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TORONTO : Printed at the Office of "The Week." P .1 sz r \ o^ o \ CENTENNIAL OF UPPER CANADA NOW THE PROVINCE OP ONTAIUO : THE HUXDREDTIl A>flSr[VEIiSARY OF THE ESTABLISH. MENT OF THE KEFJIESENTATIVE SYSTEM, JULY 16, 1792. THE Pioneer and Historical Society of the County of York keep their annual festival this year on the 16th of July, in commemoration of the fact that on that day, in the year 1793, was issued the Royal Proclamation divid- ing the new Province of Upper Canada into counties, and, at the same time, setting forth the number of representa- tives which the inhabitants of each county were to send to the Provincial Parliament. The 16th July, 1792, was thus, as it were, the birthday of an organized constitutional Government for the Province of Upper Canada, that is to say, for the existing Province of Ontario. The Governor of the new Province had arrived at Quebec on the 11th of November, 1791, by the ship Triton, but various unavoidable delay" had occurred, aris- ing partly from insutficient instructions, partly from the non-appearance of a small military force expected from Halifax, and also the non-arrival of certain persons from England (Osgoode and xiussell), who were to be important officials, so that it was not until towards the end of May, of the following year, that Governor Simcoe was enabled to proceed westward from Quebec to take possession of his Province. However, we tind him at last at Montreal. He has only recently received despatches from the Home Government, the first which had reached his hands since his departure from England. These being satisfactory, he was enabled to proceed. He advances from Montreal, surrounded by a brigade of canoes, up the St. Lawrence — styled in a letter of his "one of the most august of rivers." r In due time he is at Kingston, and this being at that period the most important poat within the limits of his jurisdiction, he conHiders it proper to summon together at that spot as many of the substantial folk of the surround- ing region as was found to be practicable, and to have read in their heaving the commission with which he had been entrusted by the King, and to havfi administered to himself the requisite oaths. All this was accordingly done with due solemnity on the 8th of July. He next made known the names of those who were l)y Royal Commission to be appointed members of the Executive and Legislative Councils, and then, on the 16th of the same month, he caused to be issued a Proclamation, which has become memorable in our annals as securing to the whole popula- tion of the Province, in all future time, a just representa- tion in Parliament — the first instance in British history of the concession of self-government to a colony, from its very outset, by the joint action of King, Lords and Commons. Printed copies of this Proclamation in pam- phlet form were doubtless previously prepared in Quebec or Montreal, which could be conveniently handed to the members of the Executive Council and other ofSciai persons to be circulated by them in their respective neigh- bourhoods. It was evidently a document a little too bulky to be comprised within the customary broadside or poster. In a manuscript copy furnished by Mr. Brymner from the archives at Ottawa, it covers nineteen closely- written folios \ and in Hugh C. Thomson and James Macfarlane's Statutes of Upper Canada, published at Kingston in 1831, it fills four large quarto pages (pp. 24 to 27). On the very next day after the delivery of this celebrated Proclamation, Governor Simcoe is on the move westward. The objective point at which he is aiming is Newark, or West Niagara, as it was afterwards called, a place become familiar to us now as Niagara-onthe-Lake ; here in due time the new Governor arrives in safety, and on the 2l8t of August we find him dating from that place his despatch to tfie Secretary for the Colonies, Henry Dundas, announcing the formal issue of his Proclamation, and enclosing a copy of the same. Newark was for a time to be considered as the capital of his Province, and here ;r. j' c^ 5 he began at once vigorously to employ himself in estab- lishing and getting into working order the several depart- ments of his Government, and to carrv into etlect thn several provisions of the Imperial Act, which had divided the Province of Quebec into the Provinces of Upper and Lower Canada. He took up his residence in quarters hastily prepai'ed for him in a large frame store-house, situated close to the landing-place a little way up from the mouth of the river on its western side. This temporary place of abode, from the fact of its having been built for the purpose of shelter- ing naval stores appertaining to the Government shipping upon the lake, became far-famed throughout the country as " Navy Hall." It is the recollection of these various incidents that renders the old town of Niagara a focus of attraction so widely interesting in this centennial year, 1892. The Preamble of the very notable Proclamation of which we have spoken, after reciting the official titles of the King George III., reads as follows : — *' Whereas in pursuance of an Act of Parliament, lately made and provided, passed in the thirty-tirst year of our reign and of authority by us given for that purpose, our late Province of Quebec is become divided into the two Provinces of Upp'^r Canada and Lower Canada, and our Lieutenant-Governor of the said Province of Upper Canada, by power from us derived, is authorized in the absence of our right trusty and well-beloved Guy, Lord Dorchester, Captain-General and Governor-in Chief of our said Pro vince of Upper Canada, to divide into districts, counties, circles, or towns and townships, for the purpose of effec- tuating the intent of the said Act of Parliament and to declare and appoint the members of the representatives to be chosen by each to serve in the Assembly of the said Province. Know ye therefore that our trusty and well-beloved, John Graves Bimcoe, Esquire, Lieutenant Governor of our said Province of Upper Canada, in the absence of our said Governor-in-Chief, hath, and by this our Proclamation doth divide the said Province of Upper Canada into coun- 3 / 6 ties, and hath and doth declare and appoint the number of representatives of thetii, and each to be as herein limited, named, declared, and appointed." The counties and their representatives are then enu- merated (of which more Mt large presently), and the Pro- clamation, aftf^r enjoining " our loving subjects and all others concerned to take due notice to govern themselves accordingly," concludes as follows : — " In testimony whereof we have caused these our let- ters to be made patent and the great seal of our said Pro- vince of Upper Canada to be hereunto affixed. Witness our trusty and well-beloved, John Graves Simcoe, Esquire, our Lieutenant-Governor of our said Province of Upper Canada, and Colonel commanding our forces in Upper Canada, etc., etc., etc., at our Government House in the town of Kingston, this sixteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-two, and in the thirty second year of our reign.'' The simple initials J. G. S. are appended, but at th(! beginning of the Proclamation the name of the Governor appears in full just above the royal name. The name of the Secretary is added, " William Jarvis." The dignified expression " our Govern- ment House in the town of Kingston " probably describes the quarters assigned to the commandant of the garrison at that post. Of the nineteen counties, into which according to the Proclamation Upper Canada was to be divided, eight were to bear the name of certain English counties, Durham, Essex, Kent, Lincoln, Norfolk, Northumberland, Suffolk, and York ; one (Frontenac) was named after the Count de Frontenac, twice Governor-General of Canada, founder of Furt Frontenac in 1672 on the site where Kingston now stands ; and one, Ontario, had its name from the Lake ; not coinciding with the present county of that name, but con- sisting wholly of islands scattered along in front of the mainland. Eight were named in honour of eminent statesmen and other personages of the period. Adding- ton, from Speaker Addington, afterwards Lord Sidmouth ; Dundas from Henry Dundas, the Secretary for the Colonies, afterwards known as Lord Melville. (The T 1 T important highway subnequpntly hewn out through the whole length of th(^ Province, from Chatham to the Ottawa, passing directly through what is now the city of Toronto, and Kingston, was as we shall remember named Dundas Street in honour of the same personage.) Grenville, probably from George Grenville, successor to Lord Bute, 1763. Leeds, from the Duke of Leeds, of the day. Lennox, from the family name of the Duke of Richmond (a name which may have been acceptable to George the Third for certain reasons). Storraont, from a secondary title of the Chief Justice Lord Mansfield, 1776 (he was Viscount Stormont in the Peerage of Scot- land). Prince Edward County, from the King's son, the Duke of Kent, father of her present Majesty. Finally, the county of Glengarry, had its name from the large settlement already established within its limits, of High- landers, belonging to the Glengarry branch of the clan Macdonald, U. E. Loyalists who came over into Canada from the other side of the lakes at the time of the Ameri- can Revolution ; reinforced by numerous emigrants from the Highlands of Scotland, belonging to the same branch of the clan Macdonald at a later period, consisting largely of the Gleng.trry Fensibles, a regiment of the line lately disbanded. As lo the county of York, the name may have been intended as a compliment to Frederick the Duke of York, brother of Prince Edward, and not a mere reproduc- tion of the name of the county in England. Compliments, we find, had already been paid to members of the Royal family in these parts, prior to the setting off of the new Province of Upper Canada, in names which in some instances still survive, e.^., Adolphus-town, Sophias-burg, Ernest-town, etc. After defining the nineteen counties the Proclamation sets forth the number of members which are to repre- sent them in the Legislative Assembly. In one or two instances two whole counties arn to send only one mem- ber to Parliament, and in one case a portion of even a third county is to be associated for electoral purposes with two other counties ; so that on the whole there were to be only sixteen members in the House of Assembly, In marking out the boundaries of the several counties, care Jv3 8 has been takon not to encronch upon tlv Inrlian Lanrln or Mi8siHsaj»a tract, hh Uw rxprcHsion iH, in thu westHrn part of the new Provinc{\ not yet ceded by treaty. This fact ff-nderH the description here and thore somewhat dif- ficult to underMtand in the ab.sonco of a map with the lines clearly marked. The word •* Eiding " throughout the Pro<;lamation, through a popular misconception has been wrongly applied. Riding strictly means a third part, and is a cor- ruption of the old Scandinavian word " Thriding," or "Thirding." It is corr(!ctly used in relation to the great county of York in England, wherein we havo three rid- ings mentioned — the east, west and north. The Canadian county of York — also Glengarry — is divided into two ridings, and Lincoln into four. The wi 't riding of York extends a? far we.st as tht; River Thames. Ivent, likewise, appears to cover a large area. The Proclamation sets forth that this county •' comprehends all the country (not being territory of the Indians) not already included in the several counties herein liefore described extending northward to the boundary line of Hudson's Bay, includ- ing all the territory to the westward and southward of the said line, to the utmost extent of the country com- monly called or known by the name of Canada." (A marked map is here evidently needed.) From this Proclamation some other familiar namea besides those of oar counties are to be dated. Then it is announced that the name "Thames" is to be hencefor- ward attached to the river called by the French " La Tranche." Wolfe Island is to super.sede " (jiande Isle." Amherst Island is to take the place of Isle "Tonti." Howe Island obliterates *' Isle Couchois," and Gage Island does the same for "Isle au Foret." Burlington Bay, too, appears now as a new name, displacing •• Lake of Geneva," an appellation, it would seem, previously in use to designate this sheet of water. One change has not taken effect. Grand River falling into Lake Erie was declared to be the Ouse ; an alias for the Ottawa used in the Proclamation is also Grand River ; a name which bus been dropped. Grand River, of cour.se, signifies nothing but •' Grande Riviere," which would simply be a transla- o" ^^ ;^ 9 tion of 8oau! Indian word nu anini; •' Bit^ RivtT." Chip- pewa Creek has also well kept its own as tij^ainst VVelland River, the upper portion -^^ *lie Htrearu being known by the latter name, wliilst the lower portion retaiuH itw former appellation. The old Government Gazette(ir (1797) in- forms the reader that " Chippewa Creek (or Chipeweigh River) is called the Welland bv Proclamation, the 16th July, 1792." The representation in Parliament of the several coun- ties enumerated in the Proclamation was to be as fol- lows : Glengarry was to have two members, one for each riding; Stormont waa to have o- > : Dundas, one ; Gren- ville, one ; Leeds and Frontenac t>, -ether are to send one ; likewise Ontario and Addingtou are to send one ; Prince Edward and a "Portion of L' ' .ox sliall se^ . one ; the rest of Lennox is to combine with the twu whole counties of Hastings and Northumberland in sending one member ; Durham and Yoi': are to uuiue with ihe tirst riding of Lincoln in .sending one ni'-mber. The second riding of Lincoln has a meniber to itself, uf. also has the third \ the fourth riding is to combine with the county of Norfolk in sending one ; the counties of Suffolk and Essex together are to send one ; the inhabitants of the county of Kent are numerous enough to demand two representatives. The Provincial Gazetteer of D. W. Smith, published by authority in 1797, gives the boundaries of the counties as just defined, and the members to be returned by each respectively to the Provincial Parliament, and in every case the Proclamation now before us of the 16th July, 1792, is referred to as a quasi charter of the electoral rights of the people. Thus in the case of Glengarry the words of the Gazetteer are : " The boundaries of this county were established by Proclamation, the 16th July, 1792 ; it consists of two ridings, each of which sends one representative to the Provincial Parliament," and again in the case of the county of York, the words of the Gazetteer are : '• The boundaries of this county were established by Proclamation, 16th July, 1792; it sends, in connection with the county of Durham and the first riding of the county of Lincoln, one representative to the Provincial Parliament," and so on with the rest of the counties. It $-36 " 10 will not be inappropriate to add the contents of tho bronze medal now being executed by the skilful die-sinker, P. W. Ellis of Toronto, commemorative of the present centennial year. This medal shows, on the one side, a head of Sim- coe designed from the medallion on his monument in the Cathedral at Exeter, Devon, surrounded by the words : "John Graves Simcoe, Lieut.-Governor, A. D. 1791-A. D. 1796 " ; on the other side, near the edge of the medal, are the words: "Upper Cansida : Since 1867, Ontario." Within these words, and running in straight lines across the medal, are the three following inscriptions: — RRPRESENTATIVE SYSTEM PROCLAIMED, 16, A. D. 1792. KIKGSTOX. JULY FIRST PARLIAMENT OPENED, NIAGARA, SEPTEMBER 17, A. D. 1792. CENTENNIAL CELEBRATED, A. D. 1892. The inscriptions are in small capitals, all of one size.