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?9fit ' " "^^ 
 
 

 
 YONGE STREET AND DUNDAS STREET. 
 
 THE MEN AFTER WHOM THEY WERE NAMED. 
 
 A PAPER FROM THE CANADIAN JOURNAL OF LITERATURE, SCIENCE 
 
 AND HISTORY. 
 
 BT 
 
 HEKET SOADDIKG, D.D., 
 
 CANON OP ST. jambs', TORONTO. 
 
 TORONTO: 
 COPP, CLARK & CO., PRINTERS, 67 ^ 69 COLBORNE STREET. 
 
 1878. 
 
 r3 
 
FC 30^7 
 
 I 
 
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 \ 
 
 YONGE STREET AND DUNDAS STREET. 
 
 THE MEN AFTER WHOM THEY WERE NAMED.* 
 
 When it has happened that a town, city or region has received a 
 name intended to be an enduring memorial of a particular personage, 
 it is natural to suppose that some interest in his history and character 
 will there be felt. In the many places, for example, which have been, 
 or are sure to be, called Livingstone, we may expect that hereafter a 
 special acquaintance with the story of the great explorer and mis- 
 sionary will be kept up. But names quickly become familiar and trite 
 on the lips of men ; and unless now and then attention be directed to 
 their significance, they soon cease to be much more than mere sounds. 
 
 The inhabitants of Lorraine probably seldom give much thought 
 to the Lothaire, of whose realm, Lotharii regnum, their province is 
 the representative. Few citi/ens of Bolivia waste time in recalling 
 Bolivar. To the Astorians, Astoria speaks faintly now of John Jacob 
 Astor; and Aspinwall, to its occupants, has by this time lost the 
 personal allusion implied in the word. Ismailia, on the Upper Nile, 
 may be a momentary exception. That is altogether too fresh a crea- 
 tion. Who Ismail, the living Khedive, is, must be sufficiently well 
 known at present to the people there. 
 
 Nevertheless, I suppose, even where the notability commemorated 
 has almost wholly departed out of the public mind, a recurrence to 
 the story really wrapped up in the name of a given place cannot be 
 unwelcome. 
 
 Sir Thomas Browne, in his " Urn burial," says : " To be content 
 that times to come should only know there was such a man, without 
 
 * Read before the Canadian Institute. 
 
IT irrumwuWMiii 
 
 4 YONGE STREET AND DUNDAS STREET. 
 
 caring whether they knew more of him, was a frigid ambition in 
 Cunlun. For who careth," he asks, "to subsist like Hippocrates' 
 patients, or Achilles' horses in Homer, under naked nominations, 
 witnout deserts and noble acts, which are the balsam of our memories, 
 the entelechia and soul of our subsistences'?" 
 
 And even so in respect of local names amongst us, borrowed from 
 worthies of a former day — it may be taken for granted that thoughtful 
 persons will not wish to rest content with " naked nominations;" but, 
 on the contrary, will desire to become fomiliar with the " eiitelechia," 
 as Sir Thomas Browne chooses learnedly to express himself — the true 
 motive and " soul of their subsistences." 
 
 I accordingly pi'oceed to summon up, so far as I may, the shades 
 of two partially forgotten personages, commemorated and honoured 
 in the style and title of two great thoroughfares familiar to Toronto 
 people and Western Canadians generally — Yonge Street and Dundas 
 Street. I refer to Sir George Yorge and the Right Hon. Henry 
 Dundas, from whom those two well-known main-roads of the Province 
 of Ontai-io respectively have their appellations. 
 
 I am assisted in my attempt to revive the forms of these two men 
 of mark in a foi'mer generation, by the possession of an engraved 
 poi'trait of each of them. That of Sir George Yonge is from a paint- 
 ing by Mather Brown, engraved by E. Scott, "engraver to the Duke 
 of York and Prince Edward." It shows a full, frank, open, English 
 countenance, smoothly shaven, with pleasant intelligent eyes ; the 
 moutli rather large, but exj)ressive ; the chin double ; the hair natural 
 and abundant, but white with powder. The inscription below is : 
 "The Bight Honoural)le Sir George Yonge, Bart., Secretary at War, 
 Knight of the Bath, One of Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy 
 Council, F.K.S., F.A.S., &c., M.P." 
 
 » 
 
 I.— SIR GEORGE YONGE. 
 
 Sir George Yonge was the chief representative of an ancient 
 Devonshire family. He was born in 1732, and satin Parliament 
 for the borough of Honiton from 1754 to 1796. His father, the 
 fourth baronet, Sir William Yonge, sat for the same place before 
 him. Sir George was Secretary at War from 1782 to 1794, when 
 he was succeeded by William Windham. Ho also held the offices of 
 Vice-Treasurer for Ireland, and Master of the Mint. In 1797 he 
 
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 '!) ^ 
 
 SIR GEORGE YONGE, Baut. (1732- 1812). 
 
 AlTKR WHOM YoNUE aTREET, I'liOVINCE OF OmaUIO, \VA9 NAMKU. 
 
IS" 
 
 '■W 
 
YONQE STREET AND DUNDAS STREET. 
 
 became Governor and Commander-in-Chief at the Cape of Good 
 Hope, succeeding Lord Macartney thex'e. He died at Hampton 
 Court, September 26, 1812, jet. 80. 
 
 In the debates taking place in the House of Commons during the 
 movement in the American Colonies which resulted in their indepen- 
 dence, Sir George Yonge took a favourable view of the intentions 
 and wishes of the colonists. Thus, in reply to Lord North, when 
 some resolutions were being adopted on a petition from Nova Scotia 
 setting forth the grievances of that loyal olony, and calling respect- 
 fully for a redress of them at the hands of the Imperial Parliament, 
 Sir George Yonge said : "The sentiments of the petitioners wei'e the 
 sentiments of the General Congress : they alike acknowledge the 
 Parliament of Gref.t Britain as the supreme legislature ; they alike 
 own it their duty to contribute to the exigencies of the State ; and 
 they alike claim the right of giving and gi-anting their own money." 
 He added, " that it was in the power of the Ministry so to frame the 
 bill as to give peace to all America, and he wished that were their 
 inclination." Thus his remarks are summarized in the Gentleman's 
 Magazine of December, 1776. As a specimen of Sir George's 
 speeches at a later period, as Secretary at War, I give the summary 
 of one preserved in the same periodical, which will show that he 
 possessed tact and address. It relates to a proposed reduction in the 
 Household Troops in 1787, to efiect which, however, a larger sum 
 than usual was to be asked for from the Parliament. The point was 
 to make it clear that the extra charge on the revenue would result in 
 8i "saving to the public." 
 
 The reporter of the Gentleman^ s Magazine informs us that *' The 
 Secretary of War rose and said, that when he presented the army 
 estimates, he had not included in them those of the King's household 
 troops, because, as he had long since informed the House, His 
 Majesty had at that time under consideration a plan of reform in 
 those corps by which a considerable saving might be made to the 
 public. It being impracticable, however, to digest this plan so soon 
 as was expected, the intended reform could not take place till the 
 24:th of June next. It was therefore necessary to vote the pay of 
 all the household troops from Christmas Day last tip to Midsummer. 
 After the latter period, two troops of Life-Guards would be reduced, 
 and replaced by the Grenadier Guards. The pay would be continued 
 
■•*• 
 
 -•'"■-"''■^'^'•' 
 
 6 
 
 YONOE STREET AND DUNDAS STREET. 
 
 to the officers until vacancies happened in other regiments ; and to 
 the private gentlemen, all of whom had purchased their situations, 
 it would be but just to make compensation. It was the King's 
 intention," Sir George proceeded to say, "that the two colonels of th* 
 troops to be reduced should receive £1,200 each a year for life ; but 
 a vacancy having lately happened in a regiment of dragoons by the 
 death of General Carpenter, one of them would be appointed to fill 
 it, and thus £1,200 a year would be saved to the nation; the other 
 Colonel (the Duke of Northumberland), who was far above all pecu- 
 niary consideration, and had nothing so much at heart as the good of 
 the service, had nobly requested that the annuity designed for him 
 might make part of the saving that was to arise from the reform. 
 He (Sir George) said that the public would save by the reform, at 
 first, between £11,000 and £12,000 a year; but that when the 
 officers shall be otherwise provided for, or djop off by death, the 
 savings would then amount to £24,000 per annum. Such advantage, 
 however, could not be expected this year ; on the contrary, this year's 
 expense would be much greater than that of any which preceded it ; 
 but then the cause of its increase would never occur again, particu- 
 larly as he proposed to move that the sum of £28,000 should be 
 allowed as a compensation to the private gentlemen for their purchase 
 money." Sir George then concluded by moving for the full establish- 
 ment of 7 1 5 men, officers included, of the four troops of Horse and 
 Grenadier Guards up to Midsummer Day, after which one half of 
 their establishment should be reduced ; and for the several sums for 
 compensation, which, on the whole, amounted to £79,543 5s. He 
 remarked, before he sat down, that much had rec -«tly been said on 
 the subject of patronage ; but this reduction was a proof that the 
 extension of patronage was not a favourite object with His Majesty, 
 who proposed it, as it w^as clear he might have greatly lessened the 
 expenses of the nation, and yet preserved the usual patronage, by 
 reducing the privates and keeping up the establishment of the officers. 
 It is then added : " The sums moved for were voted without debate, 
 and the House was immediately resumed." 
 
 The nominally independent action of the King in relation to the 
 Household Troops, and its open allegation by the Secretary, tell of 
 an age when the Stuart ideas of kingly prerogative still, in theory, 
 survived. The Duke of Northumberland spoken of, as intending 
 
 • 
 
YONGE STREET AND DUNDAS STREET. 
 
 • 
 
 to forego the compensation about to be provided for the disbanded 
 portion of the Body Guard, was the friend of our Mohawk Chief, 
 Joseph Brant, whose acquaintance the Duke formed while serving as 
 Lord Percy* in the Revolutionary War. An interesting letter from 
 the Duke to Brant, in which the latter is addressed as " My dear 
 Joseph," may be read in Stone's Life of the Chief, ii., 237. The 
 letter is signed, ** Your affectionate friend and brother, Northumber- 
 land, Thorigh-we-gi-ri" (Mohawk for "The Evergreen Thicket"). 
 
 I likewise give a specimen of a kind of communication with which, 
 no doubt. Sir George Yonge was famili ir in his capacity as Secretary 
 at War. It will be of some special in -erest to us, as it comes from 
 the hand of Lord Dorchester, at the time Governor-General of Canada, 
 and it is dated at Quebec in 1790. It reiates to an application which, 
 it appears, Lord Dorchester had made for ; , 'ommission for his son in 
 the Guards, which application, it was tlu'Ught, had been too long 
 overlooked, while in the meantime the younar man was rapidly grow- 
 ing' and exceeding the prescribed age for entering the army. Con- 
 sequently Jjord Dorchep^er asks for a cornr*cy, temporarily, in some 
 other regiment. Thus the letter rends (I transcribe from the auto- 
 graph original): "Sir, — As I apprehend that many importunities 
 have retarded the success of my application, about four years since, 
 for an Ensigncy in the Guards for my eldest son, Guy; and fearing 
 lest the same reasons may still continue, while he is advancing con- 
 siderably beyond the age judged necessary for entering into the mili- 
 tary profession, I am to request you will take a proper opportunity 
 of laying my petition before the King, that He would be graciously 
 pleased (till such time as it may suit His Majesty's convenience and 
 good pleasure to honour him with a commission in His Guards) to 
 give him a Cornetcy in any of His Regiments in Great Britain. I 
 am. Sir, with regard, your most obedient and most humble servant, 
 Dorchester. Sir George Yonge, &c., &c., &c." 
 
 It may bo that the intended reduction in the Household Troops, to 
 which Sir George's speech referred in 1787, had something to do with 
 the apparent neglect of Lord Dorchester's petition. Tlie letter just 
 given is, as I have said, dated in 1790, and the delay had been con- 
 tinuing for nearly four y nars. Guy, in fact, never obtained even the 
 cornetcy. He died in 1793, aged 20. Neither did his next brothf , 
 
 • Portraits of Earl Percy may be seen ia Andrews' History of the War, i., 289 ; and Lossing's 
 Fieldbook. ii. 613. 
 
""Y"' 
 
 8 
 
 YONGE STREET AND DUNDA8 STREET. 
 
 Thomas, who died in the follc/ing year at exactly the same age. 
 But Christopher, the third son, born in 1775, was a lieutenant-colonel 
 in the army, and was father of Arthur Henry, the second Baron. A 
 memorial, I believe, of Guy (Jarleton, first Lord Dorchester, exists in 
 Toronto in tlie name of one of its streets — Carleton Street. 
 
 Besides being a statesman and skilled in the theory of war. Sir 
 George Yonge was what our grandfathers would style an " ingenious" 
 person, a man of letters, and fond of science and archaeology. The 
 initials appended to his name under his portrait indicate that he was 
 a Fellow of the Royal Society and of the Society of Antiquaries of 
 London. In volume nine of the Archceologia, or Transactions of the 
 Society of Antiqtiaries of London, I find a letter addressed by him to 
 the secretaiy of the Society, on the subject of Roman Roads and 
 Camps. Major Hay man Rooke, a Fellow of the Society, had dis- 
 covered some Roman remains near Mansfield, in the county of Not- 
 tingham, and Sir George had suggested the probability of a Roman 
 road or camp somewhere near by. The conjecture turned out to be 
 correct, although before the search which was instituted the existence 
 of such works there had not been suspected. In a letter to Sir George, 
 Hayman Rooke justly observes that "the discovery proves your 
 superior judgment in these matters." Sir George inti'oduces Major 
 Rooke's discoveries to the Society of Antiquaries thus (the document 
 is addressed to the secretary of the Society) : " Sir, — I transmit to 
 you, at the request of my respectable and ingenious friend. Major 
 Rooke, of Woodhouse, a small treatise which he has drawn up on 
 some Roman Roads, Tumuli, Stations and Camps, which he has lately 
 traced in the neighbourhood of Mansfield, and which have not hitherto 
 been noticed." I cannot comply with his request that it might be 
 transmitted to the Society, without explaining some particulars which 
 gave rise to this treatise. When I first saw the account which he 
 sent to the Society, of a Roman villa which he had discovered near 
 Mansfield, I communicated to him some few sentiments of mine, on 
 which I grounded an opinion, though I was quite unacquainted with 
 the country, tiiat this villa was {)robably the residence of some mili- 
 tary Roman commander, and that there was probably some Roman 
 camp or station, or some military Roman road, running near it. This 
 did not by any means appear by his answer to be the case. And yet 
 it still seemed to me to be iaiprobablo that it should bo otherwise. 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 (• 
 
i 
 
 YONGE STREET AND DUNDAS STREET. 
 
 9 
 
 I » 
 
 t 
 
 1^ 
 
 Having had an opportunity last year of waiting on Major Rooke and 
 viewing this Roman villa, I was first struck with the appearance that 
 Mansfield was probably a Roman station, from whence the villa was 
 not above a mile distant, and indeed was in sight of it j and I thought 
 I saw traces of some Roman roads running near it. On viewing the 
 villa itself (which I found well worth the view), I saw a post still 
 nearer it which had all the appearance of a Roman camp, from its 
 form and other circumstances; but on inquiry from Major Rooke, he 
 assured me there was no such thing there, nor Roman road in the 
 neighbourhood. However, having ct mmunicated to him my senti- 
 ments grounded on observations whi( h I had occasionally made on 
 Roman roads, stations and camps, from whence I had formed a decided 
 opinion that there was a uniform system of such roads, camps and 
 stations throughout the king<lom, and all connected with each other 
 as diverticula, I entreated Major Rooke to look a little more nar- 
 rowly into this point; and ventured to prophesy that, on searching 
 further into this particular spot, which wore the name of Pleasley 
 Wood, he would not only find that to be a Roman station, but would 
 probably from thence be able to trace a connected chain of them 
 through the country. The time and the season not allowing of it 
 then, he promised to do so as he had leisure and opportunity; and 
 the result of his labours is contained in the treatise herewith enclosed. 
 I hope I shall be forgiven if I take this opportunity, fortified by this 
 experiment of the truth of my ideas on the subject, humbly to submit 
 it to the Society whether they would not think it advisable to direct 
 some encouragement should be given to an investigation of all the 
 Roman roads, camps and stations throughout the kingdom, county 
 by county, for the purpose of ascertaining the connected military 
 systen;! and principles on which thcv were formed; which may lead 
 to a curious discovery of the extent and situation of the many Roman 
 towns, camps and villas which must have existed in this country 
 during the period of four hundred years for which Britain was a very 
 distinguished member of the great Roman Empii'e. Such investiga- 
 tion, gradually but regularly pursued, would neither be expensive nor 
 laborious, there being very little doubt but that there are ingenious 
 persons in every county, who, on such a wish being properly com- 
 municated to them by the Society, would readily second those wishes, 
 and, with very little assist^ince in having plans or drawings made by 
 
 
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 Ml liaiiiiiiiiiiii ti m II I iTiiriirf'riiiiiifirTiirii 
 
 10 
 
 YONGE STREET AND DUNUAS STREET. 
 
 order of the Society, where the accounts transmitted might appeat to 
 justify it, produce in time a very complete account and system of these 
 military Roman remains, as well as of other municipia, and perhaps 
 baths and other vestiges of Roman magnificence. I beg pardon for 
 the liberty I have taken of suggesting thus much, and for detaining 
 you so long upon this subject; but I thought the explanation neces- 
 sary to elucidate the occasion of the treatise transmitted from Major 
 Rooke, and I also thought the subject not unworthy of the attention 
 of the Society. It will give both Major Rooke and me great pleasure 
 if they should be of the same opinion, or if they should think what 
 has been offered in any degree deserving their notice. I am, with 
 regard, Sir, your most obedient and humble servant, Geo. Yonge." 
 This communication to the Society of Antiquaries is dated " Strat- 
 ford Place, May 7, 1788." After reading it, we can readily under- 
 stand why the first organizer and Governor of Upper Canada, General 
 Simcoe, should have attached the name of Sir George Yonge to the 
 great military road cast up and hewn out by him, in 1793, through 
 the primitive woods from Lake Ontario to Lake Huron. It was not 
 simply as a compliment to the Secretary at War of the day, but it 
 was also something to give special gratification to a Fellow of the 
 Society of Antiquaries who had made himself, by his observation and 
 research, an authority on Roman roads. The application, too, of the 
 term *' Street " to the two great original highways opened up within 
 the new province, and intersecting each other at right angles in the 
 heart of its capital town, is thus explained. It was to follow the 
 example of the old Roman colonizers, who wisely made it an essential 
 part of their system to establish at once, throughout the length and 
 breadth of each region occupied, a public way, well constnicted, and 
 usually paved with blocks of stone — hence called a via strata — 
 vernacularizcd into /Street by our Saxon forefathers. Thus we have 
 Watling Street, a Roman road leading from Richborough to Canter- 
 bury and London ; Ickneild Street, a Roman road leading from 
 Tynemouth through Yoi'k, Derby, '.nd Birmingham to St. David's ; 
 Ermin Street, leading from Southampton, also to St. David's. Whilst 
 Ardwick-lo -Street in Yorkshire, Chester- le-Street in Durham, Stretton, 
 Stratton, Streatham, and several places called Stretford and Stratford, 
 all imply that they were each of them situated on the line of some 
 old Roman street or road. 
 
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 )• 
 / 
 
YONQE STREET AND DUNDAS STREET. 
 
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 I observe among the " Traditions and Recollections " of Polwhele, 
 the historian of Cornwall, a reference to the literary tastes of Sir 
 €reorge Yonge. Polwhele had communicated to him, for his judg- 
 ment, a certain composition, intended apparently to compete for 
 some distinction at the University of Oxford. Sir George replies as 
 follows : " I very much like your poetical ideas, and think they will 
 do for Oxford very well. The ode might be spoken (Sir George 
 suggests) by a bard from the top of t'le Promontory of Hercules," 
 [i.e., Hartland Point, North Devon, jutting out into the Bristol 
 Channel.] And in another place in the same work of Polwhele's 
 we meet with an allusion to Sir George Yonge as an encourager of 
 the author in his labours in relation to the History of Cornwall, not- 
 withstanding the adverse criticism of a few. Thus : 
 
 "Though Acland, scowling midst his scatter'd plans, 
 
 May spots innumerous in my book espy ; 
 Though Incledon each fact severely scans, 
 
 In pedigrees, perhaps, more sage than I ; 
 Yet whilst a Downman wishes to peruse 
 
 (His mind the seat of candour !) all I write ; 
 Whilst Yonge still prompts me to enlarge my views, 
 
 And bids me soar with no ignoble flight ; 
 Whilst Whitaker approves my various scheme, 
 
 And wakes my ardour in each bold essay ; 
 With friendly light illumining the theme 
 
 Of Roman relics sunk in dim decay ; 
 Shall not the Spirit of Research proceed. 
 
 And, spurning Envy, grasp the historic meed ? " 
 
 (Downman was a literary contemporary of note, a clerical M.D. 
 Whitaker was th^ Rev. John Whitaker, author of the History of 
 Manchester, of the Life of St. Neot, the eldest brother of King 
 Alfred, and other works.) 
 
 Sir George Yonge died, as I have already mentioned, in 1812. 
 Sir W, Courthope observes, in his " Synopsis of the Extinct Baronet- 
 age of England," that he died sine prole, so that the baronetcy became 
 extinct, after existing since IGGl, the time of the Rontoration. It 
 is to be regretted that we have to state that towards the close of his 
 life Sir George became involved in difficulties from having invested 
 largely in wool-mills, in the neighbourhood of Honiton, the borough 
 which he, as his fathei" before him, had represented in Parliament 
 for many years. And Mr. George Roberts, of T^yme Regis, in his 
 
.,;-.i^.»,f»<ji. .,-;^-g:j:<.,.; iti,. :iMc»r/t--fmM 
 
 12 
 
 YONGE STREET AND DUNDAS STUEHT. 
 
 " Introduction to che Diary of Walter Yonge, Esq.," published in 
 1848 by the Camden Society, says of Sir George that he was once 
 heard to say that he began life with £80,000 of family proi^ei-ty, that 
 he received £80,000 with his wife, and that he had been paid £80,000 
 by the Government for his public services, but that Honiton had 
 swallowed it all. All had been sunk in the "wool-mills" at or near 
 Honiton. (The Walter Yonge just mentioned was an ancestor of 
 Sir George's, who likewise represented the Borough of Honiton in 
 Parliament.) Sir George Yonge was buried at Colyton in Devon, 
 where his coffin-plate is preserved. But it appears that no tablet to 
 (lis memory has been erected. Doubtless a great error of judgment 
 was committed when Sir George ventured to meddle with " wool- 
 uiills ; " ventured to engage in speculations connected with the manu- 
 facture by machinery of serges and broad-cloths. Actuated, it may 
 Ije, by public s})irit in entering on such undertakings, and also by a 
 lesire, ])erhaps, to become rapidly rich, yet wholly without practical 
 .experience in the conduct of such enterprises, he became, it is likely, 
 ,vhe dupe of sharpers. The broad pleasant acres of Devon, to which 
 !ie and his fathei's liad been wont to trust for comfortable revenue, 
 t-Iipped away out of his hands, and like Antasus when lil'ted off from 
 '.he earth, the country gentleman, uprooted from the land, soon found 
 ais power and infltience gone. Although many bearing his family 
 ;iame, more or less nearly connected with him by blood, have since- 
 liocome distinguished in the world of letters and scholarship, we do* 
 lot, after him, observe any one of his name going up to the House 
 (.f Commons from Devon, and serving the State as Minister of the 
 » rown. 
 
 Besides Yonge Street, we have in Ontario another memorial of Sir 
 1 reorge Yonge, in the name of the township of Puslinch, in the county 
 c):" WellLugton, that being the name of a well-known family seat of 
 tiie Yonges near Ycalmton, in Devonsliire; for although the sub- 
 • liviaion of the wide-spread sopt of the Yonges to which Sir George 
 "onge belonged, was known strictly as the Yonges of Colyton, yet 
 i.i is to be observed that Burke, in his Landed Gentry, gives his 
 xotioc of the Yonges of Colyton under the more comprehensive head 
 vf the Yonges of Puslinch. 
 
 I now pi'ocoed with my memoir of the other personage whose life 
 iv.id qaxeer I desire to recall, viz., Henry Dundos. 
 
\ 
 
 i* 
 
 e 
 
"""'"""^'•'•"••*"" 
 
 
 HENRY DUNDAS, FIRST VISOOUNT MELVILLE. (1740— 1811). 
 
 After whom Dinuas tfruEur, I'uoviNtE or Ontario, was named. 
 
YONGE STREET AND DUNDAS STREET. 
 
 13 
 
 II.— HENRY DUNDAS, FIRST VISCOUNT MELVILLE. 
 
 The engraved portrait which I have of the Right Hon. Henry 
 Dundas, is from a painting by the distinguished Scottish artist, Sir 
 Henry Raeburn, R.A. It represents him in his ermined robes as a 
 member of the House of Peers; for our Henry Dundas became finally 
 a Viscount — Viscount Melville. He is standing at a table and speak- 
 ing. His left hand rests lightly on papers before him. His right arm 
 is sharply bent. The hand, pliuited on the hip, rather awkwardly 
 draws back a portion of the robe, d splaying its interior silken lining. 
 He wears a curled and powdered wig of the time of George III. The 
 oval, smooth-shaven countenance is not very remarkable ; but some 
 dignity is thrown into it by Raeburn's art, which, nevertheless, has 
 failed to divest it of an expression of self-consciousness. The brows 
 are slightly knitted; the eyes look out over the head of the spectator, 
 and the lips ai'e compressed. The nose is good. Below is a fac 
 simile autograph signature, " Melville." 
 
 Henry Dundas was, as it were, an hereditary Scottish juris-consult. 
 His father and grandfather had been judges of the Scottish bench. 
 His father was Lord President of the Court of Session, sitting by the 
 title of Lord Arniston. His brother Robert also held the same high 
 legal office, and assumed the same title, which was derived from an 
 estate named Arniston. Tlie Dundasses of Arniston were descended 
 from George Dundas of Dundas, sixteenth in descent fi'om the Dunbars, 
 Earls of March. Henry Dundas was bred to the bar, and l)ecame a 
 member of the faculty of advocates in 1703. Though of high Scottish 
 rank, the family fortune by no means rendered him affluent. It is said 
 " that when the young Henry established himself in his chambers in 
 the Fleshmarket Close, in Edinburgh, he had, after paying his fees 
 and other expenses connected with admission to the bar, exactly £Q0 
 remaining in his purse as capital, so far as cash was concerned, where- 
 with to make a start in the world. But his solid and well-trained 
 abilities stood him in excellent stead. They soon began to tell. He 
 was appointed successively assessor of the magistrates of Edinburgh, 
 depute-advocate, i.e. deputy to the Lord Advocate of Scotland, for 
 public prosecutions, and Solicitor-General for Scotland. Boswell, in 
 his Life of Johnson, thus speaks ol" the pleading of Dundas in the 
 case of Joseph Knight, a negro slave from the West Indies, wlio 
 claimed his freedom in Scotland; "I cannot too highly praise the 
 
MH 
 
 .M£iM 
 
 14 
 
 YONGE STREET AND DUNDAS STREET. 
 
 speech which Mr. Henry Dundas contributed to the cause of the 
 sooty stranger. On this occasion he impressed me, and I believe all 
 his audience, with such feelings as were produced by some of the 
 most eminent orators of antiquity." Boswell, quite gratuitously, 
 indulges in a reference to the accent of his fellow-countryman. *' Mr 
 Dundas's Scottish accent, which," he observes, " has been so often in 
 vain obtruded as an objection to his powerful abilities in Parliament, 
 was no disadvantage to him in his own country." And again, in 
 another place, Boswell goes out of his way to allude in coarser terms 
 to the same quite natural accident of Dundas's oratory. The truth 
 was, Boswell had been trying to school his own tongue in southern ways, 
 and piqued himself on his supposed superior success in that regard. 
 "A small intermixture," he says, "of provincial peculiarities may, 
 perhaps, have an agreeable effect, as the notes of different birds concur 
 in the harmony of the grove, and please more than if they were all 
 exactly alike. I could name some gentlemen of Ireland," he con- 
 tinues, "to whom a slight proportion of the accent and i-ecitative of 
 that country is an advantage. The same observation will apply to 
 the gentlemen of Scotland. I do not mean," he then adds, "that we 
 should speak as broad as a certain prosperous member of Parliament 
 from that country; though it has been well observed that it has been 
 of no small use to him, as it rouses the attention of the House by its 
 uncommonness, and is equal to tropes and figures in a good English 
 speaker." 
 
 The " prosperous member of Parliament " was Dundas, who was 
 returned member for Edinburgh in 1774. He at once took a leading 
 part in the proceedings of the House. " As a public speaker," we 
 are told, " he was clear, acute and argumentative, with the manner 
 of one thoroughly master of his subject, and desirous to convince the 
 understanding without the aid of the ornamental parts of oratory, 
 which he seemed in some sort to despise." He supported the adminis- 
 tration of Lord North, and voted for the prosecution of the war against 
 the American colonies. In 1775 he was appointed Lord Advocate for 
 Scotland and Keeper of the King's Signet for Scotland. The Lord 
 Advocate of Scotland, we should observe by the wjiy, holds the highest 
 political office in Scotland, and he is always expected to have a seat 
 in Parliament, where he discharges something resembling the duties 
 of Secretary of State for that quarter of the kingdom. In those days, 
 all the patronage of the crown in Scotland was in his hands. 
 
TONGE STREET AND DUNDAS STREET. 
 
 15 
 
 Lord Cockbum, in the " Memorials of His Times," writing from 
 the Whig point of view, speaks of Dundas as absolute Dictator of 
 Scotland, as Proconsul, as Harry the Ninth. " The suppression of 
 independent talent and of ambition," he says, " was the tendency of the 
 times. Every Tory principle being absorbed in the horror of inno- 
 vation, and that party casting all its cares upon Henry Dundas, no 
 one could, without renouncing all his hopes, commit the ti-eason of 
 dreaming an independent thought. There was little genuine attrac- 
 tion for real talent, knowledge or eloquence on that side, because 
 these qualities can seldom exist in combination with abject submis- 
 sion. And indeed," he then candidly adds, "there was not much 
 attraction for them among the senior and dominant Whigs, among 
 whom there was a corresponding loyalty to the Earl of Lauderdale." 
 And again, Lord Cockbum writes : " In addition to all the ordinary 
 sources of government influence, Henry Dundas, an Edinburgh man, 
 and well calculated by talent and manners to make despotism popular, 
 was the absolute dictator of Scotland, and had the means of rewarding 
 submission, and of suppressing opposition, beyond what was ever exer- 
 cised in modern times by one person in ony portion of the empire." 
 ^' A country gentleman," he says, " with any public principle except 
 devotion to Henry Dundas, was viewed as a wonder, or rather as a 
 monster. This was the creed also of all our merchants, all our remov- 
 able office holders, and all our public corporations." 
 
 When Lord North's administration at length fell, and that of Lord 
 Rockingham came into power, Henry Dundas still retained the office 
 of Lord Advocate of Scotland ; and when Lord Rockingliam died, and 
 Lord Shelbui"ne succeeded, he was appointed Secretary of the Navy ; 
 but on the formation of the Coalition Ministry very soon after, he 
 resigned, and became Pitt's right-hand man in the Opposition. Lord 
 North, the head of the Coalition, resigned on the rejection of his 
 India Bill by the Lords; when Pitt became premier, with Dundas 
 as Treasurer of the Navy. Dundas materially assisted Pitt in the 
 elaboration of the new India Bill, which passed, and under the arrange- 
 ments of which he became President of the Board of Control ; and he 
 fully believed, as he expressed himself to the House, that the new 
 measure would be a means of prodigiously lightening, if it did not 
 finally extinguish, the national debt, so large would be the surplus 
 revenue accruing in future from India. 
 
1 
 
 16 
 
 YONGE STREET AND DUNDAS STREET. 
 
 As Treasurer of the Navy, Dundas was the originator of many 
 beneficial reforms in the navy. For several special benefits accruing 
 from his enactments to the common sailors, he was long spoken of 
 amongst them as " the sailors' friend." 
 
 By a kind of irony of events, a regulation introduced by him in 
 the Navy Department was made use of, at a subsequent date, to set 
 up a series of cliarges against himself. The salary of the Treasurer 
 of the Navy had hitherto been £2,000; but perquisites and the com- 
 mand of the public money set apart for navy purposes, added greatly 
 to the emoluments. To prevent the risk, profusion and irregularity 
 inseparable from such a system, Dundas' bill fixed the salary at j£4,000, 
 and prohibited the treasurer from making any private or individual 
 use of the public money. How this salutary provision was brought 
 to bear against himself by his political op^wnents at a subsequent 
 period, will be presently seen. Dundas became also, under Pitt, 
 Secretary of the Home Department and Secretary at War. He was 
 likewise sworn of the Privy Council. As Secretary of the Home 
 Department, in view of the expected invasion from France, he pro- 
 moted the formation of the fencible regiments, the supplementary 
 militia, the volunteer corps, and the provisional cavalry. Due to 
 him was the whole of that domestic force which, during the war con- 
 sequent on the French Revolution, was raised and kept in readiness, 
 as a defence at once against foreign invasion and internal disturbance. 
 I am enabled to give a specimen-dispatch of Mr. Dundas's, as Secre- 
 tary at War, transcribing from the original, wholly in his own hand- 
 writing. It is addressed to the Governor of the Island of Jersey, 
 General Hall, during the troublous times of the Revolution in France. 
 The island, it seems, liad been made a convenience of by the French. 
 Rovalists and bv some scoundrels engaged in the manufacture and. 
 circulation of forged assignats — French paper currency of the day. 
 The Secretary at War thus addi'esses General Hall on the subject, 
 leaving us under the impression that due vigilance had not been used 
 by the Governor, who, it appears, is about to be relieved. It is 
 dated "Horse Guards, 26th October, 1794," and marked "secret:" 
 " Sill, — Some unpleasant occurrences which have lately happened on 
 that part of the coast of Brittany on which persons sent from Jersey 
 have been landed, with a view of establishing a communication with 
 the Royalists in the interior of France, render it absolutely necessary 
 that you should not permit or authorize any person whatever to 
 
TONOE STREET AND DUNDAS STREET. 
 
 17 
 
 »m 
 
 embark from Jersey with a design of proceeding to France, and par- 
 ticularly to that part of the coast which I have described, unless you 
 shall hereafter receive from me directions contrary to those of this 
 dispatch, to which, in the present state of affairs, I must request you 
 will pay immediate and particular attention. One reason in parti- 
 cular which induces me to urge this precaution is that I have reason 
 to believe an intercourse has lately been established between Jf-rsey 
 and the coa^:t for the sale and distribution of forged assignats. The 
 parties concerned in this speculation will of course make every exer- 
 tion to prevent its failure, and it vill therefore be necessary that 
 any person supposed to have taken a share in it should be carefully 
 watched, and it is of the greatest importance, jiarticularly at the 
 present moment, that no communication should be permitted with 
 the coast, except by the boats which Capt. D'Aiivergne may think 
 proper to detach with such persons as he may select for the service, 
 which requires the greatest secrecy and caution. It is principally 
 with a view of securing these points — absolutely necessary in a com- 
 munication of this nature — that I have entrusted the management of 
 it to Capt. D'Auvergne exclusively, who, by his situation on board 
 a ship, can execute my directions without incurring any risk of their 
 being divulged, which, whatever precaution may be taken, they 
 would frequently be if the same measures were carried on from the 
 Island. I understand that you have received permission to return 
 •to England as soon as you can be relieved in the command of His 
 Majesty's Forces in Jersey. In the meantime, I rely with the fullest 
 confidence in your zeal and attention in tlie discharge of this impor- 
 tant trust, and I can assure you that you will find Capt. D'Auvergne 
 ready to concert witli you, whatever measures may be thought most 
 expedient for the safety and defence of the Island, inasmuch as it 
 depends on the naval force under his command. I am. Sir, your 
 obedient humble servant, Hexry Duxdas. Major-General Hall, <kc." 
 In the debates on the Bill for the division of the Province of 
 Quebec into Upper and Lower Canada, Mr. Dundas's name appears 
 several times ; and in the Simcoe correspondence preserved at Ottawa 
 are several ofiicial communications addressed to and received from 
 him. I transcribe a sentence or two from those in which the project 
 of a street or military road is spoken of, viz., that to whicli by way 
 of compliment the Governor attached the name of Dundas. In 1793, 
 he writes : "I have directed the surveyor early in the next spring 
 2 
 
18 
 
 YONGE STREET AND DUNDAS STREET. 
 
 to ascertain tlie precise distutice of the several routes which I have 
 done myself the honour of detailing to you, and hope to complete the 
 militarv street or road the ensuing autumn," And in 1794, he 
 reports : " Dundas Street, the road ]>rc)i)osed from Burlington Bay 
 to the River Thames, half of which is completed, will connect by an 
 internal communication the Detroit and the settlements at Niagara. 
 It is intended to be extended northerly to York by the troops, and in 
 process of time by the respective settlei-s to Kingston and Montreal." 
 At tlie present time, I believe, the practice has become somewhat 
 obsolete (jf applying tlio name Dundas Street to the whole of the long 
 highway originally so called, extending from Detroit to the Point au 
 Baudot, A portion of it immediately west of Toronto, may be 
 spoken of as the Dundas road ; and the i)revalent impression may be 
 that the name denotes simply the route which leads to the town of 
 Dundas. But this, of course, would be quite a mistaken idea to 
 adopt. On the old manuscript maps, c^^ atcmporary with the first 
 organization of the coinitry, long before the town of Dundas existed, 
 the route from the Western to the Eastern limit of Upper Canada, 
 was marked Dundas Street throughout its whole length. And thus 
 we have it still laid down in the excellent and interesting map of 
 Canada given in the handsome, large General Atlas published in 
 Edinburgh, by John Thomson, in 1817, constructed from authentic 
 sources, and dedicated to Alexander Keith, of Dunottar and Bavel- 
 ston. And at the end of the first Gazetteer of Upper Canada, pub- 
 lished in London in 1799, we have the following postscript which, 
 while serving to shew that the whole of the highway from the west 
 to the east was denominated Dundas Street, will also help us to 
 realize the stem conditions in respect of means of inter- communica- 
 tion and locomotion under which our patient fathers first began to 
 shape out and mould for us the pleasant rui;.l scenes, the amenities 
 and comforts of civilized life, everywhere now to be beheld and 
 enjoyed amongst us. This postscript, dated 1799, reads thus: 
 " Since the foregoing notes have come from the press, the editor is 
 informed that the Dundas Street has been considerably improved 
 between the head of Lake Ontario and York ; and that the Govern- 
 ment has contracted for the opening of it from that city to the head 
 of the Bay of Quint6, a distance of 120 miles, as well as for cause- 
 waying of the swamps and erecting the necessary bridges, so that it 
 is hoped, in a short time, there will be a tolerable road from Quebec 
 
YONGE STREET AND DUNDAS STREET. 
 
 19 
 
 to the capital of the Upper Province." It may excite a smile to find 
 York styled a "city" in 1799 : but the tonus of the passage shew, 
 as I have said, that the whole of the highway from tlin west to the 
 east, passing through York, was regarded as D-ukIis Street. That, 
 in fact, was the name long borne by our present Queen Street here 
 in Toronto ; and Queen Street, as everyone knows, is in a right line 
 with the " Kingston road," which was, as we see, simply the pro- 
 longation of Duudas Street, the great provincial highway, or Grand 
 Trunk, as it were, of the day, leu,<l ng to Montreal and Quebec. It 
 is scarcely necessary to observe thai the distinction and cc^lebrity of 
 both Dundas Street and Yonge Street, taken in the original extended 
 meaning of their names, have been eclipsed in these days by the 
 greater glory and the greater convenience of the Grand Trunk, Great 
 Western, and Northern Railways of Canada. Highways, like men, 
 have the <■ vicissitudes. 
 
 Hiuc, apicem, rapax 
 Fortuna, cum stridore aciito, 
 Sustulit ; hie possuisse gaudet. 
 
 Travel and traffic having been in this way largely turned aside 
 from our two primitive historic " streets," they have both of thorn 
 dropped, in some measure, out of the knowledge of tourists, and even 
 out of the knowledge of many among the younger portion of oar 
 settled Inhabitants. 
 
 Besides Dundas Street, another permanent memorial of Henry 
 Dundas was established in Canada, in the name of a county toward 
 the eastern limit of the present Province of Ontario. The County of 
 Dundas is united Avith the Counties of Stormont and Glengarry, with 
 the well-known borough of Cornwall for county-toA\Ti conjointly.* 
 
 But to retiu-n : — In 1801 Pitt resigned the premiership, not being 
 able to induce the King to assent to the enfranchisement of the 
 Roman Catholics, a measure which had been virtually promised when 
 the legislativ union of Ireland and Great Britain was effected. 
 Dundas retired with him, but was raised to the })eerage in the 
 following year, by the Addington Ministry, as Viscount Melville, of 
 Melville Castle, in the County of Edinburgh, and Bai'on Dunira, of 
 
 * For this portion of Canada a local historian has happily appeared. Mr. James Croill, of 
 Areherfield, in 1S61, published at Montreal an elaborate and interesting volume of 300 pages, 
 bearing ttie following title : " Dundas, or a Sket^'h of Canadian History, and more particularly 
 of the County of Dundas, one of the earliest settled counties in Upjier Canada." It is dedi- 
 cated to ' ' the descendants of the Uiuted Empire Loyalists residing in the United Couutii .1 uf 
 Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry, formerly the Old Eastern District." 
 
20 
 
 YONGE STREET AND DUNDAS STREET, 
 
 Duiiira, in the County of Perth. In these titles the name of " Dun- 
 das," in which we are chiefly concerned, henceforward merges and 
 is lost. On his elevation to the peerage, the Lord Provost and Town 
 (Council of Edinburgli presented him with an address, in which they 
 expi'essed their attachment to him and his family, their admiration 
 of his talents, and their gratitude for the many services he had 
 rendered to the countiy, and in particular to the City of Edinburgh. 
 The new lord appeared in i>erson before the Council and delivered a 
 speech in reply, in which, among other topics, he dwelt on the prac- 
 tical blessings of the British (IJonstitution, of which his own career, 
 he said, afforded a striking example. " While we therefore continue 
 to resist the fanatic principles of ideal equality, incompatible with 
 the government of the world and the just order of liuman society, 
 let us, h? exhorted his hearers, rejoice in those substantial blessings, 
 the results of real freedom and equal laws, which open to the fair 
 ambition of every British subject the means of pursuing with success 
 those objects of honour, and those situations of power — the attain- 
 ment of wliich, in other countries, rests solely upon a partial partici- 
 pation of personal favour, and the enjoyment of which rests upon 
 the precarious tenure of arbitrary power." While the civic authori- 
 ties of Edinburgh, in the ])resence of Viscount Melville, are yet 
 before our mind's eye, it will j)erha[)S be of some interest to hear 
 what Lord Cock burn, a contemporary, sjiys of them, and their place 
 of meeting, in the '' Memorials of His Times." We nmst of course 
 make allowance for the Wliiggish bias of his pen. " In this Pande- 
 monium," he says [namely, in what he had just before described as 
 "a low, dark, blackguard-looking rooiu, entering from a covered pas- 
 sage which connected the north-west corner of the Parliament Square 
 with the Lawnmarket"], " sat the Town Council of Edinburgh, 
 omnipotent, corrupt, im])enetrable. Nothing was beyond its grasp ; 
 no variety of opinion disturbed its unanin\ity, for the pleasure of 
 Dundas was the sole rule for every one of them. Reporters, the 
 fruit of free discussioUj did not exist ; and though they had existed, 
 would not have dared to disclose the proceedings. Silent, powerful, 
 submissive, my.sterious and irresponsible, they might have l)een sitting 
 in Venice. Certain of the support of the Proconsul, whom they no 
 more thouglit of thwarting than of thwarting Providence, timidity 
 was not one of their vices." A curious picture, suroly; of which, 
 let U8 bo thiuikful, no ejkact counterpart can be found in any city or 
 town in the Empire ut the present day. 
 
 tJ 
 
YONGE STREET AND DUNDAS STREET. 
 
 21 
 
 
 In 1804, when, on the resi^'ntition of t] o Addington Ministry, 
 Pitt returned to power, Viscount Melville became First Lord of the 
 Aduiiralty ; and now it was that the tide of his good fortune began 
 to ebl). He was, all of a sudden, calle'I to account by the House of 
 Commons for certain malpractices indulged in some twenty years 
 previously by one Alexander Trottei-, the Paymaster of the Ni.vy 
 when Melville was Treasurer of the Navy in 1780. The charge came 
 up indirectly in connection with another inquiry, and the occasion 
 was greedily seized by the Whig Oiiposition as one that might perhaps 
 bring on the downfall of Piuo's administration. On the motion of 
 Mr. Whitbread, a resolution was carried, only, however, by the casting 
 vote of the Speaker, in a house of 433, asserting that " large sums of 
 mone}'' had been, under pretence of naval services, drawn from the 
 bank by Alexander Trotter, Paymaster of the Navy, and by him 
 invested in exchequer and navy bills, lent upon the security of stock, 
 employed in discounting private bills, and used in various ways for 
 the ptirposes of private emolument ; and that in so doing he acted 
 with the knowledge and consent of Lord Melville, to whom he was 
 at the same time private agent ; and therefore that Lord Melville 
 has been guilty of gross violation of tlu^ law, and a high breach of 
 duty." Before the resolution was put, Pitt and Canning had botli 
 spoken ehxpiently and [toworfully in defence of theii- colleague. On 
 the day after the condemnatory vote, Pitt announced to the House 
 that Lord M(dville had resigned his ofh'ce of First Lord of the 
 Admiralty ; and three weeks later Pitt intimated that, in defei'ence 
 to the prevailing sense of the House, the King had been advised by 
 his ministers to erase Lord Melville's nanr.^ fi'om th(> list of Privv 
 Conncilloi's, and that accoj-dingly it would l)e done. Four weeks 
 later, Melville asked to be heajd before the House of Commons, 
 where ho appeared in person, an ^. offered reasonaVdo explanation of 
 his conduct as Treasurer of the Navy twenty years before. The 
 Opposition was im[)lacable, however, and, at tlie instigo.tion of Whit- 
 bread, a vote was carried to institute formal impeaehnnMit ; an.d in 
 due time, Westminster Hall witnessed a scene somewhat similar to 
 that wdiich had been enacted within about twenty years before, at 
 the trial of the other gi'^at Procsonsul, Warren Hastings. 
 
 The [)rocess lasted frcin April J9 to Juno 12 (180G), when the 
 accused [)eer was acciuittctl of Uidvei sation personally, but judged 
 guilty of negligence of duty in respect of his agent. There can be 
 no question but that Melville's alleged offence was |ji-eatly magnified 
 
T 
 
 22 
 
 YON'ftE STREET AND DUNDAS STREET. 
 
 
 by political rancour and sectional prejudice, and that every nerve 
 was strained by tlie party out of i)Ower at the time to make it appear 
 that he had clearly ti'ansgressed the law of purity imposed by him- 
 self on the Navy Department in 1785. "The charges against Lord 
 Melville were groundless," Lord Cockburn says in his " Memorials," 
 '' and were at last reduced to insignificancy. To those who knew the 
 |»ecuniary indifference of the man, and who think of the comparative 
 facility of peculation in those irregular days, the mere smallness of 
 the sums which he was said to have improperly touched, is of itself 
 almost sufficient evidence of his innocence. If he had been disposed 
 to peculate, it would not have been for farthings." 
 
 Lord Cockburn then goes on to remark on the benefits which 
 iiccrued, especially in Scotland, to the Whigs, by the imi)eachment, 
 notwithstanding its failui-e. " It did more," he says, " to emancipate 
 Scotland than even the exclusion of Melville's party from power. 
 His political omnipotence, which without any illiberality on his i)art, 
 implied, at that time, the su])i)ression of all opposition, had lasted so 
 long and so steadily, that in despair the discontented concui-red in 
 the gtmeral impression that, happen what might, Harry the Ninth 
 would always be uppermost. When he was not only deprived of 
 power, but subjected to trial, people could scarcely believe their 
 senses. The triumphant anticijjations of his enemies, many of whom 
 exulted with })remature and disgusting joy over the ruin of the man, 
 were as al)surd as the rage of his friends, who railed, with vain malig- 
 nity, at his accusoi's and the Constitution. Between the two, the 
 progress of independence was materially advanciid. A blow had been 
 struck which, notwithstanding his accputtal, relaxed our local fetteu's. 
 Our little great men felt the precariousness of their power; and even 
 the mildest friends of improvement — those who, though o]>posed to 
 him, ileplored the fall of a distinguished countryman more than they 
 vahu'il any })olitical benefit involved in his misfortune, were relieved 
 by seeing that the mainspring of the Scotch pro-consular system was 
 weakened." 
 
 A satirical poem of the day wdiich I jwssess, entitled, '* All tlie 
 Talents," by Polypus, expr(!sses the Tory feeling in regard to Melville 
 and his chic^f accuser, Wiiitbread. It thus speaks: 
 
 " Could Wliithroad catch a spark of Windham s fire, 
 To tlooda more daug'rous Wbitbread might aspire; 
 lUit as it stands, our hrowcr has not rove 
 To lead the uiob or to mislead the liouse. 
 
 ■■■^ 
 
YONGE STREET AND DUNDAS STREET. 
 
 23 
 
 ' 1 < 
 
 See how the happy soul himself admires ! 
 A hazy vapour thro' his bead expires ; 
 His curls ambrosial, hop and poppy shade, 
 P^it emblems of his talent and his trade. 
 Slow yet not cautious ; cunning yet not wise ; 
 We hate him first, then pity, then despise. 
 
 Puft with the Pride that loves her name in print. 
 And knock-kneed Vanity with inward Sij^uint. 
 Laborious, heavy, s low to catch a cause. 
 Bills at long siglit upon his wits he draws. 
 And with a solemn ,<martness in his mien, 
 Lights up his eyes aud offers to look keen. 
 But oh ! how dullness fell on all his face, 
 When he saw Melville rescued from disgrace ! 
 Not more agape the stupid audience stared. 
 When Kenible spoke of Aitches and a Baird. 
 Cold from his cheek the crimson courage tied ; 
 With jaw ajar, he looked as he were deatl. 
 As from the anatomist he just had run, 
 Or was bound 'prentice to a skeleton. 
 Then, seeing thro' the matter in a minute. 
 Wished to liigh Heav'u lie ne'er had meddled in it. 
 Hough as his porter, bitter as his liarm. 
 He sacriliced his fame to Melville's harm, 
 And gave more deep disgust, tlian if his vat 
 Had curst our vision with a swimming rat. 
 
 The same satirist thus v.vmmeiits on the fuct, tliat before proceeding 
 to the impeachment in Westminster Hall, Melville's accusers had suc- 
 ceeded in havinjjf liim pronounctMl guilty of the charges, and unworthy 
 of being on the roll of the Privy Council : 
 
 "Justice, turned scholar, changed her vulgar plan, 
 And, just like Hel)rew, from the end began ; 
 F'n-d found the culprit guilty, tried him next, 
 And from Amen preached backwards to the text. 
 So crabs advance by retrograde degrees, 
 And salmon drift, tail foremost, to the seas ! 
 To vex the vScotchmau answered every end : 
 Unhai»py in his servant and his friend." 
 
 "To vox the Scotchman answered every (Mid:" this lino glances at 
 a narrow and unworthy anti-Scottish prejudioe which had be.n preva- 
 lent, more or loss in England, ever since the days of the Scottish 
 fa\oui"ite, Lord Bute. A caricature of the day, by Sayer, repr(«ients 
 a figure, made up of barrels and tubs, aiming a flail at a large thistle. 
 
24 
 
 YONGE STREET AND DUNDAS STREET. 
 
 The thistle, of course, is Melville, and the figure, Whitbread, who, as 
 we have had already intimated to us, was a brewer, a wealthy London 
 brewei'. Underneath are the following lines, to understand which 
 we must be informed that Sansterre, the commandant of the National 
 Guard who had jjresided at the recent execution of Louis XVI. in 
 Paris, happened also to be a brewer, " Sansterre/' we are told — 
 
 "Sansterre forsook his malt and grains, 
 To mash and batter nobles' brains, 
 
 By levelling rancour led : 
 Our Brewer quits Ijrown stout and washv, 
 His malt, his mash-tub, and his quashea, 
 To mash a Thistle's head." 
 
 In Lockhart's Life of Scott is given a song, written by Sir Walter 
 on the occasion of Lord Melville's acquittal. It was sung with great 
 applause at a public dinner in EtMnburgh, by Mr. James Ballan- 
 tyne. Scott regarded the impeachment of his friend as a mere act 
 of vindictiveness on tlie part of the Whigs. Of the eight stanzas of 
 which this production consists, I quote one, wherein Pitt and Melville 
 are named together, and an allusion occurs to the recent death of 
 Pitt, who, it must be added, did not long survive the trouble which 
 had befallen his faithful supporter, Melville. In fact, he died before 
 the trial in Westminster Hall came on. The name Despard, which 
 occurs near the close of the stanza, is that of an ex-Lieutenant-Colonel 
 Despard, who endeavoured to create sedition among the soldiers and 
 others in England in 1803. And the Arthur O'Connor mentioned 
 just before, was a coadjutor of Lord Edward Fitz-Gerald, Napper 
 Tandy, Addis Emmet, and other cons[)irators in Ireland, known as 
 the United Irishnuni, whose aim was to make Ireland a Republic 
 like France in 1793. The word "reform," it should be observed, is 
 used in an invidious sense. Thus the stanza reads : 
 
 " What were the Whigs doing, when, boldly pursuing, 
 Prrr Ijanished Rebellion, gave Treason a string? 
 Why tliey swore on their honour, for Ahtuuh O'Connor, 
 And fought hard for Dkhpard against eountry and king. 
 Well then wo knew, boys, 
 Pitt and Mklville were true boya, 
 And the tempest was raised by the sons of Reform. 
 Ah, woe ! 
 
 Weep to his memory ; 
 Low lies the pilot that weathered the atorm." 
 
 7 
 
 I t 
 
YONGE STREET AND DUNDAS STREET. 
 
 25 
 
 •• 
 
 
 " The Pilot that weathered the storm " is the echo of a phrase of 
 Canning's, used by him as the title of some verses on Pitt, written 
 in 1802. 
 
 Tjockhart does not applaud the animus of Scott's song ; and Sir 
 Walter himself subsequently allowed the unwisdom of much of it. 
 
 In this song, too, occurred the expression — " Tally-ho ! to the 
 Fox ! " which was interpret* d by some to be an allusion to Fox, the 
 great Whig rival of Pitt, wh ) was known at the time to be prostrated 
 by sickness — sickness likely to prove mortal, and which did prove 
 mortal on tlie 6th of the following September. "If," says Lord 
 Cockburn, " Scott really intended this as a shout of triumph over the 
 expiring orator, it was an indecency which no fair license of party- 
 zeal can palliate. But I am inclined to believe," Lord Cockburn 
 continues, "that nothing was meant beyond one of the jocular and 
 not unnatural exultations over the defeated leaders of the impeach- 
 ment, of which the song is composed. There were some important 
 persons, however," it is added, " whose good opinion, by this indis- 
 cretion, was lost to Scott forever." 
 
 On the death of Pitt, the coalition-ministry, known as " All the 
 Talents," was formed, consisting of Grenville, Fox, Lord Howick, 
 F.. okine ; which was speedily followed by the Duke of Portland's 
 ministry, comprising Canning, Castlercagli, Percival, Lord Eldon. 
 Melville's name was replaced on the list of the Privy Council ; and 
 it was STispected by some that this was preparatory to acceptance of 
 office. We have the Whig feeling on this point expressed in some 
 stanzas which I quote from a satire, styled Melville's Mantle, put 
 forth in reply to Canning's Elijah's Mantle, a piece in which Elijah 
 rather strangely adumbrates the lately deceased Pitt : 
 
 " When by th' Almighty's dread command 
 Old Bute had left this injured land, 
 
 He long had set in Hame, 
 His mantle crafty Jenky caught — 
 Duudas, with equal spirit fraught, 
 
 The Tories' hope became. 
 
 In these were qualities combined 
 Just suited to the royal mind — 
 
 The supple spirits licre ; 
 ; What sad reverse ! that spirit reft, 
 
 No confidence, no hope was left — 
 
 The Whiga impeached the Peer ! 
 
 ■ 
 
26 YONGE STREET AND DUNDAS STREET. 
 
 Is there (since gone is that great band 
 Who rul'id with Freedom's liberal hand) 
 
 'Mong those who power resume, 
 One on whom public faith can rest — 
 One fit to wear a Chatham's vest 
 
 And cheer a nation's gloom ? 
 
 Melville ! to aid thy batter'd fame, 
 Thy monarch's secret favour claim, 
 
 His pulse at Windsor feel ! 
 A Privy Councillor you soar ; 
 God grant you may be nothing more, 
 
 Or, farewell public weal ! 
 * * * * * 
 
 Young Jenky, you've no cause to mourn 
 Tho' Whigs your servile conduct scorn. 
 
 Your Cinque Ports cannot fail : 
 You thank your stars that Pitt's a corse. 
 Nor care, tho' patriots till they're hoarse 
 
 At you and Melville rail." 
 
 Some appended notes explain that the " Crafty Jenky," of the first 
 stanza, meant Sir Charles Jenkinson, the first Lord Liverpool, " Lord 
 Bute's scrub," as the annotator speaks; whilst the "Young Jenky" 
 of the last stanza is his son, who, on the death of Pitt, became his 
 successor as Warden of the Cinque Ports, thus following his father 
 in the road of place and preferment — "plus passibus acquis," the 
 annotator observes. Another title of the Earls of liverpool was 
 Baron Hawkesbury ; whence our Hawkesbury on the Ottawa. 
 
 But after the death of Pitt, Melville was little inclined to enter 
 again on public life. He henceforward remained chiefly in retirement, 
 taking part oidy occasionally in the debates of the House of Lords. 
 
 Lockhart informs us that Lord Melville, after his fall, used to be a 
 constant visitor at Sir Walter's house, in Castle Street, in Edinburgh, 
 and that " the old statesman entered with such simple-heartedness 
 into rll the ways of the happy circle, that it came to be an established 
 ri« •Oi" the children to sit up to shipper whenever Lord Melville dined 
 ...■■re" "In private life," we are told by Robert Chambers, "his 
 motiuor v,;i3 winning, agreeable and friendly, with great frankness 
 and ease. He was convivial in Iris habits, and, in the intercourse of 
 private life, he never permitted party distinctions to intei'fere with 
 the cordiality and kindness of his disi)Osition ; hence it has been truly 
 said," Robert Chambers remarks, " that Whig and Tory agreed in 
 
YONGE STREET AND DUNDAS STREET, 
 
 27 
 
 ■■ 
 
 loving him; and that he was always happy to oblige those in common 
 with whom he had any recollections of good-humoured festivit} .'' 
 
 I have said that the tide of Lord Melville's good fortune began to 
 ebb when he received the appointment of First Lord of the Admiralty, 
 in 1804. But previous to that date, his bed had not always been 
 one of roses. " Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown;" and the 
 sovereign's lot in this respei t is often shared by his servant, the states- 
 man. To this effect we havr in Sir John Sinclair's Memoirs a remark 
 of Lord Melville's noted. ;Sir John had waited on him on the new 
 year's morn of 1790, to wish him a happy new year. Melville's reply 
 was : " I hope this year will be happier than the last ; for I can scarcely 
 recollect spending one happy day in the whole of it." This confes- 
 sion, coming from one wliose whole life had hitherto been a series 
 of triumphs, and who appeared to stand secure on the pinnacle of 
 political ambition, Sir John Sinclair used often to dwell upon as 
 exemi)lifying the vanity of human wishes. 
 
 Lord Melville's death was a sudden one. He had come into Edin- 
 burgh from his country residence, to attend the funeral of President 
 Blair, an old friend, when a fit of apoplexy seized him. He had 
 retired to rest in his usual health, but was found dead in his bed 
 next morning. Tliese two early -attached, illustricus friends were 
 thus lying, both suddenly dead, with but a wall between them. Their 
 houses on the north-east side of George Square, Edinburgh, were 
 next each other. 
 
 That Lord Melville's end Avas quite unex[)ected by himself at the 
 moment, is shewn by a curious circumstance. A letter was discovered 
 lying on the writing table in the room wliere he was found dead, con- 
 taining, by anticipation, an account of his emotions at the funeral of 
 President Blair. It was addressed, ready to be sent off, to a member 
 of the Government, with a view to obtain some public provision for 
 Blair's family; and the ^vl•iter had not reckoned on the possibility of 
 his own demise before his friend's funeral took place. " Sucli things 
 are always awkward when detected," Lord Cockburn observes, "espe- 
 ciiilly when done by a skilful [)olitician. Nevertheless, an honest 
 and true man might do this," Lord Cockburn observes; " it is easy to 
 anticipate one's feelings at a friend's burial, and putting the descrip- 
 tion into the form of having returned from it, is mere rhetoric." 
 
 Sir Walter Scott speaks with great feeling of the decease of Lord 
 Melville. Thus he writes in a letter to Mr. Morritt: "Poor dear 
 
1 
 
 28 
 
 YONGE STREET AND DUNDAS STREET. 
 
 Lord Molville! ''Tis vain to name him whom we mourn in vain!* 
 Almost the hist time I saw him he was talking of you in the highest 
 terms of regard, and expressing great h'-^-^s of again seeing you at 
 Dunira this summer, where I })roposed to .itteud you. ' Hei mihi! 
 Quid hei mlhi? Humana perpessi sum us!' His loss will be long 
 and severely felt hei-e; and envy is already paying her cold tribute 
 of apphxuse to the worth which it maligned whUe it walked upon 
 earth." 
 
 Lord Melville was bui-ied without pomp at Lasswade, near Edin- 
 burgh, in which parish Melville Castle is situated. 
 
 Deriving from his pai-ents a solid understanding and a sound con- 
 stitution, he, as we have seen, learned eai'ly, as is the custom of Scot- 
 land, to put them both to their pro|)er use. Starting, as nai-rated, 
 with little other capital but these endowments and this training, he 
 laid the foundation of his house with wisdom, and the superstructure 
 upreared thereupon by him has accordingly endured. Tiie title of 
 Lord Melville, of which he was the originator, has come down with 
 distinction to the present time; and his ftimily, immediate and col- 
 lateral, continues to send forth from time to time men able and willing 
 to do good service, civil and military, to the commonwealth. A column 
 and a statue pi'eserve the memory of the first Lord Melville in Edin- 
 burgh. The former, begun during his lifetime, stands in St. Andrew's 
 Square. Its proportions are those of the column of Trajan, in Rome ; 
 but instead of being covered with a spiral series of sculptui-es, like 
 Trajan's pillar, it is fluted. It cost £8,000. The height is 130 feet; 
 the figure at the top, added at a later period, is 14 feet: the altitude 
 of the whole is thus 150 feet. 
 
 His statue in white marble stands at the north end of the Great 
 Hall of the Parliament House in Edinburgh. It is by Chantry; 
 and Lord Cockburn's caustic remark is : *' It is, perhaps, Chantry's 
 worst. The column," he adds, " has received and deserves praise." 
 
 It is a curious circumstance to take note of, that on the column in 
 St. Andrew's S(iuare, to this day, there is no inscription. Pope's 
 couplet on the so-called Monument in London, everyone remembers : 
 
 " Where London's column, pointing at the skiea, 
 Like a tall bully, lifts the head and lies." 
 
 Some such biting satire as this, it is certain, would quickly have 
 shaped itself in men's mouths, had the exaggerated language appeared 
 on the Edinburgh pillar, which the worshippers of Melville would 
 
 ) 
 
 I 
 
) 
 
 YONGE STREET AND DUNDAS STREET. 
 
 29 
 
 ■P 
 
 inevitably have desired to see placed there at the moment of their 
 party's +riuinph, when such a conspicuous trophy was suggested. 
 Wiser men may have counselled phrases more modest, which the 
 stubborn extremists would not away with ; and thus, between the 
 two, it may have happened that no inscription at all Avas carved. 
 Better, perhaps, this — than that at an after-jieriod an erasure should 
 be demanded, and procurea . on the plea of untruth, as has actually 
 come to pass in the case of the Monument in London, since the days 
 when Pope wrote. \ 
 
 Here I close my memoii's i>f the two eminent men, whose respective 
 careers I have desired to recall to your recollection. 
 
 Whenever next we cross and re-cross the route of our now classic 
 and even ancient Yonge Street, as we travel to Orillia or Graven- 
 hurst, by the Northern Railway of Canada ; or whenever, borne 
 swiftly along on the track of the Great Western, we look down from 
 the cars upon the thriving town and picturesque valley of Dundas, it 
 will, in both cases, invest the scene Avith fitting associations, and add 
 interest to the journey, if we recall to our minds, as we proceed on 
 our way, the fates and fortunes of the two personages from whom 
 the localities on which we gaze derive their names— the frank, genial- 
 looking, many-sided Devonshire man. Sir George Yonge, Secretary 
 at War in 1782; and the cool, shrewd-featured, a1>le and dextrous 
 Scot, Henry Dundas, Viscount Melville, First Lord of the Admiralty 
 in 1805. 
 
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