling, or ill will, or anger towards any 
 human being whatever." Mr. Mackenzie was a very 
 different man from Papineau. The latter was cool, 
 calculating, reflective; Mackenzie, on the other hand, 
 was fiery, impulsive and of a most combative dis- 
 position. 
 
 In the House, which met in the month of July, 
 1835, Mr. Mackenzie found himself in a more congenial 
 political atmosphere than had heretofore surrounded 
 him in the Legislative Assembly of the Province. He 
 had now around him such men as Mr. Marshall 
 Bidwell, Mr. John Ham Perry and other Eeformers, 
 all bent on suppressing, if not destroying the Govern- 
 ment that then subsisted. In the publications preceding 
 the meeting of the House, and in the elective campaign 
 which gave the Eeformers a majority in the House, 
 the party opposing the Government had been very fully 
 taunted with disloyalty. Disloyal they were, but only 
 to the Government of Canada, not to the Government 
 of Great Britain. No man in Upper Canada had yet 
 gone as far as Mr. Papineau in his declaration of 
 hostility to monarchical rule, and favour to the intro- 
 duction of Eepublican institutions into Canada. When 
 the Legislature met, they felt the importance of declaring 
 to the world that whatever else they might be accused 
 of, they could not be justly charged with being disloyal 
 
SEVENTH REPORT ON GRIEVANCES. 211 
 
 to the Crown. In their addresses in answer to the 
 Lieutenant-Governor's speech, at the opening of the 
 session, they said : " His Majesty has received through 
 your Excellency, from the people of this Province, fresh 
 proofs of their devoted loyalty and of their sincere 
 and earnest desire to maintain and perpetuate the 
 connection with the great Empire of which they form 
 so important a part, proofs which would serve to correct 
 any misrepresentations intended to impress His Majesty 
 with the belief that those who desire the reform of 
 many public abuses in the Province are not well affected 
 towards His Majesty's person and Government." The 
 address concluded : " Should the government be admin- 
 istered agreeably to the intent, meaning and spirit of 
 our glorious Constitution, the just wishes and con- 
 stitutional rights of the people duly respected, the 
 honours and patronage of His Majesty indiscriminately 
 bestowed on persons of worth and talent who enjoy 
 the confidence of the people, without regard to their 
 political or religious opinions, and your Excellency's 
 Councils filled with moderate, wise and discreet individuals, 
 who are understood to respect and be influenced by the 
 public voice, we have not the slighest apprehension 
 but the connection between this Province and the 
 parent state may long continue to exist and be a blessing 
 mutually advantageous to both." 
 
 During this session Mr. Mackenzie made to the 
 House a report of the committee of which he was chair- 
 man, which went by the name of "Mackenzie's Seventh 
 
 15 
 
212 REBELLION OF 1S37. 
 
 Eeport on Grievances." This report was practically an 
 arraignment of the whole system of Colonial Government. 
 It dwelt upon " the almost unlimited extent of the patro- 
 nage of the Crown, or rather of the Colonial Minister for., 
 the time being." " Such," it added, " is the patronage of 
 the Colonial Office, that the granting or the withholding 
 of supplies is of no political importance, unless as an 
 indication of the opinion of the country concerning the 
 character of the Government." 
 
 The report entered at length into the objections which 
 existed to the Legislative Council, showing that it was a 
 body responsible to no one in Canada, and was appointed 
 b)y and responsible only to the Crown. It recom- 
 mended an independent Board of Audit of Public Accounts. 
 In a political sense the most important passage in the 
 report was that which said, *' One great excellence of 
 the English Constitution consists of the limits it im- 
 poses on the will of the King by requiring responsible 
 men to give effect to it. In Upper Canada no such 
 responsibility can exist. The Lieutenant-Governor and 
 the British Ministry hold in their hands the whole 
 patronage of the Province, they hold the sole dominion 
 of the country, and leave the representative branch of 
 the Legislature powerless and dependent. Finally the 
 report wound up with a declaration that "the second 
 branch of the Legislature had failed to answer the purpose 
 of its institution, and could never be made to answer 
 the end for which it was created," and that " the 
 
A TTA GK ON LEG IS LA TI VE GO UN GIL. 2 1 3 
 
 restoration of legislative harraony and good government 
 requires its reconstruction on the elective principle." 
 
 The report is in itself a bulky volume. The state- 
 ments made in regard to the Council, coupled with what 
 has been said with regard to the Legislative Council 
 in Lower Canada, which was a counterpart of that in 
 Upper Canada, fairly express the grievances of Mr. 
 Mackenzie and his Committee, so far as they were 
 attributable to the Constitution, and most, if not all other 
 grievances set forth in the report, flowed from the main 
 source of the system of government and the consti- 
 tution of the Province. It is but too evident that if the 
 Legislative Council of the Province had been more 
 liberal than they were, and had extended the Govern- 
 ment patronage beyond the circle of their immediate 
 friends and relatives, the seeds of rebellion, though 
 planted, might not have taken root. The very first 
 paragraph of the report goes a long way to prove this. 
 The Eeformers at this time saw themselves nominally 
 in power, having a considerable majority at their 
 back, and yet they were not allowed to enjoy what thefr 
 considered were legitimate fruits of their success in 
 the country. The advocacy of an Elective Legislative 
 Council; as put forth in the report, was a radical 
 proposal, absolutely differing from the Constitution as 
 it existed, and it could not, therefore, receive coun- 
 tenance from the ruling powers in Great Britain, no 
 matter what party, Whig or Tory, were in the ascendant 
 in the parent State, unless that Constitution was 
 
214 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 amended. This neither party was prepared then to do. In 
 Lower Canada the French-Canadians desired to get 
 rid of the Legislative Council, that they might govern 
 in place of the English. In Upper Canada there were 
 no racial lines dividing the people ; still we find the 
 Legislative Council obnoxious to a considerable class 
 in the community. Principally, no doubt, because 
 owing to it the party of tl^e people, as distinguished from 
 the more aristocratic class which had the friendship of the 
 Kepresentative of the Crown, had no control of public 
 affairs, or of the emoluments thereof. The Eeform party 
 sought for no more than was in force in England 
 then, and in Canada soon after this time — Eesponsible 
 Government. Possibly this boon was withheld from 
 Upper Canada for fear of Lower Canada. It could 
 hardly be granted to the one without the other, and 
 if to the latter what would become of the English 
 minority ? 
 
 Lord Glenelg was Chief Colonial Secretary at the 
 time the grievance report reached London and was 
 brought to the notice of the Colonial Office. He did 
 not give a mere perfunctory attention to this report, 
 but examined it in every detail. After full investiga- 
 tion he, on the 5th December, 1835, sent a despatch 
 to Sir Francis Bond Head, recently appointed Lieutenant- 
 Governor of Upper Canada, in which he fally answered 
 all the objections contained in the report. In refer- 
 ence to the subject of patronage of the Crown or of the 
 Colonial Minister, which was the first grievance com- 
 
LORD GLENELG'S ANSWER. 215 
 
 plained of in the report, Lord Glenelg said : " With 
 respect to the patronage of the requisite offices, His 
 Majesty's Government are not soHcitous to retain more 
 in their hands, or in those of the Governor, than is 
 necessary for the general welfare of the people and the 
 right conduct of public affairs. I confess myself, how- 
 ever, unable to perceive to whom the choice amongst 
 candidates for public employment could with equal 
 safety be confided. It requires but little foresight or ex- 
 perience to discover that such patronage, if exercised in 
 any form of popular election, or if committed to any 
 popular body, would be liable to be employed for pur- 
 poses far less defensible, and in a manner less con- 
 ducive to the general good. Chosen by irresponsible 
 patrons, the public officers would themselves be virtually 
 exempt from responsibility, and all the discipline and 
 subordination which would connect together in one un- 
 broken chain the King and his representatives in the 
 Province, down to the lowest functionary to whom any 
 portion of the powers of the State may be confided, 
 would be immediately broken." 
 
 With respect to auditing the public accounts, and 
 constituting by law a Board of Audit, Lord Glenelg 
 said : " His Majesty will gladly concur in the enactment 
 of any law which shall be properly framed for consti- 
 tuting such a board." 
 
 With reference to the Executive Government, Lord 
 Glenelg said : ''A very considerable part of the report 
 is devoted to the statement and illustration of the fact 
 
216 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 that the Executive Government of Upper Canada is 
 virtually irresponsible, and the conclusion drawn is that 
 under the present system there can be no prospect of a 
 good and faithful administration of public affairs. . . , 
 Experience would seem to prove that the administra- 
 tion of public affairs in Upper Canada is by no means 
 exempt from the control of a practical responsibility. 
 To His Majesty and to Parliament, the Government of 
 Upper Canada is at all times most fully responsible for 
 its official acts. . . . This responsibility is not 
 merely nominal. It is the duty of the Lieutenant- 
 Governor to vindicate to the King and Parliament every 
 act of his administration. This responsibility to His 
 Majesty and to Parliament is second to none which can 
 be imposed on a public man, and it is one which it 
 is in the power of the House of Assembly at any 
 time by addresses or petition to bring into active 
 operation." Proceeding, Lord Glenelg said : "I next 
 refer to two subjects of far more importance than any 
 of those to which I have hitherto adverted. I refer 
 to the demand made, partly in the report of the com- 
 mittee and partly in the address of the Assembly to 
 His Majesty, for changes in the mode of appointing 
 Legislative Councillors, and for the control of the 
 Assembly of the territorial and casual revenues of the 
 Crown. On these subjects I am, to a considerable ex- 
 tent, relieved from the necessity of any particular in- 
 vestigation, because claims precisely identical have 
 been preferred by the Assembly of Lower Canada, and 
 
SIR FRANCIS BOXD HEAD. 217 
 
 because in the instructions to the Commissioners of 
 Inquiry, who have visited that Province, I have akeady 
 had occasion to state the views which have received His 
 Majesty's deliberate sanction. The principles of govern- 
 ment in the two sister Provinces must, I am well aware, be 
 in every material respect the same. I shall, therefore, 
 annex for your information, as an appendix to this des- 
 patch, so much of the instructions to the Ear] of 
 Gosford and his colleagues as applies to these topics." 
 
 This despatch of Lord Glenelg was communicated by 
 the Lieutenant-Governor to the Legislative Assembly, 
 and thus gained publicity. The despatch accompanied, 
 or was contained in the instructions given to Sir F. B. 
 Head for his guidance, and it is doubtful if the Colonial 
 Secretary intended that publicity should be given to it. 
 However this may be, it got to the ears of the political 
 leaders in Lower Canada, and was made the subject of com- 
 ment by the press of that Province, both French and English. 
 
 Another circumstance of an untoward character occur- 
 red at this time, which gave an opportunity to the Reform 
 leaders in both Provinces to clamour against the Gov- 
 ernment. Sir F. B. Head, who had just arrived in the 
 Province of Upper Canada, on the 14th January, 1836, 
 opened the session of the Upper Canada Legislature. The 
 new Governor had had no political experience before 
 coming to the Province. If it had been otherwise, per- 
 haps he would not have so committed himself as to 
 communicate to the Assembly his instructions, or a 
 garbled statement of them, nor would he in his open- 
 
218 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 ing speech to the House have gone beyond the sphere 
 of his duties by alluding to the affairs of Lower Canada, 
 with which he had no concern. This, however, he did, 
 and, in referring to the political conditions in Lower 
 Canada, and to the labours of Lord Gosford and the 
 other Eoyal Commissioners, gave the House fully to under- 
 stand that come what might the Constitution of the 
 Province would be maintained. 
 
 The answer of the House to the Governor's speech 
 was both critical and remonstrative. The House said : 
 *' We deeply regret that Your Excellency has been advised 
 to animadvert upon the affairs of the sister Province, 
 which has been engaged in a long and arduous struggle 
 for an indispensable amelioration in their institutions 
 and the manner of their administration. We respect- 
 fully but firmly express our respect for their patriotic 
 exertions, and we do acquit them of being the cause of any 
 embarrassment and dissensions in the country." 
 
 The Quebec Gazette, a paper supposed to represent 
 the opinions of the English and the more moderate of 
 the French party in the Province of Lower Canada, dealing 
 with Lord Glenelg's despatch, said : " The publication 
 of the instructions has occasioned great regret and dis- 
 appointed public expectations generally. Very certainly 
 their tenor betrays dispositions and interests little suited 
 to inspire confidence in ministerial liberality, or reliance 
 on the soundness of official polity in respect' to our inter- 
 ests. Lord Glenelg evidently plays a double part, that 
 of a Eeformer in London, of a Conservative in Quebec. 
 
 ^ 
 
COMMENTS ON LORD GLENELG'S DESPATCH. 219 
 
 These instructions contain also, as did the opening speech, 
 an untoward enunciation, which we have not dwelt upon 
 as yet, namely, the mortifying mis-estimation of the 
 oligarchic faction and the general population, for in speak- 
 ing of each, the same weight and worth are assigned to 
 the opinions and aspirations of both, with an equal claim 
 to the consideration of the Imperial Government. This 
 misapprehension arises, questionless, from the aristocratic 
 training and usages in repute with denizens of the Old 
 World. It is there believed that the oligarchy in the 
 ascendant here fills the same place, with us, as the British 
 nobles and gentry in the three kingdoms. This mistake 
 and the prejudices attending it, if they be not corrected, 
 and if more sound appreciations of Colonial circumstances 
 and a better knowledge of Colonial society do not take 
 their place, thence the loss of one of the brightest jewels 
 in the British Crown may result at no distant date. It is 
 only with ideas and principles of equality put in opera- 
 tion that Americans can now be governed. If British 
 statesmen be not content to learn their duty through 
 representations, they will be taught it ere long, in a 
 rougher way, for things move on rapidly in this new 
 world of ours. ..." 
 
 This was pretty plain language for a Canadian journal. 
 It shows two things : first, that the stilted uppishness 
 of the oligarchy in the Province was distasteful to the 
 independent people of Canada ; second, that the spirit 
 of democracy had got a fast hold on a considerable por- 
 tion of the Crown's territory in the Province. 
 
220 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 The instructions given to Lord Gosford and the Koyal 
 Commissioners were calculated to lead the people of Quebec 
 to believe that reforms would be made in the system of 
 government in the immediate future. The Quebec French-. 
 Canadian party, led by Mr. Bedard, was inclined to accept 
 the assurances of Lord Gosford. Not so Mr. Papineau. 
 The despatch of Lord Glenelg to Sir F. B. Head becom- 
 ing known to him, and the Bedard party's seeming defec- 
 tion, spurred him on to further effort to enforce the prin- 
 ciples of the Ninety-two Kesolutions. 
 
 On a motion in the House of Assembly as to granting^ 
 supplies Mr. Papineau spoke, and with his fiery eloquence 
 and oratorical ability fairly carried the House by storm. 
 Facing Mr. Bedard and those who followed him, he said : 
 " We have yet to learn if there be any new circumstance 
 in the political situation of the country which can justify 
 those who now seem as if they would desert the cause 
 of their country, or why they should now incline ta 
 separate themselves from the great majority of their com- 
 patriots, who adopted in spirit and sanctioned in act the 
 votes deposited by their representatives in the electoral 
 urn for sustaining the Ninety-two Kesolutions passed by 
 this House. . . . We are not struggling against any in- 
 dividual personally, but a system of vicious Colonial Govern- 
 ment, which, as now explained by Lord Glenelg, contains, 
 in the essence of corruption the germ of manifold disorders ► 
 Our task is not light, indeed, for we are called on to defend 
 the rights of all British Colonial dependencies, as well 
 as that we inhabit. The same evil genius whose work- 
 
SIJi F. B. HEAD'S ADDRESS TO THE HOUSE. 221 
 
 ings drove the provincials of the neighbouring States, in 
 their own despite, into the paths of a righteous and 
 glorious resistance, presides over our affairs also. That 
 malign spirit it was which inspired the instructions given 
 to the Commission now in our midst. . . . Briefly, 
 these Commissioners' instructions comprise a formal 
 refusal on the part of those who drew them up to listen 
 heedfully to any representation of the many grievances 
 which both Canadas have to complain of." This speech 
 of Mr. Papineau, and the evident determination to resist 
 all attempts at conciliation, prompted the Governor to 
 immediately prorogue the House. 
 
 In Upper Canada Mr. Mackenzie, like Mr. Papineau, 
 was provoking the House of Assembly to wage v/ar with 
 the Governor, the Government, and all who gave them 
 countenance or support. He moved a series of resolu- 
 tions in the House, aimed at discrediting the Government 
 for not having carried out the Imperial wishes. This 
 move of Mr. Mackenzie's had one good effect, it elicited 
 from the Governor a communication to the House, which 
 was then a Pieform House, presided over by Mr. Bidwell, 
 in which he asked from the House the consideration due 
 to a stranger to the Province, unconnected with the 
 differences of party, sent by his Sovereign with instruc- 
 tions " to correct, cautiously, yet effectually, all real 
 grievances, while maintaining the Constitution inviolate." 
 How this was to be done, and yet the Legislative Council 
 maintained in its original shape, was a problem which 
 would take a cleverer man than Sir F. B. Head to solve. 
 
222 . REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 He, however, undertook a task in which he was sure to 
 fail. 
 
 He commenced by calling three new members to the 
 Executive Council. This office he performed on the 20th 
 February, 1836. The new members so called were 
 Messrs. John Henry Dunn, Robert Baldwin and Dr. John 
 Rolph, all members of the Reform party. These gentle- 
 men soon found, however, that the Governor's opinions 
 were not their opinions. They wished to govern in 
 accordance with the wishes of the House. He wished to 
 govern in accordance with his own views. They 
 acknowledged responsibility to the House. He would 
 have it that they were only responsible to himself, the 
 Governor. In discussing the matter with them, he said : 
 " The Lieutenant-Governor maintains that responsibility 
 to the people, who are already represented in the House 
 of Assembly, is unconstitutional, that it is the duty of the 
 Council to serve him, not them." 
 
 Not being able to come to an agreement with the 
 Governor, as to their respective positions and responsi- 
 bilities, the three newly appointed members to the 
 Executive Council, on the 4th of March, resigned their 
 offices. 
 
 The stand taken by the Governor brought down upon 
 him the denunciation of the House and stoppage of the 
 supplies. A report of a Committee of the House, to which 
 was referred the duty of enquiring into the differences 
 existing between the Governor and the Council, which 
 report was adopted by the House, said that it was the 
 
SIB F. B. HEAD DISSOLVES THE HOUSE. 223 
 
 duty of the House either "to abandon their privileges 
 and honour, and to betray their duties and the rights of 
 the people, or to withhold the supplies." The supplies 
 were withheld, and thus a crisis brought about which bid 
 fair to disrupt the Government and bring discredit on the 
 Governor. To avoid this. Sir Francis, on the 14th March, 
 api3ointed four new councillors, viz., Messrs. Eobert B. 
 Sullivan, William Allen, Augustus Baldwin and John 
 Elmsley. Three days after these new appointments 
 were made, the House, not to be baffled by the Governor, 
 declared its " entire want of confidence " in the Council, 
 and demanded their dismissal. 
 
 The Eeform party, then in a majority in the House, 
 which for some reason or other had laboured under the 
 delusion that in Sir F. B. Head the Province had got a 
 "Liberal Governor," were rudely awakened from their 
 dream in finding their idol of a day was indeed a veritable 
 autocrat. Sir Francis unreservedly threw himself into 
 the arms of the "Family Compact," a name by which 
 the ruling powers had come to be called, defied the House, 
 and, on the 28th of May, 1836, dissolved Parliament. 
 
CHAPTER XL 
 
 Hon. Robert Baldwin — Conservative by Nature — Mackenzie Not 
 the Reform Party — Reform Society of Upper Canada— Their 
 Principles Announced — Address to Inhabitants of British North 
 America — Governor Dissolves Upper Canada House, 20th May, 
 1836 — Lower Canadians Distrust Royal Commission —Report of 
 Royal Commissioners Disappoints the Hopes of Revolutionists — 
 Mr. Morin s Comments Thereon — " Vive Papineau ; Vive la 
 \j^xii " — Death of William IV. — Ascension of Queen Victoria — 
 
 ""'^ Lord Gosford's Attempt to Reconcile Lower Canada — Excitement, 
 at High Pitch in Upper Canada — Upper Canada Elections of 
 1836 — Riots and Disturbances — "Bread and Butter" Parlia- 
 ment — Question of Union of Upper Canada and Lower Canada 
 Agitated — Confusion in the House— Declaration of Reformers 
 to People of Upper Canada, June, 1837— Public Meetings— 
 "Liberty or Death" — Plans for Revolt. 
 
 Mr. Robert Baldwin, who was the son of that old Re- 
 former Dr. William Warren Baldwin, was the most promi- 
 nent Liberal of his day, but of a very different type from 
 William Lyon Mackenzie. In everything but politics 
 Mr. Baldwin was most conservative in all his ways. 
 True it is, that he was associated with Mr. Mackenzie 
 as a party man, but it can never be said that he was 
 responsible for his actions. Mr. Mackenzie was "sm 
 generis," and could not be restrained by anyone, not 
 even by the most prominent of Reformers, from resort- 
 ing to most extreme means to accomplish a purpose. 
 The Reform party had within its ranks men of 
 
CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM SOCIETY. 225 
 
 moderate and men of most advanced views. Mr. 
 Mackenzie by no means represented the opinions of 
 the whole party, but only those of a section. 
 
 The Eeformers of those days, as a body, must be 
 judged by their acts, as a body, and not by the in- 
 dividual acts of any one member. The Constitutional 
 Keform Society of Upper Canada, formed on the 16th 
 July, 1836, issued an address declaratory of their princi- 
 ples, which were : 
 
 1 The British Constitution in its purity. 
 
 2. Connection with the Parent State. 
 
 3. Encouragement of emigration from the Mother Country, 
 
 And it was said in the address, to secure and pro- 
 mote those objects for which they contended, they de- 
 manded : 
 
 1. Responsible advisers to the Governor. 
 
 2. Equal rights to all men, whether Protestant or Catholic, 
 Churchman or Dissenter. The abolition cf all the rectories estab- 
 lished by Sir John Colborne, security being given that no 
 dominant Church or Churches should be tolerated in Upper Canada. 
 
 3. The disposal of all revenues of the Province for the benefit 
 of its inhabitants. 
 
 4. The reformation of the Legislative Council and the land 
 granting department. 
 
 5. The redress of all known grievances. 
 
 The address concluded thus : *' As Reformers they 
 want no more ; as British freemen they never will be 
 satisfied with less." The address was signed by William 
 Warren Baldwin, president of the society. 
 
 This address was issued on the eve of the election 
 then approaching, necessitated by Sir F. B. Head's dis- 
 
226 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 solution of the House. The abolition of the rectories, 
 which had been established by Sir John Colborne, 
 referred to in the address, was a new cause of grievance 
 to the Eeform party. Sir John Colborne, acting, as he 
 held, within his province and the requirements of the 
 Constitutional Act of 1791, had created fifty-seven 
 rectories for the support of the Church of England 
 clergy. As might be expected, this step of His Excel- 
 lency was regarded by all other Churches than the 
 Church of England as a great stretch of prerogative. 
 The demand to abolish these rectories was now seized 
 upon by the Eeform party as a weapon with which to 
 fight their opponents at the election. It was a good 
 weapon, and with its aid the Eeformers would doubtless 
 have carried the elections, had not the Government 
 party been spurred on to increased energy in the battle 
 for power. The rectory question did not trouble the 
 people of Lower Canada, but the dedication of lands 
 for the support of a Protestant clergy was put forward, 
 as a grievance in that Province, with as much force as 
 in the Province of Upper Canada. 
 /'^^^^^^Jjeaving-'mat particular subject for the present, and 
 direcrasg our attention to that which most concerned 
 the Province of Lower Canada at this time, the begin- 
 ning of 1836, viz., the proceedings and probable result 
 of the inquiries of Lord Gosford and the Eoyal Com- 
 mission, we find that both the British and French- 
 Canadians were suspicious of the doings of this 
 Commission. The French-Canadians, watching distrust- 
 
MONTREAL CONSTITUTIONAL ASSOCIATION. 227 
 
 fully the general conduct of the Commissioners, con- 
 cluded that they were too gracious to be sincere, while 
 the British-Canadians thought them too concessive to 
 be trusted. The fact was they were trying to please 
 both parties, and ended by pleasing neither. The 
 enunciation which Lord Gosford had made at the open- 
 ing of Parliament, and his evident desire to propitiate 
 the French-Canadians, by offering to surrender to them 
 privileges which the British party thought they ought 
 not to enjoy, roused the Montreal Constitutional 
 Association to action. The Association determined to 
 appeal to all the people of British North America, in 
 the hope of identifying all subjects in all the Prov- 
 inces, Upper Canada, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick 
 and Prince Edward Island, with the cause of their 
 fellow-subjects in Lower Canada. To this ' end the 
 Association, in the month of January, 1836, issued 
 the following address : 
 
 " Address from the Constitutional Association of Montreal to 
 THE Inhabitants of British North America. 
 
 " When an industrious population, after years of suffering^ 
 are aroused to a sense of danger, by renewed attacks upon their 
 rights and liberties, an appeal to those of kindred blood, animated 
 by the same spirit, and allied by a communion of interests, can 
 excite no surprise and requires no justification. 
 
 " Long and patiently have the population of British and Irish 
 descent in Lower Canada endured evils of no ordinary descrip- 
 tion, relying on the interposition of the Imperial Government for 
 relief. Deceived in their fondly cherished trust, they are im' 
 pelled to seek from their own energies that protection which has 
 been withheld by the power on whose justice th,ey reposed. 
 
 16 
 
228 ' REBELLION OF 1S37. 
 
 "For half a century they have been subjected to the domina- 
 tion of a party whose policy has been to retain the distinguishing 
 attributes of a foreign race, and to crush in others that spirit of 
 enterprise which they are unwilling or unable to emulate. During 
 that period, a population descended from the same stock with our- , 
 selves have covered a continent with the smiling monuments of 
 their agricultural industry. Upper Canada and the United States 
 bear ample testimony of the flood tide of prosperity, the result of 
 unrestricted enterprise and of equitable laws, which has rewarded 
 their eflForts ; Lower Canada, where another race predominates, pre- 
 sents a solitary exception to this general march of improvement. 
 There, surrounded by forests inviting the industry of man, and 
 opening a rich reward to his labour, an illiterate people opposed to 
 improvements have compressed their growing members almost 
 within the boundaries of the original settlements, and present in 
 their laws, their mode of agriculture, a not unfaithful picture of 
 France in the seventeenth century. There also may be witnessed 
 the humiliating spectacle of a rural population not unfrequently 
 necessitated to implore eleemosynary relief from the Legislature 
 of the country, 
 
 '* It were incredible to suppose that a minority, constituting 
 nearly one-third of the entire population, imbued with the same 
 ardour for improvements that honourably distinguishes their race 
 throughout the North American continent, and possessing the undis- 
 puted control of all the great interests of the Colony, would resign 
 themselves to the benumbing sway of a majority differing from 
 themselves so essentially on all important points, whilst any mode 
 of deliverance was open to the choice. Nor v/^ould supineness or 
 indifference on their part produce a corresponding change in their 
 opponents, or mitigate the relentless persecution with which they 
 have been visited. The deep-rooted hostility excited by the French 
 leaders against those of different origin which hlis led to the perpe- 
 tration of outrages on persons and property and destroyed confi- 
 dence in juries, who have been taught to regard us as their foes, 
 has extended its pernicious influence beyond the limits of Lower 
 Canada. Upper Canada, repulsed in her endeavours to open a direct 
 
ADDRESS OF ASSOC I A TION. 229 
 
 channel of communication to the sea, has been driven to cultivate 
 commercial relations with the United Stales, whose policy is more 
 congenial with their own. Nova Scotia and New Brunswick will 
 learn, with indignant surprise, that the destruction of their most 
 important interests is countenanced and supported by the Assembly 
 of this Province. 
 
 " A French majority in one Province has caused these accu- 
 mulated evils. A British majority in the United Provinces will 
 compel their removal. 
 
 "If it be the desire of the French-Canadians to isolate them- 
 selves from the other objects of the Empire by cherishing the 
 language and customs of a country which stands to them in the 
 relation of a foreign power, the effects of such a prejudice will chiefly 
 be felt by themselves, and may be left for correction to the hand 
 of time ; but, when national feeling is exhibited in an active oppo- 
 sition to the general interests of the British American Provinces, 
 when immigration is checked, the settlement of the country retarded, 
 a,nd the interests of commerce sacrificed to the visionary scheme of 
 establishing a French power, it becomes the solemn duty of the 
 entire British population to resist proceedings so pregnant with 
 evil. Let it not be said that a million of freemen permitted their 
 rights to be invaded, and their onward course impeded, by a faction 
 which already recoils in alarm from the contest it has already provoked. 
 
 "Connected as are the Provinces of British America by a chain 
 of rivers and lakes affording the means of creating an uninterrupted 
 water communication between their extremities at a comparatively 
 small expense, possessing within themselves the elements of an 
 extensive trade by the interchange of those products which ar^ 
 peculiar to each, and forming parts of the same Empire, they have 
 the undoubted right to require that these advantages shall not be 
 sacrificed by the inertness or the mistaken policy of any one state, 
 more especially when, as in the case of Lower Canada, that state, 
 from geographical position, exercises a preponderating influence on 
 the property of all. 
 
 "The facts which have been made public in two addresses 
 emanating from this Association, conclusively establish the want 
 
230 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 of education among the French population, their subserviency to 
 their political leaders, and the hostility of those leaders to the 
 population of English and Irish descent. Many additional illustra- 
 tions of their hostile policy might be adduced." 
 
 The address then gives several instances of such 
 hostile policy, such as the encouragement of the Baltic 
 timber trade instead of the Canadian, opposition to 
 building the St. Lawrence Canal, opposition to the 
 introduction of foreign capital, etc., etc., and then 
 continues : 
 
 " It is to the great body of the people thus characterised, that 
 His Excellency, the Earl of Gosford, the representative of a British 
 King, and the head of the Commission deputed to enquire into our 
 complaints, has declared that all future appointments to office shall 
 be made acceptable. A Legislative Council constituted on such a 
 principle would be but a counterpart of the Assembly ; it might, and 
 no doubt would relieve the Executive from the odium of sanctioning 
 the illegal appropriation of a part of the provincial revenues by the 
 mere vote of the Assembly ; but it would not prevent the same mis- 
 application of the public funds being effected by bill, which is now 
 accomplished by an address to the head of the Administration. A 
 Government thus conducted would forfeit all title to our confidence, 
 would be regarded but as an instrument to secure the domination of 
 a party, and the brief period of its duration would be marked by scenes 
 of outrage and by difficulties of no ordinary description. 
 
 * ' The French leaders, if we are to credit their reiterated 
 assertions, entertain an attachment so deep, so absorbing for elective 
 institutions, that they would at once confer that important privilege 
 to its fullest extent, without reference to previous habits, education 
 or political dissensions. How much of this ardour may have 
 been called forth by a desire to establish French ascendancy, 
 and to depress British interests, may fairly be deduced from a 
 review of the past proceedings. Without discussing the question^ 
 of elective institutions, which it is obvious, cannot be introducec 
 
ADDRESS OF ASSOCIATION. 231 
 
 to the extent demanded by the Assembly, under the existing 
 political relations of the Colony, which relations we are resolute 
 to maintain, we distinctly aver, that we are not influenced by 
 idle apprehensions of a government of the people and for the 
 people, but it must be emphatically a government of ' the 
 people,' truly represented, and not that of a French faction ; 
 the government of an educated and independent race, attached 
 to the principles of civil and religious liberty, and not that of 
 an uninformed population, strong for domination, and seeking to 
 perpetuate in America the institutions of feudal Europe. To the 
 people of the sister Colonies we appeal, earnestly recommending 
 the adoption of measures for assembling at some central point 
 a Congress of Deputies from all the Provinces of British North 
 America. A British American Congress, possessing strength from 
 Union and wisdom from Counsel, by the irresistible weight of its 
 moral influence would supersede those other remedial measures 
 which are the last recourse of an insulted and oppressed com- 
 munity. On it would devolve the solemn duty, calmly to deliberate 
 on all matters affecting the common weal, and firmly to resist 
 all attempts to invade the rights or impair the interests of the 
 United Provinces. 
 
 " In submitting a brief recapitulation of the objects of the 
 Constitutional Association, it may not be misplaced to offer a 
 few observations explanatory of the position of parties in Lower 
 Canada, and of the sentiments of the British population towards 
 their fellow-subjects of French origin. The moral guilt of exciting 
 national hostility undoubtedly rests with the French leaders, who 
 alone benefit by the distracted state of the country, but the 
 facility with which the French peasantry have received these 
 impressions and the unanimity with which they support bhe 
 aggressive policy of their leaders, render them, although less 
 culpable, yet equally the determined opponents of our rights and 
 of our liberties. Unhappily their want of education prevents a 
 direct appeal being made through the press to their judgment, 
 but those of their countrymen who are not blinded by the in- 
 fatuation of party, who possess education to comprehend and 
 
232 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 opportunity to make known the sentiments of the British popu- 
 lation, may be led to reflect upon the consequences that must 
 result from their present delusion. Should the admonition be 
 disregarded, on them let the responsibility rest. 
 
 "The Province of Lower Canada, whether regarded as apart 
 of the British Empire or of the great North American family, is 
 evidently destined to receive the impress of national character 
 from those states by which she is surrounded. An obstinate 
 rejection of all measures, having for their aim the gradual removal 
 of those peculiarities which distinguish the population of French 
 origin, may retard for a time an inevitable event that will cer- 
 tainly hasten the introduction of changes of a more abrupt and 
 decisive character. 
 
 " A dispassionate examination of the changes required by the 
 British population will satisfy all unprejudiced men that they are 
 adapted to the general interests of society, are liberal and com- 
 prehensive in their character and unconnected with party objects. 
 
 "To relieve landed estate from the exactions and servitudes 
 of feudal law. 
 
 " To introduce Registry Offices and put an end to the iniquitous 
 frauds that grow out of the present system. 
 
 " To promote works of public improvement. 
 
 " To recognize an equality of rights among all classes. 
 
 ' • To resist the domination of sect or party, and to establish 
 a general system of education, divested of sectarian tests. 
 
 "These are our objects and our demands. They are based 
 on truth, are essential to national prosperity and to individual 
 security ; they admit of no compromise, and from them we will 
 not recede. 
 
 "The threatening aspects of the time demand action ; neutrality, 
 the usual recourse of ordinary minds, will not be attended with 
 an immunity from danger ; it must remain with the population of 
 French origin to decide whether, by continuing to support the 
 leaders they have hitherto selected, they are to be regarded as 
 hostile to our just claims, or by uniting with their fellow-sub- 
 jects of British origin they will compel the introduction of 
 
DEPARTURE OF COMMISSIONERS. 233 
 
 salutary reforms, consign to their native insignificance the few 
 individuals who alone profit by the present system of misrule, 
 and by repudiating ancient prejudices and exclusive pretensions, 
 place themselves in accordance with the spirit of the age. 
 
 " William Robertson, 
 
 " Chairman.'" 
 
 This address had a profound effect and influence in 
 all the Provinces. In Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, 
 resolutions which had been passed, condemning the 
 Executive, were rescinded. In Upper Canada, the 
 Lieutenant-Governor was encouraged thereby to dissolve 
 the House of Assembly and appeal to the people. In 
 Lower Canada it dissipated the hopes of the French- 
 Canadians or such portion of them as thought that some- 
 thing advantageous to their interests might be obtained 
 from the Eoyal Commission. They began now to consider 
 a certainty that which they had surmised might be a 
 possibility, namely, that the Royal Commissioners would 
 be influenced to report to the Home Government adversely 
 to the contentions of Mr. Papineau and his party. 
 
 In this supposition they were within the mark. One of 
 Lord Gosford's associates embarked for England in 
 November, 1835, and the other in the following February. 
 They carried with them the report of the Commission, 
 which was laid before the Imperial Parliament early in 
 the next session. The report recommended : 
 
 1. Expenditure of the public income without the 
 concurrence of the Assembly, and that coercion should 
 be resorted to if the Assembly refused to submit. 
 
234 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 2. It justified the Legislative Council for refusing to 
 sanction supplies for six months only, and suggested that 
 means be sought for to ensure a majority of the British 
 party being returned through a recomposition of the 
 electoral franchise. 
 
 3. It advised that the allowance of a fixed civil list of 
 £19,000 a year, either for the sovereign's life or for a term 
 of seven years at the least, should be insisted on. 
 
 4. That no Elective Council should be tolerated. 
 
 5. That Ministerial responsibility was inadmissible. 
 
 6. That the Commissioners considered a reunion of 
 the two Canadas inadvisable. 
 
 The report was fully debated in the House of Commons 
 in March, 1837, and its recommendations approved by a 
 large and decisive majority. 
 
 Lord John Eussell, who moved in the House of Com- 
 mons the series of Eesolutions on which the House 
 acted, when discussing the report, said : ** No other 
 American dependency of Great Britain advances such 
 pretensions as Lower Canada, and everything, therefore, 
 forebodes a satisfactory arrangement between the other 
 Colonies and ourselves. /An Elective Council for legisla- 
 tion, and a responsible \Executive Council combined with 
 a representative Assembly, would be quite incompatible 
 with the rightful inter-relationship of any Colony and 
 the Mother Country." It is almost unnecessary to say 
 that this doctrine laid down by Lord Eussell is now ex- 
 ploded. Not a shred of it is left. No English statesman 
 would promulgate such a doctrine at the present day. 
 
ACTION OF HOUSE OF COMMONS. 235 
 
 Mr. Morin, one of the most prominent supporters of 
 Mr. Papineau in Quebec, referring to Lord John Eussell's 
 resohitions and a Bill which had been introduced into 
 the House of Commons founded thereon, under which it 
 was proposed to administer the revenues of the Province 
 without the consent of the Assembly, said : " This 
 Ministerial measure is a violation of our most sacred 
 rights and will cause the spoliation of our substance, it 
 is an act of the greatest oppression and the most tyranni- 
 cal character, it is a measure which the Canadians ought 
 never to suffer being carried into operation, one which 
 they ought to resist with every kind of power and by all 
 means whatever. From what has just passed in Britain, 
 it is clear that the people there have no sympathy with 
 us, and that we must look for it elsewhere. We are 
 despised, oppression is in store for us, and even annihila- 
 tion. It is intended to put us under the yoke of degrading 
 oppressiveness. No more liberty for us. Slavery is 
 about to become our portion. But this state of things need 
 endure no longer than while we are unable to redress it." 
 
 These words of this follower of Mr. Papineau did not 
 fail to have great influence with the excitable French- 
 Canadians. Meetings were held in different parts of the 
 Province to denounce the report of the Eoyal Commis- 
 sioners, Lord John Eussell's Eesolutions, the British 
 House of Commons, and everything British coming within 
 the sphere of the French-Canadian vision. These meet- 
 ings were attended by Messrs. Papineau, Morin, Lafon- 
 taine, Girouard and others, but Papineau was the peer of 
 
236 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 them all. He was the man to whom the French-Canadians- 
 looked for guidance. Unfortunately for the Province he 
 had gained an ascendancy which might in some degree 
 be curbed, but not controlled. The minds of the people 
 were kept in a constant state of agitation and unsettled, 
 not by public meetings alone, but by writers in the press,, 
 who stimulated their action by representing that the 
 oppression and tyranny of Britain could not long endure- 
 in the Colonies, that the United States Government would 
 be obliged to intervene ; that all must stand shoulder to> 
 shoulder, and keep up agitation; that trade must cease- 
 with Britain, and that these means being resorted to Britain 
 might be brought to terms. In Montreal, the hotbed of 
 Papineauism and rebellion, and in the districts around 
 Montreal, the British residents were constantly compelled 
 to hear the shouts of the Eepublican party — *' Viv& 
 Papineau, vive la liberte, point de despotisme." 
 
 Lord Gosford summoned the House to meet on the 22nd. 
 of September, 1836. The House, in obedience to the sum- 
 mons, met at Quebec. The Governor did his best ta 
 conciliate the Assembly, but all to no purpose. The 
 people's House rejected all his overtures, and, while 
 expressing confidence in Lord Gosford personally, refused 
 to pass a Supply Bill or transact any business till their 
 demands were complied with. The Governor, finding: 
 his task hopeless, on the 4th of October, prorogued the 
 House, with a clear intimation that, as the Assembly had 
 abandoned its duties, other means would be resorted to- 
 for the government of the country. 
 
REVOLUTIONARY MEETINGS HELD. 237 
 
 Following upon the news of adoption of the report 
 of the House of Commons, a continued succession of 
 public meetings were held throughout the Province, 
 Mr. Papineau being the chief speaker, escorted from 
 parish to parish by processions on horseback and in 
 caleches, the meetings being held principally at the 
 church doors on Sundays. These proceedings, under 
 a central committee of a revolutionary character, 
 compelled Lord Gosford to take measures to stop 
 them. On the 15th of June, 1836, Lord Gosford issued 
 a proclamation exhorting all good subjects to eschew 
 all meetings of a dangerous character, and calling on 
 the magistrates and officers of the Militia to protect 
 the laws of the Province. The meetings however con- 
 tinued, and such violent statements were made at some 
 that the Governor felt compelled to call on Mr. Papineau, 
 who held a commission as Major of the 3rd Battalion, 
 Montreal Militia, for an explanation of his presence at 
 one of the meetings. This he declined to give, stating 
 that he treated the Governor's pretensions to interrogate 
 him as an impertinence, which he repelled with contempt 
 and silence. Mr. Papineau had apparently struck the 
 stars with his exalted head. The Governor had no 
 recourse but to dismiss him from the service, which he did 
 in August, 1837. 
 
 In the meantime. King WilHam the Fourth died on 
 June 20th, the news of his death reaching Quebec 
 on July 31st, 1837. He was succeeded by her Gracious 
 Majesty, the beloved Victoria. The rde.asures contem- 
 
238 • REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 plated by the Home Government for governing Canadca 
 minus a Legislative Assembly, were for the time 
 abandoned, and Lord Gosford instructed to call the 
 House to meet again, which it did on August 18th. 
 The members presented a singular appearance. Many 
 of them were clad in homespun coats, striped blue 
 and white trousers, straw hats, cow boots, and other 
 home-made habiliments. This was according to general 
 orders issued from their Central Committee to wear 
 no goods of British manufacture. These advanced- 
 patriots were imitating the stalwarts of the American 
 Eevolution of 1776. The Governor addressed the House 
 at length, informing it of the Eesolutions of the House, 
 of Commons, and urging them to attend to the business 
 of the Province. The House did nothing but consider 
 this address and formulate an answer, delivered in eight 
 days after meeting, in which they at great length 
 repeated their protests, and stated they would not 
 respect the unbridled and uncontrolled sway of the 
 Colonial Minister. The House declining to fill their 
 duties, the Governor dismissed the members with regret 
 and assurances that he would continue to exercise his 
 powers to the best of his judgment. 
 
 While these events were proceeding in Lower Canada, 
 excitement was at a high pitch in the Upper Province ; 
 the general election for members of Parliament now 
 being held under the auspices of Sir F. B. Head. 
 There never was at any time so exciting an election 
 throughout the Province of Upper Canada as that of 
 
REVOLUTIONARY MEETINGS HELD. 239 
 
 1836. The two rival parties, the Tories and Eeformers, 
 were arrayed against each other in hostile camps — two 
 armies fighting for supremacy. The elections in these 
 days lasted a whole week, and there was open voting. 
 Eiots occurred at many polling places ; there was general 
 confusion throughout the length and breadth of the 
 land. 
 
 Mr. Mackenzie stood for the second riding of York. 
 It was anticipated that violence would be resorted to 
 at the nomination. Mr. Mackenzie made a speech 
 which was calculated to inspire the violence his sup- 
 porters professed to apprehend. The opposite party made 
 a demonstration, but did not resort to violence. Bands 
 of armed men paraded the streets of Streetsville, where 
 the election was held, playing party tunes, but did no 
 harm to Mr. Mackenzie or anyone else. Their object 
 was to carry the election, and they succeeded, Mr. 
 Mackenzie being beaten by his opponent, Edward 
 Thompson, by one hundred votes. Bidwell, Perry and 
 others of the party lost their elections, and the Eeform 
 party was generally defeated and put to a complete 
 rout. 
 
 The writer remembers the election well. His father 
 was Eeturning Officer for the County of Grenville, the 
 election being held at Merrickvilie, in the rear part of the 
 county. On the fourth or fifth day a party of men came 
 in from the adjoining County of Leeds. They presented 
 the appearance of a squad of Cavalry, being mounted. 
 Taking advantage of the mid-day hour, when the poll was 
 
240 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 closed for dinner, they seized the poll books in the hands 
 of the poll clerk as he was going from the polling booth 
 to the Keturning Officer's house for his dinner, tore it into 
 a thousand pieces and left it littered on the village green. 
 This caused a protest of the election. The Eeform 
 candidate, however, was ahead at the time the book was 
 taken, and was returned as the successful candidate and 
 took his seat in the House. The Keturning Officer, of 
 the Tory party himself, although deprived of the poll 
 book, knew that the Eeform candidate was ahead in the 
 voting and gave him the benefit of his recollection of the 
 state' of the poll. 
 
 It has been said, and with a great deal of truth, that 
 Sir F. B. Head not only took great interest in this elec- 
 tion, but that he took active means to ensure the success 
 of the Tory party. Lord Durham, who made an enquiry 
 for the Home Government, speaking of it in his report, 
 said : " In a number of instances, too, the elections were 
 carried by the unscrupulous exercise of the influence of 
 the Government, and by a display of violence on the part 
 of the Tories, who were emboldened by the countenance 
 afforded to them by the Government." 
 
 In referring to the Government, Lord Durham 
 evidently meant the Governor, for Sir F. B. Head showed 
 by his acts that he identified himself with his Council, 
 not acting under their advice only, but as their master. 
 He had thrown himself into the elections as if the success 
 of the Government party were a matter of life or death to 
 him. 
 
SIB F. B. HEAD'S ELECTION ADDBESS. 241 
 
 In an address which the Governor issued to the 
 electors of the Newcastle District, he said : "I consider 
 that my character and your interests are embarked .in 
 one and the same boat. If by my administration I 
 increase your wealth, I shall claim for myself credit, 
 which will be totally out of your power to withhold from 
 me ; if I diminish your wealth, I feel it would be hopeless 
 for anyone to shield me from blame. As we have there- 
 fore one object in view, the plain question for us to 
 consider is, which of us has the greatest power to do good 
 to Upper Canada, or in other words, can you do as much 
 for yourselves as I can do for you ? It is my opinion 
 that you cannot. It is my opinion that if you choose to 
 dispute with me, and live on bad terms with the Mother 
 Country, you will, to use a homely phrase, only quarrel 
 with your bread and butter." This was a direct appeal by 
 the Governor to the electorate to support the Govern- 
 ment. If a Governor at the present day were to attempt 
 to control the electorate in this manner, he would soon 
 be brought to account by the Home Government. But 
 at that time more latitude was allowed to the Governors 
 of outlying Provinces than at the present day, or at all 
 events the Governor conceived he was justified in acting 
 as he did. No Governor, however, before Sir Francis' 
 time had gone so far as he in making so direct an appeal, 
 even to the extent of appealing to their base material 
 interests, to sustain the monarch's representative in his 
 support of one party as against another. The excuse 
 that has* been offered for Sir F. B. Head is that he was 
 
 I 
 
242 REBELLIOX OF 1837. 
 
 deeply imbued with the idea that the Eeform party, in 
 which he had an utter want of confidence, was striving to 
 destroy the system of British government in Upper 
 Canada, with the purpose of raising on its ruins a 
 Eepublic. It was unfortunate that he should have gone 
 out of his way to influence the electors as he did. The 
 use of an unhappy expression in the Newcastle address 
 enabled the Eeform party to apply to the Parliament, 
 elected under his auspices, the name of '' The Bread and 
 Butter Parliament." 
 
 The session following the election, which was the first 
 session of the Thirteenth Parliament, commenced on 8th of 
 November, 1836, and ended on the 4th of March, 1837. 
 An unprecedentedly long session. During this session com- 
 plaints against Sir Francis Head were made by Dr. Dun- 
 combe, who had been a member of the Legislative Assembly, 
 on account of his partisan conduct during the past elections. 
 The complaint was transmitted to the Colonial Secretary, 
 who in turn sent it to the Assembly, who referred it 
 to a committee to deal with. The Committee, with praise- 
 worthy thoroughness, not only fully exonerated the erring 
 Governor, but declared that the country was greatly 
 indebted to him for his patriotic conduct. Hardly any 
 other report could be expected from the party whose 
 election he had ensured by his addresses to the electors. 
 
 The question of a Union of Upper and Lower Canada 
 was before the House during the session, and resolutions 
 were passed condemning the project. Dr. Eolph, a mem- 
 ber of the House, urged that the House should be 
 
SIh' FBAXCIS HEAD DISSOLVES HOUSE. 243 
 
 dissolved, so that the sense of the people might be taken 
 thereon, but before his resolution could be put the 
 Governor arrived to prorogue the House. At the time 
 of the Governor's arrival the House was in great con- 
 fusion, a wild altercation going on between Dr. Eolph 
 and Government supporters in the House, which, but for 
 the intervention of the Speaker, might have ended in 
 blows. The Speaker vainly tried to maintain order, 
 while the more moderate members shouted for respect 
 to the chair. The confusion would no doubt have been 
 prolonged had not the opportune arrival of the Governor 
 allowed the Speaker to announce that the time had come 
 to wait on the Lieutenant-Governor. The Speaker's order 
 was imperative, and the session was brought to a close with 
 a parting salvo of wordy pyrotechnics, which to some gave 
 indication that another session of the Legislature would 
 not be held before this war of words would be succeeded 
 by more warlike deeds. 
 
 At this time, as if to make the troubles of the country 
 more unbearable, the additional calamity of a financial 
 panic came to aggravate popular discontent. The banks 
 of the United States suspended specie payment, and the 
 banks in Montreal followed suit. With a malign determina- 
 tion to promote disorder, Mr. Mackenzie, in furtherance 
 of his political schemes, now urged the farmers through- 
 out the country to call on the bank of Upper Canada for 
 their deposits, and for payment of their notes. He 
 managed to create a run on the bank, but the bank, 
 
 17 
 
244 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 which was in a perfectly solvent condition at the time, 
 was able to delay payment by getting their friends to 
 crowd the office, demanding payment, all day, and after 
 the bank closed returning the money they had with- 
 drawn. By this ingenious means the run was stopped 
 and the bank saved. 
 
 The Bank of Upper Canada was the Government 
 bank, and in order to help it over the difficulty and 
 save its credit an extra session was called for the 19th 
 of June. A Bill to protect its charter from forfeiture 
 on account of possible suspension was passed, but very 
 little other business was done, and the session only 
 lasted a month. 
 
 On the 31st July, 1837, a meeting of Eeformers 
 took place at Doel's Brewery in Toronto, at which an 
 address was passed which was afterward sent forth 
 broadcast over the Province. The address was headed, 
 *' The Declaration of the Reformers of the City of 
 Toronto to their fellow Reformers in Lower Canada," 
 and was principally the work of Mr. Mackenzie and 
 Dr. Rolph. It went forth to the country signed by 
 T. D. Morrison, Chairman of the Committee, and John 
 Elliot, Secretary. After reciting the many grievances 
 that Reformers complained of, it declared, " We, there- 
 fore, the Reformers of the City of Toronto, sympathizing 
 with oar fellow-citizens here, and throughout the 
 North American Colonies, who desire to obtain cheap, 
 honest and responsible government, the want of which 
 has been the source of all their past grievances, as 
 
MEETING AT DOEUS BREWERY. 245 
 
 its continuance would lead them to their utter ruin 
 and desolation, are of opinion — 
 
 "1. That the warmest thanks and admiration are 
 due from the Keformers of Upper'Canada to the Honorable 
 Louis Joseph Papineau, Speaker of the House of Assembly 
 of Lower Canada, and his compatriots in and out of 
 the Legislature, for their past uniform, manly and 
 noble independence, in favour of civil and religious 
 liberty ; and for their present devoted, honourable and 
 patriotic opposition to the attempt of the British 
 Government to violate their Constitution without their 
 consent, subvert the powers and privileges of their 
 local Parliament, and overawe them by coercive measures 
 into a disgraceful abandonment of their just and reason- 
 able wishes. 
 
 " 2. That the Eeformers of Upper Canada are called 
 upon by every tie of feeling, interest and duty, to 
 make common cause with their fellow-citizens of Lower 
 Canada, whose successful coercion would doubtless be 
 in time visited upon us, and the redress of whose 
 grievances would be the best guarantee for the redress 
 of our own." 
 
 The address concluded with a recommendation that 
 public meetings should be held throughout the Prov- 
 ince. That a convention of delegates should be elected, 
 and assembled at Toronto, to take into consideration 
 the political condition of Upper Canada, with authority 
 to its members to appoint Commissioners to meet 
 others to be named on behalf of Lower Canada and 
 
246 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 any of the other Colonies, " armed with suitable powers 
 as a congress to seek an effectual remedy for the 
 grievances of the Colonists." 
 
 The meeting also passed resolutions appointing a 
 Viligance Committee, to be composed of members who 
 had prepared the draft Declaration, and that, "W. L. 
 Mackenzie be invited to perform the important duties 
 of agent and corresponding secretary." 
 
 The duties required of the agent and corresponding 
 secretary were congenial to Mr. Mackenzie, and he 
 entered upon them with alacrity. As many as two 
 hundred meetings were held in different parts of the 
 Province, at which the Declaration of the 31st of July, 
 was read and approved. Mr. Mackenzie attended very 
 many of these meetings and was the moving spirit in 
 their organization. One hundred and fifty vigilance 
 committees were formed in connection with the Central 
 Committee at Toronto. Disturbances of a most serious 
 character took place at many of those meetings. Mr^ 
 Mackenzie got on very well with his meetings at such 
 hotbeds of radicalism as Vaughan, Newmarket and 
 Lloydtown, in which latter place a flag was displayed 
 imprinted with a star surrounded with six minor stars, 
 with a Death's Head in the centre, and the inscription 
 " Liberty or Death " ; but when he attempted to hold 
 meetings in Albion, Caledon and Cooksville he met 
 with a warm reception from the Orangemen, noted 
 for their loyalty, and at some of the meetings his life 
 was in danger. i 
 
MACKENZIE ORGANIZING REBELS. 247 
 
 While these meetmgs were being held there is no 
 doubt Mr. Mackenzie had already laid his plans for 
 a revolt, but only some of the members of the branch 
 societies were actually trusted with the secret of the 
 intended insurrection. Some of the active Eeform 
 leaders joined no association, either because they dis- 
 approved of extreme measures, or because they did 
 not desire to be known in the movement. Like the 
 French-Canadian clergy in Lower Canada, they were 
 favourably inclined so long as reforms were advocated 
 within the lines of prudence, but were not willing to 
 commit themselves to revolutionary action. But Mac- 
 kenzie had no mind for half measures. He was con- 
 tinually organizing men, enrolling members of his 
 union and drilling them weekly, ready for service if he 
 could arm them. Mr. Lindsey says that before November 
 he had fifteen hundred men enrolled ready to bear arms. 
 
 It has been said of the Lower Canada French- 
 Canadian clergy that they were silent spectators of 
 the revolutionary movement in that Province, until 
 such time as the movement got to such a head that 
 they could not control it. It is at least the case that 
 the clergy made no strong effort to stay the con- 
 flagration till the building was on fire. The clergy 
 had a very difficult problem before them. If they set 
 themselves against the people, they would incur their 
 enmity. If they sided with them, they incurred the 
 enmity of the State. So they preferred to disregard the 
 
248 • REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 To all outward appearances the Eoman Catholic 
 clergy of the Province of Lower Canada have always 
 been loyal to the Crown. The Church, which in that 
 Province largely directs public affairs, has ever acknow- 
 ledged its obligation to the British Government for 
 the privileges it enjoys. There is a class of people 
 who in their republican and revolutionary designs have 
 no regard for Church or State. The means taken by 
 the Church to restrain this class in the Eebellion 
 of 1837, which, if adopted before the Rebellion was at its 
 height, might have stopped the destruction of life and 
 property, will be shown as the narrative proceeds. 
 
CHAPTER XIL 
 
 Movement Towards Rebellion — Armed Men — French and English 
 Organizations in Lower Canada — Revolutionary Meetings — 
 Inflammatory Speeches— Papineau and Dr. Wolfred Nelson — 
 Riot in Montreal — Incipient Rebellion — Warnings of the 
 Church — Recommends Obedience to Authority — Fire of Rebel- 
 lion Stronger than Ever — Birthplace of the Rebellion— St. 
 Eustache, St. Charles, St. Denis— Battles and Defeat of Insur- 
 gents — "The Doric Club" — Death of Lieut. Weir— Papineau 's 
 Abandonment of Insurgents and Flight to United States. 
 
 The condition of the Province of Lower Canada in the 
 late summer and early autumn of 1837 was truly deplor- 
 able. Bands of armed men assembled, as was pretended 
 to discuss political questions, but really to perfect them- 
 selves in drill to meet an armed foe. Mr. Papineau and 
 other agitators prowling the country to incite the populace, 
 by most violent speeches to resist the Government ; clubs 
 formed, bearing banners with inscriptions, such as 
 "Papineau and the Elective System," "Liberty," "In- 
 dependence," all tending to excite the people to throw 
 off the yoke of what Mr. Hume had been pleased to call 
 " the baneful domination of the Mother County." The 
 > British residents, not to be behind their neighbours, 
 formed organizations to keep watch and ward over their 
 opponents. In Montreal, district committees were formed 
 in each quarter of the city. The Montreal Constitutional 
 
250 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 Association raised a body of volunteer riflemen, who 
 marched with cries of '' God save the Queen." The '* Doric 
 Club " of Montreal, famed for its enthusiasm and loyalty, 
 was at any time ready to meet the French-Canadian 
 organization of the "Sons of Liberty" or any other 
 French organization of whatever name or title. French 
 and English passed each other on the streets with a 
 frown. Suspicion was rife through the whole city. The 
 clergy began to perceive that their silence had been 
 encouragement to the rebel faction. How could it have 
 been otherwise ? Eevolutionary meetings had been held 
 after Mass on Sundays, under the eye and within hearing 
 of the priests, and yet none protested. In the country 
 parts the poor inhabitants, and in the city the bourgeoisie, 
 were thus led to believe that the revolutionary movement 
 had the sanction of the Church. 
 
 At St. Charles, within twenty miles of the city of Montreal, 
 a meeting was held on the 23rd October, which was 
 attended by two thousand people and by Messrs. Papineau, 
 L. M. Viger, Lacoste, Cote, T. S. Brown and Girod, all of 
 whom made inflammatory speeches to the assembled 
 multitude. Armed militiamen, hostile to the Government, 
 were present at the meeting, a kind of ''' Declaration of 
 the rights of man " was subscribed, and resolutions passed 
 insurrectionary in their character and import, no less 
 than an appeal to arms. The resolutions were in fact 
 worded so strongly that even Papineau disapproved. He 
 had led the people to the brink of a precipice, but was 
 himself afraid to make the plunge. Mr. Papineau, though 
 
CATHOLIC BISHOPS COUNSEL PEACE. 251 
 
 a brilliant orator and Parliamentarian, was far from being 
 a man of courage. He was a man of affairs, very well in 
 the cabinet, but very inefficient in the field. Dr. Wolfred 
 Nelson, who presided at the meeting at St. Denis, on the 
 contrary, was a man of vigour and all for war. He was 
 not for temporising, and strongly insisted that the 
 Province must be roused to action. He carried his point, 
 and the insurrectionary resolutions passed at the meeting 
 were distributed all over the country. 
 
 M. Lartigue, the Bishop of Montreal, now began to 
 take alarm, and feared lest his people should be caught 
 in the meshes of an active and bloody rebellion. He issued 
 a pastoral to his people to be on their guard against the 
 evil counsels of Dr. Nelson, and reminded his flock 
 that obedience to the powers established was a cardinal 
 rule of the Eomish Church. 
 
 M. Signal, the Bishop of the See of Quebec, following 
 the example of his brother Bishop of Montreal, issued a 
 mandement, which said : 
 
 " For a long time back, dear brethren, we hear of nothing but 
 agitation, yea even of revolt, and this in a country which has hitherto 
 been distinguished by its loyalty, its spirit of peace, its love for the 
 religion of our fathers. On every side we see brothers rise up against 
 their brothers, friends against their friends, citizens against their 
 fellow-citizens, and discord from one extremity of this diocese to the 
 other seems to have burst asunder the bonds of charity, which united 
 the members of the same body, the children of the same Church, the 
 children of that catholicity, which is a religion of unity. It is not 
 then our intention to give an opinion, as a citizen, on any political 
 question between the different branches of government, which is in 
 the right and which in the wrong. This is one of those things which 
 
252 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 God has delivered to the consideration of seculars, but the moral 
 question, namely, what is the duty of a Catholic towards the civil 
 power established and constituted in each State ? This religious 
 question falling within our jurisdiction and competency it is undoubt- 
 edly the province of your Bishop to give you all necessary instruction 
 on that subject, and your province is to listen to him. Should then 
 any wish to engage you in a revolt against the established government, 
 under a pretext that you form a part of the Sovereign people, suffer 
 not yourselves to be seduced. The too famous National Convention 
 of France, though obliged to admit the principle of the Sovereignty 
 of the people, because it was to this principle that it owed its exist- 
 ence, took good care to condemn popular insurrections, by inserting 
 in the Declaration of Rights, which heads the Constitution of 
 1795, that the sovereignty resides not in a part, nor even in the 
 majority of the people, but in the entire body of the citizens. Now 
 who will dare to say that, in this country, the totality of our citizens 
 desire the overthrow of the Government 1 " 
 
 The address of the Bishop had a good effect and so 
 had that of the Bishop of Montreal, hut the fire of rebellion 
 was too much ablaze to crown these efforts with success. 
 The strong arm of the law was required to quell the inci- 
 pient rebellion. 
 
 On the 16th of November, 1837, warrants were issued 
 for the arrest of Papineau, T. S. Brown, O'Callaghan, 
 editor of the defunct Vindicator (defunct by its destruction 
 in the riots of the 6th and 7th November), Ovide Perrault 
 and others. The four first named, having heard of the 
 issue of the warrants, fled to the Eichelieu District to join 
 the rebels there, especially at St. Denis and St. Charles, 
 then on the point of rising in insurrection. At this time 
 there was a troop of Volunteer Cavalry in Montreal. This 
 troop, under the command of Lieutenant Ermatinger, was 
 
FIRST CONFLICT WITH REBELS. 253 
 
 despatched to St. John's, twenty-seven miles south-east of 
 Montreal, to aid a constable to capture the postmaster 
 there and a doctor charged with high treason. The arrests 
 were made, and about three o'clock on the next morning, 
 Ermatinger started on the return journey. A short dis- 
 tance from Longueil he was confronted by a body of 
 some three hundred insurgents, armed with shot guns, 
 muskets and other weapons, and securely posted behind a 
 high fence. They at once opened fire on the Volunteers, 
 who being armed only with sword and pistol could do little 
 to protect themselves. In turning to retreat, the waggon 
 in which were the constable and pursuers upset, and they 
 had to be left behind by the Volunteers, who finally made 
 their way ' across the fields into Longueil. Lieutenant 
 Ermatinger and three others were severely wounded on 
 this occasion. 
 
 The troop of Cavalry, under command of Lieutenant 
 Ermatinger, was the first of the Volunteer corps in the 
 Province .to be engaged in active service. The rebellion 
 brought into existence many other corps of Cavalry and 
 Infantry in the Province. These Volunteer corps and the 
 loyal Militia under the command of experienced officers 
 did good service in aid of the regular troops. When it 
 became necessary to strengthen the garrison of Montreal by 
 drafts, some of the regulars, if not indeed the whole of the 
 regulars then in Quebec, the Volunteers and Militia were 
 left to guard the citadel in the old capital of the Province. 
 
 Sir John Colborne, who had surrendered the govern- 
 ment of Upper Canada to Sir F. B. Head, and had arrived 
 
254 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 at New York on his way to England, had been summoned 
 to Montreal to take command of the forces, and arrived 
 in February, 1837, and the military operations were from 
 that time under his direction. 
 
 The rebellion had its birthplace in the City of Montreal 
 and in the parishes to the north-east of the city, and it 
 may be said to have had its beginning in what took place 
 in Montreal on the 6th and 7th of November, 1837. 
 
 Local historians, especially Messieurs Carrier, Globen- 
 sky and David, have given very vivid descriptions of events 
 in Montreal and surrounding districts. They differ so 
 little from the account of the same events given by Capt. 
 Lord Charles Beauclerk, an officer of the Eoyals, then 
 stationed in Montreal and who was on active service, that 
 I adopt his statement of the military operations connected 
 with the rebellion, so far as they came under his notice. 
 
 The following is Captain Beauclerk' s statement : — 
 
 " The Royals had scarcely fixed their quarters at Montreal, when 
 visible indications of revolt occurred. In the outskirts of the city, 
 the disaffected were to be seen at drill in hundreds, frequent meetings 
 were held, and placards of a revolutionary character posted in 
 different parts. 
 
 *' The Constitutionalists were by no means idle witnesses of these 
 proceedings. 
 
 " A meeting announced for the 6th of November by an anarchical 
 body, calling themselves ' The Sons of Liberty,' at which Mr. Papineau 
 was to preside, was looked upon by them with a jealous eye, and aa a 
 crisis of importance. Nor were they deceived, for in a yard belonging 
 to a Mr. Bonacina, situated in front of the A. P. Church, G. St. 
 James St., about 250 persons were assembled on that day, eventful as 
 being the period of the first collision between British subjects of 
 
MILITARY OPERATIONS IN LOWER CANADA. 255 
 
 English and French origin, in support of those political opinions 
 which have so long estranged them from each other. 
 
 " After a short debate, it was resolved by ' The Sons of Liberty 
 that a confederation of six counties should be formed at St. Charles 
 on the Richilieu, and there raise the cap and plant the tree of liberty. 
 An attack on the Royalists was the immediate consequence of this 
 meeting, which with the assistance of a body of Constitutionalists 
 styling themselves ' The Doric Club,' ended in the dispersion of the 
 assailants, and the destruction of the office of the Vindicator., a paper 
 of violent radical principles. 
 
 " In a house in Dorchester St., where the Patriots were in the 
 habit of drilling, some firearms and a banner having inscribed on it 
 'En avant association des Fils de la Libert^,' were seized and 
 handed over to the proper authorities. ' The Sons of Liberty ' lost 
 no time in carrying the resolution of the 6th into effect ; and as arms 
 were supplied, the Priest of St. Charles, is said to have consecrated 
 them. 
 
 " Summonses were immediately issued for the most active in 
 committing this open breach of the law ; and a Constabulary force, 
 aided by sixteen of the Montreal Volunteer Cavalry, under the 
 command of Lieut. Ermatinger, received orders to serve them. Of 
 eight that were arrested, two, Davignon and Demaray, whilst under 
 the escort of the Montreal Cavalry from St. John's to Montreal, via 
 Chambly and Longueil were rescued, about three miles from the 
 latter place, by a large force of habitants well armed. The waggon 
 conveying the prisoners was broken, the horses killed, and three of 
 the little band of Cavalry wounded . 
 
 " The Canadians to a man had by this time vacated the city, the 
 shops were closed, and a general insurrection commenced. 
 
 "Property was no longer held sacred, murders daily occurred, 
 dwellings houses were fortified, breastworks thrown up, and the 
 military openly defied. At L'Acadie in the neighbourhood of St. 
 John's, and in several other parts of the confederated counties, a system 
 of terror sanctioned by Papineau and Cote was adopted ; and against 
 all those who refused to resign their commissions, whether as Justices of 
 the Peace or as officers of Militia, a coercive crusade was commenced. 
 
256 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 " Operations Against St. Charles and St. Denis 
 " To dislodge the Rebels from their strongholds, St. Charles 
 and St. Denis on the Richelieu, by different routes, making one 
 combined movement, was the first step of Government. 
 
 '' ' For this purpose two brigades were formed, the one consisting 
 of the 24th, 32nd and 66th detached companies with two pieces of 
 artillery, under the command of the Hon. Col. Gore, the other under 
 Col. Wetherall, of four companies of the Royals, two of the 66th, a 
 party of artillery with two field-pieces, under Capt. Glasgow, and a 
 detachment of the Montreal Cavalry, under Capt. David. 
 
 " The Deputy Sheriff, Mr. Duchesnay, and S. Bellingham and P. 
 E. LeClere, Esq., Magistrates, accompanied them to authorize their 
 movements. 
 
 " On the morning of the 18th Nov., the Brigades were in motion. 
 Col. Wetherall marched for the Village of Chambly, formerly a strong 
 depot of the French, distant about 18 miles, where there still remains 
 a Fort, but at present almost in ruins. He arrived at sunset, and 
 united to his force two companies of the 66th Regiment under Capt. 
 Dames. 
 
 ' ' With the exception of a partial destruction of the landing place 
 on the eastern side of the St. Lawrence, where the Brigade disem 
 barked, and of slight skiruiishing, wherein seven prisoners were taken, 
 no serious opposition presented itself. That armed parties of insur- 
 gents were seen is true, but^an the slightest demonstration of attack 
 they quickly dispersed^^/^The broken waggon and dead horses lay 
 near the spot, as we passed, where Davignon and Demary escaped, 
 1/ and tracks of blood marked the spot where the asssistance had been 
 
 posted. The houses and barns by the road side were entirely 
 deserted./ ^ 
 
 " Torrents of rain followed in quick succession during our stay at 
 Chambly, and had not ceased on the evening of the 22nd, when in 
 consequence of despatches brought by an oflicer of the 32nd Regiment 
 we were, with the exception of the Grenadiers of the Royals, under 
 Major Warde, and one Company of the 66th Regiment left in charge 
 of the prisoners, in active motion, commencing a secret march for St. 
 Charles one hour after sunset. 
 
ST. DENIS AND ST. CHARLES. 257 
 
 " The landing of the guns and horses on the east side of the 
 Richelieu, crossed by Col. Wetherall in bateaux at the rapid of 
 Chambly, caused, as might be expected, considerable delay. Four 
 hours elapsed before the last section disembarked, and notwith- 
 standing an incessant rain, which froze as it fell, each man took up 
 his position on the road. During the landing, blue lights were seen, 
 fired by the Rebels for the twofold object of ascertaining our numbers 
 and signalising the march of the troops to their distant associates. 
 
 " The roads in Canada previously to the frost setting in, are of 
 difficult passage, but so impracticable for artillery had the late rains ' 
 rendered them, that in three hours we advanced but three miles, 
 during the whole of which time the insurgents were skirting our line 
 of march. After halting an hour at Pointe Olivier, we pushed 
 forward for St. Hilaire de Rouville, our intended quarters, until 
 further orders, where we arrived at ten in the morning. An agreeable 
 reception awaited us here at the house of a Canadian gentleman, a 
 Colonel of Militia, who entertained the officers ; and in his out- 
 houses and the adjoining villages, our men were quartered. 
 
 *' From a neighbouring height, called the Beloeil mountain, the 
 movements of the Brigade were closely watched by the insurgents, 
 who had surrounded it on all sides, and more than once an attack 
 was threatened, the fuse lighted and the troops placed under arms. 
 
 ' ' Thus all communication with Montreal being cut off, the chances 
 were very much against the safe arrival of despatches from Sir J. 
 Colborne, now Lord Seaton. hourly expected ; we also learned from 
 report that Col. Gore's expedition against St. Denis had failed, with 
 loss of a field piece and several killed and wounded. 
 
 " Col. Wetherall, with the aptitude and foresight of a veteran 
 officer, most gallantly determined, notwithstanding the report of Col. 
 Gore's defeat, to unite with his force the Grenadier Company of the 
 Royals then at Chambly and march upon his own responsibility against 
 St. Charles. To effect this union was no easy matter, for a consider- 
 able force of armed peasantry was collected between us and Chambly. 
 As in such enterprises British soldiers delight, volunteers were not 
 wanting to bear the necessary despatch ; a selection from the Cavalry 
 was, however, made, as being men well aequinted with the country. 
 
258 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 The attention of the Rebels was so riveted to the camp movements^ 
 that Major Warde with his company by embarking on board bateaux 
 and floating down the Richelieu, a movement the Rebels did not look 
 for, joined the main body unmolested. At ten a.m. of the 25th Col. 
 Wetherall commenced his march against St. Charles. All the bridges 
 across the small streams, which contributed to the Richelieu, were 
 destroyed, rendering it necessary to form temporary fords by throw- 
 ing into them piles of rails from the fences. The last bridge near St. 
 Charles was not only destroyed , but the pass fortified. Along a deep 
 gully, at the base of a steep hill, a small stream takes its course, and 
 crowning the height, where the road passes along, a breastwork was 
 raised, which extended some yards on each side of the thorough- 
 fare. Had the military attempted to pass by night, it was the inten- 
 tion of the Rebels to make this spot a place of active defence. To an 
 able oflBcer and man of courage, what a field of operations here 
 presented itself. The Rebel leader at St. Charles, T. S. Brown, how- 
 ever, was not that man. 
 
 "In order that the troops might be harassed as little as possible, 
 Col. Wetherall in his further progress to the fortified village, avoided 
 the road by making a detour through the fields at the right. About 
 a quarter of a mile from St. Charles the Light Company of the Royals, 
 whilst skirmishing, and in advance of the main body, received a sharp 
 fire from some houses and barns, which were loop-holed and occupied ;. 
 these were the outposts of the Rebels, who, on delivering their fire, 
 retreated on their position. 
 
 " The houses from which we received the fire were immediately 
 in flames, and one prisoner taken, who, on our opening the view of 
 St. Charles was* sent to the town to demand a surrender. The sum- 
 mons was answered by a deafening cheer of contempt, the voice of 
 hundreds. There being no alternative now left but to attack the place, 
 Col. Wetherall deployed on his rear division, as the Brigade marched 
 in close column, the Light Company being extended on each flank 
 under Major Warde. In front of the deployment was a level space 
 of ploughed fields, to the right well wooded land, and to the left the 
 Richelieu, about 300 yards wide, taking a course parallel to the village^ 
 which was long and straggling. 
 
MILITARY OPERATIONS IN LOWER CANADA. 259 
 
 "Col. Wetherall hoped that a display of his force would induce 
 some defection among the infatuated people, but unfortunately for 
 the sake of humanity, it was far otherwise. From the west side of 
 the river the insurgents commenced a determined fire, that in spite of 
 the distance did some execution, whilst from the woods an attack was 
 made so desperate that the Grenadier Company of the Royals was sent 
 to its support. The Artillery under Capt. Glasgow was now ordered 
 to advance within 100 yards of the breastwork, and a severe cannonad- 
 ing of shrapnel), shell, round shot and canaster was commenced. The 
 prudence of making a detour in the field was evinced from the fact 
 that the Rebel guns were placed in embrasure to command the road, 
 and thus prevented from doing execution, were, after firing a few 
 guns, altogether silenced. From behind the breastwork a continual 
 tire was directed against the centre of the line, ordered in consequence 
 to lie down, notwithstanding which from the exposed position it 
 materially suffered. This gave rise to an order for the three centre 
 companies, headed by Col. Wetherall in person, to fix bayonets and 
 charge the works ; seeing this the Rebels redoubled their efforts and 
 a galling fire was the consequence, which raked the earth in every 
 direction, yet, strange to say, some dwellings to the right of the breast- 
 work were gained, with but the loss of one killed and a few wounded. 
 Nevertheless, the place was far from being taken, the barns and out- 
 houses which flanked each other, were so well fortified and so obsti- 
 nately defended, that it took fully twenty minutes' sharp firing to reduce 
 them. The defenders fought with great bravery, many maintaining 
 their posts, until shot or put to the bayonet. By this time the guns 
 had advanced a few paces, supported by a sub-division of the Royals, 
 and poured in canaster shot upon the multitude of heads that appeared 
 in front. At the same tine, both on the right and left of the line, an 
 active scene presented itself. To the left a constant discharge of 
 musketry was directed against the breastwork, while to the right 
 skirmishers were to be seen busily employed in cutting off the retreat 
 of those who sought safety in the woods. The fire of the Artillery 
 having in a great measure disorganized the Rebels at their strong- 
 holds, the breastworks were destroyed. The Rebels were mostly put 
 to flight, but about fifty appeared on bended knees with arms reversed. 
 18 
 
260 REBEL LlOX OF 18S1. 
 
 When the troops advanced to take their apparently willing prisoners, 
 the traitors quickly assumed an attitude of attack, and in the discharge 
 of their muskets killed a sergeant and wounded several men. This 
 act of treachery caused, until restrained by the officers, a general 
 massacre, which, whilst it lasted, was indeed dreadful, for many in 
 their flight committed themselves to the Richelieu, choosing rather to 
 meet a watery grave than to yield to the enraged soldiery. Poor 
 creatures, it was but the struggle of the moment, for a severe frost 
 having set in since morning, the icy stream at once paralysed their 
 efforts, and they sank to rise no more. What an awful warning have 
 we here to promoters and abettors of civil war. If one spark of 
 humanity holds a space in the breasts of those who advocate the 
 expediency of contending by force for a scheme of government of 
 their own choosing, surely the fate of these poor deluded peasantry 
 will arouse them to a sense of their wickedness. 
 
 " The no less brilliant and well judged attack led by our gallant 
 Colonel, and the judicious and effective tire of Artillery under Capt, 
 Glasgow, assisted by the handful of Cavalry under Capt. David, soon 
 caused the total confusion and rout of the Rebels, and had our small 
 force admitted of a reserve, a host of prisoners would have been 
 taken. 
 
 " So deficient in courage was the Rebel leader that on the first 
 appearance of the military, he left his dupes under pretence of pro- 
 curing reinforcements, while Papineau and O'Callaghan preferred 
 viewing the engagement from the house of a Mr. Drolet at St. Marc, 
 on the opposite bank of the river. Not so the defenders of the 
 village, who amounted to about 1,500. With a spirit worthy of a 
 better leader and a better cause, they maintained their supposed 
 rights, and the fact that Col, Wetherall's horse was shot under him, 
 together with the loss in consequence of having been wounded of 
 those of Major Warde, Capt. David and several others, tends to 
 confirm it. 
 
 *' The loss of the Royals consisted of one sergeant and one private 
 killed, and fifteen rank and file wounded. Of the insurgents between 
 fifty and sixty were taken prisoners, and about 150 lay stretched 
 within their works, but the estimated loss was calculated at 300, many 
 
MI LIT A H Y OPERA TIONS IN LO WER CANADA . 261 
 
 having perished by fire and water, while a few were carried away by 
 their countrymen. 
 
 "The breastworks, composed of trunks of trees filled in with 
 earth and supported" at intervals by piles, extended to nearly nine 
 acres round the dwelling of Mr. Debartzch, which was a large brick 
 building, with a raised veranda. This house served as a commanding 
 position for the insurgents and was completely riddled with shot- 
 holes. The base of the breastwork was six feet in thickness, the 
 height four feet, gradually narrowihg to two and a half, while the 
 exterior and interior slope equalled half the height. 
 
 " The cap of Liberty and pole were seized, 100 stand of arms 
 taken and destroyed, and two French six-pounders, found mounted 
 within the intrenchments, spiked and committed to the safe- 
 keeping of the Richelieu. Attached to the Liberty pole was a 
 tablet bearing this inscription, ' A Papineau par ses concitoyens 
 reconnaissans. " 
 
 '* 0(ir guns having been placed to command the road in case of 
 attack, both officers and men retired to rest, while the prisoners 
 were placed under guard in the church. There I passed a sleepless 
 night, it being requisite to keep a constant watch, as an attempt to 
 rescue the prisoners was generally expected. The alarm was twice 
 given and the windows manned, the lowermost panes having been 
 broken out for the purpose of defence, by which means the tempera- 
 ture was reduced to that of the surrounding atmosphere, then much 
 below zero. In the centre of the church a large tire blazed, where 
 groups of soldiers were regaling themselves, along the gloomy aisles 
 a single candle cast its dim light, by the altar lay the dead bodies of 
 the soldiers, in the vestry room adjoining the church the prisoners 
 were lodged, most of whom assumed a kneeling posture, engaged 
 apparently in silent and solemn prayer. This scene made a deep 
 impression on my mind not to be easily forgotten. The following day 
 the dead of our own party as well as those of the Rebels were buried, 
 and while preparing for the interment, a most repulsive sight presented 
 itself. A drove of pigs were devouring the bodies, a scene so painful 
 that to prevent its continuance, the voracious animals were ordered 
 to be shot by a party brought out for the purpose. 
 
262 REBELLION OF 18S7 
 
 " Amongst other matters of importance which occurred in the 
 course of the day, was in the first place the seizure of a document con- 
 taining a detailed account of the defeat of the troops at St. Denis 
 and the murder of a British officer, no name given ; and secondly 
 that which was more welcome, a report well authenticated, that 
 of St Denis having been vacated immediately on their hearing 
 of the fall of St, Charles. Their leader, Wolfred Nelson, or the 
 'Grand Loup,' as he was called, having tried in vain to muster his 
 men, in anticipation of a second attack, forty only obeying him, he 
 left them in disgust. 
 
 " The breastworks having been tired and thus converted into a 
 watch-fire for the troops, we sat down about twenty in number at the 
 invitation of some brother oflficers, who had been quartered in a 
 substantial house with an abundant cellar and a well-stocked larder, 
 to a banquet, far more sumptuous than any we had partaken of for 
 some time, where much conviviality and good humour reigned in every 
 face, and we soon forgot the disagreeable work we had to perform 
 ■during the morning. 
 
 " The sun had set and the long-looked-for despatches had not yet 
 arrived from Montreal, Col. Wetherall therefore determined to march 
 for headquarters at dawn of day. The firm state of the ice afforded 
 a, shorter route than th3 outward march, but the Colonel having 
 received information of a large body of insurgents collected for the 
 purpose of disputing his return, determined upon humoring them. 
 Accordingly on the morning of the 27th, Rouville was again the 
 rendezvous, and after leaving the wounded with a detachment for pro- 
 tection, the march was resumed. Arrived within two miles of Point 
 Olivier, the advance party gave information that the Rebel force was 
 stationed upon a hill, which formed part of the road, when two com- 
 panies of skirmishers were immediately thrown out, while the main 
 body advanced in close column, but formed line during the advance. 
 In front of the Rebels' position was an inclined plane, well wooded, 
 having concealed among the trees a breastwork, against which our 
 guns were directed ; the Rebels, however, soon retreated, with three 
 field-pieces that had been planted to command the road, but left 
 behind them several barrels of powder, and a few heaps of iron cut into 
 
MI LIT A R Y OPERA TIONS IN LO WER GA NA DA . 263 
 
 squares, as a substitute for shot. The Cavalry pursued and came up 
 with the guns at the river side, but the Rebels took to the ice and 
 escaped, with the exception of their leader, who was killed, extraordin- 
 ary it may appear, by a musket ball fired from a distance of at least 300 
 yards. In the hurry of retreat the Rebels abandoned their prisoners, 
 most of whom had been entrusted with despatches to and from Sir 
 John Colborne, but in every case the bearers had taken the precaution 
 to destroy the papers, and in consequence underwent the severest ill 
 treatment. It was not a matter of surprise, therefore, on crossing the 
 Richelieu, that we should be welcomed as lost men by the 33rd Regi- 
 ment there, by order of Sir John Colborne on their eve of commenc- 
 ing a march of research. We arrived at Montreal on the 30th, amid 
 the enthusiastic cheering of hundreds, who had long since given us up 
 for lost, and for the first time for fourteen days, enjoyed the luxury 
 of a bed and a change of clothes. 
 
 " It was generally supposed, had the troops been defeated at St. 
 Charles, that a large force would have crossed the lines to sympathize 
 with the Rebels, and the sequel will render the supposition more than 
 probable. 
 
 " The success of Col. Wetherall's gallant attack crushed rebellion 
 while yet in its infancy, and thus formed the basis upon which the 
 General Commander in Chief subsequently established a victorious 
 career for Her Majesty's Troops and a land of peace for the Canadians. 
 
 " The citizens of Montreal were not insensible to Col. Weatherall's 
 exertions, and expressed their gratitude in a most lasting manner by 
 the presentation of a testimonial of value bearing an inscription of 
 which the Colonel had just reason to be proud." 
 
 We now become acquainted with the particulars of the 
 expedition against St. Denis, and the following is a brief 
 description taken from notes furnished by an officer who 
 was present : 
 
 "Col. Gore's brigade, consisting of two companies of the 24th 
 Regiment under Lieut. -Col. Hughes, the Light Company of the 32nd, 
 Capt. Markham, a detachment of Artillery under Lieut. Newcomen, 
 with a few Volunteer Cavalry, left Montreal on the morning of the 
 
264 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 22nd November by the St. George steamer for Sorel, where they 
 arrived at 8 the same evening. Two companies of the 66th, already 
 there, reinforced the Brigade, when Col. Grore pushed forward for St. 
 Denis by the upper road via St. Ours, and notwithstanding a tempes- 
 tuous state of weather and almost impassable roads, accomplished his 
 march by 10 the following morning. Near the entrance of the 
 village the advanced piquet of Cavalry made two prisoners, from 
 whom it was ascertained that the Rebels, headed by Dr. W. Nelson, 
 were posted in great force. Immediately afterwards the Light Com- 
 pany of the 32nd, under Capt. Markham, received, whilst skirmishing 
 in advance, a sharp fire from several fortified houses. The guns main- 
 tained three distinct positions during the engagement, which lasted 
 until 3 in the afternoon, about which time Capt. Markham, assisted 
 by Lieut. Inglis and small party, in attempting to carry a building 
 received a severe wound in his right leg and two in the left side of his 
 neck that brought him to the ground. The Rebels had by this time 
 gained considerable advantage. The Brigade was threatened in the 
 rear by the seizure of the bridge and on all sides by the reinforcements 
 of the Rebels, the larger field-piece, immovably fixed in a deep 
 rut by the frost, could not be brought to bear ; the ammunition 
 nearly expended, and Capt. Markham "s party driven back. Under 
 these circumstances Col. Gore did not hesitate to make a retrograde 
 movement to Sorel, leaving in the hands of the Rebels several killed 
 and wounded and a howitzer. The gallant Capt. Markham was, more- 
 over, on the point of being made a prisoner, when a sergeant nobly 
 rushed forward in the face of the enemy, under a heavy fire, and bore 
 him away in safety, but not until he had received a fourth wound, 
 whilst in the arms of that brave soldier. 
 
 " The seizure of the bridge prevented Col. Gore from retracing 
 his steps, but the lower road was yet open to him. Having reached 
 Sorel in safety, or without further loss, a despatch was immediately 
 sent to Sir J. Colborne. 
 
 " Leaving Col. Gore actively engaged in the defence of that 
 place, I shall now return to headquarters. 
 
 " On the arrival of the troops from St. Charles, Sir John des- 
 patched a force to act under the Hon. Col. Gore, who had orders to 
 
MI LIT A R Y PER A TIONS IN LO WER CAN A DA . 265 
 
 follow up the advantage that had been gained and to subdue the 
 whole line of disaffected country on the Richelieu. This force em- 
 barked on board two steamboats for Sorel, comprising the Light Com- 
 pany of the 24th, three companies of the 32nd, one of the 83rd, and 
 two field-pieces. Reinforced there by one company of the 32nd and 
 two of the 66th, Col. Gore, having passed through St. Ours, entered 
 St. Denis on the 2nd of December, and St. Charles on the 3rd, without 
 meeting with the least opposition. 
 
 "At St. Denis the howitzer and wounded were retaken, the forti- 
 fied buildings of the Rebels reduced to ashes, and owing to informa- 
 nt ion furnished by one of the prisoners, the mangled body of poor 
 Lieut. Weir was found lying in a ditch by Lieut. Griffin. This un- 
 fortunate officer was the bearer of despatches by land to Sorel, the 
 morning prior to the attack on St. Denis, and taking a wrong road, 
 fell into the hands of the cowardly ruffians, and was basely murdered 
 by a villain named Jalbert. His remains, mourned by the whole city, 
 were buried on the 8th, at Montreal, with military honours." 
 
 Carrier in his book, "Les Evenements de 1837-1838," 
 and other French-Canadian writers have, in an impartial 
 manner, given details of the various events leading up to 
 and directly connected with the rebellion which ought not 
 to be overlooked. It will be seen from M. Carrier's state- 
 ment that in the Montreal affair of the 6th and 7th of 
 November the French-Canadian party were the assailants, 
 the first to commence open hostilities. He says that on 
 the 7th November the '' Doric Club " and the Club of '' The 
 Sons of Liberty " met in the yard of a tavern, in Great St. 
 James Street, the Dorics marching along the street, halting 
 opposite the tavern, when the " Sons of Liberty " men 
 sallied out of the yard and pelted the Dorics with stones 
 and sticks. Some or one of the " Sons " fired a pistol, and the 
 ball pierced the coat of a carpenter named Whitelaw. The 
 
266 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 Dorics, of whom about a dozen members only were there,- 
 retired, and were followed by " The Sons of Liberty " along 
 St. James Street, and were greeted with stones from all 
 directions. " The Sons of Liberty " broke the windows of 
 the house of Dr. Eobertson and of many other houses. 
 They descended St. Francis Street and entered Notre Dame 
 Street, continuing to throw stones. They broke the 
 windows and doors of Mr. Bradbury's shop and invaded 
 the interior of the apartments. From Notre Dame the|| 
 '' Sons " re-entered St. James Street, where they were joined 
 by others of their club ; they there also unexpectedly met 
 a body of the " Dorics," who hearing of the treatment their 
 comrades had received, had hurried up to their rescue. At 
 the sight of " The Dorics " the *' Sons," now strengthened 
 in numbers, fled by St. Lament Street. At the corner of 
 Dorchester Street, club met club at close quarters and a 
 fight took place, with the result that none were killed, but 
 several were wounded. In Captain Beauclerk's account, 
 he says that it was in a house on Dorchester Street that 
 the rebels, or as they called themselves, patriots, met for 
 drilling, and that here they had fire-arms stored and a flag 
 said to have been consecrated by a priest of St. Charles. 
 At one o'clock the riot act was read, the military called 
 out, and through the excellent arrangements made by Col. 
 Maitland of the Eoyals, the disturbed districts of Montreal 
 were restored to a condition of comparative quiet. 
 
 M. Carrier in his account takes occasion to say that, 
 " the violence of the journals and the commencement of 
 hostilities compelled the Government to issue warrants of 
 
DEATH OF LIEUTENANT WEIR. 267 
 
 arrest against the most prominent of the Canadian party ; 
 notably MM. Papineau, Nelson, O'Callaghan, Morin, who 
 evaded pursuit by concealing themselves in houses of 
 sympathizers. Mr. Morin fled to the woods in rear of St. 
 Michael, his native parish." 
 
 As regards the affair at St.. Denis and St. Charles, ther6 
 is one incident related by M. Carrier that deserves notice. 
 This is connected with the death of Lieutenant Weir. 
 Lieutenant Weir's regiment had been in Toronto before 
 being removed to Montreal. It was a very popular regi- 
 ment, and the Lieutenant a very popular officer, and his 
 death roused a great feeling of sorrow in the Capital of 
 Upper Canada, and in fact throughout the Province. 
 Carrier, in describing the incident, says : — 
 
 " After the departure of the troops from Montreal for Sorel, 
 Lieut. Weir of the 32nd Regiment was sent from Montreal by land to 
 carry despatches to Ool. Gore ; arriving at Sorel, he found that the 
 troops had already marched on ; he hired a carriage to take him to 
 join the Commandant, but the latter had avoided St. Ours by passing 
 along the Pot-au-beurre road, and as Lieut. Weir had taken a shorter 
 route, he did not meet the detachment and arrived at St. Denis at 
 two o'clock in the morning. Here he was arrested by the rebel guard 
 and taken before Dr. Nelson. When Lieut. Weir found himself in 
 the presence of the Doctor and surrounded with rebels in considerable 
 numbers, he asked in English, ' What they were going to do with 
 him ? ' * This is what we are going to do with you ' said the Doctor, 
 ' to treat you as a gentleman, as we would wish you to treat us under 
 similar circumstances. You are going to remain our prisoner just on 
 the eve of a battle, which is imminent, but we demand your word of 
 honour that you will not attempt to escape from us ; if you attempt to 
 escape, I cannot answer for you, and more than that I will give orders 
 to my soldiers to shoot you.' So that the Lieutenant should not take 
 part in the combat, Dr. Nelson ordered that he should be conducted 
 to the Rebel camp at St. Charles, under the guard of two men, but 
 
•268 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 scarcely had they set out when he attempted to escape, near the con- 
 vent of St. Denis. The Rebels did all in their power to stop him, 
 but to no purpose, he leaped from the carriage and attempted to 
 reach the troops ; as, however, he was bound by a rope it was not 
 difficult to restrain him, as the guards did by striking him with their 
 swords. They inflicted him with such wounds that he asked them as 
 a favour to despatch him, which one of the guards did by firing a 
 musket into his head." 
 
 Dr. Wolfred Nelson, into whose hands Lieutenant Weir 
 fell, was acquainted with the proprieties and was a gentle- 
 man who was highly respected. He was the most 
 prominent person in St. Denis, and owned considerable 
 property there. He was born in Montreal, descended from 
 a respectable English family by his father's side, while his 
 mother was the daughter of a U. E. Loyalist. Shortly after 
 the war of 1812 he settled at St. Denis, on the Richelieu 
 Eiver, became thoroughly identified with the French popu- 
 lation, and as a medical man in large practice and the pro- 
 prietor of an extensive brewery and distillery, acquired 
 great influence with the habitants. Having represented the 
 district in Parliament, he was brought into immediate con- 
 tact with Papineau, whose republican principles he 
 espoused. Hence we find him associating with Papineau 
 in fomenting rebellion in Lower Canada. Taking Carrier's 
 account of the capture of Lieutenant Weir and his hubse- 
 quent escape and death to be the correct one. Lieutenant 
 Weir must have known he took his life in his hands when 
 he attempted to escape from his guards. He was a brave 
 soldier and deserved a better fate than to meet an early 
 death in a strange country, surrounded by men in rebellion 
 against the Crown which he served. Even Dr. Nelson 
 
DOCTOR NELSON. 269 
 
 could not but lament his death, and the circumstances by 
 which it was brought about. It will be observed that the 
 Lieutenant when despatched was not in the immediate 
 custody of Dr. Nelson, but of the two guards, whp had set 
 out with him from St. Denis, for the rebel camp at St. 
 Charles. The English account differs entirely from that of 
 M. Carrier. According to the English account, while 
 pinioned and attempting to escape from his guards, in the 
 scuffle he was mercilessly shot, sabred, hacked, and 
 stabbed as though he had been a. mad dog, and that he was, 
 while seeking shelter from the cart from which he had 
 escaped, foully murdered in the presence of a crowd of 
 spectators. It is not possible to believe that Dr. Nelson 
 personally had any hand in the murder, or whatever it may 
 have been, for Dr. Nelson himself was a brave man, and 
 worthy the blood from which he was descended. We have 
 ' seen that at the revolutionary meeting held at St. Denis, on 
 ^ the 28th October, he differed from Mr. Papineau in the 
 matter of calling the people to arms to redress their sup- 
 posed grievances. Papineau, having started the flame, 
 > began to tremble for the result of his temerity, and would 
 have, even at the last, temporized, while Dr. Nelson, who felt 
 that the affair had gone too far to be halted, was for imme- 
 diate action. T. S. Brown, who was in command of the 
 rebel forces at St. Charles, was an American. He had been 
 most violent in the affair of the 6th and 7th of November 
 in Montreal, and was the recognized leader of " The Sons 
 of Liberty " on that occasion. He had, in some way, 
 impressed the too confiding French-Canadians with the 
 
270 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 idea that he was a leader of courage and abihty, and thus 
 was allowed to ta;ke command at St. Charles. His courage 
 and ability, in fact, consisted in big words and small actions. 
 He proved himself a coward when opposed to the " Doric 
 Club " in Montreal, and was the first to take to his heels 
 when the regular troops appeared at St. Charles. His conJ 
 duct on that occasion ought to have proved a warning ic^ 
 the French-Canadians, that neither their lives nor their 
 liberties were safe in the hands of the vaporing American. 
 In truth it would have been better if they had trusted them- 
 selves entirely to the protection of their best friends, the 
 British. There were many loyal French-Canadians who 
 would have had it so, but the simple-minded peasants, led 
 away by the gasconade and show of their self-appointed 
 leaders, were easily entrapped. And so it happened that 
 not only at St. Charles, but in subsequent affairs when 
 they fell into the hands of sympathetic Americans, they 
 learned to their cost that their new-made friends were 
 but old deceivers, quite unworthy the confidence of the 
 patriotic French-Canadian. 
 
 How different was the conduct of Dr. Nelson, who was 
 in command of the rebel camp at St. Denis. Here we 
 find a physician, not skilled in the art of war, neverthe- 
 less taking the precautionary steps of an experienced 
 commander to protect his post. It was Nelson's good 
 generalship that caused the bridges leading to the village 
 to be destroyed, which retarded the advance of the troops 
 led by Col. Gore. It was Nelson's genius that fortified 
 St. Denis in a respectable manner, fit to oppose the 
 
PAPINEAU'S FLIGHT. 271 
 
 advance of the regular troops. It was Nelson, in fact, 
 who caused Col. Gore to retire, and for the time to 
 abandon the attack on the village. The repulse of the 
 corps under Col. Gore was, in fact, a victory for the rebels. 
 It was not a lasting victory, but, nevertheless, one that 
 gave the Canadians heart, and had they been well armed, 
 which they were not, and better led than they were by 
 such men as T. S. Brown, they might afterwards have 
 shown considerable resistance to the British troops. 
 
 Papineau's physical courage was apparently not much 
 greater than that of T. S. Brown. After his flight from Mont- 
 real, following the affair of the 6th and 7th of November, 
 he was a guest of Dr. Nelson at St. Denis till the appear- 
 ance of the troops under Col. Gore. Instead of joining his 
 ■compatriots whom he had led into revolt and resistance 
 
 f lawful authority, he abandoned them in the moment 
 
 f danger and fled to Yamaska on the St. Hyacinthe Kiver, 
 whence he subsequently made his way, in company with 
 
 is friend O'Callaghan, into the United States. 
 
 This ended Papineau as a rebel leader. He took do 
 part in the following proceedings, but seems to have 
 
 emained quietly, first in the United States and afterwards 
 in France, until after the amnesty, when he canae back to 
 Canada, in 1845, and subsequently entered the House of 
 Commons of the United Provinces of Upper and Lower 
 Canada. 
 
 In considering Papineau's conduct one is met at the 
 very threshold with the difficulty of explaining his action 
 in leaving the rebels as he did. Was it fear, despair of 
 
272 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 success, or because he did not approve of the active 
 rebellion then in progress ? Papineau was a man of great 
 personal magnetism. A man of culture and refinement, 
 of education and talent, of commanding presence and 
 speech. Ennobled with the divine gift of oratory, 
 Papineau seems to have had absolute control of the French- 
 Canadians. A man of undoubted Eepublican convictions, 
 for which none can impute the slightest blame, and ani- 
 mated with the warmest love for his fellow-countrymen, 
 his imagination seems to have been fired with the concep- 
 tion, grand in itself, of establishing a Canadian Kepublic. 
 Here was where Papineau made his initial error. Had his 
 people been oppressed, had their laws, their customs, their 
 ancient religion been scorned, then indeed would he have 
 merited a place in history with that great liberator, 
 William the Silent, whose indomitable heroism and cour- 
 age freed the Netherlands from the corrupt and cruel rule 
 of the Spaniard. But such was not the case here. The 
 rule of the English was honest, fair and impartial. The 
 Colonial Office, as we have seen, had had the severe criticism 
 in the House of Commons of such Eadical leaders as Mr. 
 Hume, and a Keform Ministry had made the most careful 
 enquiry with a view to ruling these French- Canadians with 
 the most impartial hand. 
 
 Papineau's theory of government was then purely ideal 
 and imaginary, founded on his feelings and not on reason. 
 Carried away by his own oratory perchance, he followed 
 headlong on that career which led to the funeral of his 
 hopes. Like the King of France he led his men up the 
 
PAPINEAU'S CONDUCT. 273 
 
 hill and then — he faltered and fled. But why? Did his 
 heart fail him ? Was it want of courage, or was it, as we, 
 to relieve the name of a leader most beloved of his 
 fellows from the reproach of cowardice, in charity trust, 
 that his eyes were at length opened — that he saw the 
 men who had for years been trying to conciliate the 
 French at last aroused — the lion awake and shaking 
 free from the torpors of slumber and the steady march of 
 men. The roll of that drum, whose tap encircles the world 
 itself, awoke this dreamer, and he saw that he was only 
 a petty leader in a really petty cause, leading his con- 
 fiding countrymen to certain destruction, for nothing but 
 an idea ; no wrongs to be redressed, no injuries to be 
 avenged, simply that he, Papineau the Canadian, might be 
 ruler of his people. Little wonder is it that after, as Dr. 
 Nelson says, penning a declaration of independence, the 
 thought of his bleeding countrymen drove him to throw up 
 all and become an exile. 
 
 Why did he not even then call them to halt ? Was 
 his pride greater than his love of his fellow men ? Per- 
 haps it was so, and that he preferred the role of defeated 
 patriot, treating his opponents, to use his own language, 
 j'lih. silence and scorn. Perhaps he felt that this struggle 
 for his countrymen's claim to govern the country they in- 
 thabited was vain ; but surely the reproach of cowardice laid 
 rat his door in after years by Dr. Nelson, an^ indignantly 
 repelled by Papineau's friends, cannot be approved. Mr. 
 Jhristie has devoted a great deal of trouble to collecting 
 locuments containing Nelson's attack on Papineau and 
 
274 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 the answer made by Papineau's friends. Dr. Nelson, it 
 must be observed, did not attack Mr. Papineau until he 
 (Nelson) had taken office under Mr. Lafontaine, Papineau's 
 political opponent in the House. The whole controversy 
 was not very edifying, but it may be fairly • said to acquit 
 him of the charge of cowardice. 
 
CHAPTEE XIII. 
 
 Revolutionary Clubs — Council of War — Mackenzie Unfolds his 
 Plans — How to Take Toronto and Carry Off the Governor — 
 Hon. R. Baldwin Disclaims Knowledge of Rebellion — Jack 
 Cade's Rebellion— Mackenzie's Similar — Mackenzie's New Con- 
 stitution — Publication in Mackenzie s Newspaper — Trip to the 
 Country to Promulgate Constitution— Mackenzie as a Recruit- 
 ing Sergeant — Appointment to Meet in Toronto on 7th Decem- 
 ber — Declaration of Independence — Arms and Ammunition — 
 Samuel Lount — Dr. Rolph Alters the Day for Rising — Discon- 
 certs Mackenzie— His Plans Upset — Tries to Retrieve— Sir F. 
 B. Head Reluctant to Believe there Would be Rebellion — Col. 
 FitzGibbon's Activity and Foresight— College Bell Rings Out 
 Alarm — Mackenzie and Force at Montgomery's — Col. Moodie 
 Shot— Threshold of Rebellion. 
 
 The evidence is too clear to admit of doubt that the 
 Rebellion in Upper Canada was started by its leaders 
 with a regularly organized plan to overturn the Govern- 
 ment of the Province, and to establish in its stead a 
 Republic which should be entirely independent of England, 
 if not directly attached to the United States. The vigi- 
 lance committees throughout the Province, in correspond- 
 ence with the central committee at Toronto, of which Mr. 
 Mackenzie was agent and corresponding secretary, were 
 nothing more nor less than revolutionary clubs, formed 
 with the express purpose of carrying out their designs by 
 unconstitutional means and a resort to arms. It cannot 
 
 19 
 
276 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 be said that all the members of even these vigilance com- 
 mittees were aware of their ulterior purpose, but that such 
 was the design of Mr. Mackenzie, and those permitted 
 to enjoy his entire confidence, does not admit of question. 
 
 Mr. Mackenzie had his own trusted agents, and Mr. 
 Jesse Lloyd, of Lloydtown, thirty miles north of Toronto, 
 was one of them. On the 9th October, 1837, Mr. Lloyd 
 returned from Lower Canada with a message from the 
 insurgent leaders there that the French- Canadians were' 
 about to make a brave strike for liberty, and asking Mr. 
 Mackenzie to co-operate with them by raising the standard 
 of revolt in Upper Canada. 
 
 Early in November a certain M. Dufort arrived in 
 Toronto. He was a stranger to the city, but he came with 
 a message from Mr. Papineau to Mr. Mackenzie and his 
 associates in Toronto, the purport of his mission being an 
 appeal to the Upper Canada Liberals to support their 
 Lower Canada brethren, when a resort to arms should be 
 made. Whether or not he made known to the Liberals of 
 Toronto his further business is not known. It is however 
 highly probable he did, as by this time a complete accord 
 existed between Mr. Papineau and the revolutionary party 
 in Upper Canada. It became known not long afterwards 
 that Mr. Dufort's further business was a continuance of 
 his journey to Detroit, in the State of Michigan, in the 
 United States, to get up an expedition to assist the Cana- 
 dians, in connection with Judge Butler, a prominent 
 member of the House of Eepresentatives of that State, to 
 form (and they together in fact did form) a " Council of 
 
MACKENZIE UNFOLDS HIS PLANS. Til 
 
 War," embracing prominent and influential members of 
 the House of Eepresentatives, State officers and wealthy 
 citizens. 
 
 About this time Mr. Mackenzie called upon fourteeen 
 or fifteen persons with whom he had been acting in con- 
 nection with the vigilance societies or committees through- 
 out the Province, to meet him in the evening at the 
 house of Mr. Doel, corner of Bay and Adelaide Streets, 
 Toronto. They all attended, and Mr. Mackenzie pro- 
 ceeded to give his views of what ought to be the proper 
 course to pursue in the then condition of affairs. Here is 
 his own statement, which has been preserved. 
 
 "I remarked," he said, in substance, " that we had, in a declara- 
 tion adopted in July, and signed approvingly by many thousands, 
 affirmed that our wrongs and those of the old thirteen colonies were 
 substantially the same ; that I knew of no complaint made by the 
 heir of the house of Russell in 1685 against the Government of 
 England, overturned three years thereafter, that could not be sustained 
 against that of Canada ; that not only was redress from Britain hope- 
 less, but that there was imminent danger that leading Reformers 
 would be seized and sent to the dungeon ; that the House of Assembly 
 had been packed through fraud — the clergy hired and paid by the 
 State, the endowment of a hierarchy begun in defiance of the Royal 
 pledge, the public credit abused and the Provincial funds squandered 
 offices created and distributed to pay partisans, emigration arrested, 
 discontent rendered universal, and government converted into a de- 
 testable tyranny ; while in Lower Canada chaos reigned, backed by 
 the garrison troops ; and British resolutions to leave no check in the 
 hands of the people, upon any abuse whatever, had passed the House 
 of Commons, Law was a mere pretext to plunder people systemati- 
 cally with impunity— and education, the great remedy for the future, 
 discouraged in Upper and unknown in Lower Canada — while de- 
 faulters, cheats, embezzlers of trust funds and of public revenue, were 
 honoured and encouraged, and peculators sheltered from the indigna- 
 tion of the people they had robbed. I stated that when I saw how 
 
278 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 Ireland; the condition of which was fully understood in London, had! 
 been ruled, I had no hope for Canada except in resistance, and^ 
 affirmed that the time had come for a struggle, either for the rights of 
 Englishmen in connection with England, or for independence. Can- 
 ada, as governed, was an engine for the oppression of our countrymen 
 at home. 
 
 " I spoke with great earnestness, and was only interrupted by 
 some brief casual remarks. 
 
 "In adverting to the condition of society, I remarked that Head 
 was abhorred for the conduct of those he had upheld and cringed to 
 that in the city all classes desired a change — credit was prostrate, 
 trade languishing — and asked if the proper change could be obtained 
 in any possible way short of revolution ? 
 
 "Still there was no answer. 
 
 " I stated that there were two ways of effecting a revolution : one 
 of them by organizing the farmers, who were quite prepared for re- 
 sistance, and bringing them into Toronto, to unite with the Toronto 
 people ; and the other, by immediate action. 
 
 " Dr. Morrison made some deprecatory or dissenting remark, 
 but I continued. 
 
 " 1 said that the troops had left ; that those who had persuaded 
 Head to place four thousand stand of arms in the midst of an unarmed , 
 people in the City Hall, seemed evidently not opposed to their being 
 used ; that Fort Henry was open and empty, and a steamer had only 
 to sail down to the wharf and take possession ; that I had sent two 
 trusty persons, separately, to the garrison that day and it was also 
 ' to let ' ; that the Lieutenant-Governor had just come in from his 
 ride, and was now at home, guarded by one sentinel ; and that my 
 judgment was that we should instantly send for the Dutcher's foundry- 
 men and Armstrong's axe-makers, all of whom could be depended on, 
 and, with them, go promptly to the Government House, seize Sir 
 Francis, carry him to the City Hall, a fortress in itself, seize the arms- 
 and ammunition there, and the artillery, etc., in the old garrison ; 
 rouse our innumerable friends in town and country, proclaim a Pro- 
 visional Government, send off the steamer on that evening to secure 
 Fort Henry, and either induce Sir Francis to give the country an 
 Executive Council responsible to a new and fairly chosen Assembly to 
 be forthwith elected, after packing off the usurpers in the ' Bread and 
 Butter Parliament,' such new Assembly to be convened immediately ; 
 
MEETING AT DOE US BREWERY. 279 
 
 or if he refused to comply, go at once for Independence, and take 
 the proper steps to obtain and secure it. 
 
 " I also communicated, in the course of my remarks, important 
 facts relative to Lower Canada, and the disposition of her leading men. 
 
 "Dr. Morrison manifested great astonishment and impatience 
 toward the close of my discourse, and at length hastily rose and 
 exclaimed that this was treason, if I was really serious, and that if 
 I thought I could entrap him into any such mad scheme, I would find 
 that he was not my man. I tried to argue with him, but finding that 
 he was resolute and determined, soon desisted. 
 
 "That the proposition I made could have been easily and 
 throughly carried into effect, I have never for a moment doubted ; 
 and I would have gone about it promptly, in preference to the course 
 afterwards agreed upon, but for the indecision or hesitancy of those 
 who longed for a change, but disliked risking anything on such issues. 
 I made no request to anyone about secrecy, believing that the gentle- 
 men I had addressed were honestly desirous to aid in removing an 
 intolerable burthen, but that much difference might exist as to the 
 best means of doing so ; and that the Government would be kept 
 inactive, even if it knew all, its pretended friends, headed by a fool, 
 pulling one way, and its enemies another." 
 
 This rhodomontade did not have immediate weight 
 with those who heard Mr. Mackenzie's appeal. Dr. Morri- 
 son, who was chairman of the meeting held in July, did 
 not approve the seizing of public property, in the way pro- 
 posed by Mr. Mackenzie. This he said was treason. No 
 doubt he was startled at the sudden proposal for 
 immediate action, which was doubtless premature. Mr. 
 Mackenzie was rather disappointed at the stand taken by 
 Dr. Morrison and reasoned with him afterwards. Whether 
 or not he gave him to understand he would forego a part 
 of his enterprise is not known, but that he afterwards 
 secured his co-operation is matter of history. None of the 
 prominent leaders of the Eeform party, as for instance the 
 
280 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 Baldwins or Bidwell.. were present at this meeting. The 
 Baldwins were too highminded to be engaged in such 
 projects. Mr. Kobert Baldwin, afterwards Attorney-General, 
 in his statement made to the Commission in January, 
 1838, said : " With respect to the insurrection itself, I had 
 no personal knowledge whatever of either the conspiracy 
 itself, the intention to rise, the attack on the city, or the 
 persons said to be implicated in it, and since my return 
 from England, in February last, I have been wholly un- 
 connected with the parties or politics of the Province." 
 
 It might almost be termed amusing, if the consequences 
 had not been so serious, to follow the various steps taken 
 by Mmf Mackenzie to redeem the Province of Upper Canada 
 from the evils to which he asserted she was subject. It 
 recalls the attempt to capture London, the capital of the 
 Empire, in 1450. If we forget the disproportion of size, 
 as between great London and small Toronto, we have 
 history repeating itself in the resemblance that Mr. Mac- 
 kenzie and his followers bore to those of Jack Cade and his 
 army of yokels. 
 
 History tells us that Jack Cade was the leader of an 
 insurrection, which broke out in Kent, June 1450, that 
 Jack was an Irishman, an illegitimate relation to the 
 Duke of York, and called himself Mortimer. With fifteen 
 or twenty thousand men this son of Erin marched on 
 London, and encamped at Black Heath, where he kept up 
 a correspondence with the citizens, many of whom were 
 favourable to his enterprise. The Court sent to inquire why 
 the good men of Kent had left their homes. Jack, in a 
 
JACK CADE'S REBELLION. 281 
 
 paper entitled " The Complaint of the Commons of Kent," 
 replied that the people were robbed of their goods for the 
 King's use ; that mean and corrupt persons, who plundered 
 and oppressed the Commons filled the high offices at Court, 
 and explained further grievances. In another paper, called 
 '' The Eequests of the Captain of the Great Assembly in 
 Kent," Cade demanded that the King should resume the 
 grants of the Crown, which he complained the preachers 
 about the Eoyal person fattened on. 
 
 Cade, with better success than his antitype, succeeded 
 so far as to get a lodgement in the city for two days, but 
 making an attack on London bridge, was defeated. A 
 promise of pardon sowing dissension among his followers, 
 they dispersed, and a price being set upon Cade's head he 
 fled, but was followed by an Esquire, who fought and 
 killed him. Mackenzie's fate, as we will see, was less hard. 
 
 Mr. Mackenzie, in order to convince his followers that 
 he did not intend to stop short in his advance on the 
 enemies' bulwarks, with admirable forethought, prepared a 
 draft constitution for the new state or province, which was 
 to have been established under his regime. To avoid the 
 reproach of being a usurper even in thought, he said he 
 intended to submit his proposal to a convention of the 
 people as soon as a provisional government should have 
 been formed. This constitution was published in Mr. 
 Mackenzie's newspaper. The Constitution, on the 15th of 
 November, 1837. Within ten days after this publication 
 he set out on a mission to the northern townships of the 
 County of York, taking with him a printer and a small 
 
282 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 press for the purpose of striking off copies of this document. 
 Mr. Mackenzie's Constitution for Upper Canada was as 
 follows : — 
 
 " Whereas the solemn covenant made with the people of Upper 
 and Lower Canada, and recorded in the Statute Book of the United 
 Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland as the thirty-first chapter of 
 the Acts passed in the thirty-first year of the reign of King George 
 III, hath been continually violated by the British Government, 
 and our rights usurped ; And Whereas our humble petitions, 
 addresses, protests and remonstrances against this injurious interference 
 having been in vain ; We, the people of the State of Upper Canada, 
 acknowledging with gratitude the grace and beneficence of God, in 
 permitting us to make choice of our form of government, and in order 
 to establish justice, ensure domestic tranquillity, provide for the 
 common defence, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings 
 of civil and religious liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do establish 
 this Constitution : 
 
 '' 1. Matters of religion and the ways of God's worship are not at 
 all intrusted by the people of this State to any human power, because 
 therein they cannot remit or exceed a tittle of what their con- 
 sciences dictate to be the mind of God, without wilful sin. Therefore 
 the Legislature shall make no law respecting the establishment of 
 religion, or for the encouragement or the prohibition of any religious 
 denomination. 
 
 "2. It is ordained and declared that the free exercise and 
 enjoyment of religious profession and worship, without discrimination 
 or preference, shall forever hereafter be allowed within this State to 
 all mankind. 
 
 "3. The whole of the public lands within the limits of this State, 
 including the lands attempted, by a pretended sale, to be vested in 
 certain adventurers called the Canada Company (except so much of 
 them as may have been disposed of to actual settlers now resident in 
 the State), and all the land called Crown Reserves, Clergy Reserves, 
 and Rectories, and also the school lands, and the lands pretended to be 
 appropriated to the uses of the University of Kings College, are 
 declared to be the property of the State, and ac the disposal of the 
 Legislature, for the public service thereof. The proceeds of one 
 
MACKENZIE'S NEW CONSTITUTION 283 
 
 millions of acres of the most valuable public lands shall be specially 
 appropriated to the support of Common or Township Schools. 
 
 "4. No minister of the Gospel, clergyman, ecclesiastic, bishop 
 or priest of any religious denomination whatsoever, shall, at any 
 time hereafter, under any pretence or description whatever, be 
 eligible to or capable of holding a seat in the State Senate or House 
 of Assembly, or any civil or military office within this State. 
 
 " 5. In all laws made, or to be made, every person shall be bound 
 alike, neither shall any tenure, estate, charter, degree, birth, or place, 
 confer any exemption from the ordinary course of legal proceedings 
 and responsibilities whereunto others are subjected. 
 
 " 6, No hereditary emoluments, privileges, or honours shall ever 
 be granted by the people of this State. 
 
 "7. There shall neither be slavery or involuntary servitude in 
 this State, otherwise than for the punishment of crimes whereof the 
 party shall have been duly convicted. People of colour, who have come 
 into this State, with the design of becoming permanent inhabitants 
 thereof, and are now resident therein, shall be entitled to all the 
 rights of native Canadians, upon taking an oath or affirmation to 
 support the constitution. 
 
 ' ' 8. The people have a right to bear arms for the defence of 
 themselves and the State. 
 
 " 9. No man shall be impressed or forcibly constrained to serve 
 in time of war ; because money, the sinews of war, being always at 
 the disposal of the Legislature, they can never want numbers of men 
 apt enough to engage in any just cause. 
 
 " 10. The military shall be kept under strict subordination to 
 the civil power. No soldier shall, in time of peace, be quartered in 
 any house without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war but 
 in a manner to be prescribed by law. 
 
 '* 11. The Governor, with the advice and consent of the Senate, 
 shall choose all militia officers above the rank of Captain. The people 
 shall elect their own officers of the rank of Captain, and under it. 
 
 ' ' 12. The people have a right to assemble together in a peaceful 
 manner, to consult for their common good, to instruct their repre- 
 sentatives in the Legislature, and to apply to the Legislature for 
 redress of grievances. 
 
 "13. The printing presses shall be open and free to those who 
 may wish to examine the proceedings of any branch of the govern- 
 
284 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 ment, or the conduct of any public officer ; and no law shall ever 
 restrain the right thereof. 
 
 *' 14. The trial by jury shall remain forever inviolate. 
 
 " 15. Treason against this State shall consist only in levying war 
 against it, or adhering to its enemies, giving them aid and comfort. 
 No person shall be convicted of treason unless on the testimony 
 of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open 
 court. 
 
 " 15a. No ex post facto law, nor any law impairing the validity 
 of legal compacts, grants, or contracts, shall ever be made ; and no 
 conviction shall work corruption of blood or forfeiture of estate. 
 
 " 16. The real estate of persons dying without making a will shall 
 not descend to the eldest son to the exclusion of his brethren, but be 
 equally divided among the children, male and female. 
 
 " 17. The laws of entail shall be forever abrogated. 
 
 " 17a. There shall be no lotteries in this State. Lottery tickets 
 shall not be sold therein, whether foreign or domestic. 
 
 " 18. No power of suspending the operation of the laws shall be 
 exercised except by the authority of the Legislature. 
 
 " 19. The people shall be secure in their persons, papers and 
 possessions, from all unwarrantable searches and seizures ; general 
 warrants, whereby an officer may be commanded to search suspected 
 places, without probable evidence of the fact committed, or to seize 
 any person or persons not named, whose off'ences are not particularly 
 described, and without oath or affirmation, are dangerous to liberty, 
 and shall not be granted. 
 
 ' ' 20. Private property ought, and will ever be held inviolate, but 
 always subservient to the public welfare, provided a compensation in 
 money be first made to the owner. Such compensation shall never be 
 less in amount than the actual value of the property. 
 
 " 21. And Whereas frauds have been often practised towards the 
 Indians within the limits of this State, it is hereby ordained that no 
 purchases or contracts for the sale of lands made since the day 
 
 of in the year , or which may hereafter be made with the 
 
 Indians within the limits of this State, shall be binding on the Indians 
 and valid, unless made under the authority of the Legislature. 
 
 " 22. The legislative authority of this State shall be vested in a 
 General Assembly, which shall consist of a Senate and House of 
 Assembly, both to be elected by the people. 
 
MACKENZIE'S NEW CONSTITUTION. 285 
 
 ' ' 23. The legislative year shall begin on the day of , and 
 
 the Legislature shall every year assemble on the second Tuesday in 
 January, unless a different day be appointed by law. 
 
 " 24. The Senate shall consist of twenty-four members. The 
 Senators shall be freeholders and be chosen for four years. The House 
 of Assembly shall consist of seventy-two members, who shall be 
 elected for two years. 
 
 " 25. The Senate shall be divided into six Senate districts, each of 
 which shall choose four Senators. 
 
 " The first district shall consist of, etc. 
 
 " The second district shall, etc., (and so on, as a convention may 
 decide). 
 
 " 26. An enumeration of the inhabitants of the State shall be taken, 
 under the direction of the Legislature, within one year after the first 
 meeting of the General Assembly, and at the end of every four years 
 thereafter ; and the Senate districts shall be so altered by the Legisla- 
 ture after the return of every convention, that each Senate district 
 shall contain, as nearly as may be, an equal number of inhabitants, 
 and at all times consist of contiguous territory ; and no county shall be 
 divided in the formation of a Senate district. 
 
 " 27. The members of the House of Assembly shall be chosen by 
 counties, and be apportioned among the several counties of the State, 
 as nearly as may be, according to the numbers of their respective 
 inhabitants. An apportionment of the members of Assembly shall be 
 made by the Legislature, at its first session after the return of every 
 enumeration. 
 
 '*28. In all elections of Senators and members of the House of 
 Assembly, the person or persons having the highest number of votes 
 shall be elected. In cases in which two or more persons have an equal 
 number of votes, where only one is required to be elected, there shall 
 be a new election. 
 
 " 29. All elections shall be held at those places which may be con- 
 sidered by the electors to be the most central and convenient for them 
 to assemble at. No county, district, or township election shall con- 
 tinue for a longer period than two days. 
 
 "30. In order to promote the freedom, peace and quiet of elections, 
 and to secure, in the most ample manner possible, the independence of 
 the poorer classes of the electors, it is declared that all elections by the 
 people, which shall take place after the first session of the Legislature 
 
286 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 of this State, shall be by ballot, except for such town officers as may 
 by law be directed to be otherwise chosen. 
 
 " 31. Electors shall in all cases, except treason, felony, or breach 
 of the peace, be privileged from arrest during their attendance at 
 elections, and in going to and returning from them. 
 
 " 32. The next election for Governor, Senators and Members of 
 Assembly, shall commence on the first Monday of next ; and 
 
 all subsequent elections shall be held at such time in the month of 
 or , as the Legislature shall by law provide. 
 
 " 33. The Governor, Senators and Members of Assembly shall 
 enter on the duties of their respective offices on the first day of 
 next. 
 
 " 34. And as soon as the Senate shall meet, after the first election 
 to be held in puruance of the Constitution, they shall cause the 
 Senators to be divided by lot, into four classes, of six in each, so that 
 every district shall have one Senator of each class ; the classes to be 
 numbered 1, 2, 3 and 4. And the seats of the first class shall be 
 vacated at the end of the first year ; of the second class, at the end of 
 the second year ; of the third class, at the end of the third year ; of 
 the fourth class, at the end of the fourth year ; in order that one 
 Senator may be annually elected in each Senate district. 
 
 "35. A majority of each House shall constitute a quorum to do 
 business, but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day and 
 compel the attendance of absent members. Neither House shall, 
 without the consent of the other, adjourn for more than two days. 
 
 " 36. Each House shall choose its Speaker, Clerk and other 
 officers. 
 
 ''37. In each House the votes shall, in all cases when taken, be 
 taken openly, and not by ballot, so that the electors may be enabled 
 to judge of the conduct of their representatives. 
 
 ' ' 38. Each House shall keep a Journal of its proceedings, and 
 publish the same except such parts as may require secrecy. 
 
 " 39. Each House may determine the rules of its own proceedings, 
 judge of the qualifications of its members, punish its members for 
 disorderly behaviour, and with the concurrence of two-thirds expel a 
 member, but not a second time for the same cause. 
 
 ' 40, Any bill may originate in either House of the Legislature ; 
 and all bills passed by one House may be amended or rejected by the 
 other. 
 
MACKENZIE'S NEW CONSTITUTION. 287 
 
 *'41. Every bill shall be read on three diflferent days m each 
 House, unless, in case of urgency, three-fourths of the whole members 
 of the House where such bill is so depending, shall deem it expedient 
 to dispense with this rule ; in which case the names of the majority of 
 members present and consenting to dispense with this rule shall be 
 entered on the Journals. 
 
 "42. Every bill, which shall have passed the Senate and Assembly, 
 shall, before it becomes law, be presented to the Governor. If he 
 approve, he shall sign it ; but if not, he should return it with his 
 objections to that House in which it shall have originated, which shall 
 enter the objections on its Journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If, 
 after such reconsideration, two-thirds of the members present shall 
 agree to pass the bill, it shall be sent, together with the objections, to 
 the other House, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered ; and if 
 approved by two-thirds of the members present it shall become law. 
 In all such cases, the votes of both Houses shall be determined by 
 yeas and nays, and the names of the persons voting for and against 
 the bill shall be entered on the Journals of each House respectively. 
 If any bill shall not be returned by the Governor within ten days 
 (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him the same 
 shall be a law, in like manner as if he had signed it, unless the Legis- 
 lature shall, by its adjournment, prevent its return, in which case it 
 shall not be a law. 
 
 ' ' 43. No member of the Legislature who has taken his seat as 
 such, shall receive any civil appointment from the Governor and 
 Senate, or from the Legislature, during the term for which he shall 
 have been elected. 
 
 "44. The assent of the Governor and of three-fourths of the mem- 
 bers elected to each branch of the Legislature, shall be requisite to 
 authorize the passage of every bill appropriating the public moneys or 
 property for local or private purposes, or for creating, continuing, 
 altering, or renewing any body, politic or corporate ; and the yeas and 
 nays shall be entered on the Journals at the time of taking the vote 
 on the final passage of any such bill. 
 
 " 45. The members of the Legislature shall receive for their ser- 
 vices a compensation to be ascertained by law and paid out of the 
 public treasury. 
 
 " 46. Members of the General Assembly shall, in all cases, except 
 treason, felony, and breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest 
 
288 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 daring their continuance as such members ; and for any speech or de- 
 bate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other place. 
 
 *' 46a. No person shall be a Senator or member of the House of 
 Assembly who shall not have attained the age of years, and been 
 years a citizen of the State, and who shall not, when elected, be an 
 inhabitant of the State. 
 
 " 47. No Judge of any Court of Law or Equity, Secretary of State, 
 Attorney General, Register of Deeds, Clerk of any Court of Record, 
 Collector of Customs or Excise Revenue, Postmaster or Sheriflf, shall 
 be eligible as a candidate for, or have a seat in, the General Assembly . 
 
 "48. No person who hereafter may be a collector or holder of the 
 public moneys shall have a seat in the General Assembly, until such 
 person shall have accounted for and paid into the treasury all sums 
 for which he may be accountable or liable. 
 
 * ' 49. All officers holding their offices during good behaviour, or for 
 a term of years, may be removed by joint resolution of the two 
 Houses of the Legislature, if two-thirds of all the members elected to 
 the Assembly, and a majority of all the members elected to the 
 Senate, concur therein. 
 
 " 50. The House of Assembly shall have the sole power of impeach- 
 ing, but a majority of all its members must concur in an impeachment. 
 
 " 5L All impeachments shall be tried by the Senate, and when 
 sitting for that purpose, its members shall be on oath or affirmation to 
 do justice according to law or evidence ; no person shall be convicted 
 without the concurrence of two-thirds of all the Senators. 
 
 ' ' 51a. The Legislature shall have power to pass laws for the 
 peace, welfare, and good government of this State, not inconsistent 
 with the spirit of this Constitution. To coin money, regulate the 
 value thereof, and provide for the punishment of those who may 
 counterfeit the securities and coin of this State. 
 
 I. To fix the standard of weights and measures. 
 II. To establish a uniform rule of naturalization. 
 
 III. To establish uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcies. 
 
 IV. To regulate commerce. 
 V. To lay and collect taxes. 
 
 VI. To borrow money on the credit of the State, not, however, 
 without providing at the same time the means, by addi- 
 tional taxation or otherwise, of paying the interest, and 
 of liquidating the principal within twenty years. 
 VII. To establish post offices and post roads. 
 
MACKENZIE'S NEW CONSTITUTION. 289 
 
 " 52. Gold and silver shall be the only lawful tender in payment 
 of debts. 
 
 " 53. No new county shall be established by the General Assembly 
 which shall reduce the countj'^ or counties, or either of them, from 
 which it shall be taken, to less contents than four hundred square 
 miles, nor shall any county be laid off of less contents. 
 
 " 54. There shall be no sinecure offices. Pensions shall be granted 
 only by the authority of the Legislature. 
 
 "55. The whole public revenue of this State, that is, all money 
 received from the public, shall be paid into the treasury, without any 
 deduction whatever, and be accounted for without deduction to the 
 Legislature, whose authority shall be necessary for the appropriation 
 of the whole. A regular statement and account of the receipts and 
 expenditures of all public money shall be published once a year or 
 oftener. No fees of office shall be received in any department which 
 are not sanctioned by legislative authority. 
 
 "56. There shall never be created within this State any incor- 
 porated trading companies, or incorporated companies with banking 
 powers. Labour is the only means of creating wealth. 
 
 " 57. Baak notes of a lesser nominal value than shall not be 
 
 allowed to circulate as money, or in lieu thereof. 
 
 " 58. The Executive power shall be vested in a Governor. He 
 shall hold his office for three years. No person shall be eligible to 
 that office who shall not have attained the age of thirty years. 
 
 " 59. The Governor shall be elected by the people at the times 
 and places of choosing members of the Legislature. The person 
 having the highest number of votes shall be elected ; but in case two 
 or more persons shall have an equal, and the highest number of votes, 
 the two Houses of the Legislature shall, by joint vote (not by ballot), 
 choose one of the said persons for Governor. 
 
 " 60. The Governor shall have power to convene the Legislature, 
 or the Senate only, on extraordinary occasions. He shall communi- 
 cate by message to the Legislature, at every session, the condition of 
 the State, and recommend such matters to them as he shall judge ex- 
 pedient. He shall transact all necessary business with the officers of 
 Government ; expedite all such measures as may be resolved upon 
 by the Legislature ; and take care that the laws are faithfully executed. 
 He shall, at stated times, receive a compensation for his services, 
 which shall neither be increased nor diminished during the term for 
 which he shall have been elected. 
 
290 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 " 61. The Governor shall have power to grant reprieves and 
 pardon, after conviction, for all oifences, except in cases of impeach- 
 ment. A notice of all such pardons or reprieves shall be published, at 
 the time, in some newspaper published at the seat of government. 
 
 "62. The Governor shall nominate by message, in writing, and 
 with the consent of the Senate, shall appoint the Secretary of State, 
 Comptroller, Receiver-General, Auditor-General, Attorney-General, 
 Surveyor-General, Postmaster-General, and also all Judicial Officers, 
 except Justices of the Peace and Commissioners of the Courts of Re- 
 quest, or Local Courts. 
 
 "63. In case of the death, impeachment, resignation, or removal 
 of the Governor from oflSce, the Speaker of the Senate shall perform 
 all the duties of Governor, until another Governor shall be elected 
 and qualified, or until the Governor so impeached shall be acquitted, 
 as the case may be. 
 
 " 64. The Executive authority shall issue Writs of election to fill 
 up vacancies in the representation of any part of the Province in the 
 General Assembly. 
 
 " 65. The judicial powei; of the State, both as to matters of law 
 and equity, shall be vested in a Supreme Court, the members of 
 which shall hold office during good behaviour, in District or County 
 Courts, in Justices of the Peace, in Courts of Request, and in such 
 other courts as the Legislature may from time to time establish. 
 
 " 66. A competent number of Justices of the Peace and Commis- 
 sioners of the Courts of Request shall be elected by the people, for 
 a period of three years, within their respective cities and town- 
 ships. . 
 
 "67. All Courts shall be open, and every person for any injury 
 done him in his lands, goods, person or reputation, shall have remedy 
 by the due course of law ; and right and justice shall be administered 
 without delay or denial. 
 
 " 68. Excessive bail shall not be required ; excessive fines shall not 
 be imposed ; nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. 
 
 " 69. All persons shall be bailable by sufficient sureties, unless for 
 capital oflFences, where the proof is evident or the presumption great ; 
 and the privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended 
 by any act of the Legislature, unless, when in cases of actual rebellion 
 or invasion, the public safety may require it. 
 
 " 70. In all criminal prosecution, the accused hath, a right to be 
 heard by himself and his Counsel, to demand the nature and cause of 
 
MACKENZIE'S NEW CONSTITUTION. 291 
 
 the accusation against him, and to have a copy thereof ; to meet the 
 witnesses face to face, to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses 
 in his favour, and in prosecutions by indictment or presentment a 
 speedy public trial, by an impartial and fairly selected jury of the 
 County, District or Division in which the otfence shall be stated to 
 have been committed ; and shall not be compelled to give evidence 
 against himself, nor shall he be twice put in jeopardy for the same 
 offence. 
 
 "71. In prosecutions for any publication respecting the official 
 conduct of men in a public capacity, or when the matter published is 
 proper for public information, the truth thereof may always be 
 given in evidence, and in all indictments for libel the jury shall have 
 a right to determine the law and the fact. 
 
 " 72. No person arrested or confined in jail shall be treated with 
 unnecessary rigour, or be put to answer any criminal charge except 
 by presentment, indictment or impeachment. 
 
 " 73. It shall be the duty of^the Legislature so to regulate the 
 proceedings of Courts of Civil Jurisdiction, that unnecessary delays 
 and extravagant costs in legal proceedings may not be a cause of 
 complaint. 
 
 " 74. Sheriffs, Coroners, Clerks of Peace, and Registers of Coun- 
 ties or Districts, shall be chosen by the electors of the respective 
 Counties or Districts once in four years, and as often as vacancies 
 happen. Sheriffs shall hold no other office and be ineligible for the 
 office of Sheriff for the next two years after the termination of their 
 offices. 
 
 " 75. The Governor and all other Civil Officers under this State 
 shall be liable to impeachment for any misdemeanor in office ; but 
 judgment in such cases shall not extend farther than removal from 
 office, and disqualification to hold any office of honour, profit or trust, 
 under this State. The party, whether convicted or acquitted, shall, 
 nevertheless, be liable to indictment, trial, judgment, and punishment 
 according to law. 
 
 "76. After this Constitution shall have gone into effect, no per- 
 son shall be questioned for anything said or done in reference to the 
 public differences which have prevailed for some time past, it being 
 for the public welfare and the happiness and peace of families and 
 individuals that no door should be left open for a contiaued visitation 
 of the effects of past years of misgovernment after the causes shall 
 have passed away. 
 
 20 
 
292 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 " 76a For the encouragement of emigration, the Legislature 
 may enable aliens to hold and convey real estate, under such regula- 
 tions as may be found advantageous to the people of this State. 
 
 " 77. The River St. Lawrence of right ought to be a free and 
 common highway to and from the ocean ; to be so used, on equal ^ 
 terms, by all the nations of the earth, and not monopolized to serve 
 the interest of any one nation, to the injury of others. 
 
 "78. All powers not delegated by this Constitution remain with 
 the people. 
 
 "79. Such parts of the common law, and of the acts of the 
 Legislature of the Colony of L^pper Canada, as together did form the 
 law of the said colony on the day of , shall be and con- 
 
 tinue the law of this State, subject to such alterations as the Legisla- 
 ture shall make concerning the same. But all laws, or parts of laws, 
 repugnant to this Constitution are hereby abrogated. 
 
 "80. The Senators and members of the House of Assembly 
 before mentioned, and all Executive and Judicial Officers within this 
 State, shall, before entering upon the duties of their respective offices 
 or functions, be bound, by an oath or solemn affirmation, to support 
 the Constitution ; but no religious test shall ever be required as a 
 qualification to any office or public trust under this State. 
 
 " 8L This Constitution, and the laws of this State, which shall be 
 made in pursuance thereof, and all treaties made, or which shall be 
 made under the authority of this State, shall be the supreme law of 
 the land, and the judges shall be bound thereby. 
 
 " Several clauses for the carrying a Constitution like the above 
 into practice are omitted, the whole being only given in illustration of, 
 and for the benefit of a comparison in detail, with other systems. 
 
 " We have not entered upon the questions, whether any, and if 
 so, what restrictions ought to be laid upon the right of voting, or as 
 to residence in the State, taxation, performance of militia duty, etc. 
 These matters, however, might be advantageously discussed by the 
 public press. 
 
 " Committee Room, Nov. 13, 1837 " 
 
 Truly Mr. Mackenzie believed in taking time by the 
 forelock. It will be noticed, however, that even he could 
 not make a republic in his own printing office, and that 
 
MARSHALLING OF RECRUITS. 293 
 
 some matters were left unsettled, perhaps with a view to 
 letting the people have some voice in the matter, as he 
 suggests discussion in the public press. As for this builder 
 of imaginary republics himself, he was not only busy in 
 Constitution making, but active in enlisting troops in his 
 service. He was a regular recruiting sergeant in this 
 particular. On the 24th of November he left Dr. Eolpli's 
 house to rouse the disaffected in Stouffville, Lloydtown, 
 Newmarket and other hotbeds of revolution in the County 
 of York, to strike for liberty and independence. He carried 
 with him a summons to his followers to join him with 
 arms in their hands on the 7th of December, when they 
 would see the downfall, not only of the Tory party but of 
 monarchical government and everything connected with it. 
 i Not a vestige was to remain. 
 
 It is the custom of all great generals when they go forth 
 to conquer or die, to strengthen the hearts of their followers 
 with flowing words, and further to show them how much 
 they will be benefited by striking down their enemy. This 
 is what General Hull did when he came to take Canada 
 in 1812. Mr. Mackenzie, not to be outdone by General 
 Hull in generous offers to his followers, promised every 
 volunteer several hundred acres of land. It will be doing 
 injustice, however, to Mr. Mackenzie's war-like spirit and 
 his literary talent unless the wholg of the proclamation 
 which he distributed among the inhabitants of North 
 York, with no respect for persons, Tory or Liberal, be 
 given : — 
 
294 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 "INDEPENDENCE. 
 
 "There have been nineteen strikes for independence from 
 European tyranny on the continent of America. They were all suc- 
 cessful. The Tories therefore by helping us will help themselves, 
 
 " ' The nations are fallen and thou still art young, 
 The sun is but rising, when others have set ; 
 And though heavy clouds o'er thy morning hath hung, 
 The full tide of Freedom shall beam round you yet.' 
 
 " Brave Canadians ! God has put into the bold and honest 
 hearts of our brethren in Lower Canada to revolt— not against ' law- 
 ful,' but 'unlawful authority.' The law says we shall not be taxed 
 without our consent by the voices of the men of our choice, but a 
 wicked and tyrannical government has trampled upon that law, robbed 
 the exchequer, divided the plunder, and declared that, regardless of 
 justice, they will continue to roll their splendid carriages, and riot 
 in their palaces, at our expense ; that we are poor, spiritless, ignorant 
 peasants, who were born to toil for our betters. But the peasants are 
 beginning to open their eyes and to feel their strength ; too long have 
 they been hoodwinked by Baal's priests — by hired and tampered- with 
 preachers, wolves in sheep's clothing, who take the wages of sin, and 
 do the work of iniquity, ' each one looking to his gain in his quarter.' 
 
 " Canadians ! Do you love freedom ? I know you do. Do you 
 hate oppression ? Who dare deny it ? Do you wish perpetual peace, 
 and a government founded upon the eternal heaven-born principle of 
 the Lord Jesus Christ — a government bound to enforce the law to do 
 to each other as you wish to be done by 1 Then buckle on your 
 armour, and put down the villains who oppress and enslave our 
 country ; put them down in the name of that God who goes forth with 
 the armies of His people, and whose Bible shows that it is by the 
 same human means whereby you put to death thieves and murderers, 
 and imprison and banish wicked individuals, that you must put down, 
 in the strength of the Almighty, those governments which, like these 
 bad individuals, trample on the law and destroy its usefulness. You 
 give a bounty for wolves' scalps. Why ? Because wolves harass you. 
 The bounty you must pay for freedom (blessed word !) is to give the 
 strength of your arms to put down tyranny at Toronto. One short 
 hour will deliver our country from the oppressor ; and freedom in 
 
RE VOL UTIONA R Y P ROC LA MA TION. 295 
 
 religion, peace and tranquillity, equal laws, and an improved country 
 will be the prize. We contend that in all laws made, or to be made, 
 every person shall be bound alike, neither should any tenure, estate, 
 charter, degree, birth, or place, confer an exemption from the ordinary 
 course of legal proceedings and responsibilities whereunto others are 
 subjected. 
 
 " Canadians ! God has shown that He is with our brethren, for He 
 has given them the encouragement of success. Captains, colonels, 
 volunteers, artillerymen, privates, the base, the vile hirelings of our 
 unlawful oppressors, have already bit the dust in hundreds in Lower 
 Canada : and although the Roman Catholic and Episcopal Bishops 
 and Archdeacons are bribed by large sums of money to instruct their 
 flocks that they should be obedient to a government which defies the 
 law, and is therefore unlawful and ought to be put down ; yet God 
 has opened the eyes of the people to the wickedness of these 
 reverend sinners, so that they hold them in derision, just as God's 
 prophet Elijah did the priests of Baal of old and their sacrifices. Is 
 there anyone afraid to go to fight for freedom, let him remember that 
 
 " ' God sees with equal eye, as Lord of all, 
 A hero perish, or a sparrow fall. ' 
 
 " That the power that protected ourselves and our forefathers 
 in the deserts of Canada, that preserved from the cholera those whom 
 He would, that brought us safely to this continent through the dangers 
 of the Atlantic waves, aye, and who has watched over us from infancy 
 to manhood, will be in the midst of us in the day of our struggle for 
 our liberties, and for governors of our free choice, who would not dare 
 to trample on the laws they had sworn to maintain. In the present 
 struggle we may be sure that if we do not rise and put down Head 
 and his lawless myrmidons, they will gather all the rogues and villains 
 in the country together, arm them, and then deliver our farms, our 
 families, and our country to their brutality. To that it has come, we 
 must put them down, or they will utterly destroy this country. If we 
 move now, as one man, to crush the tyrant's power, to establish free 
 institutions founded on God's law, we will prosper, for He who com- 
 mands the winds and waves will be with us ; but if we are cowardly 
 and mean-spirited, a woeful and a dark day is surely before us. 
 
 " Canadians ! The struggle will be of short duration in Lower 
 Canada, for the people are united as one man. Out of Montreal and 
 
296 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 Quebec, they are as one hundred to one, here we Reformers are as 
 ten to one ; and if we rise with one consent to overthrow despotism, 
 we will make quick work of it. 
 
 "Mark all those who join our enemies, act as spies for them, 
 fight for them, or aid them ; these men's properties shall pay the 
 expense of the struggle ; they are traitors to Canadian freedom, and 
 as such we will deal with them. 
 
 " Canadians ! Tt is the design of the friends of liberty to give 
 several hundred acres to every volunteer, to root up the unlawful 
 Canada Company, and give free deeds to all settlers who live on their 
 lands ; to give free gifts of the Clergy Reserve lots to good citizens 
 who have settled on them ; and the like to settlers on Church of Eng- 
 land Glebe lots, so that the yeomanry may feel independent, and be 
 able to improve the country, instead of sending the fruit of their 
 labour to foreign lands. The fifty-seven Rectories will be at once 
 given tp the people, and all public lands used for education, internal 
 improvements, and the public good ; £100,000 drawn from us in pay- 
 ment of the salaries of bad men in office, will be reduced to one- 
 quarter, or much less, and the remainder will go to improve bad roads 
 and to ' make crooked paths straight ;' law will be ten times more 
 cheap and easy, the bickerings of priests will cease with the funds 
 that keep them up, and men of wealth and property from other lands 
 will soon raise our farms to four times their present value. We have 
 given Head and his employers a trial of forty-five years, five years 
 longer than the Israelites were detained in the wilderness. The 
 promised land is now before us — up then and take it — but set not the 
 torch to one house in Toronto, unless we are fired at from the houses, 
 in which case self-preservation will teach us to put down those who 
 would murder us when up in the defence of the laws. There are 
 some rich men now, as there were in Christ's time, who would go 
 with us in prosperity, but who will skulk in the rear, because of their 
 large possessions — mark them ! They are those who in after years 
 will seek to corrupt our people, and change free inititutions into an 
 aristocracy of wealth, to grind the poor, and make laws to fetter their 
 energies. 
 
 *' Mark my words, Canadians ! The struggle is begun, it might 
 end in freedom ; but timidity, cowardice, or tampering on our part, 
 will only delay its close. We cannot be reconciled to Britain, we 
 have humbled ourselves to the Pharaoh of England, to the ministers 
 
REBELS ASSEMBLE. 297 
 
 and great people, and they will neither rule us justly nor let us go ; 
 we are determined never to rest until independence is ours. The prize 
 is a splendid one. A country larger than France or England, natural 
 resources equal to our most boundless wishes, a government of equal 
 laws, religion pure and undefiled, perpetual peace, education to all, 
 millions of acres of lands for revenue, freedom from British tribute, 
 free trade with all the world— but stop — I never could enumerate all 
 the blessings attendant on independence. 
 
 " Up then, brave Canadians. Get ready your rifles, and make 
 short work of it ; a connection with England would involve us in all 
 her wars, undertaken for her own advantage, never for ours ; with 
 governors from England, we will have bribery at elections, corruption, 
 villainy, and perpetual discord in every township, but independence 
 would give us the means of enjoying many blessings. Our enemies 
 in Toronto are in terror and dismay ; they know their wickedness and 
 dread our vengeance. Fourteen armed men were sent oat at the 
 dead hour of night, by the traitor Gurnett, to drag to a felon's cell 
 the sons of our worthy and noble-minded brother departed, Joseph 
 Sheppard, on a simple and frivolous charge of trespass, brought by 
 a Tory fool ; and though it ended in smoke, it showed too evidently 
 Head's feelings. Is there to be an end of these things ? Aye, and 
 now's the day and the hour. Woe be to those who oppose us, for 
 * in God is our trust.' " 
 
 The appeal had its effect. The men engaged in the 
 cause furbished up their arms. Pike-heads, forged in a 
 blacksmith's shop of Samuel Lount, near Holland Landing, 
 were got ready, and ammunition was provided. It was now 
 necessary to secure a competent commander to lead the 
 army of rebellion into action. Mr. Mackenzie, with his 
 accustomed energy, had managed this. There lived in the 
 County of Bruce a Liberal of advanced ideas, known to Mr. 
 Mackenzie — a man who had been a colonel under Napoleon 
 Bonaparte. His name was Van Egmond. To him Mr, 
 Mackenzie wrote, desiring him to assume command of his 
 army, which was to be marshalled at Montgomery's tavern, 
 
298 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 four miles north of Toronto, on Thursday, the 7th day of 
 December. This was the day set for the rising by 
 Mackenzie in concert with Dr. Kolph and the executive. 
 But "the best laid plans of mice and men gang aft aglee." 
 Dr. Eolph, during Mr. Mackenzie's absence in the country, 
 owing to a fear he had that the loyal militia might be 
 called out for service before the 7th of December, took upon 
 himself, without consulting Mr. Mackenzie, to alter the day 
 for the rising to Monday, the 4th of December, thus discon- 
 certing all Mr. Mackenzie's plans. Mr. Mackenzie did not 
 hear of the change till he arrived at Mr. Gibson's house, 
 not far from Montgomery's. If Mr. Mackenzie's original 
 plan had been carried out, Van Egmond would have had 
 under his command as many as two thousand men for an 
 attack on Toronto, which, in all human probability, would 
 have been captured, as it would have been found wholly un- 
 defended. Sir Francis Head, either because he did not 
 realize the importance of the rebellious movement that had 
 been going on in different parts of the Province, especially 
 in the Home District, for some time, or because he desired 
 to earn glory for himself at the expense of the loyalists of 
 the Province, had not taken any means to ward off the 
 rebellion. The Governor had time and again been warned 
 that the disaffected in various parts were drilling and 
 accustoming themselves to bear firearms, and that meetings 
 of rebels were being held for the purpose of concerted 
 ^ction. Miss Mary Agnes FitzGibbon, in her book " A 
 Veteran of 1812," in a note referring to a conversation 
 which the Eeverend Egerton Kyerson had with his brother 
 
THE RENDEZVOUS AT MONTGOMERTS. 299 
 
 William, regarding the efforts he had made to induce Sir 
 George Arthur to commute the sentence of death afterwards 
 enforced on Lount and Matthews for their conduct in the 
 affair, says that Rev. Egerton Eyerson said, " I also men- 
 tioned to the Governor that you [the Rev. William Ryerson] 
 and the Eev. I. Stinson had waited on Sir Francis about 
 four weeks previous to the insurrection, that you informed 
 him of insurrectionary movements about Lloydtown and 
 other places that you had learned from me, that you had 
 strongly urged Sir Francis to raise volunteers and put the 
 city and other places in a state of defence, that you and 
 I waited on the Attorney-General next day, and that we 
 had urged these things on him in a similar manner, but 
 that these statements and advice had been disregarded, if 
 not disbelieved." So deaf was Sir Francis to the repre- 
 sentations made to him by the Rev. Egerton Ryerson 
 and others, that he had sent out of the Province to Lower 
 Canada all of the regular troops that had been quartered 
 at Toronto. Had these regular troops been retained there 
 would have been no rebellion. The Governor and his 
 Council, down to the very last, were blind to the rebellious 
 proceedings being enacted in their very midst. On the 2nd 
 of December, Saturday, but two days before the actual 
 breaking out of the rebellion, a Freemason, in the confidence 
 of brotherhood, informed Col. FitzGibbon, an officer who 
 had won much distinction in the war of 1812, that bags of 
 pike-heads and pike-handles had been collected, and that 
 he had observed all the signs of a rapidly ripening revolt. 
 Mr. Lindsey, in his "Life and Times of W. L. Mackenzie," 
 
300 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 says, *' FitzGibbon sought out Judge Jones, to whom he 
 repeated what he had heard from the Freemason. They 
 went before the Executive Council together, where the 
 statement was once more repeated. Mr. Justice Jones 
 exclaimed, * You do not mean to say that those people are 
 going to rebel ? ' FitzGibbon replied that undoubtedly 
 they were, when Mr. Jones, turning to the Lieutenant- 
 Governor, contemptuously exclaimed ' Pugh, pugh.' " 
 
 Col. FitzGibbon, with a better appreciation of the 
 danger that threatened the city, on this same Saturday 
 made an appeal to Sir Francis to permit him to warn some 
 one hundred and twenty-six men whom he knew to be loyal, 
 to be ready to repel an attack on the city should it be made. 
 This he meant to do by ringing the Upper Canada College 
 bell as a summons to the men west of Yonge Street, and 
 St. James Cathedral bell as a summons to the men east 
 of Yonge Street. So satisfied was the Colonel that the 
 danger was imminent, that he told His Excellency that 
 whether he gave his sanction or not, he, Col. Fitz- 
 Gibbon, had determined to act, and if the Governor refused 
 he should act on his own responsibility. It is doubtful if 
 there was another man in Toronto at the time who would 
 have had the courage thus to approach His Excellency. It 
 is certain that no one in Toronto had so clear an appre- 
 ciation of the danger and the necessity for immediate action 
 as Col. FitzGibbon. Sir Francis reluctantly gave his con- 
 sent to the Colonel's demand. Col. FitzGibbon went 
 immediately to work, and had to order the alarm by the 
 
COLONEL FITZGIBBON'S WARNINGS. 301 . 
 
 College bell before he had time to warn more than fifty of 
 the one hundred and twenty-six men he had on his list. 
 
 The truth is that Sir Francis did not believe there would 
 be a rebellion, and had so impressed his Council and 
 those around him with his own ideas that Col. FitzGibbon 
 was set down as a mad man for daring to have a contrary 
 opinion. By Saturday, the 2nd of December, FitzGibbon 
 had become thoroughly alarmed, owing to recent informa- 
 tion he had received, and laid the matter before the 
 Governor and Council, who discussed the matter at great 
 length — FitzGibbon urging preparation, and the Governor 
 and Council holding to their opinion that there was no 
 danger. The Honorable William Allan alone of the Council 
 was more inclined to share in Col. FitzGibbon's apprehen- 
 sions, and so informed the Governor. 
 
 On Monday morning, the 4th of December, Sir Francis 
 Head, being at last aroused to action, sent for Col. Fitz- 
 Gibbon and read to him a militia general order appointing 
 him Adjutant- General, which the Colonel was disposed to 
 decline, as Col. Coffin was then Adjutant-General, and the 
 law only allowed one of that rank. Col. FitzGibbon, with 
 that high sense of honour that was a characteristic of his 
 life, did not wish to interfere with the duty of Col. Coffin, 
 but, yielding to the urgent demand made upon him, he 
 accepted the position with the condition attached that he 
 should be nominated Acting Adjutant-General. A Militia 
 General Order was at once issued appealing to the officers 
 commanding regiments and corps in the Province, and con- 
 veying instructions for their guidance in the event of a 
 
302 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 possible outbreak of rebellion. It was rather late in the 
 day, but the first obvious duty had to be performed, even 
 though the Governor and his Council could not be per- 
 suaded to see that the inevitable conflict was so near at 
 hand. 
 
 There were no regular troops then in Toronto. There 
 were six thousand stand of arms and some ammunition in 
 the City Hall, which had been sent up from Kingston 
 guarded by two constables ; but of what use would these 
 arms have been with only fifty men to use them against 
 the hundreds of men that Mackenzie was assembling on 
 the outskirts of the city ? At ten o'clock of the night of 
 the 4th of December, FitzGibbon got information which 
 left no doubt in his mind that the rebels were at the very 
 doors of the city. He lost no time in going to Government 
 House, rousing the Governor, who had retired for the night, 
 and warning him of the danger. An hour later the Colonel 
 learned that the rebels were approaching from the north, 
 by way of Yonge Street. Having given instructions for 
 the ringing of the alarm bells he mounted and rode about 
 the city, calling at the houses of the citizens and directing 
 them to arm and gather at the Parliament buildings to be 
 ready to meet the enemy. There was other work for him 
 to do, and old campaigner that he was, he knew it. It was 
 a busy night, not only for him, but for many another man 
 in Toronto, that night of December, 1837. The Colonel 
 bad first to see that the cases containing the arms at the 
 City Hall were opened and the arms distributed to the few 
 who on such short notice could be got together. The 
 
REBELS INFESTING YONGE STREET. 303 
 
 ammunition had to be examined and everything got ready 
 for an attack. The Colonel then, accompanied by two law 
 students, Messrs. George Brock, a nephew of the lamented 
 Oeneral Brock, and Bellingham, mounted on horses, pro- 
 ceeded up Yonge Street to reconnoitre the rebel position. 
 Having gone as far north as Severn's Brewery in Yorkville, 
 and not meeting with any organized body of rebels, the 
 Colonel returned to the city, first taking the precaution to 
 have a picket placed on Yonge Street between the city and 
 Yorkville, to check any advance of rebels that might be 
 made. Messrs. Brock and Bellingham continued their 
 journey north, and had not gone far when they fell into the 
 hands of the rebels and were made prisoners. 
 
 On his return journey to the city the Colonel met Alder- 
 man John Powell and a Mr. McDonald, also riding north to 
 ascertain what truth there was in the rumours of the 
 rebels mustering at Montgomery's. 
 
 When Col. FitzGribbon arrived at Government House 
 he found that Mr. Powell had arrived there before him. 
 He then learned that his young student friends had been 
 made prisoners by the rebels and that Powell had also been 
 made prisoner, but had escaped and had hurried back to 
 Government House to give intelligence of what he had seen 
 and heard. His report was that between Yorkville and 
 Montgomery's he and McDonald had met Mackenzie and 
 three others of the rebel force, and had been made 
 prisoners ; that they had resorted to stratagem and had 
 made their escape. The fact was that Powell on being 
 questioned as to whether he was armed or not, denied that 
 
304 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 he had arms. He, nevertheless, had a pistol on him, which 
 he drew on Captain Anderson, one of the rebel guard, and 
 shot him dead. This was a great loss to Mackenzie, as 
 Captain Anderson was looked upon as the military leader 
 of the party of rebels at Montgomery's hotel. 
 
 When Capt. Anderson was shot, Mackenzie returned to 
 the hotel, and there found that Col. Moodie, a loyalist " and 
 retired officer of the regular army, had met the rebels 
 when he was proceeding from his home to the north of 
 Montgomery's, had turned to go back to town to give the 
 alarm, and, in attempting to pass Mackenzie's guard at the 
 hotel, had been shot dead by one of the rebel force from 
 the platform of the hotel. Thus were two lives lost at the 
 very threshold of the rebellion. 
 
 If the Mackenzie body of men, although but indiffer- 
 ently armed, had marched on the city that night, it might 
 well have fallen, considering the very limited means of 
 defence and the panic that often follows in a night attack. 
 Mackenzie himself wished to make the advance, even though 
 Capt. Anderson had fallen, but was overruled by his party. 
 Not being a military man himself, and a determined advo- 
 cate of popular rights, he had to submit or pronounce 
 against one of his first principles of action. His attach- 
 ment to popular government proved his ruin. His follow- 
 ers had their way, and their delay lost their promised 
 reward. 
 
CHAPTER XI Y. 
 
 Sir F. B. Head Made to Realize the Situation — Leaves Government 
 House at Night— Makes City Hall the Headquarters, Tuesday, 
 5th December — Preparing for Defence of City — Picket Placed 
 at McGill Street — Attack on Picket — Rebels Retire — Gover- 
 nor Sends Messenger to Mackenzie Under Flag of Truce — 
 Result— Rolph and Baldwin — Wednesday, 6th December — Arms 
 Removed to Parliament Buildings— " The Men of Gore" — 
 Rebels' Threat to Barn Toronto— Mackenzie Urges Attack on 
 City on Wednesday, 6th December — His Men Refuse to Move — 
 Dr. Rolph Flees for Safety— Rebels at Yorkville— Fire Dr. 
 Home's House — Lount and Mackenzie Intercept Mail — Van 
 Esimond— His Arrival in Rebel Camp — Plan to Attack City — 
 Loyalists Forestall Rebels — Attack Rebels at Montgomery's — 
 Dispersion of Rebels —Mackenzie's Escape — Battle of St, Eus- 
 tache, Lower Canada. 
 
 Tuesday, the 5th of December, was an anxious day in 
 Toronto. The alarm of the previous night had called to 
 arms all the able-bodied men that could be mustered. 
 There were young men of the town who had belonged to a 
 rifle company that Col. FitzGibbon had organized, and was 
 in the habit of drilling twice a week during the summer 
 months for the past three years. This he did to encourage 
 the young men to bear themselves in correct military style, 
 to accustom them to discipline and the use of arms. The 
 company numbered seventy. Col. FitzGibbon could always 
 rely on these men, who had the greatest affection for him, 
 and would at any time follow where he led. It was one 
 
306 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 of these young men that he had sent to ring the College 
 bell to give the alarm of the approach of the rebels. That ■ 
 young man was John Hillyard Cameron. 
 
 Col. FitzGibbon in the afternoon of the 4th December, 
 had asked six of his rifle corps to meet him in the evening 
 at his room in the Government buildings. This he did to 
 have them at hand in case of an emergency. He was an 
 agreeable entertainer and made every one happy around 
 him, but it was not for entertainment they met then, but 
 because he" had a most lively sense of the importance of 
 showing a bold front in case of the rebels getting into the 
 city. He entertained them by engaging in a game of chess. 
 When Mr. Powell arrived in the city and reported to Fitz- 
 Gibbon, he related how he had been taken prisoner and 
 escaped, and the danger there was of an immediate attack on 
 the city. Col. FitzGibbon set these men of his rifle corps to 
 guard Government House and offices. The guard consisted 
 of J. H. Hagarty (now Chief Justice), Thomas Gait (now Sir 
 Thomas Gait), Ferguson Blair, John Hillyard Cameron, 
 Thomas Hector and Walter McKenzie. They were in fact 
 the Governor's body guard, and for the time being he had 
 no other. Orders were given to batten and loophole the 
 windows of Government House and the Secretary's office on 
 the corner of King and Simcoe Streets, and to make them 
 as defensible as possible. This was a new kind of work 
 for these members of the rifle corps, most of whom were 
 law students, to be engaged in, but they obeyed orders and 
 did their duty. The Governor had to realize the situation, 
 and after giving orders that his plate should be buried in 
 
SIB F. B. HEAD REALIZES SITUATION. 307 
 
 the Government House grounds, a service which Mr. 
 Alexander, his coachman (now an Usher of the Court at 
 Osgoode Hall), duly executed, and giving orders that his 
 family should seek refuge on a steamer on the bay, he 
 left his comfortable quarters on this December night and 
 accompanied Col. FitzGibbon to the City Hall, the only 
 headquarters in the city. It was here that the arms and 
 ammunition were stored, and it, above all other places, 
 required protection. In the meantime Judge Jones, who 
 had been awakened an hour before and had become aware 
 of the threatened danger, had formed a picket and marched 
 it out to the toll-bar on Yonge Street. As for Col. Fitz- 
 Gibbon, he spent the night in arming and organizing the 
 citizens. By sunrise on Tuesday morning, the citizens, who 
 had been roused from their slumber, were formed in platoons 
 in the market-square, with one gun, a six-pounder, mounted 
 and loaded in front of the City Hall. 
 
 In a letter written by the Eev. William Eyerson to his 
 brother, the Eev. Egerton Eyerson, on the 5th December, 
 1837, he described something of the night previous 
 and the appearance of affairs in the early morning. 
 He said : 
 
 "Last night about twelve or one o'clock the bells rang with great 
 violence ; we all thought it was the alarm of fire, but being unable to 
 see any light we thought it was a false alarm, and we remained quiet 
 until this morning, when visiting the market-place I found a large num- 
 ber of persons serving out arms to others as fast as they possibly could. 
 Among others we saw the Lieutenant-Governor in his every day suit, 
 with one double-barreled gun in his hand, another leaning against his 
 21 
 
308 REBELLION OF 1S37. 
 
 breast, and a brace of pistols in his leathern belt. Also Chief Justice 
 Robinson, Judges Macaulay, Jones and McLean, the Attorney- General 
 and Solicitor-General, with their muskets, cartridge boxes and 
 bayonets, all standing in ranks as private soldiers, under the command 
 of Col. FitzGibbon." 
 
 By 10 o'clock on Tuesday morning as many as three 
 hundred men had assembled in the City Hall, to take 
 part in defending the city, or to march out to meet the 
 rebels, whichever course might be determined on. Col. 
 FitzGibbon would have taken out men with the six- 
 pounder gun and met the enemy if he had not been pre- 
 vented doing so by the Governor. When he suggested 
 this being done to Sir Francis, Sir Francis replied, "No, 
 sir, I will not fight them on their ground, they must fight 
 me on mine." If Col. FitzGibbon had had his way he 
 would have dispersed the rebels without doubt, or cap- 
 tured them, as he did the Americans at the Beaver Dam 
 in the war of 1812. 
 
 Sir Francis, though not a military man, thought he 
 knew more than the experienced soldier, and thus the 
 chance of taking Mackenzie was lost. Tuesday was spent 
 in making further preparation for the defence of the city. 
 The picket posted by Judge Jones had been withdrawn in 
 the morning, and as the evening approached Col. Fitz- 
 Gibbon undertook to form another to mount guard during 
 the night. This also the Lieutenant-Governor prevented. 
 When FitzGibbon urged, not only the importance, but 
 the absolute necessity of not leaving the road open and 
 unguarded. Sir Francis refused, saying : " We have not 
 
ENCOUNTER OF PICKET WITH REBELS. 309 
 
 men enough to defend the city. Let us defend our posts, 
 and it is my positive order that you do not leave this 
 building (the City Hall) yourself." FitzGibbon deter- 
 mined to have his own way this time. Without the 
 knowledge of the Governor he formed his picket of about 
 thirty men, placed them under the command of Sheriff 
 Jarvis, marched them out and posted them himself at a 
 convenient spot, which is now the corner of Yonge and 
 McGill Streets. To prove the necessity of the picket, 
 they had not been in position more than an hour when 
 the rebels, eight hundred strong, under Mackenzie and 
 Lount, marched down Yonge Street, two hundred men 
 armed with rifles being in the advance. As soon as the 
 advance came opposite the picket, the picket fired a 
 volley from both sides of the road. The rebels were 
 thrown into a panic. The Lloydtown pikemen raised 
 the cry ''We shall all be killed," threw down their 
 pikes, and retreated toward the main body at the toll- 
 gate, leaving several dead upon the road side. The 
 attack of the picket was so sudden and unexpected 
 that the rebels, who thought to take the city with- 
 out a shot, fled precipitately to the north. The ad- 
 vantage gained by the driving back of this rebel 
 party was important. The following day it was ascer- 
 tained that they had been sent into the city to fire it 
 in many places, to distract the small body of defenders, 
 and to leave the road open for the main body of rebels 
 to make triumphant entry into the Capital of the Province. 
 
310 REBELLION OF 1837 
 
 Sir Francis Head must have felt on this Tuesday, 
 the 5th of December, that he had . not sufficient men 
 to cope with the rebels, if thej^ had been bold enough 
 to make an attack in force on the city that day. Ta 
 gain time for more men to come to his rescue, he, 
 in the forenoon of that day, sent a flag of truce to 
 the rebel camp, asking what it was they wanted. 
 Mr. Mackenzie replied, " Independence and a Conven- 
 tion to arrange details." He added that the Lieu- 
 tenant-Governor's message must be in writing and said 
 it must be forthcoming in one hour. It must have 
 been humiliating to the Governor to be thus treated 
 by the rebels. It could only have been the neces- 
 sity of his position that induced the Governor ta 
 deal with the rebels and be bearded for his pains. 
 The men selected to confer with the rebel chief under 
 a flag of truce were two prominent men of the Ee- 
 form party, Mr. Eobert Baldwin and Dr. Eolph. Two 
 others accompanied them, one of whom bore the flag. 
 Surely the Governor could not have known that Dr. 
 Eolph was head of the Eebel Executive, or he would 
 not have been selected for such a mission. The 
 case was different with Mr. Baldwin, for he was not 
 connected with the Executive, or in any way con- 
 nected with the rising, or in the slightest degrfea 
 connected with the rebellion, and, in fact, did not know 
 that it was proposed to have an armed rebellion. Dr. 
 Eolph, on the contrary, knew all about it. Silaa 
 
THE FLAG OF TRUCE. 311 
 
 Fletcher, a prominent actor in the rebellion, and for 
 whose apprehension a reward of £500 was offered by 
 the Lieutenant-Governor, on the 20th July, 1840, wrote 
 to Mr. Mackenzie from Fredonia, New York, that "on 
 the Saturday previous to the outbreak he had called 
 to see Dr. Eolph at his house, and asked him, as 
 he was in the Executive, whether any alteration was 
 "to be made, or ordered by him, as to the time of 
 rising." The Doctor answered '* No, by no means. I 
 shall expect every man to be active and vigilant, so 
 as to be able to get up the expedition and come on 
 the 7th, and take the city. Fletcher further wrote 
 Mr. Mackenzie, " On the same afternoon (Saturday, the 
 2nd,) I returned to Newmarket, and met with Thomas 
 Lloyd and other friends on Sunday, who told me that 
 Dr. Eolph had sent William Edmonstone on the same 
 evening I had seen him, with orders to raise a suffi- 
 cient number of men to come down and take the city 
 within the next 48 hours, this is by the Monday night." 
 
 An incident connected with the Hag of truce must not 
 be passed over. Justice to the memory of all parties 
 concerned requires that it should not escape observation, 
 especially as in the discussion of the matter imputations 
 have been made against some, which a close scrutiny of 
 the circumstances may explain. It seems that after the 
 deputation returned to the city and reported to the 
 Governor that Mr. Mackenzie must have the Governor's 
 demand in writing, the same parties were sent out again 
 
312 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 under the flag of truce to inform Mr. Mackenzie that 
 the Governor could not yield to his counter demand. It 
 has been asserted that on one of the occasions of the 
 interview with Mr. Mackenzie, one of the deputation 
 winked to Mr. Samuel Lount of the rebel party, who 
 received the deputation, to walk aside, and that he then 
 requested him not to heed the message but to go on with 
 .the proceedings. Samuel Lount, in his evidence before 
 the commission on treason on December the 13th, 1837, 
 put it in this way. He said: "When the flag of truce 
 came up Dr. Eolph addressed himself to me. There were 
 two other persons with it besides Dr. Eolph and Mr. Bald- 
 win. Dr. Eolph said he brought a message from His 
 Excellency the Lieutenant-Governor to prevent the effusion 
 of blood, or to that effect. At the same time he gave me 
 a wink to walk to one side, when he requested me not to 
 heed the message, but to go on with our proceedings. 
 What he meant was not to attend to the message. Mac- 
 kenzie observed to me that it was a verbal message and 
 that it had better be submitted to writing. I took the reply 
 to the Lieutenant-Governor's message to be merely a put 
 off. I heard all that was said by Dr. Eolph to Mr. Mac- 
 kenzie, which is as above related." 
 
 Lount did not say whether it was on the first or the 
 second visit that Dr. Eolph said to go on with the pro- 
 ceedings. Without any information but Lount' s statement 
 it would seem that Lount referred to the first visit, but 
 from what was said by Mr. Baldwin before the Commission 
 
THE FLAG OF TRUCE. 313 
 
 it would appear that while it might have occurred at the 
 second, it could not have occurred at the first visit. Mr. 
 Alves, who was present, said that it was on the second 
 visit, and P. C. H. Brotherton, another of the insurgents, 
 made oath to the same effect, on the 12th December, 1837. 
 Dr. Kolph denied the whole story, and Carmichael, the flag 
 bearer, some years afterwards swore it was untrue. Kolph 
 may no doubt have considered that having delivered his 
 message and received the reply his mission was ended, and 
 that he was then at liberty to advise the insurgents not to 
 relax their preparations for an attack on the city. The 
 conversation between Dr. Eolph and Lount did not take 
 place within hearing of Mr. Baldwin, who knew nothing 
 of the occurrence, if it happened. In the position Dr. 
 Kolph stood to the rebel party it seems strange that he 
 should have accepted the mission. The matter created a 
 good deal of unnecessary controversy then and since. It 
 is quite clear that Dr. Kolph was in an unfortunate position. 
 He was no doubt a secret sympathizer of Mackenzie's 
 rising, and when asked to be a bearer of messages from the 
 Governor he was put in a doubtful position. Possibly the 
 Governor selected him and Mr. Baldwin for the very reason 
 that they had been prominent Keform leaders, and because 
 he wished to commit them to his own side, and it may be 
 that Dr. Kolph acted as has been charged merely to show 
 his friends that he had not deserted them, as they might 
 w^ell suppose when he came as one of the representatives of 
 the Governor. 
 
314 REBI^LLION OF 1837. 
 
 On Tuesday the Governor had become alarmed for 
 the safety of the arms at the City Hall. If the rebels 
 had fired the city, as they threatened to do, the first 
 building to go would probably be the City Hall. On 
 Wednesday the arms were removed to the Parliament 
 Buildings, which was thought to be a fitter place for their 
 safe keeping. It was computed that on the afternoon of 
 Tuesday there were as many as 500 men, young and old, 
 available for the defence of the city. Perhaps that num- 
 ber could have been mustered, but they were not all 
 reliable, for there were in the city certain persons, like 
 Dr. Eolph, who sympathized with the rebels, but had not 
 joined their ranks. If the rebels were to make an on- 
 slaught on the city, it was thought these men might be 
 found numbered with the rebel force. All was uncer- 
 tainty and confusion. It was not until late that night 
 or in the early Wednesday morning that there was a ra}' 
 of light. During the night a steamer moored at the 
 Queen's wharf, from Hamilton, with "the men of Gore," 
 under command of Sir Allan MacNab. What a thrill of 
 joy passed through the hearts and minds of the people 
 of the city ! "The men of Gore, the men of Gore," was 
 the cry everywhere. "We are saved!" It was now 
 thought that there were enough reliable men in the city 
 to withstand any attack the rebels might make. The 
 number increased all day, recruits coming in from the 
 country. By night-fall the city was strong enough not 
 only to stand a siege, but to meet the enemy in the field. 
 
THE MEN OF GORE ARRIVE. 315 
 
 No man was more pleased than Col. FitzGibbon at the 
 arrival of these reinforcements. He had had an anxions 
 night, expecting every moment to see fire brands applied 
 by the rebels to the city. There were not sufficient men 
 enrolled to guard every approach. During the night 
 word was brought to Col. FitzGibbon that Sir Allan Mac- 
 Nab had arrived with his sixty men. Turning to the 
 Governor, the Colonel said : " Now, sir, we are safe till 
 morning, for with this reinforcement you can guard 
 every approach to any distance from which we can be 
 injured." Wednesday was an uneventful day, except for 
 the coming of fresh arrivals and marshalling them into 
 some kind of order. The position of the rebels on Wed- 
 nesday was one demanding sympathy rather than con- 
 demnation. They had been led into a trap and deter- 
 mined to get out of it as quickly as possible. They had 
 relied on getting assistance and support from the city, 
 but had received none. It was in vain that Mr. Mac- 
 kenzie assured them that if they would boldly march 
 into the heart of the city, there six hundred good and 
 true men would receive them. It was in vain that Mr. 
 Mackenzie told them that the Government was friendless, 
 that it had only been able to muster one hundred and 
 fifty defenders, including the boys of Upper Canada Col- 
 lege, and that the Lieutenant-Governor's family had 
 been put on a steamer in the bay, ready to take flight. 
 The Governor fearing for his family during Monday 
 night, had, in fact, placed them on board the steamer 
 
316 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 Transit, anchored in the bay. The rebel force, mostly 
 made up of farmers, after the repulse by Sheriff Jarvis' 
 picket felt more like farming than playing at war. The 
 majority of the army of destruction returned to their 
 houses. Although an additional force of two hundred 
 arrived in the rebel camp during Tuesday night, Mac- 
 kenzie's whole force during Wednesday did not exceed 
 six hundred men. The force of Loyalists in the city was 
 about equal, and was constantly increasing by a flow of 
 vigorous men from the surrounding districts. Dr. Eolph 
 becoming alarmed for his own safety, thought it prudent 
 to leave the city. He was a fugitive, making his way 
 by devious paths to the United States. The main body 
 of the rebels still hovered about Yorkville, creating 
 alarm in the neighbourhood, throwing into paroxysms of 
 fear many delicate women and children, unaccustomed 
 to see the public roads infested with bands of armed 
 men. The people of Yorkville were literally between 
 two fires, the Loyalists to the south and the rebels to 
 the north. Dr. Home, a prominent man, connected 
 with the Bank of Upper Canada, lived in Yorkville. 
 Anything connected with the Bank of Upper Canada, 
 animate or inanimate, was thought to be fair game by 
 Mackenzie's band of freebooters. They invaded Dr. 
 Home's house, demanded food, which was given them, 
 and as a return set fire to the house and burnt it to 
 the ground. On this Wednesday Mackenzie and Lount, 
 and a small body of their men, intercepted the western 
 
REBELS DECIDE TO ATTACK. 317 
 
 mail on its arrival at the Peacock Inn on Dundas Street, 
 seized the mail bags, the horses and their drivers, and 
 landed them and the passengers, who were made 
 prisoners of war, at the Montgomery rendezvous. Pri- 
 vate letters in the mail bags were opened, money 
 abstracted and general appropriation made of the con- 
 tents. So much for Wednesday's work. But the day 
 of retribution was at hand. That night, after consulta- 
 tion with Col. FitzGibbon, the Governor decided that the 
 rebels should be attacked the next day. 
 
 By this time Col. Van Egmond had arrived in the rebel 
 camp and a council of war was held, and some sort of 
 arrangement made to direct the operations of the greatly 
 diminished band. When he arrived in camp he had but 
 a few followers. He would have had many more 
 had not the day of rising been changed to suit the caprice 
 of Dr. Eolph. The change of day had enabled the Loyal- 
 ists to muster to meet the malcontents, and not only 
 that, but the assembling of the Loyalists was a warning to 
 many of the rebels that they would meet with stout 
 opposition. 
 
 Van Egmond, after a survey of the situation, deter- 
 mined on a plan of action, which if successfully carried 
 out, might still enable the rebels to sack Toronto. Thursday 
 was the original day fixed for the attack on the city. One 
 man had promised to bring down to Van Egmond a force 
 of five hundred and fifty men. These and many 
 others were on their way to his reinforcement, and he 
 
318 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 had hopes that they would arrive during the day. His 
 policy then was to delay his attack till after night-fall, and 
 in the meantime to occupy the Volunteer Militia by a 
 demonstration, thus creating a panic amongst the 
 men in the town. To accomplish this he despatched 
 sixty of his men to the Don Bridge, which formed 
 the eastern connection with the city, with orders to 
 destroy it. By setting the bridge and the adjoining 
 houses on fire it was thought the Loyalist force might 
 be drawn off by this pretended flank attack in that 
 direction, and their centre being exposed, he, with the 
 remainder of his force, would march into the city and 
 take it. 
 
 Van Egmond's plan was a good one, if it had been put 
 in operation early in the morning; but unfortunately 
 for the rebels there was a delay of two hours occasioned 
 by the holding of the council of war and in patching up 
 some differences that had arisen among them as to the 
 plan of campaign. This delay gave the Loyalists in the 
 town the advantage of forestalling the rebel leader by 
 forming for an attack on the enemy's camp. On Wed- 
 nesday night, after some vacillation on the part of Sir 
 Francis Head as to whom should be confided the honour 
 of leading the Volunteer Militia troops, it was finally 
 settled that Col. FitzGibbon, the Adjutant-General, 
 should have the chief command. Col. FitzGibbon at once 
 gave out an order of distribution of forces for an attack 
 on the rebel camp. 
 
 i 
 
VOLUNTEERS' PLAN OF ATT A CK. 319 
 
 The following is his memorandum made for this pur- 
 pose : — 
 
 December 7th, 1837. 
 
 ROUGH SKETCH OF DISTRIBUTION FOR THE ATTACK THIS MORNING. 
 
 Col. MacNab. 
 
 Lieutenant Nash 1st Company Advance Guard. 
 
 " Coppinge 2nd " " 
 
 " Garrett 3rd " 
 
 Major Draper. 
 Henry Sherwood. 
 
 Two Guns. 
 
 Oapt. William Jarvis lat Company Battalion. 
 
 " Campbell 2nd 
 
 " Nation 3rd 
 
 " Taylor 4th 
 
 " John Powell 5th ' 
 
 Henry Sherwood 6th " 
 
 Henry Draper 7th " 
 
 Donald Bethune 8th " 
 
 Col. Samuel McLean Lieutenant Cox to aid. 
 
 Lieut.-Col. Geo. Duggan. 
 Major John Gamble. 
 Judge Macaulay. 
 Col. McLean. 
 
 Col. Jones For the Left Battalion. 
 
 Col. John Macaulay. 
 Capt. Macaulay. 
 
 Capt. Durnford. 
 
 Capt. Mathias. 
 Major Carfrae. 
 Capt. Leckie. 
 
 Artillery. 
 
320 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 Dragoons. 
 
 Three companies in front. 
 
 One gun, Major Carfrae. 
 Four companies, 
 
 The Men of Gore, under Col. MacNab. 
 
 One gun. 
 Four companies, 
 
 Right flank under Col. S. Jarvis. 
 
 One company Men of Scarborough in the woods with Col. 
 McLean (Allen). 
 
 Left flank under Col. McLean (Archibald). 
 Two companies under Col. Jones. 
 
 When all was ready, which was about noon of Thurs- 
 day, the 7th December, and before Van Edmond's party of 
 sixty men, sent to fire the Don bridge, could reach their 
 destination, the main body of the militia, under the direc- 
 tion of Col. FitzGibbon, Col. MacNab (afterwards Sir Allan 
 MacNab) second in command, the right wing commanded 
 by Col. S. Jarvis and the left by Col. Wm. Chisholm, 
 assisted by Mr. Justice McLean, marched up Yonge Street 
 with drums beating and flags flying to attack the rebels. 
 It was a beautiful summer-like day when the body of nine 
 hundred Loyalists marched out of the city. The writer of 
 this narrative remembers the day and the scene, having 
 witnessed it. The sun shone with brilliancy and warmth, 
 as on an April day, notwithstanding a passing cloud sent 
 down some wandering flakes of snow. The men, with but 
 little attempt at military neatness of uniform, marched in 
 column, their bayonets glistening in the sun ; all seemed 
 bent on one purpose, to crush the sedition. The step and 
 mien of the men inspired confidence. The few people left 
 
THE A FFA IR A T MON TGOMER TS. 321 
 
 in the town felt relieved, as they saw the militia vanishing 
 in the distance to disperse the rebel bands that had been 
 hovering round the town for the past four days and 
 nights. 
 
 The happiness of the town's people was soon, however, 
 interrupted by the news reaching the town that the Don 
 bridge was on fire. Van Egmond's men were at their 
 work, but it was too late to recall the troops who were 
 already on their way to dislodge the misguided men as- 
 sembled at Montgomery's under the flags of Mackenzie 
 and Van Egmond. When the detachment of rebels had 
 set fire to the Don bridge, they beat a sudden retreat, and 
 the fire was put out by Loyalists in the neighbourhood. 
 
 When the volunteer militia, marching up Yonge Street 
 at about one o'clock, came, in sight of Mackenzie's men, 
 posted on ''Gallows Hill," near Montgomery's, they im- 
 mediately began the attack. The rebels — who were inferior 
 in number to the attacking body — then not numbering more 
 than five hundred — saw a body of men superior in numbers, 
 well armed and supplied with artillery, in front of them ; 
 they began to realize that the spirit of loyalty was dominant 
 after all. The Loyalists at the word of command fired 
 volley after volley of muskets into the rebel ranks. The 
 two pieces of artillery that the militia had with them were 
 skilfully managed, the rebels were but indifferently armed, 
 some had rifles, some muskets, and some pikes. With such 
 odds against them, the insurgents had to give way, and 
 fled from the field, leaving thirty- six dead and three wounded 
 behind them. 
 
322 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 I have never been able to learn that any of the 
 Lroyalists were killed. Mackenzie, however, after the 
 disaster, wrote of the battle and of the gallant deeds of 
 his fellow-rebels in his usual turgid style. '' Never," he 
 said, " never did men fight more courageously. In the 
 face of a heavy fire of grape and canister, with broadside 
 following broadside of musketry in steady and rapid suc- 
 cession, they stood their ground firmly and killed and 
 wounded a large number of the enemy, but at length were 
 compelled to retreat." The engagement was a short one, 
 but sufficient for the time being, at least, to cool the ardour 
 of the men of York and to throw the responsibility for any 
 further action in the way of insurrection upon the discon- 
 tented outside of the Home District. By the Governor's 
 orders Montgomery's house was set on fire and burnt to 
 the ground. He also, in spite of the protests of Col. Fitz- 
 Gibbon, ordered the burning of Gibson's house, two miles 
 up the road from Montgomery's. 
 
 The affair at Montgomery's is sometimes called the 
 battle of ''Gallows Hill." 
 
 Immediately after the defeat of the insurgents, the 
 Lieutenant-Governor, who had witnessed the engagement, 
 returned to the town with the victors and at once issued a 
 proclamation offering a reward of one thousand pounds to 
 anyone who would apprehend and deliver up to justice 
 William Lyon Mackenzie, and five hundred pounds to 
 anyone who would apprehend and deliver up to 
 justice David Gibson, Samuel Lount, Jesse Lloyd, or Silas 
 Fletcher. The proclamation concluded : " The party of 
 
MACKENZIE ESCAPES. 323 
 
 rebels, under the chief leaders, is wholly dispersed and 
 flying before the loyal militia. The only thing to be done 
 is to find them and arrest them." It was not so easy a 
 matter to find and arrest Mackenzie. As soon as he saw 
 his cause lost and the rebels dispersing in all directions, he 
 mounted the fleetest horse to be found, and outriding his 
 pursuers, made his way to the head of Lake Ontario, and 
 thence through the Niagara district to Buffalo. The 
 tempting reward of one thousand pounds set numerous 
 parties, armed and unarmed, on his trail ; his escape was 
 miraculous. He was several days getting to the frontier, 
 crossing streams barefooted, his horse having given out ; 
 wandering through woods, hiding in hay-ricks, sometimes 
 in the house of friends, at other times in the house of 
 enemies, still no one seemed desirous of preventing his 
 escape. He had almost as many adventures as Prince 
 Charlie in his wanderings and in the protection he received 
 everywhere. Indeed, he received such friendship from 
 Canadians of all classes and creeds that some years after- 
 wards in narrating his escape he felt compelled to say : 
 
 " Why should such a people, as I tried and proved in 
 those days, ever know hardship, or suffer from foreign or 
 domestic misrule." 
 
 The two leaders of the Canada rebellion, Papineau 
 and Mackenzie, being refugees in a foreign country, it now 
 fell to the lot of their friends and accomplices in revolt 
 to continue the struggle, if it were to be continued. About 
 eighteen miles to the northwest of Montreal, in the County 
 of Two Mountains, lies the village and parish of St. 
 
 22 
 
324 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 Eustache. This place was a hotbed of rebellion. After 
 the defeat of the insurgents at St. Charles, on the 25th 
 day of November, and the triumphant return of the troops 
 to Montreal, there was comparative quiet in the Province 
 of Lower Canada. There were some insurrectionary 
 demonstrations near the American frontier, but of no 
 account. A party of sympathizers, coming to the aid of 
 the Canadians in rebellion from the United States, were 
 captured or dispersed at Four Corners, near Lake Cham- 
 plain. The major spirit of rebellion left Lower Canada 
 after St. Charles and took up its abode in Upper Canada, 
 in the district around Toronto. We have seen how it fared 
 at Gallows Hill on the 7th December. Its hydra head 
 was, however, again raised at St. Eustache on the 14th 
 day of December following. The people of that parish, 
 headed by Dr. Chenier, a respectable and wealthy resident 
 of the place, formed an insurgent body in the district, stole 
 arms from the Indians of the Indian village and repaired 
 to the village of St. Eustache. They seized upon the 
 Convent there and turned it into a block house. The 
 parish priest, M. Paquin, appealed to Chenier to abandon 
 the rebellious enterprise of rebellion, and at the instance of 
 Monsieur Paquin some rebels returned to their homes, 
 but their places were filled by others from the neighbouring 
 parish of Grand Brule. Being joined by these new recruits 
 the Chenier rebels engaged in all sorts of disorder, terrify- 
 ing the people of the whole district. 
 
 The following is a free translation of what Carrier in 
 his *'Les fivenements de 1837-1838" says about these 
 
ST. BUST A CHE. 325 
 
 disorders. He says : " The rebels then were under com- 
 mand of Dr. Chenier and a Swiss, a stranger in the 
 country, named Amury Girod. They had seized by force 
 from the Indians of Two Mountains their guns (muskets) 
 and two cannon. They were joined by a large number 
 of insurgents of St. Scholastique, St. Benoit, and had 
 marched towards St. Eustache. The cure of St. Eustache, 
 M. Paquin, M. Scott, M.P., one of the principal inhabitants 
 of the country of Two Mountains, and M. Decelles, vicar 
 of M. Paquin, tried to induce the peasants to promise to 
 return to their homes, which most of them did. But others 
 coming in great numbers from Grand Brule, from St. 
 Martin, and even from St. Laurent, replaced them, so that 
 by the 29th November there were from 400 to 800 rebels 
 in the parish of St. Eustache living by extortion, to the 
 great damage of the merchants and farmers. The insur- 
 gents, says M. Paquin, made pillage their principal occupa- 
 tion ; they went over all the farms, and by leave or by force 
 levied contribution of all those who would not join them, 
 and carried off cattle, horses and carriages. The greater 
 part of these soldiers of the new form of religion acknow- 
 ledged no law but their own, stole liquors from the 
 merchant stores and were drunk day and night. Often 
 not content only with stealing liquors, they removed goods 
 and all that they could lay hands on, and when drunk 
 grossly insulted the peaceably disposed. The chiefs, and 
 above all Girod, were as bad as the rest ; in this way they 
 attached a great number of persons to their camp, who 
 went there for the good things it afforded; for to protect 
 
326 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 St. Eustache they gorged themselves with eating and 
 drinking and the soldiers clothed and shod themselves by 
 pillage. Beyond all other advantages, their chiefs offered 
 to their soldiers the choice of the best lands, with absolu- 
 tion from tithes and seigniorial rents. These promises 
 and the life led in the camp attracted a great number, and 
 nearly all St. Eustache was in active insurrection. 
 
 " A great many were taken to camp by force. When 
 the inhabitants refused their behests they threatened them 
 with pillage, to burn their properties, and even to kill them. 
 More than once these menaces were put into execution. 
 Many people who refused saw their houses sacked, the 
 insurgents went so far as sometimes to fire on them." 
 
 It was necessary that the rebellion should be crushed 
 out in this quarter, and Sir John Colborne undertook the 
 task. What he did is narrated by Capt. Beauclerk, whose 
 statements of the affair of St. Denis and St. Charles have 
 already been given. Here is Capt. Beauclerk's account of 
 the battle of St. Eustache : — 
 
 " OPERATION AGAINST ST. EUSTACHE AND ST. BENOIT. 
 
 " Tranquillity having been restored on the Richelieu, and Mont- 
 real having been put in a state of defence by fortifying the houses and 
 erecting temporary bulwarks at every avenue leading to the city, Sir 
 John Colborne determined upon attacking the village of St. Eustache 
 on the Du Chene River, in the populous and disturbed* district of 
 Grand Brule, where the rebels had taken up a position. For this 
 purpose the General mustered all his force amounting to 1,500 men, 
 commanded by the Hon. Col. Maitland, consisting of the 32nd and 
 83rd Regiments, and the second under Col. Wetherall of the Royals, 
 the Montreal Rifles, a large party of Cavalry and Volunteers, one corps 
 of which was named after the Commander, 'The Globenski Corps.' 
 With this force Sir J. Colborne left Montreal on the morning of the 
 
Ml LIT A R Y ATTA GK REBELS. 327 
 
 13th Dec. The ground was covered with snow, which rendered it 
 necessary to follow a beaten track, scarcely wide enough to admit of 
 two to walk abreast. To lessen, therefore, the tediousness of the 
 march, the brigades pursued different routes, but halted together at 
 night, at the village of St. Martine's, making a distance of twelve 
 miles. The following day the march was resumed and a rendezvous 
 appointed within six miles of St. Eustache. The bridges had been 
 destroyed, but sufficiently repaired by a party that preceded us, to 
 admit of the uninterrupted progress of the troops, but an insurmount- 
 able obstacle at last presented itself. Our scouts reported that the 
 ice in front of the village, and for some distance on both sides, was 
 broken along the shore, and thus rendered impassable for the troops. 
 " The Globenski Corps, as being well acquainted with the line of 
 country, was therefore detached from the 2nd Brigade to reconnoitre 
 along the direct road to the village and at the same time to carry any 
 out-posts they might fall in with. The main body by diverging to the 
 right, and assisted by the Infantry, by cutting a road for the guns, 
 now mounted on sledges, made the river about six miles below St. 
 Eustache, not far from St. Rose, and having crossed over from Isle 
 Jesus, proceeded to the village. The passage of the river proved to so 
 large a body hazardous in the extreme, in consequence of the unsound- 
 ness of the ice, and as a precautionary measure the horses were 
 detached from the guns and ammunition sledges, which were dragged 
 by hand and the troops dispersed in every direction, to avoid the 
 danger, which must otherwise have arisen, from the accumulated 
 weight of parties congregating together. Nevertheless the ice gave 
 way beneath several horses and a gun, but the water being shallow 
 and shore near at hand, they were recovered. On the appearance of 
 so large a force many of the rebels were seen retreating from the 
 village, and, as appeared from their movements, were taking their 
 cannon with them. Our Artillery immediately opened fire upon them, 
 and when no ^onger within range turned upon the village and bom- 
 barded the church, the fortress of the rebels. Congreve rocHets were 
 at first fired, but laid aside, for one in its progress struck a rail, 
 reverted upon the troops and exploded within a few feet of the General, 
 fortunately without doing any injury. Col, Maitland's Brigade by 
 this time had seized the brigades and store-houses in rear of the 
 village, while Col. Weatherall, after a most tedious detour through 
 fields three feet deep in snow, held a position in front of the church, 
 protected by a turn in the street. 
 
328 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 '* To cover the Artillery, now attempting a breach in the church, 
 two companies of the Royals, who occupied the surrounding houses, 
 kept up an incessant fire at the windows of that edifice ; nevertheless 
 many artillerymen were wounded, and little or no impression was 
 made upon the building. * 
 
 " Sir John Colborne now despatched a party of troops to recon- 
 noitre. A house was fired by them, from which a dense smoke arose, 
 and from its position immediately to the right and a little in front of 
 the church, being to windward, hid it entirely from view. So favour- 
 able an opportunity for storming the church did not escape the 
 practiced eye of our veteran General. 
 
 " The assembly was sounded and an order given, fix bayonets 
 and advance at double, a manceuvre so promptly executed and on the 
 part of the enemy so unexpectedly undertaken that the troops were 
 under the walls and effected an entrancealmost as soon as the besieged 
 became acquainted with the movement. The rebels were found 
 stationed in the gallery still defending themselves, and having cut 
 away the staircase, every attempt to dislodge them for awhile proved 
 utterly fruitless, but on a sudden the church was in flames and on the 
 part of the rebels all was lost. The unfortunate and misguided 
 people were then to be seen dispersing in every direction, few escaped. 
 One hundred and twenty were made prisoners, but the estimated loss 
 in killed and wounded was great. A large force, while retreating, was 
 intercepted by the rear guard and the Globenski Corps proved a very 
 efficient body. 
 
 " Col. Gugy of the Volunteers, a British subject of foreign 
 extraction, also distinguished himself, as being the first man to enter 
 the church, and in the attempt was severely wounded in the neck. 
 This officer, moreover, from his perfect knowledge of the people and 
 country, had rendered assistance in the military operations on the 
 Richelieu. As at St. Charles, two of the rebel leaders, Girod and 
 Pelletier, on the first appearance of the troops made their escape, 
 under the pretence of procuring reinforcements, but the leader Dr. 
 Chenier was among the slain. Besides the church, the nunnery and 
 presbytery, as well as several houses adjacent, occupied by rebels, 
 were destroyed, but the destructive element spreading far and wide, 
 extended during the night even to the quarters of the troops, nor 
 could it be arrested, although the military were ordered out, until 
 about sixty houses were burnt to the ground. The effect of this 
 
ST. BENOIT DESTROYED. 329 
 
 general conflagration was considerably heightened by the temperature, 
 then below zero, and the scene altogether was most brilliant. 
 
 ' ' It may, at first sight, seem surprising, that such precaution 
 should have been taken in the attack of a place defended by a force 
 very inferior both in number and discipline, but considering the hand- 
 ful of troops then in Canada, the impossibility of increasing that force, 
 since the navigation had closed, the extent of country and the impos- 
 sibility of ascertaining the strength of the rebel force, the importance 
 of not unnecessarily risking a single life, will, even though humanity 
 were out of the question, be duly appreciated. 
 
 ' ' December the 15th we were again under arms marching against 
 St. Benoit. The Brigade had proceeded but a short distance, when 
 a party of men advanced, bearing a flag of truce and demanded a parley. 
 This Sir John refused and immediately made them prisoners, but the 
 houses along our route having flags of truce suspended, met with respect, 
 and such was universally the case. With the exception of the dwelling 
 of a Scotch farmer and loyal subject, around which a stone wall was 
 built by the rebels as a defence, no hostile appearance was discovered." 
 
 At St. Benoit the troops were received by the habitants 
 bearing flags of truce, drawn up in line in front of the 
 house of Girouard, one «f the chief promoters of the 
 rebellion. They surrendered unconditionally. Here the 
 rebels displayed great cunning, for as positions of defence 
 those supplicants had hitherto sought only those villages 
 favourable to Government, but the horrors of war no sooner 
 threatened their own homes than they endeavoured with 
 the utmost diligence to avoid that devastation of which, 
 when it affected the lives and property of others, they 
 were utterly regardless. St. Benoit was nevertheless 
 destroyed by fire, the extreme violence of its inhabitants 
 in all the outrages of the rebellion, rendering this severe 
 measure of retributive justice absolutely necessary. The 
 General, however, had no intelligence of this event until 
 
330 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 after it transpired, nor were the perpetrators ever discov- 
 ered. Thus by a decisive blow was the rebellion in Canada 
 East to all appearance quelled, when Sir John returned 
 to Montreal, followed by the Eoyals and 83rd. The- 
 remainder of the force under Col. Maitland advanced 
 against St. Scholastique, but the villagers, like their neigh- 
 bours of St. Benoit, having submitted to the will of Gov- 
 ernment, the Colonel returned to headquarters by St. 
 Therese. 
 
 The French account of the Battle of St. Eustache in 
 the main agrees with that of Capt. Beauclerk, though suffi- 
 cient credit is not given in the military account of the 
 battle to the valour displayed by Dr. Chenier. He was 
 conspicuous for his bravery and daring during the whole 
 siege. Before the conflict began, when M. Paquin, the 
 parish priest, and others placed before him the danger 
 he was bringing on himself and his followers by resisting 
 the Queen's troops, he said that as for himself he disre- 
 garded the danger, " that he intended to die with arms 
 in his hands." His purpose was fulfilled. When the 
 church was set on fire, he, with arms in his hands, accom- 
 panied by seventy or eighty of his men who were in the 
 church, sought to make a retreat through a small door 
 in the rear of the church leading to the cemetery, where 
 he fell and expired in the midst of the graves of those 
 who had gone before. His compatriots, recognizing his 
 worth and the sacrifices he made for them in the rebellion, 
 have erected a statue to his memory in which he is rep- 
 resented standing, wearing the traditional French-Canadian 
 
PROPERTY DESTROYED BY MILITARY. 331 
 
 sash, in which is a huge horse pistol, and a powder-horn 
 hangs at his side. 
 
 Carrier says that one hundred French-Canadians were 
 killed in the Battle of St. Eustache, and one hundred and 
 five wounded. The French account seeks to throw dis- 
 credit on the troops for the burning of houses and other 
 property that took place after the Battle of St. Eustache. 
 Captain Beauclerk, in his statement, explains that the 
 extreme violence of the inhabitants in all the overt acts 
 of the rebellion rendered this severe measure of retributive 
 justice absolutely necessary. It has been generally sup- 
 posed that these acts of retributive justice were committed 
 by volunteers who had been subjected to most brutal treat- 
 ment by the rebels. Carrier's account of the disorders 
 shows this. Besides, there was the death of Lieut. Weir 
 to avenge. His killing was regarded, by the volunteers 
 and regulars alike, as an act of perfidious treachery. 
 
 Sir John Colborne, the commander of the forces, had 
 no knowledge of the destruction of property by the troops, 
 either regulars or volunteers, till after it was committed. 
 There is not the least reason for saying that the escutcheon 
 of the British soldier was in any way tarnished by what took 
 place after St. Eustache, as it is only what often occurs 
 in war when the enemy is driven from their stronghold. 
 
 The soldiers and volunteer militia, some of whom were 
 French-Canadians, did their whole duty in overthrowing 
 the rebels, and will ever deserve the thanks of the loyal 
 people of Canada for the part they took in putting down 
 the rebellion. 
 
CHAPTEK XY. 
 
 Bishop of Montreal Deplores the Rebellion and Its Result— Sends 
 Out Circular to his Flock— Bishop of Quebec Gives Thanks 
 that his Diocese Not in Rebellion — American Sympathizers- 
 Meeting in Buffalo— Rochester Follows Buffalo— Doughty Deeds 
 in Contemplation — Mackenzie Occupies Navy Island — Pro- 
 visional Government for Canada Formed — Van Rensselaer 
 Commander-in-Chief— Proclamation to Inhabitants of Upper 
 Canada — Loyalists at Chippewa, Sir Allan MacNab in Com- 
 mand—Operations Before Navy Island — Burning of the Steamer 
 Caroline— Evacuation of Navy Island—" Bois Blanc " Island 
 at Mouth of Detroit River— Gen. Sutherland's Army of Inva- 
 sion Occupies— Sutherland's Proclamation- Dr. Duncombe and 
 Rebel Rising at Brantford and Scotland — Dispersed by MacNab— 
 Sutherland 8 Failure at Bois Blanc — Sugar Island — Van Rens- 
 selaer Occupies Hickory Island in St, Lawrence — Rebels and 
 Sympathizers Occupy Pelee Island, Detroit River— Invaders 
 Attacked by British Troops and Dispersed — Projected Attack on 
 Windsor and Fort Maiden — Short Hills — Hunter's Lodges — 
 Prescott, the Battle of the Windmill — Van Shultz. 
 
 After a storm there comes a calm. The affairs of St. 
 Eustache and St. Benoit served to convince the rebellious 
 French- Canadians, for a time at least, that the better 
 way for them would have been to listen to their spiritual 
 pastors and masters rather than to agitators, who deserted 
 them in time of trial. The Bishop of Montreal took advan- 
 tage of the occasion to address a circular in which he said, 
 *' What misery, what desolation, have overspread many of 
 the fairest fields since the demon of war has been let 
 
ADDRESS OF BISHOPS OF MONTREAL AND QUEBEC. 333 
 
 loose upon our beautiful and, till lately, happy country, 
 wherein abundance and content reigned erewhile with order 
 and security, until brigands and rebels, by means of 
 sophistry and lies, misled a part of the people of this 
 diocese. How now about the fine promises made of the 
 wonderful things they would do for you ? Was it the 
 controlling spirit of a numerical majority of the people of 
 this country, who according to the insurgents ought to 
 have sway in all things, that directed their military opera- 
 tions ? Did you find yourselves in a condition of greater 
 freedom than before, while exposed to all sorts of vexations, 
 threatened with fire raisings, loss of goods, deprivation of 
 even life itself, if you did not submit to the frightful 
 despotism of those insurgents, who by violent, not per- 
 suasive means, caused more than a moiety of all the dupes 
 they had to take up arms against the victorious armies of 
 our Sovereign ? " 
 
 Inasmuch as the rebellion in Lower Canada was confined 
 to a portion of the district of Montreal, and that not exceeding 
 a circuit of thirty miles around the city of Montreal, the 
 Bishop of Quebec gave thanks that his flock had listened to 
 his admonitions and had abstained from taking up arms 
 against lawful authority. He said : '' For ourselves, 
 during the disasters of which some parts of this Province 
 have been the theatre, we have, in imitation of Moses, 
 implored the Lord not to abandon His people in their 
 extremity, and now we have the happiness to see, as well 
 as yourselves, that God in His loving kindness listened to 
 our humble supplications." 
 
334 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 The case was different in Upper Canada. Mackenzie on 
 reaching the land of the Stars and Stripes found plenty of 
 sympathizers, who received him with open arms. Even 
 while he was operating in the vicinity of Toronto he had 
 on the 6th December, 1837, from his camp at Montgomery's, 
 addressed a letter to the Buffalo Express, explaining the 
 attempt he was making to secure the independence of 
 Upper Canada, and soliciting aid for his enterprise. In 
 this respect Mackenzie did not stand on so high a plane 
 as Daniel O'Connell when battling for the independence of 
 Ireland. O'Connell while a,nxious to secure the liberty of 
 his country was ever ready to resent any attempt at foreign 
 interference either in the way of arms or money. Mac- 
 kenzie would have been glad to have had both. 
 
 On the 11th December a public meeting was held in 
 Buffalo, the largest ever to that time held in that city, 
 inviting assistance for the promoters of rebellion in Canada, 
 The meeting broke up with cheers for Mackenzie, Papineau 
 and Rolph. ' On the 12th December another meeting was 
 held at which Mackenzie was present. At this meeting 
 one Thomas Jefferson Sutherland offered his services as 
 a volunteer to help the people of Canada to get rid of the 
 "baneful domination of the Mother Country," as Mr. 
 Hume w^as pleased to term it. Another American patriot 
 requested a contribution of arms and ammunition to be 
 sent to the Eagle tavern in Buffalo, for the benefit of the 
 downtrodden people of Canada. That these meetings were 
 composed mostly of Irish-Americans goes without saying. 
 
 Mr. Thomas Jefferson Sutherland got 97 of the citizens 
 
THE NA VY ISLAND REPUBLIC. 335 
 
 of Buffalo to sign a document, himself heading the list of 
 names attached, of which the following is a copy : " We, 
 the young men residents of the City of Buffalo, whose names 
 are hereunto subscribed, pledge to each other our mutual 
 support and co-operation for the commendable purpose of 
 aiding and assisting our Canadian brethren in their present 
 struggle for liberty and those principles which have given 
 to the world that Asylum which we have the honour of 
 calling our home, and which pronounces to mankind the 
 sacred dogma of equality." 
 
 " That Asylum which we have the honour of calling 
 our home." That was it. Declared enemies of the United 
 Kingdom, who had been given an asylum in the United 
 States, aiding and abetting rebels in Canada in destroying 
 the happy relations which existed between the Colony and 
 the Empire. Eochester, another New York state town, fol- 
 lowed the lead of Buffalo, beating drums, arming men, fur- 
 nishing arms and inciting people to hasten to deliver 
 Canada from the yoke of British tyranny. 
 
 Mackenzie, encouraged by the demonstrations in Buffalo 
 and Rochester, took possession of Navy Island, about two 
 miles above Niagara Falls on the Canadian side of the 
 national boundary. When Mr. Mackenzie appropriated to 
 himself this small piece of Canadian territory he had with 
 him a gentleman of martial mien, whom Mackenzie had 
 appointed Commander-in-Chief of the army, not exactly of 
 the Republic, but of republicans and Canadian rebels, con- 
 sorting together for the conquest of Canada. Mr. Mac- 
 kenzie's General-Commander-in-Chief was Mr. Van Rens- 
 
336 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 selaer of Buffalo. The name of Van Eensselaer was not 
 unfamiliar to Canadians in connection with Queenston 
 Heights and the war of 1812. Mr. Mackenzie and his 
 General had only twenty-four men when they landed on 
 Navy Island. They had been promised two hundred and 
 fifty men, two pieces of artillery and some four hundred 
 and fifty stand of arms, besides meat and. drink in abund- 
 ance to start with. It disheartened Mackenzie when he 
 found his army of invasion reduced to twenty-four. So far 
 he had been duped by his American friends. Still Mr. 
 Mackenzie was not to be baulked, he had set out to pull 
 down the Government of Canada, and this he did not yet 
 despair of doing. His first act on taking possession of the 
 Island was to formally establish a so-called Provisional 
 Government for Upper Canada. 
 
 The Provisional Government composed of Canadian 
 refugees having been duly established, the next step was, 
 after the fashion of Hull and the Van Eensselaer of 1812, to 
 issue a Proclamation calling on the people of Upper Canada 
 to throw off their allegiance. Here is the Proclamation : — 
 
 " INHABITANTS OF UPPER CANADA ! ! 
 
 " For nearly fifty years has our country languished under the 
 blighting influence of military despots, strangers from Europe, ruling 
 us, not according to laws of our choice, but by the capricious dictates 
 of their arbitrary power. 
 
 "They have taxed us at their pleasure, robbed our exchequer, 
 and carried ofl" the proceeds to other lands, they have bribed and 
 corrupted ministers of the Gospel with the wealth raised by our in- 
 dustry ; they have, in place of religious liberty, given rectories and 
 clergy reserves to a foreign priesthood, with spiritual power dangerous 
 to our peace as a people ; they have bestowed millions of our lands on 
 
PROCLAMATION FBOM NA VY ISLAND. 337 
 
 a company for a nominal consideration, and left them to fleece and 
 impoverish our country ; they have spurned our petitions, involved us 
 in their wars, excited feelings of national and sectional animosity in 
 counties, townships and neighbourhoods, and ruled us, as Ireland has 
 been ruled, to the advantage of persons in other lands, and to the 
 prostration of our energies as a people. 
 
 " We are wearied of these oppressions, and resolved to throw oft 
 the yoke. Rise, Canadians ! Rise as one man, and the glorious 
 object of our wishes is accomplished. 
 
 ' ' Our intentions have been clearly stated to the world in the 
 Declaration of Independence, adopted at Toronto on the 31st of July 
 last, printed in the Constitution^ Correspondent and Advocate and the 
 Liberal, which important paper was drawn up by Dr. John Rolph and 
 myself, signed by the Central Committee, received the sanction of a 
 large majority of the people of the Province, west of Port Hope and 
 Cobourg, and is well known to be in accordance with the feelings 
 and sentiments of nine-tenths of the people of this state. 
 
 " We have planted the standard of liberty in Canada, for the 
 attainment of the following objects : 
 
 " Perpetual peace, founded on a government of equal rights to 
 all, secured by a written constitution, sanctioned by yourselves in a 
 convention to be called as early as circumstances will permit. 
 
 " Civil and religious liberty in its fullest extent, that in all laws 
 made, or to be made, every person be bound alike, neither shall any 
 tenure, estate, charter, birth, or place, confer any exemption from the 
 ordinary course of legal proceedings and responsibilities whereunto 
 others are subjected. 
 
 ' ' The abolition of hereditary honours, of the laws of entail and 
 primogeniture, and hosts of pensioners who devour our substance. 
 
 " A Legislature, composed of a Senate and Assembly chosen by 
 the people. 
 
 ' ' An Executive, to be composed of a Governor and other officers 
 elected by the public voice. 
 
 " A judiciary, to be chosen by the Governor and Senate, and 
 composed of the most learned, honourable and trustworthy of our 
 citizens. The laws to be rendered cheap and expeditious. 
 
 " A free trial by jury, sheriffs chosen by you, and not to hold 
 office as now at the pleasure of our tyrants. The freedom of the 
 
338 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 press. Alas for it, now. The free presses in the Canadas are 
 trampled down by the hand of arbitrary power. 
 
 " The vote by ballot, free and peaceful township elections. 
 
 " The people to elect their Court of Request, Commissioners and 
 Justices of the Peace, and also their militia officers, in all cases what- 
 soever, 
 
 "Freedom of trade — every man to be allowed to buy at the 
 cheapest market and sell nt the dearest. 
 
 "No man to be compelled to give military service unless it be 
 his choice. 
 
 " Ample funds to be reserved from the vast natural resources of 
 our country to secure the blessings of education to every citizen 
 
 " A frugal and economical Government, in order that the people 
 may be prosperous and free from difficulty. 
 
 " An end forever to the wearisome prayers, supplications, and 
 mockeries, attendant upon our connection with the lordlings of the 
 Colonial Office, Downing Street, London. 
 
 "The opening of the St. Lawrence to the trade of the world, so 
 that the largest ships might pass up to Lake Superior ; and the distri- 
 bution of the wild lands of the country to the industry, capital, skill 
 and enterprise of worthy men of all nations. 
 
 "For the attainment of these important objects, the patriots now 
 in arms under the standard of liberty, on Navy Island, U.C., have 
 established a Provisional Government, of which the members are as 
 follows (with two other distinguished gentlemen, whose names there 
 are powerful reasons for withholding from public view), viz, : 
 
 " William L. Mackenzie, Chairman, pro tern. 
 
 " Nelson Gorham. John Hawk. 
 
 " Samuel Lount. Jacob Rymall. 
 
 " Silas Fletcher. William H. Doyle. 
 
 "Jesse Lloyd. A G. W. G. VanEgmond. 
 
 " Thomas Darling. Charles Duncombe. 
 " Adam Graham. 
 
 " We have procured the important aid of General Van Rensselaer, 
 of Albany, of Colonel Sutherland, Colonel Van Egmond, and other 
 military men of experience ; and the citizens of Buffalo, to their eter- 
 nal honour be it ever remembered, have proved to us the enduring 
 principles of the Revolution of 1776, by supplying us with provisions, 
 money, arms, ammunition, artillery and volunteers ; and vast num- 
 
PROGLAMA TION FROM NA VY ISLAND. 339 
 
 bers are floating to the standard under which, heaven willing, emanci- 
 pation will be speedily won for a new and gallant nation, hitherto held 
 in Egyptian thraldom by the aristocracy of England. 
 
 "Brave Canadians I Hasten to join that standard, and to make 
 common cause with your fellow-citizens now in arms in the Home, 
 London and Western districts. The oppoitunity of the absence of the 
 hired red coats of Europe is favourable to our emancipation. And 
 short-sighted is that man who does not now see that, although his 
 apathy may protract the contest, it must end in independence, freedom 
 from European thraldom forever. 
 
 '' Until independence is w^on, trade and industry will be dormant, 
 houses and lands will be unsalable, merchants will be embarrassed, 
 and farmers and mechanics harassed and troubled ; that point once 
 gained the prospect is fair and cheering, a long day of prosperity may 
 be ours. 
 
 " The reverses in the Home district were owing, first, to acci- 
 dent, which revealed our design to our tyrants, and prevented a 
 surprise ; and, second, to the want of artillery. Three thousand five 
 hundred men came and went, but we had no arms for one in twelve of 
 them, nor could we procure them in the country. 
 
 *' Three hundred acres of the best of the public lands will be 
 freely bestowed upon any volunteer, who shall assist personally in 
 bringing to a conclusion the glorious struggle in which our youthful 
 country is now engaged against the enemies of freedom all the world 
 over. 
 
 " Ten millions of these lands, fair and fertile, will, I trust, be 
 speedily at our disposal, with the other vast resources of a country 
 more extensive and rich in natural treasures than the United Kingdom 
 or Old France. 
 
 " Citizens ! Soldiers of Liberty ! Friends of Equal Rights ! Let 
 no man sufier in his property, person, or estate — let us pass through 
 Canada, not to retaliate on others for our estates ravaged, our friends 
 in dungeons, our homes burnt, our wheat and barns burnt and our 
 horses and cattle carried off ; but let us show the praiseworthy 
 example of protecting the houses, the homes, and the families of those 
 who are in arms against their country and against the liberties of this 
 continent. We will disclaim and severely punish all aggressions upon 
 private property, and consider those as our enemies who may burn or 
 destroy the smallest hut in Canada, unless necessity compel any one 
 to do so in any cause for self defence. 
 23 
 
340 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 " Whereas, at a time when the King and Parliament of Great 
 Britain had solemnly agreed to redress the grievances of the people, 
 Sir Francis Bond Head was sent out to this country with promises of 
 conciliation and justice ; and whereas, the said Head hath violated his 
 oath of office as a Governor, trampled upon every vestige of our rights 
 and privileges, bribed and corrupted the Local Legislature, interfered 
 with the freedom of elections, intimidated the freeholders, declared 
 our country not entitled to the blessings of British freedom, prostrated 
 openly the right of trial by jury, placed in office the most obsequious, 
 treacherous and unworthy of our population , and sought to rule 
 Upper Canada by the mere force of his arbitrary power ; imprisoned 
 Dr. Morrison, Mr. Parker, and many others of our most respected 
 citizens ; banishing in a most cruel manner the highly respected Speaker 
 of our late House of Assembly, the Honorable Mr. Bidwell ; and 
 causing the expatriation of that universally beloved and well tried 
 eminent patriot. Dr. John Rolph, because they had made common cause 
 with our injured people, and setting a vast price on the heads of 
 several, as if they were guilty persons— for which crimes and misde- 
 meanors he is deserving of being put upon his trial before the country 
 — I do, therefore, hereby offer a reward of £500 for his apprehension, 
 so that he may be dealt with as may appertain to justice. 
 
 " In Lower Canada, divine providence has blessed the arms of the 
 Sons of Liberty — a whole people are there manfully struggling for that 
 freedom without which property is but a phantom, and life scarce 
 worth having a gift of. General Girard* is at the head of fifteen thou- 
 sand determined democrats. 
 
 " The friends of freedom in Upper Canada have continued to act 
 in strong and regular concert with Mr. Papineau and the Lovver 
 Canada patriots ; and it is a pleasing reflection that between us and 
 the ocean, a population of six hundred thousand souls are now in 
 arms, resolved to be free. 
 
 " The tidings that worthy patriots are in arms is spreading 
 through the Union, and the men who were oppressed in England, Ire- 
 land, Scotland and the Continent, are flocking to our standard. 
 
 " We must be successful. 
 
 ' ' I had the honour to address nearly three thousand of the citizens 
 of Buffalo, two days ago, in the theatre. The friendship and sympathy 
 they expressed is honourable to the great and flourishing Republic. 
 * The Swiss, Girod, is probably referred to. 
 
GA THERING A T XA V Y IS LA ND. 341 
 
 '* I am personally authorized to make known to you that from 
 the moment that Sir Francis Bond Head declined to state in writing 
 the objects he had in view, in sending a flag of truce to our camp in 
 Toronto, the message once declined, our esteemed fellow-citizen, Dr. 
 John Rolph, openly announced his concurrence in our measures, and 
 now decidedly approves of the stand we are taking in behalf of our 
 beloved country, which will never more be his until it be free and 
 independent. 
 
 " Canadians i My confidence in you is as strong and powerful in 
 this, our day of trial and difficulty, as when, many years ago, in the 
 zeal and ardour of youth, I appeared among you, the humble advocate 
 of your rights and liberties. I need not remind you of the sufferings 
 and persecutions I have endured for your sakes, the losses I have sus- 
 tained, the risks I have run. Had I ten lives I would cheerfully give 
 them up to procure freedom to the country of my children, of my 
 early and disinterested choice. Let us act together, and warmed by 
 the hope of success in a patriotic course, be able to repeat in the 
 language so often happily quoted by Ireland's champion, 
 
 " ' The nations are fallen and thou still art young. 
 Thy sun is but rising when others have set ; 
 And though slavery's cloud o'er thy morning hath hung, 
 The full tide of Freedom shall beam round thee yet.' 
 " Militia men of 1812. Will ye again rally round the standard of 
 our tyrants 'I I can scarce believe it possible. Upper Canada 
 Loyalists, what has been the recompense of your long tried and 
 devoted attachment to England's aristocracy 1 Obloquy and contempt. 
 " Verily we have learnt in the school of experience, and are 
 prepared to profit by the lessons of the past. Compare the great 
 and flourishing nation of the United States with our divided and dis- 
 tracted land, and think what we also might have been, as brave, inde- 
 pendent lords of the soil. Leave then Sir Francis Bond Head's defence 
 to the miserable serfs dependent on his bounty, and to the last hour 
 of your lives the proud remembrance will be yours, ' We also were 
 among the deliverers of our country. ' 
 " Navy Island, December 13, 1837." 
 
 The proclamation had some effect. By the end of the 
 month of December a body of men with munitions of war 
 occupied Navy Island. Six hundred men had answered to 
 
342 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 the bugle call. After that date many more joined the 
 standard of the Provisional Government, all bent on 
 sharing with Mackenzie the spoil of Canada. But where 
 was the General ? !Sad to say, he was dilatory, neglectful, 
 ready to fight — but no fighter he. Mackenzie had com- 
 menced his compaign without an army, and now he found 
 himself with an army but without a General ready to lead it. 
 The men under the command of Van Kensselaer clamoured 
 to be allowed to cross over to the mainland on the Canada 
 side, but the General would not move, for if he had he 
 would have encountered on the Canadian shore a body of 
 Canadian militia under Colonel, afterwards Sir Allan 
 MacNab, quite able and willing to disarm any force that 
 Mackenzie had it in his power to bring against them. Col. 
 MacNab had more than a thousand men in and around 
 Ohippewa, infantry, cavalry, and artillery. Mackenzie's 
 occupation of Navy Island lasted about a month, during 
 which time there was cross-firing between the main shore 
 of Canada and the Island. A great deal of ammunition 
 was used, but not much damage done. It was long range 
 shooting, and had but little effect. The rebel refugees and 
 American citizens on the Island had twenty-four cannon, 
 which they used to the best advantage, bat for all that only 
 lessened the number of the Loyalists by one or two. The 
 greatest damage was done to the houses on the Canadian 
 shore, and the inhabitants were kept in a constant state of 
 anxiety. The guns of the Loyalists had not much effect on 
 the Island occupants, owing to the distance and the wooded 
 character of the Island. After about a fortnight's fighting. 
 
CUTTING OUT THE CAROLINE. 343 
 
 Col. MacNab ordered Capt. Drew, of the Eoyal Navy, but a 
 volunteer in this service, to organize such a force of armed 
 vessels and boats for a flotilla as would protect the landing 
 and transport of a thousand men from the Chippewa shore 
 to the Island, with the object of clearing the Island of the 
 rebels. While the expedition was being prepared, on the 
 29th December, Col. MacNab saw a small steamer, the 
 Caroline, 48 tons burthen, engaged in carrying men, pro- 
 visions and munitions of war from Buffalo to Navy Island 
 in the interest of the rebels. Col. MacNab at once asked 
 Capt. Drew if he could cut the boat out, and so cut off their 
 supplies. Capt. Drew said it could be done, and was in- 
 structed to do so. There was no difficulty in getting 
 volunteers for the service. Late that same night the 
 expedition, comprising seven boats, with an average of nine 
 men each, armed with pistols, cutlasses, and pikes, pushed 
 off from the Chippewa shore to perform the duty assigned. 
 The boats of the little naval brigade were under command 
 of Capt. Drew, the several boats being officered by Lieuts. 
 McCormick, Elmsley, and Christopher Breen, of the Royal 
 Navy, Capt. John Gordon, of the steamboat Britannia, run- 
 ning on Lake Ontario, Lieut. Battersby, of London, Canada 
 West, Mr. Harris, Master, R.N., and Mr. Lapenotiere. The 
 expedition did not reach the Island till about midnight, and 
 found that the vessel was moored at the wharf at Fort 
 Schlosser, on the United States side of the river, instead of 
 at the Island itself. This was embarrassing, as by seizing 
 the vessel at the wharf, the Canadian volunteers would be 
 invading American territory. But Capt. Drew had deter- 
 
344 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 mined to risk the consequences. The boats went silently 
 towards the fated vessel. When they reached the boat they 
 boarded her, cleared her of her crew, set her on fire, 
 detached her from her moorings and sent her adrift down 
 the rushing river and over the Niagara Falls. This 
 adventurous act of the Canadian Naval Brigade was well 
 nigh bringing about a war between England and the United 
 States, the Americans claiming that their territory had 
 been unlawfully invaded by the Canadian force. The 
 British Government, while regretting its occurrence, 
 assumed the responsibility of the act and conferred the 
 honour of knighthood on Col. MacNab. The Upper Canada 
 House of Assembly tendered its thanks to the men engaged 
 in the expedition and granted swords of honour to Col. 
 MacNab and Capt. Drew. 
 
 In a fortnight after the burning of the Caroline Mr. 
 Mackenzie, Van Eensselaer, and the force under his com- 
 mand evacuated Navy Island. 
 
 During the time that Mackenzie occupied Navy Island 
 his friends on the mainland were not idle. Dr. Duncombe, 
 a prominent Eeformer in the Y/est, had mustered four or five 
 hundred men at Brantford to give battle to the Loyalists 
 and Tories in that region. Col. MacNab having been 
 informed of Dr. Duncombe' s proceedings marched to Brant- 
 ford with a detachment of 150 volunteers and 100 Indians, 
 under command of Capt. Kerr. On their approach the 
 rebels under Dr. Duncombe retreated to Scotland, a village 
 a few miles to the south-west of Brantford. Col. MacNab 
 followed them up. By the 14th of December he had nearly 
 
SCOTLAND AX I) BO IS BLAXC. 345 
 
 two thousand volunteers ready to face Dr. Duncombe's band 
 and those who might choose to cast in their lot with him, 
 who were expected from the London district. Col. MacNab's 
 show of force overawed the rebels and they dispersed. Dr. 
 Duncombe fled to the United States and made common 
 cause with Mackenzie in the Eepublic. 
 
 Before leaving Navy Island, Gen. Van Eensselaer, Mr. 
 Mackenzie's Commander-in-Chief, had determined to invade 
 Canada with a force of American sympathizers and Cana- 
 dian refugees. There was in Buffalo an individual of the 
 name of Sutherland, who had, or professed to have had 
 military experience. Upon him was conferred the rank of 
 Brigadier-General of the second division of the army of 
 invasion of Upper Canada. On December 28, 1837, Gen. 
 Van Eensselaer issued the following order : 
 
 •' Headquarters, Navy Island. 
 "Brig. -Gen. Sutherland will repair with all despatch to Detroit 
 and its vicinity and promote every arrangement for making a descent 
 upon Canada in favour of the Patriots, as he in his judgment may 
 deem advisable, after consulting with the Canadian and American 
 friends in that quarter." 
 
 Gen. Sutherland, on the 9th of January, 1838, called 
 for volunteers. About sixty at once responded, and, under 
 his command, took possession of Bois Blanc, an island in 
 Canadian waters at the mouth of the Detroit Eiver, not 
 far from Fort M.alden. His object was with these sixty 
 men and eighteen others, whom he had embarked on the 
 schooner Anne, to surprise Fort Maiden, seize the arms 
 stored there, and thus supplied to make another attempt 
 to establish a footing in Upper Canada. Not to be out- 
 
346 REBELLION OF 1S37. 
 
 done by his predecessors in the art of war, he, from his 
 headquarters on Bois Blanc Island, issued another pro- 
 clamation breathing sentiments of devotion to Canada 
 and her political interests. Here is his manifesto : 
 
 "Proclamation to the Patriotic Citizens of Upper Canada. 
 '* You are called upon by the voice of your bleeding country to 
 join the patriot forces and free your lands from tyranny. Hordes of 
 worthless parasites of the British Crown are quartered upon you to 
 devour your substance, to outrage your rights, to let loose upon your 
 defenceless wives and daughters a brutal soldiery. Rally then around 
 the standard of liberty, and a victory and a glorious future of inde- 
 pendence will be yours." 
 
 It has always been a marvel to Canadians how it 
 happens that there are so many citizens of the United 
 States who in some way conceive that Canada is a bleeding 
 country, when the fact is that she has always been con- 
 tented and happy. There may at times be an ebullition 
 of over-strong political feeling, but Canadians have always 
 been able to harmonize their political differences without 
 foreign interference. 
 
 Gen. Sutherland did not succeed in his enterprise. 
 The schooner Anne lost her helmsman by a shot from 
 the Canadian shore, drifted shoreward and was beached 
 in three feet of water, much to the dismay of the sympa- 
 thizers on Bois Blanc Island. The vessel was taken pos- 
 session of by the Canadian militia, and Col. Radcliffe, 
 in command of the boarding party, reported that he found 
 on bo8;rd 'Stwenty-one persons (one killed, eight wounded, 
 twelve prisoners), three pieces of cannon, about two 
 hundred stand of arms, buff cross belts and ammunition." 
 By Gen. Sutherland's orders those who made their escape 
 
GEN. HAXDY AT SUGAR ISLAND. 347 
 
 retreated to Sugar Island on the American side of the 
 boundary, further down the Detroit Eiver, near where it 
 enters Lake Erie. 
 
 At this time Gen. Sutherland had a rival in the Patriot 
 forces in the person of Gen. Handy, of Illinois. This 
 warrior had disputed with Sutherland who should com- 
 mand the western forces of the Patriot band. Gen. Handy 
 was the commander of what was called the Patriot Army 
 of the North-West, and was not disposed to yield com- 
 mand to Sutherland, who commanded the force gathered 
 in Ohio and other volunteers from the east. The two 
 generals quarrelled about the right to command. In true 
 republican fashion it was left to the seven hundred men 
 to decide who should have the honour of leading the men 
 to the conquest of Canada and to elect their commander. 
 The choice fell on Gen. Handy, and now let us see what 
 he did. The net result of his operations was nothing 
 beyond some ineffective measures taken by him with a 
 view to the invasion of the Province from Sugar Island. 
 He found, however, that he had neither men, arms or 
 ammunition sufficient to cope with the Koyal Canadian 
 Militia, which stood ready to receive him on the Canadian 
 shore. In this helpless condition he was forced to apply 
 to the American authorities for friendly assistance to extri- 
 cate him from his position. The Governor of Michigan 
 went in a steamer to Sugar Island, took over the arms, and 
 Gen. Handy and his force evacuated the island. 
 
 The evacuation of Sugar Island did not, however, end 
 the attempt at invasion in the western part of the Province. 
 
348 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 Before proceeding to describe the further attempts in the 
 western part, we must turn to the East to watch the 
 refugees' and American sympathizers' movements in the 
 East. Near the end of February, Van Eensselaer made a 
 show of force on Hickory Island, about two miles from 
 Gananoque, where two companies of British regulars with 
 a few militia were stationed. He had with him about two 
 thousand five hundred men. The Loyalists were only 
 about two hundred strong at Gananoque, and, had Van 
 Eensselaer been a skilful general or brave soldier, he might 
 have occasioned some trouble to the force at Gananoque. 
 But as he was neither the one or the other his men 
 lost confidence in him, deserted him in squads, and before 
 two days were over Hickory Island was barren of sympa- 
 thizers, and Canadians on the main shore could peace- 
 fully rest in their beds. The Canadians about Kingston, 
 indeed, required rest. It had been reported in Kingston 
 that Van Eensselaer with a great force was advancing to 
 capture Fort Henry, Kingston's arsenal. The fort was 
 garrisoned by civilians only, and the town itself was 
 almost defenceless. There was, however, no lack of vol- 
 unteers who came forward to serve their country in time 
 of need. Sixteen hundred men were placed under arms, 
 with a view of defending the old town of Kingston, but 
 when Van Eensselaer evacuated Hickory Island, they were 
 free to return to their homes and their families. 
 
 Turning again to the West, in March, 1838, American 
 sympathizers made another attempt to take Canada, this 
 time by way of Pelee Island, some forty miles south-east 
 
PELEE ISLAND AFFAIR. 349 
 
 of Amherstburgh. About four hundred men mustered on 
 this island with this object, not by their own strength 
 alone, but with the hoped-for assistance from Canadians 
 when they should reach the main shore. But it so hap- 
 pened they were not permitted to reach the main shore. 
 British troops, consisting of five companies of regulars, 
 with about two hundred militia and Indians, under com- 
 mand of Gen. Maitland, made a descent on the island, 
 defeated the self-styled Patriots, killing about sixty of 
 them, and making nine prisoners — Gen. Sutherland being 
 one of the prisoners — and left the balance of the rebel 
 force to their fate. 
 
 It would almost have been better it the exiled rebels 
 and their friends in the United States could have pene- 
 trated the mainland of the Province for some little dis- 
 tance, for then they would have learned from the people 
 themselves how futile it was for them to expect Canada 
 to be subjugated and passed over to the United States. 
 As it was, the border was kept constantly in a state of 
 excitement by the reports spread abroad that the refugees 
 and outpourings of the United States were, in formidable 
 numbers, about to pounce on the inoffending people of 
 Canada with a force that would crush them to atoms. 
 There was some reason for these reports, as without doubt 
 the organization for this purpose in the United States 
 had by March, 1838, assumed formidable proportions. 
 
 About this time there was formed on the other side of the 
 border an association called " The Canadian Eefugee Relief 
 Association." The object of this association was to focus all 
 
350 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 the refugees in the United States, to obtain new supplies 
 of men from Canada, and with the American sympathizers 
 then to invade Canada in force. The centre of the organi- 
 zation was in the State of Michigan. Gen. Handy was 
 appointed Commander in Chief, and to promote the objects 
 of the organization he signed blank commissions, and sent 
 agents through the Province of Upper Canada to form 
 revolutionary societies, and enroll all in whom he thought 
 he could confide. 
 
 Mr. Lindsey, in his "Life and Times of W. L. Mac- 
 kenzie," in referring to this organization, says : " In every 
 square mile of settled country a person was appointed to 
 grant commissions in the secret army of revolt. Handy's 
 commissions were given to captains, and the Associations 
 w^re left to elect their own colonels, couriers, and spies. 
 One hundred in number were constantly kept in motion 
 through the Provinces, taking intelligence daily to Handy. 
 Each of them had a beat of ten miles, at either end of 
 which he communicated with others, and this distance he 
 regularly made both ways every day. Two hundred com- 
 panies, of one hundred men each, were enrolled, making an 
 aggregate force of 20,000 men in the Canadas, ready to rise 
 whenever called upon, and through the system of couriers 
 in operation they could have been called into operation 
 with the least possible delay. The 4th of July, 1838, was 
 fixed upon for striking the first blow. The Patriot standard 
 was to be raised at Windsor opposite Detroit, and when this 
 was accomplished the couriers were to be prepared to 
 transmit the intelligence with all possible speed and a 
 
HANDTS ATTEMPTED INVASION. 351 
 
 general rising was to take place. The first thing to be done 
 was to seize all available public arms, ammunition, and 
 provisions, and then the fortification of some prominent 
 point designated was to be commenced." 
 
 To carry out the plan of invasion it was necessary for 
 Gen. Handy to secure arms and ammunition in Michigan, 
 to begin with. He depended upon the arsenal of the State 
 to furnish him the supplies needed. He had gained the 
 confidence of the guard of the arsenal, and the door was 
 open to him, but with his usual bad luck the State 
 authorities changed the guard the night before the day 
 fixed for the descent on Canada, and the whole scheme was 
 frustrated. There were many little intervening incidents 
 connected with the insurrection, which are not of sufficient 
 importance to be given a place in history. There is, how- 
 ever, one occurrence of local character which should be 
 chronicled. This was an affair at Short Hills, in the 
 County of Welland, that will bear recording. Here in June, 
 1838, some five or six hundred men, well armed and 
 equipped, were terrorizing the country thereabout, and it 
 became necessary to disperse them. " The Lancers," a 
 javelin corps, of Toronto, under the command of Major 
 McGrath, came across this body of men at Ooverholt's 
 tavern, fired upon them, killed several and dispersed the 
 rest, taking thirty-one of them prisoners. The band was 
 composed of Canadians, who had been concerned in the 
 insurrection under Dr. Duncombe in the London district, 
 and at Montgomery's, back of Toronto. 
 
 Col. Kingsmill, who was in command on the frontier at 
 
352 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 this time, had the disposition of the prisoners taken in the 
 affair. Col. Kingsmill was a half-pay officer of the regular 
 army, and did good service in protecting the Niagara, 
 frontier from the invasion of American sympathizers and 
 otherwise. 
 
 Gen. Handy's failure to capture Fort Maiden, and by 
 this means gain a foothold in the western part of the 
 Province of Upper Canada, was disappointing to all who 
 were interested in the overthrow of British power in the 
 colony. The question was asked, could not this be better 
 accomplished in the eastern part of the Province, nearer 
 the rebellious French-Canadians of Lower Canada and with 
 their help ? There was a man named Hunter, who lived 
 near Whitby, in the east riding of the old County of York, 
 now the County of Ontario, who had been active in pro- 
 moting the rebellion in the Home district. He had been 
 nearly taken as a rebel by the company of men from Port 
 Hope and Peterborough coming to the assistance of 
 Toronto, in December, 1837. Had it not been for an oven 
 at Gate's tavern, ten or twenty miles east of Toronto, on 
 the Kingston road, he would have fallen into the hands of 
 the Loyalists. The oven afforded him a place of conceal- 
 ment, and when he escaped he went to the United States. 
 Anxious to have his name handed down to posterity, he 
 proceeded to form Lodges in the land of the Stars and 
 Stripes, which were named Hunter's Lodges. There was 
 a general convention of these Lodges held at Cleveland, 
 Ohio, in September, 1838, which was attended by seventy 
 delegates. The members of Hunter's Lodges took an 
 
PRE^GO TT A ND THE \ WIND MIL L. 353 
 
 oath, which commenced by swearing allegiance to Repub- 
 lican institutions, and ended b}^ declaring that the aforesaid 
 members would, " until death, attack, combat, and help to 
 destro}^ by all means that their superior officer should 
 think proper, every power, or authority of Royal origin, 
 upon this continent, andf especially never to rest till all 
 tyrants of Britain cease to have any dominion or footing 
 whatever in North America." This was a pretty strong 
 oath, but was greedily taken, not only by the exiled Cana- 
 dians, but by the other members of the convention, whom 
 Canadian refugees described as " Americans, men of poor 
 fortunes." 
 
 *' The Hunters,'* as they called themselves, now pro- 
 ceeded to active invasion, and by November, 1838, had 
 assembled for an attack on Prescott, a town in the County 
 of Grenville, on the frontier, opposite to the American town 
 of Ogdensburg. On Sunday morning, the 11th of Nov., 
 a large steamer, the United States, towing two schooners 
 loaded with armed men, left Sackett's Harbour for Prescott. 
 The number of armed men was about seven hundred, and 
 all were under the command of Col. Von Shultz, a brave 
 Pole, who had been appointed to the command of the 
 expedition. The expedition was to have been commanded 
 by a man of higher rank, General Bierge. If the advice 
 of Von Shultz had been followed the expedition would have 
 landed at Prescott and no doubt taken the town, but 
 General Bierge and other officers overruled Von Shultz 
 and demanded that the expedition should first land at 
 Ogdensburg and increase their force by further recruits. 
 
354 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 Von Shultz was opposed to this, for the simple reason that, 
 in his belief, instead of getting recruits the expedition 
 would lose many of its valiant men by desertion. Whether 
 this actually happened or not is not known, but it is 
 known that General Bierge suddenly fell sick, which his 
 companions in arms imputed to cowardice. 
 
 In crossing the river one of the schooners, commanded 
 by one Bill Johnson, who had for some time been alarming 
 defenceless people on the Canadian shore, was in some 
 way run ashore on a bar in the river, and the unfortunate 
 -Von Shultz was left with only one schooner and one hun- 
 dred and seventy men with which to make a conquest of 
 Canada. 
 
 Von Shultz however was not a man to turn back. He 
 landed his men on the 12th of November, on the Canadian 
 shore, and took possession of a windmill just below the 
 town of Prescott, and there fortified himself. This move 
 of Col. Von Shultz was not however effected without the 
 loss of some men. Even on the landing he found himself 
 opposed by the little British steamer Experiment of one 
 gun, which poured shot into the schooner carrying Von 
 Shultz's force, and into the steamer United States, which, 
 with damaged engines, retired disabled across the river 
 into American waters. 
 
 When Von Shultz and his men had secured a landing he 
 felt secure. But matters turned out differently from what 
 he expected. Capt. Sandom, commanding the Eoyal Navy 
 in Upper Canada, having heard of Von Shultz's expedition 
 and his setting out from Sackett's Harbour, immediately 
 
THE SIEGE OF THE WINDMILL. 355 
 
 left Kingston with a detachment of forty men and a party 
 of marines in the steamer Victoria, accompanied by the 
 Cohourg, for the purpose of intercepting him if possible. 
 Capt. Sandom and his men arrived at Prescott on the 
 morning of the 13th of November, and after effecting the 
 landing of his force, and being joined by a party of militia, 
 the marines and militia made an attack on Yon Shultz's 
 fortified posts, and after an hour's firing drove them into 
 the windmill. 
 
 The mill itself was a solid stone building of great 
 strength, and Capt. Sandom feeling the risk of attempting 
 to take it by land, except by a regular siege, decided to 
 bombard it from the river, and accordingly brought his 
 boat down the river and began an attack with his guns. 
 By three in the afternoon, he found he could make no 
 impression on the fortress, and he accordingly withdrew, 
 posting pickets to prevent the escape of his prey, and 
 awaited the arrival of heavier artillery. 
 
 Von Shultz and his men remained cooped up in the 
 mill till the 16th, being all the time promised by those who 
 had remained in safety on the American shore, watching 
 the turn of events, that they would either reinforce or 
 rescue him. But although thousands gathered on the shore 
 to gaze, they did nothing. On the 16th, at noon. Col. 
 Dundas, with four companies of the 83rd Eegiment, two 
 eighteen pounders, and a howitzer brought down from 
 Kingston, appeared on the scene, planted his guns in good 
 position, and began firing upon the windmill, first placing 
 a company of the 83rd Eegiment, supported by the militia 
 
 24 
 
356 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 on either flank to prevent the escape of the occupants. 
 During the day the fire from Col. Dundas' battery was so 
 effective that the mill became untenantable, and when 
 darkness fell, under cover of the night, Von Shultz and a 
 division of his men took refuge in the brush wood on the 
 bank of the river, where he and his men were shortly taken 
 prisoners. 
 
 It has been computed that one hundred and fifty men, 
 killed and wounded on both sides, were lost in what is 
 known in the annals of the rebellion as the battle of " The 
 Windmill." One hundred and fifty-seven prisoners were 
 taken, of whom eleven were executed, including the un- 
 fortunate Von Shultz, who never forgave Bill Johnson and 
 the other leaders of the expedition for their desertion of 
 him when endeavouring to hold his post against great odds. 
 Von Shultz was a brave and generous man ; he was a victim 
 of more designing men who led him to the course which 
 brought him to the gallows. 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 American Sympathizers— Rebellion Carried On Without the Prov- 
 ince—Foreign War Carried On by Irresponsible Americans — 
 Determined to Avenge Prescott — Assemble at Detroit — Gen, 
 Bierce's Proclamation— Lands at Windsor — Destroys Property — 
 Met by Loyalists and Repulsed— Col. Prince— Mackenzie Dis- 
 satisfied with the American Allies— Will Rely on Himself and 
 Canadians— Mackenzie Has no Faith in the United States — 
 Regrets the Rebellion that he Had Stirred Up — Admits his 
 Mistake — Should he Be Forgiven?— His Penitence Sincere — 
 Trials, Imprisonments and Executions— Lord Durham, Gov- 
 ernor — His Report — Constitution of 1841 — Mackenzie, Papineau 
 and Rolph Members of the Union House — Conclusion. 
 
 The rebellion which had its beginning in 1837, within the 
 limits of Canada, was after that year carried on from the 
 United States. The only two risings in Upper Canada of 
 local significance were those of Mackenzie and Dr. Dun- 
 combe respectively, the first in York and that of Duncombe 
 at Brantford and Scotland. The year 1838 was a year of 
 rebellion, historically speaking, but it was a rebellion carried 
 on without, not within the Province. The seat of war, as 
 it may be called, was on the American border, and in 
 American territory. It was there the " Hunter's Lodges," 
 " Patriot Societies," " Piefugee Conventions," and all those 
 who wished to make Canada a republic had their head- 
 quarters, and from thence all the supplies of arms and 
 ammunition were obtained. 
 
558 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 The American Government had great difficulty in 
 preventing itself being drawn into the vortex of civil strife. 
 Many men holding high positions in the state and munici- 
 pal governments of the United States, made common cause 
 with the Canadian insurrectionists, but the Federal Govern- 
 ment, by the exercise of wholesome restraint and diplo- 
 macy, escaped being drawn into the struggle. 
 
 The struggle for the possession of Canada was thus 
 more of a contest between sympathizing foreigners and 
 the Loyalists of Canada, than between opposite factions in 
 the Province. It was a foreign war carried on by irre- 
 sponsible American citizens, mostly of foreign extraction, 
 and Canadian refugees. 
 
 After the failure to capture the Province by way of 
 Prescott and the " Windmill," the " Hunter's Lodge " 
 determined to renew the attempt by way of Detroit. In 
 the evening of the 3rd of December, 1838, a body of men 
 numbering several hundred, well armed and provisioned, 
 under the command of General Bierce who had superseded 
 General Handy in the west, marched through the streets 
 of Detroit, band playing and colours flying, ready for a 
 fresh invasion of the Province of Upper Canada. This 
 body of men was allowed to pass within sight of the 
 sentinels stationed at the public arsenal without interrup- 
 tion. The warriors next morning crossed the Detroit 
 Eiver in the steamer Champlain, and landed on Canadian 
 soil. No sooner had they landed than, following time- 
 honoured precedent, the General issued his proclamation. 
 
/ 
 THE ATTACK ON WINDSOR. 359 
 
 " Soldiers ! the time has arrived that calls for action — the blood 
 of our slaughtered countrymen cries aloud for revenge. The spirits 
 of Lount, and Matthews, and Moreau, are yet unavenged. The 
 murdered heroes of Prescott lie in an unhallowed grave in the land of 
 tyranny. The manes of the ill-fated Caroline's crew can only be 
 appeased by the blood of murderers. 
 
 " Arouse, then, soldiers of Canada ! Let us avenge their wrongs ! 
 Let us march to victory or death ; and ever, as we meet the tyrant 
 foe, let our war cry be, ' Remember Prescott.' " 
 
 It was known in Detroit that this " Hunter's Lodge " 
 army of invasion was to attack the town of Windsor the 
 next morning. Just as was done on the American frontier 
 opposite Prescott when Von Shultz made his abortive 
 attempt to subjugate Canadians, several thousands of 
 the citizens of Detroit lined the American shore to 
 encourage the invaders, and, when, after landing, the so- 
 called " Patriots " raised a tricoloured flag, displaying twin 
 stars and the word "Liberty," the enthusiasm of the 
 onlookers, on the American side of the river, knew no 
 bounds. Their acclamations and hurrahs rent the air. 
 
 The invaders in pursuance of their enterprise, soon 
 after landing, set fire to a building used as a barracks for 
 the militia, and exchanged volleys with the occupants, 
 several men being killed on both sides. They then set fire 
 to the steamer Thames, which was frozen up in the river, 
 and burned it to the edge of the ice. They then marched 
 for the inhabited portion of the town, but being met by a 
 force of militia under Col. Prince and Capt. Spark, were 
 repulsed, driven out of the town and took refuge in the 
 surrounding woods. 
 
 The invaders soon after were unpleasantly surprised 
 
 25 
 
360 REBELLIONS OF 1837. 
 
 when they found that the British had marched their regular 
 troops to within a convenient distance. They had not 
 been long concealed in the woods, when Col. Broderick, 
 with a detachment of Eoyal Artillery and a nine pounder, 
 arrived on the ground from Amherstburgh. The Eegulars 
 and Militia made short work of the invaders and drove 
 them ingloriously back to Detroit from whence they came. 
 The United States steamer, The Erie, in the river, would 
 not afford them any assistance in their efforts to regain 
 American territory. They were obliged by begging, brib- 
 ing and stealing, to get canoes or small boats of any kind 
 to take them back to the land of the free. 
 
 In this raid twenty-five of the invaders lost their lives 
 and forty-six were taken prisoners. Col. Prince, in his 
 report on the proceedings, briefly and succinctly said : " Of 
 the brigands and pirates twenty-one were killed, besides 
 four, who were brought in just at the close and immedi- 
 ately after the engagement — all of whom I ordered to be 
 shot upon the spot ; and it was clone accordingly.'' This 
 summary procedure was bitterly denounced by some — par- 
 ticularly the friends of the Americans who were shot, but 
 on the other hand was warmly approved by those Canadians 
 who had no sympathy with these invaders, who had entered 
 their country with the design of laying waste their fair 
 fields, burning and destroying their property and taking 
 human lives in carrying out their nefarious purpose. Col. 
 Prince's justice had a salutary and deterrent effect. There 
 were no more raids after Windsor. 
 
MACKENZIE'S LIFE IN THE UNITED STATES. 361 
 
 Mr. Mackenzie took no part in the raids either on 
 Prescott or Windsor. He was busy with newspaper work, 
 his favourite occupation, in New York. The failure of 
 the *' Hunter's Lodge " men to bring about the downfall of 
 Canada, and the means adopted by these men, who 
 evidently had no care for Canada or the Canadians, caused 
 Mackenzie to lose confidence in his American friends. 
 He did not, however, give up all hope of effecting the 
 independence of Canada by the efforts of the Canadians 
 themselves. In January, 1839, he wrote to a private 
 friend that the sympathizers, " organization and union," 
 apart from that of the Associations who aid them, is 
 nothing. They have little influence, nor will it increase 
 until a better system is adopted. He thought Canada 
 could be redeemed if men went the right way about it. 
 '' I shall try," he said, " to get up such an organization 
 here (in Eochester) and on the other side, and to make 
 such use of that already in operation, as will probably 
 somewhat change the aspect of Canadian affairs. The 
 material is before us if we choose to make use of it." 
 
 This letter is but another proof of what a sanguine, 
 visionary man Mackenzie was. It was this over- confidence 
 in his own strength, which never forsook him during his 
 stormy life, that led him into all the difficulties and 
 troubles that seemed ever to surround him. 
 
 On the 12th of March, 1839, Mackenzie issued a 
 confidential circular, calling a special convention, "to be 
 composed of Canadians, or persons connected with Canada, 
 who are favourable to the attainment of its political 
 
862 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 independence, and the entire separation of its government 
 from the political power of Great Britain," to be held at 
 Kochester. This convention duly met, and the outcome 
 of it was that a Canadian Association was formed, a 
 President, Secretary and Treasurer appointed, and the 
 principles of the Association promulgated. These com- 
 prised the discarding of the notion of attempting to reform 
 Canada by hostile invasion from the United States, and 
 pledged the Association to " obtaining for the people of 
 the North American Colonies the unrestricted power to 
 choose their form of government, by means of conven- 
 tions of delegates whose acts should afterwards obtain 
 their concurrence." 
 
 Mr. Mackenzie lived long enough to realize that he, 
 like many another man, in pursuing imagined " Liberty " 
 was only following her pseudo-sister " License." In pursuit 
 of this phantom he exiled himself for three years or more, 
 becoming a citizen of che United States. The fact that 
 he had been a rebel in Canada against the British Govern- 
 ment was sufficient to ensure his honourable reception in 
 the United States. His residence in that great country, 
 however, cured him of his love for republican institutions. 
 In the last number of the Gazette, a paper published by 
 him in New York, the issue of December the 23rd, 1840, 
 he said, " Over three years residence in the United States, 
 and a closer observation of the condition of society here, 
 have lessened my regrets at the results of the opposition 
 raised to England in Canada, in 1837-1838. I have 
 beheld the American people give their dearest and most 
 
MACKENZIE RENOUNCES REPUBLICANISM. 363 
 
 valued rights into the keeping of the worst enemies of free 
 institutions. I have seen monopoly and slavery triumph 
 at the popular elections, and witnessed with pain, the 
 bitter fruits of that speculative spirit of enterprise to which, 
 as President Van Buren says in his late excellent message, 
 his countrymen are so liable, and upon whom the lessons 
 of experience are so unavailing. And, although the leaders 
 of parties here may not say so to their followers, yet the 
 conviction grows daily stronger in my mind that your 
 brethren of this Union are rapidly hastening toward a state 
 of society, in which President, Senate and House of 
 Piepresentatives, will fulfil the duties of Kings, Lords and 
 Commons, and the power of the community pass from the 
 democracy of numbers into the hands of an aristocracy, 
 not of noble ancestry and ancient lineage, but of monied 
 monopolists, land-jobbers and heartless politicians. " 
 
 " Distance lends enchantment to the view." Mr. Mac- 
 kenzie had only to leave Canada and cast his lot with 
 those living under Kepublican institutions, to become 
 thoroughly convinced that a limited monarchy gives more 
 true liberty to the subject than the much vaunted Demo- 
 cracy. Mr. Mackenzie was a Scotchman, he had resided 
 for a time in England before coming to Canada, he had 
 seen all the phases of Colonial life, and that life had been to 
 him a bitter one, yet experience proved to him that the 
 British system of government was to be preferred to pure 
 democracy. Nor was this all. Mackenzie as time went on 
 saw the folly of his past proceedings. He deeply regretted 
 having stirred up strife in Canada and became a penitent. 
 
364 REBELLION OF 1837 
 
 In 1842 he wrote from the United States to a friend in 
 Canada, " The more I see this country, the more do I 
 regret the attempt at revokition at Toronto and St. 
 Charles." After having lived nine years in the United 
 States he wrote, " I frankly confess that had I passed nine 
 years in the United States before, instead of after the out- 
 break, I am sure I would have been the last man in 
 America to be engaged in it." 
 
 As if to emphasize his regret at having been the 
 fomenter of rebellion in Canada, and to place himself on 
 record in the most public manner, as being his own accuser, 
 in the early part of the year 1849, or about that time, he 
 wrote to Earl Grey, the Colonial Secretary, in Loudon : '' A 
 course of careful observation during the last eleven years 
 has fully satisfied me that had the violent movement in 
 which I and many others were engaged on both sides of the 
 Niagara proved successful, that success would have deeply 
 injured the people of Canada, whom I then believed I was 
 serving at great risks. ... I have long been sensible of 
 the errors committed at that period. No punishment that 
 power could inflict or nature sustain would have equalled 
 the regrets I have felt on account of much I did and wrote 
 and published. There is not a living man on this continent, 
 who more sincerely desires that the British Government in 
 Canada may long continue." 
 
 What stronger testimony than this is wanted to prove 
 that the better and happier condition for Canada is to hold 
 strongly to old Mother England ? Here we have a Prince 
 of Agitators, a man deeply dyed in revolution, acknow- 
 
THE COST OF REVOLUTION. 365 
 
 ledging that he had been all wrong, and expressing his hope 
 for the stability of that Empire which he had so earnestly 
 sought to rob of her colony. 
 
 One is almost inclined to forgive Mr. jMackenzie for his 
 revolutionary propaganda after such expressions of con- 
 trition as have been quoted. 
 
 But, alas ! the consequences of the rebellion were so 
 serious — so many lives were sacrificed, so many women 
 made widows, so many children fatherless, and so much 
 property destroyed in the civil war — that the leaders in it 
 cannot be altogether forgiven, though all would wish to for- 
 get this unfortunate episode in Canadian history. It is safe 
 to say that as many as a thousand live^ were sacrificed in 
 the rebellion. The greater proportion of the lives lost was 
 among the insurrectionary class, American sympathizers and 
 Canadian refugees. The loss in the ranks of the Loyalists 
 was comparatively small. There were several executions 
 for treason in Upper Canada. The most prominent of 
 those executed for treason in that Province were Lount and 
 Matthews at Toronto, and Von Shultz at Kingston. After 
 the rebellion had finally collapsed, the rebels taken prisoners 
 in Upper Canada were brought to trial before competent 
 tribunals. The result was that ten were executed and 
 fifty-eight transported. More than 800 persons were made 
 prisoners in Upper Canada and dealt with by Court Martial 
 and the Civil Courts. The prisons in Lower Canada were 
 tilled with prisoners. 
 
 On the 31st of March, 1838, the Earl of Durham was 
 appointed High Commissioner for the investigation of 
 
366 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 certain important questions pending in the Provinces of 
 Lower and Upper Canada, respecting the form of the future 
 government of the Provinces ; and by the same Com- 
 mission was appointed Governor-General and Commander- 
 in-Chief of the Provinces. 
 
 It was a misfortune that the Commission had not been 
 appointed at an earlier period. Before the insuri-ection 
 broke out, in the preceding year, the Queen, in her speech 
 at the opening of the Imperial Legislature, called the 
 attention of the two houses of Parliament to the troubled 
 state of affairs in Canada. 
 
 The Constitutional Act of 1791 was well enough in its 
 day, but by the incoming of the year 1837 had outgrown 
 its usefulness. The fact was recognized by the Imperial 
 Government, and, in 1840, an Imperial Act was passed, 
 superseding the Act of 1791, and uniting the Provinces of 
 Upper and Lower Canada. The Union of the Provinces 
 was always opposed by the inhabitants of Lower Canada, 
 the politicians of that Province being apprehensive that 
 with the rapid growth of Upper Canada, the latter Province 
 would have a numerical majority so large as to be able to 
 control the legislation of the two Canadas, and thus destroy 
 the French-Canadian influence. Notwithstanding the 
 opposition of Lower Canada, and the not too ready willing- 
 ness of Upper Canada, the Union had to be brought about. 
 The Earl of Durham was appointed High Commissioner, 
 as stated, on the 31st of March, 1838, and made his report 
 to the British Government on the 31st of January, 1839. 
 The report was the foundation of the Act of Union of 1840. 
 
LORD DURHAAFS REPORT. 3()7 
 
 It is too lengthy to give in full, but a synopsis of it will 
 aid in coming to a conclusion as to the merits or demerits 
 of the Rebellion of 1837. The Report makes a large folio 
 volume, though containing but thirty-eight paragraphs. 
 The substance of the Report is as follows : — 
 
 Paragraph 1. This paragraph is preliminary, and states that the 
 suspension of the Constitution gave him (Lord Durham) an essential 
 advantage over his predecessors. It not merely relieved him 
 from the burthen of constant discussions with the Legislative bodies, 
 but it enabled him to turn his attention to the real grievances of the 
 Province, etc., etc. 
 
 Paragraph 2. He himself, he found, as well as most people in 
 England, had had a very erroneous view of the parties at issue in 
 Lower Canada. The quarrel he had been sent to heal, had been 
 a quarrel between the Executive Government and the popular branch 
 of the Legislature. The latter body had apparently been contending 
 for popular rights, free government, etc. The Executive defending 
 prerogative of the Crown and the institutions which had been 
 established as checks on the unbridled exercise of popular power. 
 
 " I had in common with most of my countrymen imagined that 
 the original and constant source of the evil was to be found in the 
 defects of the political institutions of the Province, that a reform of 
 the Constitution, or perhaps merely the introduction of a sounder 
 practice into the administration of the Government would remove all 
 cause of contest and complaint." In this he refers to his despatch of 
 the 9th August, 1838, to the Principal Secretary of State, in which 
 he gave in detail, the impressions produced on his mind by the state 
 of things he found actually to exist in Lower Canada. That experi- 
 ence, derived from his residence in the Province, had completely 
 changed his views of the relative value of the causes which had been 
 assigned for the existing disorders. ' ' From the peculiar circum- 
 stance in which I was placed, I was enabled to make such effectual 
 observations as convinced me that there had existed in the Consti- 
 tution of the Province, in the balance of political power, in the spirit 
 and practice of the administration, in every department of the Govern- 
 ment defects that were quite sufficient to account for a great degree of 
 mismanagement and dissatisfaction. I found a deeper than political 
 
368 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 cause, a cause that penetrated deep into its social fabric. . . . 
 I expected to find a contest between a Government and a people, 1 
 found two nations warring in the bosom of a mighty state, I found a 
 struggle not of principle, but of races," etc. 
 
 Paragraph 3. Animosities between French and English. Every 
 contest is one of French and English in the outset, or becomes so 
 ere it has rua its course. Exasperation of the races against each 
 other. Refers to the divisions in Quebec and Montreal, and that the 
 Eastern Townships remained comparatively quiet, not coming into 
 contact with the French. British population in some cases voted 
 French from local causes, and still Government influence as a general 
 rule could not influence the French, they stick together. A large part 
 of the Catholic Canadians, a few of the principal proprietors of the 
 seigniorial families and some of those who are influenced by com- 
 mercial connexion support the Government against revolutionary 
 violence, a middle party exercising influence, it is English or French. 
 
 Paragraph 4. Grounds of quarrel as put forward not the 
 real grounds. The grounds put forward only as a mask to conceal the 
 real grounds, which were national animosity. French politicians in 
 the majority have invoked the principle of popular control and 
 democrac}'. The English parade their loyalty. When we look to the 
 rights of each party the analogy to our own politics seems lost, if not 
 actually reversed ; the French appear to have used their democratic 
 aims for Conservative purposes, rather than those of liberal and 
 enlightened government, and the sympathies of the friends of reform 
 are naturally enlisted on the side of sound amelioration, which the 
 English minority in vain attempted to introduce into the antiquated 
 laws of the Province. 
 
 Paragraph 5. Papineau's influence on the legislative body. The 
 English complained of the Assembly, referred to the establishment of 
 the Registry Ofiice, and desired to commute the feudal tenures; and yet 
 it was amongst the able and most influential leaders of the English 
 that I found some of the opponents of some of the proposed reforms. 
 The French anxious to disclaim any hostility to these reforms, but 
 Papineau restrained the Assembly from considering them. The mass 
 of the population opposed to the feudal tenure. There is every 
 reason to believe that a great number of the peasants who fought at 
 St. Denis and St. Charles imagined that the principal result of success 
 would be the overthrow of tithes and feudal burthens ; and in the 
 
L OR D D UEHA M'S RE FOR T. 369 
 
 Declaration of Independence, which Nelson issued, two of the objects of 
 the insurrection were stated to be the abolition of feudal tenures and 
 the establishment of Registry Offices. 
 
 Paragraphs 6 and 7. Independent spirit of the English popu- 
 lation. Dissimilarity of races. The ignorance of the French habitanU, 
 etc. The two races inimical to each other, not like French and 
 English, but French-Canadian and English, the French clinging to 
 old laws and customs, not modern. "We must bear in mind," he 
 says, "what kind of French and English they are that are brought in 
 contact, and in what proportions they meet." 
 
 Paragraph 8. Enlarges on the ignorance of the French peasant. 
 His general character. How he was kept down by the old French 
 regime. He had no desir,e to raise more than for his immediate wants. 
 No general provision had been made for education. Not surprising 
 that they made little advance in improvements. Whatever energy dis- 
 played was in the fur trade. They (the French) remained an old 
 and stationary society in a new and progressive world. In all essentials 
 they are French, but French in every respect dissimilar to old France 
 in the present day. 
 
 Paragraph 9. Enlarges on social conditions. Notaries in villages 
 and priest and doctor. Seminaries and colleges. Although common 
 schools defective, seminaries and colleges effective. The most 
 instructed population is confined to a small body of educated persons. 
 To this singular state of things is attributable the extraordinary in- 
 fluence of the Canadian demagogues. 
 
 Paragraph 10. English population progressive, etc. In the early 
 history of the Province, under English rule, Canadians were excluded 
 from power, and all offices of trust and emolument mostly in hands of 
 English strangers. 
 
 Paragraph 11. The superiority of English farms and reclaiming 
 them, thus giving cause of jealousy to the French settlers. 
 
 Paragraphs 12 and 13. Working classes not divided by collision 
 of interest, but national prej udices. 
 
 Paragraphs 14, 15, 16 and 17. Effects of difference of language. 
 
 Paragraphs 19 and 20. No social intercourse between races. 
 
 Paragraph 21. Intermarriages rare. 
 
 Paragraph 22. Marked division of society. 
 
:}70 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 Paragraph 23. No combination for public objects. 
 
 Paragraph 24, Political strife the result of such social feeling. 
 Superior intelligence of English, but greater refinement of French. 
 
 Paragraphs 25 and 26 Collisions. between Executive and 
 Assembly. 
 
 The Union Act of 1840, based on the report of Lord 
 Durham, had the effect of bringing the Upper and Lower 
 Canadians into more intimate relations. It was designed 
 to harmonize 'the two races, and did good work in bring- 
 ing that about. I will not enlarge on this topic, however, 
 which is more for the politician and the general historian 
 to discom'se upon than for a writer of the Eebellion of 
 1837. Before concluding the narrative, however, it may 
 be proper to say something of the leaders of the rebellion, 
 after peace had been restored and the affairs of the 
 Provinces well under way under the new Constitutional 
 Act of 1840. 
 
 Messrs. Papineau, Mackenzie and Eolph, after their 
 exile of many years, returned to Canada, to take part in 
 the government of the country they had affected to believe 
 was hopelessly sunk in the slough of despond, and was the 
 victim of British tyranny. In 1851, Mr. Mackenzie 
 presented himself to the electors of the Count}' of Haldi- 
 mand, and was elected for that county against that 
 stalwart reformer, George Brown. Eolph regained the 
 confidence of his old constituency of Norfolk, and held 
 office as Commissioner of Crown Lands in the Govern- 
 ment of the United Province. Mr. Papineau yielded to 
 the temptation of again becoming a representative of the 
 people and secured a place in Parliament. None of these 
 
EXILED REBELS RETURN. 371 
 
 gentlemen ever attained the influence they possessed in 
 their more happy ante-rebellion days. The political 
 atmosphere by which they were surrounded was entirely 
 different from what it was when Papineau had only but 
 to speak, and all Lower Canada answered to his call, and 
 when Mackenzie piped to his many dancers in Upper 
 Canada. As for Mr. Papineau he ever retained his French- 
 Canadian nationality, and never concealed his discontent 
 with the Union, which he had bitterly opposed in Lower 
 Canada. He had the respect of all his* countrymen. Some 
 who had been his lieutenants in former days were now 
 in office, while he maintained that self-same haughty 
 independence, which was a prominent characteristic of his 
 nature. Those who were opposed to him could not help 
 admiring his conscientiousness and devotion to principle. 
 He accepted the Union as it was, but had no regard for 
 the Unionists. 
 
 Mr. Mackenzie on his return from the United States, 
 in the performance of his duties in Parliament, was the 
 same active representative that he had been when member 
 for York, but his critical mind had to submit to the altered 
 state of things, which afforded him little scope for his 
 ruling passion. 
 
 The remembrance of the rebellion did for some years 
 rankle in the breasts of those who were called upon to' 
 defend the Provinces in a time of internal disorder and 
 foreign aggression. For those Americans, who, in despite 
 of neutrality laws, and in defiance of the peaceful relations 
 then existing, and which ought at all times to exist between 
 
372 REBELLION OF 1837. 
 
 the two great nations, Great Britain and the United States, 
 sought to embroil these countries in war, there was no 
 excuse whatever. 
 
 The Canadian insurgents, on the contrary, could claim 
 that they acted in the honest belief that the institutions 
 of their country required reforming, which could only be 
 brought about by rebellion. This was an entirely 
 mistaken idea. It nevertheless influenced the minds of 
 many good men who would never have thought of rebelling 
 but for the overdrawn pictures of misgovernment in public 
 affairs, designed by disappointed politicians and profes- 
 sional agitators. 
 
 Most of the men who took part in the rebellion have 
 long since left the stage of life, but some are living who 
 took part in the struggles of that period. In writing this 
 narrative I have sought to avoid personalities or individu- 
 alising as far as possible, and at the same time to present 
 to the reader an intelligent account of the civil strife. 
 
 " If I unwittingly 
 
 Have aught committed that is hardly borne 
 
 By any in this presence, I desire 
 
 To reconcile me to his friendly peace." 
 
14 DAY USE 
 
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