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THE

f
tt

IRISHMAN IN CANADA,

KICnOLAS FLOOD DAYIN.

LONDON-
SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON 4; CO.

TORONTO, ONT.:
MACLEAR AND COMPANY.

ILD3

Entered Moording to the Act of the ParUament of Canada, In the ywr om tiunuaDd
eight hundred and ceventy-seven, by Maolkab & Co., Toronto, in the Offioe of
the Minister of Agriculture,

Entered at Stationers' HaU.

ttUNrr.ll, ROSE k 00., «!'''
PrOKTKRB AND BUfUBRS,
TOHONTO.

>,1

HIS EXOELLENOT

THE RIGHT HON.

\ix ^Ydttkh |cmpl^ |ktooo4 fart of

K.P., K.C.B.,
GOVERNOR-GExVERAL OF CANADA.

THIS BOOK

l*in,

IS, BY PERMISSlOxX, RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED,

<^S TO ONE

WHO EMBODIES, IN KARE AlfD HAPPY OOMBINATIOW.

THE VARIETY OF GIFTS
HAVfl BROUGHT TO

;VIC3

OF THE

EMPIRE.

' i

I ll

M
5

PREFACE.

An old friend of mine, Mr. Joseph Hatton, writing
in Tinsley's Magazine says : — " Still at the bottom of all
thought and speculation as to the future, there is a strong
layer of old English sentiment outside the Province of
Quebec. The great pioneers of Canada, the English and
the Scotch look across the broad waters of the Atlantic,
and think of home. They feel proud of the flag which is
not only to them a national symbol, but a link between .
the far-off" settlement and the churchyard where their
forefathers sleep beyond the sea." Scarcely anybody in
England knows anything of Canadian history, and Mr.
Hatton cannot be blamed for not being aware that the
majority of people in Ontario, as compared with other
nationalities, are Irish. The population of Ontario is
1,620,831 : of these 559,44? are Irish, 328,889 Scotch,
439,429 English ; and in the four Provinces of Ontario,
Quebec, New Brunsw^ick and Nova Scotia, the Irish
number 846,414, as compared with 706,369 English, and
549,946 Scotch. The Irishman was here as early as
others ; he fought against the wilderness as well as
others ; his arm was raised against the invading foe as
well as that of others; and when a man who was not Irish
lifted the standard of revolt, and another who was not
Irish betrayed his country and his flag, who more faithful,

PREFACE,

who more heroic, than the countrymen of Baldwin and
Fitzgibbon in putting down that rebellion ? That a
literary man like Mr. Hatton should wholly ignore the
Irish, therefore, shows that there was need of such a book
as the present. Who to-day are more truly attached to
British connexion than the great majority of Irishmen
all over the Dominion? Amongst ourselves also, the
Irish have been too much ignored ; chiefly because the
follies and absurdities of a few make hundreds averse
from an assertion which would be only the reasonable
expression of self-respect. There is a great dissimilar-
ity in culture between the Irish cotter and the Irish
gentleman, between the Irish labourer and the Irish pro-
fessional man, but not more than there is between the
Scotch laird and the Scotch gillie, or between the Eng-
lish squire and the English peasant. Why then is it that
Irishmen of the more cultivated class are sometimes
found to run down the less cultivated class of Irish, so
that, as somebody has said, whenever an Irishman is
to be roasted, another is always at hand to turn the
spit ? " My grandmother," says the Earl of Beacons-
field, "the beautiful daughter of a family who had
suffered mucjli from persecution, had imbibed that dislike
for her race which the vain are apt to adopt when they
find they are born to public contempt. The indignant
feeling which should be reserved for the persecutor, in the
mortification of their disturbed sensibility, is too often
visited on the victim." Something like this process has
taken place in the minds of Irishmen of a certain class.
But let any Irishman who reads these lines ponder what
I say : — You can never lose your own respect and keep

PREFACE.

Vll

the respect of others ; you can never be happy and dreas
yourself solely in the glass of other men's approval ; you
may as well seek to fly from your shadow as to escape
from your nationality. If you find any men mistaken,
or low down in type, or in popular esteem, it is your
duty to raise them, especially if they have on you nation-
al or family claims.

I had not intended to write a preface, and I have said
enough in the opening chapter to indica,te the objects 1
have kept before me. The history of Canada cannot be
written withoul the history of the Scotchman, the Eng-
lishman, and the German in Canada ; the Frenchman in
Canada has found his historian. *' The Scotchman in
Canada " is in the hands of a writer capable of doing
justice to a great theme and an extraordinary race, whose
deeds here as elsewhere are illustrious with such episodes
as the Red River settlement, planted under the guidance
of Lord Selkirk, by men with a determined bravery com-
parable to that of the German troops at Gravelotte, again
and again attempting the hill, studded with rifle pits,
which guarded the French left. Even the Mennonite
settlements will come within the purview of the histor-
ian, and he will have to deal with a later American
immigi^ation than the U. E Loyalist — an immigration
composed mainly of men who entered Canada intending
to settle in Michigan, but, who, when they saw the splen-
did stretches of oak near London and the neighbouring
counties, settled here. Among these settlers were the
Shaws, the Dunbars, and the Goodhues. There was an
eastern settlement of ^he same class, in which we find
the Burnhams, the Horners, the Keelers, the Smiths, the

• • •

vni

PREFACE.

Perrys. Some of these were led to come to Canada by
inducements held )ut by the Government of the day to
construct roads and build mills. Hence in many instan-
ces we find American immigrants the great patentees
where they settled.

In the index I do not give every name, but only the
leading names.

1 have in the notes thanked Mr. Charles Lindsey and
the Hon. C'hristopher Eraser for their assistance in plac-
ing books at my disposal. I have to thank Chief Jus-
tice Harrison for the loan of books, and Mr. Justice
Gwynne for the loan of books and old files of newspa-
papers. To Mr. Allan McLean Howard my thanks are
also due foi' books which could not well have been pro-
cured elsewhere. To Dr. McCaul for books and hints
respecting the university, I must likewise express my
obligation. My thanks are due to my friends through-
out the country who sent information, and to the agents
employed by my publishers. Particularly are my thanks
due to Mr. Sproule, of Ottawa, who, though an Orange-
man, has visited a large number of Roman Catholic pre-
lates and clergymen, in regard to this book, and got me
more Roman Catholic information than has come from
all other sources whatsoever. In a special manner, my
thanks are due to Sir Francis Hincks, who, both by word
and letter, helped me to understand the great period of
which he could truly say — pars magna fui. For esti-
mating the character and genius of Sullivan, he gave
me invaluable data. From Mr. Thomas Maclear, and
Mr. Thomas A. Maclear, I have received much assist-
ance in collecting infc^ ^mtion for the settler chapters,

PREFACE.

and in revising the proofs. Last though not least, Dr.
Hoflgins, Deputy Minister of Education, claims my thanks
for books and pamphlets connected with his department.
I have in places departed from rules usually observed
in books. For instance, in some cases, I have not
"spellud out" figures because T thought the use of
arithmetical symbols more suitab. to the subject treated
at the moment.

The Irishman has played so large a part in Canada
that his history could not be written without, to some
extent, writing the history of Canada, and iLc Allowing
pages may, in the present stage of Canadian historical
literature, be found useful to the student and the politi-
cian.

Toronto, September 22nd, 1877.

«ii

ERRATA.

Page 127, 1. 4, for " exiet" read " exists."

163, J J from bottom, for " Walters" read " Waiters. '

165, /. 13, for " Livingstone" read " Livingston."

177, I. 4 from bottom, for " £809" read " £800."

213, 1. 14, for "Again he" read " Acadian."

328, verses belong to note p. 327.

347, 1. 7, for " McGibbon " read " McKibbon."

349, I. 4 from bottom, for " Byson" read " Bryson."

350, l: 14 from bottom, dele " school teacher."
360, 1. 12 from bottom, for " Morsom" read " Mossom."
393, heading , read «• Baldwin's character. "
409, 1. 9, for " Catherine" read " Charlotte."

476, ;. 13, for " Vice-ChanceUor" read «' Chancellor."

577, 1. 12 from bottom, for " 1859 " read " 1849. "

596, L 7 from bottom, for " arm he drew " read " arm drew."

•I

CONTENTS.

,r^

CHAPTER I.

MOTIVE OF THE " IRISHMAN IN CANADA."

PAOI!
1

2,3

Future of Canada

Materials for the future historian

Writing the HistojT of the Irishman in Canada an inviting task 'I

Resources of the Dominion ^ ^ *

Irishmen's position in Dominion . ' ^' ^

CHAPTER II.

ANTECEDENTS OF THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

Irish History

The Celt in Europe . 1 ! ! ! ! ^' ^

Early Settlement of Ireland ^

The Irish coWe Scotland and South-west Britain ■.■;.■;.*.■. jo 12

Effect of the Introduction of Christianity into Ireland i , ' f

Barbarizing effect of Danish Incursions . . !:' ^^

Norman invasion 15, 18

TheTudorandStuari; policy in'lreiand ".'!":! ^J'f,

Wilham III and James II "^'^' 2*

Ireland the great Liberaliser of the Empire ^*' ^^

statesmen, Orators, Artists, Preachers ' - '"- ^^' ^

Irish Intellect and Charact '

iterary Men

34,37

'48 and the Men of '48 ; Penal Laws'and Gladstone's Legislatic.n «' f

Ireland in the Eight- enth Century ^^egisiatu.n 43, 46

CHAPTER III

rishm;
The Founders of the United States

AXXECEDENTS-CWWd-IRISHMEN IN THE NEW WOR.D AND IN AUSTRAUA.

50, 56

Xll CONTENTS.

PAGE

The Struggle for Independence 56, 01

Vast Immigration of Irishmen and their Success 62, 64

The Position of Irishmen in the United States 64, 65

Their Conduct during the War. 66. 66

The Irishman in Australia, in Mexico, in California and in South

America 62, 64, 66, 68

CHAPTER IV.

IiAYING THE FOUNDATION OF CANADA.

The French Regime. ... . , 68

Carleton, the First Iris^ Governor of Canada, and his Policy 68-74

The War, Invasion of Canada, Carleton' s Dangers, Difficulties, and Suc-
cess 75-87

Carleton's Magnanimity and Administration 87, 88

Major-Geueral Haldira^nd, Governor 88

Acknowledgment of the Independence of United tStates, and the U. E.

Loyalists 88-96

IV'jthodism in Canada 96-98

The Father of Anglicanism in Upper Canada 99-101

The Roman Catholic Church in Canada 101

Carleton becomes Lord Dorchester, and Retunj.;* aq Governor-General of

Canada 101

State of Education 102, 103

The Constitutional Act of 1791 103, 104

Lieutenant-Governors Clarke and Simcoe open respectively the Par-
liament of Lower, and the Parliament of Upper Canada 104

Colonel Talbot and the Talbot settlement 105-12f,

CHAPTER V.

LAYiNa THE FOUNDATION OF CANADA. — Continued.

What Canada owes Irishmen and Canadian Unity 128-130

The First Settlers 130-132

Character of the Irish settler 132-135

Analysis of the Population of the Dominion 135-142

Irish settlements in Newfoundland 142-145

The Irish in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward

Island 145-170

Irish Settlements in Lower and Upper Canada 170-173

The dawn of political life in the Canadas 173-178

Progress of the Methodist Church .... 178-186

Education 185-186

The poet Moore in Canada 187-190

CONTENTS. «— r^— — p

CHAPTER VI.

THE WAR OF 1812-1814.

The Veterans of 1812 to-day and the Character of the War lo/tSl

Circumstances leading to War J^Ji-iJ4

Two prominent heroes of the War 195-200

The First Year of the War ^^'^^^

The Second " " " 206-210

The Third " " 211-235

23G-241

CHAPTER VII.

IRISH IMMIGRATION FROM 1815 TO 1837,

The Results of the Great War in Ireland

Irish Immigrations; what the Irishman has done L' Canada ^ what
Canada has done for the Irishman ' „.

244-301

CHAPTER VIII,

IBISH IMMIGRATION FROM 1815 TO 1837-ConUmi^d.

The Blakes

Settlement of the County of Carleton 302-308

The Irishman in Montreal 310-328

Oxford ■.■.■,■.■.■.;;. 328-336

" Sandwich ^^^

HaltonandWelland,' If'^^

the County of Victoria..."; Zl'^^

the County of Peterborough. f?:

Kingston 3o5

^^ Percy... 365

Belleville .*.V.V.".'.V.V.V.".".V.'.*.V.". ^^^"^^'^

" Dundas, Brantf ord and Hamilton ..'.'. fll

the County of Middlesex V«n qoi

theCounty of WelUngton ggj ggj

CHAPTER IX.

THE RISE OF RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT IN CANADA.

Character of this History

The first early stirrings of freedom ^^

Agitation of Gourlay and Mackenzie "• 386,386

Struggle to have the debates reported.".'.".".". .'.".■.■ f ^' ^'^

387, 388

XIV CONTENTS.

PAGE

Doctor Baldwin in Parliament 389

Hon. Robert liUdwin ; Entrance into political life ; his character... 390-395

Got 8 to England and presses his vifaws on Lord Glenely 396

Sir Francis Bond Head 390-406

Robert Baldwin Sullivan enters public life 398, 399

The Rebellion of 1837 401-406

Sir George Arthur, Governor ; unsatisfactory condition of all British

North America ; struggles for liberty 406, 407

Sir Francis Hincks 408, 409

Mr. Poulett Thompson (Lord Sydenham) Governor- General 410-473

The Union of the Canadas 409-438

The first Parliament of United Canada 438-400

Disputes regarding Responsible Government 446-459

Agitation 460

Portraits of Draper and Sir Francis Hincks 403,464

CHAPTER X.

THE RISE OF RESPONSIBLE ooVERNMEXT — Continued.

state of Education in Canada 473-476

Government of Sir Charles Bagot 476-483

Fall of the Draper Government and rise of the Baldwin party to

power 478-482

Sir Charles (Lord) Metcalfe, Governor-General— violent agitation ... 483-503

CHAPTER XI

THE RISE OP RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT — Continued.

The unconstitutional interregnum 503-508

Popular agitation 609-512

Parliament Dissolved ; exciting contest 512, 513

Election of Speaker ; attack on the Ministry ; progress of Constitu-
tional Governme)it ; indecency of Ministers ; Draper's Univer-
sity Bill ; departure and death of Lord Metcalfe 521-532

CHAPTER XII.

THE RISE OF RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT — Continued.

Lord Cathcart, Administrator 532

Disorganisation of the Tory Party 532-534

Lord Elgin, Governor-General ; Draper's farewell ; famine immigra-
tion ; the Now Ministry; death of Sullivan; effect of Free Trade j

CONTENTS.

commercial depression ; Rebellion Losses Bill ; mob violence
seals of Government ; treason ; triumph of Responsible Govern^

ment

PAOB

634-564

CHAPTER XIII.

THE CANADIAN CONSTITUTION.

Developing the country ; the - Clear Grits ;" Independence and An-

nexation : advantages of Canadian Constitution . kh^ r^o-

Parliament meets ; "Clear Grits" attack the Reform Government '
fnutful legislation; Railway Mania; Mr. Brown's hostility to'
the Hmcks Government ; Coalition Opposition ; fall of Hincks
and close of the Irish period (1825-1854) 572 589

CHAPTER XIV.

PROGRESS OF CANADA.

Irish immigration smce 1837

The Irishman as asocial force .... ^^'^^^

" asaMedicalman. ...:..::: Zf^^

" as a Journalist 'f.^'^f

TheBench, the Bar, culture.... ^^^' ^^^

Canadian Art "'.'." '. C04-611

Irish poets in Canada 611-618

Volunteers 618-620

620-623

CHAPTER XV.

THE IRISHMAN AS A RELIGIOUS AND EDUCATIONAL FORCE.

Importance of Religion and Education

The Church of England i > Canada ^o. 5^^

The Methodist Church 624-629

The Presbyterian Church ..!!! '..'.".".■ ." ^^^'^^^

The Roman Catholic Church 032-635

Education .. 635-643

643,644

CHAPTER XVI.

CANADIAN HISTORY FROM 1856 TO 1877.

Premiership of Mr. (now Sir) John A. Macdonald ...

John Sheridan Hogan "^^

Thomas D'Arcy McGee ^*^' ^^

646-65J

"_.!_,

XVI CONTENTS.

Fo'ej- Til

Confederation, Lord Monck, Fenianism 651-656

McGee, fierce contest, longing after repose, murder , 656-659

The Catholic League ggo

Return of Sir Francis Hincks. , ^ (559 qqq

Reforr '^ ty reinforced by Mr. Edward Blake 660 661

New Iris., members ggj gg2

Lord Duflferin, Governor- General ; nationality, what ; Lord Dufferin's

talents ; his career 662-666

Conclusion ggir

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

CHAPTER I.

It requires no such faith as Abraham's to look forward to a
time when Canada wiH be a great nation. Had the aaed
Hebrew, when told to count his descendants by the stars turned
away incredulously and re-entered his tent, and sat down to
laugh with Sarah over what might weU have seemed a mocking
promise, he would surely have been excusable. It was hard for
him to believe that the withered trunk would sprout and cover
the land with forest. But, however strong his faith, he could
not have grasped the mighty future which lay locked within his
wintry loins. What human vision could have seen in the patri-
arch bowed with age, the extraordinary people who were to be
K) the world what the fruitful cloud and the vivifying sunshine
are to the earth-a people, to whose spiritual insight that of the
Greeks was bUndness, from whose sublime morality Eoman
virtue diifered, as the human differs from the Divine ? But
there would be no excuse whatever for doubts on our part We
already count ourselves by millions ; we live in historical times •
we are the heirs in possession of the moral and inteUectual
wealth of centuries ; we carry in our veins the blood of races
which have been prolific in martyrs and heroes, poets and states-
men; m beauty, which gives sweetness to strength, and in art
which renders that beauty immortal. We have seen the family

THE IIUSltMi^N IN CANADA.

and the clan expand i ito the nation, and the descendants of rob-
bers and outlaws become the stern lawgivers of the world. From
what rude tribec sprang Greece ; out of what a coarse chaos
came the refined civilization of France and the glory of the Brito-
Hibernian empire. The great Eastern shepherd had long slept
in his grave when his children were the slaves of a cmel tyranny;
his dust had passed through many forms when Solomon ruled at
Jerusalem; ages had intervened when a greater than Solomon
promulgated from Zion a kingdom which can know no decline.
We, too, shall have long slept with our fathers when Canada's
sun will be in the zenith. But they only play their part
worthily who live for morrows whose lii;ht cannot gladden them.
This is a duty which is laid on all, bat especially on young
peoples. Our politics are evanescent; our ambitions, dreams;
there is nothing of reality in the passing show but the qualities
which assign the individual and the community their place in
the moral scale, and determine the character of their successors.
Humanity is immortal ; the individual, perishable. Even races
disappear and give place to other races. Old forces take new
forms, as in the sea the waves spend themselves, transmitting
their strength to other waves, which in their turn are doomed
to die.

It is natural to wish to know what manner of men our fathers
were. On no subject has there been more curiosity, on none has
there been so much absurd speculation, as on the ethnology of
nations who have taken a foremost place in the world. The foun-
tains of the Nile have not been so baffling as those changes and
conditions which preceded the advent and growth of nations.
The sources are lost in unrecorded time. It is only yesterday
that the clue from language was discovered. Hence, ignorant or
uncritical historians, more enamoured of the marvellous than care-
ful about truth, have allowed fancy to run riot, and taught men
to reverence fabulous heroes, and sometimes to regulate their con-
duct by what was no better than idle legend.

When the future historian of Canada sits down to write a
story which, we may hope, will be illustrious with great achieve-
ments and happy discoveries, triumphs in literature and art, in

''*^*

OliJECTS OF THE WORK.

ts of roL-
d. From
'se chaos
he Brito-
Diig slept

tyranny;
. ruled at

Solomon
) decline.

Canada's
heir part
ien them,
on young
dreams ;
J qualities
■ place in
luccessors.
Iven races
take new
nsmitting
doomed

ur fathers
none has
nology of
The foun-
mges and
f nations,
yestei'day
jnorant or
than care-
ught men
iheir con-
write a
t achieve-
nd art, in

his library, side by side with lore it has not entered into the
heart of man as yet to conceive, will be found records such as
the historian of Greece, or Rome, or Ireland, or Scotland, cc
England looks for in vain. He will ha^e to treat of the races
which laid the foundation of the great northern empire on this
continent, and ho must have adequate information to his hand
But those records will be incomplete, unless we take care that a
class of facts, which may easily escape, are duly hoarded. The
future historian will find full particulars regarding those heroic
Frenchmen — the missionary and the soldier — who were the
pioneers of our civilization. He ought to know all about the
English settlement. He should be acquainted with all that
Scotchmen have done for Canada. He should not be ignorant of
the noble elements of national life one of the most brilliant
of modem nations has laid at her feet. To point out this is the
task I have set myself.

I have another object in view : I wish, while performing this
task, to sweep aside misconceptions, to explode cherished lal-
lacies, to point out the truth, and so raise the self-respect of
every person of Irish blood in Canada. The time has not yet
arrived when we can speak of a Canadian type, and until that
day arrives, whether we are born on Canadian soil, or in the
mother lands, we cannot safely forego the bracing and inspiring
influences which come from country and race.* Our first duty
here is to Canada ; but one of the best ways efficiently to dis-
charge this duty, is to be just to ourselves and true to facts.

Writing the history of Irishmen in Canada, I can afford to
speak in this way, for it was in great part due to the eloquence
and enthusiasm of an Irishman that the scattered provinces were
brought together, and men born on this soil have acknowledged

• Let the miserables who would deny a country because the shadow of a
vanished oppression is only passing from it, and who do not scruple to abuse

their fellow-countrymen, ponder the following remarks of an Englishman :

•' The moral degradation arising from this vast mass of helotage could not fail to
affect the bearing even of the upper classes of Ireland. It produced in them
that want of self-respect and respect for their country in their intercourse with
the English which drew from Johnson the bitter remark, ' The Irish, sir, are a
very candid people ; they never speak well of each other." " — "Irish History and
Irish Character." By Goldwin Smith.

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

their irulobtedness to his winged words for the most precious
of gifts.*

Hiippily, to write the history of Irishmen in Canada is no
uninviting task. It is not merely that Ireland can advance her
claim to recognition and respect as no inconsiderable contributor
to the great work of laying the foundation of this young nation.
She has helped to reclaim the land from barrenness ; to substi-
tute for the wilderness the garden. In clearing and in counsel,
her sons have done their part. Whether it was necessary to
speul. or strike, they have been at the post of duty. This is not
all which makes the task so pleasant. The heroism, the endur-
ance, the versatile genius implied by all this may be found
written on the tearful pages of the history of the motherland.
What renders the task so pleasant is, that here the factious
which have afflicted successive centuries exist but in shadow
because the ground of quarrel is wholly absent. Whoever
studies the history of Ireland, not in what are called popular
histories and student's manuals, but in contemporary documents,
will learn that the great bone of contention, from age to age, was
not religion, nor form of government, but the land. Here, land
can be no apple of discord. Ireland, nay, the three kingdoms^
might be drowned in one of our lakes. We have, too, out-
lived the age of plunder and confiscation, and never can any
difficulty arise on this score in a country where we open up
provinces as men in the old world make a paddock.

And if there can be no misgiving as to the abundance, neither
can there be any as to the wealth and fruitfulness of the land.
Ireland's fields are greener, but they are not as variously fruitful
as those of Canada ; her hills — nothing could surpass their
beauty, but they do not contain the mineral treasures which are
to be found here ; her rivers have unspeakable charm, but their
sands are not of gold.

A glance at the physical geography of Canada will show it to
be one of the richest sections of the globe. Its forests will

• '• There is a name I would fain approach. . . . one who breathed into
our new Dominion the spirit of a proud self-reliance, and first taught Canadians
to respect themselves — Thomas D'Arcy McGee."— "Canada First; or, Our New
Nationality." By W. A. Foster.

RESOURCES OF THE DOMINION.

)W it to
ts will

build tliousiiuds of fleets and warm the hearths of many genera-
tions. Already great as a wheat-growing country, it is destined
to be greater, the isotherm of wheat running right across the
greater portion of the whole Dominion. The red loam of Princo
Edward is among the most fertile of soils. What country is so
beautifully wooded and watered as New Brunswick, whose fer-
tility is only surpassed by the wealth of its mines and fisheries ?
Nova Scotia, variegated by lofty hills and broad valleys, by lakes
and rivers, is rich in geological resources, and, while bountiful to
the agricultundist, is still more bountiful to the miner. Gold and
iron and copper, lead and silver and tin, abound. Shii)building
is carried on extensively, as in New Brunswick and in Quebec
The agricultural resources of Quebec and those of Ontario need
Dot be dwelt on. It is now known that the land to the north-
west of Manitoba is richer than any prairie land in the world.
Our minerals held their heads high at the Centennial oi" 18 7G.
Canadian horses and cattle are finding a market in England, and
the gates of commerce are thrown open to us under the Southern
Cross. If the eastern bounds of our Dominion, washed by the
stormy Atlantic, are variously rich, so are the western bounds,
wliose golden feet are laved by the calmer waters oi" the Pacific.
Destined at once to be the England and the California of the
future, British Columbia is as beautiful as she is richly dowered.
The traveller who proceeds up the highway made where the
Eraser cleaves the granite ridges of the Cascade range and enters
the open valleys beyond, is face to face with " the unequalled
pastoral and agricultural resources of the bunch-grass country." *
From an eminence in the neighbourhood ol Kamloops he com-
mands an interminable prospect of grazing lands and valleys
waiting for the husbandman. He may see the mouths of the
coal-pits opening into the hulls of the vessels ; here, inex-
haustible supplies of iron ore ; there, the woodsman laying the
axe to trees two hundred and fifty feet high and over four
hundred yea.s old. Skirting the Eraser, he will see the Indian
fisherman haul out a salmon on the sands, whence the miner is
sifting sparkling ore. In Cariboo, in Cassiar, in the valley of
the Stickeen, the precious metal is still more abundant.

See Lord DuflFerin's speech at Victoria, Sept. 20th, 1876.

il!

} !'•

6 THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

What land is more richly blessed by nature with water,
whether wo consider it as a beautificr, or as a drudj^c, or as a
fishing Peld ? The fisheries inland and seaward, are unequalled.
No codutry in the worl ^ has such an avenue of approach as the
St. Lawrence. To wind one's way through the Thousand Islands
is to wander amid enchanting beauty. It is an Irish poet who
writes —

" There are miracles, which man,
Cag'd in the bounds of Fairopc^'s pigmy span,
Cau scarcely dream of — whicli his eye must p.e
To know how v/onderful this world can 'd." *

What variety and beauty is there up Lake Superior ! Cross the
continent, and you may sail "^long the coast for a week in a
vessel of two thousand tons, threading " an interminable laby-
rinth of watery lanes and reaches," winding endlessly amid a
maze and mystery of islands, promontories, and peninsulas for
thousands of miles, the placid water undisturbed by the slighest
swell from the adjoining ocean, and presenting at every turn an
ever-shifting combination of rock, verdure, forest, glacier, and
snow-capped mountain of unrivalled grandeur and beauty." f
Those capacious and tranquil waters, capable of carrying a line
of battle ship, seem gentle, as if on purpose to suit the frail
canoes which skim in safety over the unrippled surface.

In such a country, where the laws are equal, with everything
which cau stimulate industry, J everything which can stir the
heart, it would be an extraordinary thing if the Irishman did
not rise to a high level. Here, all that his fathers ever struggled
for he has. He is a controlling part of the present ; he is one
of the architects of the future, and he has nothing to do with
the disasters of the past, only so far as they teach him lessons for
the present. Nothing to do with the glories of the past, .save to
catch their inspiration. On those disasters and those glories it
will nov^ be my duty briefly to dwell.

* Moore,
t liord DuJFerin.

t ^ am coavinced, from what I saw in the States, and from all I bi»vre heardr
that tho position of the Irishman in Canada Is better than in the Slates.

FUNCTION OF HISTORY.

CHixPTEIl II.

No source of education opjn to a people ought to be so
ruitful as the story of their owi. country. But, if it is to teach
and correct and inspire, it must be true. The muse of history is
the purest of 'all the Nine, and no passion should darken the
clear blue of the intellectual atmosphere of her domain; no
fiction warp its crisp outlines. The romancer, who gives you idle
fables, and calls them history, would play a much more useful
part if he appeared in his true character of novelist; while the
man who distorts facts or colours them mischievously, with the
view of raising or stimulating passions, is worse than a murderer,
for he sows broadcast the seeds of murder. In uncriticd times,
the deposit of the national fancy is easily mistaken for the
gold of truth, and for the most credulous of Irish historians
there is this excuse : for him the future was a vista of despair ;
the present, blood and tears, and hope, in the unnatural strain,
was turned to the past, giving additional warmth and boldness to
imagination. He erred, too, it must be admitted, in good com-
pany, but, in his case, error was fraught with serious consequences
— it was used by the enemies of his country to discredit her real
glory.

Some Irish historians divide the history into periods ; the
pre-Christian, the Irish pentarchy, the Danish period, the Nor-
man, the Tudor and Stuart, and the Hanoverian.* But, perhaps,

• See "The Student's Manual of Irish History." By M. F. Cusack.
Until somebody does for Ireland what Mr. J. R. Green has done for England, I
know no better book to recommend to those who wanr to get an outline of events.
But, owing, perhaps, to the limits of space, very important facts, which should
find a place even in a compendium, are omitted, and it is impossible to escape from
the conviction that, here and there, the partiality of the patriot sways the
balance of the historian — an unhappy thing, because calculated to make Irish-
men look ridiculous, and a needless thing, for Irishmen can afford to have the
truth told. But it is one of the best small histories of Ireland which can be got.

THE IinSHMAN IN CANADA.

.?.'

the facts would be brought more certainly before the mind if
Irish history were divided into the Celtic period and the mixed
period. The modern Irishman is not a Celt, any more than the
modern Englishman is a Saxon. The name of the greatest of
English historians * proves him to have been in part Celt ; the
name of the latest of Irish historians -f indicates that the writer
is in part Norman. But, as in England, over Celt and Norman
the Saxon predominates, so in Ireland, over Saxon and Norman,
the Celt predominates.

We may leave antiquarians to puzzle over the five "takings"
of Ireland. It is enough for every practical purpose to know as
we do, by the sure test of language, that the people inhabiting
Ireland, when the mists of unhistorical times are swept away
from its green hills, its fertile valleys, and extensive forests,
belonged to the grea.t Celtic race. That race which came before
the Teuton formed the vanguard of the Aryan march to the
West I and played, and still plays, a great part in the history of
the world. It plays its part no longer alone, but in conjunction
with one or other of its brethren. The Celt of Gaul has done
great things, not merely within his own bounds, but for Europe;
but he has wrought all this brilliancy speaking a Latin dialect
and wearing the name of a German tribe. The Celt of Ireland
of Scotia major, and his brethren among the hills of Scotia
minor, 'aving learned a language composed of elements drawn
from dialects of their brethren, the Teuton on the one hand, and
the Eoman on the other, have done their part in building up
what, if Irishmen's attention had not been directed into other

Disfigured, as Froude's history is, by deliberate misrepreflentation, his pages are
the most vivid which have been devoted to Irish history, and the student could
not do better than read them, if he will remember their real character and correct
them by reference to more trustworthy sources bearing on the period. Mr.
(Joldwin Smith's essay, "Irish History and Irish Character," should be read
by every student. It is the most masterly thing ever written on Ireland, and
breathes, with one or two trifling exceptions, a spirit of perfect fairness. For
persona who are not students of Irish history there is no other book which will
give them, on a small canvas, so true a picture, Th« canvas is small, but the
treatment is the large treatment of a master-hand.

* Maraulay. t Cusack.

t Freeman. — "Comparative Politics," p, 50.

THE CELT IN EUROPE.

channels, they would have readily and gladly recognised as the
Brito-Hibernian empire. On this continent, working by the side
of the Saxon, and mingling with him, the Celt has made, in a
few years, one of the foremost of modern nations, and here, in
C/anada, no small portion of the work of the future rests on his
shouldei'8. It is impossible to say with certainty whether the
Oelts separated from the Roman and the Greek in their Aryan
nome, or parted company with them on their westward march.
When we see them face to face with their classical brethren,
it is as enemies. They poured over the Alps, and settled in the
valleys of the Po, and, in vengeance for the haughty language of
Roman ambassadors and some Gaulish blood spilt in a skir-
mish, they raised the siege of Clusium n,nd marched on Rome,
which, having put the Romans to rout at AUia, they gave to
the flames. It was Celtic valour bore down the Roman in the
defile of Thrasymene, on the disastrous field of Cannse ; nor was
it until Csesar carried a ten years' extirminating war into the
home of the Celts that the contest of four centuries was decided.
They carried their arms into Greece and overran Asia Minor.
They sacked Delphi ; " they met the summons of Alexander
with gasconading defiance j they overthrew the phalanx in the
plains of Macedon."*

We may trust the traditions which assign an early date to the
settlement of Ireland, while dismissing with a smile stories about
Noah's children and Canaanitish emigrations. The Celt who
settled in Ireland, separated by the sea from the continent,
would naturally be shut out from a share in the wars and enter-
prises of the members of his race on the mainland, and be
kept free from influences to which they were exposed. Centuries
passed away, and the civilization did not advance beyond the
primitive stage of the sept and clan. Petty principalities arose,
and petty kingdoms, and population was kept down by constant
wars.-f There is no use in attributing virtues to the Irish Celts
at this stage which are inconsistent with the infancy of a people.
What they were we can very easily understand from what we
know certainly of themselves, from what we know of the Gauls,

Goldwin Smith.

+ Professor Curry.

i '

1- 1

THE lUISIFMAN IN CANADA.

aud from what we know of the Greeks at a like period of growth.
In art, in arms, in polity they were, up to the time of St.
Patrick, about on a level with the Greeks of the time of which
Homer sings ; nor need we be surprised that a resemblance has
been traced between ancient Irish and ancient Greek military
monuments. The bards, as in early Greece, and in Germany in
early times, held an important place in society and wielded great
power. If it was their profession to flatter the strong, they were
often the protectors of the weak. What was thought amongst
the Teutons of the bards may be gathered from Uhland's great
ballad, and in Ireland the wandering poet, who was credited with
divine powers, often made himself unpopular with kings and
princes. The bards were the journalists, orators, and historians
of those times, and, before being admitted to the sacred order,
they had to pass through a long course of training. Their
religion was Druidism. They worshipped the sun, and in the
neighbourhood of Dublin, to this day, the student witnesses
survivals of this worship. The Irish-speaking Celt still calls the
1 st of May " La Bealtinne," and throughout the island fires are
lit, which are the embers of a once-living worship, the joyful
greeting of the returning sun-god. There was a national code
and recognised interpreters. Common ownership of land pre-
cedes separate ownership.* In Kussia and Hindostan the village
communities hold the land in common, and in Ireland the land
was the property of the Sept. That such was the custom among
the Greeks and Komans, in early times, may be gathered from
the redistributions of land and the agrarian laws, from the
Roman clientage and the Greek tribes, which are evidently
cognate institutions of the Clan.-f- One of the most curious
facts in comparative politics is, that the custom sanctioned by
the Brehon laws of the creditor fasting upon the debtor exists
at this hour in Hindostan, and has actually been practised within
living memory in Ulster.

Early in our era, the Scots of Erin colonised the west coast of
Scotland and the adjacent islands. Traditions of this coloniza-

• Maine's Ancient Law.

+ Goldwiu Smith's " Irish History and Irish Character."

.1 1

IBISH COLONIZATION OF SCOTLAND.

tion and of frequent intercourse still linger in Scotland.* They
acted with their friends in North Britain against the Roman,
and in the reign of Constantine's successor the Irish and Picts

pre-

* The following remarkable article, which appeared in the Inverness High-
lander, in reference to an Irish political question, is understood to be from the
pen of an eminent Gaelic scholar : — *' There was a time when Clann nan Quidheal
an guaillibha a cheile did not mean merely that a handful of Camerons, or of
JIackays, or of Macdonalds, should yoke themselves firmly together in crossing? a
burn or tracking a morass ; far less did it teach that a small body of Celts was to
be compacted together for purposes of oflFence towards another body of Celts,
And, even supposing that in remote and unchristian times this brotherhood did
happen to be so limited, we have arrived at a time when, to say the very least,
the bonds should embrace all the branches of the family of the Gaidheal. We
are thankful to say that the tendency of the more intellectual enterprises o^ the
race in oxir day is towards this wider brotherhood. Dr. MacLauchlan, Campbell
of Islay, Matthew Arnold, Professor Morley, and even Professor Blackie, who is
supposed to be more intense than broad, are unflinching in their declarations that
Celtic learning, Celtic literature, and Celtic history to be what they ought to be,
must embrace the learning and the philosophy, the history and the polity of the
Scottish, the Irish, the Manx, the Cornish, the Armoric and the Welsh Celts ;
that we must make careful use of the living speech and current traditions of
Highlanders, of the fragments of literature found in the Isle of Man and in
Cornwall, of the Cymbri, and of the vast stores of Irish MSS. which have
escaped +he ravages of Teutonic destroyers. This is a valuable lesson in regard
to other things, as well as being a valuable fact in itself, and it points to the duty
of the different members of the great family drawing upon each other for co-
operation in other departments. Even in the matter of war it is notorious how
the Irish bore so brave a hand with the Highlanders in resisting the Danes ; a fact
of which the mixture of Irish and Scottish names, and some of the confusion of
Scottish and Irish history are the natural results. There is not a corner in our
Scottish Highlands, there is hr.rdly a pedigree of an old Highland family, which
does not bear out this rema.k. What are the Macdonalds, the Macdonnells, the
Donnellies, the Connolies, the O'Connells, but the one grand family of Clann
LomhnuiUf The Mackays, the Mackies, the Macghies, and even the Hoeys, the
O'Gheochs, and the Keogas, are so many modifications of Clann Aoidh. The very
Campbells, who have been so largely implicated in the work of denationalizing Scot-
land, actually claim to be of the Irish stock of O'Duibhne. And, at the great battle
of Ckutn-tairbh, at which the Irish under Brian Boirmhe overthrew the Danes, in
the beginning of the eleventh century, Feochaibh nah-Alha are assigned an
honourable position in the records of the time. Another thing, perhaps still more
to the purpose, is the very curious fact, that so very large a proportion of High-
land '* fiction," of legendary lore — corresponding in some measure at the time of
its composition with our romances and with our more sober works of fiction —
should have direct reference to Irish characters, events and scenes. No one
is surprised to find this the case in Cantyre and in Wigtonshire. But it is as cer.

I Ji

pi) I

THE IIlISTTJfAN IN CANADA.

are said to have reached London and occupied it. It required all
the ability of Theodosius to save the province from destruction.
He defeated Saxon, Pict, and Scot, and unless Claudian indulges
in a wilder poetic license than common, the number of Scots
from Ireland must have been very large. The poet describes the
victorious general as pursuing them to the extremity of Britain,
and slaying so many that the Orcades were stained with Saxon
gore, Thule warmed with Pictish blood, and Erin left mourning
over heaps of her slain Scots.*

There are traces in South-west Britain of Irish occupation.
Some think that Wales was invaded by the Irish.f Irish oc-
cupations are referred to in Welsh traditions. One invasion is
mentioned in the Triads, and it would appear that, besides the
settlements in Scotland and North Wales, the Irish dominion
extended over South Wales and Cornwall. In Cormac's glossary
we find an envoy sent over to the south-west of England to

tainly, and perhaps more generally, so in the far north Highlands. In Glen-
Urquhart ; in Stratherrick ; in Cromarty even, which has been so drenched with
Teutonic soporifics ; in Applecross ; in Skye ; and in parts of the Long Island,
the setting up of Highland families from Irish offshoots, the marrying of High-
land ladies into Irish royal and other families, et cetera, are leading facts in the
pedigrees and traditions handed down from remote periods. The wide and deep
hold, for example, of the story of Clann Visneach all over the Highlands is an
instructive fact, and one fraught with kindly outcomings from Celt to Celt.
Then there is the great Ossianic drama, which is now established to have been
neither exclusively Scottish, nor exclusively Irish, but a large network over both
countries — wide enough, indeed, aa is now being shr by Dr. Hately Waddell,
to embrace the territory of Cymbri also. After giving illustrations in regard to
our family and friendly relations with the Manx, and to the benefits which are to
be derived in a variety of forms from a more intiuiate acquaintance with the
Cornish, we might pass over to Brittany, trace the relationship, and then point
to a still wider relationship exempl^ed by the terms of amity which subsisted
so long between the French nation and that of Alban. ♦ • * What we do
profess is, that there is a nationality existing among us, that there are traditions,
that there are latent sentiments, that there are common interests apart from, and in
addition to, those principles of justice and those sentiments of fair play, which
should make Highlanders, above all men, give Cothram na Feintie to the Irish.

* Maduerunt Saxone fuso
Orcades : incaluit Pictorum sanguine Thule :
Scotorum cumulos flevit glacialis lerne.

f Aniuals of the Caledonians. Ritson.

THE INTRODUCTION OF CHRISTIANITY

collect tribute, and this is borne out by the romance of Tristan
and Iseult, in which the uncle of Iseult is sent to demand tribute
from Marc, King of Cornwall, uncle of Tristan. The tales of
King Arthur belong to the period of the Irish occupation.

With the introduction of Christianity there came a new
element of civilization, and the warm Celtic nature responded
with enthusiastic fervour to the pure and ennobling influences of
the Gospel. Their religion burned " like a star in Western
Europe."* Columba, or Columbkill, a man of the royal race of Nial,
undertook to carry the glad tidings to the Gael, the Pict, the Briton
and the Scandinavian, and founded the holy island of lona,
whence went forth missionaries to Iceland, to the Orkneys, to
Northumbria, to Man, and to South Britain.f Columbanus did a
like work among the half-barbarous Franks, and in France, in

• Froude, "Vol. I., p. 15.

+ "We must remember that before the landing of the English in Britain, the
Christian Church comprised every country, save Germany, in Western Europe,
as far as Ireland itself. The conquest of Britain by the pagan English thrust a
wedge of heathendom into the heart >f this great communion, and broke it into
two unequal parts. On the one side lay Italy, Spain and Gaul, whose churches
owned obedience to the see of Rome ; on the other, the Church of Ireland. But the
condition of tlie two portions of Western Christendom was very diflFerent. While
the vigour oF Christianity in Italy, Gaul and Spain was exhausted in a bare
struggle for life, Ireland, which remained unscourged by invaders, f iCw from its
conversion an energy such as it has never known since Christianity had been
received there with a burst of popular enthusiasm, and letters and arts sprang up
rapidly in its train. The science and Biblical knowledge which fled from the Con-
tinent took refuge in famous schools, which made Durrow and Armagh the uni-
versities of the West. The new Christian life soon beat too strongly to brook
confinement within the bounds of Ireland itself. Patrick, the first missionary of
the island, had not been half a century dead when Irish Christianity flung itself
with a fiery zeal into battle with the mass of heathenism which was rolling in upon
the Christian world. Irish missionaries laboured among the Picts of the High-
lands, and among the Frisians of the northern seas. An Irish missionary, Colum-
ban, founded monasteries in Burgundy and the Apennines. The Canton of St.
Gall still commemorates in its name another Irish missionary before whom the-
spirit of flood and fell fled wailing over the waters of Lake Constance. For a
time it seemed as if the course of the world's history was to be changed, as if the
older Celtic race that Roman and German had swept before them had turned to
the moral conauest of their conquerors, as if Celtic and not Latin Christianity wa»
to mould the . stiniesof the Church of the West." History of the English People*
J. R. Green, M. A., Examiner in the School of Modern History, Oxford.

THE IUl8liMAN IN CANADA.

! i!

I ': !!'■

/ 1'^

:> I

Switzerland, m Italy there remaiu monuments of the sacred zeal
which carried the truth to the Lombards — men, like themselves, of
Celtic blood — and caused the Go;jpel star to shine on the darkness
of the Main and Upper Rhine. While Columbauus was passing
through Switzerland, one of his fellow-labourers was taken ill
and could not proceed. The invalid on recovering;, remained
with the people who had nursed him, and St. Gall commemorates *
tlie work he accomplished, and, indeed, enduring traces of the
Irish missions may be found in every part of Europe. It was
not the sanctity only of the Irish which stood high at this time.
Their scholarship was equally illustrious. Eric of Auxerre writes
to Charles the Bald : " What shall I say of Ireland, which, de-
spising the dangers of the deep, is migrating with her whole train
of philosophers to our coast ? " Not only did Ireland send out
apostles and philosophers to other countries, she welcomed
pupils from every compass to her schools. Thousands of students
from all parts of Europe came for instruction to the schools of
Armagh, and to " that melancholy plain where the Shannon flows
by the lonely ruins of Clonmacanoise."-)* Bede tells us that the
pestilence of 656 found " many of the nobility and of the lower
ranks of the English nation" in Ireland, who had crossed thither
for purposes of study, and he adds, — " The Scots willingly re-
ceived them all, and took care to supply them with food, as also
to furnish them with books to read and their teaching gratis."
Charlemagne welcomed Irish scholars and Irish preachers as
powerful allies in the civilizing work he had to do. He promoted
them to places of honour in his court; he employed them to teach
the Frankish youth. Mr. Gold win Smith recalls how " Scotus

li.

• The progress of the Irish Columbanus at her very doors roused into new
life the energies of Rome. Gregory determined to attempt the conversioi
of Britain, but when the Roman mission in Kent sank into reaction, the Irish
mission came forward to supply its place. " The labour of Aidan, the victories of
Oswald and Oswi seemed to have annexed England to the Irish Church ; " and
the monks of Lindisfarue, or of the new religious houses whose foundation
followed that of Lindisfarne, looked for ecclesiastical tradition to Ireland, and
quoted for guidance the instruction of Columba. — Hist, of the English People.

+ Goldwin Smith.

' 1 1

ST. PATRICK A STATESMAN.

Erigena * was sitting a familiar guest at the table ot Charles the
Bald, wlieii the king asked him how far a Scot was removed from
a sot, and he answered, with Irish wit, ' By a table's breadth.'
During the seventh and eighth centuries," continues Mr. Smith,
" and part of the ninth, Ireland played a really great part in
European history. It was the bright morning of a dark day."
Surely a people to whom Europe is so much indebted deserve
more consideration than they have met with in the hour of their
misfortunes. What glory of military conquest can equal the
pure and liappy glory of those two centuries of learning and
piety ? And in this glory neither Norman nor Saxon has any
share ; it belongs of sole right to the Irish Celt.

St. Patrick was a statesman as well as a Christian missionary.
When at his request the " men of Erin " came to a Conference
with him, he retained all the Brehon law which did not clash with
the Word of God f ; and happy would it have been for England
as well as Ireland, if English statesmen in later times had acted
in the same spirit of moderation as St. Patrick. About the time
that the Brehon laws were codified under the guidance of St
Patrick, great changes were made in the Eoman law, which was
undergoing the modifications which might be expected under the
influence of Christianity, and this may have had its eiYect on the
character of the work, which was a " precise and elaborate code,
displaying that peculiar aptitude for the form of legislation
which the French Celt has displayed in the Code Napoleon." J
The authority of this code continued until the power of the Irish
chieftains was finally broken in the reign of Queen Elizabeth.
Before the end of the seventeenth century the whole race of
Brehons or judges, and Ollamhs or professors of the Irish laws,
became extinct.

The Danish incursions put a stop to the mental oulture and pro-
gress which would infallibly have brought the Irish people forward

* The profound utterances of tbis great man are living words to-day. Dean
Stanley, in Lis latest work, quotes his saying — so far advanced, especially for Scotna
Erigena's time— that " whatever is true Philosophy is also true Theology." History
of Jewish Church. Third Series. Scribner, Preface, p. xrv.
+ Senchus Mor., pp. 16, 17.
Goldwiu Smith.

f ' '!

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

III!

I !

♦iH

to that stogo when they could be described as a united nation.
It is vain to look back with regret on a state of things in which
petty king warring with petty king could make alliances with
the heathen invader. If national unity had been stronger than
the clan and individual selfishness, of course the Danes never
could have obtained a footing in the island. Though the Danish
occupation led to the brief unity which expelled them the events
leading up to the battle of Clontarf are such as could happen
only in the very early stages of a people's growth.* The wife of
King Brian, Gormflaith, who had two other husbands alive, was
at Kincora when Ma3lmurra, her brother, the King of Leinster,
came to pay tribute. Mrelmurra was also a vassal of the Danes
who had helped him to his throne. His sister taunted him with
being the vassal of her own husband, and a playful remark of
his cousin acting on his mind like a spark on gunpowder, he
left the palace in anger. Brian sent a messenger after him to
pacify him, but the angry chief dashed out the braius of the
messenger. His whole clan is roused to avenge an insult whic .
no fire-eater of the time of duelling would have thought sufficient
to warrant calling a man out. The O'Rourkes, the O'Niels, the
O'Flahertys and the Kearys promised to assist him. And mark
what followed on a sharp word over a game of chess. O'Niel
ravaged Meath. O'Rourke attacked Malachy and slew his grand-
son and heir. Soon afterwards Malachy defeated his assailants
in a bloody engagement. He then divided his forces into three
parties and plundered Leinster as far as Meath. Reprisals were
made on each side ; Irishman slaying Irishman and the Danes
in the land, nay, fighting side by side with the Leinster men,
until Malachy demanded the protection to which he was entitled
from Brian, who clearly was not in the proper sense of the word
King of Ireland. " Brian of the tribute " properly describes
his position. Brian obeyed the summons. He " ravaged Ossory "
and marched on Dublin, where he was joined by his son Murrogh,
" who had devastated Wicklow, burning, destroying and carrying
off captives until he reached Kilmaiuham." The siege of Dublin

• See for the details, " Irish Hifltory," by M. F. Cuaack, well known as "The
Nun of Kenmare."

CLONTARF. THE DANES.

■\s-as raised during tlie winter, and Gormflaitli,who is a sort of Irish
Helen, exerts herself in collecting forces against her two husbands,
Brian and Malachy. She despatched her son Sitric to bring
foreign aid, and promised her hand and the kingdom of Ireland
to each of two Vikings if they would come and help the Danes.
In the spring Brian marched towards Dublin " with all that
obeyed him of the men of Ireland." He " plundered and de-
stroyed as usual,"* says the Nun of Kenmare, on his way to
Dublin. After he had passed Fingal and burned Kilmainham,
he sent his son Donough to plunder Leiuster. A third of the
forces on the Danish side were Leinster men under Mitlmurra.
Clontarf was a great battle, and on both sides prodigies of
valour were performed. But what could save from conquest a
people in the condition the events preceding the battle show the
Irish to have been in ? Even after the victory of Clontarf dis-
sensions arose, and on their way f^om the field the clans separated
and drew up in order of battle ! Centuries afterwards we see
the same defects break out when Baldearg O'Donnell, for a pen-
sion of £500, takes over to William's side a large following of
Ulster Celts.

The Danes settled down in the seaport towns they had
founded — Limerick, Dublin, Wexford and Waterford, — and paid
tribute either to the Ard Eigh or the local prince. They sometimes
had to pay blackmail. In the year 1029 Olaf, the son of Sitric,
wandering outside Dublin was taken prisoner by O'Regan, lord ol
Meath, who extorted for ransom twelve hundred cows, sevenscore
British horses, threescore ounces of gold, and sixty ounces of
silver. Now the Normans having conquered all the neighbouring
nations turned their attention to Ireland. Let no one exclaim
against the Irish for their want of union. We see the same thing
in Greece. If the Irish had been allowed time they would have
grown out of the clan into the nation. But the Irish Celtic
nation was strangled in its cradle, and those conquerors with
whom we have now to deal were neither Saxon nor English, but the
fierce Scandinavian rovers, whose conquests extended from the
Jordan to the Boyne, and under whose heavy hand the English

Irish History, p. 180,
2

TUB IRISIIMADr m CANADA.

i I

/ I

i' !

r '

i I

I f^ I

groaned for one kundred and fifty years. The Celtic blood
already mixed with the Danish, and to some small extent
with Saxon,* was now mingled with the Norman tide, even as
it 'vas in after times in the south and west tinctured with that
of Spain. With what we see going on before our eyes on the
continent of Europe, it would be futile to discuss, even to-day,
the morality of conquest. We have not yet arrived at that
advanced stage of civilization, when nations can be expected to
curb their greed and ambition, though it is as certain as human
progress tliat the time will come when people will look back on
the French and Germans, and the state of things leading up to
Sedan, as barbarous. But if we could arraign the Normans
before us they might plead that one of the Irish princes invited
them to the country, and what is of still more significance, that
the Irisli princes paid no attention to the new comers. In the
words of the Annals, they " set nothing by the Flemings." The
kingdom had not the first element of defence — watchfulness
against invasion. It seemed in the ordinary course of things
that troops should be brought from a foreign country to reinstate
a petty king. There is this excuse to be made for Roderic, that
he had to enforce his claims in the south and north, and was busy
" portioning Meath between his inseparable colleague O'Eourke
and himself "f He was busy in the still more useful work of
founding lectorships at Armagh ; for during the Danish
period, the enlightenment, the religious zeal, and enthusiasm for
knowledge, which had three centuries before " burned like a star,"
had given place to Pagan superstition.^ Dermot MacMurrough
soon found himself at the head of three thousand men, and
marched on Ossory which he subdued. The monarch sum-
moned a hosting of the men of Ireland at Tara, and with an
army collected by the lords of Meath, Glial, Ulidia, Breffni, and
some northern chiefs, proceeded to Dubli"\. But dissension broke
out in the Irish camp ; the Ulster chiefs returned home, and
MacMurrough's authority was acknowledged. Now, clearly here

* The victims of Norman oppression fled in some cases to Ireland. McQee, 163.

+ D'Arcy McGee.

$ Ibid, p. 145 ; see also Froude, vol. i, p. 16.

THE NORMAN INVASION.

we are in the presence of disunion which would paralyze the
most heroic bravery. The country was thinly populated ; public
spirit was unknown ; the only strong sentiment was the clan-
nish ; and disunited hosts could not be expected to stand against
united hosts. We have shown that the Celt, like the Teuton and
the Norman, comes from the Aryan stock ; we have seen the
Celt measure his sword, and not unsuccessfully, with that of
Rome. As between the Irish and the Norman, it was a battle
between an elder and a younger brother, and the elder brother
one who had long been in training i.. the best fighting schools.
The Prince of Thomond, Donnell O'Brien, who had married a
daughter of ])ermot, was in rebellion against Roderic, and was,
of course, willing to give his assistance to Dermot. The Nor-
mans, in fact, found the Irish princes engaged in a game of
grab, and the blood of the people squandered by the caprices
and ambitions of their chiefs, whose life, like that of the Gallic
nobles in the first and second centuries, was spent in a " con-
tinual whirl of faction and intrigue."* The Danes, who remem-
bered how impossible it was to expel themselves once they got a
footing in the country, were alive to the necessity of resisting the
Normans ; and the Dano-Celts of Wexford and Waterford fought
with great energy the uncle of Strongbow. Strongbow, on his
arrival at a later period, laid siege to Wexford, where the Normang
set a precedent for Drogheda. Having made the Dano-Celts
of Waterford a fearful example, they turned their faces towards
Dublin. The woods and defiles were well guarded, but the
enemy made forced marches over the mountains, and reached,
long before they were expected, the capital, a city at that time
not the size of Hamilton to-day. Hosculf, the Danish governor
of the city, encouraged by the presence of a force collected by
the Irish monarch near Clondalkin, had determined to stand a
siege. But when the "decision and military skill" of the
invaders were recognised, and the reports of the massacre at
Waterford came, it wai determined to treat. The Danish
governor fled with son e of the principal citizens to the Orkneys,
and Roderic, the nominal king of all Ireland, withdrew his

• M. Amedee Thierry.

THK IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

I li

forces to Meath to support his friend O'Kourke, " on whom he
had bestowed a portion of that territory." Strongbow, on the
death of Dermot MacMurrough, was abandoned by the Irish
following of that prince, and a general rising having taken place,
he throw himself into Dublin, but only to find himself sur-
rounded by an army, and blockaded by a Danish fleet. While he
was suffering from want of food, and negotiating with a view to
capitulate, Donnell Cavanagh, an Irishman of rank, no less a
person than the son of the late king of Leinster, stole into the
city in disguise, and informed him that Fitzstephen was closely
besieged in Wexford. It is then determined to force a passage
through the besieging army. " The Irish army," says the Nun
of Kenraare, " were totally unprepared for this sudden move ;
they fled in panic, and lioderic," the King and Commander-in-
Chief, " who was bathing in the Liffey, escaped with difficulty."
The Norman, Miles de Cogan, was again left governor of Dublin,
and with the exception of an attack on him which he easily
repulsed, " the Irish made no attempt against the common
enemy, and domestic wars were as frequent as usual."*

Now it is clear that if the Irish Celts at this time were not
much behind their foes in civilization, it would be impossible to
account for these events. They belonged to the same great
Aryan stock as the Normans, and the disunion and incapacity
shown by men whose fathers did, and whose descendants have
done, such great things, are to be traced to this, that thei^
civilization, as compared with the high organization of the Nor-
man, was in a backward state, they having, in fact, retrograded
from the intellectual advancement of the 8th century. The forces
which came with Henry II. in 1171, should have been no more
than a mouthful for the Irish. What should they not have done
with Strongbow and his few followers ? In Henry's train came
those who were to be the fathers of well-known Irish families ;
and as we owe to the Danes the -f* Plunkets, Mclvers, Archbolds,
Harolds, Stacks, Skiddies, Cruises, McAuliffes, we owe to the
Normans the Clanrickards, the Butlers, the Le Poers (Powers),
and many others who came afterwards, such as the Talbots and

* Cuaack's History, p. 1C7.

t McGee.

THE HUSH KINGS SUBMIT TO UENllY II.

the Burkes, A white hare, which leaped from a neighbouring
hedge, was caught and presented to the king as an omen of victory.
" But," says D'Arcy McOee, " the time omen of his success he
might read for himself in a constitution which had lost its force,
inlaws which had ceased to be sacred, and in a chieftain i are
brave indeed as mortal men could be, but envious, arrogant,
revengeful, and insubordinate." The penalty paid through cen-
turies of misery by the noble innocent peo])le who followed them,
would be an impassable stumbling-block to faith in a Providence,
were we not able to gi'asp the truth tl.at there is more bene-
ficence in the operation of great general laws than there would
be in fitful interference, and to hold by the hope, that all movea
tx) a great justifying event in the future.

The Irish nobles and kings submitted to Henry, who naturally
according to the enlightenment of the time, but foolishly and
cruelly according to modern ideas, administered the country as a
Norman province. As soon ns Henry was gone, and the cold steel
of Norman rule was felt, there would, of course, be resistance,
hat, as might be expected from what we have seen, that resist-
ance would not be eystematic or united, and from this time for-
ward the history of Ireland is the weary annals of a half
subdued dependency, in which the miseries of rebellion were
aggravated by domestic broils. It is doubtful whether, if the
Normans had been able to afford men to conquer Ireland as com-
pletely as they conquered England, things would have been much
better for the Celts than they were. But no hope whatever of
happy relations could be built on a system of partial settleirent,
and constant and indecisive war. It is amusing to find the
deeds of the Norman attributed to Englishmen, at a time when
the Englishman himself was in the house of bondage. The
sentences* in which Macaulay describes the condition of English-

• "The battle of Hastings and the events which followed it, not only placed a
Duke of Normandy on the English throne, but gave up the whole population of
England to the tyranny of the Norman race. The subjugation of a nation by a
nation has seldom, even in Asia, been more complete. The country was portioned
out among the captains of the invaders. Strong military institutions, closely con-
nected with the institution of property, enabled the foryi(,Ti conquerors to opprew
the children of the soil. A cruel penal code, cruelly enforced, guarded tho

THE IKISHMAN IN CANADA.

men, might, with little alteration, be applied to the state of Ire-
land. The cruelty on the one hand, and the irregular retaliation
on the other, the aggression and resistance, are found in Ireland,
with the qualification that the oppression is not so complete, and
that the Irish sometimes make a stand.

The statute of Kilkenny, enacted in the fourteenth century,
shows that already it had become impossible to tell a man's race
by his aame, and that the Norman and English settlers were
mingling with the Celts. Marriage with the Celt was forbidden,
as was the assumption of an Irish name. Early in the fifteenth
century, the Irish of English descent began to set forth griev-
ances, and the cities of Cork, Kinsale, and Youghal complained
of the desolation consequent on thd strife of English noblemen.
A like complaint was made by Waterford and Wexford against
the Irish chieftain O'Driscoll, who is describd as an " Irish enemy
to the King and to all his liege people of Ireland." We find
m Henry VIII.'s day, France already interfering in Ireland, but,
like the intermeddlings of after timps, "it took no effect by reason
of Francis, his business in other parts." * It hastened, however
the " second troubles " of the Earl of Kildare, a salutary omen,
if those who looked to France could have seen it. The fact that
whenever there was any revolt against England foreign aid was

1^ ']

'41

privileges and eveu the sports of the alien tyrants. Yet the subject race, though
beatnn down and trodden under foot, still made its sting felt. Some bold men,
the favourite heroes of our oldest ballads, betook themselves to the woods, and
there, in defiance of curfew laws and forest laws, waged a p:>'(3datory war against
their oppressors. Assassination was an event of daily occurreace. Many Normans
suddenly disappeared, leaving no trace. The corpses of many were found bearing
the marks of violence. Death by torture was denounced against the murderers,
and strict search was made for them, but geiteraHy in vain ; for the whole nation
was in a conspiracy to screen them. It was at length thought necessary to lay a
heavy fine on every Hundred in w hicb a person of French extraction should be found
slain ; and this regulation was followed up by another regulation, providing tliat
every person who was found slein should be supposed to bo e, Frenchman, unless he
WW proved to be a Saxon." Macaulay's History, t/o1. i., p. 7. In tba above
paragraph we find the Saxons doing the very thing Saxon writers aftevwards in-
veighed against the Irish Celt for doing.

• The History of England under Henry VIII. Edward Lord Herbert, p. 246.

EFFORTS TO INTRODUCE PROTESTANTISM.

sought for, should have taught the obvious lesson. The
alternative for Ireland, owing to size and geographical situation,
was to be an equal in a great empire or a vassal principality to
a continental country. When O'Neill revolted in 1597, and
defeated the English at Blackwater, he invited over the
Spaniards, and settled them in Kinsale. But what was the
Spaniard against the sea-king ? And what would Ireland be as
a vassal of Spain ? The history of Spain and her colonies teUs us
in unmistakeable language. The struggles in Ireland down to,
and even after what assumed the character of a religious war,
were agrarian, and Norman aggression was succeeded by confis-
cating plots under the Tudors and Stuarts, plots from v^hich
Burkes and Geraldines suffered as much as O'Connors and
O'Eourkes.

The efforts made to introduce Protestantism into the island
took a form which was doomed to failure, for it added the fervour
of patriotism, the instinct of race, the hatred of the weak for the
strong, of oppressed for oppressors, to the natural attachment for
the creed in which m.en are born, which is associated in their
minds with all the tenderness and charm of childhood and of
home. No translation of the Bible was put forth in the Irish
language, and the missionaries of the new faith appeared in the
guise of plunderers ; nor were their lives, as a rule, of a stamp to
counteract such formidable stimulants to repulsion. " The govern-
ment contented itself with setting up a vast Protestant hierarchy
of Protestant archbishops, bishops, and rectors, who did nothing,
and who, for doing nothing, were paid out of the spoils of the
Church loved and revered by the great body of the people."*

The plantation of Ulster followed on the confiscation of the
lands of O'Neill and O'DonneU, whose English titles were,
respectively. Earl of Tyrone and Earl of Tyrconnel. There can
be no doubt there was a conspiracy to fasten on them a charge of
treason, and their flight to the continent proves nothing, but that
they were anxious 1;0 preserve their lives.-f* The plantation

245.

Maoauky's Hiatoryj vol. i. p. 84,

+ Goldwin Smith.

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

111

I '

;

'jt

■ ii

i:|

■

though destined to result iu one of the darkest pages in Irish
history, was, economically, a brilliant success. It intro-
duced into the north a large population accustomed to settled
modes of life, who were themselves afterwards to experience in-
justice at the hands of the English parliament, but who, in the
face of restrictive legislation, and in the face oi' enormous and
complex difficulties, have made the province of Ulster one of the
most flourishing on the globe. Many of them were descendants
of men who, at an earlier period, had migrated from Ireland into
Scotland ; others were of SaxoD blood ; but all brought with them
that stern Presbyterianism, \' ' :_ix has been the great factor in
moulding the character of the modern Scotchman — a creed
which would givt) a Titan's backbone to a race of mol-
lusks. When received, not as some modern Presbyterian
divines receive it, half hesitatingly, but as it was received by
Calvin and Johii Knox, it gives to character all the strength of
fatalism, and all the strength of a passionate faith, full of hope,
and immortality. Many of the new comers, indeed, were tainted
with the vices of adventurers. Many of them fled from debt^
and some from justice, but the great majority of them were, what
we should call in Canada, good settlers. Sixty thousand acres
in Dublin and Waterford, and three hundred and eighty-five
thousand acres in Westmeath, Longford, Kings County, Queens
County, and Leitrim, were portioned out in a similar manner.

The espousal of the cause of Charles I. brought down on the
country the sword of Cromwell, and resulted in further transfers
of land, — transfers in which descendants of Saxon and Norman
suffered. Spenser's grandson, though pleading his father's name
and protesting his own protestantism, was ordered to transplant.
When Charles II. came to the throne,the unhappy "loyalists" prayed
for the restoration of their property in vain. The remembrance of
the miseries entailed on them by adherence to the cause of Charles
I., whoso iron minister, Wentworth, was the greatest enemy the
Irish Celts ever had, did not prevent them falling a victim to the
schemes of Tyrconnel ; and they espoused the cause of James II.,
when espousing that cause meant binding themselves to a wheel
rolling to the valley. Far more than ever France was relied on.

THEATY OF LIMERICK. PENAL LAWS.

though a little reflection might have shown that France could
never be for Ireland anything but a broken reed. Even if the
English, and the Celts and Irishmen of mixed blood adhering to
English rule, could have been driven by the aid of France into the
sea, the work would have to be begun over again ; for England
could not let France have Ireland as a base of operation, and
France could not hold it. The violation of the Treaty of Lim-
erick is an undying blot, not on William, who would have ad-
hered to it if he could, but on the Irish Protestants ; even as
the withholding Catholic emancipation at the time of the Union,
is an undying blot on the character of George III. and on that
of some of Pitt's colleagues. Pitt was true to his convictions
and resigned his place. No excuse can be made for the penal
iavv's. All that can be said is that they were the bigoted and vio-
lent reaction, caused by the violence and bigotry of James II.'s
parliament in Dublin, during the brief hour when the country
was at its mercv.

Henceforth the Irish Catholics were the victims of an oppres-
sion more awful than has ever been dealt out to any people or
any portion of a people. Many of those Catholics were of Saxon
and Norman descent, though a majority were, perhaps, pure Celts,
and that they should have emerged from such persecution so
little damaged by all this brutalizing tyranny, is one of the
strongest evidences of the greatness of race. Education was
denied them, but they gathered by the hedge side and learned
from the page of Virgil the immortal tongue of Rome. Wealth
and honour, freedom from shame and sorrow were offered them if
they forsook their faith, but no bribe an empire had to give could
make them abandon the despised religion they believed. The
priest said mass when and where he could ; in the lonely glen, on
the desolate mountain side, in the mud hovel, in the caves of the
earth, he celebrated the rites of the proscribed church ; and, in his
faded clothes, was armed with a talisman for the hearts of an
enthusiastic people, such as no crosier of an endoAved church could
equal. He proved every hour his self-denial, his devotion, his sym-
pathy ; and while the rector drove to the squire's domain to enjoy
his luxurious dinner, the priest shared the potato and cake of his
miserable flock. The peasantry cui-tsey low when they meet a

mmmmm

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

11 1

priest, however familiar they may be with hira, even when he is
their own brother or son. The reason has often been misunder-
stood ; it is a custom which has survived a time when the priest
carried the consecrated elements constantly on his person, and
when, at a favourable moment, he would make the mountain his
altar; and while the language of Tiber mingled with Gaelic prayers,
and the murmur of wild rills, thehost would rise like a moon against
the sky, now bright as the hopes of heaven and the dreams of the
past, and now dark as the fate of a people for whose wrongs its
recesses seemed to hoard no vengeance. The son was tempted to
turn against the father, but the Irish people have remained to this
day examples of strong family affection. Poverty, compared with
which the condition of the poorest peasant of to-day is opulence,
was ordained by law, but the chastity of the poor Irish woman
passed into a proverb. She is beautiful. She is not without
the love of finery which belongs to her sex. She has the warmth
of her race, but her purity has been proof against the trials of
poverty and misfortune, and if in rare cases she falls, she is only
half ruined ; shame survives ; chastity of soul outlives the degrada-
tion of vhe body.

Archbishop King maintained the divine right of kings until he
felt the knife of James Il.'s persecution. In the same way
the Presbyterians supported the penal laws until they were made
to suffer themselves. But the imposition of the sacramental test
was well fitted to enlarge their views on the subject of liberty of
conscience.* By the enforcement of this test Presbyterian magis-
trates, military officers, members of municipal councils were de-
prived of their offices. In Londonderry, ten out of twelve aldermen,
and fourteen out of twenty -four burgesses were declared incapable
of civic trust because they would not submit to this test. Most of
these had been prominent in the defence of the city during the
celebrated siege. The Regium Donum was taken away under
Anne, to be restored, however, under the House of Hanover.

The war of the revolution showed what the two great races in
Ireland could do, and what the mixtures of these races could do.

i! ill

• The Ecclesiastical History of Ireland. ByW. D. Killen, D.D., President of the
Presbyterian College, Belfast. Dr. Killen, who speaks out against the oenal laws,
maintaina Btrongly that the Treaty of Limerick was (violated.

SIKGE OF DERRY. ENGLISH JEALOUSY.

The siege of Deny is one of the most glorious things in the history
of the world ; the siege of Limerick was not less glorious, and the
besieged achieved a victory, though the fruits of it were, unhappily
alike for Protestants and Catholics, England and Ireland, de-
stroyed by bad faith. Yet the men who fought so splendidly at
Limerick, who afterwards fought so splendidly on the Continent,
fought badly at the Boyne. Tlie coward James, forgetful of his
own conduct, taunted the Irish with -doing what he had done.
But he had had experience, and he should have known that neither
Irishmen nor Englishmen can do impossibilities, and it is impos-
sible for raw levies to meet trained troops. The soldiers who had
training fought at the Boyne as the men of their race have always
fought, and those who ran away, ran away for reasons which, as
William and Schomberg knew, would make Englishmen and
Germans run. The main lesson to learn from this for our im-
mediate purpose is, that Irishmen if they neglect to comply with
the conditions of success cannot succeed. There is, perhaps, an-
other lesson of a more general character but equally apposite,
which may be gathered from that war and the penal laws. The
loss which bigotry and oppression entail on the bigot and oppressor
was never more signally shown. The bigotry of Louis XIV. sent
the flower of his subjects to recruit, in the time of his utmost
need, the armies of his deadliest foe. The penal laws swelled the
French ranks with those heroic exiles before whose deadly charge
even English valour quailed.

The jealousy of England was roused at an early period by the
competition of her own colonists ; and the struggle for free trade
and for emancipation from English dictation, gave the world a
period fruitful of splendid eloquence, and of ardent patriotism,*
and it was under the spell of Flood and Grattan, the modern
nation of Ireland was born. There was more of a national charac-
ter about the rebellion of, 1798, than of all the rebellions which
preceded it. Like its predecessors, horrors ushered it in, and
horrors followed in its wake. Grattan's great triumph was doomed
to an early death, because inconsistent with the working of irre-
sistible forces drawing Ireland closer to Great Britain, and making
her the great liberriizer of the Empire.

See Hallam.

:28

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

1 1 1

! i

Ireland has been the foremost assertor of popular rights, and
an Irishman is the Chief Priest of constitutional liberalism.* Her
sufferings have given the world a clearer grasp of the principles
of civil and religious liberty, as her heroism has helped to extend
and sustain the Empire. While her sons in the Irish and English
Parliaments have expounded doctrines, she has exemplified them
in her own person. Catholic emancipation and the struggles lead-
ing up to it, had an incalculable effect on the progress of the
world. The Incumbered Estates Act, though it dealt out hard
measure to the gentry of Ireland, affirmed a valuable proposition.
Mr. Gladstone's Irish Land Bill will infallibly lead to the passing
of a similar measure for England ; and, in the fall of the Irish
Church, outrageous abuse as it was, the English establishment
heard its knell of doom. To Ireland is due the pregnant
aphorism — " property has its duties as well as its rights." An
Irishman was the first writer of the English tongue who denounced
the traffic in slaves.f

When we reflect on the way in which this country was kept
back, its poverty, and its disturbed state, we cannot but marvel
at the number of great men it has produced ; they have in the
midst of trouble, which might well have hopelessly distracted,
left monuments of their genius in every field of science and every
walk of art, nor is there a cause sacred to human freedom for
which they have not nobly toiled.

We shall have to refer by and by to what Irishm^i, who were
for the most part Protestants, have done ; it will be well here to
point out how Catholic Irishmen distinguished themselves, though
I would fain hope that a day of enlightenment is fast approach-

* " We see the different practical tendenciea of the Irish and English race combined,
yet distinguishable from each other in the political character of Burke, to whose writ-
ings we owe more than we are aware, the almost religious reverence with which we re-
gard the conititntion. . . . His feelings, diffused by his eloquence, have become
those of oar whole nation." — Goldwin Smith's " Irish History and Irish Character,"
p. 19.

t Southern. See Hallam. Thomas Sonthem, bom lti59, died 1746, was a native of
Dublin. Having studied law at the middle Temple, he entered the army, and held
the rank of Captain under the Duke of York. His latter days were spent in retire-
ment and in the enjoyment of a considerable fortune. He wrote ten plays, but only
two exhibit his characteristic powers, "Oroonoko," and "Isabella." Southern's
Oroonoko anticipated '* Uncle Tom's Cabin."

IRISHMEN ON THE CONTINENT.

2»

ing, when it will be no longer necessary to dwell on these distinc-
tions.

Towards the close of the seventeenth century Mountcashel's
brigade, serving with Catinat in Italy, distinguished themselves
on fields where their fathers fought two thousand years before
under Hannibal. It is a waste of enthusiasm to grow dithyram-
bic over mercenary valour. But at this time a portion of the
Irish people had no other resource. In a remarkable passage, in
whi(jh Macaulay describes the crushing effect of the penal laws,
he tells how Irish Roman Catholics of ability, energy, and ambi-
tion were to be found everywhere but in Ireland — at Versailles
and at Saint Ildefonso, in the armies of Frederic and in the armies
of Maria Theresa. Men who rose to be Marshals of France and
Ministers of Spain, had they remained in their own country
would have been regarded as inferior by all " the ignorant and
wor1)hles8 squireens who had signed the Declaration against
Transubstantiation. In his palace at Madrid * he had the plea-
sure of being assiduously courted by the ambassador of George
the Second, and of bidding defiance in high terras to the ambassa-
dor of George the Third. Scattered over aU Europe were to be
found Irish Counts, Irish Barons, Irish Knights of Saint Lewis
and of Saint Leopold, of the White Eagle and of the Golden
Fleece, who, if they had remained in the house of bondage, could
not have been ensigns of marching regiments or freemen of petty
corporations." In 1698, six regiments were at the siege of Valenza.
While Irish campaigns were going on in Italy, the garrison of Lime-
rick landed in France and the second brigade was formed of which
the greater number assisted at the siege of Namur. In seven days
Namur was taken. On the 24th July, 1692,Sarsfield — as gallant a
soldier and as stainless a gentleman as ever lived — commanded the
brigade, and was publicly thanked at the close. In the March fol-
lowing he was made a Marshal de Camp. On the 28th July in the
same year, he met a death which would have been the most enviable
which could have befallen him, if the cause in which he was
fighting was country or humanity. It was not even the cause of
France. It was the caus_ of a tyrant, and the founder of a tyranny

• Wall, Minister of Ferdinand the Sixth.

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

>tti

I .1

ii i

which sowed the seeds of miseries for generations of Frenchmen,
of a tyranny whose refusal to tolerate the Huguenots* prevented
the extension of toleration to Irish Roman Catholics. He fell on
the field of Landen, leading his victorious troops. Sarsfield felt
the sting of the situation. As he lay on the battle-field, he put
his hand to his breast, and then looking at the palm, stained with
his life-blood, he cried, " Oh, that this was for Ireland !" In 1701,
Sheldon's cavalry behaved so well that Sheldon was made Lieu-
tenant-General. In the following year Cremona was saved by a
handful of Irishmen at the Po gate. Irish troops were present at
the battles of Blenheim, of Oudenarde, of Malplaquet ; Iiish troops
fought at Almanzo under Berwick. How they behaved at Fonte-
noy,f in 1745, and the exclamation of the king, — " Cursed be the
laws which deprive me of such subjects !" have given a more than
common interest to that battle. It has been the theme of patriot
song- writers, it has furnished a moral for Englishmen battling for
lustice for their Irish fellow-subjects and Irish brethren. From
1691 to 1765, more than 450,000 Irishmen died in the service of
France.

Under the Consulate and the Empire the Irish rose to high
employment. As Louis found military genius among the exiles
of the seventeenth, Buonaparte found among the expatriated of
'98, two generals and five colonelfci.j On the restoration of the

* The offer waa made to relieve the Irish Catholics if the French Protestants were
tolerated.

t " Fontenoy, the gi-eatest victory over England of which France can boast since
Hastings." — Alison's Marlborough, vol. II., pp. 434, 435.

i: " I met Irishmen, indeed, or men of Irish descent, everywhere, and in every rank
on the continent, and their position teaches a lesson from Europe which it will do us
no harm to ' inwardly digest.' It is a signal illustration of the xiltimate futility of
sectarian quarrels and religious persecution, that some of the most prosperous and hon-
oured families in Ireland are descendant ' f French Huguenots whom Louis XIV.
drove out of France because they would not beco'ic C;.,tholicB ; and some of the most
prosperous and honoured families in France are descendant;; of Irish Catholics, whom
penal laws drove out of Ireland because they would not become Protestants.

" In the dravrfng-room of the President of the French Republic, who is the natural head
the exiled families, I met descendants of Irish chiefs who took refuge on the Continent
at the time of the plantation of Ulster by the first Stuart ; descendants of Irish soldiers
who sailed from Limerick with Sarsfield, or a little later with the ' wild geese ; ' of Irish
soldiers who shared the fortunes of Charles Edward ; of Irish peers and gentlemen to whom
life in Ireland without a career became intolerable, in the dark era between the fall iA
Limerick and the rise of Henry Grattan ; and kinsmen of soldiers of » later date, who

NAPOLEON AND COUNT O'REILLY.

Bourl)ons, the Irish officers who had risen under Napoleon adhered,
as we might expect in chivalrous men, to his fortunes ; but in
their place a new group of Franco-Irish made their appearance,
the descendants of the men of the brigade. The last sword drawn
for the Bourbons in 1791 was that of an Irish Count ; their last
defender in 1830 was an Irish general. Three times during the
eighteenth century Spain was represented at London by men of
Irish blood. An Alexander O'Reilly was Governor of Cadiz ; he
was afterwards Spanish ambassador at the court of Louis XVI.
" It is strange," said Napoleon, on his second entry into Vienna in
1809, "that on each occasion on arriving in the Austrian Capital
I find myself in treaty with Count O'Reilly." Napoleon met
him on a different scene, for it was his dragoon regiment which
saved the remnant of the Austrians at Austerlitz. Numerous
Irish names with high rank attached to them will be found in the
Austrian army list of the time. In the Peninsula the Blakes,
0'Donnells,and Sarsfields, reflected glory on their race. An O'Don-
nell ruled Spain under the late reign, and to-day a MacMahon
is President of France.*

began life as United Iriahmen, and ended aa staflf officers of Napoleon. Who can
measure what was lost to Ireland and the empire, by driving these men and their
descendants into tlie armies and diplomacy of France ? All of them except the men of
'98, have become so French that they scarce speak any other language. There is a St.
Patrick's Day dinner in Pari* every 17th of March, where the company consists chiefly
of military and civil officers of Irish descent, who duly drovn their shamrock and com-
memorate the national apostle, but where the language of the speeches is French,
because no other would be generally understood. I reproached a gallant young soldier
of this class, whom I met in Paris, with having relinquished the link of a common
language with the native soil of hia race. " Monsieur," he replied proudly, " when my
ancestors left Ireland, they would have scorned to accept the language any more than
the laws of England ; they spoke the native Gaelic' 'Which doubtless,' I rejoined,
you have carefully kept up : Oo dha mor thatha t ' But, I am sorry to say, he knew as
little Gaelic as English. During my last visit to the City of Brussels, I saw in the
atelier of an eminent painter, the wife of a still more emineni sculptor, a portrait
occupying the place of honour, which exhibited the unmistakable features of an Irish
farmer ; and the lady pointed it out with pride ae her father, who had been a United
Irishman, and had to fly from Ireland in '98, when his cause lay in the dust." — From a
Lecture by Sii C. G. Duffy, in Melbourne.

" The Marshal looks like an English rather than a French sportsman. His face,
indeed, is not French, but Irish, and distinctly recalls the origin of his family. The
MacMahons were Irish Catholics of good descent, who followed the fortunes of the
Stuarts, and settled and became landed proprietors where the Marshal was bom, via.,
•at Sully (Saone et Loire), some sixty-eight years ago. The MacMahons took kindly to

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

Ii I

/iiftii

i ' 1

f*'i

1 .1

Within a century, the great Leinster House of Kavanagh
counted in Europe an Aulic Councillor, a Governor of Prague, a
Field Marshal at Vienna, a Field Marshal in Poland, a Grand
Chamberlain in Saxony, a Count of the Holy Roman Empire, a
French Conventionist of 1793, Godefroi Cavaignac, Co-Editor
with Armand Carrell and Eugene Cavaignac, sometime Dictator in
France, and Edward Kavanagh, Minister of Portugal. Russia
found among the exiles a Governor-General of Livonia. Count
Thomond was Commander nf. Tjn,TiOTiedne : Lallv was Governor at
Pondicherry ; O'Dwyer was Commander of Belgrade ; Lacy, of
Riga ; Lawless, Governor of Majorca. It would be wearisome to
enumerate further, but dozens might be added to the above list.

These men, had the laws been what all admit, they should
have been, would have done their part in consolidating and

the Bourbons, and the Marshal'a father became a peer of France under Charles X.,
and His Majesty's personal friend. The Marshal, moreover, married into a noble
family of Lejjitimists. His youth was passed xmder lily leaves. He was a Saiiit-
Cyrien while the elder Bourbons were at the Tuileries, and when he entered the army
he went away for years of rough campaigning to that common cradle of modern French
Generals — Algeria ; ho that he was fighting in Africa while the jimior Bourbon was
holding his hourgeots court at the Tuileries. A captain of chasseurs at the assault of
Constantine, he had carved his way— in Algeria always — to the rank of general of bri-
gade by the time the revolution of 1848 broke out. Then he rose rapidly, keeping the
while apart from politics. General of division in 1852, Grand Officer of the Legion in
18.53, in command of a division of infantry under Bosquet in the Crimea, created
Grand Cross of the Legion and Senator for his part in the assault of the Malakoff ;
then again fighting in Kabylia in 1857, and Commander-in-Chief of the forces in
Algeria — MacMahon's services and rewards were many. The crowning glory of his
military career was won in command of the second corps d'armfe of the Alps in 1859,
on the field of Magenta, when the Emperor created him Duke of Magenta and Marshal
of France. The Marshal was deputed to represent his sovereign, which he did with
extraordinary pomp, at the coronation of William III. of Prussia in 1861 ; and in 1864
he was Governor-General of Algeria, appointed to carry out the reforms on which the
Emperor was bent. And lastly he led the army from Chalons to Sedan, where he was
wounded in time to rid him of the responsibility of surrender. This wound, it has
been often said, was not the least of Marshal de MacMahon's strokes of luck. But
the time has not yet come for judgment on De MacMahon's part in the Franco-German
war ; and he is fortunate in this, that his countrymen bear him no grudge for it, call-
ing him the modem Bayard, and the ' honest soldier ; ' while they cover his comrades
of the fatal campaign with mud. His aristocratic and monarchical sjrmpathies have
whetted the edge of the weapons which the Left has used upon him ; but the rage
against him that simmers through the cheap Republican papers is provoked by the
disdain with which he folds himself in his soldier's cloak, keeps his hand near his
sword, and stands sentinel over the destinies of France, imraovable to the last day of
his septennaie."—" The Rulers of France."— 2io»id<m World, Jan, 3rd, 1877.

IRISIIMKN IN INDIA.

enriching the Brito-Hibernian Empire. Tlie two men to whom wo
owe it, that we have at this i:ioment an Indian Empire, Ho^ry
and John Lawrence, who rescued our great Eastein dependenry
from anarchy, and gave it what bids fair to bo an undtiring and
fruitful peace, were born in the County of Derry. Sir Robert
Montgomery, who rose from a humble post in the civil seivice of
the Bengal Presidency, to be Governor of the Punjaub, who dis-
tinguished himself as Dire'^tor-General of tho Police for that
Province, who disarmed the native force at Lahore in 1857, who,
for his services in restoring tranquillity, received tho thanks of
both Houses of Parliament, and who retired after thirty-six years
service with the Grand Cross of the Star of India on his breast,
was born in the City of Londonderry. Sir James Emorson Ten-
nent who also did good service for India, and who won for him-
self a respectable place in literature and in politics, was a native
of Belfast, as was Sir Henry Pottinger, who was Governor-Gen-
eral of Hong Kong, and who distinguished himself as a diplomat-
ist. ' Besides the gallant General Nicholson,' says a writer iu
Fra^ '9 Magazine, " Ulster has given a whole Gazette-fuil of
heroet 00 India. It has always taken a distinguished phce in the
annals of war. An Ulsterman was with Nelson at Trafalgar,
another with Wellington at Waterloo." it would not be
easy to enumerate the Irishmen who were with Wellington
at Waterloo. Wellington himself was an Irishman, and in
enumerating the Irishmen who have distinguished themselves
in India, it would be impossible to forget him or his brother.
General Sir de Lacy Evans, who served with distinction in
India and in the Peninsula ; who was present at the capture of
Washington, but returned to Europe in time to take part in the
battle of Waterloo, where he had two horses shot under him; who
commanded the British auxiliary Legion raised to aid the Queen
of Spain against Don Carlos in ^ 835 ; who commanded the Second
Division of the array in the Crimea, and distinguished himself at
Alma and at Inkerraan, after which he returned to England and
received the thanks of Parliament ; who, as a member of parlia-
ment from 1831 to 1841, and from 1846 to 1865, played an en-
lightened and a liberal part; this fine old hero was born at Mil-
town, in 1787. Viscount Gough, a field marshal, who commanded
3

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA,

the 87tli ot T!*lavera, Barossa, Vittoria and Nivelle ; who was
wounded at the Hiege of Tariffa ; whose vogiment at Barossa cap-
tured the eagle of the 8th French, and iho baton of a marshal at
Vittoria ; who commanded the land forces in the attack on Can-
ton ; who defeated the Mahrattas at Maharajpore, capturing fifty-
six guns ; who defeated the Sikhs at Moodkee, Ferozeshah, and
Sobrar i ; who finally subdued the Sikhs in 1848-9 ; was born at
Woodstown, Limerick, in 1779. General Rollo Gillespie, Sir
Robert Kane, Lord Moira, the Chesneys, were all from Down ; and
General Wolseley, who does not need to be described for Canadi-
ans, takes his place side by side with the gi'eat warrior Irishmen.

Among travellers and explorers Irishmen have taken a dis-
tinguished place ; Captain Butler, the author of " The Great Lone
Land," who, as a traveller and a literary man and a soldier, deserves
a high place in the world's esteem, is an Irishman. Sir John
Franklin's second in command, Crozier, was from Banbridge.
Ulster sent McCiintock to find the great explorer's bones, and
McClure to discover the passage seeking which Franklin fell.

When we come to statesmen and orators what country can
show gi'cate.r names ? Even England has produced no man to
equal Burke, nor could any other country produce the versatility
of Sheridan. J^ord Palmerston's Irish manner charmed the House
of Commons nd the English people . afterwards. George

Canning, "' jvered Wellington, was a son of a Derry man ;

and — bi »70uld fail me to enumerate the Butts, the Duffys,

the Plun. .a, the Grattans, the Floods, the Currans, the Shiels,
the Cairns and the Whitesides. O'Connell stands alone ; in the
great men of no i^ountry can you find a parallel for him and his
extraordinary gifts.

Their preachers and divines have been equally great. The
most eloquent as well as the ablest man on the English Bench of
Bishops to-day is Dr. Magee. As a preacher. Father Burke has
attained a reputation outside his own communion. The Episcopal
Church in London has no more eloquent preacher than Mr. For-
rest. The Rev. Dr. Cooke, of Belfast, among the Presbyterians
Carson, thegi'eat authority among the Baptists; Dr. Adam Clarke
among the Methodists ; John of Tuam , Br. Doyle , Cardinal
Oullen among the Roman Catholics are well known.

ARTISTIC GENIUS.

When we go into law we should be on ground on which Irish-
men stand to to > great advantage to make it necessary to dwell on
their achievements as advocates and jurists. I remember when I
was a student at the Temple, most of the leadini;;^ Ti\en in West-
minster Hall were Irishmen, and a half a dozen of the ablest
judges. The greatest of modern Chancellors, Lord Cairns, waa
born at Cultra, Co. DoWj

When we glance into the realm of art, the names of Barry, Mac-
Use, Hogan, Foley, Crawford, at once strike on the memory. What
tioops of actors and actresses and singers ! In the museum of
Oxford as well as in the museum of Trinity, Dublin, the visitor's
attention is seized by carvings wiought by Irish hands, which
rival the work of Jean Goujon. When you enter St. Stephen's
Hall in Westminster Palace, you see on either side marble statues
of illustrious men. You cannot but do homage to Irish genius,
not merely because Burke is before you as he arraigned Warren
Hastings at the bar of outraged humanity, and Grattan emphasi-
zing with outstretched hand his rythmic sentences. Even in such
company, the love of liberty will be asserted by th6 noble figure
of Hampden, strength and balance in every line of the figure and
every trait of the countenance, and the immortal love of right
written on his noble brow. You look for the sculptor's name,
and read " Foley," an Irishman, bom in Dublin in 1S18. Near is
Selden by the same artist. If you walk down Patrick Street, Cork,
you will see facing Barrack Hill, the statue of Father Mathew.
In Dublin, portrait statues of Edmund Burke and Oliver Gold-
smith, will challenge your admiration. The young civil servant
from ' Old Trinity,' or the Queen's University, on entering Cal-
cutta, is struck with wonder by the bronze group, *' Lord Hardinge
and Charger ; " all these, with many another noble work and price-
less gem iiave issued from the studio of the great Irish sculptor.

Among the many things which strike the visitor to Washington,
nothing leaves so lasting an impress on his memory as the works
adorning the Capitol ; they are the work of Irish sculptors,
McDowell and Crawford. The frescoes in Westminster Palace are
by an Irishman. The hon-^ur of these, and kiixw-dd works, have
frequently been given, either'to Englishmen or Scotchmen, as the
gieat men of our earlier period have also been at times filched

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

!-M

from Ireland. Tliis is acknowledged with great candour by an
eminent Scotch historian.* These works are, therefore, referrf>d
to, not to prove that Irishmen have high artistic tastes. That all
their history proves. It is written not merely on their literature.
It has left ineffaceable footprints on many a lonely ruin. But it
is not so generally known, that to-day, as well as in the past, Irish-
men are among the first in every walk of art, and are in not a
f e ;v^ instances without rivals.

In the fields of pure literature and in the drama, it would be as
idle to point out what Irishmen have done as to remind Canadians
that Sir John Macdonald and the Honourable George Brown have
lived amongst them. It is more to the point to remind the reader
what Mr. Mathew Arnold has demonstrated, that the Celtic has
supplied to English literature the noblest, the most subtle, and
the most distinguishing features. The " Idyls of the King " are
founded on Celtic poems and probably on Irish poems, certainly
on poems with a large Irish ingredient. We owe the conception
of the Spectator (of course I mean the Spectator of the 18th cen-
tury), with all its boundless influence on English literature, to
Steele ; and the foundation of the great superstructure of the
Scottish philosophy was laid by an Irishman, Francis Hutchison.-f*
I do not care to stop to enumerate mere examples of success in a
given branch of hterature, such as Lover as a humorous novelist, or
Carleton, or Lever ; nor need one dwe?l on the names of Edgeworth,
Hamilton, Maxwell, Mayne Reid. The founder of the novel of char-
acter was an Irishman; the man to «Iiuse writings Thackeraygave
his days and nights; on whom Dickens formed himself, and imitated
but imitated in vain ; the author whose chief woik is Thomas
Carlyle's great book ; — the reader has anticipat^ed the name oi
Lawrence Sterne. The genius of Swift stands unapproached and
unapproachable ; and in prose and poetry the genius of Goldsmith
attained a grace and charm which have never been equalled.
Moore did not do justice to himself, and he cannot, nor can Irish-
men complain if less than justice has been done him of late years.
He wrote much he should never have written; but when all the

* The Scot Abroad. By John Hill Burton ; 2 Vols. William Blackwood ^i Sons
Edinburgh and London, 1864. See pp. 1 to 12, "Vol. II.
t Dr. McCoah.

MOOBE.

rubbish has been sent to the pastry cook, there will remain enough
to vindicate his claim to a place among writers whom posterity
will not willingly let die. If his melodies could be destroyed, they
would leave a far larger gap in literature than many supposi^. He
had not passion enough to be the national poet of Ireland, but
that position he will maintain until a greater comes the way, and
he may retain it for ever. Much that is most characteristic of
Irishmen finds expression in his verse, but it wants breadth of feel-
ing and intensity. If Moore had suffered more he would have
been more sympathetic, as the bard of a people whose struggles
and griefs have been without parallel ; the passionate overwhelm-
ing love for woman he could not express, for he never experienced
it ; he had too much Anacreon in him for that ; and in the great sob
of grief of his people his less profound nature heard only " the deep
sigh of sadness." For all that, blot him out of English literature
and replace him if you can. Or seek to imagine that he had never
existed, and you will begin to realize what is his charm and what
has been his influence on literature. It was not unfitting that the
last of the wandering race of harpers should have presented him
with the harp of Erin. He exemplified the incomparable skill in
music of the early inhabitants, and did immeasurable service in
diffusing iuster and luore sympathetic conceptions of Irish
character.

In journalism Irishmen have taken the very front rank. The
editor of the -greatest paper in the world is of Irish blood, and
perhaps of Irish birth.* His father was manager of the Times
for many years. The foremost of correspondents, indeed the
founder of the profession of correspondents, is an Irishman.-f* and
in the popular literature of the day their busy energy and fertile
genius are felt. If you were to take from English magazines and
English newspapers — from English thought, in a word, the ele-
ments supplied by Ireland, you would letive behind only a splen-
did ruin.J

* John Delane, the editor of the Times. The name h the same as Delany.

+ WiUiam Howard Russell, LL.D., Special Correspondent of the Times.

t "We would probably detract from our greatness -from the richness of our national
gif'-s, if the Keltic element of the united people, should be too much drained away
by emigration."— Goldwin Smith's " Irish History and Irish Character."

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

Ill

The Irish intellect is not only gay and humorous but subtle and
philosophical, with an aptitui'e for mathematical studies. The Irish-
man lias all the subtlety, inquisitiveness, and fondness for the
metaphysics of religion of the Celt, with a dreaminess which comes
from the Teutonic infusion. To this inquisitiveness we owe the
honour of having produced the first great heretical teacher of
the Middle Ages, John Scotus Erigena ; and Feargall, the Bishop
of Salzburg, maintained, to the scandal of the Holy See, that
the earth was round.

M. Martin, the French historian, speaking of the Celt of Gaul,
says : — " From the beginning of historic time, the soil of France
appears peopled by a race lively, witty, imaginative, eloquent ;
prone at once to faith and to scepticism, to the highest aspira-
tions of the soul, and to the attractions of sense; enthusiastic
and yet satirical ; unreflecting and yet logical ; full of sympathy yet
restive under dif^cipliiie ; endowed with practical good sense yet
inclined to illusions ; more disposed to striking acts of self-de-
votion than to patient and sustained effort ; fickle as regards
particular things and persons, persevering as regards tendencies
and the essential rules of life ; equally adapted for action and
for the acquisition of knowledge ; loving action and knowledge
each for its own sake ; loving above all, war, less for the sake of
conquest than for that of glory and adventure, for the attrac-
tion of danger and the unknown ; uniting, finally, to an extreme
sociability, an indomitable personality, a spirit which absolutely
repels the yoke of the external world and the face of destiny.**

Here we have many features of the modern Irishman and
nearly all his characteristics, where he is purely Celtic, the strain
of sadness excepted — that divine melancholy which gives so much
grace and sweetness to the man. But there is more in the Irish-
man than meets you on the surface, and the light-hearted gaiety
develops under responsibility into resolute efficiency, as " Hal "
passes in a moment into the heroic Henry V., or, to take an illus-
tration which is also a proof, as the "mischievous boy," Arthur
Wellesley, the frivolous Aide-de-Camp of Lord Westmoreland, be-
comes in a few years, " the Iron Duke."* There is, as John

• " The abilities of Arthur, the younger brother, were of much slower develoijment

IRISHMEN AND THE GREEKS.

Stuart Mill used to point out, and Mr. Mabaflfy has shown in
detail, a great similarity between the old Greeks and Irishmen.
All the delicate tact, the natural politeness of the Greek, he pos-
sesses ; his love of art ; his delight and skill in music ; aptitude for
oratory and acting ; the literary faculty in high development.
But he can boast of other and still nobler qualities to which the
Greek was a stranger.-f*

In the lament of Andromache over Hector, in the Iliad, we have
a heart-rending picture of the condition of unprotected children
in Greece. If Hector's child escapes the " tearful war," nothing
remains for him but ceaseless woe. Strangers will seize on his
heritage. No young companions will own the orphan. He hangs
on the skirts of his father's friends, and it is well if they do not
spurn him. If they in pity at their tables

" let him sip a cup,
Moisten his lips, but scarce his palate touch,
\VTiile youths with both surviving parents blest,
May drive him from the feast with blows and taunta t
' Begone, thy father sits not at our board ! '
Then weeping, to his widowed mother's arms
He flies,"

[than his brother's.] The late Earl of Leitrim, who was with him at a small private
school in the Town of Portarlington, used to speak of him to me as a singularly dull,
backward boy. Gleig, late Chaplain-General, in his interesting ' Life ' of the great
Captain, says that his mother, believing him to be the dunce of the family, not only
treated him with indifference, but in some degree neglected his education. At Eton,
his intellect was rated at a very low standard ; his idleness in school hours not being
redeemed, in the eyes of his fellows, by any proficiency in the play gr()und. He waa a
' dab ' at no game, could handle neither bat nor oar. As soon as he passed into the
remove, it was determined to place him in the ' fool's profession,' as the army in those
days was called. * * * It is a matte" of notoriety that he was refused a
ooUectorship of customs on the ground of his incompetency for the duties ; and I have
leason to believe that a letter is now extant from Lord Mornington (afterwards Lord
Wellesley) to Lord Camden, declining a commission for his brother Arthur in the army,
on the same grounds. When he became Aidc-de-'"'amp to Lord Westmoreland, the
Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, his acquaintance with the usages of society was as limited
aH could well be possessed by any lad who hat! passed through the ordeal of a public
school. Moore alli:des, in his journal, to the c-iaracte'- for frivolity young Wellesley
had acquired while a member of the viceregal staif . An old lady told me that when any
of the Dublin belles received an invitation to a pic-nic, they stipulated as a condition of
its acceptance that ' that mischievous boy, Arthur Wellesley, should not be of the
party.' "— " Fifty Years of my Life." 13y George Thomas, Earl of Albemarle, pp. 219
-220.

t " The delicate tact with which unpleasant subjects are avoided in conversation,
shows how easily men were hurt by them, and how perfectly the speaker could fore-

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

How different is the conduct of the Irish peasants to destitute
children. The parents may be dead or they have perhaps emi-
grated. Do the friends of the absent or dead parents deal harshly
with the helpless children ? So far from this, they give the or-
phan a place at their scanty board.* Thackeray well says that
DO Irishman ever gave a charity without adding a kind word
which was better than the gift. Their sociability is indeed a
charming talent, and it would seem that like the Greeks too, their
heads are not made to bear much strong drink ; and for that rea-
son, if one word of preaching is permissable, they should avoid
alcohol, especially in the form of ardent spirits.^

"From a combination of causes— some creditable to them, some
other than creditable," says Mr. Froude,J " the Irish Celts possess
on their own soil a power greater than any other known family
of mankind, of assimilating those who venture among them to
their own image. Light-hearted, humorous, imaginative, suscep-
tible through the entire range of feelings, from the profoundest
pathos to the most playful jest, if they possess some real virtues,
they possess the counterfeits of a hundred more. * * »
They have a power of attraction which no one who has felt it can
withstand. * * * Brave to rashness. * * * Passionate

tell it by his own feelings. In fav.., so keenly alive are the Homeric Greeks to this
great principle of politeness, that it interferes ^th their truthfulness, just as in the
present day the Irish peasant, with the same lively imagination and the same sensi*
tiveness, will instinctively avoid disagreeable thiags, even if ti-ue, and * prophesy
smooth things,' when he desires especially to please. He is not less reluctant to be
the bearer of bad news than the typical messenger of Greek tragedy." — Social Life
in Greece. By the Eev. J. P. Mahaflfy, p. 25.

* See "Social Life in Greece." By J. P. Mahaflfy, pp. 31, 32.

+ " It is a difficult problem to explain how the Greeks managed to get drunk. Three
parts of water to two of wine was the usual proportion ; four to tliree was thought
strong, equal parts made them mad. I am unable to discover whether their winea
were stronger or their heads weaker than ours. This is certain, that to them their
wines were as strong as whiskey is to us. Their entertaiimients were about as order-
ly as our gentlemen's parties, and intellectually, something like an agreeable assem-
blage of university men, particularly among lively people, like the Irish. This is, I
think, a jiinter verdict than taking Plato for an historical guide, as some Germans have
done, and talking bombast about the loftiness and splendor of Attic conversation. To
my taste, indeed, the description of his feast (symposium) abounds far too much in long
speeches, which are decidedly tedious, and which would certainly not be tolerated at
any agreeable party iu Ireland where thin is the branch of culture thoroughly under-
Btood." — "Social Life in Greece,*' p. 319.

i Vol. L, page 21.

GENEROSITY.

in everything, passionate in their patriotism, passionate in their re-
ligion, passionately courageous, passionately loyal and affec-
tionate. * * * They possess and have always possessed some
qualities the moral worth of which it is impossible to over-esti-
mate, and which are rare in the choicest races of mankind. * *
Wherever and in whomsoever they have found courage and
capacity, they have been ready with heart and hand to give their
services, and whether a le in sacrificing their lives for their

chiefs, or as soldiers in l1 jt^^-^-nch or English armies, or as we
now know them in the form of modem police, there is no duty
however dangerous . nd difficult, from which they have been
found to flinch, no temptation however cruel, which tempts them
into unfaithfulness."*

While such testimony can be found, and from such a quarter,
an Irishman may stand aside. " The sums of money," says Mr.
Gold win Smith, " which have been lately transmitted by Irish
emigrants to their friends in Ireland, seem a conclusive answer to
much loose denunciation of the national character, both in a moral
and in an industrial point of view." Sir John Davies testified
that no man loved equal justice more than the Irish Celt, and this
feeling would not be lessened by Norman and Teutonic admixtures.
The crimes committed by Whiteboys had their counterpart in
England, as Macaulay shows, under the Norman, and indeed Eng-
land bears away the palm from Ireland in crime. The Irishman
is singularly free from a class of loathsome offences which are
common elsewhere; and shooting landlords, which is dying out or
has wholly died out under wise legislation, was the offspring of
bad laws and crying injustice. Agrarian conspiracy implies no
propensity to ordinary crime, either on the part of the wretched
peasant who reverts to the wild justice of revenge, or on the part
of those who screen him from detection. But for agrarian out-

* The historian of V.^yoming tells of anirish settler," an old man named Fitzgerald,"
whose fidelity has the true ring. " The Indians and their allies placed him on a flax-
brake and told him he must renounce his rebel principleB and declare for the king or die.
* Well,' sain "the stout-hearted old fellow, ' I am old and have little time to live any-
how, and I had rather die now a friend of my country than live ever so long and die »
Tory.' They had magnanimity enough to let him go." — Miner's Hist, of Wxpming,
pasre200.

^i!

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

I ii;,i

rages * the judges of assize in most parts of Ireland would often
have had white gloves, the proportion of agrarian to all the
other crimes being very large, something like seven to ten, and,
as has already been indicated, agrarian crimes will soon be un-
heard of.

In Munster, in 1833, there were 627 whiteboy or agrarian
crimes, against 246 crimes of all other descriptions. The influence
of just laws, and the readiness of the Irish character to respond
to them, is shown by the marked change wrought by Mr. Glad-
stone's legislation. In the years 1873 and 1874 the average num-
ber of agrarian crimes for all Ireland was 233, against 324 in the
two preceding years, and in 1874 crimes of this class were 41 less
than in 1873. But mere statistics do not convey the full effect
produced within recent years, because they do not convey the im-
provement in the bearing and sentiments of the farmers and
peasantry.*!*

When we come to ordinary offences, we find the state of things
full of grounds for hope. The whole number of indictable
offences in 1874 was 6,662, of which more than half were com-
mit'^ed in Dublin.

In regard to crimes against property, the statistics show that
Ireland stands in a more favourable position than England by
35 per cent., but riots and assaults are more common in Ireland,
while indictable offences, disposed of summarily, are 17 per cent.
more common in England ; thefts 56 per cent. ; aggravated assaults
on women and children, 39 per cent. In the Province of Ulster,
in 1874, the total of offences of all kinds was 59,976, whilst in
portion of the population of Scotland, equal to that of Ulster, it
was in 1873, 71,313, the balance being 19 per cent, in favour of
Ireland. + Scotland consumes a much greater quantity of intoxica-
ting liqtiors than Ireland, but the Scotchman can bear more

• " It would be unjust to confound these agrarian conspiracies with ordinary crime,
>r to suppose that they imply a propensity to ordinary crime, either on the part of
those who commit them, or on the part of the people who connive at and favour their
Bommission." — Goldwin Smith's Essay, p. 163.

t See "Remarks on a Kecfnt Irish Election." Frazer's Magazine, August, 1875.
Hie writer, an Ulsterman, settled in Tipperary, says a revolution has taken place in
ihe feelings of the people.

X See Professor Hancock's Statistics.

THE GENTRY.

4»

alcohol, and ho is more prudent in his cups than the Irishman, of
which fact the lesson is obvious.

It is hard to speak of tihe events of '48, without doing more
harm than good. The tone of England, the legislation of the Im-
perial Parliament, have changed since the dreadful years of which
no Irishman can think without tears, whose miseries it would be
hard for any man born wheresoever, to realize without pain and
humiliation. The indictment which can be drawn up against the
Irish gentry is a dreadful one. This does not prove that Irish
gentlemen were worse than other men ; it only proves what has
been made too palpable in the history of humanity, that human
greed is too strong for human brotherhood, and that no man can
be trusted not to abuse power ; for the Irish gentry were not un-
worthy of the great people of whom they should have been the
leaders.* A class more fruitful in great men has never existed in
any country, but they, like the peasants, were the victims of bad
laws. The duties of the nobles, who spent the fruits of Irish soil in
Paris and in London, wore, in an aristocratic country, thrown on
them, and their lavish expenditure was the consequence; nor were
they all wanting in sympathy for the tenant. To this day in
England, even with the ballot, the tenant is so cowed that he
is afraid to vote against his landlord ;-|- nor is there any protection
on which man can rely against the cupidity of his brother man,
but equal laws equally administered.

* The following testimony to the Irishman from Mr. Froude's History, embraces
all classes : — " We lay the fault on the intractableness of race. The modem Irishman
is of no race — that is to say, he is of the Irish race, which is a distinct type, and most
valuable to the world, a type as distinct from the Saxon as the Gelt, so blended now
is the blood of Celt and Dane, Saxon and Norman, Scot and Frenchman. The Irish-
man of the last centiH-y rose tohis natural level, whenever he was removed from his own
unh ippy country, iu the seven years' war, Austria's best Generals were Irishmen.
Brown was an Irishman, Lacy was an Irishman, O'Donnell's name speaks for him ;
and Lally Tollendal who punished England at Fontenoy, was O'Mullally of ToUendally.
Strike the names of Irishmen out of our own public service, and we lose the heroes of
our proudest exploits — we lose the Wellesleys, the Pallisers, the Moores, the Eyres,
the : 'ooteg, tha Napiers ; we lose half the oflBcers and half the privates wlio conquered
India for us, and fought our battles in the Peninsula. What the Irish could do as
enemies, wo were about to learn when the Ulster exiles crowded to the standard of
Washington. What they can be, even at home, we know at this present hour. "

+ See the London correspondent of the Toronto OloLe, of Oct. 28th, 1876, on tha
Buckin{.5hamshire election.

ffj"

\<m.

"■ ll

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

Since '48 the events of that time have been judged by the actors
themselves, and it has been acknowledged that tlie relation be-
tween England and Ireland has changed for the better. If any
one reads John Mitchel's diary, he will see how John Mitchel
looked back on the fiasco with which he was connected, with feel-
ings of exaggerated shame. In a book published for circulation
among the Irish in the United States, the writer condemns in the
strongest language the attempts of the Confederates to produce an
armed revolution in Ireland.* Many popular Irish papers shew by
their moderation that the Irishmnn is not like the Bourbon who
his learned nothing and forgot nothing.-f*

Since '48 two of the leaders have been servants of the crown,
and one has accepted an imperial title.;}: '48 was a fiasco — which,
as is sometimes the case, did more good than if the movement had
been a success ; if it deserves praise it deserves it because the aim
was impossible. No momentary independence was attained, but
a powerful lift forward was given to the cause which triumphed
in 1868 and 18G9. It added to the number of the national heroes ;
it inspired the muse of Davis, and the life and oratory of McGee.

In an English magazine of acknowledged power and influence,§
a writer, who describes himself as of " Scoto-Presbyterian descent,
and born and educated in one of the most Presbyterian parts of
Ulster," gives facts which it would be well to recall when it is even
still the fashion to speak as if Irish insurrections arose from some
unaccountable perversity of nature, instead of from the most
vicious laws which have ever disgraced and degraded a country.
It is Mr. Froude who tells us that " Lord Burleigh, who possessed
the quality of being able to recognize faults in his own country-
men, saw and admitted that the Flemings had no such cause to
rebel against the oppression of the Spaniards, as the Irish against
the tyranny of England." It is a long step from Burleigh to

* See the preface to " The Men of '48," by Col. James E. McGee.

t See an article in the Irish Canadian, Oct. 25th, 1876, warning the " men of action"
^at they might do incalculable harm to their country.

X Thomas D'Arcy McGee, sometime Minister of Agriculture and Emigration in
Canada. Charles Gavau Duffy, at one time Prime Minister of Australia, and who is
low Sir Charles Gavan Duffy.

§ See FrOfSer's Magazine, August, 1875. The article is " Remarks on a Recent Irish
Election. " The recent Irish election was that in which John Ivlitchell was returned.

GLADSTONE S LEGISLATION.

Beaconsfield. Mr, Disraeli, in 1843, said a country in the condi-
tion of Ireland, had nothing for it but to rebel. And what does
this man of " Scoto-Presbyterian descent" say of the events of '48?
He tells us that his Ulster birth and Presbyterian prejudices have
not been able to blind him to the excellencies of the Munster char-
acter. Nor can he understand why love of country should not be
more generally appreciated in the Irishman. The German is
praised for his love of Fatherland, the Frenchman honoured for de-
voting fortune and life to the service of his country, everything
English is made the standard of perfection all over the world by
the Englishman. " In this love of country," says the writer,
" and the inherent gratitude of the Irish peasantry, will be found
the true solution of the much misinterpreted, but unanimous elec-
tion of the formerly expatriated John Mitchel. "

The writer contends that there was nothing disloyal in the vote
cast for Mitchel. Since the passing of the Land Act, the majority
of the voters have " no desire to repeal the Union," as this would
be " parting company with the best consumers of their beef and
mutton, their oats and flour." The reason, then, why a sol' ] vote
was cast for Mitchel, was not because they would now approve
of his policy of '48, but because they felt that when Ireland
needed an honest voice, Mitchel supplied it ; and also that in the
improved state of things, when an alien church had been deposed,
a great measure of justice done to the tenants, the daily wages of
the labourer doubled, evictions for non-payment of rent almost
unheard of, Tipperary become a model county of peace and quiet-
ness, a great government might have allowed the returned rebel
to take his seat.

When D'Arcy McGee was taunted in the Canadian Parliament
with having been a rebel, he answered it was true he had rebelled
against the mis-government of his country, because he saw his
countrymen starving before his eyes, while his country had her
trade and commerce stolen from her. " I rebelled," he added,
" against the Church Establishment in Ireland ; and there is not a
Liberal man in this community who would not have done as I
did, if he were placed in my position and followed the dictates ol
hum8,nity." It has been alleged in defence of the Government ol
the day that it did not cause the blight of that agreeable but ill-

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

starred root the potato; "but" says the Scoto-Presbyterian,
" when the i)otato crop was gone, its laws did not permit the
starving inhabitants to touch any other of the produce that their
own hands had roarod." Those laws permitted distraint of the
stock, crop, and every species of produce. It was a common thing
to put on the farm, when the crop was ripe, a keeper who was
kept at the farmer's expense, " till the crop was reaped, thrashed,
and converted into money," which passed directly to the pocket of
the landlord, who frequently gave only a receipt on account. The
people were starving, and plenty of food in the country. During
the dreadful agony, famine filling the road sides and the hovels
with gaunt victims, fever following on famine's heels, there was
no break in the exportation to Great Britain of oats, flour, beef,
pork and mutton. " Why did not the starving peasantry seize on
these things — the produce of their own labour ? Because they
were guarded in safety from our shores, by British troops.' The
chief duty of the troops in the assize towns was to guard the flour
on its transit from the mills to the port. It was against this
monstrous state of things that the men of '48 uttered a wild, de-
spairing cry. Wild, because despairing ; and despairing, because
the past gave no ground for hope. But thank God ! those times
are no more ; the dark night is over, and the dawn of another day
is bright with happy promise.

But the Imperial Parliament must not think that its work is
finished, nor grow disheartened if, after centuries of wrong, j ust
laws do not produce immediately all the results hoped for.
Happily, all progress is slow ; though the slowness entails many
evils, yet worse evils would result from greater rapidity of move-
ment. Property in land is like property in nothing else, and the
sooner Irish landlords and Irish peasants cease to speak as if men
could be absolute owners of the land, the better. No man, in a
country as thickly populated as Ireland or England, has a right
to draw revenue from land, the duties incidental to the possession
of which he does not discharge. The time is at hand when as
short work must be made of absentees as Henry VIII. would have
made of them. Nc^', of course, should any man be permitted to de-
stroy a country's fruitfulness. If people will not do their duty as
landowners, they must not be robbed ; they must get the value of

ill i

IRELAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.

their interest in the land, which must then be handed over at a
proper price to those who will do the duty arising out of owner-
ship.

In Ireland at the present moment there are not more than
40,000 persons owning the twenty million odd acres.and 5,806,000
acres are possessed by two hundred and seventy-four persons.
Sixty-three proprietors have more than a fifth of the soil of Lein-
ster ; sixty-seven about a fourth of Munster ; ninety a good deal
more than a third of Ulster ; and fifty-four about the same quan-
tity of Connaught.

The course of Ireland for a century would suggest thnt special
legislation would be for the benefit of that country. Free trade,
as the statement of a great general truth, is unassailable ; but
when we come to apply it to countries in various stages of deve-
lopment, and differing in resources, we see at once that it gives
advantage to one over the other. But for protection the United
States of America would be sending across the Atlantic for their
knives and forks and reaping hooks. Now they could probably
hold their own in the markets of the world, and therefore ought
to adopt free trade. Ii'eland is undoubtedly specially suited for
pasture. But if her mineral resources, small though they are,
were developed, she would be much richer, and the farmers would
be still better off.

Ireland was, in the middle of the 18th century, a country of all
but limitless pasturages. At the period of Arthur Young's visit,
a century ago, a change had set in. Yet he found one grass farm
of ten thousand acres, and not a few sheep walks of five or six
thousand acres. It is important to note that it was not natural
adaptability which brought about this state of things. One cause
was the scarcity of labour consequent on the incessant wars of the
17th century. But there followed on the Treaty of Limerick
three-quarters -of a century of repose. Population increased, but
still cattle farming was continued. The penal laws prohibited
Catholics from buying or leasing lands. Competition between
tenants was kept down. Thus the breaking up of farms was
prevented. The markets of England and the Colonies were
closed against the Irish farmer, and he had no motive for increas-
ing production. Besides, the disqualification of Catholics lulled

«8

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

the ProtoHtanta into a lethargic confidence. Couiplaints at last
arose that there was not enough food grown for the population,
which had greatly increased. The Irish parliament offered a
bounty for all corn imported from the inland rural districts into
Dublin. The efTect was immediate. Arthur Young noticed in
1776 that the richest i)asturages of Tipperary and Limerick were
being broken up. The outbreak of the American war gave a new
impulse to this movement. England, facing a world in arms, was
forced to grow within the three kingdoms the food she required
for her vast armaments by sea and land, and this raised enor-
mously th o price of com. The extensive grass farms disappeared.
The land was ^^roupht under tillage, and population increased, as
it were, at a bound. The war against revolutionary France cre-
ated a still greater lemand for agricultural produce, and Ireland
was completely converted into a tillage country. Waterloo sud-
denly put an end to the factitious demand, and intense distress
was the resuJt. To relieve the farmer, the com laws were passed,
laws, which having fulfilled their purpose, were abolished amid
the hungry cries of a starving people.

Thus the agricultural economy of Ireland was completely revo-
lutionized in something over half a century. A country of pas-
tures became a country of tillage ; a country of large farms a
country of minute holdings; an independent yeomanry gave
way to dependent peasant occupyers, and the population increased
at an appalling rate from about two to eight and a half millions.

On the repeal of the com laws the farmers of Ireland found
themselves exposed to competitors on the coast of the Black Sea
and the banks of the Danube. Ireland might have sustained the
competition of Russians, Hungarians, and Roumanians, had not
the United States entered the field and suddenly become a great
exporter of grain. The Irish and German immigrations led to the
rapid opening up and settlement of the corn fields of the Missis-
sippi valley, and the additional competition proved too much for the
Irish farmers who had, with a worse market, to pay more for labour,
and the cultivation of wheat began immediately to decline. In
1847, though in that year, owing to the failure of the potato crop
and the consumption of seed com for food, there was a great fall-
ing oflf in cultivation, there were sown 745,000 acres of wheat,

PASTURAaE.

while in 1875 only 15!>,00() acres were sown. The decreaHe in
other grain crops, with the exception of barley, is e(iually marked,
the (Icinimd for l)arley being kept up by whiskey-distillation.
The decrease still goes on. South America and India are extend-
ing the area of competition, and it is thought not unlikely that the
cultivation of wheat for sale may cease altogether. There is a
great increase in cattle-feeding crops, but only enough to balance
the decrease in acres under gi-ain. The area under cultivation is
now no larger than it was in 1841, while the number of homed
cattle has nearly trebled and the number of sheep has nearly
doubled. Thus the fiscal legislation of thirty years and the for-
eign competition it introduced, have undone the revolution in
the direction of tillage, and almost restored the agricultural
economy of the middle of the last century. The number of acres
under crops of all kinds, in 1875, including maadows and clover
was only 5,332,813 ; while 10,409,320 acres were given up to
grass. The whole area under crops proper was only about
3,500,000 acres or about a sixth of the entire country.

Breeding and feeding cattle make very small farms impossible ;
sheep require extensive runs. Cattle give employment to very
few hands. As we might expect, the population and holdings
have decreased. The number of holdings of from one acre to five
acres in extent, have diminished in thirty years from 310,486 to
69,098, or at the enormous rate of 777 per cent. In 1841, the
number between five and fifteen acres was 252,799 ; in 1875 the
number was 166,959, a decrease of 34 per cent. Those over fif-
teen, however, have increased. On the whole number of holdings
the decrease has been one-fourth.*

The great majority, perhaps all, of those who " own " the land
are more or less inveterate absentees, and if they do not do their
duty, they oug ^ to be taught that others will. The drastic
measure, the Incumbered Estates Act, must be followed by another
dealing with worse incumbrances than debt. It is not just to
leave the minerals unutilized ; and when a large addition is made
to the manufacturing population, then in the best and happiest
way a check will be put on the present tendency, which bids fair

* I am nidebUd to the Saturday Beview for the above facts.

V Ji!

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

if allowed free course, to make Ireland a land of grazing fioiud
and a waste of sheep walks. The history of Ireland shows the
reverse of the teaching of Goldsmith to be the truth. A " bold
peasantry " can, by legislation, be called into, or blotted out ot
existence. Tho Irishman in Canada can rejoice that his adopted
home is free from absentees and is rich in minerals

Home Rule has had no influence on emigration to this coun-
try, and the scope of this book does not lead me to discuss it here.
Nor, again, had Fenianism any effect on this country's population.
The most miserable of all attempts ever made on the peace of a
people, called out the patriotic feelings of Canadians of all classes,
and of every nationality. It was a Fenian bullet which, all too
soon, just when his great powers were really ripening, deprived
the world of D'Arcy McGee, These are the two sinister events
which connect Canada in any way with Fenianism, and they call
for no comment. Even Thomas Clarke Luby, when brought to
Toronto last St. Patrick's day to lecture on Ireland, could not
withhold the expression of his shame at the conduct of the Fenian
raiders, and emphatically declared he had no sympathy whatever
with them.

JHAPTER III.

What Irish and English statesmanship did for the United States
is scarcely sufficiently recognized, The Irish Commons refused to
vote £45,000 for the war against the American colonists. Burke,
Barr^, and Sheridan wrote openly in defence of their transatlantic
fellow-subjects. In France, McMahon, Dillon, Roche, Fermoy,
General Conway, and other experienced military men, were ready
to volunteer into the American service. It was the victory of

MONTGOMERY.

Brito-Hibernian troops which made the United States possible ;•
and when the citizens of the Republic look back to the dawn of
her career of wealth and freedom and greatness, they will see
clear, even through the mists of centuries, the romantic figure of
the lover-soldier falling at the moment his charge broke the lines
of Montcalm, and near him Irishmen whose names are only less
illustrious than their English commander's.

Irish historians have dwelt with too much delight on legends.
I shall avoid this mistake, nor be tempted to dilate on St. Bran-
don's discovery of America in A.D. 545.^ We are on solid ground,
however, when we remind the reader that in 1518, Baron de L^ry,

• " The fall of Montcalm in the moment of his defeat, completed the victory ; and the
snbmiasion of Canada put an end to the dream of a French empire in America. In
breaking through the line with which France had striven to check the westward advance
of the English colonists, Pitt had unconsciously changed the history of the world. His
support of Frederick and of Prussia, was to lead in our own day to the erection of a
United Germany. His conquest of Canada, by removing the enemy whose dread knit
the colonists to the mother-country, and by flinging open to their energies, in the days
to come, the boundless plains of the West, laid the foundation of the United States." —
Green, p. 737.

t The "Life of Saynt Brandon" in the Gold Legend, Published by Wynkyn de
Wbrde, 1483, Fol., 357. The voyage was a favourite theme with the early romance
writers. An English translation of an early French revision ^yill|be found in Black-
wood's Edinburgh Magazine, Vol. xxxix. Mr. D. F. McCarthy published, a quarter of
century ago (Dublin 1850), an admirable poem on the subject. Mr. McCarthy, as will
be seen from one or two stanzas, caught the music of an earUer century than the nine-
teenth.

At length the long-expected morning came,

When from the opening anns of that wild bay.
Beneath the hill that bears my humble name.
Over the wavep we took our untracked^way.
Sweetly the mom Is./ on tarn and rill ;

Gladly the waves played in its golden light,
And the proud t>.p of the majestic hill,
Shone on the azrire air — serene and bright.

All that pathetic, half-u^..ai^onable and wholly noble and beautiful lore whicL
an Irinhman cherishes for the home of his race comes out in the following t

Over the sea we flew that sunny mom,

Not without natural tears and human sighs ;
For who can leave the land where he was born,

And where, perchance, a buried mother lies,
Wliere all the friends of riper manhood dwell,

And where the playmates of his childhood sbep j
Who can depart, and breathe a cold farewell,

Nor let his eyes tlieir honest tribute weep?

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

1 1 t; I

the blood in whose veins, like his name, was Irish, with a com-
pany of colonists landed on Sable Island, off the coast of Nova
Scotia,

In the eighteenth century, Irishmen were met on all sides in
America They were successful traders, successful sailors, success-
ful soldiers, successful as interpreters ; and some of them, if this
will not sound like a bull, successful Indian chiefs.* The Republic
below the line should never forget what they did for that great
free empire ; nor should the Irishman in the second or third gene-
ration be other than proud of the rock whence he was hewn. The
first naval capture made in the name of the United Colonies was
made by five brothers, whose father, Maurice O'Brien, was a na-
tive of Cork. " This affair," says Cooper, in his History of the
United States Navy " was the Lexington of the seas." There
were dozens of Irishmen in command after 1775.

The ban laid on Irish manufactures, in IGSS,*!- and the rack-
rents, sent multitudes of Protestants and Catholics across the
Atlantic, According to Dobbs, writing a few years after, three
thousand males left Ulster yearly for the Colonies. In 1699,
James Logan, of Lurgan, accompanied William Penn to Pennsyl-
vania, and became one of the foremost men in the colony. He
was a strong Protestant, and with a firmer grasp of the large
views and liberal tolerance at the base of Protestantism than were

■m.- !

Our little bark, kissing the dimpled smiles

On ocean's cheek, flew like a wanton bird.
And then the land, with all its hundred isles

Faded away, and yet we spoke no word.
Each silent tongue hold converse with the past;

Each moistened eye looked round the circling wave ;
And, save the spot where stood our trembling mast,

Saw all things hid within one mighty grave.

See D'Arcy McGee's " Irish Settlers," a book without which this chapter could not
have been written in Canada.

* " More than one Irishman was naturalized in the forest, like Stark and Houston,
and obeyed as chiefs. Of the numbei was the strange character known as Tiger Rorke,
at one time the friend of Chesterfield and the idol of Dublin drawing-rooms ; at another,
the tattooed leader of an Iroquois war party." — "The Irish Settlers in North America."
By Thomas D'Arcy McGee.

t " All the other oppressions of the Irish were of no importance compared with the
destniction of their trade for the benefit of English producers." p. 399. Alahaffoy'a
•• Social History of Greecet"

FOUNDERS OF THE UNITED STATES.

general then. ]Cven the Quaker Penn reproves him for his
liberality. " There is," writes Penn from London, in 1708, " a
complaint against your government that you suffer public Mass."
Logan's example proved contagious, and so early as 1730, we find
in the interior of the State, townships called Derry, Donegal,
Tyrone, and Ccleraine. In 1729, the Irish emigrants, who
landed in Philadelphia, were ten to one of all the European
nationalities, an influx which continued tiU the close of the cen-
tury. Among the Irish emigrants, in 1729, was Charles Clinton,
whose three sons were to play so prominent a part in the annals
of New York. A large Irish immigration settled in Maryland, in
Virginia, and in South Carolina. Among the Irish settlers in
South Carolina occur the famous names of Rutledge, Jackson, and
Calhoun. North Carolina also received the Irish contingent
which contained a governor in James Moore, who headed the re-
A'olution in 1775. In the settlement of Kentucky Irishmen played
their part. " For enterprise and daring courage," says Marshall,*
" none transcended Major Hugh McGrady," and he gives a list of
others deserving honourable mention. If the reader wishes to
know what a noble pioneer the Irishman of those days made, let
him read the early history of Kentucky, and what Simon Butler
did and endured. In Delaware also, several Irish families made
their homes, and in the contests between the settlers, Colonel
Plunkett and Thomas Neill are prominent. The United States
owe all their celebrated Butlers to the cadets of the great Ormond
stock.

In the colony of Massachusetts Bay, a meeting was held in 1725,
a,t Haverhill, for settling the town of Concord, and with the view
of excluding the Irish, it was resolved " that no alienation of any
lot should be made without the consent of the community." Irish
families who presumed to make a settlement were warned oflf.
But they held their ground, and nothing came of the threat. In
the capital of New England, in 1737, we find a body of " Irish
gentlemen oi the Irish nation banding themselves together in a
charitable society, for the relief of such of their poor indigent
■countrymen, without any design of not contributing towards the

History of Kentucky.

TfiE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

provision of the town poor in general, as usual." This was in the
main a Protestant Benevolent Society, and the 8th article of the
Constitution declared that none but Protestants were eligible for
office or committee work. The Londonderry settlement took
place in the spring of 1719.* It consisted of sixteen families, who
brought with them to the new world the stern fibre which would
not surrender to death, armed with famine. They were all of the
Presbyterian faith, and in process of time spread over Windham,
Chester, Litchfield, Manchester, Bedford, Goffstown, New Boston,
Antrim, Peterborough, Ackworth, in New Hampshire, and Bar-
nett, in Vermont. Their descendants were the first settlers in
many towns in Massachusetts and Maine, and they are now to the
number of tens of thousands scattered over all the States of the
Union.-f- Cherry Valley, New York, was in part peopled from Lon-
donderry. A few families from Belfast, in 1723, established an

* " He (the Ulster man), pushes along quietly to the proper place, nc* using his
elbows too much, and is not hampered by traditions like the Celt. He succeeds partic-
ularly well in America and in India, not because UlBter men help one another, and po
on like a corporation ; for he is not clannish like the Scottish Highlanders or the Irish
Celts, the last of whom unfortunately stick together like bees, and drag one another
down instead of up. No foreign people succeed in America unless they mix with the
native population. It is out of Ulster that her hardy sons have made the most of their
talents. It was an Ulster man of Donegal, Francis Mackamie who founded Ameri-
can Presbyterianism in the early part of the last century, just as it was an Ulsterman
of the same district, St. Columbkille, who converted the Picts of Scotland in the sixth
century. Four of the Presidents of the United States and one Vice-President have
been of Ulster extraction, J ames Monroe, James K. Polk, John C. Calhoun, and James
Buchanan. General Andrew Jackson was the son of a poor Ulster emigrant who
settled iii North Carolina, towards the close of the last century : * I was born some-
where, he said, between Carrickfergus and the United States.' Bancroft and other
historians recognize the value of the Scotch-Irish element in forming the society of the
Middle and Southern States. It has been the boast of Ulstermen, that the first Gen-
eral who fell in the Ajuerican war of the Revolution, was an Ulsterman — Richard
Montgomery — who fought at the siege of Quebec ; that Samuel Findley, President of
Princeton College, and Francis Allison, pronounced by Stiles, the President of Yale,
to be the greatest classical scholar in the United States, had a conspicuous place in
educating the American mind to independence ; that the first publisher of a daily pa-
per in America was a Tyrone man, named Dunlop ; that the marble palace of New
York, where the greatest business in the world is done by a single firm, was the property
of the late Alexander T. Stewart, a native of Lisburn, County Down ; that the fore-
most merchants, such as the Browns and Stewarts, are Ulstermen ; and that the in-
ventors of steam navigation, telegraph, and the reaping-machine — Fiilton, Morse, and
McCormick — are either Ulstermen or the sons of Ulstermen." " Ulster and its people. "^
— Frazer's Magazine, Augu8t,1876.

t Barstow'B New Hampshire, p. 130.

BERKELEY.

Irish settlement in Maine. Amongst them was an Irish school-
master named Sullivan, who, in 1775, founded Limerick, and whose
Bons rose to high employment, civil and military. Longford sent
the Higgins's and the Reilly's, the cream of its population, to
Connecticut. One of the former was the father of a numerous
progeny, now flourishing in New England. Palmer and Worces-
ter (Mass.), received early in the eighteenth century their share
of Irish immigration.

In 1725, the amiable and acute author of the " Theory of Vis-
ion " conceived the project of founding a College in the Summer
Islands for the conversion of the red race in the American colonies.
The English parliament having voted him certain lands in the
West Indies, and £10,000 to be paid over as soon as the scheme
was in operation, Berkeley — as noble a specimen of Irish benevo-
lence, enthusiasm, and genius as ever crossed the Atlantic — resigned
the rich deanery of Derry, and having " seduced some of the hope-
fuUest young gentlemen" of Trinity to accept professorships in the
future College at £40 a year, embarked. The scholarly band arrived
at Newport, K.I., in January, 1729. As one might expect, diflicul-
ties were raised in the way of handing over the money, and at the
end of three years Walpole told Berkeley there was no chance of its
ever being paid. While waiting, he farmed and wrote his " Minute
Philosopher," and when in 1732 he determined to return to Ire-
land, he bequeathed his farm of ninety acres to Yale College, and
presented it with his library.* To this hour, not only in the

• " The finest collection of books that ever came at one time into America." Bald-
win's annals of Yale College, p. 417. A son in the flesh as well as in letters was bom
to Berkeley, in America. His house " Whitehall " still stands. He loved to read and
meditate in a snug retreat among the rocks which project over Nanaganset Bay. It
was while seated here those noble lines occurred to him, the first of which has become
a household word :

" Westward the star of empire takes its way,
The three first acts already past ;
The fourth shall close it with the closing day, —
Earth's noblest empire is the last."

Thus it is to an Irishman that this continent owes its most auspicious prophecy. Not
only so, it was Berkeley who first brought an organ to New England to peal out praise
to God. It was he brought there the first artist to paint the beauty of its shores and
nroods. This artist was che teacher of Copley. His name was Smibert, He was the
architect of Faneuil Hall, and his picture of the Berkeley family is in Yale College.
-See McGee'B " Irish Settlers."

■ ■"'mi.'-

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

seat of learning with which his fame is connected, but all over
the continent, his name is an inspiration, his memory a hallowed
thing with all who love genius and honour worth. A story of the
Indian frontier war is like a star breaking through a cloud oi
barbarism. In 1753, four hunters from Londonderiy " wandered
in quest of game " into the territor}? of the Canadian Aroostooks.
The four were captured, and two having been scalped, the remain-
ing two were forced to run the gauntlet. The elder of the two
escaped from the ordeal barely with life ; the younger, a lad of
sixteen, the future General Stark, wlien his turn came, marched
forward boldly, and snatching a chib from the nearest Indian,
attacked the warriors drawn up on either side. He mocked the
savages into reverence of his noble nature. They then ordered
him to hoe corn. He tore it up by the roots saying such work
was only worthy of squaws. He won their hearts. They ad opted
him as a son. They called him their " young chief," and dressed
him up in Indian splendour.* The campaign of 1755 brought the
" Irish Brigade " to the Cans/lian frontier.

In the accounts of Indian warfare on the Santee and Savannah,
Irish names such as those of Governor Moore, Captains Lynch and
Kearns, frequently appear as the champions of the whites. It was
in this warfare the Guerilla host known as " Marion's Men "
were trained, among whom were conspicuous. Colonels Harry and
McDonald, Captains Conyers and McCauley.

In 1764, Dr. Franklin, referring to the enactment of the " Stamp
Act " at London, wrote to Charles Thompson, one of the Irish
settlers in Pennsylvania, that the sun of liberty was set, and that
Americans must light the lamps of industry and economy. The
answer sent back by Thompson wa^, " Be a.ssured we shall light
torches of quite another sort."

The folly of the English Government and the tyranny of George
III., are now universally acknowledged. With such statesmen as
were at that period presiding over the Empire, the Colonists had
nothing for it but to rebel. John Rutledge, an Irish settler in

* He was one of the first captives given up to Captain Stevens. The original name
Df Stark was Starkey, and it is thus spelled on the monument of the General's father
it Manchester, N. H. See Barstovir's New Hampshire, p. 1.39, and Thomas D'Arcy
McGee's " Irish Settlers in North America," p. 40.

A 1 ■

QUEBEC.

s-i

South Carolina, was the first man to rouse that State to resist-
ance. It was a Langdon and a Sullivan who seized the guns at
Newcastle, which thundered at Bunker Hill. In Maryland;
Charles Carrol carried the popular banner, and bore down the
leading royalist champion. Of the chiefs of the " Continental
army " a full third were Irish by birth or descent, and the rank
and file was very largely of Irish origin.*

Richard Montgomery, who had served under Wolfe in the cap-
ture of Quebec, having meanwhile travelled in Europe and emi-
grated to New York, was elected by Congres" 1 rigadier-general,
and when the sole command devolved on him, on the death of
General Schuyler, conducted the campaign with rare judgment.
Fort Chambly, St. Johns, Montreal, were taken, and with Irish
energy he pressed on in the midst of a severe winter to Quebec
He was a born leader of men, and his curt pregnant eloquence and
confident bearing, made the hearts of his freezing soldiers beat
with high courage. By a chance shot on the morning of the first
of January, 1776, the glorious rebel fell before Quebec. Although
he fought against the flag of England, he fought in what all admit
now to have been the cause of freedom. It was strange that he
should have fallen near the ground where his old commander fell,
whom he resembled in the purity of his character; in his gallantry;
in his skill as a soldier ; in his divided heart; for he had left behind
him, at the call of duty, a gentle bride whom he passionately loved,
and who was in all respects worthy of him. He might have
penned the very verses which Wolfe wrote regarding the gentle
girl who disputed with his country the empire of his heart. Here
was liberty bleeding ; there his weeping bride. Mr. McGee re-
marks on the strange fatality which gave to death on the rock
of Quebec, three generals, alike in youth, in bravery, and
chivalrous manly tenderness. " Three deaths " he cries, as if he
felt the mantle of his favourite Ossian strong upon him, " three
deaths, Quebec, do consecrate thy rock ; three glories crowii it
like a tiara ! "

* It is nut necessary for my purpose to go into particulars. These can be found in
Hist. (;oll. 01 New Hampshire, voL I, p. 291, and in McGee's " Irish Settlers in
North America."

1«

1 1

•i

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

It was an Irish hand first hoisted the flag which has from the
first been a refuge for the unfortunate and the oppressed. John
Barry was born in Wexford in 1745. He pined for the stormy sea.
He crossed the Atlantic in his fourteenth year, and sailing to and
from Philadelphia, he learned the seaman's art, and at twenty -five
was Captain of the Black Prince, first a fine packet, afterwards a
vessel of war. When Washington was in Philadelphia, he met
Barry at the house of Mr. Rose Meredith, and marked him for an
ally. In 1775, Captain Barry was in command of the Lexington,
lying in the Delaware, when the Union flag was chosen, and from
his masthead the stars and stripes first flew. Towards the close
of 1777, Washington publicly thanked him and his men for effec-
tive services. How he became Commodore, his captures, his en-
gagements with three British frigates in West Indian waters, in
1782, is part of the general history of the war. From 1783,
until his death, in 1803, he superintended the progress of the
navy. " The Father of the American Navy," lies buried in Phila-
deli)hia. It is scarcely worth while to mention a characteristic
which the hostile Froude admits to be a common-place in Irish-
men, — his unbribable fidelity. Lord Howe offered him a vast
bribe, and further tempted him with the command of a British
ship of the line, in vain. Like every man of real power, he was
proud of his country. After the peace of Paris, he visited his
birthplace, the Parish of Tacumshane, County of Wexford. When
hailed by the British frigates in the West Indies, and asked the
usual questions, he did not forget to let them know he was an
Irishman.*

Naval officers of less note were Captains James and Bernard,
McGee, McD*.nough, with many others. Murrry, Dale, Decatur,
and Stewart, were trained under Barry.

Washington's favourite aide-de-camp was an Irish officer of the
old Volunteer Blue and Buffs, Col. Fitzgerald, and Mr. G. Wash-
ington Custis, who makes us acquainted with his heroism, men-
tions many more of whom Irishmen have reason to be proud, and
to whom the forty million dollar getters and breeders of dollar

* His answer was, " The United States Ship Alliance^ fi2;V.C3^Jack Barry, half Irish-
man, half Yankee — who are you?"

FRANKLIN.

getters have ample cause to be grateful. The Irish merchants of
Philadelphia contributed half a million of dollars towards furnish-
ing provisions for the United States. On the 19th of October,
1781, Cornwallis surrendered, and the following spring Great
Britain acknowledged the independence of the United States of
America : that independence was bought with no small amount of
blood and treasure and heroism and valuable lives, and Irishmen
contributed their share of the sacred purchase money.

It was only natural that there should have been considerable
sympathy between the Irish patriots in the third quarter of the
eighteenth centuiy and the leading spirits in the revolutionary
movement in the American colonies. Franklin visited Du})lin in
1771. At the suggestion of the Speaker he was accommodated
with a seat on the floor of the house. After the declaration of
war in 1775, he addressed a letter to " The People of Ireland,"
urging them to refuse to join in the war against the colonies.
Franklin was a bosom friend of Charles Thompson, * who wrote
out the declaration of independence from Jefferson's draft.

The first daily paper published in America — the Pennsylvania
Packet — was issued by an Irishman, and it was in the Packet
office the Declaration of Independence was first printpd. It was
an Irishman, Colonel John Nixon, who first read it to the people.
Eight of the signers of independence were Irish or of Irish de-
scent.-j' It was an Irishman who first published fac similes of the
signatures. Six of the delegatea by whom the Constitution was
promulgated in 1787, were Irish. It was on an Irishman's farm
freely offered to Washington, that the plan of the federal capital
was laid, and the wealthy donor lived to see ten Presidents rul-
ing in the " White House," surrounded by ever growing wealth
and populous bustle and crowding chimney stacks, where once the
smoke from his own dwelling flung a solitary reflection in the
calm waters of the Potomac. The first governor of Pennsyl-

• Born at Maghera, County of Deny, 1730. He died 16th August, 1824, having
spent the close of his life in translating the Septuagiut.

t Matthew Martin, bom m Ireland, 1714 ; James Smith, born in Ireland in 1713 ;
George Taylor, bom in Ireland in 1716 ; he was so poor that hi-; services were sold on
his amval to pay the expense of his passage out. George Read was the son of Irish
parents. Charles Carroll was of Irish descent. Thomas Lynch and Thomas McKean,

^•.,V

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

III

hii'ii!.

vania * after the adoption of a federal constitution, was a native of
Dublin. We have seen that the first literary blow dealt slavery was
given by an Irishman. One of the earliest legislative blows came
from a like quarter.-)- Tn 1789 the Governor procured the passage
of a law gradually abolishing slavery in the state named after the
great Quaker.

In the succeeding years we find Irishmen and their descendants
as representatives and senators. We find them establishing and
conducting educational institutions ; we see striking evidences of
literary activity ; our attention is arrested by the bold engineering
plans of Irishmen who were in advance of their time, but who
would have made a fortune to-day. Some were unlucky, like
Christopher Colles, and died in want, while others were fattening
on their ideas ; others were more fortunate, like Robert Fulton,
who launched the first steam-boat on the Seine, in 1803, running,
in 1800, a more complete model on the Hudson. A native of
Carrickfergus, Dr. Adrian, was distinguished as a mathematician ;
and Matthew Carey, the father of H. C. Carey, as a political
economist.

The Irish leaning to the Democratic side in the United States,
would seem to have a connection with the events of 1798 in Ire-
land. The British Government, in 1799 and 1800, agreed to let
T. A. Emmett, and D. McNevin out of prison, if they would pro-
mise to quit the British Dominions for ever. The terms being
arranged, Thomas Addis Emmett applied to Rufus King, the
United States Minister at London, for passports for himself and
his friends, but was refused ; Mr. King adding, what must have
been meant for a joke, that " then were republicans enough in
America." Some few years afterwards, when Mr. King was a
candidate for the vice-presidency, and Thomas Addis Emmett was
the leader of the New York bar, the great advocate, by a striking
narration of the circumstances in letters to the New Yo7'k Evening
Post, raised a feeling throughout the Union which blighted the
hopes of the too clever ambassador of a few years before.

were both of Irish parentage. John Rutledge, of South Carolina, makes up the eighth.
Ail these men rose to high public employment. — "Lives of the Signers."
♦ Alderman John Bums, of I'hiladelphia.

t George Bryan.

" OLD HICKORY."

I* was a native uf Ireland, John Smilie, who reported a bill in
1812 in favour of war with Great Britain, and the man on whom
his mantle fell, John Caldwell Calhoim, was the son of Patrick
Calhoun, an emigiant from Donegal to South Carolina. In the
naval engagements in 1812-15, the names of the Boyles, the
Blakeleys, the Leavins, the Shaws, the Stewarts, the Gallaghers,
the McGraths, tell their history. On land we meet everywhere the
same Irish energy and valour. The hero of the victory of New
Orleans, General Jackson, was, as Cobbett* pointed out with in-
decent exultation, the son of poor Irish emigrant parents. In
1828, Jackson was elected president by a large majority, the "Irish
vote " playing an important part. The Irish did not forget his
origin, and they were charmed by his military characteristics.-f*
" Old Hickory " had some of the most remarkable traits of the
Irishman in strong development.

Contnbutions were raised in the States for repeal, and in 1847
large sums were sent to support the famishing in Ireland. The
'48 movement excited great enthusiasm among the Catholic Irish,
and thousands of dollars poured in to the directories, as they have
more recently to head centre treasuries. Be the objects wise or
unwise, such subscriptions show the noble generosity of the Irish
heart.

* See Cobbett'a Life of Andrew Jackson.

t Jackson's partiality for Irishmen was strong, but not blind. His personal atten-
dants were nearly all natives of Ireland^ and he seems to have felt that kindly interest
m them which makes the servant of an Irish gentleman feel himself a "humble
friend." Jackson's man-servant, Jemmy O'Neil, used to indulge a little too freely,,
and on such occasions assumed too much control over visitors and dwellers in the
"White House." Wearied out with complaints, Jackson decided to dismiss him, and
having sent for him said, "Jemmy, you and I must part." "Why so. General?"
asked Jemmy. "Because," replies the President, "every one complains of you."
"And do you believe them. General?" asks Jemmy with a mixture of surprise and re-
proach. " Of course," answers Jackson, " what everyone says must be true." " Well,
now General," cries Jemmy, " I've heard twice a.s much said against you, and I never
would believe a word of it." Jackson's military experience should Imve indeed had a
hardening effect if this would not touch him. Mr. Lowell, the author of the " Biglow
Papers," has a genuine admiration for " Old Hickory," and tells us of him :—

" He'd 'a' smashed the tables o' the law
In time o' need to load his gun with."
When the " White House " was threatened with*a mob, he refused the volunteered
guard of naval and military, and loading his own and his nephew's guns, prepai-ed to
meet hia foes.

f)2

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

' I

■II

In Moxico, Irishmen and Irish names are as numerous as the
Irishman, in a famous bull, said absentees were in Ireland.* One
of Scott's most efficient colonels was RiK^y. But neither to his
achievements nor to those of minor note — of the Pattersons, the
Lees, the Magruders, the Neals, the McRcynolds — can justice be
done here. Born in the same village as Major McRoynold8,f
James Shields won a record which might call for extended
notice. On his return to the United States ho was greeted with
ovations, and Illinois elected him to the Senate. In the Session,
1850-51, he reported as one of Committee on Military Affairs, in
favour of conferring the rank of Lieut.-General on his old Com-
mander and comrade, Scott.

But why go into further particulars ? If arithmetic goes for any-
thing, Irish blood is the main-tide of the great country below the
line. In 1848, the Irish immigration exceeded that from all other
sources. In that year, 98,061 persons of Irish birth passed into the
Union ; in 1849, 112,561 ; in 1850, 117,038 ; as against in the same
years iuspectively, 51,973 ; 55,705 ; 45,535 from Germany ; 23,062;
28,321; 28,163 from Eng..ud; and 6,415; 8,840; 6,772 from
Scotland ; and approximate proportion? liave continued. And
what sort of stuff was this sent by Ireland ? I have seen them
on the quays of Queenstown, many of them young farmers
and farmers' daughters, all of them as fine specimens of the
human race, as ever pressed the earth. Within a century, the Irish
in America have contributed to the ranks of war and statesman-
ship in the Union, distinction and efficiency, in as large proportion
as they have strength and endurance to the equally noble field of
labour. The Republic owes much to the Presidents Vice-Presidents
the generals and commanders, the representatives and oratora, the
lawyers and scholars of Irish blood ; she owes still more to the
pure mothers of healthy instincts and faultless mould, which the
green valleys and pure traditions of Ireland have given her, and
to the unequalled hosts, wielding no sword and shouldering no
gun, but armed with pick and axe and spade, who fought and fight

H I

* The reader will have read the story. " And are there so many absentees ?" asked
an incredulous stranger of an Irishman, who had been inveighing against those rene-
gades to duty. " Be gor the country is swarming with them," was the answer.

t Dungannon, County Tyrone.

EMIGRATION.

tho wiMemes.s, and who have carried the starry banner where no
tiag .ever tloatud before.

It is a noble work 'is subduing tho willorness. On no sub-
ject has moro wretched stuff been talked than on emigration,
and Irish emigration in particular. It was by '^migration the
world was peopled, and emigration must go forward until every
corner of the world is fully inhabited. There is nothing un-
happy about Irishmen crossing tho Atlantic ; the unhappy thing
is that, in a gnat many cases, the circumstances which imme-
diately led to emigration were cruel and oppressive, and among
the bitterest fruit of oligarchic rule. But if Irelajid's years had
rolled on from the misty time of legend to this hour as happy as
a maiden's dreams, her people would have had to cmigra! e, or eat
each other, or else resort to immoral contrivances to limit popula-
tion, sickening folly from which the pure, robust Irish nature has
always turned away with disgust. When a country the size of
Ireland is over-populated, duty and manliness bid the strong ones
make for the wilderness, to face the hardships for which the aged
and tender are unequal. It is a hard thing, indeed, to leave one's
country, and all the harder because the intending emigrant fails
to realize the fact that he will make for himself a new home. It
is hard ; but life is made up of hard things, and men must not
grumble at hardness. Yet the regrets of an Irishman for his
country is a feature in his character which commands admiration ;
it proves him to be made of the finest human c ly ; and we need
not wonder it has inspired poets, and been fruitful of romance.
" Do you find it hard to die ?" asked some priests in Montreal, aa
they stood by the side of a dying student. The green valleys,
the mountain side, his father's cabin, the mother's love, her soft
musical voice, came before his fading fancy. His eye brightened
for a moment, and then was drowned in one large tearful wave,
" I do," said the dying mi:n, " but not half so hard as I found it
to leave Ireland."

When travelling in the United States, I found the opinion
universal that a " smart " Irishman was the smartest man in the
world. When the emigrants go into the country, they are the
most industrious of all the population. In the south, west, and
east, you find the Irish workman strong and successful. The

: !

' r

■1,

'li'

' w

,1 '

ii'

1 'W !

1 ■

iii-

P' ,:l

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

Irishman who started a quarter of a centuiy ago with a dollar in
his pocket, and who has in the interval climbed to we: 1th and in-
fluence, is met everywhere.* The idea that Irishmen do not make
prosperous merchants is common in England, in the fac3 of the
existence of such men as the late Mr. Graves, M.P., of Liverpool ;
and it obtains on t lis Cvontinent, though Stewart was an Irishman.
In Tennessee and Missisiuppi, where Irishmen, owing to the talis-
man of such names as Jackson, Carroll, Coffee, Brandon, are held
in the highest favour, mercantile success has attended the labour
and enterprise of hundreds. In Virginia, the largest fortune ever
made Lv commerce was made by Andrew Beirne, an Irishman.
In Missouri, Brian Mullanphy headed the list of millionaires. His,
SOD, a lawyer and a judge, who died in 1850, bequeathed $200,000
for the benefit of emigrants entering the Mississippi. John Mc-
Dunogh died in the same year, at New Orleans, leaving behind
him the largest single property in the Southern States. Daniel
Clarke's great wealth has been made widely known by the Gaines
Case.

In California, a fourth of the farms are in the hands of Irish-
men. They constitute one-fourth of the population of San Fran-
cisco. Wxth the exception of four persons, six Irishmen are the
highest rated in that City.f

According to Mr. Maguire, the Irish stand well in the public
esteem of the people of the United States. We sometimes hear
the contrary. That they should stand well is only natural. Mr.
Maguire devotes many pages of his book to Scotch-Irish, a class
to which D'Arcy McGee applied his heaviest lash. On ^-eople who
would try by the use of such a mean? igless phrase to deny their
country I would noiii wasto r word. They are despised by those
whom they try to conciliate ; and while men, the most illustrious
and the worthiest our race has produced, were and are proud of
Fjing Irish, the Ireland and the great people they reverenced
M,n afford to leave the sneaks of passing favour unrecognized.
The misfortune is that such conduct reflects on the country the
liscredit of the individual. |

* The Irish in America. By John Frank's Maguire, M.P., p. 258.

•' Ibid.

t I once asked a servant at a.Ti hotel what part of Ireland she came from.

Her rich

IRISH OHAUACTER.

No race has ever given a truer test of its bottom and genuine-
ness than the Irish have done l)y their grateful remembrance of
friends and relatives. It would be as vain to deny them the
high virtue of generosity, as to question their valour or dispute
their intellectual brilliancy. They have sent vast, almost fabu-
lous sums across the Atlantic to bring out their friends, and they
never ask for repayment. " The Irish are a grand race," said
one who had lived much with them and in reference to this very
matter, "and" he added, remembering how much the poor servant
girls have done, and the temptation they have braved, " the
Irish women are an honour to their country." The returns of the
Emigration Commissioners lead to the inference that the amount
of money seni by settlers on this continent to Ireland, for emi-
gration purposes, cannot be less than $120,000,000.*

Female ])urity is a high test of the quality of a race as well as
of a civilization. " In the hotels of America the Irisli girl is ad-
mittedly mdispensable. Through the ordeal of these fiery fur-
naces of temptation she passes unscathed."-f- The answer Mr.
Maguire .-eceived from the prominent hotel proprietors of the
United States, when he asked Avhy all the young women in their
establishments were Irish, was that " The Irish girls are indus-
trious, willing, cheerful and honest ; they work hard, and they
are strictly moral." After every deduction is made, this testimony
remains substantially intact.

Nothing has oeen said about the great v/ar. The part ])layed
by those of Irish descent and Irish birth is too well known.
When a few men, the remains of Irish regiments, march through
New York on great public occasions, with their tattered banners
and green cockades, one part of their story is told. They were
faithful on both sides, according to their sympathies. But, thank
God, the great mass, and all of those who enli.sted in Ireland,
sided with tl North and struck for human freedom. " The
war has trif .e Irish/' said a well-known General, " and they

rich

brogue, if placed on a^narrow gauge, would trip up the train. "Oim not Irish,"
she j-aid, " t)i'ra Scotch." Such degradation will of course be found among inferior
j«lieeiinenn of all peoples.

* Maguire. The Irish in America, page 33L

t Mag .lire

«0

THE lUISIIMAN IN CANADA.

,s*

} I

fltood the test woll as good citizens and soldiers." Thomas Francis
Meagher, a great orato'-, used all his amazing powers of pi.-rsuasion,
and his spell of fiery inspij-ation, calling young IrislimciU in thou-
sands to tight for the Union. Nor did they hang back. Their

" Faith an<l trith
On war'H re<I techHt<JUe lan^ tnio metal."*

When I saw, during th(! Franco-German war, the 0(!rinan
victorious soldiers res[)ecting women, and falsifying all the tra-
ditions oi the brutality of war, my heart warmed to them.
The southern peojjh; had reason to be thankful that Iiish-
men niad(; so large a p(n-tion oi the army. 'J'he Protestant
Bishop of New Orleans, told Mr, Maguirci that " in itvcry as-
sault made upon a d(;fencelesH household, th(; Irish soldier was
the first to intei'pose for th(; deffiuce of the helples.s, to shield
them from insult and wrong," 'I'hey {)r'ot(;cted families fr'om "the
cruel wrath of tlreir (theiamily sj countrymen;" and where help-
less women were in a m<maced house, an Irish soldier has taken
his place as sentinel at the dooi-, ke(!ping back the infuriate cr'owd.
Of the prominent men oi Irish descent and birth in that war, it
wf)uld fill a volume to speak. Hut two great names stand out in
the first rank, — Meade and Sheridan.

In Auustralia, as we have; seen, an Irishman rose rapidly to tho
first place. (h\]y one honoured name need here be meritioned, — a
name known to law and statesmanship, and dear to literature and
ediication. Sir Redmond Carry, wlio has been SolJcitor-CJf-neral
for the colony of Victoria, and who, in 18.51, became ovw, of tlie
Judg(!S of the Supreme Court, waw l)orn in tho County Cork, in
1813. He has taken a deep interest in educatron ; and his inau-
gural addrcs.ses, delivered as Chancellor of the New Univer\sity of
Melbourne, rrrark him as a man of wide views and high culture.
Sir Redmond Bariy was educated at Trinity College, Dublin. Tho

* Lowell. In March, I8fi7, Meagher wrot3 a letter in which he bore toitimony to the
chivairouH (l<!V()tiim of IiIm countrymen. " M^ny of iny gallant fellowM h.ft comfort-
able liomcH, a.id relinqni«he(l good wagcH, and renigiied i)rofitable ami moHt proHiining
nituations, to face the poor i)ittance, tlio worse rationw, the privations, ri^;.iur, ami Havage
dangers of a Holdier'H life in the fielil." Meagher Heeni-d to have proved hinmelf a«
bhiliaut a nuldier an he wsm an orator. All the '48 men had great utulf in them.

SOUTH AMERICA.

Order of Knighthood was conferred on him in INfiO by letters
jjatent.

Iti the Soutli American Revolutions, Irishmen played a pro-
minent part. During the fifteen year.s which elapsed from 1808,
until in 182.*{, when the last Spanish soldier l(;ft (Jaiaeeas, thero
was a strikinj^ succession of events, which only await the pen of a
Tacitus to enujr^e into due pr(jminenee. Tin; contest liad three
divisions, Bolivar's, in Columhia; O'lli^^^fins's, in Chili; and that ox
the Argentine ]l(![)ul)lic, on tlnj Ilio de la Plata, By liolivai's side
were numbers of Irish soldicsrs. In 1817, an Irish bri;;-ade, under
the command of (jlent!ial lJ(!vereux, a natives of Wexfoid, went to
his aid. We learn from the mt'inoirsof a <listirit^ui,sh(!d Kn;^lisli-
maa*, that his jjliysiciaii, Dr. Moon;, was an Irisliirian who had f<jl-
lowi.'d tiii Libcratoi' from Venezuela to Pei'U, and who was duv(;tedly
attached to him. Bolivar's first ai<le-de -camp was a nephew of the
celebrated Dr. O'Leary ; Lieut(!nant-(Jolonel Fei'guson, was also an
Irishman,"!* Ecpially, if not more important, ■was the role alloted by
late to the Irish in Chili, Under the hand of \)on Ambrosio
0'lli;r<^ins> the last Cajitain-Cieneral, towns lia<l .sprung u}>, trau'e
flourished, canals were opened, rivers and harbours wen; drcdgc^d.
His son, Don Bernardo, Ix^rn in Chili, felt for the country an enthu-
siastic pati iotism, and as Supieine Director, struggled and strug-
gl(;d successfully foi' its independence. His heroi m was ordy
HUipasse(J by his geiKMulship. The second brigade was for a tinui
commanded by Ceneral Mackenna, an Irishman, wlio was killed in

' Memoim ot (lenl. Millur, vol. II., pp. :iXi-2:i4.

t When a men; ymitli, I'V-rgiiHon (piittcMi n (■■(Uiitin;,' hoiwe at Deiricrara, and ,io)r't.ii
till) patriot Htaudunl. J.)uriiiK the war of extunnaiation, hu wan tukoii liy tht; .Siiimiar.lH.
lie WOH le<l with Hcvcral (jtlierH, from a ilmiijeon at I,a(jtuayra, for tlio piirpoMt; of heiny
shot on tlie H(!a hIiofo. Having only a jtair of troWKi.TH on, hi.i fair Hkiii wan oonHpicuoim
aMi(<iigHt liiH nnfortuiiate HWartliy i;oiii|)anionH, ami attnicted the attention of the lioatrt'
crfiw of an En^HHh man-of-war, caHually on tlio Htrand. One of tlje Hailorn ran tii) to
him and aHke<l if ho wuh an i;ii|,'iiHhman. Ferii^iHon Haid " No, I am an IriMliman,"

" I too am an Irinhman" Hai<l the tar, " and \>y n<j HpaniHh raMcal nhall nmrder

a countryman of mine if 1 can help it i '• Whereupon he ran to IiIh ofliecr ami ur.jud
him to intercede with tlii; Spaniwh (Governor, and Ferf^unon'i life wan Hpaied. FergUHon
it-'lated tluH incident to (Jeneral Miller. Wo have FerguHon h name, but tli'J .ther
hero's, tho jfonerouH Jack whif Hnatchcd Inn life from Spaniwh ♦yrmny, k Iwt. Fcrsubon,
of whoHc merit General Miller Hiii'uki in the highest terms, fc;ll on tiie ni^'lit of th>' con-
Hjiiracy of Bogota, Heptendier, IH2H, iu the defenco of liolivar. " Mcmoii.s of (Jeneral
Miller."

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

a durl at Buono.s Ay res, in IS 14. C(;lone] O'Connor's name is
insopara})ly bound up with Peruvian indei)en<lence, froin the fii-st
att(!iiipt to the final battle of Ayachuco. The only Irishman on
the Roya ..st side was General O'Reilly.

CHAPTER IV.

■ 4-y
.1)1

Some seventy years after Jacfpies Cartier had sailed up the " fail-
flowing"* St. Lawrence —

" That northern Htream
"That Bpreada into succcBsivo seas,"

Champlain foundcjd the colony, and the French r<jgiine com-
inence<l. This rdgiine, having for a century and a half b(;en illus-
trated by men whose energy, fortitude, sagacity and accomplish-
mcmts would have made them remarkable in any theatre, fell with
Montcalm on the Plains of Abraham.

When Wolf(! procetided to take Qu<!})ec, he left in charge at tho
Island of Orleans, with the 2nd Battalion of Royal Ainericans and
some marines, a man who was to prove at once the founder and

* Fuupptlrao Kavaftov as a uin(l(;rn writer, di.scovercd hy Dr. Hcadding, has it,
ada-iting an epithet originally applied to far Hin.aller rivers.

[Authorities :— The newspapers: " (Jonstilutional History of (Janada," Ijy
H. .J. Watson . " Coircspondaiice di' la Hildiotliefpie (Jaiiadienne," M. Kranyois
Cazoau ; "Hansard:" " Histoiro du Canada ot des Canadiens boub la Domina-
tion Anglaise," par M. Bihaud : "History of Canada," MaeMullen : "The
Bastonnais," by John Losperanee : "The Settlcnjcnt of Upper Canada,'' by
Dr. Canniir : "Life of Col. Talbot;" Mra. .lameson'a *' Winter Studies and
iSunimor HamMns : " " Family Records of the (iambles of Toronto." I am deeply
iiid<;bti'd to Mr. (yharlos Lindicy foi planing his library at my di.Hposal, and to
many ol,her friends foi the loan of bo >ks. I at/i indebted to the Hon. Mr. PVaser
for giving me accosa to the Library of the Ontario Legislature at all houra. —
N. F. I).]

CARLETON. TRFATY OF PARIS.

Cf)

fair

it ih'i
iH an'l
;r and

liiH it,

la,- by
I'ranvoiH
►omina-
Tb.;
la," by
|es and

il(!(!ply
1 and to

FraHor
lours. —

saviour of (Jariada. Tliis was (Jol. Ouy Carh-ton. ('arloton was
horn at Straljanc; in thu County Tyrone;. Strabano to-<lay is
a busy niark(;t town with a pojtuhttion of five thousand. It is
connectc'l hy a lino of i-ailway with Deny and Enniskilhm. It
stands on the ri<;lit hank of the Mourno near the spot whore that
streatri 'ynwn the Finn at Lifl'ojd, fiorii whicli place it is called
the Foylo.* A century and a lialf a^o it was a scone of sylvan
beauty. Then as now it was famous for its sahnf>n.

Guy Carleton was born tin; yciar Marlb(jrou;(h died. The
renown of the <rr(Mit ca[)tain was Ion;,' after his death a c«jnimon
topic. Blenheini and Rainillies were as iainiliar in men's mouths
as Alma and Inkerman wei'(; a faw years ago. As yoiinj,' Carlottjn
[)lied his rod in the Mourne u wish rost; within him which was to
shqj)e all his ufter-life, which was to lead hiin to honour and
usefulricjss, which was to connect his name for over with Canada
and this threat continent— he lonf^ed for a soldier's care(!r.

While y(jt a youth he entered the Guards, and in 1748 became
lieut.-eolonel of tlie 72nd re;.^im(!nt. In tlie (German cainpaif.(n of
I7-'>7 he was aide-de-camp to (Jund)erland. Fn thn fol lowing yeai-
ho .served under Arrdjorst at the siege (^f Louisboui'g, and in 1750,
as we hav<! seen, under Wolfe. He was wounded at tin; si(!ge of
Bell<! Isle. Having Ijocome a colonel ho served in the Havana
Exjtedition in 1702, and in the successful assault on the Moro
Castle he was again wounded.

Meanwhile the articles of capitulation wore signed in the camp
b<.'for(! Montreal, Sopt(?mber8th, 1700. By the 27th of th(3se arti-
cles, Vaudreuil pr(j{>osed that the Fi'onch C*ana<lians shfjuld be
assured the; free exeicisc; of th(!ir faith. He asked further that
the Knglish GoverntiK^nt .should s(!cure to the pri(!sthood thotitlif's
and taxes the peo[)le had hithtJito been obli^^i-d to pay under the
rule of the King of France. To the fi st of th.-sc projio.salu, Ain-
herst felt at liberty to accede ; the second would depend on the
King's pleasure. On the lOth of F»'biuary, I70.S, was signed (ho
Treaty of Paris, by the fourth clause of which France ced<!d to
England, Canada with all its dependencies, George III. granting
the inhabitants the " lilxirty of the Catholic religion," and tho

* Moutgoinery, his most forniidahlc! foe, was born at < '(juvoy, about Bovon uiilea
distant from tho same spot.

Tin; IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

f4 • I

opproHsed peasant oxehaii'^cfl th(; rigorf;UH vasHahij^e of French
fcudalisin for tlio sooiii'ity and freedom of JJritisli citizonsliip.
To the reign of violence Mucc(;e(k;d tlie resign of law.*

Then; wens no towns of any coiis(!(|U(!nce save Quehcc, Mon-
treal, and 'J'hroe llivers. At St. Johns, Jj'Assouiption, Jic^rthier,
and Sorel there were niilitaiy estahlisliiiKints nnrrounded \)y
ftcanty settlements. Wliat we now know as tlie Honrisliing Pro-
vince of Ontario wa.s wilderness. TIk; population at tin; tini(; of
the corupiest has hecsn estimated at from sixty to sixty-iive
tliousand. Some of the wealthi*;)- residc^nts of the towns lujturned
to Fi'ance. The' hulk of tlie people, li(jw<;V(;r, remained in Oanada.
A nundjer of the .soldiers who liad brought about tin; cliange of
fl'Xg settled in the country. The govcirniiicnt gave them grants of
land. Th(;y maniiid Fninch wiv(rs. TIk; cliildr(;n spoke th(! tongue
of the mother. Hence we find in Lower (Janada to-day m<!n heal-
ing German, English, Scotcli and Irish names and sp(;aking a
Latin dialect. 'I'he ]5attle of the Plains had given an im))uls(! to
emigration to Caiuida. In a few years we find an Knglish-speak-
ing population im})ortant enough to lead an enterprising firm to
publish a newspap(!r."f"

In the autumn following the Tieaty of Peace a Royal Proclam-
ation was put forth, announcing that tlu; King had gi-aiited hitters
patent under the grt^at seal to erect Quebec into a governnu^nt,
and defining the boundaries of that Piovince to be the St.
John (Saguenay) on the Labi-ador- coast, fi'om the liead of which
river a line; was drawn through Lake St. John to the soutli end
of Lak(! Nipi.ssim, whciiice cro.ssing the St. Lawrence and Lake
Champlain in 45 degrees of N. latitude, it ])assed along the High
Lands which divi(h; the rivers emptying themselves into the St.
Lawrence from th(jse which iall into the sea, swiieping by the
north Coast of the Bale des Chaleurs ami tlw; coast of the Gulf of
St. Lawrence, l)y tl>e west end of the Island of Anticosti, and t<jr-
niinadng at the river whence it set out. The proclamation de-
clar(.'d that the King iiad given |)ow<ir an<] diiciction to the
Governor, when the circumstances of the colony would i)ermit,

* Hpeec}) of M. Pjiiiincau to the olectorR of Montreal, 1820.
i- The Qnehi'C (JaziMt.

caiilkton's ioi,rf;v.

l^ro-

; St.

I end

Lake

High

k; St.

>y tliu

liilf of

t(;r-

on de-

U) i\u:

Mini lit,

to .summon ft f(cnoial ass(!ml>ly. It promisfid tliat until such
an asHombly could ]»e called, tlio inlialtitaiits slifMild eiij(;y tlici full
I'onofit of tli(! laws of Knj^land. OenciHl Murray wan ai)i>oiiited
gov(M"noi' imm(!diat<;Iy after tlic proclamation. Ifo was instructed
until an ass(!inl)ly could l>e ealhtd in acc^oidfincc! witli tin; {)roclam-
ation, to nominate a council to aid hiin in tin; administiution (jf
tlie ;;ov(!rnment. A Coui-t of Kin<^'s l>('ncli and a (.'oini of (Jom-
mon J'le-as wv.n'. estaMi.slKid, a)»d shortly afterwaids a Court of
(Jlianc(!ry. We ne(;d not he surpris(id if the Frencli po])ulation
grew dissatisfiecl with laws to which they wore unaccustomed and
a method of procedure wliolly nov(;l,and carri(jd on in a language
of which they did not undej'stand a word. Still less need we he
surpris(;d tliat wh(;n oHicials were chosen from the j-anks of liriti.sh-
])oni suhjfcts who did n<yt number one hundred and fiftie'th part
of tlm po|)ulation, extortion and oppi-(!Ssi(;n were the; rule.

In 1707 (.'ari(!ton was rewai'ded for his distinguished scjrvices
by th(! lieut(!nant-governorship of Quelxjc. In 1708 he was
already p(>[)ulai b(!cause of his humanity, and the ])eo])le with a
true instinct turne<i towards him as a protector. His (himeanour
has bcitn variously judged, some attributing the wisdom and gcm-
tlencss of his rule to tlic native goodmj.ss of his heart, othfU's to a
far-s<M!ing j)olicy. Accoiding to one view he was a friend of the
French (Canadians because he took the trouble to know them. He
wi,sh(!d to redress their gri(!vances b(;caii,sc he ha<l dilig(!ntly in-
<juir(!d into tlujir situation. Being ji virtuous man, he sought with
activity and constancy lo do right in behalf of those t<j wh(jm
he stood in the; light of a shej)h<'rd. According to anotliei- view,
he foresaw the i Hptuie of tht; thirteen colonies with the mother
countrv, and det(;rmine(l to conciliatti the favour of tin; peojih; oi
(Janada. We shall not detract from the claims of (Jaileton on our
admiration, nor be untrue to the j)rol)abiliti(;s of th<i case, if we
say we think Ijoth views are nece8.sary togiv(; the complete truth,
as blen<ling stars make one light.

One of the fiivit acts of Carleton was to era.se two influential
names from his li.st of councillors, and to appoint two other coun-
cillors in their place. Remonstrances were addressed to him from
the English portion of the population. He replied that the new
councillors had been appointed by the King —that h- would in

I'UK IIUSfFMAN IN CANADA.

1 :i I

!ir

!l'

con<luctin<^ tlio government con.sult tliose of hi.s councillors whom
ho Ixilicved capable of giving him the best advice — that in mat-
ters not coming .strictly within the (h)main of government, ho
would seek advice outside; his council, and confcsr with men of
sense whose characters chulliinged coniidence, men who jilaced
before j)rivato interest the pu]>lic good and their duty to tho
King — thataftei' liearing advice, lie would then aijt in that manner
which he believed most advantageous to the s(;i-vice of the King
and to tho wcill-being of tlie Province — tliat the numbei- of his
council wasa dozen, and that those nominated by the King should
have precedence; ov(;r those nominated l»y Oerx-ral Murray. \n
170() I'epresentations had })een sent to England against the system
of judicature recently introduced. Cai'leton, who was a statesman
as well as a soldier, saw tliat this system was (piite unsuited to a
people; with all wliose; priijuilices and traditions it was at war. lEo
therefoi'o caused the leading French lavvyei's to compile the civil
laws of Fianee for him, and armed witli this compilation he pro-
ceeded in 1770 to England. He wished to see the " Coutume de
Paris" re-establis]u;<l, but abridged and edit(;d so as to be better
adapted to the n(;<;ds of (Jaiiada. The comj)ilati()n having been
revised by tlie law ofHcesrs of tin; (Ji-own, becamt; the i)iincipal au-
thority in (•as(;s relating to laml and inheritance. In other matters
English law ruled, much to the disgust of the old French gentry,
who did not und(;rstand tradesmen and labourers sitting in judg-
ment on gentlemen. And though wo smile, it nnist have seemed
hard to them.

There was great dissatisfaction among tlie British at the delay
wliich had taken place in granting them an Assembly. The
French were also in favour of an Assend)ly. But, like tho ox-
tremo Prote^stants and the extreme Ronian Catholics of to-day,
they could not act together in politics, witli the result that both
suffered. The discontcint was increased by the fact that in 1772
Prince Kdward Island was given a Li(;ut<;nant-(j!<)vei'nor, a Legis-
lative (Council, a Legislative Asseml)ly, a Custom-house, and a
Court of Vice- Admiralty. But the diHicultv v;as to decide on a
plan of united action. The Britisli desired a Parliament composed
exclusively of Protestants : the Frencli wanted tho complete rc-
establishment of their former laws and customs in all civil mat-

THE QUEBEC! ACT.

78;

ter8. The fornior invit<Ml tho latter to attfjnd tlioir mnotingH ; ]»ut
vvhon tlit'HC licard tliat thoy ^^^ir^^ to .swell a petition for a ,sy,steni
Ijy which thtty tiieiiiselve.s should ht^ deprived u\' fidl citizcaiship,
they naturally stood aside, 'J'he Britisli w»!re forced topct alone.
On tho 3rd of Decendter, 177'}, th(!y presented to Lieutenant-
Governor Crarnaho a ro(juest that he would, in accordance with
tho Royal proniisi;, and the powers given him hy the proclauui-
tion of 1703, convoke an Assenihiy. M. Crauiahe repli(!d that he
would transmit their rcHjuest to tho Minister of the (.*olonies.
The petitioners then addn.'ssed themselves to th(^ King. The
French Canadians acted separately, and content(jd themselves
with asking for tho re-estaljlishm(;nt of their foi-nujr civil juris-
])ru(lence. Caileton was e'xamined on oath hefore a Connnittee
of the House of (Jonunons. He stat(id that an Assembly com-
posed exclusively of tin; British inhabitants would give gi'eat
f)Hence to tlie Canadians. To such an Assembly the-y w(juld
prefer the I'ule of a Governor and a Legislative C(juncil. Several
French Canadians had tohl him that asseud'lies had drawn upon
the other colonies so much distres.s, riot, and confusion, that tlu.'y
wished never to have one of any kind. M. de Lotbiniere, a native
French Canadian nobleman, (hiposed that the Fi'ench Would likt;
to have an Assembly, provided they might sit in it.

Carleton, in pressing his views on the (Jonuuittee, was naturally
moie anxious about the oive hundred and fifty thousand French
Canadian Roman Catholics under his chaige than about the
handful of Fnglish-sp(!aking Protestants. When we rememV>er
th(i ignoranc<! and political incapacity of the mass of tlu^ people,
we shall probably Ihj inclined to doubt whether they were ripe for
popular institutions. But the Home Government owed some con-
sideration to the British inhabitants, and the Qu(!bec Act, even
in tho face of impending war, must be pronounced a vicious", shoit-
sighted measure. Tho framers of the nuiasure had no prophetic
hint of the extent to which Engli.sh-speaking Canada was to
grow, and from tlieir limited vision those who despair of this
country may learn a useful lesson. In the House of Common.s,
Irishmen whose names have l)ecome household words opposed it.
Col. Barrd and Edmund Bin-ke gave it strenuous opposition.
Burke pleaded for delay. He contended for the rights of the

;lli

!l|

TIIK IIIFSIIMAN IN CANADA.

a ifiii I

ili
i

Si!

KTi^lisli-spcakirif,' inlialiltantn. r)n«! day 1m; )»rou;,'ht all tlu; weight
of liis |»owcrfijl « I iii, lefties aii<l iiii;.,'lity rlietoric a;,'ainsi tin- Idll.
On aiioMicr lie ridiculed it until his lieai<.'rM roared with mirth.
On tliino the Hth, Im; "ran on in siieh a vein of humour that tlie
House was in a contiinial lau^di dui-in;,' the whole of his s|)(!ech."
On the 10th, ho wa.s ofjually happy. " Litth; did I think," criod
Town.sliend, " when I called for a OovcrnirHint for (Janada, that
] was invoking' a despotism." In the House; of Lords, the Earl
of ('hatliam, speakinj^ from the brink of tho f^'ravn, denonncod the
hill as a cruel, oppressive, an<] odious mriasure. He W(;ntso far as
to say that it woidd shake tlie affection and confidenci; of the
Kinj^'s suhjeets in En^rland, and Iriilniid. and lose liim the; hearts
of all the Americans. Howev<!r the hill j)ass<;d.

And wliiit was this Act a;,'ainst whicli Fox in tli(; rip(;nin^' ^^f>iy
of his morning' in one liouse, and CJhatham in anoth(;r, in tin; pal-
inj:^ splendours of his setting', tliundered ? It revoked the Itoyal
proch'Miiation of 1703, witli its promise of an As.sembly. It ^^ranted
the iloman (*atliolics tlie free; exercise of their reii^^ion, subject to
the Kind's HU])remacy as d(;fined V^y tin; Act f)f Kliza]K;th. It
f,njaranteed to the Jioinan Catholic clerf^y tlieir accustomed <lucs
and n«,dits, witli i(;s])ect to ('atliolics only, but out of such duos
and rifijlitH the Kin^ h(;ld liiinself at lib(;rty to mak(; sucli pro-
visif)n as he mi^dit d(,'em expedi(jnt for tlie l^rot(;stant cl(jr<,'y. The
OatholicK wei'C ntlieved of tho oath (jf tin; 1st of Qu(;en Kli/abeth,
and tliiis a barrioi- a^^ainst their holding ofhce urxler the (Jrown
was reinov(;d, an oath of"simpl(3 all(;{^ianc(; to tin; Kin<,' b(;in;^' sub-
stituted. In all matters r<;laimg to property and civil rights, the
Froncli laws were rc-establislied. In r(;gard to criminal matters,
on the other hand, tho Engli.sli law was established for ever, A
council of not more; than twenty-three, and not less than .seven-
teen, was +,0 be appointed by the Crown, fjocal and municipal
taxes, and the administration of internal {iffaiis, were within its
juri.sdiction ; ovei imports and exports the J3ritish Pai liament
kept a jealous control. The bounds of the province were ex-
tended on the one; hand ovei- Labrador, and on the other as far as
Ohio and the Mississipjti. It deprived the colonists of trial by
jury in civil cases, of the Halioas Cf)ipus, and, in a word, of con-

stitutional government.

Tlie i rench Canadians did not regret

TKMPTATIOXS TO DTST.OVAITY.

7r,

tiial l»y jury, an<l ihi'.y ha<l known littlr; of tin; a<lvaiita;,'(!s of tin;
Ilaltcas Oji-puH, Jn<Ioo<l, to tlio Fnmcli ^j'ntlcnian it ,s(!(!iri(!fl nion-
Hti'ous tliat tmfhi.siiicn arnl lahounii.s and nuclianics sliould sit in
jii<l;^frrmnt on any issue in \vlii(!li lie was intci'estod. liut to tlu;
I'.ritisli nrsi(l(!nts tlio Act was a cruid l)low.

(JailctoJi icturncd to (Janada in tin; autumn of IT?^, and was
liaihid Ity tin; peoplf! as a protector and friend. The Lef^islativo
C/(;uncil was iriau;.fu rated, and was conij/osciil of oiui-tliird Oatlio-
lics and two-thirds Prote-stants, souk; of these hein;^ nati\'(!s of
J(!rsey, and usinj( tho French ]an;,'ua^'e. I'Ik; Con^n^ss rn(!t at
JMiilade.lphia addnissed a letter to the French irdiahitants of Quo-
bee, ui'^'in;,' the; (.'an ad i an s to tli row in tlicir lot witli them. I»ut
this produced no effect. 'i'Jie l(!aderH of tin; peoj)h!, the cler^'y, the
nohlj'.HHfi and tlie hotter class of Ixmrij^ioWx', tliou^ht that they had
nion; to lose tlian ;,'ain l)y a chanf^e. " Tlic; man," says a Frencli
historian * " to whom tlio administration of tin; ^^ov<!rinn(;nt liad
heen entrusted, had known liow to inake tin; Cana<lians love; him,
and thiscontrihuted not a little to retain at hiast within tin; honnds
of neutrality tliost^ amonj^^ them wIkj mi^flit hav(r heen able, or who
l)eliev(!d tln^mselves ahle, to am(jliorate their lot by inakin;.^ com-
mon cause with the insui-^ent colonies,"

On the l!)tli April, tin; battle of Lexin^fton took place, and the
insur;,'ent colonists, believin;^ the French (Janadians wore lield in
check by the (Janadian fortifications, detcirinined to take tl.'em.
Early in May, Allen and Arnold, at tin; Injad of about thnjo liun-
dred men, crosscid Lake Champlain, and lande<l und(;r cover of
nif.,dit near Ticonderoga. The fort contained only a few men, and
was surj)rised next moi-ninf(, and captunjd without sliot Iteing
fii'od. (Ji'own Point, f,'arrison(!d by a s(;r;^eant and tw(;lve men,
surrendered a few days aftcn-waids. Saint Jean, whidi was
cfjually weak in garrison, fell in tlie l)eginning of June. Tlie com-
mand of tlie lak(! had now passed out of liritish hands. The situa-
tion was critical. The gateways of (Janada wen; in the liands of tlie
Americans. Carleton at once determined to recover tfi(i forts, and
proceeded to rai.se a militia on the ])asis of French feudal Jaw. He
miglit well til ink that he had more than common claims on the

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French Canadian population. It seemed only just as he had
been the means of restoring them their civil law, that he should
new, in an extremity, reap the benefit of their feudal customs.
But a dozen years of British rule, even in the most objectionable
form it could assume, with no redeeming feature but the acci-
dental greatness of soul of the Governor, had taught the peasants
a lesson in freedom. They had half broken with a history of
odious oppression. The chords of liberty in their hearts had vibrat-
ed to the hesitating touch of a new era. What at a later period,
the night of the 4th August, was to the German peasant of Alsace,
the proclamation of 1703 w*as in a sense to the French Canadian.
But the proclamation of 1763 was the incomplete work of a nar-
row statesmanship. It was natural that the Alsatian peasants,
who had leaped at a bound from serfdom into the position of
landed proprietors and freemen, should have flocked to the
standard of the republic. It was equally natural that the French
Canadian pccvsant should have refused the appeal of Carleton,
coming in the shape it did. Many of the seigniors took his view.
But this only made the appeal more ominous. The poor people
had not forgotten the hardships of the last war, nor the op[»res3ion
which preceded it.

Carleton had all that wonderful power of attraction which Froude
has marked as native to the Irishman. But loved as he was, he
could not persuade the peasants that it was their duty to act of-
fensively f. gainst the Americans. The seigniors assembled their
tenants, and explained to them the service expected of them, and
the risk of confiscation which they would incur by holding back.
Some were from old habit Inclined to obey, but the great majority
declarcid that they did not feel themselves bound to be of the
same opinion as their bcignior, that they owed them no military
services, and that they would not fight against the armies of the
revolted provinces. They knew neither the cause nor the result
of the present difference. They would prove themselves loyal and
peaceable subjects. They could not be expected to take arms. Their
position is not difficult to understand. It was but the other day
that the English invaders, fighting again.st their own soldiers and
besieging their capital, had extorted from them a strict neutrality
on pain of exemplary punishment, or, as they expressed it, of sum-

APATHY OF THE HABITANS.

'roude
'■as, he
Lct o!-
their
\n, and
jack.
Ljority
lof the
ilitaiy
lof the
result
ial and
Their
(1- day
•s and
,i-aUty
If sum-

mary military execution. Who could complain if they remained
neutral ? Their resolve placed Carleton in a difficult position.
Of regular troops he had but two regiments, and these so dis-
persed that they could not act with efficiency. Nor was all indif-
ference in Canada. Many sympathized with the rebels, and were
determined to aid them.

To rep'-'l fittack and suppress treason, the Governor resolved on
the incorporation of the militia. On the 9th of June he issued a
proclamation in which he said that there existed a rebellion in
several of the colonies of His Majesty ; that a part of the forces
bearing arms had made an incursion into the province, and held
the language and wore the attitude of invader's ; that, therefore,
he had judged it proper to proclaim martial law, and to call out the
militia to defend the country and awe down revolt. Instead of
producing the desired efiect, this proclamation produced discon-
tent where there had been indift'erence, and transformed lukewarm
sympathy into active co-operation. Nor, it seems, could the
people persuade themselves that the King of England would act
like the military chief of a despotic state. Voluntary enrolment,
the people said, was the only means to which the Governor could
legitimately have recourse.

Carleton had the perseverance and fertilit}-^ of resource which
liave never been w^anting in his countrymen in times of emergency.
Unable to succeed by force, he tried persuasion. He turned to
the Bishop of Quebec. That prelate addressed to the curds
of his diocese, to be read in their churches, a charge in which
he exhorted the people to take up arms for the defence of the
country.

The charge had no more etTect than the proclamation. The
French Canadians had as yet developed no byalty to the British
crown strong enough to be the parent of action. Such loyalty as
they had was only equal to a passive negative result. Moreover,
the people, fond of their little farms, and with strong family
atfections, felt that if they took up arms tor the defence of the
country, they would be forced to wage war on any part of the
continent where the Empire might need assistance, and ihis in a
struggle the end of which, at tliat time, no man could foresee. If
their homes were threatened, they would defend them. Their

•

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

!i|

public spirit was confined within the narrowest view of their own
interest.

On the 17th of June, 1775, Bunker Hill was fought. On the
Cth July the Declaration of the Representatives of the United
Colonies of North America was published. C'arleton, unable to
overcome the popular determination to rest neutral, sought to
raise a body of volunteers by offering to each volunteer two hun-
dred acres of land, two hundred and fifty if he was mariied, and
fifty for each of his children. His engagement to serve under
arms was to tenninate at the close of the war, and his lands were
to be exempt from all charges for twenty years. Even this mea-
sure failed. Only a few volunteered.

In this emergency Carleton had no choice but to a])peal for aid
to the Indians. The Iroquois were then in the ascendant, and
whatever course they took would be followed by the other tribes.
Their objections to take up arms were overcome b}' persuasion,
and a large number repaired to Montreal to engage themselves for
the following year. Carleton's i)reparations for a war, offensive
and defensive, proceeded with his usual activity and energy. But
the reinforcements which he had been prondsed from Europe were
delayed. His plan was to relieve the Boston garrison by invading
American territory on the south of the St. Lawrence.

Informed of this design, and believing the French Canadians
were favourable to their cause, Congress resolved to anticipate
him. A considerable force under General Schuyler was ordered
to invade Canada and advance against Montreal, while Arnold
was to penetrate the colony by way of Kennebec a,nd Chaudiere,
and operate against Quebec. Schuyler, having made himself
master of Isle-aux-Noix or Fort Lennox, put forth a proclamation
not unlike that which King William addressed in 1870 to the
French peasantry. The invaders did not come to make war
ao-ainst the French Canadians. Their quarrel was solely with the
British troops. The lives, property, the liberty and religion of
the habitans would be respected. These appeals influenced a
mere fraction of the people.

Schuyler took ill, and Montgomery assuming chief connnand,
prosecuted the siege of St. Johns with vigour, and despatched
Colonel Allen to surprise Montreal. But Carleton was now in

III!

CRITICAL POSITION OF THE GOVERNOU.

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idians
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mold
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Inand,

Itched

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Montreal, and it was not easy to surprise him. He called toge-
ther about one hundred soldiers and two hundred volunteers,
under Major Carsden, who, coming on the Americans, defeated
them, killing fifty, and taking as many prisoners, including Colonel
Allen. The rest, among whom were some habitans, escaped to
the woods, or to the Ameiican camp.

Chambly fell, or was rather given up, and Montgomery, whose
powder had been nearly exhausted, with ammunition obtained
from a fort which, I need not say, had not been defended by an
Irisliman, carried forward the siege of St. Johns with renewed
vigour. The garrison expected Garlcton to raise the siege. Carle-
ton knew that want of provisions would not permit the garrison
to hold out long. Hu sent to Colonel McLean, commanding at
Quebec, to raise as many men as he could, and to come up to
Sorel, where he proposed to join him. McLean had raised about
three hundred men, for the most part French Cu-nadians. The
Governor assembled at Montreal nearly a thousand men, consisting
of Indians, French Canadians, and regulars, enrolled with despe-
rate exertions. Instead, however, of joining McLean, knowing
how pressing was the necessity to relieve St. Johns, he crossed
the St. Lawrence but, on arriving near the shore, he found that
the other Irishman had anticipated him. An American force,
with two field pieces, advantageously placed on shore, waited
until Carleton arrived within pistol shot, and then opened a
deadly fire, forcing him, w ith a sad but an , ndaunted heart, to re-
treat. Meanwliile McLean, on his way to Montreal, was stopped
by another party of Americans, when he was deserted by most
of his men, and compelled, with a renmant of the three hundred,
who were deterndned not to recall Thermopylae, to fall back on
Quebec. The brave Preston, apprised of these events, and his
garrison in want of food, saw nothing for it but to surrendei", and
he and his little band marched out with the honours of war.

The Governor was now in a critical position. It was impossible
to defend Montreal. The retreat to Quebec was beset with for-
midable difficulties. Yet only by retreating on Quebec could he
avoid being made a prisoner. Should he fall into American
hands, all hope of saving Canada would be gone. He destroyed
as much of the public stores as he could not take with him, and

■^■1

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

;i ' I

with Bi'igadier Prescott, al»out one hundred soldiers, and such of
the inhabitants as chose to acconi])any him, embarked on board
the " Gaspd " and other smaller vessels.

Almost as they quitted the city the Americans entered it. The
principal citizens, among whom was John Blake, prepared a series
of articles, to which Montgomery replied that he and his army
had come for no other purpose but to give liljerty and security,
and that he hoped to assemble a Provincial Convention who would
adopt measures calculated to establish on a solid basis the civil
and religious rights of the colonies. " Montgomery," says Mac-
Mullen, " treated the people of Montreal with great consideration,
and gained their good will by the affability of his manners, and
the nobleness and generosity of his disposition."

The stars in their courses had fought against Oarleton. At this
moment all the chances are on the side of Montgomery. The
gateways of Canada are his. He is master of Montreal. A for-
midable force under Arnold is marching on Quebec. Carleton,
the hope of the Province, has but a slendei- chance of escape. The
very winds conspire against him, and he has not sailed two
leagues from Montreal when he is obliged to weigh anchor oppo-
site Lavaltrie, a village called after the uncompromising Jesuit
Laval, who had himself fought so many battles. The forced
delay, under any circumstances, would have l>een perilous. But
what are we to think of the situation when our eye rests on the
bixtteries erected by the Americans on a rising ground near Sorel,
and the floating batteries on the bosom of the .stream. Here are
lions in the Governor's path. Montgomery has heard of his situa-
tion, and prepares to attack him, and in anticipation he rolls under
his tongue the sweet morsel of glory, making Carleton prisoner,
putting a happy end to the war, and placing a coping stone on
his own renown. While Montgomery's Irish brain is thus cogi-
tating, unmindful of fate, unknowing that he is doomi 1 never to
leave Canadian soil, the Irish brain of Carlet^ is fertile in expe-
dients. He assumes the disguise of a French Canadian peasant,
or, if we are to believe M. Adolphus, of a fisherman, and with the
brave Bouchette, his aide-de-camp, and an old sergeant, he enters
a little boat, and with muffled oars they glide down stream. Row
carefully now, Joseph Bouchette, for you carry in your frail boat

■d

V i

STEALING THROUGH THE MIDST OF THE ENEMY.

A^tthis
. The
A for-
j'lcton,
)e. The
3d two
V oppo-
Jesuit
forced
, But
on the
■ Sorel,
re are
sitiia-
under
isoner,
one on
lis cogi-
}ver to
expe-
leasant,
[ith the
enters
Row
til boat

the fate of Canada. They slij) down, ahnost angry with the phos-
phorescent light struck from the silent oars. They come opposite
Sorel. They are in the midst of the floating batteries. A whisper
may undo them. There are the dark forms of the batteries. They
can hear in the silent night the tread of the watch. The solemn
stars in the dark-blue canopy overhead, seem at one time to peer
with discovering eyes, and at another they infuse the confidence,
the deliberate valour, the heroic strei.igth, which great hearts drink
in from contemplation of the vast and enduring works of God.
The oars are shipped and Captain Bouchette and Sergeant Bou-
thillier paddle with their hands. Sorel and the islands guarding
the entrance to Lake St. Peter are passed. They now betake
themselves afresh to the oars. The shallow lake is crossed, and
they arrive at Three Rivers only to encounter fresh dangers. The
hotel was full of American troop?;. Carleton's disguise, his own and
Bouehette's familiar manner preventc [ all suspicion. Two armed
schooners, from v/hose mastheads floated the English flag, were
in the offing. Having partaken of some refreshment, Carleton
reembarked in his little boat, and gained one of these schooners.
Then ordering the other to accompany him, he made for Quebec.
Prescott and his one hundred and twenty men were forced by the
floating batteries before Sorel to surrender.

While these events were taking place, a body of men fifteen
hundred strong had left Boston, and, in the face of incredible diffi-
culties, mounted the Kennebec to its source. On a beautiful
morning in September full of hope, and under the inspiring eye
of Washington, they had marched out of Cambridge. Eleven
transports conveyed them to the mouth of the Kennebec. Car-
penters had been sent on before, and two hundred boats were
ready to receive them. Between them now and their destination
lay the primeval forest. After six days they arrived at Norridge-
wock Falls, where they had their first portage. It took them
seven days to drag their boats over rocks, through the eddies, and
even along the woods. Arrived at the junction made by the
Dead River with the Kennebec, one hundred and fifty men were
ofi" the rolls, owing either to desertion or sickness. When they
set out the world was beautiful in the glows and glories, the
delicious atmosphere of the Indian summer ; the salmon trout

i, ' 'I

i" 'I

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

bounJecl in the glittering stream ; the forest was a glimmering
masH of gold and fire. But the October winds despoiled the trees
and hurried the hel})less shivering leaves into stream and along
narrow, devious forest paths. One day a mountain of snow rose
before them. An officer ran up to the summit in order to catch
a glimpse of Quebec. But instead of the ancient city, with ita
fortress-crowned rock, he saw bleak forests, through whose deso-
late branches the frosty winds howled, and wintry inhospitable
wastes. Hauling boats, wading fords, trudging kneo-deep in
snow, but alow progress was made. A whole division grew faint-
hearted, and returned to Cambridge. The expedition still pressed
on. They had passed seventeen falls, when, through a Idinding
snow-storm, they stepped on to the height of land which sepa-
rates New England from Canada. A portage of four miles
wrought them to a stream on which they floated into Lake Me-
gantic. Here they encamped. On the morrow, Arnold, with a
party of fifty men on shore, and thirteen men with him in his
boats, proceeded down the Chaudiere to obtain provisions from
one of the French settlements. The current was swift and boiled
over rocks. The boats were, nevertheless, allowed to drift with
the stream. Soon the roar of falling waters smote on the ear.
Before they could resolve the cause, they were drifting among
the rapids. Three of the boats were dashed to pieces. Six of
the men hurled into the water, were saved with difficulty
from drowning. After seventy miles of falls and rapids they
reached Sertigan, where they received shelter and provisions.
Meanwhile the bulk of the army which was left behind was in a.
miserable condition. They killed and cooked their dogs, devoured
raw root^;, drank the soup of their moose-skin mocassins. They
had been forty-eight hours without food before they received
flour and cattle from Sertigan. On the 9th November, two months
after they had set out with so much hope and lightness of
he&iTt, in the glad sunshine, from Cambridge, they reached Point
Levi, having learned something of the perils of the wilderness and
the rigours of a Canadian winter.

Their approach was not unheralded. An Indian to whom
Arnold had entrusted a letter for Schuyler had taken it to Lieut.-
Governor Sieur Hector Th^ophih Cramah^, commander of the

THE BASTONNAIS. ARNOLD DISAPPOINTED.

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forces in the capital during Carleton's absence. Arnold had hoped
to surprise QuelDcc. But some days before he arrived opposite
Quebec, orders had been given to strengthen the fortifications, to
organize the militia, and to remove the boats and shipping. In
Mr. John Lesperance's " Bastonnais," Cramah^ is made to enter-
tain his friends, the Barons of the Round Table, on this evening.
In their claret-coloured coats, lace bosom-frills and cuff's, velvet
breeches, silken hose, silver-buckled shoes, and powdered wigs,
they greeted the Governor. The dining-room, lit with a profusion
of wax candles, looking like a piece of Versailles, even as Quebec
itself was like a city transported from Normandy. But the ban-
quet is broken up by news of the contiguity of those brave fellows
who are talked of by the Canadian peasantry of to-day as the
" Bastonnais."

On the 10th, a council of war was held, and it was resolved to
defend Quebec while the least hope remained. Outside in the
streets the cry was heard " The Bastonnais have come," and from
the ramparts Arnold's men could be seen on the heights of
Levis. On the 1 2th, Colonel McLean, who had retreated from
Sorel, arrived at Quebec with a body of Fraser's Highlanders, who
having settled in the countiy, were now re-enrolled. The Cana-
dian militia was four hundred and eighty strong. There was also
a militia composed of Englishmen, Irishmen, and Scotchmen,
which boasted five hundred men. There were a few regular
troops and some seamen. The " Hunter" sloop-of-war, conn^^u-nded
the river. Nevertheless, Arnold succeeded on the night o^ the 13th
in crossing the river, and landing at the very spot were Wolfe
had landed in July sixteen years before. Like W^ife he marched
on to the plains of Abraham. His men gave three cheers, which
were responded to by counter cheers from the city and a few dis-
charges of gi-ape. He had failed to surprise it. He had not
enough of troops to attack it with effect. He therefore, on the
18th, retired up the left bank of the river, as far as Pointe-aux-
Trembles, where he arrived immediately after Carleton had
quitted it, and where he determined to await the amval of Mont-
gomery from Montreal. On the following day, General Carleton,
escaping, as we have seen, so many dangers, arrived at the one
fortress which was not in the grasp of the Thirteen Colonies, the

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THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

strong and beautiful city for which the Empire had paid with the
life-blood of Wolfe, the queenly, rock-throned citadel, which at
that moment was the Thennopylre of British power on this
continent.

XI 'Hhmen never I'csort to half measures. Hence they make such
good generals and such efficient rulers The first thing Carleton
did, on taking the reins out of Cramah^'s hands, was to strengthen
the hand; of the loyalists, and practically increase his provisions
by expelling from the city all who were liable to serve in the
militia, but who refused to do their duty. The population num-
bered about five thousand, of which three thousand or more were
women and children. Provisions were abundant, but fire-wood
was scarce. Happily the winter was not severe. The venerable
Jesuit College in Cathedral Scjuare was the principal barrack, and
the chief outposts were at the St. Louis, St. John, and Palace
Gates. Palisades were raised where Prescott Gate was afterwards
erected. In the Lower Town there were batteries in Little Sault-
au-Matelot, and at the western end of Pr^s-de- Ville. The French
militia, who guarded the Lower Town, sang as they went and
came, just as the French Mobiles did during the siege of Paris.
But instead of " Aux Armes, Citoyens," the Canadian militia
chanted, if we may believe Mr. John Lesperance —

"Vive la Canadienne,
Et ses jolis yeux doux."

There was, I doubt not, the same light-heartednesa — the same ten-
dency to lay hold of the humour of all things and persons — the
same gosciip — the same curiosity among the women, with their
voluble tongues, and half-real half-feigned alarm, as I saw in
Paris during the Franco-German War. The siege lasted eight
months — twice as long as that of Derry, twice as long as that of
Palis, four times as long as that of Limerick.

Montgomery arrived at Pointe-aux-Trembles on the 1st Decem-
ber. Their united forces amounting to about two thousand
men, he proceeded to attack Quebec, After three days' march,
he arrived before the fatal city, and sent a flag to summon the
besieged to si snder. Carleton, acting with the strictest logic,
refused to admit that rebels had any right to the usual laws

ATTACK OF AMERICANS REPULSED. THEY FLY.

\ the

h at

this

such
•leton
nrthen
isions
in the
num-
3 were
s-wood
levable
ek, and
Palace
srwards
3 Sault-
French
ent and
Paris,
militia

ime ten-
,ns — the
;h their

saw in
ed eight

that of

Decem-

Ihousand

march,

ion the
1st logic,

lal laws

of war, and ordered the gunners to fire on the herald. A letter
brought l)y a woman was Ijurned, and Cnrleton said that he
would treat every message from the Americans in the same
manner, until they craved mercy of the King, and became loyal
subjects. Nevertheless, during the follov/ing days lettei-s were
thrown into the city, some addressed to the Governor, others to
the citizens. These last rarely fell under the eyes for which thoy
were intended, for as soon as they were seen by the soldiers, they
were carried to the residence of the Governor. The weather was
intensely cold. Nevertheless, Montgomery constructed batteries,
but his guns were too small to make any impression on the forti-
fications, from which a destructive fire blazed continually. He
determined to take the placg l)y storm. But Carleton was fuDy
informed of his determination, and the attacks of Arr.old and
himself failed in consequence. Montgomery paid with his life for
his temerity. Arnold was wounded while attacking the first
barrier on the side of Sault-au-Matelot. Captain Morgan took
the command, and drove the guard back to the second barrier.
But Carleton was soon on the spot, and owing to his promptness
and skill, the Americans were surrounded and driven out of a
strong building at the point of the bayonet. Their loss in killed
and wounded was about a hundred. Four hundred and twenty-
six, including twenty -eight officers, suiTendered. Carleton would
now, under ordinary conditions, have sallied out on the Americans.
But these had sympathisers both without and within the walls,
and the Governor wisely waited for the succours which would
come with the opening up of navigation. He had thos-"
houses, in which the enemy might take up his quarters, burned.
His vigilance, his activity, his great capacity, let no advantage
slip. Pre-occupied, as he was, however, he took care to seek out
amid the winter snow, the body of General Montgomery, and
place it in the earth with military honours.

Early in May, the "Surprise" frigate and a sloop of war, with one
hundred and seventy men and some marines, arrived in the har-
bour. The moment these men were landed Carleton resolved to
attack the enemy, who, disheartened and already dcxnoralized, fled
precipitately, leaving behind cannon, stores, ammunition, and even
the sick. These were treated as one might expect by Carleton,

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

of wliom humanity was a distinguisliinj^ feature. Every kindness
which could alleviate the suffering of tiie sick, or make the life of
the liealtliy prinoners more pleasant, was lavished on them. For
his services during the siege, Carleton was kniglited.

Meanwliile, Captain Foster, having had some successful engage-
ments with the Americans on the lakes, was pusliing towards La-
chine, when he was compelled todefend himself agr'nst Arnold, with
a force thrice as strong as his own. The defence \\ (,s so stout that
the Americans had to retire to St. Anne's.

The American troops retreating fiom (Quebec, having lost at
Sorel their connnander. General Thomas, who had taken Arnold's
place l)efore Quebec, were joined at the confluence of the Riche-
lieu by about four thousand men. Cteneral Sullivan was chief in
command.

A body of troops arrived from England, all of that type which
made a French General say it was well English soldiers were not
more numerous. There was no longer anything now to prevent
Carleton taking a vigorously offensive attitude. Brigadier Eraser,
with the first division.he sent on to Three Rivers. Sullivan thought
he saw an oppoi-tunity of sui-prising the town, and inflicting serious
damage on part of the British army. He accordingly sent General
Thompson, with eighteen hundred men, against Three Rivers.
But he was met by Fraser, who had been informed of his design)
and sustained a signal defeat. Five hundred prisoners, including
Thompson himself, were taken, and the retreat of the main body
was cut off. These repaired for shelter to a swampy wood. There
they spent a night of misery, and might have died there of want
and ague, had not Governor Carleton, with a rare chivalrous
pity, drawn the guard from the bridge spanning River du Loup.
They were thus allowed to make their escape, and rejoin Sullivan
at Sorel. No longer equal either in the quality or numbers of the
British troops, Sullivan mounted the Richelieu, and was joined by
Arnold at St. Johns, '^hey then retreated to Crown Point. Thus
ended the American invasion, which, says a French writer, was
wholly fruitless, save in affording an opportunit}'- to the colonists
of showing their courage, and bringing out the military and civil
virtues of Richard Montgomery. Frc , ir point of view it may
be remarked that it emphasized the qualities of another hero not

SUCCESS OF CAULETON. HIS MAONANIMITY.

ncsH

feof

For

ragC-

s La-
,\vith
bthat

)st at
•nold's
[liche-
lief in

which
31-0 not
)revent
Fraser,
hought
seriouB
]^eneral
Rivers,
design.
chi<ling
ill body
There
^f want
vah-ous
Loup.
uUivan
8 of the
ined by
Thus
,er, was
lolonists
Ind civil
it may
lero not

less
toi

distinguished

for military and civil virtues, Guy Carle-

•■•I

-V*

Carleton, after several naval actions, made himself macter of
Lake Champlain, and had beaten the Americans along their
whole line, by the tinn' it . vs neces-sary to go into winter quar-
ters. The Canadians gladly received the troops ipiartered on
thein, for they had learned to regard the Americans as in lors
and enemies, owing to the necessities laid on all troops in a
foreign country.

Meanwhile, the Declaration of Independence had been adopted
by the Continental Congrjss, July 4th, 177G. The British, in
other directions, had not been so successful. They had evacuated
Boston. They had been repulsed before Charleston. But they
had gained an important victory at Long Island, taken possession
of New York, and driven Washington across the Delaware. But
Washington's victories at Trenton and Princeton left the result of
the campaign in favour of the colonists.

General Burgoyne, when he went back to England, closeted
himself with ministers, and drew up ihe plan of a campaign by
way of Lake Champlain. He arrived at Quebec the 9th of May,
1777, endowed with the chief command. Carleton was deeply
wounded by the slight which had been cast upon him. He had
saved Canada, and his reward was to be superseded by a man
whose claims were not fit to be mentioned in the same breath as
his. Nevertheless, he contented himself with demanding his
recall, and proceeded to second the plans of Burgoyne with all
his might. There is a lesson in subordination of priceless value.
Burgoyne having opened the campa,ign prosperously, was com-
pelled, a few months later, to surrender his whole army at
Saratoga.

Of the conduct of Carleton during the invusiun, Mr. J. M.
Lemoine, in his " History of Quebec," says : " Had the fate of
Canada on that occasion been confided to a Governor less wise, less
conciliating than Guy Carleton, doubtless the 'brightest gem in the
colonial crown of Britain,' would have been one of the stars on
Columbia's banner ; the star-spangled streamer would now be
floating on the summit of Cape Diamond."

Carleton, relie ved from military duty, was able to devote more time

■i^'tiihtnriiaM

THE IRISHMAN IN C\NADA.

to the peaceable administration of the Province. The first Legisla-
tive Council, under the Quebec I t, was held in the spring of 1777.
Sixteen Acts were passed. Courts of King's Bench, Common Pleas
and Probate were erected. The Governor, the Lieut. -Governor,
the Chief Justice, and any five of the Council constituted a Court
of Appeal. A Militia Act wr passed, which made, with few ex-
ceptions, all Canadians arrived at the required age liable to mili-
tary service. This Act created great dissatisfaction, and it has
been bitterly attacked by French Canadian writers. But we have
come to live in times when the most enlightened English thinkers
have advocated a like system for the mother countries.

Major-General Haldimn.nd, a man perfectly ignorant of the
lawb and customs of Canadians, or. for that matter, of the empire,
arrived in July, 1778, to assume the government of the colony.
Carloton was followed with many regrets and many kind wishes
on the part of the people of Canada, and the people of Quebec pre-
sented him, as he was about to embark, with addresses which
showed what had been the character of his rule. Haldimand was
in all respof'ts a contrast to Carleton ; he was, if we may believe
the writings of the tim* cruel, inquisitorial, iniquitously extor-
tionate, in a word, a tyrant, without either sagacity or self-respect.
The burdens of the peasantry were increased until they became
no!i burdens but scourges. One of the judges was a retired cap-
tain of infantry on half pay ; another an army doctor ; and it may
well be believed that not having had legal training, they often
allowed undue weight to their own prejudices and preferences.
All the defects of the Act of 1774 were brought into striking
relief under the rule of Haldimand. It was seen that the delusive
constitution was no protection against tyranny. M. du Calvere,
the forerunner of men like Gourlay, Mackenzie, and Baldwin,
went {■: England to demand the recall of General Haldimand.

In the November of 1782, the independence of the United
States was acknowledged, and this had a n^omentous effect upon
the character 'A the Canadian population. Thousands of U. E.
Loyalists left the States for Nova Scotia and Canada. They
founded the town of St. John, on the St. John River; the;;-
swelled the population of Huhfax ; they settled along the Bay of
Fuiidy ; they faced the wilderness in Ontario, settling along the

IRISH U. E. LOYALISTS.

89>

Legisla-
of 1777.
on Pleas
rovernor,
I a Court

few ex-
I to mili-
id it has
) we have

thinkers

it of the
le empire,
le colony,
ad wishes
aebec pre-
ses which
mand was
ly believe
sly extor-
If-respect.
sy became
itired cap-
,nd it may
;hey often
references,
striking
delusive
|u Calvere,
Baldwin,
imand.
he United
[ffect upon
of U. E.
la. They
TQv ; the;;-'
[he Bay of
along the

upper St. Lawrence, around the Bay of Quinte with its thousand
beauties, and on the Niagara and Detroit Rivers.

Among these U. E. Loyalists were not a few Irishmen. Luke
Carscallian, having served in the British army, had retired and
emigrated to the American colonies prior to the rebellion. When
the war broke out, he desired to remain neutral, but the rebels
insisted as he was a military man that he must join them or be
regarded as one of the enemy. He replied : " I have fought for
the King and I would do so again." An order was issued for his
aiTest. He hid, and ultimately made his escape to Canada, leav-
ing behind him all his personalty and twelve thousand acres of
land. What did the rebels do ? With atrocious cowardice and
cruelty, they seized his son, a lad of tender years, and threatened
to hang him unless he betrayed his father's hiding place. The
son was not unworthy of the sire. His reply was — " Hang
away." The cowards, unimjn-essed by this noble conduct, han^i, 3d
him three times yntil he was almost dead. Three times they put
the question to the half fainting boy. Three times he returned a
defiant " no." When taken down the third time, and repeating
his determination, the monsters killed the half -strangled lad.

Of the same type was Willet Casey, born of Irish parents in
Rhode Island. The war in which his father was killed ended, he
settled near Lake Champlain, thinking he was putting down his
stakes in British territory. He discovered after making consider-
able clearing that herein he was mistaken, whereupon he removed
again. He set his face towards Upper Canada, accompanied by
his wife and Ids old mother, who died three months aft^r the
migration. Dr. Canniff saw the couple when they had grown
old, and he says, " two nobler specimens of nature's nobil'ty
could not be imagined."

One of the great f-;oMier settlers was William Bell, born August
12th, 1758, in the County Tyrone. When the revolutionary war
broke out, he was a sergeant in the o3rd regiment of the line. In
1789 he came to Cataraqui, and commenced trading in the port
of Sidney, Ferguson being his partner. In 1792 Bell gave up
trading, and became a school-teacher to the Mohawks ; but he
seems to have done business in the way of trading in 1799. In
1803 ho is found settled in Truro. He had meanwhile received a

^'iV\

THK IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

^'illl

captain's commission in 1798, a major's in August, 1800 ; and in
1800 he became lieutenant-colonel. He was an active pul)lic man,
well known in Thurlow, where he served as magistrate, coroner,
and as colonel of the Hastings Battalion. He died in 1833, having
done the country good service.

Captain Peter Daly, who resided in New York, was called home
to Ireland before the rebellion, and at the earnest solicitation of
a bachelor friend, named Vroman, he left his son Peter Vjehind
him. Vroman was wealthy, and called himself lord of many a
fair acre on the banks of the Mohawk about where Amsterdam
now stands. He promised to make Peter, whose genial Irish
manners had won his heart, his heir. When the war broke out,
Peter was sixteen years of age. But the blood of heroic fathers
ran in his veins — fathers who had fought under the flag which it
was sought to te."" down. Wealth was on one side — honour on
the other. Prosperity here — toil and hardship there. He did not
hesitate. He turned his back on wealth, and joined a company,
following the flag of his fathers along the shores of Lake Cham-
plain, where, in one night, he assisted in scaling three forts. He
was instrumental in takinof Fort Ticonderoga. When the war
was over, in company with other loyalists, he came up the Bay of
Quintd. Having married, he settled down in the second conces-
sion of Ernesto wn, near the Village of Bath, where he made a
comfortable livelihood, and did his share of the work of laying
the foundation of the great Canadian nation of the future. Mr,
Daly was a Presbyterian. He never heard anything from Vroman,
and his grandson says, with some natural bitterness, tliat he cared
but little for the land that had driven him to dwell among the
wild beasts of the unbroken forest. He left behind him a nume-
rous and respected family. Two of his sons, Thomas and Charles,
were still living on the old farm near Bath in 1809. Philip, the
eldest, died at Oak Shade, in Ernesto wn, in 18G1, having at-
tained to one year more than the period allotted to man. His
eldest daughter became Mrs. Aikens ; another daughter married
Asal Rockwell, of Ernestown ; another, Jacob Shibley, ex
M.P.P. ; another, Joshua Boatle ; and the descendants of the brave
Peter are numerous.

Another remarkable Irishman, who lived to over a hundred

A CENTENARIAN. THE CANNIFFS.

and in

iic man,

30voner,

having

id home
ation of
behind
many a
sterdam
al Irish
oke out,
; fathers
which it
)nour on
i did not
ompany,
e Cham-
rts. He
the war
e Bay of
I conces-
3 made a
laying
re. Mr.
Vroman,
le cared
long the
a nume-
Charles,
lilip, the
ving at-
in. His
married
l)ley, ex
he brave

hundred

years of age, was James Johnson, a soklier in Rogers' Battalion.
He was captain of the cattle drivers who came with the first .set-
tlers of Ernes^^own. " He got his location ticket," says Dr. Cannitt",
" at Carleton, Ireland." The doctor adds, that he had a family of
seven sons and six daughters,

John CannifF, a U. E. loyalist, was a member of an Irish Huge-
not family. An oil ])ainting of the grand-uncle of Dr. Canniff
bears on the back of its frame the statement that he was born at
Bedford (New Rochelle), State of New York, in the year 1757.
One or more persons of the name of CannifF were among the
Hu onots who were expelletj from France on the revocation of
the Edict of Nantes by Louis XIV. in 1685. Many of these exiles
found a home in Ireland, and because naturalized. Among them
were the Canniffs. The name may now be found in Ireland.
The Cannifls were among the first settlers in New Rochelle, all
of whom were Huguenots.

At the breakir out of the American rebellion, the CannifFs
were divided. Most of them remained loyal to the Empire. At
the close of the war, John CannifF was a refugee in New Bruns-
wick, from which place he came to Canada in 1788, being one of
the first settlers in Adolphustown. Ak out the beginning of the
present century he removed to Thurlow, Hastings Co., which
was then a wilderness. He was a pioneer in the erection of saw
and flour mills. The settlement made by him ultimately received
the name of Canifton.

James Canm.T, brother of John, and grandfather of Dr. Canniff',
came to Canada some years after his brother. The incidents
attending the journey of the family from Duchess County, on the
Hudson, in batteaux, would supply material for an interesting
narretive.

It was with no small regret he left his beautiful home on the
Hudson, and that enchanting river— the River of the Mountains,
as the Spaniards called it — with the queenly dignity of the Cats-
kills ; the pictures(iue heights— the sublime Highlands, where the
noble stream strolls, like some mighty lord through his ancestral
halls, between rock-ribbed hills, whose cheeks were browned
before the days of Adam ; all the grandeur of a wall of unbroken
rock extending for miles ; all the repose of sloping hills and

1 J

■S«'

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

sleepy hollows. To-day the steamer pants along those waters.
The scream of the railway whistle is heard. On either side of
Poughkeepsie, there are now handsome villas and stately resi-
dences.

*' By woody bluff we steal, by leaning lawn,
By palace, village, cot — a sw set surprise
At every turn the vision breaks upon."

Lovers wander up broad maple avenues, and young ladies' schools
take their constitutional walk over beautifully-kept grounds,
while the silver Hudson goes, gladder for their laughter and smiles,
to the sea. A world of wealth and poetry and legend have ga-
thered around those banks in a century. But though they had
no monster hotels, no shining cities, no Irving, when CannifF took
up his stakes, the moon did not look down less sweetly on Old
Cro Nest ; the star lingered near its summit, as it lingers this
night ; the grey form threw its silver cone on the wave as it
throws it now. All the beauty of nature was there, and the voice
of God in the leafy, solitary woods, on the river's breast, with its
abounding loneliness, was heard clearer than it is to-day. The
rocky caverns of Luzerne were, for all purposes of comparison, as
deep then as now ; and as full of meaning, as at this moment,
would be the question :

" Pray tell me, silvery wave, in murmur low.
How long ago the light first saw thy face ?
Who saw thee, when, in all thy rushing might
And strength, thou burst the highland chain, and forced
Thy rugged way on to the sea ?"

Yet James Canniff preferred the British flag to the stars and
stripes, and happily for him, in settling in Adolphustown, he only
passed from one beautiful river to another. Richard, another
brother, was likewise one of the first settlers in the County of
Hastings.

JameS Canniff's wife was a native of Ireland. Her maiden
name \ as McBridc. They had two sons, John and Jonas, and a
number of daughters, all of whom married in the Bay of Quints
region. The two sons settled in Thurlow, near where the city of
Belleville now stands, by the banks of the river Moira. John
was drowned at an early age in attempting to cross the swollen
stream in a canoe.

KINGSTON. CANADA FIRST.

,e waters.
iY side of
tely resi-

es' schools
grounds,
md smiles,
d have ga-
L they had
inniff took
stly on Old
infers this
wave as it
id the voice
st, with its
,-day. The
iparison, as
lis moment,

reed

stars and
m, ho only
ird, another

County of

iHer maiden

onas, and a

|,y of Quints

the city of

Loira. John

the swollen

'VT-i

Jonas, tlie father of Dr. Canniff, was married, in 1811, to Letta
F]a<der, a descendant of the Knickerbockers of the River Hudsou.
When war was vlcclared, in 1812, Jonas voluntered, leaving his
young wife in a half-finished log hut in the woods. He served as
a non-commissioned office? in Captain Borland's comjmny of
Adolphustown, under Colonel Cartwright, of Kingston. He was
present under arms when the American fieet approached King-
ston, with the intention of attacking the place, and with his com-
pany, followed the fleet, as, in order to escape the warm reception
of Kingston, it moved down the waters of the Bay.

At a comparatively early date he erected a saw mill ; and
afterwards a very large stone flour mill. He had three sons, James,
Philip Flagler, and William ; and six daughters. The sons sur-
vive. Dr. Cannifl" is the youngest of the family. His father is
still alive, and in his 88th year. Dr. Canniff" occupied for a time
the position of President of the Medical Section of the Canadian
Institute. A journalist, he was for a number of years corres-
ponding editor of the " Canada Medical Journal," published at
?Tontreal, and he is now associate editor of the "Sanitary Journal,"
Toronto. He has been an active pamphleteer on medical and
other subjects, and has taken a very decided stand in opposition
to the antiseptic treatment of wounds, as presented and advo-
cated by Professor Lister, professor in the University of Edin-
burgh.

He was one of the originators of the Canadian Association in
connection with the " Canada First" Party, and of the National
Club. Finding, however, that the tendency of the association
was adverse to his principles as a conservufcive, he withdrew, and
shortly after explained his action in a tract. He is a strong advo-
cate of " Canadianism," and opposed to the existence of national
societies, which perpetuate principles and feelings originating in
the Old World, and which, he believes, retard the gi-owth and
development of a hearty Canadian nationality. He is intensely
opposed to anything approaching the appearance of annexation
to the United States ; and, while wholly devoted to Imperial con-
nection, holds that, even should England cast off" her colonies,
Canada would never form a political union with the States.

li.'l

li-

h /' I

THE IIIISIIMAN IN CANADA.

Dr. CannifFhas been a busy author,* and an active member of
various associations.

In 1867 bo received an invitation from the Medical Faculty of
Paris to attend, as a delegate, the first International Medical Con-
gress. He read a Paper or .-i occasion upon the " Indians of
Canada," in connection with the subject of " Tuberculosis." In
October of the same year, he busied himself, with others, in the
organization of the Canadian Medical A-'bociation at Quebec, and
was appointed the first secretary for the Province of Ontario. In
1868 he returned to Toronto, and resumed the Chair of Surgery
in Victoria Medical College.

We have been kept very near f'ngston for some time. At a
very early date, the King's town.ship must have been surveyed
and settled, for Dr. Cannitf tells u , Collini^, the surveyor, used the
name in 1788. During French rule, a settlement was begun at
Kingston, under De Courcelles, as early as 1672, and called Cata-
raqui. A fort was erected, and named aftei" ^ distinguished
French count. Fort Frontenac, a fort which was made much use
of by the French and the Indians, until it was destroyed in 1758 by
the expedition commanded by Colonel Bradstreet. The place fell
into the hands of the British in 1782. The King's township was
mainly settled by U. E. Loyalists, some of whom, as their names
indicate, were Irish. According to Cooper, the town v/as laid
out in 1793. It was then confined to the eastern portion, and
the log hut kept its neighbour, the Indian wigwam, in counte-
nance. In its early, as in its later, days, the Irishman was well
represented.

Our business is not with antique hric-ci-hraG. We may, bo'^
ever, record that there is at present a pewter dish in e^:istence
which a person addicted to making bulls would declare to be en-
titled to the dignity of being ranked as an Irish settler, with a
Palatinate ancestry. Barbara Monk, who was born in Ireland,
married one Gasper Hover, who settled in Adolphustown. The
ancestors of Ba.rbara had carried this dish with them from the
Palatinate to Ireland ; one of their descendants carried it to New

* Among Dr. Canniff's works are " Principles of Surgery," and " Settlement of
Upper Canada."

IRISH STAMINA. LOVE OF JUSTICE.

95^

lembor of

i'aculty of
lical Con-
[ndians of
osis." In
n-s, in the
lebcc, and
itario. In
f Surgery

me. At a
L surveyed
r, used the
; begun at
lUed Cata-
tinguished
J much use
in 1758 by
e place fell
kinship was
leir names

I v/as laid
>rtion, and
in counte-

II was well

may, bo"T

1 existence

e to be en-

er, with a

Ireland,

iwn. The

from the

it to New

Settlement of

York, whence it was brought by Barbara with the company of
Major Van Alstine.

In that company were several persons with more claim to the
name of Irishman than the pewter j)late. Amongst them, pre-
eminent in years, was John Fitzgerald, who died in 180G, at
the ripe age of 101. In the same company was William Casey,
who, with Willet Casey, menticmed above, represented four-
teti'. souls. All the men, who came from Ireland in those
earlj' days, must have been men of fine stamina. If we travel
into another township, we find Williaia Anderson, who was
alive in 1869, aged eighty-eight, having come to Canada in
1803. Three years afterwards he settled at Mississauga Point,
having meanwhile married a Miss Way, a descendant of U. E.
Loyalists. Those men brought with them from Ireland that
sturdy love of justice for which Sir John Da vies, in his day, declared
the Irish to be remarkable. Once Judge Cartvtrright, holding his
court at a tavern at Ernestown, convicted and sentenced to be
hanged a man accused of stealing a watch, the only evidence
against him being that the watch was found on him. The accused
declared that he had bought the time-piece of a pedler. Neverthe-
less, the judge would not re-consider his verdict. Dr. Connor, of
Ernestown, stood up in open court, and appealed against the mon-
strous injustice of taking a man's life on such evidence. In those
early days, that dignified demeanour which distinguishes our
courts, did not exist. He was hissed down, and the man was
hanged. Subsequently the pedler turned up, and justified the
unfortunate man.

Dr. John Gamble was born near Enniskillen in 1755. Havincr
studied medicine and surgery at Edinburgh, he emigrated, in 1770,
to New York, where he at once entered the King's service as
assistant-surgeon to the General Hospital. He was subsequently
attached to the Old Queen's Rangers. After the peace, he went
to New Brunswick. In 1784, he married and practised his pro-
fession at St. John. He subsequently joined the Queen's Ran-
gers as assistant-surgeon. In 1802 he settled down to })ractise in
Kingston, where he died in 1811, leaving behind him his wife and

thirteen children.

daughters and four sons, in 1820

His wife removed to Toronto with her nine
The descendants of the pair

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

M 1

i i

ahead V exceed by a good many, two hui dred. Mrs. Gamble,
who had l)een a Miss Clarke, was the daughter of a U. E. Loyalist,
and was ninety-tw(j years old at the date of her death. Mr. Clarke
Gamble is one of tlie descendants. J. W. Gamble, who died a few
years ago, was the eldest son of Dr. John Gamble. He was
born at the garrison, York, in 1798; was elected for the South
Riding of York in 1838, and re-elected for the same riding in
1851, by a majority of 600. In 1854 he was again re-elected, and
indeed a \&\^e portion of his life was passed in the discharge of
public duties.

Some ten years prior to the revolutionary war, Dennis Carroll,
a native of the County Down, crossed the Atlantic, with his wife,
and settled in Maryland. He had several sons, all of whom^ with
the exception of Joseph, adhered to the revolutionary side. Joseph
joined the British army. He drew land in Nova Scotia. After
sufftsring shipwreck, of which he was one of the few survivors, he
arrived in St. John. Having lost his property by endorsement,
he, in 1809, set out with his wife and a family of eight sons, to
renew his search after fortune in the wilds of Upper Canada. He
was living on an Indian farm, near where Brantford now stands,
when the war of 1812-15 broke out. He and his three eldest
sons joined the army. The close of the war found the family, a
Presbyterian one, notwithstanding the name, at York. One of
his sons became a successful physician ; another, a well-to-do
commercial man. One of his descendants is well known as a
Methodist minister, the Rev. John Carroll, D.D., a man of dis-
tinguished piety, who has written much and well.

The greatest factor in civilization is religion. When an emi-
gration settles down in a new country, its success, its progress,
and its happiness will greatly depend on the character of the
fauna of that country. If injurious animals abound, population
may be kept down, and civilization retarded. The wolf and bear
were the principal enemies the emigrant had to encounter in
Canada. But worse than wolf or bear or tiger are the lusts of
man. Endowed with infinite desires, nothing can keep him from
degenerating, but communion with the Absolute ; nothing but
Eternity can outweigh his vast and turbulent passions, in which
earth-born and earth-bounded resolutions are as straw and drift

RARLY METHODISM. OKOUGE NEAL.

1)7

Gamble,

Loyalist,

r. Clarke

ioJ a few-
He wan

he South
riding in

ected, and

scharge of

is Carroll,
1 his wife,
hom^ with
ie. Joseph
da. After
rvivors, he
dorsement,
ht sons, to
inada. He
10 w stands,
ree eldest
e family, a
One of
well-to-do
nown as a
lan of dis-

len an emi-
ts progress,
pter of the

population
llf and bear
Icounter in
the lusts of
him from

)thing but

|s, in which

and drift

■M

in the g)a,sp and coil of rousod-up seas. And the same country
which was, in the eighth and ninth centuries for Europe, the lamp
of truth and the ark of civilization, sent men here'to Canada to
root hai'd by her foundations, the gospel.

The Methodist Church is one of the inost useful and numerous
denominations in Canada. It numbers in Ontario alone nearly
five hundred tliou.sand. In Quebec itnuiubers thirty-four thou.sand
one hundred ; in New Brunswick, nearly seventy thousand ; in
Nova Scotia, forty thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.
This church is traceable to the Irish Methodist Church as child
to parent.

In 17G0, Embury and Barbara Heck emigrated from Ireland,
and founded Metliodism in the States. Embury died in 1773.
His ^dow married John Lawrence, who, like herself, had emi-
grated from Ireland. On the breaking out of the revolutionary
war, tins couple, together with David Embury, Paul Heck, and
Barbara Heck, and many more of the Irish Palatines, removed to
' Lower ' Canada, settling first about Montreal, whence they aftei--
wards removed to Augusta, in 'Upper' Canada. Here they pursued
their work with zeal. In the house of John and Catherine Law-
renc(i, the first " class " of Augusta was held. They thus antici-
pated and prepared the way for che itinerant Methodist preachers,
and, as some think, for the ultimate universality of Methodism
in the Dominion.*

Another man whose name, at this period, should not be for-
gotten, was George Neal. George Neal wielded not only the
sword of truth, but the sword of steel. He belonged to that curious
race of soldiers who unite fervent religious feeling to a warlike
instinct, such as Havelock, Hedley Vicars, and hundreds of others,
whose names will readily occur. A major of a cavalry regiment
in the British army, he was a local Methodist preacher. He
crossed the Niagara river at Queenston, and commenced preach-
ing. The same results followed as have always followed the
preaching of the Gospel by warm-hearted men. The story of
immortal love, of purity, and rectitude, that had no harsher word
for impurity and error than "sin no mo/e;" of that mysterious

* See Goldwiu Smith in "Fortnightly Review" for March, 1877.

I''

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I; i

THK IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

pcrMon who wt-nt through tho world, liko a hrocze of balm and
healing through a fevor-strickun town ; of one so groat that tho
povv'or (jf cinpiro hoouih trifling compared with His ; of one so
tondor, and withal so sorrowful, that Ho sooniod tho incarnate
sigh of Ileavon over lunnan woo ; this divine talo, when told with
tho Irish warmth of Major Noal, was, says Dr. Bangs, " blossod to
the awakening and conversion of many souls," aiid tlio bluff
Christian soklior, wliose house became afterwards a home for the
preachers, and who lived to see large and flourishing societies es-
tablished througlu/Ut all tho district where he lived, " was always
spoken of by the people with great affection and veneration, as
the pioneer of Methodism in that country." For some years he
was the ordy Methodist preacher in Canada. But in 1788 another
pioneer came into the field, James M'Carty, who was destined to
win the glory of martyrdom. A convert of Whitfield's ministry,
he crossed over from tlie United States to Kingston, and passed
on to Ernestown, where he began to hold rtligious meetings in
the log-cabins. He was a man of attractive manners and speech.
Large numl)ors attended his preaching. A great impression was
made. Many were awakened. His mccess provoked hostility
among churchmen, who were, as we n\ay be sure, without any
claim to be considered religious men. The word " Methodist " i»
even now used by some foolish people as a tena of reproach. In
England, the church-doors had been closed in the face of John
Wesley, and he and his followers were often subjected to indignity.
We need not. wonder, then, that a sheriff', a militia captain, and an
engineer, should combine to rid the country of this " pestilent
fellow." Four armed men entered the house on Sunday morning
where M'Carty was dwelling in that peace which man can neither
give nor take away. Their object was to drag him to the
Kingston prison ; but the congregation resisting, and one Perry
offering bail for M'Carty 's appearance before the magistrate, they
retired. The next day the Sheriff of Kingston refused to interfere
with him. Nevertheless, the three ruffians, before night, had him
in prison on some frivolous pretext. Perry succeeded in bailing
him out. On his being returned for trial, his enemies seized him,
thrust him into a boat, and had him landed on one of the small
islands in the rapids near Cornwall, where he perished.

■f

FATHKIl OF AXai.ICAMSM IN UVPIM (JAN'ADA.

lialui anil
i that the
if one 80
incarnate
told with
blessed to

the V)hiff
lue for the
jcieties es-
^as always
leration, as
e years he
'88 another
destined to
8 ministry,
and passed
meetings in
and speech.
)ression was
ed hostility
irithout any
ethodist " is
proach. In
ice of John

o indignity.

(tain, and an

s " pestilent

av morning
can neither

him to the
one Perry

;istrate, they
to interfere

rht, had him

fd in bailing
seized him,

lof the small

♦!

.'ai

Among tlio U E. Loyalists was a man of Irish Idood, the Rev.
John Stuart, who escaped, in 1781, to Canada, where lu> was des-
tined to win the title of the Father of tlie Cluirch of England in
Upper Canada. He was born in 1740. Though Ms family were
Presbyterians, his priMlilections led him to the Church of Kughind.
He became a missionary in the Mohawk Valley, and translated
the New Testament into the language of the Mohawks. In Ca-
nada he proved himself a zealous missicmary, and was indefati-
galile in laying the fountlation of the Church among the Indians
and the whites. In 1785 he took up his permanent abode at
Catara(jui, where he resided until his death, which took place in
1811.

Though not unmindful of success he was a true missionary.
"I shall not regret," he wrote in 1783, " the disappointment anfl
chagrin I have hitherto met with, if it pleases God to make me
the instrument of spreading the knowledge of His Gospel among
the heathen." In 178-1< he visited the new settlements on the St.
Lawrence, the Bay of Quintd, and the Niagara Falls. In a church
which stood ninety miles from the Falls, and which was the first
church built in Upper Canada, the Mohawks received him with
enthusiasm, and crowded the windows to catch a glimpse of their
old pastor. In 1785 he wrote : " I have two hundred acres within
half a mile of the garrison — a beautiful situation. The town in-
creases fast ; there are already about fifty houses built in it, and
some of them very elegant. It is now the port of transport from
Canada to Niagara. We have now, just at the door, a shij), a
scow, and a sloop, besides a number of small craft, anti if the com-
munication lately discovered from this i)lace by water to Lake
Huron and Miehilmachinac proves as safe and .short as we are
made to believe, this will soon be a place of considerable t^'ade."
The way he mingled the pioneer settler with the pioneer divine
is .shown in the following sentences : — " I have been fortunate in
my lotcttions of land, having 1,^00 acres at different places in
good situations, and of an excellent quality, three farms of which
I am improving, and have sowed this fall with thirty bushels in
them. * * * We are a poor, happy people, industrious be-
yond example. Our gracious King gives us land gratis, and fur-
nishes provisions, clothing, and farming utensils until next Sep-

■\ i

100

THE laiSHMAN IN PANADA.

Kill:

r' '

ml ' i^

' !l

(

i I i

k m

tembor, aftor which the generality of the peophj will he al)le to
live without his bounty," In May, 17^0, he opened an academy.
In 17H8, he went round his ;)ari.sh, which wa.s two hundred miles
long. Witli six Indians, commanded by Ca «tain Brant, he coasted
along the iK^rth shore of Lake Ontario ; weit twenty-five miles
by land to New Oswego, a Mohawk village just established on
the Grand River, and beautifully situated. It contained seven
hundred souls. In the midst of a nund)er of tine houses stood a
handsome church, with a bell swinging in its steeple, the first
bell which made the air vibrate in Upper Canada. Brant had
collected money when in England, and had expended it t': li^lvan-
tage. Stuart returned by Niagara, and visited that settlement.
Here he found no clergyman. The pojjulation had gi . atly increased,
and lie was so pleased with the people and countiy. that he was
tempted to remove his family thither. " You may imagin»>," he
wiites, " it cost me a struggle to refuse the unanimous and press-
ing invitation of a large settlement, with the additional argument
of a subscript i':ii, and other emoluments, amounting to nearly
£300 York currency per annum more than I have here. But, on
mature reflection, I have determined to remain here." He explains
to his correspondent that he is not rich, as he might be inferred
to be, when he refuses such an otler. He adds .- " I do not intend
to die rich. * * I Jiad a commission sent me as first judge of
the Court of Common Pleas. But for reasons which will readily
occur to you, I returned it to Lord Doichester, who left this place
a few days a^ijo."

In 1789 he was appointed Bishop's Commissioner for the set-
tlements from Point au Baudette to the western limits of the
Province. In 17.92 he became chaplain to the Upper House of
Assembly. In 1799, his alTna mater, the Univeisity of Penn-
sylvania, conferred on him the degree of D.D. At the same time
he became chaplain to the Kingston garrison. He was in the
seventy-first year of his age, when called away. He was six feet
four inches high, and was hence hv rnoiously known as "the
little gentleman." His sermons were vigorous and persuasive.
He seems +o have been a handsome man. His character was a
lofty one. We need v^t be surprised, therefore, when we are
assured that he was held in the highest esteem by his fellow-citi-

IRISH SETTLEMENT IN NEWFOUNDLAND.

101

i ahlc to
caUcmy.
id miles
> coasted
ve nxile.s
ished on
id seven
I stood a

the first
laiit had
icadvan-
ttleiuent.
ncreased,
it he was
,oiru'," he
nd press-
argument
to nearly
But, on
explains
inferred

ot intend
judge of

ill readily
jthis place

the set-
its of the
House of
I of Penn-
Lame time
las in the
IS six feet
s "the
lersuasive.
eter was a
In we are
jllow-citi-

zens. An agreeahle clergyman lias seldom to complain of
neglect. Mr. Stuart was a good deal more t' m a merely agree-
ablr clergyman. He liau five sons and thi 3 daughters borne to
luTii by Jane O'Kiell. Hi., .sons all occupied prominent positioitH,

Ic is, as the reader has seen, hard for me to treat Newfound-
land as not within the .scope of this book. In l7i*'-4, the Kev. Dr.
O'Donriell, a native of Tippcrary, availing himself oi the toleration
of the Roman Catholic Ileligion, as si^t forth in the Royal Pro-
clamation relating to Newfoundland, led an Irish .settlement
thither. In 17UU he was a})p()inted l)i.shop of the island, and
he received for some years, until his death, an annuity of
.£.50 for his .services in suppressing a mutiny among the troops.
Krom Dr. O'Do'^nell's time, the Catholic bishops have played an
important ])art in the island, not only as prelates — as witness the
careers of Bishops Lambert, Scallan, Fleming, and Mullock — but
as (elements of government and material progress.

The Irish priest followed his people wherever they wuiit, and
had, sometimes, preceded them into tht v, "'deniess as mis nonaries
to the Indians, as was the case with the Rev. Ednuind Bui-ke,
the Bishop of Halifax.

At Quebec, in 1804, the English Cathedral was built by Mr.
Cannon, an Irish Catholic. Prior to this, a mass was said specially
for the Irish Catholics ; and at Montreal the Bonsecours and the
Recollet Church were placed at their disi)osal.

Haldimand was recalled, and Henry Hamilton sent out as
governor in his stead. Hamilton called the Legislative Council
together, and having got them to introv-'urio Habeas Corpus into
the statute law of the Province, was gucceeded by Colonel Hope,
who, after a few months, made room for ( >> neral Carleton, now
Lord Dorchester, who, in addition to the governor-generalship of
Canada, was nominated commander-in-chief of all His Majesty's
forces in the colony. For some years loud complaints of misgo-
vernment had been sent across the Atlantic, and in 1787 Lord
Dorche.ster instituted an inquiry which brought to light a state of
things worse than anyone had imagined. The administration of jus-
tice was tainted ; Judges refused to hear evi( lence. Letters from per-
sons interested in suits were allowed the weight of testimony, with-
out being sifted b\ o ?s-examination. It was shown that Governor

JM rft!

''' " ■ " I l!B l f»«J i| J |

iii

102

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

Haklimand had made the judges instruments of political oppres-
sion. Not only so. The English judges looked to English prece-
dents ; the French judges administered civil law ; and the judges
who knew as little of English common law as of the French civil
law, did what was right in their own eyes. Education was in a
deplorable state. The English-speaking inhabitants had increased,
and were increasing. This deepened the note and increased the
volume of the demand for a Legislative Assembly.

In 1787 the Legislative Council amended and made perpetual
the militia ordinance of ten years before. A French historian,
Bibaud, says the only way to account for this conduct is by sup-
posing that Lord Dorchester and a majority of his Council were
persuaded that a ligorous military despotism was the form of
government which best suited Canada. Thf measure, from whose
provisions were exempted councillors, judges, public officers,
seigneurs, cle^'gy, nobles, jjrofessional men, and all specially ex-
cluded by order of the commander-in-chief, and which ordained
that captains and other officers of militia, in the country districts,
should be justices of the peace, was a despotic one, and not defen-
sible on the ground of the dangers to which the country was
exposed. Yet, owing to Lord Dorchester's capacity, and charm of
manner, discontent diminished, and, if we judge by the eulogies
on the Governor in the addresses presented to Prince Wil-
liam Henry, we shall conclude that everything was held to be
satisfactory. In 1788, the Council turned its artillery against un-
licensed practitioners of medicine. In 1789, provision was made
for the more effectual administration of justice. A committee of
the executive council appointed to impiire into the best means of
advancing elementary and the higher education, communicated
v/ith the Bishop of Quebec, M. Jean Francois Hubert, and his co-
adjutor, M. Francois Bailly, The responses of the two bishops
were in singular discord. M. Hubert thought the country too
little advanced, too thinly populated, and too poor, for the found-
ation of a university in Quebec , while M. Bailly said it was high
time a uiiiversity was established in Canada. Neither prelate
pointed out a solution of the difficulty. The letter of the Bishop
of Quebec is valuable, however, as showing the condition of edu-
cation. Excepting the Quebec seminary, there was not a school

STATE OF EDUCATION. CONSTITUTIONAL ACT.

103

oppres-
li prece-
i judges
ich civil
rt'as in a
creased,
ised the

erpetual
istorian,
by sup-
icil were
form of
m whose
officers,
ially ex-
ordained
districts,
ot def en-
ntry was
charm of
eulogies
ice Wil-
eld to be
ainst un-
s^as made
uittee of
1 leans of
lunicated
id his co-
bishops
mtry too
le found-
was high
prelate
le Bishop
Q of edu-
a school

in the province where more was done than teach reading, and
writing, and arithmetic. The committee reported in favour of
establishing free schools throughout the province, a free school
for higher branches in the principal town of each district, and a
university. The scheme, which was a secular one, was regarded
with hostility by the clergy, and it was found impossible to put
it into exer tion.

The governor also nominate*! a committee to report on the
advantages and ^disadvantages of the feudal tenure, and of free
and connnon socage. The committee reported against the feudal
system, and the report was followed by the draft of a bill or ordi-
nance which greatly alarmed the seigneurs and those having like
interests. One seigneur, however, Charles de Lanaudiere, had
already, in 1788, addressed the governor, and shown that it was
the interest of the seigneurs that a change of tenure should take
place, for without emigrants their lands were valueless, and it was
folly to expect emigrants to settle under a system of laws they
abhorred. The census showed the population of the province at
this time to have been 150,000, auvl M. de Lanaudi^re's land could
accommodate them all.

Difficulties now began to arise out of the differences in tradi-
tion and character between the old and the new settlers ; and the
Home Government prepared a bill which was sent out to Lord
Dorchester, to specify any changes his more intimate knowledge
of the country and the people might suggest. The Constitutional
Act of 1791 divided the Province of Quebec into two provinces,
to be known as Upper Canada and Lower Canada, each of which
should have an elective legislative assembly and a legislative
council, and governor appointed by the Crown ; the seignorial
tenure and French law, in civil cases, to be retained in Lower
Canada ; British law, civil as well as criminal, to be established
in Upper Canada. Provision was made for the maintenance of
the Protestant clergy, one-seventh of the land being reserved for
this purpose, and one-seventh for the crown. Those members of
the legislative council who should have titles were to have an
hereditary right to sit in the upper chamber. The Act was thought
by some too aristocratic, by others the reverse. Its popular
elements were to prove delusive, and the provisions for the clergy

it ■

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104

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

were destined to retard the progress of the country, and to give
rise to much trouble. Lord Dorchester, with the instincts of a
statesman, recommended that the reserves of the crown and of
the clergy should be in separate jurisdictions. But the ministers,
knowing that the lands mixed up with those of private indivi-
duals, would be more valuable, rejected his advice, and thus, as
Smith says, struck a blow at the progress of the population, and
the prosperity of the province.

While this measure was passing through parliament, it was
warmly debated by the House of Commons. Charles James Fox,
more than any statesman of the time, saw the bill in its true cha-
racter. It appeared to be founded on generous principles, which
vanished the moment it was examined in detail. The people of
Canada would infallibly make dangerous comparisons between
the limited and aristocratic system about to be established, and
the popular constitution of the United States. They should give
to the Canadians a popular assembly, not in appeaiance, but in
reality.

On one point raised in the debate, there would probably be a
difference of opinion now — namely, the division of the province.
Many would think to-day that the object should have been to bring
the peoples more together ; that it v/as a mistake, to permit two
systems of laws, and that, if measures had been devised by which
the English and French-speaking portions of the population should
have been mixed, and the foundation laid for a homogeneous na-
tion, there would have been more than was shown of that rare
statemanship which goes to make a country. Fox, with that
wisdom and foresight which never deserted him, pointed out
the true course to take, and Lord Dorchester was even more
opposed to the division of the province. Pitt was no less con-
vinced of its expediency. He foresaw the state of things which
led Mr. Brown and Sir John A. Macdonald patriotically to sink
their differences to bring about confederation.

Lord Dorchester, having obtained leave of absence, left for
England in the autumn. General Alured Clarke, on the 17th
December, opened the first parliament of Lower Canad.* ; while
on the 17th December, 1792, Lieutenant-Governor J. G. Simcoe,
opened the fiist Upper Canada Parliament at Newark (Niagara).

AN ARISTOCRATIC PIONEER.

105

In Lower Canada, Lieutenant-Governor Clarke divided the pro-
vince into counties, cities, and boroughs ; and Edward O'Hara
was returned for Gasp^. D'Arcy McGee Loasted, in 1806, that
henceforward Lower Canada was never without an Irish repie-
sentative in its legislative councils, and I believe the boast might
be made to-day. Lieutenant-Governor Simcoe divided Upper
Canada into nineteen towns, which only sent sixteen members
to parliament. The upper province was very thinly populated,
and we were on the eve of a European war which was destined
to scatter on Continental battle-fields strong hands and ))rave •
hearts, that might otherwise have made war on the wilderness in
Canada. We were destined, however, to snatch one great prize
from the maw of that war, for the founder of the Talbot settle-
ment was the youthful secretary of the first Lieutenant-Governor
of Upper Canada.

That brilliant period, comprising the closing decades of the
eighteenth century, and the opening quarters of the nineteenth,
was distinguished by an extraordinary number of remarkable
men. Amongst them all — statesman, soldier, scholar, wit, poet —
we doubt if there was one more deserving of study — one who, in
his career, presents more strikingly original features — than Col. ,
the Hon. Thomas Talbot, the founder of the Talbot Settlement.

Born at Malahif^o, in the County Dublin, on the l7th July,
1771, he was the s(m of Richard Talbot, Esq., and Margaret,
Baroness Talbot. The Talbots of Malahide spring from the same
source as the Earl of Shrewsbury. Among the great barons who
accompanied William the Conqueror wa^' Richard do Talbot.
" His grandson, Richard," says Lodge's "Peerage," " was father of
Gilbert, ancestor of the Earl of Shrewsbury, who settled in Ire-
land in the reign of Henry II., and was invested with the ancient
baronial castle of Malahide, and the estate belonging thereto."

Thomas Talbot was educated at the Manchester Public Free
School. But his knowledge could only be elementary. In 1782,
when only eleven years of age, he received a commission. It
does not follow that he was taken away from school. He must,
however, have left school before he had completed his sixteenth
year, as we find him, in 1786, one of the aides-de-camp to the
Marquis of Buckingham, the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. His ;

rlT

106

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

}f 1)

■ilfjl

J i

i 1 ''

' I'll

1. :^: , '

i 1 :'

! II
' i

■ ' 1

iliiiil

holding this position is explained by the fact that the Marquis
was related to the Talbot family. His brother aide-de-camp was
that " mischievous boy,"* Arthur Wellesley, afterwards the Duke
of Wellington. Both lads were destined for fame — widely differ-
ent, indeed, in lustre and magnitude. Both were destined to
lei ,d useful lives ; and, perhaps, in his humble sphere, wielding
i;he axe amid Canadian forests, Talbot's usefulness may, in the
sum of things, prove as great as that of Wellington, throwing his
sword into the balance against the French Caesar. It is pleasant
to think that the acquaintance of the two early friends continued
through life, and that tlie backwoodsman was entertained by the
great Duke at Apsley House. Sir Jonah Barrington did not find
the first soldier in Europe so approachable.

The man who would have predicted the f -ite of the two young
aides-de-camp would have certainly sketched a brighter career for
Thomas Talbot than for Arthur Wellesley. Talbot had more
lively parts, and was equally we;l-connected. But happily for
Canada, he early left the path of fame for that of usefulness —
the drawing-room and the tented field for the wilderness and the
shanty.

Many a hero dates his predilection for the life of a soldier from
the hour he read the life of Alexander the Great. The life of
Nelson sends scores of youths to the yard-arm. Reading Charle-
voix's history, while secretary to Lieutenant-Governor Simcoe,
Talbot was filled with an enthusiasm to drive out the wild beasts,
and to people the shores of Lake Erie with an industrious papu-
lation.

Li the yea" 1790, Mr. Talbot joined the 24th regiment ao lieu-
tenant, at Quebec. Three years afterwards he received his ma-
jority. In 1796, he became lieutenant-colonel of the 5th regiment
of foot, which regiment he immediately joined, and did good ser-
vice on the Continent, commanding two battalions. After the
peace of Amiens, he retired from the army ; came to Canada, and
settled at Port Talbot, on a spot which had attracted his fancy
during one of General Simcoe's expeditions. On arriving here,
Talbot erected a tent on the top of the hill ; turned host ; met the

See " Fifty Years of My Life." Albemarle.

'^>,

THE CASTLE OF MALAHTDE.

107

e Marquis
camp was
the Duke
[ely differ-
Bstined to
, wielding
lay, in the
rowing his
is pleasant
, continued
ned by the
id not find

two young
T career for
, had more
happily for
sefulness —
ess and the

loldier from
he life of
ing Charle-
or Simcoe,
,vild beasts,
rious V-'pu-

lent a3 lieu-
led his ma-
th regiment
[d good ser-

After the
Canada, and

his fancy
[riving here,
1st ; met the

governor at the tent-door, and, witli that dignity which was part
of Ids inheritance, invited liis Honour to the Castle of Malahide.
" Here, General Simcoe," he said, " will I roost ; and will soon
make the forest trend>]e under the wings of the flock I will
invite by my warblings ai-ound me." On the following morning
they stood at the Forks where London now stands, when General
Simcoe said : " This will be the chief military depot of the west,
and the seat of a district. From this spot I will have a line for
a road run as straight as the crow can fly, to the head of the
little lake " — where Dundas stands to-day.

" He remained in my family four years," wrote General Simcoe
to Lord Hobart, in 1803, " when he was called home as major of
the 5th regiment, then ordered to Flanders. During that period,
lie not only conducted many details, and important duties, inci-
dental to the original establishment of a colony in matters of
internal regulation, to my entire satisfaction, but was employed
in the most confidential measures necessary to preserve that
country in peace, without violating, on the one hand, the relations
of amity with the United States, and, on the oth' '•, alienating the
affection of the Indian nations at that time in open war with
them."

" In this very critical situation, I principally made use of Mr.
Talbot for the most confidential intercourse with the several
Indian tribes, and, occasionally, with his Majesty's Minister at
Philadelphia. These duties, without any salary or emolument, he
executed to my perfect satisfaction."

Thus an Irishman played a very important part in settling the
new order of things.

When Talbot returned to Europe — on the march, or pacing the
rock of Gibraltar, or sharing the chagrin of the disastrous expe-
dition of the Duke of York — he dreamed another dream than that
of military glory ; and, nrnid the roar of battle, mused on found-
ing a settlement in the silent wilds of Canada. The peace of
Amiens bears date, the 27th of March, 1802. Immediately
Colonel Talbot, having determined to lay aside the sword for the
axe, made some visits of friend, ip, and then turned his face to
the boundless ocean, and the almost equally boundless forest.

He wished to take with him a companion, who should helj)

I Hi

1)1

ll'Siill
!!

^.:J^

t |l!l

108

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

him in founding a colony in Canada* This companion was
not a lady, for against the charms of the gentler sex Talbot
seems to have been proof, but a young man, who was afterwards
to be well and favourably known as Lord Dacre. Mr. Brand had
been educated in Germany. He had studied in the philosophical
school of Kant. A young, imaginative, generous enthusiast, he
was in love with liberty — his imagination took fire at progress.
" The political, as well as the social and intellectual system of
Europe appeared to him, in his youthful zeal, for the improve-
ment of his fellow-beings, belated, if not benighted, on the road to
it ; and he had embraced, with the most ardent hopes and pur-
poses, the scheme of emigration of Colonel Talbot for forming in
the New World, a colony, where all the errors of the Old were to
be avoided. But his mother died, and the young emigrant with-
drew his foot from the deck of the Canadian ship, to take his
place in the British peerage — to bear an ancient English title,
and become master of an old English estate — to marry a brilliant
woman of English fashionable society — and to be thenceforth the
ideal of an English country gentleman." From that Arcadia
which was to revive under the auspices of Talbot and himself, he
turned away at the call of fortune, leaving Talbot to pursue his
course alone. He little knew from what hardships he saved him-
self when he took his hand from the plough of a pioneer.

Talbot landed at a point afterwards known as Port Talbot, on
the 21st May, 1803. With characteristic eagerness, the dash-
ing Irish soldier immediately set to work with his axe, and
cut down a tree. Where now stands the settlement which
should always bear his name, was the primeval forest. To the
west was unbroken and undisturbed wilderness ; to the east there
was no sign of civilization nearer than sixty miles. Where Lon-
don now sits, like a queen, in the midst of the finest agricultural
region of Canada ; rich in branch banks, telegraph agencies,
and daily papers ; with its fine buildings, large hotels, numerous
churches, foundries, breweries, petroleum refineries, tanneries,
boot factories, factories for making furniture, musical instruments,
carriages, candles, soap ; with its population of nearly twenty

* See •• Old Woman's Gossip," by Fanny Kemble. "Atlantic Monthly," Feb. 1877.

PORT TALBOT. ARKANGKMENT WITH THE GOVERNMENT. 100

anion was
sex Talbot
afterwards
. Brand had
nilosophical
thusiaat, he
at progress.
I system of
le improve-
i the road to
368 and pur-
i- forming in
Old were to
igrant with-
, to take his
English title,
•y a brilliant
inceforth the
ihat Arcadia
d himself, he
3 pursue his
e saved him-
neer.

rt Talbot, on
3s, the dash-
lis axe, and
nient which •
•est. To the
;he east there
Where Lon-
asricultural
agencies,
sis, numerous
(S, tanneries,
instruments,
early twenty

^thly," Feb. 1877.

thousand ; green boughs of trees, which were young when Cartier
.sailed up the St. Lawrence, dipped into the river as yet un-named
the Thames, and where there is now the busy hum of commerce,
the tap of the wood-pecker broke the solemn silence, and echoed
down the wooded aisles. Where the corn-fields and orchards of
the most favoured townships of Middlesex, Elgin, and Bothwell,
on the side of Erie, flourish — there, in 1803, the forest, in all the
richness of Canadian vegetation, reigned supreme.

Port Talbot must then, as well as now, have been a charming
spot. The creek winds round the hills amid rich flats. The
approach from the east presents to the delighted eye of the
traveller, every variety of woodland scenery — of hill and dale.
On j-ounding the acclivity. Lake Erie, stretching away to the
horizon, breaks upon the vision. We are here two hundred feet
above the lake, and the view, wherever we turn, is of the grandest.

While in England, Colonel Talbot had made an arrangement
with the Government, by which he obtained a grant of five
thousand acres : in this way. For every settler the colonel placed
on fifty acres of land, he was entitled to two hundred acres, until
five thousand acres were reached. He afterwards obtained for
such of the settlers, as desired it, one hundred acres of land each.
Some idea of the means of the pioneers may be gathered from the
fact, that some of them had not, in thirty years, completed the
payment of the moderate dues, £6 9s. 3d. ; and many of the old
farmers, at this hour, acknowledge their obligation to Colonel
Talbot's liberality. Talbot and his fellow-workers endured great
privations.

One of these was George Ward, a native of the Queen's County,
who joined the British army about the close of the last century.
His regiment was ordered to Quebec, and while there he made
Talbot's acquaintance, and ever after they remained fast friends.
Ward .settled on the banks of the River Thames, about fifteen
miles ea.st of where Chatham now stands. When the war of 1812
broke out, he had four sons — William, James, Alexander D., and
Talbot St. John. William and James volunteered into the Kent
Militia, under Captain John McGregor. James was attacked by
a severe cold, in the camp on Burlington Heights, from which he
died. William fought under McGregor, at the Battle of the

TIIK HUSH MAN IN CANADA.

"f( 111

Nil

MtMl

Hit

.;!Hi

Longwood.s. Captain Alexander Ward and his younger )trother
were then aiiiall boys, running through tlie cani{» of Teeuniseh
and liis warriors, before betook his position on the battle-ground
at Moravian Town. The captain loved to describe the hero's
. attitude haranguing his warriors, and the l)reathless silence with
which they listened to his eloquence. In 1837, Captain Ward
raised a company of volunteers, marched to the front, and re-
mained under arms until the rebellion was put down ; after
this he lived on his farm near Wardsviiie, a quiet and retired life.

As with all early settlers, one of their difHculties was to get
their corn ground. They were obliged to hollow out with fire
the stump of a large tree, until it was converted into a serviceable
mortar ; a wooden beetle being used as a pestle, the corn was ren-
dered fit for use. But this was a clumsy method, and in 1808,
Col. Talbot built a mill at Dunwich, He seems also to have made
an eifort to supply them with religion. He assembled them on
Sunday for religious worship, and like a patriarch read divine
service to them. He ensured punctuality and a large congrega-
tion by sending the whiskey -bottle round after the service. Not
only did he thus seek to lead their minds to heaven, he united
them in the bonds of matrimony. He also, it is said, baptized the
children. Yet at no time of his life was he what is understood by
a religious man. When a young man he was full of jocosity, and
some have affirmed wit ; it is certain that after dinner, like many
other men, he was given to retailing stories which are better left
untold.

His mode of transferring land was peculiar. He was accus-
tomed to pencil down the name of the settler, and this rough-and-
ready way of giviag a title was aided by his memory. A trans-
fer was effected, not by elaborate conveyance, but by a piece of
india-rubber and a stroke of the pencil.

Things progressed slowly. Not until 1817 was there anything
like a shop or store in the settlement ; the wants of the settlers
were often supplied from Col. Talbot's stores. In those days the
settler had to pay eighteen bushels of wheat for a barrel of- salt ;
a yard of cotton cost one bushel. The cotton may now be had for
sixpence. The same quantity of wheat would to-day buy eight
or ten barrels of salt.

Hi,

EXTENT OF THK TALBOT SETTLEMENT.

Ill

iini^er brother
of TecuinHL'li
l)attle-,t,'r()un(l
ibe the hero's
ss silence witli
Captain Ward
front, and re-
t down ; after
nd retired life.
ies was to get
V out with fire
bo a serviceable
e corn was ren-
1, and in 1808,
:io to have made
nibled thorn on
•ch read divine
large congrega-
le service. Not
aven, he united
id, baptized the
understood by
of jocosity, and
iner, like many
are better left

He was accus-
^his rough-and-
lory. A trans-
It by a piece of

I there anything
of the settlers
those days the
barrel of- salt ;
low be had for

l-day buy eight

The tract settled under the superintendence of Col. Talbot,
— a superintendence extending over half-a-century, — comprises
twenty-nine townships, containing from KJO.OOO to 180,000 in-
habitants. The townships are the following: — Raleigh, Zone,
Howard, Maidstone, Rochester, Tilbui-y East, Houghton, Mersea,
Howard, Sandwich, Carradoc, Southwold, London (together with
the city), Eck.frid, Yarmouth, Romney, Oxford, Harwich, West-
minster, Bayham, Mosa, Middleton, Tilbury West, Blandford, Gos-
field, Malahide, Dunwich, Al<lboro', Walsingham.

The settlers or tlunr descendants, with a few exceptions where
the whiskey bottle was allowed to kill foresight and thrift, are
the proprietors of fine farms, well stocked, with good barns, and
eaeh worth from $2,500 to $25,000. These yeomen, as we have
seen, had no more than the axe on their shoulders, when they
made the nccjuaintance of Thomas Talbot.

Talbot was one of those men who make men. He made Bur-
well. He made Mr. John Rolph who affected great love and re-
verence for the Colonel, and liked him so much that he would have
been glad to have given him one of his sisters. But the Colonel
seemed impervious to female charms. He said he had been in
love and that the lady refused him, but those who knew him best
thought this was uttered in jest.

He was a man scrupulously exact in monetary transactions.
The large sums received from the settlers were duly accounted for
to the Government, at a period not distinguished for that honour
which feels a stain like a wound. The only notes he would take
were those of the Bank of Upper Canada. He made an annual
visit to Toronto (Little York) and gave in his returns and money
to the Government. On these occasions he travelled in a hif'h
shouldered box sleigh, wi-apped up in a .sheep skin coat and covered
with buffalo robes. The sheep skin coat soon became an object of
reverence.

Colonel Talbot was a man of liberal views, and gave the land to
any good settler, whether English, Scotch, or Irish. To avoid
personal encounters, he had one of the panes of glass in his window
made to open and shut, and here all negotiations took place. He
did not like being disturbed after dinner, and devoted of late years
the forenoon of each day to business. A good idea of the extent.

Ill>

112

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

If^

of his transactions with eniigiants may be gathorocl from papers
laic before the House of Assembly in 1830. The Colonel had, in
addition to the original agreement, made another.and, underOrders
in Council, settled r vast tract of country far in excess of anything
^ had originally contemplated. From an abstract in the al)ove
papers headed " Statements of Lands in the London and Western
Districts, which have been placed in the hands of the Hon.
Thomas Talbot, under Orders in Council and Orders from the
Lieutenant-G )\ 'rnor, for the time being," it appears that the
enomious amount of 518,000 acres lying in twenty-nine town-
ships had been placed at his disposal. In 1831, the [)Opulation
settled in these townships was estimated by the Colonel himself as
nearly 40,000 souls.

In 1826, he became straitened in means, owing to his exertions
to push forward the settlement. He wrote a letter to Earl
Bathui-st saying that after twenty yec.:s devoted to the improve-
ment of the Western Districts of Canada, he found himself in
difficulties. Having established twenty thousand souls without
any expense for superintendence to the Government or the settler,
and at a .sacrifice of $100,000 to himself, he woke up to the un-
pleasant conviction that he was wholly without capital. In re-
sponse to this appeal he obtained a pension of $2,000 per annum.
He deserved this on public grounds. He was a father to his people,
and protected them from the fangs of men in office who cared only
for the fees. What power he exercisod may be inferred from the
fact that in a minute of the Council addi'essed to His Honour S.
Smith, Administrator of the Government of the Province of Upper
Canada, Mr. W. D. Powell complains as follows : — " It is" he says,
" apparent under this latitude that the Province is at the disposal
of Colonel Talbot, by being allowed to receive 150 acres for himself
for every settler he placed on 50." But Colonel Talbot, acting under
Orders in Council, was beyond his spleen. The secj '/ of the
animosity to the Colonel was that his powers interfered with the
fees. Nor need one be surprised that the emigrant preferred to
flee from an insolent official to one who was pjiternal in his pro-
tecting kindness.

The land on which he had laid his hand was seen by the Little
7ork Officials to be the most valuable in the country. But the

i!!l

THE TALHOT ANNIVERSARY

113

from papers
onel had, in
indorOnlers
of anything
in the a})Ove
md Western
if the Hon.
iYS from the
trs that the
'^-nine town-
B population
el himself as

his exertions
itter to Earl
the improve-
nd himself in
iouls without
3r the settler,
ip to the un-
lital. In re-
D per annum,
to his people,
lo cared only
-red from the
is Honour S.
nee of Upper
t is" he says,
the disposal
is for himself
acting under
ecj '■> of the
ired with the
preferred to
,1 in his pro-
sy the Little
try. But the

Colonel defeated their sinister aims. Hence large tracts of fertile
land, which might have lain untilled, are now occupied hy pros-
perous farmers. We need not wonder that the settlers kfpt for
many years the day of his first arrival in the country as a feast.
• Tlie day ami all who honour it!" was received with futhusiiism,
and the "Hem. Thomas Talbot,tliefounderof the Talbot settlement!"
was dro'vned in bumpers. After the fiist few years, the anniver-
sary always took place in the beautifully situated Town of St.
Thomas, called after the Colonel, and ccmtinued until fa.shi()n and
strangers drove away the sturdy yeomanry.

In ISIH the town of London was surveyed and laid out in lots.
Thee were dven out to actual settlers, by Colonel Talbot, on con-
wition of the performance of settlement duties, and the building
a house.

The Castle of Malahide, at Port Talbot, where the first men in
Canada, and noble and distinguished men from the old country,
were frequently entertairfed, was built like an eagle's nest on a
boM high cliff overhanging the lake. It was a long range of low
buildings, formed of rough logs and shingles. The main building
consisted of three princii)al apartments, of which the dining-room
was a really handsome room. The kitchen was large, and the fire-
place designed by a man on hospitable thoughts intent. Under
ground were cellars for storing wine, milk, and provisions. To the
east was the granary and store-rooms, on the west the dining-
room, and between these two an audience -room. In front of the
building was a Dutch piazza, where poultry of all kinds sunned
themselves and dozed. The rafters had never been touched with
any implement but the axe. In the audience chamber, where vis-
itors were received and business transacted, the furniture was very
plain. A solid deal table, a few chairs with skin bottoms, a cup-
board, a couple of chests — that was all. The only thing imparting
an air of comfort to the room was the ample fire-place. The colonel
drank good wine, and if his fare was homely, it was of the best.

Near to the main building was another, containing a range of

bedrooms. In latter years a suite of rooms of more pretensions

was added. Around the house rose a variety of outbuildings of

various shapes, unharmonious in dimensions, and unsymmetri-

cally disposed. One of these was the log hut which first sheltered
8

{ill!

114

THE raiHHMAN IN CANADA.

the Colonel. Many of these outbuildings were for the geo«e and
fowl, of which he reared a sutKcient number to .supply a county
From thi.s clifl-upheld castle the blue lake was seen .spreaditig away
like a large mind dreandng of all it has read and thought in sunny
hour«. On the'left was Port Stanley ; and it was jdeasant to .sit and
watch the .schoorors sail by, or some little sk iff, with fuli-bcllied
canvas, plough through the bright waves. Behind the house was
an open tract of land, prettily broken, where many head of cattle
grazed, and large Hocks of .sheep brow.sed. There were sixteen
acres of orchard, and a beautiful flower garden. House, grazing
gi'ounds and cliff, all were framed in luxuriant woods, through
which in summer steals a gentle stream into the lake, and in win-
ter roars a raging torrent. " The storuis and the gradual action of
the waves," wrote Mrs. Jameson, forty years ago, " have detached
large portions of the cliff in front of the house, and with them
huge trees. Along the lake shore I found trunks and roots of trees
half buried in the sand, or half overflowed with water, which I
often mistook for rocks. I remember one large tree which, in fal-
ling headlong, still i-emained suspended by its long and stray fd>res
to the cliff above ; its position was now reversed — the top hung
downwanis, shivered and denuded. The large spread root, upturned,
formed a platform on which new earth had accumulated, and new
vegetation sprung forth of flowers and bushes and sucklings. Alto-
gether it was a mo.st picturesque and curious object."
■ Up to the introduction of responsible government into Canada,
the Governors regularly made tours as far as Port Talbot. No man
of rank felt he had " done" Canada without making this visit,
and ladies were anxious to see the man who could resist their
charms. Among the Colonel's visitors were the Duke of Rich-
mond, Mr. Labouchere, Sir Peregrine Maitland, Sir J. Colborne,
Lord Ayhner, Chief Justice Robinson, and others. Hundreds of
less note called to pay their respects. There was open house for
all, and while tho gentlemen were entertained in the dining-ro(jm,
Jeffrey, the confidential servant, made the poor deserving settler
happy in the kitchen. The Colonel had often to preside over the
culinary department him.self.

Sometimes he met with i snob, and treated him as he deserved.
Mr. Parkins, at one time Sherilf of London, England, was invited

AN EXTRAORDINARY LIKENESS.

115

ewe and
I county,
ing away
in sunny
io nit unci
Jl-belluHl
ouse was
i of cattle
e sixteen
i, grazing
, through
(1 in win-
1 action of
1 detached
yith them
)ts of trees
1-, which I
ich,in fal-
,tray fiVjres
^ top hung

upturned,
1, and new

ngs. Alto-

)o Canada,
No man
I this visit,
[esist their
of Kich-
Colborne,
indreds of
house for
ling-room,
ling settler
\g ov.er the

deserved.
r&s invited

to dine witli him. During dinner, he made use of offensive lan-
guage about one of Col. Talbot's friends. " I do not permit such
language to be made use of at my table," said the host. Parkins,
lifting the edge of the tablecloth and discovering a pine board,
cried : " Your table ! Do you call this a taljle i " " Jeffrey," said
Col. Talbot, " let Mr. Parkins' horse bo brought to the door."

" xMy dogs don't understand heraldry," .said he to a countryman,
who sought to influence him by an imaginary pedigree. A Yankee,
who preferred to live under the British flag, applied for land, x'he
Colonel asked him, whether he had got a good chanicter. Kis
reply wa.s in the affhmative. " From whom ? " " From the Al-
mighty." " And what does He say ? " " Why, He recommends me
to take care of myself, and to get as nuich land as I can." " Very
well," said the C(»lonel, " that is a good recommendation and you
shall have a lot." Like most men of Innnour, he was benevolent,
ai'd a love of justice was the predominant feature of his character.
Mrs. Jamesm grew enthusiastic over Port Talbot. She found the
Talbot District containing twenty-eight town.ships and 680,000
acres of land, of whic!i, at that time, some forty years ago, 98,700
acres were cleared. The inhabitants, including the population
of ten towns, amounted to 50,000." "You see," .said Talbot gaily,
" I may boast, like the Irishman in the farce, of having peopled
a whole country with my own hands." All the agreements were
in his own handwriting.

He was then about sixty-five years of age, but did not look so
much. "In spite of rustic dress, his good humoured, jovial and
weather-beaten face," writes vhat fascinating authoress, " and the
primitive simplicity, not to .say rudeness of his dwelling, he has,
in his features, air and deportment, that 'something' which stamps
him gentleman. And that something which thirty-four years of soli-
tude has not effaced, he derives, I suppose, from blood and birth —
things of more consequence, when philosophically and philanthropi-
cally considered, than we are apt to allow. He must have been very
handsome when young ; his resemblance now to our royal family,
particularly to the King (William IV.), is so very striking, as to
be something next to identity. Good natured people have set
themselves to account for this wonderful likeness in various ways
pos ibleand impossible; but after a rigid comparison of dates and

'ill

!•!

H'll

116

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

ages, and assuming all that latitude which scandal usually allows
herself in these matters, it remains unaccountable, unless we sup-
pose that the Talbots have, var la grdce de Dieu, a family knack
of resembling kings. You may remember that the extraordinary
resemblance Avhich his ancestor, Dick Talbot (Duke of Tyrconnel)
bore to Louis the fourteenth, gave occasion to the happiest and
most memorable repartee ever recorded in the chronicle of wit."*

Mrs. Jameson was delighted with his flower garden covering
over two acres neatly laid out and enclosed and evidently a hobby
and a pride to the old nian. It abounded in roses, the cuttings
of which he had brought from the gardens of England. " Of
these he gathered the most beautiful buds, and presented them to
me with such an air as might have became Dick Talbot present-
ing a bouquet to Miss Jennings. We then sat down on a pretty
seat under a tree, where he told me he often came to meditate.
He described the appearance of the spot when he first came here,
as contrasted with its present appearance, and we discussed the
exploits of some of his celebrated and gallant ancestors, with
whom my acquaintance was (luckily) almost as intimate as his
own. Family and aristocratic pride 1 found a prominent feature
in the character of this remarkable man, A Talbot of Malahide,
of a family representing the same barony from father to son for
six hundred years, he set, not unreasonably, a high value on his
noble and unstained lineage; and in his lonely position, the sim-
plicity of his life and manners lent to these lofty and not unreal
pretensions a kind oi poetical dignity.

'■ I told him of the surmises of the people relative to his early
life and his motives for emigrating, at which he laughed.

" ' Charlevoix,' said he ' was, I believe, the true cause of my
coming to this place. You know he calls this the ' Paradise of
the Hurons.' Now I was resolved to get to Paradise by hook or
by crook and so I came here.' ""f

*In a note Mrs. Jameson recalls the reply of Talbot when sent Ambassador to
France. Louis XIV., struck by the extraordinary likeness to himself, said, " Monsieur
L'AmViassadeur, est-ce-que Madame votre Mfere a jamais 6ti dans la cour du Roi
mon Pere ?" The witty Irishman replied with a low bow, " Non, Sire -mais mon pk-e y
aait!"

t Winter Studies, vol. ii., pp. 197, 198, 199.

"«.T

DISLIKE TO FEMALE SOCIETY.

117

illy allows
is we sup-
lily knack
raordinary
Fyiconnel)
ppiest and
! of wit."*
n covering
;ly a hobby
he cuttings
and. " Of
ied them to
>ot present-
on a pretty
meditate,
came here,
scussed the
jstors, with
mate as his
lent feature
f Malahide,

to son for
alue on his
)n, the sim-

not unreal

to his early

He said, seriously, he had accomplished what he had resolved to
accomplish, but he would not for the universe again go through
the horrors he had gone through in forming the settlement. He
broke out against the follies and falsehoods and restrictions of
artificial life in bitter and scornful terms. Yes — he was happy
and the old man sighed as he said so. He was alone — a lonely
man. His sympathies and affectionfj had been without natural
outlet. "But," says Mrs. Jameson, forgetting all she had ever
read about the vanity of fame and human ingratitude, " he is a
great man who has done great things and the good which h«i has
done will live after him. He has planted at a terrible sacrifice an
endurinff name and fame .nd will be commemorated in this ' brave
new world ' this land of hope, as Triptolemu' among the Greeks.

" For hie indifference and dislike to female society, and his
determination to have no settler within a certain distance of his
own residence, I could easily account when I knew the man;
both seem to me the result of certain habits of life acting on a
certain organization. He has a favourite servant, Jeffrey by name,
who has served him faithfully for more than five -and twenty
years, ever since he left off cleaning his own shoes and mending
his own coat. This honest fellow, not having forsworn female
companionrjhip, began to sigh after a wife —

' A wife ! oh ! Sainte Marie Benedicit^ !
How might a man have any adversitt^
That hath a wife?'

And like the good knight in Chaucer, he did

* Upon his bare knees pray God him to send
A wife to last unto his life's end.'

" So one morning he went and took unto himself the woman
nearest at hand — one, of whom we must needs suppose that he
chose her for her virtues, for most certainly it was not for her at-
tractions. The Colonel swore at him for a fool ; bat, after a while,
Jeffrey, who is a favourite, smuggled his wife into the house, and
the colonel whose increasing age renders him rather more depend-
ent on household help, seems to endure very patiently this addi-
tion to his family, and even the presence of a white-headed chubby

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118

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

little thing, which I found runuing about without let or hind-
rance,"

What a sad picture and how beautiful it is at the same time
made by the presence of a child with its fearless innocence and
the hint it gives of womanly care and kindness. There is always
srme unhappy explanation for indifference or dislike to the society
of women. Either the mark has a small, narrow nature, or else a
woman has been the instrument to him of a great sorrow and he
reasons by a sweeping generalization from one woman to her sex
generally, or he has so high an ideal of the fe'^ipl character that
experience fills him with disgust. Yet as the existence of hypo-
crites does not prove there are no saints, so the fact that we see
in some women treachery and gi*eed, miserable intrigue and vil-
lainous plotting to plunder or ruin, is no reason why we should
forget the lessons taught us by the noble bearing of a mother, and
by the chaste dignity of a sister. A young lady once, on hear-
ing a gentleman quote the following words of Tennyson, — " No
angel but a dearer being all dipt in angel instincts," and apply
them to women generally, said very wittily : — '' But the trouble
is they are not dipped deep enough." Some are dipped deep
enough, though they are perhaps not the majority. They, how-
ever, furnish the ideal towards which all women should strive.
When we remember how high a chivalrous and noble-hearted man
places a woman for whom he has the least tenderness, and the
petty, selfish, ravenously lucre-loving character of multitudes
whose face and form are like those we dream of in angels, when
above all we reflect on the hideous contrasts furnished by haughty
professions and humiliating practice, we need not wonder when
we see a large-natured man like Talbot banish himself from the
solace of love and gentle companionship. The inconsistency of incon-
sistent women has tainted a whole literature, and made the men of
genius of France libellers of half its population. It is better that dis-
gust should take the form it took in Talbot's case than that we
should grow satisfied with the hasty, low, and utterly false concep-
tion of the character of woman we form, when the wings drop from
the angel, and the haroine sinks in the moral scale to the level of a
lap-dog, and revenge ourselves during the rest of our lives by breaking

'.^Wgi lKIPW

;t or hind-
same time
acence and
e is always
the society
e, or else a
ow and he
to her sex
,racter that
le of hypo-
hat we see
ue and vil-
we should
mother, and
!e, on hear-
'son, — " No
and apply
the trouble
lipped deep
The3^ how-
kould strive,
learted man
ess, and the
multitudes
,ngels, when
3y haughty
onder when
3lf from the
acyof incon-
e the men of
,ter that dis-
han that we
'alse concep-
;8 drop from
ihe level of a
by breaking

NOBLE WOMEN.

119

epigrams on the betterhalf of the human race * For all the vain and
bad ones there are plenty of good women whose smile has no be-
trayal in it, and in the vivacity of whose eye there is no death; who
can literally double our joysf ; whose approbation is to genius as a
draught from Helicon itself i ; whose sympathy is like the dew, as

* Even the character of Lucretia has not escaped the sneers of French writere— " Ah !
(lit le Martinis de Riberville, Je ne pense pas que ce soit ce que Monsieur le Conseiller
appri^ende, et js ciois qu'il est Lien assur^ de Madame son t^pouse. Ma foi, dit bon
vieillard, il n'y a qu'heur et malheur h cela, et les femmes sent fideles ou infidMes
sulon les occasions. Lucrtee tHoit la plus cruelle femme de Rome, et elle ne laissa
point de se rendre avant que de se tuer."— "LaFausse Clelie." The date of the volume
is 1718, and it was published " avec permission du roi."

t The toast of " The LaiUes, " as giv^n vy a wit will probably be familiar to most of
my readers—" Here's to the ladies, who hi-ive our sorrows, double our joys and treble
our expenses."

X The power of women — their presence — their conversation — their encouragement in
stimulating the literary faculty — has not been sufficiently dwelt on, and is little under-
stood. The mind works better if a woman is in the room. She throws into the air
some subtle electricity. All strong minded men and all great races (witness the Jews)
breathe through the nosa entirely— the mouth being kept for its proper functions of
eating and drinking and talking. The brain is braced and stimulated by the air pass-
ing through the nose. It is possible that the very air breathed by either sex is more
stimulating to that sex if members of the opposite sex breathe it at the same time. This
is felt so keenly by persons highly organized that we need not be surprised that the
world saw exaggeration or wild love in the terms in which John Stuart Mill spoke of
his wife. The power of Caroline Michaelis over the mind of Schlegel is one of the
most intesesting studies in literarj' history. Both before and after she becomes his
wife her influence was on him like an inspiration. Nor would he ever have been the
man he grew to be had it not been for her. But Caroline Schlegels do not grow like black-
berries on every hedge. She writes to her little sister, a young affianced bride, "When
the Ilm's Hm's (the dandy students) pass under your eyes, do you really do abso-
lutely nothing for vanity's sake ? It would be impossible for you entirely to annihilate
its movements, for this is the most involuntary of all original sins, and one we need as
little to be ashamed of as corns or toothache. Onfy we ought neve- to mwea step, either
bachonrds or forwards, towards encotiraging the failing You cannot help Us being plea-
sant to you if your veiled cap suits you ; but baoare how you set it more at one person than
another." When her first husband died she returned to her parents' roof. She WTites
to Meyer—" I do not trouble myself concerning the future. ♦ * ♦ Qne aim
alone do I consider myEelf obliged to pursue with unfaltering step— that of my daugh-
ter's welfare. All the rest lies stretched before me like the vast expanse of the troubled
ocean. If at times I find myself turning giddy at this spectacle, and feel my head whirl'
I just close my eyes and still trast myself on it without fear," and she compares her-
self, after the first great burst of grief, to an invalid " re8tore<l to life, slowly regaining
her strength, and inhaling anew the pure, balmy spring air." In this mood August
Wilhelra Schlegel fouud her and loved her, as how could he do else ? I could mention
dozens of cases, which have come within my own experience, where the woman in-
spired a;nl s elped, and was content that the husband should receive all the praise.

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120

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

gentle and as refreshing; whose spirit in a liouse fills it with har-
mony and peace, and makes it a region of beauty, a realm of delight;
whose voice is music; the touch of whose hand is rest; and it is
treason to them and treason to ourselves to forget that such exist,
and challenge our homage. While filling our lives with plea-
sure and melting the heart, they have a celestial strength by
which they brace chai'acter and purify the soul. And if a woman
whom fate relegates to what is sneeringly called " single blessed-
ness " deteriorates, and from happy dreams, " castles in Spain," her
mind is driven to ruins where it cowers amid broken arch and
shattered column and desolate hearth, the grey loneliness of dis-
mantled uninhabited halls — disappointed anticipations, a heart
whose desire has failed, a life whose charm has evaporated — and
bitter takes the place of sweet, and the wine of her ample nature
becomes vinegar ; not less unhappy, as we shall see in Talbot's
case is the effect on man of despising the wisdom of the sacred
utterance that it is not good for him to be without the tempering
conditions of woman's society.

*' woman ! lovely woman ! Nature made thee
To temper man ; we had been brutes without you ! "

But to return to Mrs. Jameson's sketch of a great and singular
man.

" The room," she writes, "into which I first introduced you, with
its rough log walls, is Colonel Talbot's library and hall of audi-
ence. On leaving my apartment in the morning, I used to find
gi'oups of strange figures lounging round the door, ragged, black-
bearded, gaunt, travei-worii and toil-worn emigrants, Irish, Scotch
and American, come to offer themselves as settlers. These he
used to call his land-pirates ; and curious and characteristic and
dramatic beyond description were the scenes which used to take
place between the Grand Bashaw of the wilderness and his hungry
unfortunate clients and petitioners.

" Another thing which gave a singular interest to my conversa-
tions with Colonel Talbot was the sort of indifference with which
he regarded all the stirring events of the last thirty years.
Dynasties rose and disappeared; kingdoms were passed from hand
to hand like wine decanters ; battles were lost and won ; he nei-

BURIED IN THE FOREST.

121

t with har-
lof deliglit;
, ; and it is
, such exist,
with plea-
trength l)y
if a V omaii
gie blesse-l-
Spain," her
sn arch and
iness of dis-
ms, a heart
)rated — and
mple nature
in Talbot's
I the sacred
le tempering

md singular

ed you, with
all of audi-
ased to find
ged, black-
ish, Scotch
These he
jcristic and
ised to take
his hungry

y conversa-
with which
irty years.
from hand
m; he nei-

ther knew, nor heard nor cared. No post, no newspapers, brouglit
to his forest-hut the tidings of victory and defeat, of revolutions
of empires, ' or murmurs of successful or unsuccessful war.'

" When first he took to the bush Napoleon was consul, when he
emerged from his solitude the tremendous game of ambition had
been played out, and Napoleon, and his deeds ar J his dynasty,
were numbered with the things o'er past. With the stream of
■events had flowed by, e(|ually unmarked, the stream of mind,
thought, literature, the progress of social impro\^ement, the changes
in public opinion. Conceive what a gulf between us ! But though
I could go to hnn, he could not come to me. My sympathies had
the wider range of the two."

It must have been like talking to an ancestor. Partly necessity,
partly a true instinct, led Talbot thus to bury himself in the forest.
Had he kepf. up his interest in the real world, he could not have
held his purpose of playing the part of the greatest of Canadian
pioneers. He, at long intervals, made trips to England; and these
trips, and the occasional visits of distinguished people, were the
epochs from which he dated. From these flights he returned like
an old eagle to his throne on the cliff, whence ho looked down with
contempt and indifference on the world he had quitted, and with
much self-applause and self-gratulatior on che world around, which
under his auspices had been called into existence.

Among those Irish emigrants and settlers who failed in fore-
sight many were drawn from the educated class ; for alas ! at that
time education was a class distinction. Those men who came to
the Talbot settlement side by side with the sturdy Gael from the
Highlands of Scotland, and from all parts of Ireland, had two
things which are often found together, solid pride and a vacuous
purse. An interesting and prominent man of this class was John
Harris. This gentleman had a dispute with another as to whose
part of the province had received most respectable settlers. " Why ''
said Harris, " in the London district we have one township all
gentlemen." He referred to the Township of Adelaide, where a
large number of old soldiers who had commuted for their pensions
sought to settle. These included many members of most res-
pectable Irish families. A nephew of Curran, Captain Curran
found himself among them. But it is not for the Irish settlers al one.

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122

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

but also for Scotch and English, that the country is indebted to
Colonel Talbot. What was felt by all for him, by English and
Scotch as well as Irish, appears from a correspondence which took
place in 1817. On the 5th of March, 1817, James Nevills, secre-
tary of a meeting held respecting the anniversary, writes, trans-
mitting an address. He said he was further directed to say that
a chair was to be left pei-petually vacant in Colonel Talbot's name
to be filled by him or " by his descendants in future ages." How
we do dream, as clouds may dream of building themselves into
solid towers. The address signed on behalf of the meeting by J.
Wilson, President, and L. Patterson, Vice-President, breathes a
spirit of filial gratitude. They presented him with a tribute of
the high respect they collectively cherished and individually felt.
" From the earliest commencement of this happy patriarcJiy, we
date all the blessings we now enjoy ; and regarding you as its
founder, its patron and its friend, we most respectfully beg leave
to associate your name with our infant institution. To your first
arrival in Port Talbot we refer as the auspicious hour which gave
birth to the happiness and independence we all enjoy and this day
commemorate." The address went on to say that in grateful re-
membrance of the Colonel's unexampled hospitality and disinter-
ested zeal in their behalf, and because they contemplated with
interested feelings the astonishing jn'ogress of their increasing
settlement under his friendly patronage and patriarchal care, they
had unanimously appointed the 21st of May, for the Talbot anni-
versary. They added that the public expression of happiness and
gratitude, they transmitted through their children to their latest
posterity.

The answer of Colonel Talbot was in keeping with his character.
It was frank and manly and simple. It was fit to be signed
" Your faithful friend." Having thanked them, he says it highly
gratified him that they were not insensible to the exertions he
had made to advance the welfare of that part of the Province.
For these exertions he was amply compensated by witnessing the
assemblage of so large and respectable a body of settlers. He had
no doubt but that in a few years the country would exhibit in a
striking manner the superiority of the soil and thoroughness of
their labours. The surest way to ensure this was to persevere as

ENVY AND INGRATITUDE..

123^

indebted to
English and
3 which took
levills, secre-
.vrites, trans-
d to say that
'albot's name
asfos." How
jmselves into
neeting by J.
t, breathes a
1 a tribute of
ividually felt,
atriarehy, we
ig you as its
illy beg leave

To your first
ir which gave
J and this day
1 grateful re-

and disinter-
mplated with
eir increasing

lal care, they
Talbot anni-

iai)piness and

their latest

his character,
to be signed

ays it highly

exertions he
the Province,
vitnessing the

ers. He had
exhibit in a

irouffhness of
persevere as

they had begun, in industry and harmony. There should be
wanting nothing on his part to promote their interest. They did
him infinite honour by associating his name with their infant in-
stitution, which he ardently hoped might be productive of social
and virtuous enjoyment, and never become the vehicle of calumny
and party intrigue. This was dated the 10th March, 1817. Mr.
J. Rolph was delighted with what had been done, and makes a
note which has an historical value now. " The secretary to the
Talbot anniversary, Mr. Adjutant James Nevills, shoidd prepare a
statement to be published, and he should keep on record all the
proceedings of the day. Should pen, ink and paper be scarce, the
Adjutant knows where he can get as much as he wants by riding
up for it — J. Rolph." The poorest man in the whole twenty-eight
townships could now boast of his ability to supply an Adjutant
with paper and ink. On the 17th Lieutenant-Colonel Burwell,.
who was jealous of Rolph's influence A\-ith Colonel Talbot, put
forth an address deprecating an anniversary. The people could ill
afiord to pay cash for attending far-fetched anniversaries. But he
admitted the great claims and noble character of Colonel Talbot.
Burwell's address was a curiosity from the point of view of style :
" If," he said, "the worthy personage to whom the address was
presented had departed this life. If, he was no more — I will not
now inform the world nor insult his sense of delicacy by saying
what part I would take in the foundation of such an institution..
At present he is among us — we know his exertions to get the fine
tract of country we inhabit settled. And he knows what our ex-
ertions have been to settle it. Without saying anything more

respecting him we know him. And from the progi-ess we

have made, not in fine anniversary addresses, but in meliorating
the rude wilderness ; the world may judge whether we have not
such feelings and understandings as we ought to have. And
whether we can appreciate its worth without proclaiming it on the
house-tops — and making ourselves ridiculous." Of course the bur-
den on the people would be just as great if Colonel Talbot were
dead. It is easy to see that Burwell was an - vious, ill-conditioned
man.

On the 21st May, 1817, the anniversary was held at Doctor
Lee's Hotel, Yarmouth. Seventy-five persons attended. Not one

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124

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

of thoni l)ut ha<l tasted of the Coloncr.s bounty and had experienced
his directing- kindness. Colonel Burwell's address was condemned
for its })ad taste and intrusiveness.

Towards the close of his life, there is little doubt the Colonel
was not temperate. But he had accjuitted himself well during
his long career, and in what he went through in the solitude of his
life must be found the excu?e, if excuse can be made. A very
small worm will spoil a g-ood api)le, and a trilling weakness mar
a fine character. But for this blemish, what a proud figure Colonel
Talbot would make in our history. Perhaps, notwithstanding it,
his form will stand out great and venerable to the eye of future
generations. He lived to see his work accomplished. Before he
went down to the grave, London was a flourishing capital, and
the prosperity of the whole settlement was assured. He succeeded
in all his projects regarding his settlers. His design to found a
great family estate proved abortive. For some time prior to his
death, his mind suffered an eclipse.

Wishing to bequeath his large estate to a male descendant of
the Talbot family, he had, at a comparatively early period, invited
to Canada one of his sister's sons, Mr. Julius Airey. This young
gentleman took, up his abode at Port Talbot. But the dulness of
the life, the Colonel's eccentricities, and the want of congenial
com|)anions, rendered existence unbearable ; and, after a residence
of a few years with his uncle, he relinquished all claims to Port Tal-
bot and returned to the society for which he pined. Colonel Airey
military secretary at the Horse Guards, succeeded to the expecta-
tions of his younger brother. Throwing up his attractive and im-
portant position, and turning his back on the capital of English
civilization, he removed with his family to Port Talbot. From this
time Colonel Talbot's infirmities increased. He was doubtless wor-
ried. Colonel Airey, instead of living in ahouse of his own on some
part of the estate near " the rookery," took up his residence with his
uncle. Differences ensued. Colonel Talbot had been accustomed
to dine at noon. Colonel Airey introduced a new order of things;
dinner at seven o'clock, and dressing for it indispensable. Not only
so, the liquor was locked up. The old man kicked. He deter-
mined to keep a separate establishment. But he had been dis-
turbed at a time when new habits cannot be formed. He grew

Tfyj

Dj(T

DEATH OF THE GRKAT PIONEER.

125

I experienced
,s coinlemned

the Colonel
well (lurinn:
)lituJe of lus
ide. A very
/■eakness mar
igure Colonel
thstanding it,
eye of futui-e
d. Before he
g capital, and
He succeeded
o-n to found a
le prior to his

descendant of
period, invited
This young
the dulness of

of congenial
ier a residence
ns to Port Tal-
Colonel Airey

the expecta-
activeand isu-

tal of English
)ot. From this

oubtless wor-
s own on some
dence with his

n accustomed

■der of things;

,ble. Not only
He deter-

had been dis-

led. He grew

sick and discontented. He resolved to leave Canada. He would,
he thought, draw out the remainder of his days in England,
or on the continent. He left Port Talbot. But taken sick at
London, Canada West he lay there, the old man, nigh eighty
years of age, in a dangerous condition for weeks. He was, how-
ever, in the midst of kind friends in the house of Mr. John Harris.

He recovered but henceforth he was a mere tool in the liands
of Geor<{e McBeth. He set out for England, where he remained a
year and then returneil to lay his bones in the country to which
he liad devoted his life. It was a distressing thing to see the old
man settle down in a humble cottage on the outskirts of his
aiagniticent estate. The man who had once been lord of Port
Talbot was fain to lodge in a small room in the house of Mrs.
Hunter, the widow of his friend and servant Jeffrey. He had
made over to Colonel Airey the Port Talbot estate, worth $50,000,
and 13,000 acres in the adjoining Township of Aldboro'. This
was not a moiety of the estate which Colonel Airey had had reason
to expect would descend to him ; but now it was evident it was all he
would get from the Colonel. He therefore rented what he had
got to Mr. Saunders and returned witli his family to England,
where he resumed his post at the Horse Guards. The remainder
of the estate, worth $250,000, was bequeathed to George McBeth,
who married a daughter of Mr. Saunders. With McBeth the
Colonel removed to London and resided in the house of his former
servant and sole legatee, until the day of his death which occuiTed
on the 6th February, 1853.

His remains were removed from London on the 9th of February,
the day previous to interment, and were placed for the night in
the barn of an inn-keeper at Fingal, to the indignation of the old
settlers. One old man, Samuel Burwell, begged with tears in his
eyes to have the body removed to his own house. But this would
have disturbed McBeth's arrangements. On the following day
the corpse was removed from Fingal to Port Talbot and rested foi-
a short time within the mansion once owned by the deceased.
The hearse was followed by tlie leading men of London to the
church at Tyrconnel. The day was bitterly cold, but a few fast
friends had come to see him interred. He lies in a grave near the
church. On the oak coffin ran the simple inscription — " Thomas

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126

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

Talhot, Founder o{ the Tall)ot Settlement: Died 6th Feb., 1853."
It may truly be added now that here rests one of the foundei-s of
Canada.

In 1700, after playing a great part in Canada for an exception-
ally long time and proving himself a true friend to all the colonists,
and not least to the French Canadians, Lord Dorchester, amid the
hea'tfelt regret of the people, took his departure from our shores.
He died in 1808, in his eighty-third year.

CHAPTER V.

We have seen an Irishman prove himself the saviour of Canada,
and watch with parental anxiety and care, with efficiency and far-
sighted wisdom, her infant years. We have seen another Irish-
man turn his back on love, on high position, on all the charms of
civilization, on the most attractive of all professions, on the most
fascinating of all careers, to come to Canada to play a patriarchal
part, amid hardships which would have appalled a less uncon-
querable soul, and turned the edge of a less finely tempered
will. We are now to watch Irishmen in a sphere other than that
of politics, and on a less grandly heroic scale. In earlier chapters I
pointed out what a great people had done throughout the world.

[Authorities : — Original Sources : " Murdoch's History of Nova Scotia " : " Nova
Scotia Archives" : Mrs. Moodie's " Roughing it in the Bush" : " The Atlantic|Monthly";
Haliburton's "Nova Scotia": Old Files of Newspapers: Anspach's "History":
Bonneycaatle's " History of Newfoundland" : Mackintosh's " Parliamentary Com-
panion" : " St. John and its Business" : "Early settlers of Bowinanville, T^arlington,
Clarke, and the surrounding country," by J. T. Colesnan : Poole's "Early settlement
of Peterborough" : Campbell's History of Prince Edward Island: "Historical and
General Record of the Irish Settlement of Colchester County, down to the present
time," by Thomas MilUar, Halifax, N. S. : " Ireland and the Centenary of Americar
Methodism," by the Rev. William Crook : " Case and his Contemporaries," by the Rev.
Dr. CarroU : " The Irish Po8ition,">y L>'Arcy McGee.]

England's oldest warrior.

127

a Feb., 1853."
le founders of

an exception-
l tlie colonists,
)ster, amid the
mi our shores.

our of Canada,
ciency and far-
another Irish-
the charms of
, on the most
a patriarciial
a less uncon-
aely tempered
her than that
lier chapters I
out the world.

Scotia": "Nova
AtlanticlMonthly":
ach's " History ":
irliaraentary Com-
mville, T^arlington,

Early settlement
"Historical and
wn to the present
tenary of American
raries," by the Rev.

Any other word than world would he too small. For on what
shore have they not left monuments of their ener<jfy and genius.
They have gone forth from a little island and made the wide earth
their mausoleum.* A branch of that people exist here in Canada

• While I write these lines there comes the account of the death of a man who was
distinguished at a time ere a (^eneratiim already past had come into existence. Field-
Marshal Sir John Forster-Fitzgerald, (i. C H., died at Tours, on the 24th of March.
The French military authorities of that city— j)erhap8 MacMahon remembered the
thread which apart from military renown bound them both— received instructions from
Paris on the 2(ith to ^dve the dead hero a military funeral. Mr. Disraeli's government
made a mistake in not takiu),' to itself tlie glory of giving fitting sepulture to the old
hero. He was tlie olde.t soldier the Empire had, and he had risen to the highest rank
in his jHofession. He entered the army in 17!>3. He served in the Peninsula where he
commanded a light battalion and n brigatle, and was present at most of the engagements
whieli culminated witli Napulvons overthrow at Waterloo. He took a ]>rominent part
in theas.'ault on Badajos and fought gallantly at the battles of Salamanca, Vittoriaand
i,he Pyrenees, receiving the Gold Cross for personal bravery and distinguished services.
He was owner of the large estate of tJarrigorau and he was as considerate to his tenau-
Jry as he was br.ive in the field.

Some verses in Truth, April 5th 1877, maj' be (ptoted :

He was the oldest warrior England had

And from hting family had sprung ;
He 'von his spars when he was yet a lad.

And fought when the old century was young.

At Badajos the fatal breach he scaled ;

He lived through Salamanca's bloody fray ;
Was at Vittoria where a mona."ch quailed.

And lived to tell of Talavera'ti day.

Bravely he fought through the fierce campaign.
That brought the beaten Frenchmen to their knees,

When just from their last holdin;,'-place in Spain,
They turned to bay amongst the Pyrenees.

Bravely >"! foiight and well ; he w'ore

The golden cross for valour on his breast,
Until he died upon a foreign shorts,

And found at length from life's long struggle rest.

The wiiter th-m upraids England for her parsimony in not sending over to Toias some
|/<jf his old comrades. The least, he says, England could have given him was a tomb.

And 80 it happed ; for all the honour payed
To our field-marshal at his long life's close

And military demonstration made
Was by the Frenchmen, his old gallant foea.

B;it was it meet to treat a soldier thus ?
Wlio'd gained the highest rank our army knows ?

12.S

TIIK IHISHMAN IN CANADA.

.'1 i

1
1
li!

1 IM|

to-day, and lias boon horo from tlio l>oginnin<^f of Britisli rule. It
is in no spirit of unwortliy rivalry or small boasting that I say
tlu'ir hands liavo done more tlian tlioso of any other to clear the
vvilderness. If vo look at tlie census alone it proves this. But
the census does not tell all. There are thousands of flourisliing
acres liere in (^ana<hi (m vvliose yellow harvests an owner looks
who is not Irish, In wnich acres were cleared by Irishmen. These
in some instances (Iropj)ed like soldiers in the battle and fell into
unknown graves, truly the unremendiered brave. On lands where
tlieir names are unknown they planted the first civilizing foot
they grappled with the wilderness ; and then they passed away as
we all shall, the best of us, and the most miccessful. A id what
more can be said of us than of them ? If it can be said we did our
day's work it will be well. •

I shall show, by-and-bye, that we owe our present constitution in
great part to Irishmen. I have already dwelt on their character
and genius and on part of theii- achievements, and if the tale is
continued it is not that I may here in (Janada draw my country-
men aside horn other people ; above all it is not that 1 may fan
illogical, unhistorical, and imchristian hatreds in th(;ir breasts.
Better that })!itnotism should be torn from a man's heart, and all
the love which swells in it hon he thinks of that land which for
centuries has lain on T es like a beautiful sorrow, if that

patriotism and tha* .did not co-exist with sweet human

charities for other ^ j.

Was it noble, w..3 it generous
That thus a gallant history should close ?

The clone of such a career is a sad and si)lendid illustration of the speech of Ulysses
to Achilles when he would persuade the sulking hero to leave his tent and once more
measure his brand with Hector : —

Time hath, my lord, a wallet at his back

Wherein he puts alms for oblivion,

A great sized monster of inijratitudes ;

Those scraps are good deeds past : which are devour'd

As fast as they are made, forgot as soon

As done : Perseverance dear, my lord,

Keeps honour bright : To have done, is to hang

Quite out of fashion, like a rusty mail

In monumental mockery.

{CANADIAN NATIONAL UNITY.

129

[,i.sh rule. It
ir tlmt I say
r to clear the
es this. But
if Houri.slnnj,'

owner looks
hmcn. These

and fell into
1 lands where
vilizinjjj foot
issed away as
I. A "1(1 what
lid we did our

lonstitution in
leir character
I if the tale is
V my country-
hat 1 may fan
th(jir breasts,
heart, and all
a?id which for
4orrow, if that
sweet human

speech of Ulysses
kent and once more

Above all, I would guard against the misconc( iition that I
wouM divt'rt Irishmen's minds from their duty a.s Canadian citi-
zens. An eminent Presbyterian divine, when preaching on St.
Andrew's day, declared it to bo his conviction that the interest of
Scotchmen in one another, and in their mothiT country, had in
no way hindered their identification with Canada.* The claims
of Canada can be paramount, though the Sf '.chman remembers
with pride his rugged storied hills ; though the Englishman's
fancy roams amid the gardened beauty of English greeneries and
English landscapes, and takes fire at English struggles for consti-
tutional freedom ; though the Irishman's heart beats ({uicker,
when he recalls the loveliness of his country, her heroism, and all
she has done for "the Empire" and for tho world. Nor will he
be the less true as a Canadian citizen, if the 'springs of a noble
sympathy flow, when he reflects that her loveliness is still de-
faced by recent grief, and her beauty overshadowed by memories
of the past.

My countrymen have had too much of the inspiration of ha-
tred. They have been too much misled.-f' Those who misled
them did not know that they were misleading them. I have
shown them that the Saxon, and Celt, and Norman, and Roman
and Greek, are all brethren, that all come from one parent race.
To-day, England is probably far more Celtic than Saxon.J

* If tl'e existence of national societies in Canada were to have the eflfect of dividing
the community into hostile sections anrl sowing seeds of strife between men of diflferent
origin, then it would be umiuestionably an evil ; but I have yet to learn that any such re-
sult has been produced. With all confidence, I assert that the interest of Scotsmen in
one another and in their Mother Country, as exjiressed through the St. Andrew's So-
ciety, has not dimiaished their "readiness to identify themselves thoroughly with Can-
ada in all that concerns her material, social, and religious progress."— /Serwo/i ore (b'<.
Andreio'8 Day, 1876, by the Rev. D. J. Macdonell.

t Thern are some words I frequently repeat to myself, which express a view all my
countrymen must take, before they can do full justice to themselves :

" Let merry England proudly rear
Her blended roses bought so dear ;
Let Scotland bind her bonnet blue,
• With heath and hare bell'dipped in dew ;
On favoured Erin's crest be seen,
The flower she loves, the Shamrock green."

t "It has been fashionable to sneer at zealous Irish writers for thoir pruponsity to

m..^.

130

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

m ■

li ' I

The people of England are not responsible for the wrong done
by their rulers in the past ; and it is neither just nor wise to write
violent diatribes, or cherish vindictive feelings against them-
What would be wrong anywhere' would be doubly wrong herci
where we are showing what Iris. ..len have done for Canada, not
alone, but assisted by Scotchmen and Englishmen and Frenchmen
and Germans It is a saddening work, in some respects, I am
engaged on, for it brings vividly before me how little the dim vast
masses of all nationalities get out of life ; and yet, dark as seems
their fate, when we look into their lives, there are starry bright-
nesses and glimpses of a tender, indescribable beauty, which thrill
and touch and purifiy like the stars, or the delicate crimson of
morning, or the peiisive tints of " dewy eve." There is a halo
round the head of humanity, only our eyes are too dim, too pre-
occupied, always to discern it ; but when we do see it, whether in
the wilderness or the crowded city, we are conscious of the divine
fire in the heart, and the heavenly nimbus which wraps the care-
worn head.

Mrs. Moodie does not place the settlers too high : —

" Those hardy sires who bore
The day's first heat —their toils are o'er ;
llude fathers of this risiiig land,
Theirs was a mission truly grand.

find traces of the Kelts everywhere. But there can be no doubt whatever that the
Kelts were once a very widely diffused people. They have left names for rivers and moun-
tains in almost every part of Europe. The name of the river Don inRussia, for example,
is one of the common Keltic names for water, and so we find a river Don in Yorkshire,
a Deaa in Nottinghamshire, a Dane in Cheshire, and a Dun in Lincolnshire. The
same nauie appears in the Ilho-(/««-u«, or Khone, in Gaul, the Eri-rfa/t-us, or Po, iu
Italy, as well as in the Z>((-ieper, D/i-iester, and i>aii -ube, .^nd even in the An -do« in
the Caucusufl. This is one example out of hundreds, by which "'•' trace the former
nbi(inity of the Kelts, who as lati; as tlie Christian era were present in large numbers,
as far east as Bohemia.

" The 3tcond series of invading Aryan swarm-< consisted of Germans, who began by
pushing the Kelts westward, and ended by assuming a great part of their territory,
and mixing with them to a considerable extent. There is some German blood in Spain,
and a good deal in France an<l Northern Italy ; and the modern English, whib* Keltic
at bottom, are probably half Teutonic in blood, as they are predominently Teutonic in
language and manners." " The Races of the Danube," by John Fiske, in the Atlantic
Month' y, for April, 1877, p. 404. *

See also an Essay by Mr. Goldwin Smith, on " Canada's Political Destiny." He
says : " The Anglo-Saxon race is far less prolific than the Irish, who are even sup-
pi mting the Anglo-Sa-ons in some districts of England."

wrong done
wise to write
gainst them-

wrong herei

Canada, not
i Frenchmen
ispects, I am
i the dim vast
lark as seems
itarry bright-
, which thrill
ite crimson of
ere is a halo

dim, too pre-
it, whether in
i of the divine
i-aps the care-

whatever that the
rivers and moun-
ussia, for example,
Don in Yorkshire,
ncolnshire. The
i-dau-us, or Po, in
ill the Ar>-(io'i i"
trace the foriucr
ill large numhers,

:.i

aus, who began by
of their territor)-,
lan blood in Spain,
glish, whiK- Keltic
nently Teutonic in
ike, in the Atlantk

kl Deatiny." He
Iwho are even sup-

ROUGHINO IT IN THE BUSH. 131

Brave peasa'its whom the Father, God,
Bent to reclaim the stubborn aod ;
Well they perfonn'd their task and won
Altar and hearth for the woodman's son."

The settlor who clears the country is its true father. He makes
all possible. Without his axe, his log cabin, his solitude, his
endurance, his misery, we could not have the abundant appliances
of civilization, the stately temple, the private mansion, the palaces
of law and legislation, the theatre, the enjoyment of social inter-
course, refinement, all, in a word, he forewent. A hard lot even
when the settler, owing to somi peculiar a-l vantages, was able to
take with him into the wilderness some of the conveniences of
civilized life. Under the happiest circumstances there were hard-
ships and difficulties. The exclusion, was drear enough during the
later spring and summer and autumn, when activity was possible ;
but in<lescribable, not to be realized, when barred on all sides by
the snows of a Canadian winter, and the atmosphere at times
freezing the mercury, so that it could be used as a bullet. Where
they were near a town or something ca]>able of being held, by a
stretch of fancy, in that light, the sleigh or cariole with its
charmiiiif bolls would bear them over the snow to the social centre.
But for those far withdrawn into the heart of the forest, in miser-
able huts, what a life ! Field labour suspended, no emplo}ment
outside or inside, none of the comforts of a home, hundreds of miles
from a doctor*, far removed from the church-going boll, without

* " It was a melancholy season, one of severe mental and bodily suflfering. Those who
have drawn such agreeable pictures of a re.sideriee in the backwoods never dwell upon
the periods of .sickness wliei "ar from medical advice, and often, as in my case, de])rived
of the assistance of friends by adverse circumstances, you are left to languish, unat-
tended, upon the couch of pain. The day that my hu.sband was free of the fit, he did
what he could for me and his poor sick babes ; but, ill as he was, he was obliged
to sow the wheat to enable the man to proceed with the drag, and was, therefcn-e neces-
sarily absent in the field the greater pari of the day. I was very ill, yet, for hours at
a timo I had no friendly voice to cheer me, to proffer me a drin^v of cold watoi-. or to
attend to the poor oabe ; and worse, still worse, there was no onj to belj> thiit jiale,
marble child, who lay so cold and still, with ' half-clo.sed violet eyes,' as if death had
already chilled his young heart in his iron grasp. There was not a breatl\ of air ii ov.r
close burning bed-closet ; and the weather was sultry beyond all that I liavf '•:ince ex-
perienced. ♦ * » I bad asked of Heaven a son, and there he lay helpless by the
side of his aim )st helpless m )ther. wh > could not lift him up in her arms or still his
cries. * * * Often did I weep myself to sleep andjwake to weep again with reaew mI
anguish. R uighing it in the Bash, such and greater suffering was the fate of thou-
aauds." — Mrs. Moodie.

il '•*!',

■

iiiii

ii|

111

132

THE IRISHMA.N IN CANADA.

the soothing ministrations of religion, exiled from all the sweet
human relations, tho^^e of the family alone excepted ; no school for
the children, a dreary monotony in which note of time is lost, the
news of the world heard of but fitfully, no hope save of the most
humble kind, ambition impossible, an existence not much more
intellectual than that of the wolf which dogs the settler's footseps
ot an evening, stealthy as one of the gathering shadows or the
hog that burrows for an acorn near his shanty. The sacrifice
of thousands of lives in such an existence is the price we pay
for a country made a clear stage for the civic man to play his
part. Occasionally we see great force of int'^llect and character
assert itself in spite of the benumbing surroundings. But to
most Fate says — go work and die and of your fallen bodies make
a bridge over which other men may travel to the fair cities and
country towns, law courts and parliaments, wei' written ne s-
papers, fame and power, and all the noble conflicts of political
manhood. If the settler was refined, as he often was, Scotch and
Irish and English, he found himself brought in contact with coarse
human as well as other coarse coiiditions.

The settler who never went near the woods, but took up his
place in some small tnwn, he too was a pioneer, and often made
great sacrifices, and v/hether he made sacrifices or not., if he played
his part manfully, deserves to have the debt of grat'^uJe paid.

When we first ask ourselves what are the (jualities which make
a man a good settler, we think chiefly of stern perseverance, and
scarcely give a thought to the softer and more winning human
characteristics. Yet very little reflection would have convinced
us that kindness, generosity, good humour, sprightliness and noble-
ness, are of almost more importance in the bush than in the
crowded city. In the city you can hire attention ; in the wilder-
ness you must look to the heart of those you are brought in con-
tact with for it. In the town you can buy amusement and dis-
traction ; in the wood you are thrown on the bent and genius of
those who happen to be your neighbours, your allies, or your
servai.ts.

What sort of a settler should we expect the Irishman to make ?
What work of difficulty and adventure has he ever shrunk from ?
We might hope to see in him more than patient toil an<l family

KINDLY QUALLTIES OF THE IRISH SETTLER.

133

ill the sweet
; no school for
me is lost, the
e of the most
t much more
tier's footseps
tiadows or the
The sacrifice
price we pay
n to play his
and character
lings. But to
1 bodies make
fair cities and
ivritten ne s-
ts of political
as, Scotch and
ict with coarse

it took up his
id often made

if he played
^ade paid.
:8 which make
severance, and
inning human
ave convinced
less and noble-

than in the
in the wilder-
ought in con-
ment and dis-
and genius of
dlies, or your

an to make ?
shrunk from 1
I an<l family

love, and that his gay heart, his wit, his cheerfulness under mis-
fortiines, as well as his generosity in prosperity, would accompany
him to the wilds. Nor did the Irish settler in Canada belie such
hopes, Ivlost of my readers will have read Mrs. Hoodie's graphic
accourt of her sufferings in the bush. Her gallant husband was a
Scotchman ; she is an Englishwoman. Her testimony is, there-
fore, that of an impartial person. From what class of settlers did
she recidve most assistance and most consolation ? It is not too
much to say that seven-eighths of those who helped her husband
and her-stilf efficiently were Irish, and while she had to complain
of the conduct of many, amongst the many there was not one with
Irish blood in his veins. A friend of hers, one Tom Wilson, is
accustomed to put on a false nose. As he walks through the
town with this false nose on, the people cry out: — "What a nose !
Look at the man with the nose ! " But she tells us that a party
of Irish emigrants pass, and, " with the courtesy natural to their
nation," they forbear laughing until the disfigured man, as they
think him, has gone, and then they give full vent to their sense
of the ludicrous. They were gentlemen by nature.

What servants the Irish have proved themselves to be. Many
persons don't like to dwell on the fact that the poor Irishman and
woman have had to earn their bread sometimes by the lowest
service. But I feel no humiliation about that, because all work
seems to me noble, if nobly performed. Did not Apollo serve as
a slave ? Did not Christ say that He had been among His disci-
ples, not as a master but as one that served ? Was not Epictetus
a slave ? And iEsop ? No ! there is nothing disgraceful in serv-
ing, if men serve well and with loyalty, not with eye service, but
with a genuine determination to perform what they do, well. Such
a servant was Jack Monaghan, who did all in his power to sujtply
for Mrs. Moody the loss of a maid-servant ; lighting the fires ;
milking the cows; nursing the baby ; cooking the dinner, and en-
deavouring " by a thousand little attentions to show the grati-
tude he really felt for our kindness ;" attaching himself to little
Katie " in an extraordir aiy manner ;" spending all his spare time
in making little sleighs and toys for her, or dragging the sleigh
he had made and the beloved burden in it, wrapped in a blanket,
up and down the steep hills in front of the house ; his great de-

;#'

..^i i'.jr-'wr^T^wr^-

134

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

..;iiit

i^.fii

light to cook her bread and milk at night, and feed her himself ;
then he would carry her round the floor on his back, and sing her
Irish songs. Touching picture ! This dark-haired, dark-eyed un-
tutored Irish Celt, and the fair-haired Saxon child who always
greeted his return from the woods with a scream of joy, and run-
ning forward to be lifted by him and to clasp his swarthy neck
with her white arms. "I could lay down my life for you," he
would say to her, as he spoke of her love for him and his love for
her. It would be hard to show nobler work done by any emigrant
than was done by honest, loving Jack Monaghan. In the wilder-
ness, over the stumj) of his neglected life, the flowers of the heart
broke forth luxuriantly. The movements of his life were like
melodies ; as is so often the case, the fingers v/hieh touched the
rude keys, and brought out all the music of this apparently rough
nature, were the fingers of a child. There is something truly God-
like about a child in its tenderness and purity, its freedom from
petty care and superiority to our small prejudices, its spontaneous
goodness and its love ; its unwrinkled forehead and unclouded eye
look out on us from eternity on this shore of time, soothing the
distressed spirit and sweetning the brackish waters of the heart.

Then Jack is brave as a lion, and attacked by an enemy of
his and of the Moodies, one Uncle Joe, he springs on his foe, and
makes the big man roar for mercy. His kindness of heart, and
what Mrs. Moodie calls his reckless courage, left him no strong in-
stinct of self-preservation, and when a tree is to be felled, the fel-
ler of which carried his life in his hands, he raises the axe and
cries : " If a life must be sacrificed, why not mine ? " and he com-
mends his soul to God, and plies the axe with vigour.

At the logging bee, who behaved best and were, after they had
done a good day's work, most amusing ? The Irish settlers ; and
Malttchi Chroak takes a pair of bellows and, applying his mouth
to the pipe, works his elbows to and fro as one playing on the
bagpipes ; then he sings a song. " We certainly did laugh our fill,"
says Mrs. Moodie, " at his odd capers and conceits."

Was there ever a more beautiful episode than that trip to Stony
Lake ? And could there be a more charming family than the
Irish Roman Catholic family we are introduced to ? What kind-
liness and pluck and bravery in the men and women ! Ana

*'*'»

AN OLD IRISH DRAGOON.

135

her himself;
and sing her
irk-eyed un-
who always
joy, and run-
warthy neck
for you," he
i his love for
my emigrant
n the wilder-
5 of the heart
life were like
. touched the
irently rough
ng truly God-
freedom from
3 spontaneous
inclouded eye
soothing the
of the heart,
an enemy of
his foe, and
of heart, and
no strong in-
elled.the fel-
the axe and
and he com-

ter they had
settlers ; and
ng his mouth
lying on the
bugh our fill,"

,rip to Stony
lily than the
What kind-
omen ! Ana

" Onld Simpson," or the " Ould Dragoon ! " No wonder Mi-s.
Moodie exclaims : " Happy he who, with the buoyant spirits of
the light-hearted Irishman, contrives to make himself happy even
when all others would be miserable." The old dragoon, with his
wife Judy, lived in bliss, and went on doing his day's work sing-
ing—

"With his silver -mounted pistols, and his long carbine,
Long life to the brave Inniskillen Dragoc

He at once accompanied the stranger who had . ,. t with such
different treatment from others, to help to blaze the side-lines of
a lot of land received as part of a military grant. First, however,
he asks her into the house to take a drink of milk and some
bread and butter. The house ! It was a rude shant}-, in which
all the hinsres were made of leather. There were no windows. The
open door supplied their place in the day-time. His wife gives the
visitor a cordial welcome, and is delighted at the notice taken of
the children. The whole day was occupied with the job, but the
kindly Simpson gave his services with " hearty good will," all
the time, " enlivening us with his inexhaustible fund of good-
humour and drollery." When they got back to the shanty his
wife had an excellent meal prepared for them.

One Irish girl after another proves " invaluable," both in the
house and in the harvest and hay-field.

These hurried references will enable the reader to realize what
kind of qualities, the love, the devotion, the nobleness, the gene-
rosity, the high spirits and good humour, the Irish settler brought
to Canada. And we may well rejoice that such are the character-
istics of the Irishman when we ponder the following facts.

While Carleton was busy as a statesman, countrymen of his
were elsewhere, in humbler but not less useful spheres, occupied
with the work of laying the foundation of what Canada is to-day,
and of the greatness which is in store for her. If we turn to the
" Origins of the People " we find the grand totals to be as follows.
In the four Provinces of Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and
Nova Scotia there are 706,309 of English, .549,946 of Scotch, and
846,414 of Irish origin ; while the numbers professing various re-
ligions are thus classified : Methodists, of which eight kinds are
specified, 567,0&1 ;, Baptists, 237,4.50, though the Baptists proper

'''III! i

l!|M

ii i

)

ii'

m 1

i ■ i

lliii!

'ii'

13G

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

number only 1G5,238, as the Wesleyans proper number but 378,-
543 ; the Catholics 1,492,029 ; the Christian Conference, 15,153 ;
Church of Enoland, 494,049 ; Congregational, 21,829 ; Evangeli-
cal Association, 4,701 ; Irvingite.s, 1,112 ; Lutherans, 37,935 ;
Presbyterians, a good deal more than 500,000 ; Jews, 1,115 ;
Brethren, 4,760. Out of a total population in the four provinces
of 3,485,701, the Protestants number 1,993,732 or a clear majority
of over half a million.

To be more particular. The population of Ontario is 1,020,851,
of which Catholics represent 274,102 ; the Church of England,
330,995 ; the Baptists something like 100,000 ; the Presbyterians,
375,000 ; the Methodists, 370,000 ; the Protestant majority beinjf
1,846,089. Of the 846,414 of Irish origin 572,252 are Protestants

In the English there is a Celtic element. That element pre-
dominates in the Irish and Scotch. It also predominates in the
French ; it is pure in the Welsh. Now what are the facts ? The
people of French origin in Canada numbered in 1871, 1,082,940;
of Welsh, 7,773. Thus more than three millions of the population
of the four provinces are mainly Celtic, without counting the large
Celtic element in the English, and the Spaniards. These last, how-
ever, number only 829, while Switzerland has given us 2,962 ;
Scandinavia, 1,623 ; Russia, G07 : the Italians, 1,035 ; the Ger-
man.s, 202,991 ; the Dutch, 29,662.

If we go over the districts in Ontario we get the following facts.
In the peninsular county, called after the old Saxon colony of
East-Sexe, and having, like it, its Colchester, and for the Thames
and the North Sea, the Detroit River, and Lakes St. Clair and
Erie, in Essex, the proportions of the population, according to
origin, show the English element leading the van, the figures
being, Irish, 5,746 ; English, 7,672 ; Scotch, 2,604 : religion, Cath-
olic, 13,955 ; population, 32,697. In Kent again tlie English
element is in advance, giving 7,743, as agninst 5,714 Iii;-h, and
4,843 Scotch ; the Catholics out of a population of 26,836 number-
ing 5,698. In_^Bothwell the relative precedence is held : Those of
English origin numbering 6,745 ; of Irish, 5,463 ; of Scotch, 4,375 ;
the Catholic element in a population of 26,836, numbering 1,854.
But when we come to Lambton, Lambton of the rich cornfields,
and pleasant Huron shores, the county represented by Mr. Mac-

COMPONENTS OF POPULATION.

137

ber but 378,-
ence, 15,153 ;
!9 ; Evangeli-
i-ans, 37,935;
Jews, 1,115 ;
our provinces
clear majority

is 1,020,851,

1 of England,
Presbyterians,
najority being
•e Protestants'
i element pre-
ainates in the
le facts? The
71,1,082,940;
bhe population
iting the large
hese last, how-
ven us 2,962 ;
)35 ; the Ger-

ollowing facts,
xon colony of
f)r the Thames
St. Clair and
, according to
,n, the figures
eligion, Cath-
tlie English
ri4 Iri.-h, and
6,830 number-
leld : Those of
Scotch, 4,375 ;
iibering 1,854.
ich cornfields,
I by Mr. Mac-

kenzie, the Irish come to the front. The figures are, Irish, 10,389 ;
English, 9,581 ; Scotch, 8,534 : the Catholics numbering 3,467. In
Elgin, St. George once more rushes ahead of St. Patrick and St.
Andrews and the figures show for those of English origin 8,734 ; of
Irish, 4,074 ; of Scotch, 3,572 ; the Catholics numbering 715. Here
there is a considerable representation of the great Teutonic race,
the German element nundjering 3,512, as against 1,342 in Lamb-
ton, 1,407 in Kent, and 2,150 in Essex. In West Middlesex the
figures are : English, 0,420 ; Scotch, 5,078 ;• Irish, 4981 ; the Cath-
olics being only 978. North Middlesex, 5,010 ; 7,044 ; 7,481 ;
Catholics, 3,322. East Middlesex, 9,741 ; 4,750; 8,728; and the
Catholics figuring up to not much more than a fourth of the Irish
population, their- number being 2,024.

Thus in the north the Irish head the list, while in the east and
west the lead belongs to the English, who properly hold the first
place in London, the numbers being, English, 6,693; Irish, 5,379 ;
Scotch, 2,882 ; the Catholics being something between a fourth
and a sixth of the population, the exact number being 2,024. In
Norfolk (South), the figures are: English, 6,060; Irish, 2,502;
Scotch, 2,119 ; of the Catholic religion, 701 : in Norfolk (North),
6,979 ; 2,778 ; 1,060 ; of the Catholic religion, 910. The German
element is strong in the two divisions of Norfolk, aggregating
5,384. In South Oxford the English lement is represented by
10,196 ; the Irish by 5,356 ; the Scotch by 3,861 ; of the Catl-olic
religion, 1,897; while in the north the thistle leads, the figures
being Scotch, 9,013; English, 8,600; Irish, 3,035 ; of the Catholic
religion, 940. In Brant (South ov West), the English count for
9,153 ; the Irish, 4,190 ; the Scotch, 3,184 ; of the Catholic religion,
1,890 ; while in North or East Brant the report is, English, 4,590 ;
Irish, 2,026 ; Scotch, 2,708 ; of the Catholic religion, 1,118.

Now I will run over the districts, giving first the number
of Irish, then the number of Scotch, then the number of Enirlish,
only pausing to comment on .something remarkable. It will be
observed that without any further analysis, jnerely giving the
number of Catholics shows, as compared with the number of Irish,
the relative strength of the two divisions of Irishmen. Haldi-
mand— Irish, 5,855 ; Scotch, 2,088 ; English, 0,406 ; Catholic
religion, 1,705. Monck— Irish, 2,085 ; Scotch, 1,461 ; English,

i '

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138

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

4,047; Catholic religion, 1,017. In Monck the German clement
surpasses either of the otlier, and is represented by 5,028 souls.
Welland— Irish, 4,878; Scotch, 2,094 ; English, 0,223; German,
5,910 ; Catholic religion, 8,040. Niagara — Irish, 1,193 ; Scotch, 540;
English, 1,403 ; German, 414 ; Catholic religion, 053. Lincoln —
Irish, 0,073 ; Scotch, 2,438; English, 5981 ; German, 4,844 ; Catholic
religion, 3,525. South Went worth— Irish, 2,072; Scotch, 2,803; Eng-
lish, 4,787 ; German, ^^,057 ; Catholic religion, 2,500. North Went-
worth— Msh, 5,105; Sootch, 3,082 ; English, 4,070; German, 1,309;
Catholicreligion, 2,500. Hamilton— Irish, 8,900; Scotch, 3,930; Eng-
lish, 9,097 ; Catholic religion, 5,059. South Huron— Irish, 7,793 ;
Scotch, 7,301 ; English, 772 ; German, 3,389 ; Catholic religion,
2,098. North Huron— Irish, 15,947; Scotch, 12,087; English,
8,780 ; German, 1,831 ; Catholic religion, 3,004. Bruce (South)—
Irish, 9,828; Scotch, 11,420; English, 3,077; German, 5,525; Catho-
lic religion, 4,779. Bruce (North)— Irish, 4,750 ; Scotch, 7,094 ;
English, 2,910; German, 875; Catholic religion, 415. Perth,
which has given a name to the Convention which Edward II.
fondly thought the completion of the Conquest and settlement of
Scotland, when Caledonian chivalry rose under Robert Bruce to
rout the English at Bannockburn, reappears in Canada, and
oddly enough contains more Irishmen than Scotchmen; in
South Perth, the Irish element numbering 0,870, and in North,
9,701 ; while the Scotch is represented by 5,222 in the Southern
division, and 4,820 in the Northern; the extent of the English ele-
ment being 0,520 in South, and 2,819 in North Perth ; the Germans
aggregating in the two divisions, 7,710; Catholic- religion in the
two divisions, 5,902. Waterloo, North and South, is strong mainly
in the great Teutonic stem of the Aryan race; in the two divisions,
the Gennan element numbering 22,050 ; while the Irish, Scotch
and English, respectively, 3,220 ; 7,315; 5,050; Catholicreligion,
South, 2,493 ; North, 3,003.

In Wellington the Irish lead once more. For South Wellington
the figures are, — Irish, 3,704 ; Scotch, 4,902 ; English, 4,503 ; Ger-
man, 900 ; C. R., 2,787. Centre Wellington, Irish, 8,447 ; Scotch,
8,314 ; English, 5,980 ; German, 1.171 ; C. R., 2,318. North Wel-
lington, I., 11,770 ; S., 5,281 ; E., 5,890; G., 1,057 ; C. R., 3,731.
In the thriving Town of Guelph, the Irish element is represented

NATIONAL STATISTICS.

139

by 2,125 (of which only 566 are Catholics), as against 1,750 Scotch, .
and 2,755 English. By an odd coinc" lence, just as in Wallace, in
Perth, the Irish element is 1,852, to 383 Scotch, so in Erin,in Centre
Wellington, the Scotch outnumher the Irish, the figures being
2,160 and 1,492. In South Grey we have I., 10,931 ; S., 9,225 ; E.,
4,928; G., 3,790; C. R., 3,275. In North Grey. I., 12,580; S.,
8,326; E., 7,35o ; C. R., 1,050; Halton, I., 8,074; S., 5,108; E.,
6,993 ; G, 1,282 ; C. R., 1,512. Peel, L, 7,484 ; S., 2,140 ; E., 6,037,
C. K, 1,509. Cardwell, I., 11,465; S., 1,823; E., 2,876; C. R.;
2,758. Simcoe, like Cardwell, is very strong in the Irish element,
as the following figures show: — Irish in South Simcoe, 14,593;
S., 2,7S8; E., 5,248; C. R., 1,869. North Simcoe, I., 11,247; S.,
8,468 ; E., 9,161 ; G., 1,254 ; C. R., 6,885. North York, I., 6,826 ;
S., 3,228; E., 10,.50t: G, 2,223; C. R., 2,328. West York, I.,
5,559 ; S., 2,398 ; E., 6,636 ; G., 1,359 ; C. R, 2,180. East York,
1,4,682; S„ 3,206; E., 8,806; C. R., 1,502. Toronto, the Queen
City of Western Canada, is nearly half Irish, the figures being, —
Toronto West, Irish, 13,001 ; Scotch, 4,644 ; English, 11,946 ; C. R.,
5,914. Toronto East, I., 11,100 ; S., 3,568 : E., 9,259 ; C. R., 5,967.
In the two divisions the strong German race numbers 985. In
the two Ontarios the English are first : — South Ontario, I., 4,698 :
S., 3,550 ; E., 10,298 ; C. R., 2,005. North Ontario, I., 7,400 ;
S., 6,417; E., 8,992; G., 811 ; C. R, 3,072. Durham (west), I.,
6,496 ; S., 2,095 ; E., 9,205 ; G., 247 ; C. R., 2,497. Durham (east),
I., 10,746; S., 1,141 ; E., 6,630 ; G., 241 ; C. R., 819. In Durham
there is appropriately a Cavan which contains 3,197 persons with,
the rich Irish blood in their veins, and of which only 26 are
Catholics.

In South Victoria the Irish element swells to 10,519 ; the
Scotch, 2,702 ; the Engli.sh, 5,129; C. R., 4,165. In North Vic-
toria the figures are, I., 23,638 ; S., 3,777 ; E., 2,920 ; C. R.
912. West Northumberland, I., 6,811; S., 2,944 ; E., 6,557 : C. R.,
2,796. East Northumberland, I., 6,583 ; S., 3,209 ; E., 6,714 ; G.,
2,894 ; C. R, 2,781. West Peterborough, I., 5,794 ; S., 1,612 ; E.,
3,354 ; C. R., 3,125. The Town of Peterborough contains no less
than 2,066 of Irish blood, and 1,338 Catholics. East Peterborough,
1,7,774; S., 2,772; E., 3,137; C. R., 3,902. North Peterborongh,
I., 1,709 ; S., 563; E., 1,458; C. R., 481. Prince Edward, I., 5,900;.

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140

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

S., 1,378 ; E., 6,049; G., 4,800 ; Dutdi, 634 ; C. R., 1,500. Hast-
ings (west), I., 4,797; S., 1,572 ; E., 3,990; C. R., 3,350. Hantings
(east), I., 8,324; S., 1,348 ; E„ 3,078 ; C. R., 4,879. Hastings (north),
I., 7,287; S., 2,200 ; E, 3,875; G. 1,266 ; Dutch, 1,014 ; C. R., 2,375.
Lennox, I., 5,244; S., 1,478; E., 4,849; G., 4,649; C. R., 1,418.
AcMington, I., 9,429 ; S., 1,738 ; E., 3,459 ; G., 5,453 ; C. R., 4333.
Frontonac, I., 7,886 ; S., 1,958 ; E., 4,082 ; G., 1,040 ; French, 997 ;
Dutch, 169 ; C. R., 4.479. Thus in Frontenac the Irish are nearly
twice the number of English, and more than four times the Scotch.
In the charming City of Kingston, the figures give I., 6,611 ; S„
l,fi21 ; E., 3 271 ; G., 199 ; French, 363 ; African, 102 ; C. R., 3,980.
Leeds, lying snugly by the St. Lawrence, has a noble Irish popula-
tion of 11,202 ; the Scotch numbering 2,410, and the English,
4,885 ; the German, 1,195 ; the French, 093 ; the Dutch, 101
C. R., 3,035. In pleasant Brockville the figures stand — I., 5,106
S., 1,579 : E., 3,621 ; C. R., 1,904. Grenville, I., 6,761 ; S., 1,907
E., 2,939; G., 408; F., 020; D., 297; C. R., 3,064. Leeds and
Grenville, L, 9,458; S., 1,272; E., 1,817; G., 322; F., 291; D.,
141; C. R., 2,332. Dunda.s, L, 6,541; S. 2,485; E., 1,921; G.,
5,503 ; F., 1,031 ; D., 1,112 ; C. R., 2,382. Stormont, I., 2,708 ; S.,
3,571; E., 804; G., 2,220; F., 1,200; D., 1,203; C. R., 2,306.
Cornwall, I., 1,483 ; S., 2,058 ; E., 757 ; G., 905 ; F., 907; D., 119 ;
(y. R., 3,370. Glengarry has properly a large Scotch population,
the figures being,— I., 1,279 ; S., 15,899 ; E., 509 ; F., 2,007 ; C. R.,
10,404, Prescott, L, 4,055; S., 2,540; E., 1,250; G., 147; F., 9,023 ;
C. R., 11,774. Russell, I., 7,745 : S., 2,870 ; E., 1,551 ; F., 5,000 ;
C. R., 8,831. Ottawa, I., 8.021 ; S., 2,285 ; E., 3,721 ; F., 7,214 ;
C. R., 12,735. Carleton, I., 10,774; S., 2,102; E., 1,700; C. R.,
0,028; South Lanark, I, 11,007; S., 5,334; E., 2,020; F., 455;
C. R., 4,313. North Lanark, I., 5,500; S., 5,539; E., 1,194; F.,
410 ; C. R., 2,340. South Renfrew, L, 6,616 ; S., 4077; E., 1,287;
F., 1,266; G., 620; C. R., 6,347. North Rcxifrew, I., 6,949 ; S.,
2,070; K, 1,371; F., 1,616; G., 1,698; C. R., 4,712. Nipissing
(north and south), I., 509 ; S., 92 ; E., 122 ; F., 473 ; C. K, 778
south, and 640 north. Muskoka, I., 1,631 ; S., 1,027 ; E., 2,235 ;
G., 321 ; C. R., 239. Parry Sound, L, 461 ; S., 266; E.,306 ; C. R.,
247. Manitoulin, L, 110; S., 127 ; E., 132 ; C. R., 1,329. Algoma,
L, 276; S., 552; E., 237; C. R., 2,027. Totals for Ontario, Irish,

QUEBEC AND LOWER PROVI^'CES.

141'

1,500. Hast-

0. Hastings
tingH (north),
; C. R., 2,375.
C. R., 1,418.
; C. R., 4333.
French, 997;
?h are nearly
is the Scotch.
I., G,G11 ; S„
1 C. R., 3,980.
Irish popula-
the English,
Dutch, 101
cl— I., 5,106

1 ; S., 1,907
Leeds and
F., 291 ; D.,
., 1,921; G.,

1, 2,708 ; S.,
C. R., 2,366.
67; D., 119 ;

population,

2,607; C.R.,

'7;F., 9,623;

; F., 5,000 ;

; F., 7,214 ;

,700 ; C. R.,

; F., 455 ;

„ 1,194; F.,

7; E., 1,287;

,6,949; S.,

Nipissing

; C. R., 778

; E., 2,235 ;

.,30G;C. R.,

9. Algoma,

itario, Irish,

559,442; Scotch. 328,889; English, 439,424. C. R., 274,102. Thu.-^
in Ontario, the Irish are as five to three to Scotchmen and persons
of Scotch descent ; and as five to four as regards tho^e of English
Mood ; and the Protestant Irish are nearly double the Catholic.

When we come to the Province of Quel)ec we find the Irish
element the strongest after the French. Pontiac (south), I., 8,239;
S., 1,897; E.,910; F., 8,195. Pontiac (north), I., 123; S.,08; E„44;
F., 260. Ottawa (west), I., 8,605; S., 1,298; E., 1,508; F., 11,531.
Ottaw", (centre), I., 1,376; S., 320; E., 550; F., 7,054. Ottawa
(east), I., 1,119 ; S., 614 ; E., 286. Argenteuil, 1,4,080 S., 3,213;
E., 1,443; F., 3.902. Deux Montagnes, I., 770; S., 348; E., 96;
F., 13,972.

It is unnecessary to go much further into details as regards
Quebec. In Montreal, the Irish element is very strong. In Mont-
real (centre), I., 969; S., 341; E.,479; F., 3,224. Montreal (east),
I., 6,013; S., 1,580, E.,3,307; F., 35,569. Montreal (west), I., 19,394;
S., 7,974; E., 9,099; F., 18,063. Thus in Montreal west, the Irish
element is stronger than the French. In Huntingdon also, those
of Irish, are more numerous than those of French blood. Hun-
tir.g.'on, (east), I., 4,112; S., 1,292; E., 825; F., 2,383. Huntingdon
(wc-.:), I., 2,274; S., 1,892; E., 208; F., 2,541. In Quebec, as indeed
in most cities the Iiish are again numerous, the figures being I.
12,345; S., 1,861 ; E., 3,974; F., 40,890. The totals for the Province
of Quebec show L, 123,478; S., 46,458; E., 69,822; F., 929,817; G.,
7,963; C. R. 1,019,850. Of the 71,666 protestants, 62,449 belong to
the Church of England.

In the Province of New Brunswick the Irish element ranks
first. St. John I., 20,128; S., 5,785; E., 13,772; C. R., 17,829. In the
City of St. John separately I., 15,605; S , 3,2841; E., 8,557; C. R.,
9,999. Charlotte, 1,10,154'; S., 4,319; E.,10,783; C.R.,3.828. Kings
whose undulating hills and green valleys recall Ireland, the figures
are 1. 10,841, S., 2,705 ; E., 8,279; G., 1,186; C. R., 3,522. Queens, I.
5,409; S., 2,142; E., 4,842; C.R., 1,331. Sunbury, I, 2,655; S.,552;
E., 2,839; C. R., 1,031. York I., 9,095; S., 3,917; E., 9,577; C. R.,
4,388. Carleton,I.,7,541;S., 2.570; E., 8,197; C.R.,2.416. Victoria,
I., 1,696; S., 955; E., 1,509; C. R., 8,270. It is not necessary to go
further into particulars. Enough to state that the totals of New
Brunswick areas follows ; I., 100,643; S., 40,858; E., 83,59

ll i

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I: 'M

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l|!l!

WrU

142

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

41.,<>07; G. 4,478; Dutch 0.005; Welsh 1,()UG; Africana 1,701; C. U.,
y(),016.

In Halifax City the Irish predominate, the figures bein*,' I.,
n.OOr); S,, 4,817; E., 0,720; G., 1,4G9; C. R, 12,431. The totals for
the whole of Nova Scotia are I., 02,851; S., 120,041; E, 118,520;
G., 21,042; F., 32,833; Dutch 1208; African 0,212; C. R., 102,001.

In Piince Edward the nuniljcr of persons of Irish blood Is 31,000;
S., 25,484 ; E., 21,878. In Manitol)a the Irish element is not yet
.strong. But in due time, side by side with the Scotch ajid English,
men of Irish blood are destined to pcjssess those fertile regions.
In Eiitish Columbia then; are no statistics to hand. In New-
foumlland the number of persons l)orn in Ireland is nearly double
that of those bom in Scotland or in England. The population
is 1 10,530, and what the proportion of Irish blood is it is not easy
to say, but it is safe to assume that it is very large.

Newfoundland, which will, I hope, soon make part of the Do-
minion, is the first British colony estal)lished on this continent,
and is supposed to have been discovered in the tenth century by
Biarne, son of Heriulf Bardson.* But the first discovery, generally
considered historical, is that of Cabot, whom King Henry VII

* Newfoundlaml is the oldest Colony of (ireat liritain in America, having l)een taken
|)0.s.sesHion of by John and Seba.stian C^abot for King Henry Sevt.ith, in the year 1407
and called Baccalaos, the word used for cod fish ))y the natives, 'i' here is every reasoii
to believe, however, that it was discovered long before, viz., in 1001, by Biron or ^Morn
who named that £).irt where he landed Winland ; he was a Norman ; on liis return he
told of his discovery. "Lief," son of " Eric Redhead," immediately fitted out a vessel
with thirty-five men, and taking Biorn with him, set out for the newly-discovered
country. Afterwards settlements were made from Greenland and Iceland ; it even
api>ears that a Bishop was stationed there. Eric, Bishoji of Greenland, having g(meto
Winland in 1121, where it is supposed he died. Sub8e(iuont adventurers discovered Latin
books in possession of one of the chiefs, supposed to have belonged to the Bishop. The
Island was subsecjuently called Estotiland. According to Anspach's History there is no
doubt that Winland, Estotiland, and Newfoundland, are the same country. The native
Indians, now extinct, or nearly so, are supposed to be degenerate descendants of the
Norman settlers ! In 1.583, Sir Humphrey Gilbert took possession of the harbour of
St Johns, in the presence of all the ships there, in the name of Queen Elizabeth, and
established a colony. Colonies were afterwards established there by Sir George Calvert
ill the reign of James First— one of his (Calvert's) principal men, Daniel Powell, was,
an liishman ; by the Marquis' of Hamilton, in time of Charles First. Lord Falkland
(Gary) in 1C20, sent a colo^v of Irishmen there, but one cannot find their names. John
Gray, a merchant of Bristol, made a good settlement in 1608 ; but then the great and
chief inducement was the fisheries; gradually the country was found not to be the
barren spot represented.— See Anspach's History.

^1^

SETTLEMENTS IN NEWFOUNDLAND.

143

1,701; O.K.,

ires being I.,
'he totals for
E, 118,520;
R., 102,001.
jod is 81,000;
nt is not yet
and English,
irtile regions,
d. In New-
learly double
lo population
it is not easy

•t of the Do-
lls continent,
h century by
jry, generally
^ Henry VII

chagiii' '<! at his own want of adventure in refusing to aid (Jolum-
buH, despatched in the May of 141)7 on a voyage of discovery.
Then follow the visits of the Portuguese Cor te real in 1500; of the
French Verazzani in 1525 ; of Jac(iues (^artier in 1584. In 1583,
Sir Humphrey Gilbert, the n)ost interesting of English adventurers,
who had the gallantry and charm ot liis half-brothei, Sir Walter'
Raleigh, landed at St John's, took possession of the island in
the name of Queen Elizabeth, and ere returning on that voyage,
in which he was to meet his doom, promulgated laws. In IGIO,
Guy attempted to e,staV)lisli a colony at Conception Bay, and in
1CI;'> Captain Whitlxmrne took steps to introduce law among the
population. Other settlements followed, and in 1728 Newfound-
lank, released from the nominal control of Nova Scotia, was
erected into a separate province. In most of these settlements
there must have been a proportion of Irish, as in 1753, out of a
total po])ulation of 13,112, part of which, however, was migrati)ry,
there were 1,795 Catholics, chiefly Irish.

In 1784, a great stimulus was given to Irish emigration to
Newfoumlland by the Rev. Father O'Donnell, a native of Tip-
perary, who had been educated at Prague, and who was attracted
by the toleration prevailing on those shores to leave his ntitiNo
countiy, and settle with his people, beyond that ocean, w^liich
seemed to the men of those days so dividing. This learned divine
was appointed, in 1790, Roman Catholic Bishop of the island.
For aiding General Skerret in putting down a nnitiny among a
regiment raised there — a mutiny which was only i)art of a
wide-spread disaffection, instinct with the principles and feel-
ings of 1708 — the bishop was granted by the Imperial Govern-
ment an annuity of £50 sterling. Among the Irishmen who have
risen to prominence here, D'Arcy ^''cGee mentions tlie Hon. L.
O'Brien, who administered the Province, Chief -Justice Brady, the
Hon. Mr. Kent ;,ud the Hon. Mr. Shea, both of whom became
premiers.

Bonn}'castle writes that " more than one-half of the people are
Irish ; so much so indeed as, considering the verdure of the earth,
the absence of reptiles, the salubrity of the air, and peculiar
adaptation of the soil to the growth of the potato, to tempt one
very c. ien to call it ' Transatlantic Ireland.' " The same author

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144

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

says : " The Irish arc an excitable race, which they themselves do
not aifect to deny ; they are easily led, but difficult to drive. But
the good qualities of the Irish peasant abroad are very prominent,
and here in Newfoundland they are so busily employed during a
great part of the year, in very small and detached sections, that
they have no time to think about politics, or about anything else
but getting their bread for themselves and their families, to pro-
vide in time for a long, severe and serious winter. I declare, and
I am sure I shall be borne out by every class of people in this
country, and by all those whose domicile is a mero transient one,
that a more peaceable, respectable, loyal, or a kinder-hearted race
than the Newfoundland English and Irish, whether emigiants or
native born, I never met with,"

Party political and religious spirit, however, ran high in the
island. Many old country merry-making customs were kept up
by the Irish population, amongst others. Bonny castle particularizes
that of the boys on St. Stephen's Day, going round from door to door
with a green bush decorated with ribbons, &c., and containing
a little bird to represent the wren, while they sing —

' The wren, the wren, the king of all birds,
On St. Stephen's Day was caught in the firs."

St. Patrick's Day is also regularly celebrated. Both Protestants and
Catholics generally unite, in compliment to each other, in observ-
ing the days of their respective saints, namely St. George and St.
Patrick. " But the devotion," says Anspach, " with which the
latter is honoured by the sons of Erin is by far the greater of the
two." They also kept up the Sheelagh's Day. This is the day
for getting sober.

The religious bodies in Newfoundland consist of the Church of
England, the Roman Catholic, the Presbyterian, the Independent,
and the Methodist Churches. The Church of England and the
Roman Catholic are by much the largest. The former was estab-
lished by the " Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in
Foreign Parts," and the mission in Newfoundland was one of the
original objects of its care. William III., Prince of Orange, was
the father and founder of this Society, which has since spread and
done so much good. In the list of clergy of the Church oi Eng-

SIR THOMAS COCHRANE.

land, in 1842, several Iiish names appear. Amongst the namesof
governors of the island are a few Irish ones, and the most pros-
perous administration, up to 1842, was that of Sir Thomas Coch-
lane, who was appointed in 1826. His administration was a vig-
orous one, and he has the merit of having opened roads in the
vicinity of the capital, and of directing great improvements in
the town itself, Avhilst the cultivation of the soil consequent upon
his indefatigable zeal in forming internal communications, began to
be attended to, the wheat began to yellow the landscape, and good
pasturage was provided for horses, cattle, and sheep. He built a
Government-house of solid stone. Vigilant, .arseeing, politic and
princely, ho retained his office until 1834, bestowing upon it
great and unwearied attention, and displaying a magnificence in
his vice-regal functions before unknown. In 1835, he obtained a
new commission with very extensive powers, and was constituted,
in point of fact and law, the first civil governor.

In 1830, the venerable and much beloved bishop of the Roman
Catholic Church, the Irish Dr. Scallan died, universally lamented.
He was succeeded by Dr. Fleming.

The first newspaper in Newfoundland was printed by an Irish-
man. The Royal Oazette and Ketvfoundland Advertiser was pub-
lished on the 27th August, 1807, by Mr. John Ryan, and continued
up to 1842 at all events, (the date of Bonnycastle's History) as the
official Government paper under the title of the Royal Oazette.
Mr. Ryan had then Mr. Withers associated with him at St. Johns.
The oldest Benevolent Association on the Island is the Benevo-
lent Irish Society, which was founded in 180G.

Soon after the cession of Nova Scotia to the British Crown, at
the j)ressing request of the New England Colonies, the British
Government ottered free grants of land to th . military men who
should elect to settle there ; a free passage, together with tools,
arms and rations for a year, being proffered as an inducement.
On the 2l8tof June, 1840, four thousand disbanded soldiers, under
Governor Cornwallis, arrived in Chebucto Harbour, and com-
menced the settlement of that town, which has since grown into
a great city, with churches and cathedrals, with banks and
school-houses, spacious public buildings, a score or more of

hotels, stores which would take rank as specimens of architecture
10

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146

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

in London, great manufactories, and a dockyard which covers
fourteen acres. Over the splendid harbour alive with shipping,
frown eleven different fortifications. It is the chief naval
station of Canada, Two regiments of the line, besides artillery
and engineers are always stationed here. Opposite the city stands
the Town of Dartmouth, one of the prettiest in the world. The
Hceneiy is beautiful, and the natural beauty is enhanced by pretty
villas along the shore. An extensive steam communication con-
nects Halifax with various parts of Continental Canada, Prince
Edward Island, Newfoundland, the United States, the West
Indies and Great Britain. From east and west run admir-
able lines of railway. It has a population of some thirty-three
thousand, and the value of its assessed property cannot be much
less than S20,0()0,()00. The aggregate of its imports and ex-
ports is not at present much below 818,000,000. Of the four
thousand veterans, who thus early laid the foundation of the
Liverpool of the Atlantic coast, a considerable number were
undoubtedly Irish. The foundation of the City of Halifax was
laid in 174)9. Ten years after this, it was described in a contem-
porary account as divided into " Halifax proper, Irishtown, or the
Southern, and Dutchtown or the northern suburbs." At this
period the inhabitants numbered three thousand, one-third of
whom were Irish. The President of the Irish Charitable
Society was in 1755 appointed one of His Majesty's Council for
the Province of Nova Scotia.

If we examine the old books we shall find the fact that Nova
Scotia was largely settled by Irishmen made clear. A book called
" Nova Scotia Archives," gives a long list of the first settlers and
among the names wefind Neil,0'Neil,Fitzgibbon,Flynn,Cavanagh,
Casey, Ryan, Fitzgerald, Whelan, Blake, Mooney, Connor, Owen,
Magrath, Moore, Donahoe, Doyle, Sullivan, Kennedy, Farrell,
Plunkett, Connolly and many others, undoubtedly Irish. Mur-
doch in his "History of Nova Scotia," gives many Irish names
some of them belonging to men who played a prominent part in
the government of that Province. Amongst the Justices of Peace
and Agents to assign lands to settlers at Shelburne, appear the
names of James McEwan, Peter Lynch, William C. White, Patrick
Wall and Michael Langan ; amongst the Privy Council for 1789

ST. Patrick's day in nova scotia, 1796.

147

we find the Hon. Thomas Cochran and the Hon. Charles Morris.
Either Morris or his son was afterwards President of the Irish
Society. Mathew Cahill was Sheriff of Halifax that year, and a
levee was held at the Government house on St. Patrick's day.
Hon. Thomas Cochran amongst others was appointed a trustee of
a Grammar School to be forthwith erected. This was, without
doubt the first ever built in Halifax. Wm. Cochran, of Trinity
College, Dublin, was chosen its first master.

On St. Patrick's day in 1796 a levee was held at the Qovenvtuent
House. About 5 P. M., the Irish Society's dmner took place at
Gallagher's. H. R. H. Prince Edward Sir John Wentworth, some
members of the Council, the Speaker and several members of the
House a V,; ended as guests.

In thc^ Ualifax Journal of Novenj.bei, 1799, we learn that the
Rev. J. Murdoch died at Musquodoboit, on Thursday, 21st of
November, aged 55 years, that he was a native of Ireland and
came over to the Province 32 years before, in 1767, as Presbyterian
minister for Cumberland. He had been settled about eight years
at Musquodoboit. His death was much lamented by the inhabi-
tants of that settlement and by his family, he having left a widow
and ten children. The historian mentions in a note that the old
gentleman was his gi-andfather.

Rev. Geo. Wright, aged 67, who was long the Head Master of the
Halifax Grammar School, died in 1819. He was Missionary of
the Round Church, North Suburbs, and Chaplain to the Garrison
of Halifax. He was an Irishman, and, says the obituary, " a most
assiduous and conscientious instructor of youth." He had been
trained at TriiJty College, Dublin.

On St. Patrick's day, 1811, the members of the Irish Society
celebrated the anniversary of the Saint, by dining with a large
number of guests at the Masonic Hall. His Excellency, the
Lieutenant-Governor, and Major-General Balfour, with their re-
spective suites, Commissioner Inglefield, the Hon, the Judge of the
Vice-Admirality Court, the Commissary-General, the Captains of
the Navy, the Garrison staff, and others were among the guests.
The company sat down to dinner at half -past five. The Hon.
Charles Morris, President ; S. H. George Esq., acting as Vice-
President. After the cloth was removed, upwards of forty toasts

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148

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

were given, mostly V^umpers,' among which were: " The memory of
the Pious St. Patrick ; " " Our Venerable King, may the prayers
of liis loyal people be heard ; " " The Prince of Wales and the
British Constitution ; " " The Duke of Clarence and the Navy ; "
" The Duke of Kent and the Knights of St. Patrick ; " '• The Queen
and the rest of the Royal Family ; " " The land we live in, and
may it long be governed by its present benefactor, and may health
and happiness ever attend him."

His Excellency thanked tiic Company for the honour done him.
He considered the prosperity of the Province due, next to the in-
dustry of its inhabitants, to the effects of the wise and beneficent in-
structions of his Sovereign, which it was his happy lot to execute,
and after representing in glowing colours the achievements of
the British army in Spain and Portugal, and the heroic virtues of
its commander-in-chief, gave as a toast " Lord Wellington," which
was drunk with three times three, and the most enthusiastic
applause. After that came, " The General and the Garrison ; "
" Admiral Sawyer and the squadron under his command."

His Excellency and most of the principal guests retired at nine
o'clock. "The rest of the company," says the reporter of the Halifax
Gazette, " sat to a very late hour." It is to be feared they had a
bad head-ache the next morning.

The Right Rev. Dr. Edmund Burke, who died in 1820, in the
78th year of his age, was an Irishman, having been born in the
County Kildare. He was Parish Priest of the Town of Kildare,
'vl'.ich he vacated at the frequent and earnest solicitations of some
ot the Professors of the Seminary of Quebec, and arrived in Lower
Canada the 2nd of August, 1780. There he officiated as a clergy-
man, and taught the higher branches of mathematics and philoso-
phy, with great credit to himself and benefit to the students who
crowded to hear the lectures of a man celebrated in the University
of Palis as exceeding most men of his day in mathematical science,
as also in the classics. He was particularly strong in the Greek
and Hebrew languages. He taught in Quebec until Lord Dor-
chester appointed him, as a faithful and capable person, to reconcile
the many powerful tribes of Indians inhabit: iig the country about
Lake Superior and the back of the Ohio and Louisiana, who at
that time manifested dispositions very hostile to the British

A GREAT MISSIONARY.

149

J memory of
the prayers
ales and the
the Navy ; "
'• The Queen
5 live in, and
I may health

ur done him.
'xt to the in-
oeneficent in-
)t to execute,
lievements of
oic virtues of
igton," Avhich
, enthusiastic
le Garrison ; "
nand."

etired at nine
Df the Halifax
ed they had a

1820, in the
1 born in the
rn of Kildare,
ations of sonic
■ived in Lower
;d as a clergy-
s and philoso-
students who
.he University
latical science,
in the Greek
itil LordDor-
m, to reconcile
country about
isiana, who at
to the British

Government. Among these savage tribes of Indiana he resided
six or seven years, suffering great privations, nor did he return
until he had fully accomplished the object of his mission. He in-
structed the benighted Indian in the principles of the Christian
religion, and impressed on his mind a knowledge of the true
God, by whose assistance he inculcated into his savage mind
sentiments of loyalty, obedience, and lasting friendship for his
great, worldly father, King George the Third. Government re-
warded those important services by granting Dr. Burke a pension
for life. His vanity would have been excited, if he had any, by
the sincere and cordial friendship of the Duke of Kent, ai^ also
of every military and naval officer who successively commaiaded
in British America during his time, all of whom entertained such
an opinion of his sound judgment and zealous loyalty, as to con-
sult him on the most important points of their intended opera-
tions brfore they put them into execution. His advice and opinion
during the war of 1812 were greatfully acknowledged by the
two men who were then in command, and by them honourably
reported to His Majesty's Ministers; who, in approbation of Dr.
Burke's loyalty and learning, used their influence with the See of
Rome to appoint him Bishop of Sion and Vicar Apostolic in Nova
Scotia. The historian describes him as a tall, handsome, grave-
looking man. Latterly he stooped a little in walking. His man-
ners were cheerful, urbane and easy.

In 1821, Lawrence Kavanagh was returned to the Assembly for
Cape Breton. He was a Roman Catholic, and would not subscribe
the declaration against transubstantiation, although willing to
take the State oaths. He therefore did not take his seat. The
following year, 1822, on the 25th February, a resolution was
moved to the effect that a large number of the inhabitants of
Cape Breton were Roman Catholics, and that Lawrence Kavanagh,
one of the two members they had chosen to represent them, was
of that creed ; that though willing to take the State oaths, he could
not conscientiously subscribe the declaration against transubstan-
tiation ; that he should be permitted on taking the former oaths
to sit in the House until His Majesty's pleasure should be known,
provided the Lieutenant-Governor approved .

This resolution was lost, 13 voting for and 17 against it.

nil

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A) ' '

150

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

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Amongst the nays were the names of Roach and O'Brien. These
voted against the motior tearing their friends were too precipitate.
In 1827, Lawrence Kavanagh was again elected and still refused
to sign the declaration. The Assembly met 1st February, but he
was absent. On Feb. 26th, the Catholic petition, praying that an
address be presented to His Majesty by the House to dispense
with the declaration and test oaths, was presented by Mr, Uni-
acke, member for Cape Breton, and a resolution moved by him in
accordance therewith was seconded by Judge Haliburton and
ably spoken to by both. This no doubt had some effect. But
the King's message absolving Catholics from the declaration was
on its way. Accordingly we find that Lawrence Kavanagh was
sworn in on 2nd April. The Roman Catholic petition was headed
by one Mr. CaiToll, who is referred to in Judge Haliburton's
speech as his " old friend." The draft of the petition is in the
hand-writing of Lawrence O'Connor Doyle.

We have just seen in what a liberal and enlightened manner
the Catholics were treated in Nova Scotia. Their religion, pro-
scribed by statute, was long tolerated by Governors more sagacious
than tlie law. In 1763, a large and prosperous colony from the
north of Ireland settled in Nova Scotia, and brought with them
their household gods. They were Presbyterians to a man, and
named the new settlement Londonderry. In the following year,
large numbers of Irish Presbyterians were expelled from New Eng-
land. The traveller who sails along the indented coast of the County
of Cumberland, will see many a white sheet spread to the wind.
He will enter spacious harbours. When he explores the country,
he will be .struck by pleasant homesteads, to which the Cobequid
mountain forms a picturesque back-grouiid. He will visit a large
and thriving mining population, who work the richest coal mines
of the Province" He will observe thousands of grindstones manu-
factured from the underlying rock, and expoi'ted in vast quantities
to the United States. He will discover that the country abounds in
gypsum. If it is summer, the eye will re.st on fields white with a hay
crop, yielding annually $1 .■'>00,()00. He will find here flourishing,
a population of twenty-four thousand. The rugged ridge shuts
out the sea from the levt.ls of Colchester, supporting a population
equally large. Hants with its beautiful mountain, and smiling

IRISH COLONISATION OF NOVA SCOTIA.

151

rien. These
precipitate,
still refused
uaiy, but he
ying that an

to dispense
by Mr, Uni-
jd by him in
iburton and

effect. But
laration was
vanagh was

was headed
Haliburton's
ion is in the

ined manner

eligion, pro-

tre sagacious

ny from the

t with thein

a man, and

owing year,

n New Eng-

the County

lO the wind.

/he country,

le Cobequid

visit a large

coal mines

;ones manu-

t (quantities

abounds in

i with a hay

flourishing,

ridge shuts

population

and smiling

valleys, and its hills of gypsum, supports a population of twenty-
two thousand. An ecjual number subsists and flourishes amid the
scenes of Longfellow's " Evangeline," the rich agricultural county
of King's, with its comfortable and wealthy farms, its charm-
ing scenery, its commandiag views, all the glory of Grand
Pr<;, all the picturesqu'.i sublimity which fills the soul as we
gaze from the top of Horton. One hundred and ten years ago,
these great and thriving counties were a wildernes.s, when the ex-
pelled Irish Presbyterians from New England, axe and Bible in
hand, set about the work of transformation. Later on, at the
outbreak of the first American war, Irish loyalists came to their
aid. Later still, when the guns of the second were being stowed
away in armouries, Irish military men, the oflicer and the private,
were impelled by the love of independence, when their regiments
were disbanded at Halifax, to betake themselves to the bush. The
Irish, including both Presbyterians and Catholics, formed in 1827,
at the very lowest, a full half of the population. According to
the census of 1861, the total population of Nova Scotia was 380,-
849, of which 80,281 were Catholics, all of Irish descent. 75,788
representing Colchester, Cumberland, Hants, and King's, were the
descendants of the great fathers, who grappled with the wild
a century before. Thus, looking at Presbyterian and Catholic
Irish alone the proportion was sustained. We can only guess at
the Irish element in the remainder of the population, but it could
not be contemptible. In the census of 1871, the total given as of
Irish origin is 62,851; figures which show how untrustworthy
the table entitled the "Origins of the People ' is, considered in any
light of accuracy. The foible of many persons to describe them-
selves as of English descent, and similar foibles are well known.
The absurdity of these figures, in the light of historical facts,
will be made more clear, when we state chat the number given as
of Iriih origin in the City of Halifax alone, is 29,098, D'Arcy
McGee loved to point out that a large proportion of the first names
in Nova Scotia belonged to either Protestant or Catholic Irish.
Among the former, lead the Inglis,' Cochrans, Heads, Uniackes ;
among the latter, the Kavanaghs, Boyles, Tobin«, Kenneys, O'Con-
nors, Doyles, and others. Long before the Emancipation Act, Mi-
chael Kavanagh's sitting for Cape Breton, was connived at. Mr.

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15^

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

O'Connor Doyle was admitted to practise as a barrister. Since
those days, such names as Walsh in law, and Compton in litera-
ture, appear.

We are able, owing to the industry and research of Mr. Thomas
Millar, of Truro, to give something like an accurate idea of the
part the Irish took in building up, at least, one county ; and from
one case a general inference must be drawn. On the i)th Octolier,
1761, Colonel Alexander McNutt, agent of the British Government,
arrived in Halifax, with upwards of three hundred settlers from
the north of Ireland. In less than a week they were landed on
w^hat is now called McNab's isl and. Throughout the following months
they remained about Halifax. Having, during the winter, endured
considerable hardship, in the spring of 1762 some went to Horton,
some to Windsor, some to Londonderry, some to Onslow, and
others to Truro. In the year, 1765, the inhabitants of Truro ob-
tained a grant of land from the Government, among the gran-
tees being Alexander Millar, the grandfather of the author of the
book referred to above, and the youngest son of Alexander Millar,
who, with his wife and children, emigrated from Belfast, in the
year 1718. The Millars are a large family now in Nova Scotia.
Alexander Millar, born in Truro, April 22nd, 1769, was one of the
first and ablest advocates of Total Abstinence, in Nova Scotia. In
his address in 1834, to the Society of which he was Vice-President,
he said: he wished to put on record what he had witnessed in re-
gard to the traffic in the use of ardent spirits. In 1773, there was one
barrel of rum sold in Truro; the next year, one puncheon ; the next,
three puncheons; the ratio of increase going forward, until in 1831 ,
sixty puncheons were sold. In the early days, the people of Truro
were famed for their sobriety ; they were sober, orderly and hospi-
table; but as the trade increased, and with it the use of ardent spirits,
the people generally sank in reputation, and many of the most le-
spectableaiP">ng them fell before the destroyer. Total abstinence
was the only way <i^ defeating the "adversary." Two years befoie,
only eighteen persons were found to embrace this principle. A year
after the commencement of the movement, the number stood at
133; the figures rising in twelve months more to 175. The evi-
dence of thousands who had made the experiment, was conclusive
against moderate drinking. It was presumption for any man to

THE CREELMANS AND THE ARCHIBALDS.

15a

er. Since
Q in litera-

Ir. Thomas
dea of the
; and from
th OctoV)er,
avernment,
ttlers from
! landed on
ing months
er, endured
. to Horton,
nslow, and
if Truro ob-
the gran-
thor of the
ider Millar,
iast, in the
ova Scotia,
i one of the
Scotia. In
i-President,
essed in iv-
ere was one
; the next,
itilinl831,
)le of Truro
and hospi-
lent spirits,
le most I'e-
aljstinence
Bars before,
Die. A year
ir stood at
. The evi-
conclusive
my man to

■I

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■i
I

think he could follow with impunity that path of ruin. Nor
was he without help from other Irishmen. In 1756, three
brothers, Samuel, Matthew, and Francis Creelman, emigrated
from Ireland to Nova Scotia. Samuel settled in Upper Steviack,
Couilty of Colchester ; the other two elsewhere; and all grew pros-
perous. One of the sons of Sanniel was called after himself. He
liad six sons, the second of whom, William Creelman, was
the father of the Hon. Sanniel Creelman, and the fourth, the
grandfather of one of the law firm of Macarthy, Hoskin,
Plumb, & Creelman, Toronto. William Creelman was a delegate in
18;J2, from Upper Steviack, asking the county sessions from the
( 'ounty of Colchester not to grant a license to any person to sell
spirituous liquors. When the petitions were read, there was a ma-
jority of the justices in favour of not granting licenses. But the
piesiding judge was dissatisfied with the opinion expressed by the
ju.stices.

In I7G2, the founders of the Archibald family arrived from Ire-
land. David Archibald was a leading man in society, and was the
first Justice of the Peace settled in Trui-o. He was also thj first
who represented the Truro Township in Parliament. He took
his seat, June 5th, 1766. His name stands at the head of the
list of elders of the Presbyterian Congregation, chosen in the sum-
mer of 177w. He seems to have been of a somewhat stern character.
When a man was brought before him for theft, his sentence was
" that the thief should be tied to a cart and driven from the hill
across the river-dam round the parade and back to the hill again,
and that the driver should use the whip more freely on the thief
than on the horse." He was forty-five years old when he arrived
in Nova Scotia, having been born in Londonderry on the 2()th
September, 1717. He was married to Elizabeth Elliott on May
19th, 1741. His eldest son Samuel was born the following year.

This man's career was somewhat varied and unhappy, though
he nuist have had a happy humour. Born, like his father in
Londonderry, he became member for Truro Township in the
House of Assembly, was indeed elected twice in 1775, and again
in 1777. " He was," says his biographer " full of sport," and we get
the following instance. On one occasion, when a number of men
were engaged dyking in the marsh, the men, as was the cus-

fr-1

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I >

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'-III

l.H

THE IRISHMAN IN CIANADA.

torn in those days, took their drain in the middle of the after-
noon, and lay down to have a little rest. They all fell asleep,
whereupon Archibald took every man's spade, and fastened each
one of them down to the marsh by the queue of his hair. In 1770
he started for the West Indies with a cargo of V>oards and horses.
When on his way to the Bay he rode up to the shop door of one
John Smith, and sai<l to him : " Come, Smith, let us take a parting
drop." When Smith was about to take the drop, Archibald
.snatched the bottle away, and rode off laughing. In fact the
bottle contained ti.sh oil. "While he was in the West Indies,'' w
are told, "he received foul treatment from a British officer, and
died there .suddenly, leaving a widow and six young children."

David Archibald, the father of this man, and whose career has
been already glanced at as the founder of the Archibalds, was
assisted in this work by three brothers. How much they and
theirdescendants must have done for Nova Scotia may be gathered
from the fact that it takes nearly eighty pages demi-octavo to
recount the number and exploits, the marrying and giving in
marriage, of the Archibalds.

Among those who came in the ship " Hopeweli," under the
guidance of Colonel McNutt, was Robert Barnhill, with his wife,
his son, and three daughters, with their husband.^ and families.
This family also contributed their .share to peopling the waste, as
is evidenced by their descendants, the Barnhills, Deyarmonds,
Bairds, &;c. Another family brought out by the " Hopewell " was
that of James Crow, consisting of six sons and one daughter.

Earlier than the " Hopewell," came what is known as the
" starved ship." She arrived in 1760, having many Irish emi-
grants on board. She was so scantily supplied with provisions
that, long before the voyage was over, each passenger was put on
an allowance of one pint of oatmeal and a little water. A Mr. Fisher
begged from the mate a tablespoonful of water, which was
refused him, there 1 leing but two thirds of ^ bottle on board.
The man used to moisten a spoonful of oatmeal with salt water, ami
so eat it. In this manner passengers and crew existed for fourteen
days. At last they saw with ^ndeous joy death seize on the
weaker ones among them. Fis. must have recalled all he had

THE STARVED SHIP.

15o

heard of the Siego of DeiTj', as over the covetous repast he and
his ft'llowH hung.

" Part waH divided, part thrown in the sea,

And micli things an the entrails and the Vtrains
Ke((aied two sharkH, who followed o'er the billow "

Sailors and passengers ate the .-est. At last even this resource
failed. In fact, the weak did not die (|uick enough. Then

" The lotH were made, and maik'd and inix'd and handed

In Hilent horror, and then- distrihntion
Lidrd even the aava^e Innnger which demanded,

Like the Promethean vulture, thifl pollution ;
None in particular had nought or plann'd it,

'Twafl nature gnaw'd them to this reHolution,
By which none were permitted to be neuter "

and the lot fell on our poor fiiend Fisher, only nineteen years of
age. Just at the moment when the butcher was lifting his knife
to slay, a vessel hove in sight and responded to their signals of
distress. Fisher was saved for other worms than his own
kind. So deep an impression did the horrors of the voyage
make on him that throughout his whole after life he could never
see without pain the least morsel of food wasted, nor a pail of
water carelessly cast to earth. He was a religious man. He
married three times, had twelve children, eleven of whom arrived
at adult age, and four of whom lived to an average age of ninety -
one years. His descendants, in 1850, numbered nine hundred
and fifteen, scattered through nearly all the States of the Union,
through Nova Scotia, and through Ontario and Quebec. He him-
self died in New Hampshire.

Other families which came about the same time, were those of
James Johnson and John John.son, whose descendants are numer-
ous in Nova Scotia to-day. In those days also came the Hunters,
as did the Teas', the Dickeys, the McConnells. There was an-
other Fisher besides the one mentioned above — William Fisher,
who was born in Londonderry in 1716 ; and who, having married
one of the Archibalds, removed to New Hampshire, in 1743, only
again to return to Truro in 1762. He represented Truro for five
years. Other Irish families were tiie Moores and Downings, the
O'Briens and Hamiltons, the Fultons and the Creelmans. To these
last I have already referred. It takes thirty pages to recount the

■' tl. I l>

mam

iffil

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1 II WUM

III

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ill 1^1

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156

THR lUrsiIMAN IN CANADA.

di'scundants of the three brothers. Hon. Sfiniuel Creehnan, wiio
hoMs the must pioniiiient po.sition of any person of his name in
Nova Scotia, i.s, as we have .seen, the grandscjn of Samuel CrLohMan
the emigrant. His mother wa.s the great-graniUlaughter of David
Anhihakl, with whom I have aheady dealt. The H(jn. Mr. Creel-
man i.s the President of the Nova Scotia Temperance Alliance,
and Vice-President of the Young Men's (Christian As.sociation for
the Maritime Provinces. lie has been Grand Worthy Patriarch
of the Grand Division Sons of Temperance, Nova Scotia; Finan
cial Secretary and a member of the Executive Council, Nova
Scotia, from 1851 until IHoG ; Chief Gold Commissioner from 18(52
until 18r)8 , a .second time a meniber of the Government in 18(J7 ;
sat for Colchester in Nov(^ Scotia Assembly from 1847 to 18.51 ,
for South Colchester from 1851 to 1855, when he wa.s defeated;
appointed to the Legislaiive Council in 18G2 ; resigned the .same
year on being appointed Gold Cyonnuissioner ; he was re-appointeil
to the Legislative Council in 18(17 ; he ^s been a justice of the
peace .since 1843. Mr. Creehnan is a " Liberiil " In politics.

A fine specimen of the energetic Irishman was the late Hon.
James Cochran, a member of the Executive Council, who.se name
has not yet disappeared from the Parliamentary Companion. He
first saw light in Granard, Longford, in 1802. He emigrated
to Halifax in 1825 and immediately commenced to build up his
career as an enterprising young colonist. He possessed energy,
judgment sound and vigorous, and soon began to take a position
in the van of his contemporaries. In 1829, he married Miss Catha-
rine Walsh, of Wexford, Ireland, She died in 1874, By energy, per-
severance and integrity, Mr. Cochran soon built up a good fortune.
He was a director of the People's Bank and also of the Acadia
Fire Insurance Company. Twice he was chosen President of the
Charitable Irish Society.

Mr. Cochran was long identified with the i)olitical struggles of
Nova Scotia. He belonged to that infiuential class of Catholics
in the Province of Nova Scotia who act with the Rel'orm party.
His direct active political history commenced in 18fc;7, when he
became a candidate for the Local A-ssembly in the intt rests of the
Anti vionfederate party. He added undoubted strength to the party,
as was seen on the 15th of September, 1867. When a Govern-

3elman, who
his naniu in
lel CiLcliMau
ter of David
n. Mr. (Jreol-
ice Alliance,
lociation for
\y Patiiarch
i)tia; Finan
uncil, Nova
irt'roni 18()2
mt in l.S()7 ;
147 to Ihol ,
as ilet'eatod ;
ed the same
re-appointed
istioe of the
flitios.

le late Hon.

whose nanu'

pan ion. He

e emigrated

luihi up his

ssed energy,

e a position

VlisK Catha-

energy, per-

ood fortune.

the Acadia

ident of the

struggles of
»f Catholics
brm party.
7, when he
rests of the
to the party,
I a Govem-

HKNATORH COCilRAN AND SMYTH.

157

ment was formed in lH(i7 l>y the Anti-confederates, Mr. Cochran
was selected for a seat in the Executive. T , 1871, ho preferred to
retire from the more exciting scenes of the .ower House, and was
therefore ap])ointed to a seat in the Legislative Council. Perhaps
the Union Party had meanwhile made menacing progress.

" This," says an olntnary notice in the Acadian Recorder, "is a
summary of the outer life of the great man whose memory we are
s»eking to honour. His ])rivate charities — his benevolent acts —
his kindly .sympathies, his pious endeavours, his private virtues,
these are only recorded by the All-seeing Searcher of men's hearts.
It is not necessary for us to dwell on this side of the departed's
life. His career is known to all. No man ever ventured to im-
peach his honour oi- call in question his integrity of purpose. For
over three score vears and ten the deceased has gone in and out
day after day among his fellow-citizens. In Ids mercantile, politi-
cal, .social and religious relations, his life has been open to every
one, and there is no one in Halifax to stand up and prefer a charge
against him in any of these relations. As a merchant he was
honest and generous ; as a politician he was sincere, faithful and
scrupulous ; as a citizen lie was kind, just and beneficent ; as a
Catholic he was devout, pious and devoted. He has gone ; another
of that race of veterans whose enterprise has helped to build up
this city, and whose wisdom and sagacity have aided in moulding
our institutions. He was an example for his own and for all times.
His career stands out clear and bright for the imitation of all men.
We know not where his place is to be filled. Unfortunately we
have too few men of the stamp of James Cochran. Let us prize
his worth and cheri.sh the memory of his eminent virtues." Mak-
ing all allowance for the latitude of an obituarist, such statements
regarding matters of fact in a community whore Mr. Cochran was
known, could only be made wliere a man had deserved the eulogy.

A brother Senator, who happily survives, the Honourable Peter
Smyth, was born the same year, 1802, in Ireland. He emigrated
to Nova Scotia early, and was educated there. He was married
twice, in the first instance to a Miss O'Grady, in the second in-
stance to a Miss Helen Keating. Unlike Cochran, Smyth is a
Conservative.

In the Legislative Assembly we have William Henry Alison, of

158

THE IRISHMAN IN C4NADA.

I%-

r„

!m|

the Donegal AliBons ; Donald Archibald, J. P., the son of Samuel
Archibald, on whose joyous career, with its fatal close I have
just dwelt ; John B. Dickie ; E. Farrell, M.D., of the Water-
ford Farrells ; Philip Carteret Hill (the Provincial Secretary),
the sou of Captain N. T. Hill, .f the Royal Staff Corps, who
was stationed at Halifax after the war of 1812. While there he
married and left the service. The; father of Captain Hill was Major
Hill, of Cork, who Wiis for some time the Quai-ter-master General
at Waterford. Mr. P. C. Hill, was born at Halifax, in 1821, edu-
cated at King's College, Windsor, and called to the bar in 1841.
He married the grand -daughter of Chief Justice Haliburton, and
daughter of the kte Hon. E. Collins. He was elected Mayor of
Halifax, for three consecutive terms. He is the author of the
" Unity of C/reat)an," a lecture, aud " The United States and Bri-
ish Provinces contrasted from personal observation." Mr. Hill is a
Liberal Conservative.

In the Dominion Parliament we tind Patrick Power, M.P. for
ILalifax, who has been Alderman and Commissioner of Schools,
President of the Charitable Irish Society, &c. He is an independent
supporter of the Reform party. The son of this gentleman is in
the Senate.

Wher we come to New Br 'nswJck, the " Origins of the People "
put down as of Irish origin l()0,6rj>4, out of 285,594, a little mo^^e
'an the sa^me propcntion as the Catholics, though it is well known
there hrve been many Protestant settlements, and the proportion
of French origin is only 44,1^07. Still we have in New Bruns-
wick more than a third and less than one-half.

Until 1784, New Brunswick formed pait ')f the old French Pro-
vince of Acadia, afterwards, under English rule, called Nova
Scotia. In the August of that year information was received by
the packet from Falmouth that the Province of Nova Scotia was
to be divided, and the lands lying on the north side of the Bay of
Fundy were to be erected into a new Government, under the
name of New Brunswick. Colonel Thomas Carieton, brother of
that great Irishman Guy Carieton, was appointed first Governor.

The division was hailed with delight by the inhabitants of the
new Province. The new Governor, on his arrival, was presented
with an address. Murdoch, in his History, says he was ;«.i-

SETTING APART OF NEW BRUNSWICK.

159

n of Samuel
close I have
the Water-
Secretary),
r Corps, who
iile there he
11 was Major
ister General
nl821, edu-
bar in 1841.
iburton, and
ied Mayor of
[thor of the
tes and Bri-
Mr. Hill is a

cr, M.P. for

of Schools,

independent

leman is in

/he People "
little moi-e

well known
proportion
ew Bruns-

rench Pro-
ill ed Nova
vceived by
Scotia was
the Bay of
under the

brother of
jJovernor.
ints of the

presented
le was ;..i-

dressed by His Majesty's exiled loyalists from different parts of
the American continent resident on St. John's river. They call
him " the brother of our illustrious friend and patron Sir Guy
Carleton," and designate themselves " a num})er of oppressed and
insulted U^yalists." They were they .said formerly freemen, and
again hoped to be .so under his au.spictis. They congratulated him-
self, his lady and family, on his " .safe arrival to this new world
to chock the arrogance of tyranny, crusli the growth of in-
justice, and estaljlish .such wholesome laws as had ever V^een the
Vjasis of the ghjrious British Con.stitution." They also alluded to
him as having been Colonel of the 29th Regiment, in the late re-
bellion. To this address he replied in modest and moderate terms.
" The ex[)ression.s," says Munloch, " used in this document appear
to be tinctured with n'.sentment against the Government of Nova
Scotia. " Murdoch himself, a Nova Scotian, does not admit there
were any causcis of complaint. He says : " Great allowance should
be made for men wlio, V^y the events of the civil war, were forced
to exchange their once ha[)py homes for a c(juntry in a wilderness
state, a milder climate for a moic rugged one, and who were in a
manner drifting on a di.sasti'ous current."

It is evident that New Brunswick, when set apart, was almost
altogether composed of .settlers from the rebellious colonies of
America. That afterwards there was a large Irish emigration there
can be no douht. If you look over the files of New Brunswick
papers, you will find tlieiii full of Iri.sh names. In the County of
Gloucester, New Brun:;wick, there is a settlement originally of
about eighty families, fiom Bandon — "merry Handon town" — from
which their town has 'oeen called " New Bandon." The repn;-
sentation in the House of (Commons ought to Ije a pn^tty good
criterion to go by ; which, according to the speech of Mr. Waller
is as follows : — Scotch, five ; English, sevf^n ; Irish, four.

Among the loyalists tlierc were "n r who could boast of liish
birth. The most noted of thefv ,vas Colonel John Murray,
of Rutland, Massachusetts, one of those colonial noblemen who
lived upon their estates after the traditions of the mother country.
He was, in addition to being a colonel in the militia, a Mandamus
Councillor, and a member of the General Court. (Jn the night of
the 25th of August, 1774, heabaiidoned his house and fled to Bos-

•

1
i.

', ■!

1 ,

■ ' ;!!'

;]

■J

' 1

^11

IGO

THE lUIHIIMAN IN CANADA.

ton. Ho accompanied the royal army to Halifax. Tn 1779 lie lost
liiw exten.sive eHtatcs undei- the (Jon.spiracy Act. He Hub.seqiKintly
.S(!ttled in 8t. John, where he huilt a residtince on Prince William
Street. A pait of" the lot is now the well-known (Jhipman CHtate.
Ili.s grandson, a njemher of the Kx(!cutive (council, ha.s liis por-
trait by ('opiey. '''here i.s a })ay(met-hole throuj^^h the wi^, and
tbefamily tradition runs that having been disai)point«!d in finding
him, the leholn, who had suddenly attacked his house, pierced
his portrait with a bayonet. In [)erson he was tall being- six
feet three inches, and w(dl pi-oportioned. One of his daughteis
married the Honourable Daniel liliss, who was Chief Justice
and Executive. (Jouncillor of the Province. Her daughter Han-
nah was mother of the- Honourable Samuid Allan Wilmot, ex-
Governor of New Brunswick. Anotluii- mariied tlx; Honouiabli;
Joshua Up}ian>, .hidgt; of th<! Supreme; (^ourt, and a m(!nd>er
of the <^ Council. F')'anc(!S (Jhandler, wife of I; lUinii bl-j John W-
Weldon, Speak*!)- of th(! House of As.soud)ly, w.as the daughter of
Mrs. Upham and grand-daughter of ('olonel Muiray. H(;i son, —
the Reveren<l (Charles Wentworth Upham, late pastor of the Fii-st
Church at Salem, Massachusetts, is the authoi- of the well-known
biogjaphy of Sii' Henry Vane.

At St. Martins, a number of Irishmen are settled ; notable
among them being the Skillens — Andiew and Robert, natives of
Killyleagh, County Down, who came to this country in 1847.
Their handsome residences within half a mile of each otlu;!-, add
to the ap})earance of the village, and betoken a spirit of improve-
ment in the owners.

This spirit of improvement does not (snd in the private resi-
dences, but is also noticeable in public improvements. Foremost
here, stands the Masonic Hall, a credit at once to the village and
to the fraternity who occupy it. The lowei j)art is used as a ]»ul)lic
hall. The village owes to Andrew Skillens a <lebt of gratitude for
his enterprise in building this beautiful hall, and furnishing a
magnificent room for pub'jc meetings.

Not satisfied with erecting comely buildings, finding a great
want of communication wxth the outside world, Andrew Skillens
has built a steamboat ca,ll.',dthe "Earl Dufierin," to ply between
St. Martins and St. John for the accommodation of the public.

COTTON MANUFACTURE IN NEW BRUNSWICK.

161

This new enterpriHO, the Government recognised as a necessity,
and voted a subsidy of SI, 000 per year, to make it a success.
The wharf accommodation at St, Martins being entirely private
|)ropcrty, and not being all that was required for a sea-going
steamer, Mr. SIcillens built wharves, warehouses, coal-sheds, offices,
&c. There are many other Irish families in the vicinity, who
have made th(!ir mark.

When you take up a St, John business directory, you find it full
of Irishmen — Dunns, from Londonderry ; Carvills, from County
Down, and the like.

William Parks, the founder of the first New Brunswick cotton
mill was ])orn in Irrland, in 1800, and emigrated to New
Brunswick in 1822, with a stock mostly of linen. He went
into the gi-ocery and shipping Inisiness, and subsecpiently into
dry goods. In 1846, he associated with himself, his son, Samuel
Parks, under the style of William Parks «& Son. Samuel
died in 1863. William having some business connected with his
shipping interest to transact in Englana, embark(;d on the steamer
"City of Boston," in 1870, which was never heard from. He had
b(;cn for seven years Presidcmt of the Commercial Bank. He was
President of the Western Extension Railway from its organization
to its completion to Mc.^dam, and up to his death. Boldly specula-
tive he had for some time entertained the project of manufacturing
cotton goods, and made it a subject of careful study, and, in
1801, he entered upon the great enter[)rise. He was joined by his
second son, John H. Parks, who, as a civil engineer, had for several
years Ijcen in the service of the Intercolonial Railway Companv.
This gentleman is now sole proprietor of the works.

A >)rick mill, 110 x 50 feet, and three stories in height, was at
once erected, and the requisite machinery was selected in England
by the present proprietor for the manufacture of the ordinary
cotton ^'rey cloth, to which they confined their operations for a
year or two. Twenty-four looms were first set up, the nuni'jer
being soon increased to fifty-two. The cotton yam v/as at that
time all iniported. When a great opportunity occurred Parks was
ready to use it. With the American war, cotton became so dear
that manufacturers abroad were forced to use the cheapest quali-
ties, and the cotton yarn they produced became so inferior and un-
11

, j'i I

,!£!! Ji

i 11

ijm;b

lif

llii'

iP/'it III . Ill itiii

)

1 1'

111

Ui2

THE IRISHMAN IN CANA'M.

satisfactory, that Mesars. Parks tk Son d<jcided to enter upon the
manufacture of a good article in whose production they used the
best American cott(»n, improved machinery and skilful workpeople.
'J'he success exceeded their expcjctaticus, and they were able to jmt
tlieir yarn upon tlie market at Vmt ■*, slight advance over the infer-
ior English article. Witli Confederation they found theii' goods so
much in demand, that tliey devoted all tlieir attention and ma-
chinery to the production of yarn, which soon attained as high a
reput.ation in the Dominion, a.-* it enjoyed in New Brunswick.

The success of this manufacture has been remarkable. Twelve
years ago all th(} cotton y}i,rn used in the Dominion was imported.
Now scarcely any is brought over, and three-fourths of all used in
the Donuniou is made at this establishment. .The works nowcover
nearly an acre with substantial brick Ijuildings. The ({uantity of
cotton used at the mill is over ..two thousand bales annually, and
the production of yarn about fifteen thousand pounds per week.
The number of v/orkpeople employed is about two hundred.

Guy Stewart fo Co., from Newry, are large hnubei-ers. John
Boyd is a great merchant, who eu)igrated to New Brunswick, or
rather was brought by his mother there, in 1833, v/hen he was
three years oM. In 1838 lie entered the house, in which he be-
came ])artner. Mr. Boyd has a good oratorical faculty. John
Hegan emigrated from Belfast in 1828 ; James McNichol, from
the County Tyione, in 1807 ; R. Scarl from the King's County;
the Hutchiusons, of Londonderry ; Rev. P. Butler, of Dublin ; the
Hay wards, of King's County ; (Jarson Flood, Thomas Furlong, and
Alexander McDermott. John W. Nicholson, from the County
Down, the large ship-owner and general eommission merchant,
is one of St. Jrhn's >vealthiest and most solid men. John Ander
son, only son of the late Jame.s Baird And* i\son, was born in Bel-
fast, on the 20th of February, 1812, and came to St. John in 1840,
where vv was a prosperous merchant for twenty-five years, re-
tiring from business in 1865. In 1835 he was elected a member
of the Belfast Society, a club established for local and municipal
purposes. In St. John, he has been for many years connected
with the St. John Mutual Fire Insurance Company ; wms appointed
a Justice of the Peace in 1865, and has been an active member uf
the jessions.

JOHN COSTIOAN. JUDGE WALTERS.

163

In the Legislative Council, we have Hon. William Lindsay ; in
the Assembly, Butler ; Elder ; T. M. Kelly, a member of the
Executive Council ; Robinson, Rogers, Ryan, Willis.

lu the Dominion Parliament, the son of Mr. John Costigan is
woil known. The latter, a cousin of the late Francis Meagher,
v.as a native of Kilkemiy, and brought up to mercantile pursuits
in the ufhce of Meaglier's fatlier. In 1830 he moved to Lower
Canada, bringing witlf him his family, settling at Quebec. Hero
he was almost at once employed as agent for Sir John Cald-
well, who, before the era of responsible Government, was Trea-
surer for the Imperial authorities, and was, ))rivately, an enter-
j)rising speculator. In 1840, Mr. Costigan left Quebec for the
Province of New Biunsv/ick, to take charge of extensive mills
Sir John Caldwell was erecting there. He took with liim his
family, among whom was his younger son, John, born in Quebec,
1835. This son is the gentleman who now represents Victoria and
Madawaska Counties, New Brunswick, in the Dominion House of
Commons. John Costi^jan, tlie younger, received all his education
in Victoria College, Nev^' Brunswick, with the exception of two
years spent at St. Anne's College, Province of Quebec. He began
his politiciil career in 1 JOC; when he was returned for the Provin-
cial House, and held his seat there until Confederation, since
which time he has represented the same constituency in the
House of Commons. He was at first opposed to the Confedera-
tion scheme, but when it w^as carried he gave it his full support.
Mr. Costigan has for some time been regarded as the spokesman
of the Irish Roman Catholics of New Brunswick in the House of
Commons, and though pressing their claims in some delicate in-
stances, he has, it is sai 1, always been able to retain his popularity
with the larg( body of Protestant electors which exists in his
constituency.

Mr. Costigan has contepted snven elections, and V«eea defeated
but once, which was owing to his opposition to the Confederation
scheme. Of the family of the elder Mi. Cu itigan, four daughters
and two sons survive.

A legal luminary is the Hon. Charles Walters, of St. John,
County Judge, and Judge of the Vice Admiralty Court; he was
bom at St. John, on the 2Gth November, 1818. He is the son of

164

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

'W:

g.i I M

^ i

i i;

' wiii

Wicklow parents who came to this country about the year 1800.
Judge Walters was educated at St. John County Grammar School,
where he distinguish ed himself as a classical scholar, and was awarded
the corporation gold medal for that branch of study. In 1840 he
began the study of law under Judge Ritchie, and was enrolled a bar
rister in 1847. In 1854 he entered on his political career, but was
defeated. In November, the following year, he was elected to re-
present the County of Victoria, for whifth constituency he wa.s
again returned in 1857. In November, 1855, one month after his
first election, he was called to a seat in the Executive, and was
the first Roman Catholic in the Province who enjoyed that dis-
tinction. In 1857, he was appointed Solicitor-General, an office
he held for many years. In 18C1, he and the present Lieut.-Gov-
emor, Mr. Tilley, were returned for the City of St. John, in the
Liberal interest. Like D'Arcy McGee Judge Walters was a warm
advocate of Confederation. A fluent and logical speaker, firm in
his principles, but liberal in his ideas, and courteous in his man-
ner, he embodies all that need be looked for in a representative
Irishman. A St. John journalist writing of him in 1865, says :
*' Through his exertions the criminal code is now in an excellent
state, being almost the same as the English law, so that in its ex-
ecution our judges and legal men have the advantage of the
criminal judgments of the English Bench." A good draughtsman,
the Intercolonial Railway Act of 1863, the Militia Act, the
Railway Facility Act, and various local laws, were all the produc-
tion of his pen. In the Legislature Mr. Walters was empha-
tically a working man. Judge Walters received his appointment
as County Judge in 1867, and was made Judge of the Vice Ad-
miralty Court, October, 1876.

We have not mentioned a hundreth part of the names we might
mention. There are still the McGaws, the Philips, Patrick Rob-
inson and family, U. E. Loyalists, and many others.

It is a significant fact that the political press of New Bruns-
wick is mainly controlled by Irishmen. The most distinguished of
the editors is the Hon. Timothy Warren Anglin, Speaker of the
House of Commons. Mr. Anglin came to St. John in 1848, and
in the following year started the Morning Freeman, first as a
weekly, and shortly after as a tri-weekly. Both issues still con-

THE PRESS OF NEW BRUNSWICK.

165

e year 1800.
nmar School,
w&s awarded

In 1840 ho
irolled a bar
•eer, but was
ilected to re-
ancy he was
nth after his
ive, and was
'■ed that dis-
al, an office

Lieut. -Go V-
Fohn, in the
was a warm
iker, firm in
1 in his iiian-
presentativc

1865, says :
an excellent
lat in its ex-
ttage of the
i-aughtsman,
a Act, the

the produc-
was empha-
tppointment
he Vice Ad-

es we might
atrick Rob-

S^ew Bruns-
nguished of
aker of the
n 1848, and
I?., first as a
les still con-

tinue. He sat in the Provincial Assembly for St. John County
from 1861 till 1868, and has represented Gloucester in the House
of Commons since the confederation of the provinces in 1867. H6
was elected Speaker in 1874.

The Evening Olohe became the property of John V. Ellis and
Christopher Armstrong, in 1861 — the latter being an Irishman,
and the former born in Nova Scotia, being of Irish parentage.
Mr. Ellis is now Postmaster of St. John, Mr. Armstrong remaining
sole editor. The Daily News, the oldest paper in the city, is the
property of the Hon. Edward Willis, an Irishman, and a member of
the New Brunswick Government. He has represented the City
and County of St. John since 1870. The St. John Telegraph w&s
started by John Livingstone, son of Mr. Livingstone, for many
years Customs Officer at Richibucto, N, B., (an Irishman) in 1862,
since which time it ha,s become one of the leading organs of the
Maritime Provinces. He sold the Telegra'ph in 1871, and began
the Watchman, which has already taken its place in the front
rank of Canadian journals. Mr. Livingstone is one of the most
pithy and spirited writers in Canada. William Elder, at present
member of the Provincial Parliament, an Irishman, started the
Morning Journal in 1865 as a tri-Vh'-eekly and weekly, which, at
a subsequent period was merged in the Telegraph, of which
jouinal he is now the proprietor. New Brunswick is greatly in-
debted to this gentleman who hag, stimulated its business activity,
and promoted general intelligence.

Among the clergy you find the Rsv. James Bennet, now minister
of St. John Presbyterian Church, who was born in 1817 in Lis-
burn. County of Down. The first of the family, with two brothers
having come from France,and being of Huguenot faith, had settled
amongthe Irish Presbyterians. From these, the most, if not all of the
Bennets of the North of Ireland are descended. Mr. Bennet finished
his education in the classical school of the Royal Academical In-
stitution, Belfast, under the head-mastership of the Rev. Thomas
Dix Hincks, father of Sir F. Hincks. On March 30th, 1843,
he was ordained to the charge of a church, County of Armagh.
Having been invited by the Presbyterian Church, St. John,
to become their pastor, he arrived there on the Srd March, 1854,
and was duly inducted by the Presbytery of St. John, in the

iMI

li I

tli!

ill

Ih]^

166

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

•^111

illliUli

June following. In this church he has continued to officiate ever
since.

He has written a gi-eafc deal for the public, especially since
coming to St. John. His unacknowledged pieces are very numer-
ou.s. He edited the Canada PreshyfeHan, started by the Rev.
Wm. Elder, for some time. In that periodical many of Mr.
Bennet's sermons ha\e appeared. His sermon preached as
Moderator of the Synod of the Church of the Lower Provinces
on " The Divinity of Christ, deduced from his character and
claims," is an^ admirable specimen of close reasoning and pulpit
eloquence, and added considerably to his fame as a preacher. His
" Wisdom of the King" is a delightful book.

Rev. David Montgomery Maclise, D.D., was bom near Finvoy,
County Antrim. His parents were members of the Presbyterian
Church there. From childhood, he was trained up under the in-
fluence of religious principles, and very early in life resolved by
God's grace to become a minister of the Gospel.

He was for a time classical teacher in the West Jersey Col-
legiate School, conducted by the Rev. Samuel Miller, D.D., son of
the Rev. Dr. Samuel Miller, of Princeton Seminary ; was head
master in Bath Academy in Ontario, then Canada West, pleach-
ing always on the Sabbath, and many other occasions ; lecturing
on Temperance, and doing a vast amount of gratuitous labour.
Having thus had a theoretical and practical training for the work
of the ministry, he determined to devote himself exclusively to it.
He had two of wliat is called " calls," the one to Hopewell, and the
other to Montgomery, Orange County, New York, the latter of
whi«h he accepted.

Another ornament of the Presbyterian Church is Dr. Irvine.
By him the question of " Instrumental Music," was first intro-
duced into the General Assembly of (Janada. He got an overture
which he penned, carried by the Session of Knox Church, Mon-
treal. He introduced the overture to the Presbytery of Montreal,
which was duly licensed and transmitted to the General Assembly,
By the Supreme Court it v/as sent down in terms of the " Barrier
Act" to Presbyteries and Kirk Sessions, and after a severe contest
spreading over .several years, his overture became virtually the
law of the General Assembly as it now exists. He was very

LEADING cr.KliaYMEN.

1C7

Sciate ever

ially since
2ry numer-
y the Rev.
,ny of Mr.
reached as
• Provinces
racter and
and pulpit
icher. His

ar Finvoy,
•esbyterian
iler the in-
esolved by

Fersey Col-
).D., son of

was head
st, piPdch-
; lecturiiig
Dus labour,
1' the work
ively to it.

11, and the
le latter of

Dr. Irvine,
irst intro-
n overture
irch, Mon-

Montreal,
Assembly.
i " Barrier

re contest
tually the

was very

much worried and severely criticised, especially by some of his
warmest friends.

The Rev. Alexander McLeod Stavoly, was born in the Parish of
Loughguile, County Antrim. He studied at the Belfast Acade-
mical Institution. Afterwards, he went to the University of
Edinburgh. He attended the prelections of such professors in
the Philosophical and Theological classes as Professor John Wil-
son, antl Dr. Thomas Chalmers. In the Moral Philosophy class
presided over by the former, known to literature as " Christopher
North," he gained a leading prize. Having finished his literary
course, Mr. Stavely received license in the Reformed Presbyterian
Church, and preached for a short time to congregations in the
Province of Ulster, He then accepted an invitation to go to
New Brunswick, and was ordained by the Northern Presbytery
at Kilraughts, County Antrim, in the month of May, 1841, to the
office of the holy ministry, and pastoral charge of the missionary
station at St. John, New Brunswick,

He arrived at St. John, the place of his future and present

labours, in the fall of the same year, and is now the senior minis-

', er of that city. Several sermons, addresses and speeches by Mr.

Stavely have been published, amongst them, "The Perpetuity

of the Gospel," " Redeeming the Time," " The Life and Times of

John Knox,'' "A Word for the Reformed Presbyterian Church."

Prince Edward Island was one of the first discoveries of Cabot,
who named it St, John, after the day of its discovery. It was
ceded to Great Britain in 1763, still retaining its name of St. John,
It was not largely settled by Irish, but mainly by the Scotch and
French. A census of the province, taken in 1798, shows but few
Irish names. Still there are somo> such as Cochran, Whelan, FlyunT
Burke, Moore, Flannigan, Carroll, &;c.

The first governor appointed was Captain Walter Patterson, an
Irishman, and the grand-uncle of Mr, A, T. Todd, Toronto. 7 He
arrived, with other officers, in 1770.* He was one of the largest
landed proprietors, and had an Act passed by the Assembly in

* A younger brother settled at Baltimore, U. S., and his daughter Elizabeth was
married on 27th Dec, 1803, to Jerome J Bonaparte, This marriage was aftenviirda
declared null by his brother, the Emperor Napoleon, Madame Patterson Bonapirte
is still alive.fas also a son by the marriage, who is a colonel in the French army.

-Ill;''

168

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

' M

1780, changing the name of the island to "New Ireland." This wae
without petitioning the Imperial Government. The Home Gov-
ernment, however, took umbrage at the high-handed manner in
which the Act was passed, and disallowed it. He applied again in
1783, by petition^ for a change of the name, and got for answer
that it would be taken into consideration. Campbell declares that
had the first application been made by petition to the King, it is
extremely probable that the proposed change of name would have
been adopted. The name was changed to Prince Edward in hon-
our of the Duke of Kent, in 1798. Governor Patterson was not
at all popular, at least he had a good many enemies, who placed
his conduct in an unfavourable light before the Home Government ;
questions connected with the land, which had always been a fruit-
ful source of trouble in the Province, being the main ground of
complaint against him. He was certainly inclined to be arbitrary
in some measures ; but h?.s motives seem to have been honest. His
letters to his friend St lart, also one to Lord Sydney, define mat-
ters from his point of view. During his rule of seventeen years
he laid out the principal part of the island. He was recalled in
1787, and General Edmund Fanning appointed in his place. Gov-
ernor Fanning was of Irish descent. His grandfather came to
America with Earl Bellemont in 1699. The Honourable T. Des
Brisay, another Irishman, was administrator of the government
during the temporary absence of Governor Patterson in England.
There must have been at least one Irish settlement in the island,
to account for the "District of Belfast."

One of the most popular governors of the island was Sir Dom-
inick Daly, of whom we shall see a good deal when treating of
the struggle for responsible government in Canada. He arrived
12th June, 1854 ; his administration was marked by great progress
and success ; several important Acts were passed, the only diffi-
culty being the vexed land question, which always was a trouble.
Sir Dominick left about 1859. In his speech proioguing the House
previous to his departure, he expressed his gratification at the har-
mony which had subsisted between the executive and the other
branches of the legislature during the whole course of his admin-
istration, to which the uninterupted trauquillity of the island dur-
ing the same period might in a great measure be attributed.

I'l
^l

I." Thiswae
Home Gov-
i manner in
led again in

for answer
leclares that
J King, it is
would have
^ard in hon-
on was not
who placed
iovernnient ;
aeen a f ruit-
n ground of
be arbitrary
honest. His
define mat-
nteen years

recalled in
place. Gov-
ler came to
ible T. Des
government
in England.

the island,

Ls Sir Dom-
treating of
He arrived
3at progress
3 only diffi-
18 a trouble,
the House
at the har-
d the other
his admin-
island dur-
uted.

■.ja

A TRIBUNE IN PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND.

169'

The Rev. Theophilus Des Brisay was a native of Thurles, County
Tipperary, and was bom October, 1754. He arrived in the island in
1775, having been appointed by royal warrant the year previous
to " the parish of Charlotte," of which parish he remained
rector till his death, which occurred in 1823. He was the only
Protestant clergyman on the island till the year 1820. A man
of .sterling character, and a faithful servant of his Divine Master,
he was subjected, in the discharge of his sacred duty, to privati- ns
of which the present generation have happily no experience. The
Rev. Dr. James Macgregor writes of him : " I was always wel-
come to preach in his church, which I uniformly did when I
could make it convenient. His kindness ended not but with his
life."

The Honourable Edward Whelan died at his residence in
Charlotte town, on the 10th of December, 1867. He was born
in County Mayo, in 1824, and received the rudiments of educa-
tion in his native town. At an early age he emigrated to
Halifax, Nova Scotia. Shortly after his arrival he entered the
printing office of the Hon. Joseph Howe, then a newspaper
publisher in that city. Here he gave such proofs of that great
facility for newspaper writing, which distinguished him in after
life, that he was occasionally employed to write editorial articles for
Mr. Howe's newspaper, during the absence or illness of the latter.
At the age of eighteen he went to Prince Edward Island, which
was then ruled by persons who could scarce ly be said to be amen-
able to public opinion. Mr. Whelan, ranging himself on the side
of the people, threw the weight of his influence as a jouraalist
into the struggle for popular rights.

Apart from Mr. Whelan's oratorical power which was consider-
able, the great lever of public 0}>inion obeyed his masterl}' hand as
often as any fair occasion arose to resort to its agency. He never
abused the power of the press. He knew how to combine a
singularly consistent political career with conciliatory manners.
Although he died comparatively young, he lived long enough to
see, to a large extent, the results of his labours in the extension
of civil liberty.

Mr. Whelan was a Roman Catholic. The writer of a sketch of
his life which appeared in the Exarrdner, says that " hia words

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170

THE IRISHMAN IN (!ANADA.

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and thoughts in the hour of death were those of a Christian

gentleman."

Among the Irishmen who emigrated to Prince Edward, was

Daniel Brennan, a poor lad, who, by his energy and perseverance,
succeeded in acquiring the profession of a Provincial Land Sur-
veyor, at which he worked for some time, but finally entered into
mercantile life in Charlottetown. He became a leading merchant.
He married twice, but left no family. He was a Roman Catholic.
He died in 1876, aged 80, a very wealthy man.

Owen Connolly emigrated when a mere youth, a very poor
man. On his first arrival, he used that old threshing machine, the
" fiail," amongst the fai'mers in the settlement. By indomitable
l^luck and perseverance he gradually pushed himself forward, un-
til he established himself in a large busine.ss in Charlottetown.
Some years ago he extended his business, and opened a branch
establishment in the Town of Souris, King's County, both of
which houses he still carries on. He was mainly instrumental in
opening a branch of the Bank of Halifax, in Charlottetown, and
another branch of the same Bank in Souris. He is one of the
wealthiest men in the Province of Prince Edward Island.

He is still alive ; a man of about 65 years. He is a Roman
Catholic. He is married, but has no children.

Lower Canada was all but exclusively French in its settle-
ments ; Upper Canada was dedicated to the sole possession of the
U. E. Loyalists, and " German and other foreign Protestants." In
1791, however, we find Edward O'Hara returned for Gaspe, since
when Lower Canada has always had an Iri.sh element in its reprc
sentation. In 1799, Felix O'Hara was appointed " Provincial
Judge," at a salary of £200 a year, and among the subscribers to
the '' benevolence of His Majesty" for carrying on the war with
France, was £27 from one Judge O'Hara. The existence of an
extensive Irish settlement on the north of the St. Lawrence, be-
tween Montreal and Throe Rivers, would seem to be indicated by
the County of Leinster, with its Townships of Wexford, Kilkenny
and Kildare. As the years rolled on, the Irish found their way
into Ontario.

The first settler in Clarke was Mr. Richard Lovekin, who, accom-
panied by his family, left Ireland in the September of 1795, sailing

WOLVES. AN ACQUISITIVE WOOD-MOUSE.

171

Christian

vard, w<as
severance,
jand Sur-
bered into
merchant.
Catholic.

very poor
chine, the
lomitable
ward, un-
ottetown.
a branch
, both of
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ts settle-
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from the Cove of Cork. For four months they were tossed on the
ocean, the sport of adverse winds. They landed at St. Barthole-
mew on the 26th of January, 1796, and arrived at New York on
the 9th of the following' April. In less than a hundred years what
progress the world has made, even from the emigrant's point of
view ! Lovekin, with two hired assistants, went on to Canada to
locate his land, leaving his family b liind him. He settled, and
built his shanty at the mouth of what was afterwards known as
Baldwin's Creek. While engaged some distance up the creek in
cutting grass for their beds, they heard the distant howling of
wolves. Soon the wolves became bolder, and approached within
a short distance of them. Becoming alarmed, Lovekin and his
assistants pulled for the outlet. As they passed into open water,
forty or fifty wolves howled along the bank. Arrived opposite
their shanty, they did not land until they had seen the last dusky
figure fade into the wooded gloom. They kept up a large fire for
the remaining part of the night.

Another incident or two are worth relating. Having built his
house and cleared some land, Mr. Lovekin thought of returning for
his family. He had, with other money, one hundred and fifty
dollars in silver. This, on account of its weight, he detennined
not to take with him, but to hide it in the hollow of a tree. He
put it in a stocking and hung it up in a scooped trunk. When
he and his family came " home" the next summer, they found an
old bear had made the house his abode during the winter. On
going to the tree for his money, he was not a little disappointed
to find it — gone ! His mind hovered round his money, and he
haunted the tree, which at last he determined to cut down. At
the base, hope revived when he saw portions of the paper and
stocking cut up fine, forming, together with g'-ass and leaves, a
wood-mouse's nest. That wood-mouse was a thief and also a
banker in his way. Beneath the nest was the hundred and fifty
dollars in the midst of mould and rotten wood,

Lovekin drew his land, took the oath of allegiance, and was
appointed chief magistrate of the Home District, which embraced
the country, Irom Cobourg to Toronto.

Another settler was John Burk, the grandfather of one of the
members for West Durham. John Burk built his house on the

ijffti! 11

-* , It!'

Hiii^l

172

THE IRISHMAJf IN CANADA.

bank of the lake on the southern portiori of the farm owned by
his grandson, W. K. Burk. At a later period came the McLaugh-
lins, the Browns and the Spinks, now among the svealthiest farmers
in the county. The Township of Cartwright wts almost entirely
settled by Irish Protestants.

General Simcoe had originally intended that Newark should
be the capital of Ontario. But finding that the Home Govern-
ment did not retain possession of the fort on the American side
of the Niagara River, he said : " The chief town of a Province
must not be placed under the guns of an enemy's fort; " and hav-
ing spent a summer prospecting, fixed on the site of Toronto. In
1795, the infant capital contained twelve houses, and the bar-
racks wherein Simcoe's regiment was quartered. In the summer
of 1793, shortly after he had fixed on the site for his capita', news
came of the surrender of Valenciennes to the allies, under the
Duke of York. In honour of the Duke and of the surrender, the
place was named York. It was declared the capital of the Pro-
vince in 1797.

The troubles of '98 led to a large emigration not made up solely
of peasants and farmers. "From Ireland," says McMullen, " where
the troubles of ''98' had left many a hearth desolate, and many a
heart seared and crushed with sorrow, came most of the old
country people. Better a free land, even though it were the
rudest shanty of the backwoodsman in the sad and sombre forests
of Canada, than the cottage in old Erin, where any moment the
Whiteboy might cruelly thrust the crackling turf into the thatch,
or the minions of Castlereagh level its walls to the ground. And
thus settlements gradually spread on every side."

In 1799, Robert Baldwin, of Knockmore or Summerhill, in the
parish of Carrigaline, near Cork, came to Canada, bringing with
him his eldest son. Dr. William Warren Baldwin, who had been
practising for a year or two, his youngest son, John Spread Bald-
win, still quite a boy, and four daughters. He settled on a farm
in the township of Clarke, at tht mouth of a creek which has since
been knov/n as Baldwin's Creek, Here he remained until about
the time of the war, when he came to Toronto, where he died in
1816, and where Dr. Baldwin had already settled, at first practising
medicine. After a few years he entered tb^ i>i'ofes8ion of the law,

THE BALDWINS AND SULLIVANS.

173

to which he devoted himself with great energy. He was for many
years Treasurer of the Law Society. Tn 1803 he married a daugh-
ter of Mr. William Willcocks, who had at one time been Mayor of
the City of Cork. He had come to Canada some yeara befor:-; and
had done a good deal to promote emigration, having probably been
induced to emigrate by his cousin, the Hon. Peter Russell, who
held several offices of trust in the Province, who was for a time
administrator of the Government, and who had first come to Ame-
rica as Secretary to Sir Henry Clinton.

Dr. Baldwin had five sons, three of whom, however, died young.
His eldest son, the Hon. Robert Baldwin, and Mr. W. A. Baldwin,
of Mashquoteh, survived him. Mr, John S. Baldwin, the youngest
brother of Dr. Baldwin, became a prominent merchant in the plac3,
and left a numerous family, among whom was the late Rev. Canon
Edmund Baldwin, of Toronto ; also the Rev. Canon Maurice Bald-
win, of Montreal ; the Rev. Arthur H. Baldwin, of Toronto, and
Alderman Morgan Baldwin.

In 1817, Captain, afterwards Admiral Baldwin, another son of
Robert Baldwin, of Summerhill, came to Canada, and a few years
later, his brother, Captain Henry Baldwin, of the merchant ser-
vice, followed him,

In 1819, Mr. Daniel Sullivan, of Bandon, and his wife, who was
the eldest child of Mr. Robert Baldwin, of Summerhill, came to
Canada with a numerous family, among whom were Robert Bald-
win Sullivan, afterwards distinguished as politi lan and statesman,
and as a judge of the Court of Queen's Bench ; and Dr. Henry Sul-
livan, afterwards a Professor in the University of King's Col-
lego, Toronto.

The ordinary and obvious acts of administrative legislation of
Canada's early years need not be referred to particularly, A
word of pleasure may be uttered that one of the first acts of the
Upper Canada Legislature, was to abolish slavery. At first there
were no parties, and therefore no opposition, and of course, every-
thing went on well ? Not at all. There was, both in Lower and
Upper Canada, an irresponsible Executive with all the oflScial
arrogance and tyranny, all the nepotism and jobbery which be-
long to iiTesponsible power. A weak governor, knowing little
about the country, was helpless in the hands of a few leading

174

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

[If

I:-

individuals. No matter how the poj)ular Assembly voted, the
sams men would hold power. Eoth Provinces v/ere under the
rule of an oligarchy. Poor gentlemen, half pay officers, the pen-
niless scions of old Irish and Scotch houses, Englishmen of cul-
ture with more enterprise than money, came to the Province.
Haughty, and unfit for the hardships of the bush, and eminently
fit to supply what Canada very much needed, ready pens and
educated heads, they naturally got all the ])ublic offices, and as
naturally gave themselves the airs of an aristocracy, with a
double claim on men's homage, the blue blood claim and the
bureaucratic. This Government class acted together and inter-
married, and drew to themselves privileges and advantages, and
so the foundation of party was laid. One set of the community
had special favours given it, which were resented and envied by
the rest of the community. Lieber says, with justice, that where
there are no great grounds of division, party is apt to degenerate
into faction. Canada for some years at all events was to be saved
from this danger.

Simultaneously in Lower and Upper Canada we see signs of
political life. At a dinntr which was given at Montreal at the
end of March, 1805, in honour of those members who had spoken
in favour of British principles of taxation, toasts were i)roposed
and drunk in honour of the members who were " friendly to
constitutional taxation," and opposed to a tax on commerce
for building gaols, as contrary to " the sound practice of the
parent State." One of the toasts was directed at " local preju-
dices." Another ran : — " Prosperity to the Agriculture and Com-
merce of Canada, and may they aid each other as their true
interest dictates by sharing a, due proportion of advantages and
burthens ; " another : " The City and County of Montreal, and the
Grand Juries of the District, who recommended local assr jsments
for local purposes." These resolutions seem not only harmless but
wise. They touched however, a majority of the Assembly on the
raw. After the prorogation of Parliament they were printed in
the Montreal Gazette. Nevertheless, they were taken into con-
sideration the following session. On March 6th, 1806, it was
resolved that the Gazette contained a false, scandalous and sedi-
tious libel. The president of the banquet having escaped to

EARLY STRUGGLES FOR FREEDOM.

175-

>ted, the
ider the
the pen-
i of cul-
*rovince.
iiinently
)eus and
, and as
with a
and the
id inter-
ges, and
amunity
ivied by
it where
generate
36 saved

signs of
1 at the
spoken
roposed
ndly to
mmerce
of the
preju-
d Com-
ir ti'iie
ges and
and the
isments
ess but
on the
nted in
io con-
it was
id sedi-
iped to

the United States, nothing was done against Edwards, the editor
of the Gazette. Four days afterwards the Sergeant-at-arms was
ordered to bring Thomas Gary, the editor of the Quebec Mercury
before the House to answer for his conduct in giving the public
a report of its proceedings. Caiy had to apologise in a most
humble fashion. But as we might expect, he did not cease to
attack {)eople who had acted against him so vindictively. The
result was the establishment in the opposite interest in 1806 of
Le Canadien and the controversy of journals commenced with its
stinmhis to iliought, and its unequalled safeguard to liberty.

Up to this, liberty of the press could not be said to exist in
Canada. Little over twenty years before an Irishman had fought
a great battle for freedom of the press in the mother land.
" Even a hundred libels," .said Sheridan, " had better V»e
ushered into the world than one prosecution be instituted
which luight endanger the liberty < f the Press of this
country." At another and a later period he cried in words
which produced a great effect on Parliament : — " Givu them a
corrupt House of Lords, give them a \enal House of Com-
mons, give them a tyrannical prince, give them a truckling Court,
let me have but an unfettered Press, I will defy them to encroach
a hair's-breath upon the liberties of England." When in 1808
Le Canadien commented adversely on the intrigues of the
Government — Sir J. H. Craig's view oi sna duty as a Governor,
being to act with a party — M. Panet, as x' pposed proprietor of
that journal, was stripped of his rank as Lieutenant-Colonel of
Militia. Other officers were in like manner degraded foi having
used their inliuence in favour of M. Panet's candidature. At a
later period Sir James Craig thought fit to condemn the conduct
in very unmeasured terms, of a portion of the Assembly, which was
opposed to the election of judges as members of Parliament. The
menacing state of things in the neighbouring republic made him
(he not having the wisdom of Carleton) lean too openly on the
inhabitants of British origin. When the election took place the
Canadien attacked His Excellency with unmeasured violence, and
the most part of those who had taken a course offensive to him
were elected. Parliament was opened on the 20th January, 1810.
The Assembly passed a resolution that it was a violation of the

176

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

Statute by which tb ■ Assembly was constituted, an infraction
of its privileges, and a menace to the liberties of the subject for
the Governor or the other branch of the Legiskiure, to censure
its proceedings, especially when that censure took the form of
approving the conduct of a part of the Uouse, and condemning
that of another part. After some discussion on financial questions
they came to the concluoion that the Province was in a position to
pay all the expenses of Government with which they readily
charged thems«^lves. There was a dead lock. The Legislative
Assembly expelled the single judge who sat as member of it. The
Governor dissolved the Chamber. During the election, which
was a violent one, six members of Parliament and the pro-
prietor of the Ganadien were tlirown into prison. They were
released ultimately ; the judges were disqualified ; and so the
cri^". 1 was got over.

.'n New Brunswick, the dead-lock came in the closing years
of the eighteenth century, though the brother of Lord Dorchester,
Colonel Carleton, administered its affairs with great tact from
1782 to 1802.

W^ return to Upper Canada. There was but one newspaper in
the Province, the Upper Canada Gazette, the honour of establish-
ing which, with so much else, belongs to Governor Simcoe. It
was, however, a government organ ; and started by a governor and
supported by government, and without competition it could liave
no life. The Rev. Dr. Carroll speaking of this paper for Nov.
13th, 1801, describes it as a coarse, Himsy, two-leaved paper of oc-
tavo size, the department of news large, but the " news much
older than their ak*." Lieutenant-Governor Simcoe having Ijeen
recalled in 17l)G, the Province was administered by Mr. Russell,
senior member of the Executive, until the arrival of Lieutenant-
Governor Hunter, in 1799, who was succeeded six years afterwards
by Mr. Gore, the country having been, during a brief interregnum,
governed by Mr. Alexander Grant. The administration of justice
had fallen into a disgraceful condition, and despotic power had>
as it never fails to do, rendered its possessors impatient of oppo-
sition. To use our party watchwords now, and apply it to the
events of those days would be misleading. There is, for instance,
no Conservative to-day who is not mo^e " advanced" than the

r hadi

EARLIEST ORGAN OF OPINION IN UPPER CANADA.

177

leader of the Reform Party in IS^l. How impossible then to use
the party designations of the present in 1800. The ground was
being broken up for the seed of party, but the present struggle
was between the people and an oligarchy.

At this period, Mr. Thorpe, an English lawyer, was sent out as
one of the judges of the Court of King's Bench. His impartial
administration of justice had made him popular. Grand juries
entrusted him with their grievances to be laid before Mr. Gore,
the Lieutenant-Governor, who naturally fell into bureaucratic
hands, and conceived prejudices against the judge, who unfortu-
nately, considering his office, allowed himself to become a candi-
date for a seat in parliament. An Irish gentlema*, Joseph Wilcox,
voted for him and was deprived of the Shrievalty of the Home
District. He then started, practically, the first real organ of public
opinion in Upper Canada — the Upper Canada Guardian — the
legitimate forerunner of the Olobe, the Mail, the Leader, the Lon-
don Advei'tiser, the London Herald and their contemporaries. He
opposed the Government and wasprosecuted for libel, butacquitted.
He became popular, and was returned to parliament where he was
equally outspoken. The result was, he was arrested and 'thrown
into York gaol. When liberated, he became leadtr -if the opposi-
tion and had a majority in the House. When the war of 1812 broke
out, he gave up his paper, and went into that war to defend his
adopted country, and fought gallantly at Queenston. " Still,"
says McMullen, " Government treated him harshly, and at lengt>>,
thoroughly disheartened and disgusted, he deserted to the enemy,
taking a body of Canadian militia over with him." The Ameri-
cans rewarded him with a Colonel's commission, and he fell at
Fort Erie, while planting a guard, a musket-ball finding its billet
in his restless frame. Had he remained true to Canada, he might
occupy a proud place in our bead roll of heroes. No excuse could
be made for the harsh conduct of Government. Still less could
anything be said to palliate the treason of this pioneer of an in-
dependent press, this forerunner of our popular tribunes. Parlia-
ment made provision for appropriating £809 for the salaries of
masters of grammar schools, in the eight districts of Upper
Canada. The patronage being vested in the Government, and

£100 a year being an object to a " gentleman" with nothing par-
12

178

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

!tt &

ticular to do, and full capacity to do that, some abuse arose
in consequence. This led to trouble in the case of another Wil-
cocks, also an Irishman, whom we have already mentioned in con-
nection with the Baldwins. He was member for the First Riding
of the County of Lincoln, the West Riding of the County of York,
and the County of Haldimand. In a private house he seems to
have made use of some strong language regarding his brother
members. T^or this he was "tried" before the house on the 30th
of January, 1808, found guilty, and committed to the Common
gaol of the Home District, there to remain during the sitting of
Parliament, He had given notice that he would bring in a bill to
repeal the District School Act. The day after he obtained leave
to bring in the bill, he was sent to a dungeon. No wonder the
two things were put together. He was placed in a cell where
there were none of the conveniences which the baldest decency
requires. It seems, he was also opposed to some other bills which
it was thought desirable to pass.

The population has been increasing, the work of government
going foi'ward, wealth accumulating, political ideas ripening, and
as we have seen an Irishman here and there and everywhere, doing
his part of the work. Mind only his part. But it is not ray pro-
vince, the title of the book precludes me from mentioning particu-
lars regarding other natiorialities, and yet I have in passing,
perhaps, done them some small share of justice. For there has
been no Carleton sent us save from Ireland, and Col. Talbot
stands without parallel, working away there in the west, letting
out London in lots, and superintending the planting of the rich
and extensive acres placed by Providence under his auspices. Let
us turn once more to the arduous religious field of that day, and
see whose hands are at work clearing it.

In 1790, the first Methodist Circuit in Canada was defined, and in
1792, at Adolphustown, the first Methodist chapel in Canada was
built. In 1802,the honoured name of Nathan Bangs was on the min-
utes for Canada, and he soon had as fellow-labourers, William Case
and Henry Ryan, all of them men of apostolic mould. In 1855, the
venerable Mr. Case addressed a letter to his old co-labourer, Nathan
Bangs, which, as Mr. Crook says, sheds " a beautiful light upon
Canadian Methodi.im in Canada in early times." In this letter he

PIETY AND AGE.

179

arose
r Wil-
in con-
Riding
fYork,
ems to
brother
le 30th
Dinmon
;ting of
t hill to
d leave
[ler the
1 where
iecency
s which

;rnment
ing, and
e, doing
ny pro-
particu-
passing,
ere has
Talbot
letting
the rich
es. Let
ay, and

I, and in
Ida was

le min-
liniCase

^55, the
lathan

it upon

3tter he

recalls the scenes and changes through which they had passed ;
how they assembled in private houses and V)arns ; how they toiled
on horseback through wild forests from two-and a-half to four
mil'^^s an hour, and he asks him to revisit these scenes before leav-
ing for the fairer climes.

How beautiful and cheerful does religious faith make the aged !
It lights up with glory their grey hairs. It compensates with a
nobler fire for the loss of the glory of youth within the eye. It
is as though a traveller should come on others benighted, and
while with them illumine the darkness with a sti'ange unexpected
light of a mysterious morning, and break the sombre silence with
voices of distant melodies, having nothing mortal in their notes
of subtle stimulation.

Mr. Case goes on to tell how he had made a journey through
Hallowell, Belleville, Kingston, Elizabethtown, Brockville, Au-
gusta, Matilda, Bytown (Ottawa City), Perth, Walford, and horn:
to Alnwick, through a portion of the northern new settlements.
Only a few of their former friends were living. A poet, whose
inspiration was remorse, and whose mighty magnificent so^u^ so
full of noble feeling, so disfigured with mockery, a song which
was the cry of a nature at war with itself, the wail of a man who
loved what was good, and could not be that which he loved and
fain had been, that poet wrtes :

" What is the worst of woes that wait on age ?
What stamps the wrinkle deeper on the brow ?
To view each loved one blotted from life's page,
And be alone on earth, as I am now."

No such cry breaks from the old Methodist preacher gazing
round on the tombstones of those he loved, for, for him, there was
no bowing with despairful head —

" O'er hearts divided and o'er hopes destroyed,"

No indeed. He had a talisman against gloom and could sing
with a happier poet —

" On the cold cheek of death smiles and roses are blending,
And beauty immortal awakes from the tomb."

He found one or two or three of his old friends of long ago living,

180

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

M'ni

from oi^'lity to ninety year-s of ago. But most were gone. " Yet,"
he adds, "they live in their exainplea of piety, integrity, ho.spi-
tality, and Christian benevolence." The prcjgeny bore a .striking
inipre.sH of their patriarchal fathers. He finds the grandchildren
following in the steps of thiiir grand.sires and sires. The Emburys,
Detlors, Millers, Maddens, Switzers, of the Bay of Quintd, are
described as numerous and pious, and justifying th^ir Irish train-
ing on Mr. Wesley's knee. Old Mrs. Detlor, forty ^ 3ars ago, told
him when a child in Ireland JVIr. Wesley took her on h"-; knee.

when she sang —

(jLildren of the Hsavenly King,
As we journey let us ainj,'."

Mr. Crook says the impression the life of Nathan Bangs made
on him was, that a hundred of such men would turn the world
upside down.

Mr. Crook, after going over many interesting facts, concludes
that the estimate is far too low which would connect one-fourth
of the Methodists of Canada, directly or remotely, with Irish Me-
thodists, and he goes on to speak of Garret Miller and others. Of
one extraordinary man he seems to have forgotten the claims;
Henry Ryan, an Irishman of the Boanerges type, an O'Connell
in the garb of a Methodist preacher, who was, in 180.', appointed
with the Rev. William Case to the Bay of Quints circuit. The inhabi-
tants of Kingston were at this time, according to Carroll, very
irreligious. Ryan and Case determined to rouse the peoj e. Ryan
had a powerful voice, and on a market day they would Iocs arms
and go singing down the streets and ultimately ir.to the market-
place, —

" Come let us march to Zion's hill."

They were sure on reaching the market-place to have a good
congregation, to whom Ryan preached. His voice was like O'Con-
nell's in power of reaching far. It rose like a clarion, and was
heard over the adjacent waters. They were tripped off the but-
cher's block ; pins were inserted into their calves ; their hair was
set on fire ; if they preached at night their candle was put out ;
but they preached away, and their preaching bore fruit.

In 1810 Ryan was presiding elder, and h 'ities as such were to
visit every part of the Province from Detroit to Cornwall. He tra-

•^e-

" Yet,"
hospi-
tiiking
tiildien
iiljurys,
ii6, are
1 train-
To, told
: knee,

^ marie
J world

►ncludes
3-fourth
ish Me-
tiers. Of
claims;
Connell
pointed
inhabi-
11, very
Ryan
A<. arms
narket-

a good

O'Con-

Ind was

the but-

lir was

lut out ;

I were to
He tra-

FIUST CAMP MEETINQ.

181

veiled about -tjOOO inlloH annually, and the entire allowanwiof thi««
extraonii iry man was a])out £(10 a year, $800 ! At the first camp
meeting held in Canada, Ryan was present, as were Case, Keeler,
Madden, and Bangs. It was held in 1805, on the south shore of
Hay Bay. The last night is descri VmI by Dr. Bangs as impressive
beyond doscription. The sky was without a cloud. p]very star
came out. To thu enthusiastic minds and visioned eyes of thost
earnest mem, the camp was filled with a glory not of earth. The
neighbouring forest, reposing in the enchanted starlight, vibrated
to and fro with echoing hymns. When the parting came, the scene
was most affecting. Bangs and Case and Keeler and Madden hung
on each other's necks " weeping and yet rejoicing." Some of the
people parted, as they knew, to meet no more here. As these happy
hosts dispersed to their different and distant homes, along the high-
ways rolled victorious chants of praise.

The man who is regarded as the father of the Roman Catholic
Church in Upi)er Canada — a Church mainly supported by men of
Irish blood, was oddly enough a Scotchman, though he belonged to
the great Celtic race. Bi.shop McDonnell was born in the third
quarter of the la.<t century, in Glengarry, educated at Valladolid
— full of old-world romantic and warlike, Roman and Moorish
memories, where Christopher Columbus died — a place well fitted for
the training of one who had the seeds of greatness in him. Having
been ordained, he returned to his native country, where he offi-
ciated as a priest until 1789, when he joined the Glengarry Fen -
cibles, ordered on duty to Ireland, a regiment raised by his exer-
tions, and composed entirely of Catholics, In 1802, the regiment
was disbanded, and after much negotiation their chaplain and
friend, obtained for every one of his people who chose to go to
Canada two hundred acres of land. A year afterwards he had
settled on Canadian soil a splendid race of men with patents
in their pockets for 160,000 acres of land.

He had well nigh unbounded influence with the Government,
and obtained for his Church nearly all the land it possesses in Up-
per Canada. Nor can any one doubt that he had a true eye for
the best situation in a district. He was for many years, together
with Bishop Strachan, a member of the Legislative Council.
When he arrived here in 1804, he said, .speaking with pride, " there

• I

182

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

ii'K?

• f/

■K ■'■

hiT:

were," " but two Catholic clergymen in the whole of Upper Canada.
One of these clergymen soon dv erted his post, and the other
resided in the Township of Sandvvich, in the Western District,
and never went beyond the limits of his mission ; so that upon
entering upon my pastoral duties i had the whole of the Pro-
vince limits in charge, and without any assistance for a
space of ten years." He spoke thus in 1836, when he could
boast that by his exertions five-and-thirty churches had been
built, and that twenty-two clergymen were zealously at work,
the greater number of whom had been educated at his own ex-
pense. He added, to attest his services to the Crown, that he had
been " instrumental in gettWg two corps of my flock raised and
embodied in defence of their country in critical times. The
first Glengarry Fencible Regiment was raised by ro.y influence
as a Catholic corps, during the Irish Rebellion, whose dangers and
fatigues I shared in that distracted country. I contributed in
no small degree to suppress the rapacity of the soldiers and
bring back the deluded peoi)le to a sense of their duty to their
sovereign and submission to the laws." The second Glengarry Fen-
cible Regiment was raised in this Province, when the government
of the United States of America made war on the Colony. " It
was planned by me," said the Bishop, "and partly raised by my
influence." He was the first clergyman of his Church who
preached in Belleville. But the first clergyman permanently set-
tled at Belleville was an Irishman, the Rev. Michael Brennan, who
did not arrive, however, until 1829.

The Church of England, which was the established Church of
Canada, was meanwhile, doing its own work, as was tiie Presby-
terian Church, each having, as at this hour, bright ornaments and
sustaining pillars from Ireland,

In NcT' i'oundland. Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince
Edward Island, there was a counterpart to the Methodist energy
\\^hich we have seen in U])per Canada, or, as W3 should now say,
Ontario ; for as Dr. Stevens writes in his History of Methodism,
" Irishmen have warred a good warfare, and died triumphantly
on almost every important Methodist field of the world," and he
goes on to say that they founded it in the British North American
Provinces, as well as in the United States, in the West Indies, in

r Canada,
he other

District,
that upon
' the Pro-
ice for a
he could
had been
at work,
3 own ex-
lat he had
aised and
cies. The

influence
kUgera and
ributed in
liers and
y to their
;arry Fen-
)vernment
ony. " It
id by my

rch who

ently net-
iinan, who

I'hurch of
Presby-
Inents and

nd Prince
[st energy

now say,
tethodism,
Iniphantly
ll," and he
[American

Indies, in

«*'

THE SECRET OF GREATNESS.

183

Africa, and in India. Laurence Coughlan unfurled the Methodist
banner in Newfoun<llarid, ia 17G5, a year before Embury preached
in New York. He was converted in Ireland, in 1753, and several
of his letters to John Wesley are reproduced in Mr. Crook ,s book.
On November ith, 1772, he wrote a letter to Wesley, telling him
what success he had met with during seven years of missionary
labour. He had then two hundred communicants. He was, he
said, a thorough Methodist. Nor did he believe his preaching
would do much good without "discipline, which," he adds, "I
consider, under God, has been the preserving of my society."
The Church of England clergy were up in arms against him. He
was prosecuted. He was accused of every conceivable crime in
letters to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, by which
he was employed. He went on unheeding. His enemies hired a
physician to poison him. If I may parody Goldsmith — who came
to poison remained to pray. The physician became a Methodist,
and revealed the plot. A revival took place. Classes were
formed. Persecution grew fiercer. He was summoned before the
Governor. The Governor not only decided in his favour, but
made him a Justice of the Peace.

Master Laurence did not feel himself able to stand going over
his vast parish solely by water, and was thinking of returning
home or turning to some new field. But Wesley writes to him
under date of August 29, 1768, in a manner which shows strong
gra.sp of the foundation of all greatness, that the writer had im-
bibed the spirit of the early apostles, and had borrowed more than
perhaps he suspected from the Roman Catholic Church. " De«xr
Laurence," he writes, " by ^^arious trains of Providence you have
been led to the very place where God intended you should be. *
* * * In a short time how little will it signify whether
we have lived in Summer Islands, or beneath

' The rage of Arctos, and eternal frost.'

How soon will this dream of life be at an end ? And when we
are once landed in eternity, it will be all one whether we have
spent our time on earth in a ipalace, or had not where to lay our
head."

Here Mr. Grumbler, be you Methodist or what else, is a phi-

IV. r It

wrrrrw

jill

■ \ I

:i;

iilf

;,;!:, I' 'I

IpR

184

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

losophy to calm your perturbed spirit, and give you something of
dignity and greatness. Providence has sent you here to do your
duty : do it like a man. However strong your constitution you
must die, and that soon, and then what do the vanities, the pomps,
the little ambitions, the vile injustices of unjust men matter.
How bracing it is in a world of money grabbers to read these
great words. They come to us like a breeze of power from the
hills of the Absolute. There is medicine for discontent, for worry*
for effeminate longings after ease. What does it matter to you
whether you lie hard or soft ? And so <^nr friend Cough Ian la-
boured on in Newfoundland.

When he went there, Newfoundland is described as sinking into
heathenism. But his preaching wrought a great change. Cough-
lan's hands were soon strengthened by an Irish merchant, one of
his converts, Arthur Twomey, and by the arrival in 1770, from
Waterford, of John Soretton, son to John Stretton, of Limerick,
"a prominent friend of Methodism in the early day." He built at
Harbour Grace, the first Methodist chapel in the Lower Provinces.

Mr. Crook also gives letters from Wesley to Stretton. This was
in 1785, when Coughlan had returned to England to die. Wesley
had sent one of his lieutenants to go through the heart of Ame-
rica, " visiting the flock," and " settling them on the New Testa-
ment plan, to which they all willingly and joyfully conform ";
and he concludes in words of authority which sound, like those of a
great captain : " Go on in the name of the Lord, and in the power
of His might ! You shall want no assistance that is in the power
of your affectionate friend and brother — John Wesley." Keeping
a promise made in the body of this letter, Wesley, at the ensuing
conference, appointed an Irishman as a missionary to Newfound-
land. In 1804, Ireland gave Newfoundland another missionary ir.
the person of John Remington, and later on sent Samuel Ellis and
Samuel McDowell.

About twenty years ago everybody was reading a book which
had a curious fascination for my boyish fancy, though I could not
undei*8tand the character portrayed, half soldier half religious en-
thusiast. It was a book which especially laid hold of the minds
of religious women. As the Athenian got tired of hearing Aris-
tides called the Just, so some lads in those days got tired of hear-

l^hich

not

Is en-

linds

iris-

lear-

HEDLEY VICARS. EDUCATION OF U. E'S.

185

ing Hedley Vicars " cracked up." Curiously enough, his name is
connected with Newfoundland, with Canada, as well as with
Ireland, and therefore he has a double claim to be briefly dwelt
on here. Captain Vicars, of the Royal Engineers, then stationed
at St. John's, was induced to attend the preaching of a Methodist,
the Rev. George Cubitt. From being trifling and sceptical, he
became earnest and religious. Dressed in full uniform, he used to
preach. He fell in love with a fair young Methodist. They were
married. Captain Hedley Vicars, of the 97th, was the fruit of
this union. Many years after this, Captain Vicars, with his
Newfc dland wife, resided at Mullingar, Westmeath, where he,
his wife and son were accustomed to attend the Methodist Church.
In New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward, the Metho-
dists made their mark, n^-r could one conceive better missionaries
for a new country than ohe strict followers of Wesley. As mission-
aries they take rank side by side with the Jesuits, in self-denial,
in zeal, in energy, and in persuasiveness ; though they have not the
same imposing air of turning thu'r back on the world, and giving
up life, and love to go at a sombre, cold, cheerless, penlous, obscure
achievement, with a help-meet who herself frequently makes no
bad missionary.

And what of the work of education in those early days ? The
majority of the refugvv^s, according to Dr. Canniff", possessed but a
limited education. The culture of .a small nundjer was good, but,
he says, the gr-^ater portion of Loyalists from the colonies in
revolt " had not enjoyed opportunities for even a common educa-
tion." Where parents are uneducated and in the midst of the un-
educated, they do not care to educate their children. Mr. Ruttan
said he picked up what knowledge he had acquired from his
mother. But school teaching was gradually introduced. The first
school teachers wei discharged soldiers, and generally Irish. We
have seen how the Rev. John Stuart set up a seminary. But
when he settled at Cataraqui, he said : " The greatest inconvenience
I feel here is that there is no school for our boys." The following
year he opened a school himself. Another pioneer teacher at Kings-
ton, was Donevan. Colonel Clark, of Dalhousie, received part of his
education at Kingston, and he speaks of three Irishmen, Myers,
Blaney, and Michael, as teachers. Two other pedagogues, well re-

r'l! ■-

18G

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

iit'i

\'Mi[]\

riiembcrod, are Edward O'Ruily and McCormick, who seemed to
think boy.s could be made to learn only in the way one of George
Eliot's characters declares, babies can be made good. Later on Mr.
Wholan taught.

In 1799, Mr. Strachan, who was afterwards to occupy so great a
place in the history of Canada, arrived here from Scotland. Dr.
Chalmers, as has been the case with many another Scotchman
since, was invited to come. But Chalmers, though his greatness
was not yet known to the world, and perhaps, only half suspected
by himself, refused, and in refusing, suggested the name of his
friend, Strachan, who came to carry out a scheme of education
projected by Simcoe. But by the time he arrived, Simcoe had
been recalled. Hov/ever, in the following year, a school was es-
tablished by the Hon. R. Cartwright for his sons, having Mr.
Strachan for teacher, who had the privilege of taking ten other
scholars nt £10. each, per annum. Three years afterwards, Mr.
Strachan removed to Cornwall. In those early years he did a
gieat work in imparting the higher education and training future
statesmen.

" Antiquarian research," says Professor Wilson, in his interesting
Essay,* calling attention to Dr. Scadding's "Toronto of Old," "seems
peculiarly out of place in a new colony, and is lucky if it escapes
the sneer of the busy trader in his zeal for wealth and material
progress. Nevertheless," he continues, " to one gifted with the
slightest powers of fancy, there is something fascinating in the
attempt to recall the infancy of comparatively modern cities."
And surely it is not less fascinating, while fraught with instruct-
tive lessons, to recall the early stages and struggles of a community
aiid to point the sources whence it drew mental and moral food,
more precious than any which even the bountiful bosom of our
mother, the earth, can yield.

We have seen Colonel Simcoe choose Toronto for his capital,
when " dense and trackless forests lined the margin of the lake,
and reflected their inverted images in its glassy surface," and
gave the shelter of luxuriant foliage to the wigwam of the Missis-
saugas. On the heights above the Don, he erected the first Gov-

Canadian Monthly, August, 1873.

lital,

[ake,

and

CAiMDAS TRUE LAUREATE.

187

ernmcnt House, a rustic building, to wliich he gave the name of
Castle Frank. He was recalled. Meanwhile, a house was erected
here and a house there, and the first white child born in the in-
fant city was of Iiish parents, Edward Shncoe Wright, who
afterwards kept an inn known as the Greenland Fishery, at the
foot of John Street. Wright is still alive, and must be a very
old man, for he was born of parents in the service of General Sira-
coe, who stood gor' rather to him, and from whom he received his
second name. If we suppose him to have been born the year prior
to the Governor's recall, he would now be eighty-two.

Among the Irish families, who came in to help to lay the moral
and material foundation of Toronto was that of Mr. Joseph Rogers.
They came from Cooks'town, County Tyrone. Mr, Rogers carried
on the business of a furrier in King Street, and his descendants
are in the same line of business to-day, and, like him, strong in
all the points whicli make good, useful citizens.

At an early })eriod an Irishman visited, or lather flitted by, our
shores, who made a brief stay lower down the St. Lawrence, but
whose name — such is the power of genius — is inextricably bound
up with the thought and history of Canada. Nor is it possible to
write about Toronto's early days without mentioning his name
and musing over his words. Indeed, Moore is not only the laureate
of Ireland, but of Canada. His " Canadian Boat Song " has as
yet found no successful rival. Dr. Scadding and Dr. Wilson de-
clare that it has "become alike in words and air a national
anthem for the Dominion." You cannot produce poetry as you
produce fat cxen, by offering a prize. The verses of Moore are
known to every Canadian school-boy, and echo every summer
along our lakes and rivers. Sometimes the voice is that of the
captain 'of a raft, sometimes -the notes are those of a lady who
would be equal to a selection from Mozart. " It could scarcely be
heard," says Dr. Wilson, " by any Canadian wanderer, when far
away among strangers, without a thrill as tender and acute as
ever the ' Ranz des Vaches ' awoke on the ear of the exiled
Switzer, or ' Lochabcr No More,' on that of the Highlander lan-
guishing for his native glen."* In an epistle written to his coun-

* Moore wrote the words to an air sung fre([uently by the boatmen. In descending
the river from Kingston to Montreal the wind was ho unfavourable that they were oh*

188

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

i ''■'?'•

1 „i

trywoman, Lady Charlotte Rawdon, and dated " from the hanks
of the St. Lawrence," he gives his impression of Niagara, the St.
Lawrence, and Toronto.

I dreamt not then that, ere the roll''"",' year
Had filled its circle, I Hhould w .. here
In musing awe ; should tread this wondrous world,
See all its store of inland waters hurl'i^
In one vast volume down Niagara's steep ;
Or calm behold them, in transparent sleep,
Where the blue hills of old Toronto shed
Their evening shadows o'er Ontario's bed ;
Should trace the grand Cataraqni, and glide
Down the white rapids of his lordly ti" ,

liged to row all the way. The journey took five days. During the day the sun was
intonse. At night they were forced to take shelter or. the banks in any hut whose
owners would receive them. "But," cries the poet, "ih- magnificent sceneiy of the
St. Lawrence repays all these difficulties." He added that there was not a note of the
air which did not recall to his memory " the dip of our oars in the St. Lawrence, the
flight of our boat down the rapids, and all those new and fanciful impresHi"' to which
my heart was alive during the whole of this very interesting voyage." aope this
book of mine will fall into a great variety of hands, and as some of my poorer country-
men too often content themselves with an edition of the Melodies only, at the risk of
being accused of bringing coal to Newcastle, I reproduce the stanzas :—

A CANADIAN BOAT-SONG.
WRITTEN ON THE RIVER ST. LAWRENCE.

Et remigem cantus hortatur. —Quintilian.

Faintly as tolls the evening chime.
Our voices keep tune and our oars keep time.
Soon as the woods on shore look dim.
We'll sing at St. Ann's our parting hymn.
Row, brothers, row, the stream rims fast,
The Rapids are near, and the daylight's past !

Why should we yet our sail unfurl ?
There is not a lireath the blue wave to curl !
But when the wind blows off the shore,
Oh ! sweetly we'll rest our weary oar.
Blow, breezes, blow, the stream runs fast.
The llai)ids are near, and the daylight's past !

Utawas' tide ! this trembling moon
Shall see iis float over thy surges soon.
Saint of this green isle ! hear our prayers,
Oh ! grant us cool heavens and favouring airs.
Blow, breezes, blow, the stream runs fast.
The Rapids are near, and the daylight's i)ast !

',m

hf I

189

)anks
icSt.

n wa«!
whose
of the
of the
a, the
which
e this
intry-
iak of

A SUBLIME THRONE.

Thrmigh massy woods, 'mid islets flowering fair
And blooming gla. es, where the first sinful pair
For consolation might have weeping trod
When banished from the garden of theirGod."

Here is a fine night picture on the St. Lawrence :

Among the reeds, in which our idle boat
Isrock'd to rest, the wind's complaining note
Dies, like a half-breathed whispering of flutes ;

Along the wave the gleaming porpoise shoots.

And I can trace him, like a watery star

Down the steep current, till he fades afar

Amid the foaming breakers silvery light

Where yon rough Rapids sparkle through the night -

Here, as along this shadowy bank I stray

And the smooth glass-snake, gliding o'er my way

Shows the dim moonlight through his scaly form

Fancy.^ with all the scene's enchantment warm

Hears in the murmur of the nightly breeze, '

Some Indian Spirit warble words like these.

in Iw/'^^'''' '^n '""i? "^ '^' ^^''''' ^''y f^^^if ^ ^^<^ beautiful
m which many a Canadian picture is woven with Indian Wend '
The description the Spirit gives of himself, sitting on the edge of
Niagara m winter time, is magnificent :- ^

Oft when hoar and silvery flakes

Melt along the rufl=led lakes ;

When the grey moose sheds his horns,

When the track at evening warns

Weary hunters of the way

To the wigwam's cheering ray,

Then, aloft through freezing air.

With the snow-bird soft and fair

As the fleece that heaven flings

O'er his little pearly wings,

Light above the rocks I play,

Where Niagara's starry spray,

Frozen on the cliff, appears.

Like a giant's starting tears !
There, amid the island sedge.
Just upon the cataract's edge.
Where the foot of living man
Never trod since time began.
Lone I sit, at close of day,
While, beneath the golden ray,
Icy columns gleam below.
Feathered round with falling snow,
And an arch of glory springs,
Brilliant as the chain of rings

ill

«\

,*i <ii

' m

p 1 iifrii

'I ;

190 THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

Round the necks of virgins hun^', —
Virgins who have wandered young
O'er the waterw of the west,
To the hmd where spirits rest !

The Song of the Si)irit, which he composed during the night,
over the epistle to Lady Rawdon, is taken up : —

Thus have I charmed, with visionary lay,
The lonely moments of the night away ;
And now, fresh daylight o'er the water beams !
Once mor*. embarked upon the glittering streams,
Our boat flies liglit along the leafy shore,
Shootiiig the falls, without a dip of oar
Or breath of zephyr, like the mystic bark
The poet saw, in dreams divinely dark.
Borne, without sails, along the dusky flood,
While on its deck a pilot angel stood.
And, with his wings of living light unfurled,
Coasted the dim shores of another world !

Yes ! Moore belongs to Canada as well as to Ireland in that
special sense which links a poet's name with a locality. Of course,
as a poet with a genuine gift of song, he belongs to the world,
and will be read and studied when Hazlitt's criticisms are for-
gotten and those who were befooled by the malicious glitter of
epigrammatic trifling have been succeeded by a wiser generation.

The spot is pointed out at Kingston where he wrote, " I knew
by the smoke that so gracefully curled." He stayed a few days at
Montreal, where he seems to have been treated with that hospi-
tality and attention he loved. He repaid his hostess with a few
verses full of compliments turned with graceful exaggeration, and
then left our shores for ever.

VETERANS OF THE WAR OF 1812.

191

CHAPTER VI.

A FEW sessions ago the Pailiaraent at Ottawa voted a small sum,.
$50,000 to be distril»nted among the surviving warriors of 1812,
and the two following years. More than half a century had passed
since the Treaty of Ghent put a stop to hostilities in which the
strong and unrighteous had shown only weakness and won but
disgrace, in v hich the weak, fighting in a righteous cause, engaged
in the noblest of all struggles, the struggle for home, for honour,
individual and national, had displayed dignity and strength ; and
as the great, joyous, unselfish hero of antiquity, when ere he at-
tained his eighth month, ignoble but powerful jealousy sent two-
serpents to destroy him, was in no way terrified but seized the
reptiles one in each infant hand and squeezed them to death: so
Canada, assailed in the cradle by the two great enemies of national,
existence, was nothing daunted, but anticipated maturity and
crushed what seemed the resistless instruments of easy ruin. More
than fifty years had passed since a glow other than that of Indian
summer liared along the tranquil bosom of Lake Erie, and Izzard,
leaving the fort which sentinelled its waters a smoking ruin,
crossed with 8,000 men to American territory. What changes
had taken place, what great things had been achieved, what can-
didates for reward and renown had fought and disappeared, what
forces had arisen and dashed themselves against the rocks of doom !
There had been a rebellion, great constitutional changes, phantas-
magoric invasion, and many who took part in these were as sound
asleep as Brock, had passed as completely beyond censure or ap-
plause as Fitzgibbon beyond neglect. The intention was to give

[Authorities :— Alison's " History of Europe :" Auchinleck's " History of the War of
1812-14 :" David Thompson's " History of the Late War :" Col. Coffin's "Chronicle of
the War of 1812 :" " The Life and Correspondence of Major-General Sir Isaac Brock,
K.B. :" " Historical Sketch of the War of 1812 :" by Miss A. M. Machar. " A Poetical
Account of the Campaigns of 1812 and 1813," by An Acadian. "Life of Colonel
Talbot," by Edward Ermatmger. McMullen's " History of Canada." Surviving
Veterans of 1812-14 and their friends.]

w^^

192

THE IllISHMAN IN CANADA.

each man a hundred dollars and it might well have heon thought
that the sum was large enough. But those men of 1812 were a
sturdy race and the number of well authenticated surviving war-
riors was large enough to reduce the share of each to twenty dol-
lars. The old soldiers were, however, well content. They valued
the recognition of their services, tardy though that recognition
was. It is the privilege of old age to be garrulous, and especially
of the old age of soldiers, and we need not be surprised that the
faded and wrinkled heroes seized the opportunity to show how
fields were won in those days of wilderness, before railways and
breechloaders, when nobody dreamed we should send ritle teams
to Wimbledon, and the most prophetic soul had no touch of intui-
tion to body forth the railway magnate, either in his tadpole state
of bonus-beggar or in the coarse importance of later years of
pompous success. On the present the veterans looked with rheumy
eyes ; the adventures and perils of sixty years ago, with all their
incident?, the brightness of the morning of the fight, the bracing
keenness of an early frost as they rushed into one of the autumn
engagements, the hue of the landscape in which the bloody picture
was framed, th'^ ^ight in the glance of the leader giving his last
command, all was for them vivid as ever. Over the scenes of those
days for them time's curtain could never fall. To talk of that
stirring period did the old men good, for this brought with it a
breeze of power, a thrill of youth, the rainbow light of hope.
Some were bowed under the hand of time. Others were erect and
bore their ninety years as if it was a small thing. This one had
grown prosperous ; to that fortune had been less kind. But pros-
perous or not they were all glad of public acknowledgment of their
services, and it exhilarated the heart of them to greet and gi-asp
the hands of companions in arms of long ago, Samuel Clements,
eighty years of age, formerly of Crook's Flank Company, who was
present at Queenston Heights, who fought under the solemn
stars at Lundy's Lane, would have made a good central figure for
a historical picture as he told with uplifted finger how he saw
Block fall. Such a picture well executed might be placed by the
side of Miss Thompson's Roll Call.

Every winter the society of York Pioneers founded by an Irish-
-maa, and presided over by a noble specimen of the United Empire

PATRIOTFC VALOUR.

193

)ros-

bheir

i-asp

lents,

was

lemn

for
Isaw

the

:ish-
ipire

Loyalist, Colonel Donison, celeltratos tlu; anniversary of CliryHler'a
Farm. Wo live in days when perhaps anniversaries are over-done,
wlien too many seek distinction, not by deeds, but by talking
about the deeds of others, wlien energy is apt to exhaust itself in
sparkle and froth. But the deeds of I (SI 2-1 4 can never pass from
men's liearts while Canada is Canada. From whatever point of
view we regard tlie part played l)y Canada in those years, it is cal-
culated not merely to win sympathy, l)ut to challenge enthusiasm.
The struggle was cruelly unequal. All the riglit and nearly all
the valour was w'.th the weaker side. Eight millions were arrayed
against two hundred tliousand. To-day the United States are only
ten times our nund)er. Then they were forty times. Aided
by a handful of regular troops, we had to defend a frontier of
1,700 miles, menaced at three critical and vulnerable points. What
wonder if there was a momentary sinking of heart ? It was but
a passing spasm. Tlie peoj)le of the Lower Province, the United
Emoiie Loyalists, the sturdy Canadian yeome i, the militia, men
of Irish, Scotch, and English blood, all proved themselves worthy
of their fathers. Volunteers Hocked into the garrison towns. In
default of gun.s anc) swords, they pressed the peaceful implements
of husbandry into the service of war. There is no mood, however
solenm, in which we cannot look with complacency on the little
bands repulsing a cruel and impolitic invasion. In their hands
the sword was something more than an instrument of justice ; it
was drawn with the choicest blessings of Heaven, and wielded
with the force of sacred passions. The defender of his country
does not tight for plunder or renown ; he is not thinking of stars
and crosses ; he is no soldier of fortune ; no knight errant doing
wanton battle in the name of a fantastic honour. He is fighting
for home, for the mother who nursed him, for the wife who makes
the starlight of his dwelling, for the child who lisps his name, and
is impatient at his absence. When the trumpet calls him, these
things sweep across his fancy, and he is aware of a sublimed
strenojth, and conscious of an unwonted fire ; he feels as the anci-
ents felt in supreme moments of battle, as though the immortals
fought beside him, and gave him the victory. And when, with
weary hands and heavy eyelids, he sinks into repose, the infinite
13

194

TTTE TUISIIMAN IN CAXADA.

ri. ii

.|i '

I el'

Holaco, which belongs tosulf-nacrificu, is arot;a(l him, like hovering
wings.*

The people of Great Britain and Ireland cannot La MaincMl if

the important events wiiich at tliat time took plu^e on the rivers
and lakes of Canada, amid forest shadows and opening margents,
received from them but scant attention; a just view lias been
neither so common nor so emphasiztMl, as is desirabh', amongst
ourselves. It would be hard to expect men to turn their gaze
from Moscow in Hames, from Luipsic and the great Napoleon's
beaten columns, from the moving spectacle of the Allies entering
Paris, an<l the master of the world a prisoner in a petty island, to
Queenston, to Burlington Heights, to the glorious struggle at
Chrysler's Farm, to the victorious twenty-fifth of JulyatChippawa.
•Yet though on a smaller scale than those which studded Europe
with memories of wasted valour, our fights had a greater influence
on the future ; they had in them the seeds of things. Wo have
lived to see a revolution in the foreign policy of England, and an
Anglo-French alliance with a Napoleon ruli^ig at the Tuileries.
But during nigh upon three-quarters of a century, Canada has
advanced steadily towards the goal of a national existence.

Nor, as we shall see, were our campaigns poor in indiAddual
heroism, or wanting in the picturesque. As long as Canada has
a history and and a name, so long will the story of Mary Siccord
walking twenty miles of wilderness, in danger of savage beasts
and more savage men, to warn Fitzgibbon of an intended surprise
on the Beaver Dam, be told. When in our national galltjry of
the future, miles of canvas attest the progress of Canadian art, no
picture will compel more attention than Brock erect in his canoe
leading the way to battle at Detroit, or the same gallant captain,
shouting while the fatal lead whizzes to his heart : " Push on the
brave York Volunteers." The tenacity of the two privates of
tl 3 Forty-first who kept the bridge in the western marshes,
though these swell the mass of undistinguished, valour, stirs the
heart as surely as the heroism of men more fortunate in renown.
Centuries hence men will turn with admiration to Tecumseh,
shaming by his determination the timid Proctor, or later, telling

* In the above and the following paragraph, there are a few aentences which have
already appeared in a periodical.

THK IlKllLIN DKCUKK.

195

no
moe
bain,

the
U of
shea,

the

)wn.
[iseh>

ping

have

him to have a " hi<,' heart," or still later falling, like a hero fij^'ht-
ing to the last. There wan wanting to us no fo. .u of snifeiing ;
wai' was hruught to our hea; ^is, an«l we tast( ' the bitterness of
devastation and defeat an W( '! as the dear-bought joys of vic-
tory.

The history of Irishmen in Canada would not be complete with-
out an aceount of this war, necessarily within easily understood
limits. The greatest feat performed during the three campaigns
was performed by an Irisi>man — a man, too, who was a true hero
in more senses than beinj; a brave soldier entitles a man to that
name. If Scotland sent her shp.ro of men in the gallant (llengar-
ries and others, and England hers. Ireland was rej)resented by ihe
IGOth Reginient, and by a large proportion of the 49th, while ah
had a relative place in the Canadian Yeomanry, who did such
splendid service.

Napoleon having become Emperor of France — having been
crowned King of Italy — having beaten three empires on the field
of Austerlitz — having scattered the glories of Frederick and of
Prussia at Jena — advanced to Berlin, whence he hurled a thunder-
bolt at the commerce of England. This was a measure w^hich
could have occurred only to a man insane from succc^ss, and the
excited consciousness of stupendous genius, which, having lost all
sense of perspective, felt onuiipotent, and thus like the thunder
cloud, held within itself not only min for others, but the
secret of its own dispersion. A great warrior, Napolecm was not
a statesman ; and though he could look up at the stars, and ask
flippant atheists who made them, he was hiuiself the worst kind
of Atheist ; he failed to recognise the fact, that no force can be
permanent which cannot, in the hour of trial, fall back on God ;
he did not see that justice and truth are stronger than genius and
armies ; that morality, in the long run, beats might ; that princi-
ples are above principalities and powers ; that all is cloud and
spray, and shifting sand and changing form, except the Absolute,
who is the core and pivot of all things material and moral, the
sole imperishable rock in the infinite abyss of everlasting muta-
tion. By the Berlin decree, the British islands were placed in a
state of blockade. Every species of commerce with them was for-
bidden. Every letter addressed in English was to be seized, and

i-y

196

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

id :

^Mll

fei

interdicted all circulation. Every British subject in countries
occupied by the French troops, or by those of the allies of France,
was to be made a prisoner of war. Every species of property
belonging tc a subject of Great Britain, in any part of the world,
was declared to be good prize. English goods bought by a
French subject were placed in the same category. No vessel from
England or her colonies, or which touched at a British port, was,
whatever her distress, to be received in any harbour over which
the tyrant had power. If a vessel, in stress of weather, or needing
food, put into any harbour of France, or her allies or dependents,
she was declared liable to seizure, even though .she did not belong
to England, if she had barely called at Liverpool or Belfast or
Halifax.

Tnere was not a country in the world, however small, if her
merchant marine consisted of a single schooner, but should have
resented this barbarous decree, which apart from all other follies
committed by great soldiers, ought to make men for ever
qualify their admiration of the military genius. How was it
treated at Washington ? The war of independence had left behind
it a bitter feeling towards England, the danger of which did not
escape the sage glance of Washington, that unique hero whose
perfect balance makes the impression of faultless sculpture. It
was natural that the French revoxation should excite the sympa-
thies of the American people. All that was generous and enlight-
ened, the world over, saw in that revolution the stormy dawn of a
better and nobler day for the world. War with Great Britain and
a French alliance became a passionate popular longing. The tide
rose 80 high that it threatened to sweep even Washington into
helpless privacy, or even worse. Washington stood calm like a
great tower when the rivers have broken over their banks, and all
the land is a turbulent turbid sea, hurrying one way. The follies
and crimes of the Revolution brought about reaction ; the floods
subsided, and a commercial treaty was established with Great
Britain. Again, however, the anti-British feeling rose, nor did
the hostilities between the United States and France in 1798,
sensibly abate it. A treaty of peace ensued. The election of
Jefferson to the Presidency, and the ascendancy of the Democratic
party assured, there was nothing to check the jealousy and

THE ORDERS IN COUNCIL.

197

ght-
of a
and
tide
into
ce a
■id all
bllies
loods
reat
r did
1798,
n of
ratic
and

dislike of whatever was British. It seemed at one time as if a
people loud in their boast of freedom would ally themselves
with a despot. When, the continent at his mercy, Napoleon penned
the Berlin decree with the view of striking at liberty in her last
asylum in the old world, England retaliated by the " Orders in
Council," prohibiting trade with the ports occupied by the French,
vigorously bl ikading all the })orts of France or her allies, and
declaring the manufactures or produce of the hostile countries or
their colonies, good prize. These Orders in Council necessarily
struck a blow at American commerce, for the British fleet swept
the seas. Not merely did they interfere with the vast carrying
trade of the United States. There was not a poor operative in
England or Ireland, who did not suffer in consequence of the mad
tyranny of Napoleon, for it was Napoleon who was surely respor.-
ble in the first place. The wisdom of the Orders in Council may
be questioned. But so far as they were an evil, the moral respon-
sibility rested with the ruler of France, and indeed at the time of
the whole continent. Jefferson, unjustly and unpatriotically and
unscrupulously seized the opportunity, to still further inflame
animosity against England. He refused to ratify a treaty of amity
commerce and navigation, between Great Britain and the United
States, negotiated by the American Minister at the Court of St.
James. He sent a message to Congress inveighing against the
Orders in Council. Not a word did he utter against the Berlin
decree. The Democratic party, as insane as Napoleon, forbade
American vessels to leave their ports.

The right insisted on by England of searching for British deser-
ters in American ships aggravated the delicacy of the situation.
The breach between the two countries became wider. The broad-
side from the Leopard bringing the Chesapeake to, in order to
search for deserters, had, though, the English Government disa-
vowed the act, no tendency to make the relations more amicable.
Meanwhile the mad embargo on outgoing American vessels, pro-
duced the natural result — distress. Massachusetts demanded its
repeal. Mr. Madison was elected President. The edict was re-
pealed in the spring of 1809, an Act being substituted prohibiting
all intercov-ise with France and England, but p^-oviding that the
Act should be a dead letter in regard to either or both nations

198

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

Ill

once their hostile decrees were repealed. Things looked more
favourable now.

Mr. Erskine, son of the celebrated advocate, was sent out with
express instructions from Mr. Canning, which he somewhat ex-
ceeded, in consenting to consider the suspension of the non-inter-
course Act a fair equivalent for the lapse of the Orders in Coun-
cil, and thus failing to insist that so long as the French decrees
were in force, the United States should renounce all pretensions
to carry on any trade with the colonies of belligerents not allow-
ed in times of peace, and that British ships of war should be
allowed to enforce, by capture, the American non-intercourso with
France and her allies. There was great rejoicing among the
moderate party at the settlement, which had, it was supposed,
been effected by Mr. Erskine and Mr. Madison. The federal press
had articles headed " Triumph of Federal Policy ;" " No Em-
bargo;" " No French Party;" " A Return to Peace, Prosperity and
Commerce," and the like.

All this exultation was destined to receive a rude shock. De-
pression and indignation followed joy, when on the 20th July,
more than a month after it was thought the obnoxious measures
had become dead letters, news came that Mr. Canning had declared
in the House of Commons, that the arrangement made by Mr.
Erskine was wholly unauthorised by his instructions. Mr. Ers-
kine was wrong to have gone beyond his instructions. Mr. Can-
ning was more of a bureaucrat than a statesman, however, in
refusing to ratify his arrangement. The non-intercourse was goon
re-established, and the situation was more unsatisfactory than
before. Every hour made it more tense. Mr. Jackson, who suc-
ceeded Mr. Esrkine was studiously insulted. In the spring of 1811,
the American minister took formal leave of the Prince Regent. A
rupture was felt to be inevitable. Intercourse with France was
resumed. The French flag flew in American harboui's and from
French vessels, many of which were fitted out as privateers, to
prey on British commerce. The train was all ready. The match
was applied by the collision between the Little Belt and the Pre-
sident, the former an English sloop of war of eighteen guns, the
latter an American frigate of forty -four guns. The following Jan-
uary, by an overwhelming majority. Congress passed resolutions

PROJECTED CONQUEST OF CANADA.

199

De-

uly,

ures
ired
Mr.
rs-
an-
in
oon
han
uc-

11,
. A
was
rom

to
itch
Ve-
the
an-
ions

to increase the regular troops to 25,000, and raising an immediate
loan of $10,000,000.

How the Americans hastened hostilities in order to capture
the British homeward bound West India fleet ; how Madison
sought to work on the warlike feeling by placing before Con-
gress worthless papers sold him by Henley for the enormous sum
of $50,000; how, on the 19th of June, Congress passed an Act
declaring war against Great Britain; how shortly afterwards the
Orders in Council were repealed ; how notwithstanding Congress
did not recede from its hostile position, need only be referred to.
Madison was anxious to distinguish his presidency by the conquest
of Canada. The great mass of the American people hungered for
moie territory, and they longed to humiliate England by driving
her from the Valley of the St. Lawrence, and raising the stars and
stripes over every stronghold from Fort Maiden to Quebec.

The United States acted at this time, as they have frequently
done, as if they did not believe in justice or honour, and only
cared about profit and expediency. But there have always been
thousands who would not bow the knee to Baal, and the most
influential and*reflecting raised protests against the war as unjust,
unnecessary, and impolitic, as indeed hardly decent, seeing that it
meant having for an ally a man, whose whole career showed him
to be the enemy of ^xcedom.

Not only was the war objected to in itself. The method by
which Canada was to be conquered was placed in its true light.
One Virginian gentleman said the plan was to make the Canadians
traitors as a preliminary step to their becoming American citizens.
Honourable men shrank from the tactics of tricksters. But un-
fortunately the sinister policy prevailed, as it has often prevailed
since, not to the advantage of the world at large or the American
people themselves. The men of New England would have nothing
to do with the invasion of a people who had given no provocation.
In Boston on the day war was declared, the flags were hoisted
half-mast high, as though some great national calamity had oc-
curred. On the other hand, extreme men from Germany, French
enthusiasts, with no political experience save what they had gained
during the reign of terror, Irish sympathisers with, and refugees
{To«n the Irish rebellion, swelled the cry of war. These last had

■L

i»l'< f nil

200

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

i t'

[;; :i

1 ''

B ^>

B 1 ,.

9 i !•

;;

Pi'

;

|l!

! |i

1
!

j&l

been, in most cases, deprived by bad laws of that education which
would have enabled them to make just distinctions, or they would
have turned with disgust from an attack on a peaceable population
for a cause of quarrel which had occurred on the other side of the
world. I do not find, however, that on this occasion the American
army wa*:; in any great proportion Irish, and amongst the Generals
we louV m vain for a Montgomery.

But in truth the Americans thought taking Canada would be
an easy task. With an ignorance and a vanity which provoke a
smile, it was believed that the Canadians themselves, would gladly
exchange the union jack for the stars and stripes,* and if they
were not so wise in their election, they must be taught wisdom.
How could they resist indeed ? The odds were overwhelming.
Apart from the vast po^ dlation they had to draw on, they had
twenty-five thousand regular troops and one hundred thousand
militia, against five thousand eight hundred men in the two Ca-
nadas, and a small militia badly equipped.

In Lower Canada parlianxent had passed a liberal Militia Act,
and voted considerable sums. A regiment of French-Canadian
voltigeurs was raised. I cannot but pause here to think how dif-
ferent things might have been in Ireland if the people had had
privileges such as those wisely accorded to French Canadians in
1775, and had been trusted. In Upper Canada an effective Militia
Bill was passed, and Brock, fully aware of the danger, was exert-
ing all his energy and ability to meet it. There were few troops
in the province and not suflicient arms for half the militia. From
England, where it was thought the repeal of the Orders in Council
would settle everything, no aid could be expected for months

There are two prominent heroes in the war of 1812-14. To
one ample justice has been done. Neither alive nor dead has the
other been properly rewarded. Both were intimately associated
in their lives. Perhaps it was well for the one he fell in battle
urging on the brave York volunteers, or he might have expe-
rienced the fickleness of popular favour, and the dire ingratitude

* Even to-day wo Bometimes hear Americans talk in a strange way on this head.
When coming back from the Centennial, I fell into conversation wiih an intelligent
American, who said to me—" I guess over in Canada you feel at times that you ar
not free enough, and that old mother England keeps you down a little too much."

aaaa

To
Ithe
Ited

btle
[pe-

ide

ead.

<ent

FIRST ACQUAINTANCE OF BROCK AND FITZGIBBON. 201

which seems inseparable from free communities. Both were gen-
uine heroes. The less fortunate was the more romantic of the-
two. We must go a little back in time in order to trace the early
acquaintance of two remarkable men.

Isaac Brock was born in Guernsey in 17G9, the same year in
which iS'apoleon and Wellington were born. His family was one;
of some local importance. He was tall, robust, and though a
gymnast, remarkable for his extreme gentleness. He entered the
8th regiment as an ensign in 1785. Five years aftei-wards he
was promoted to a lieutenancy. At the close of 1790 he obtained
an independent company by raising the requisite number of men^
He soon after exchanged into the 49th, and joined his regiment at
Barbadoes. There wafc' in the regiment a confirmed duellist, who
took advantage of his being a dead shot. Brock soon proved to
his brothel' captain that he was not to be bullied nor intimidated.
He was challenged as a matter of course. On the ground Brock
pointed out that it was not fair, he being so large a man, to stand
at twelve paces, and producing a handkerchief, insisted on firing
across it. This the duellist declined, and the consequence was,,
the regiment got rid of him. On the 24th of June, Brock pur-
chased his majority. In 1797 he purchased his lieutenant-colo-
nelcy, and soon after became senior lieutenant-colonel of the 49th..
He was then in his twenty-eighth year.

On the 6th of August,a young Irishman enlisted in the 49th, on
Barham Downs, near Canterbury. In less than two months he
was fighting under Brock at Egmont-op-Zee, where his colonel
was wounded, and had his holsters shot through. The merits of
James Fitzgibbon were soon discovered by General Brock, who, a
few years afterwards, made him sergeant-major, and in 1806 pro-
cured him an ensigncy. After the deployment of the 49th on the
sand hills, Fitzgibbon separated from Colonel Brock with that
part of the regiment detached under Lieutenant-Colonel Sheafie.
Soon after they commenced firing, the soldiers covering them-
selves behind the sand hills and firing over the summit. While
thus engaged he noticed the paymaster, Savery Brock, passing
from the top of one sand hill to ' lother, directing and encourag-
ing the men. He watched every moment to see him fall. But
two hours passed away and the paymaster remained untouched..

;• 'I

¥i i<l

iifti i

202

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

" Bem<]f at this time," says Fitzgibbon, " only eighteen years of
age, and not nine months from my parents' fire-side, in a remote
village in Ireland, I did not venture, although a sergeant, to give
any orders or instructions, lest I should do wrong. But after
witnessing Savery Brock's conduct, I determined to be the first to
advance every time at the head of those around me, and I soon
saw that of those who were most prompt to follow me, fewer fell
than of those more in the rear." He then, this raw lad of eighteen,
made up his mind to think no more of his own life, but leave the
care of it to Divine Providence, and to strain every nerve to do
his duty. At five o'clock on that day, while in his eagerness
pressing forward, he went too far ahead of his men, was cut off
and taken prisoner.

On the 27th February, 1801, the 49th embarked on board Nel-
son's squadron at Portsmouth. On the 30th of March the fleet
proceeded through the Sound, with a topsail breeze from N. W.
Fitzgibbon was in the Monarch, the 49th acting as marines. This
ship had 210 men killed and wounded. The next year the regi-
ment was ordered to Canada. In the fall, at Montreal, an educated
soldier named Carr was observed by Colonel Brock to salute him
with less manliness than usual, and he suspected that he would
desert as the ice bridge was on the river. Brock ordered Fitzgib-
bon, now a sergeant-major, to bring the man before him. The
Colonel directly charged Carr with intending to desert. " Man-
fully tell me the truth !" roared Brock. Carr stammered out a
denial. Brock stepped up to him, and putting his clenched fist
forward, cried in a firm voice : " Don't prevaricate. Tell me the
truth like a man. You know I have always treated you kindly !"
The awed wretch confessed that he and others had determined to
desert. " Go then," rejoined the Colonel, " and tell those deluded
men all that has passed here, and that notwithstanding what you
have told me, I will still treat every one of you with kindness^
and you may then all desert from me if you please."

In the following summer, when the 49th were at York (Toronto),
the sergeant of the guard informed the sergeant-major (Fitzgib-
bon), that three of his men were missing, and that a boat had
been taken from a shed in charge of a sentry, who had like-
"wise disappeared. Fitzgibbon instantly reported this to the Col-

SEiaOUS COxNSPIKACY.

203

[onto),
Itzgib-
U had
like-
Col-

onel, who ordered him to man a hoat forthwith with a sergeant
and twelve privates of the light company. In half an hour Brock
and Fitzgihbon were sitting together muffled up in the stern, while
the oars dipped rapidly, and the little craft shot through the waters
for Niagara, which was reached in the morning. The Colonel
then despatched a party of the detachment stationed there to nin
along +he Amrrican shore of Lake Ontario, while he and Fitzgih-
bon roved round by the west end of the lake, with the view of
interc-^^Hng the deserters should they have taken this course. But
they had taken the other direction, and were captured by the
party sent east by Colonel Brock.

In the following year a serious conspiracy in which some Irish-
men were implicated was discovered. The object of the mutiny
was the life of Col. Sheaffe, who seems to have been a tyrannical
martinet. A servant of Major Wulff, of the Royal Artillery, who
was stationed at Niagara, was returning home across the common
from fort St. George when he met a soldier of the 49th, one* Fitz-
patrick, running towards the Fort. He asked the time, and on
being told, cried : " Thank God, I will not be too late for the roll-
call or dinner, for if I were that tyrant would send me to

knapsack drill for a week. But, by ! " and he mattered a

threat. The servant struck by Fitzpatrick's manner went over to
the Fort and described the interview to Col. Sheaffe. Fitzpatrick
was sent for. He confessed nothing, but showed what were con-
sidered unmistakeable signs of guilt. He was put in irons and
sent to the cells, whereupon a soldier named Daly confessed he
was one of the conspirators, having been seduced from his duty by
Sergeant Clarke. Daly had been enlisted by this sergeant in Ire-
land in the year previous. A meeting of the conspirators had
taken place that morning, at Knox's tavern, from which place
Fitzpatrick was returning, perhaps having taken a glass or two
when his manner betrayed him.

Word of the conspiracy was immediately sent to Colonel Brock,
at York. The Colonel and Fitzgihbon, his " young and devoted
Sergeant^Major," embarked in the schooner which brought the
report. Fitzgihbon was told to remain below deck and out of
view until sent for, while Brock walked ovei' alone to the east
gate of the fort. He crossed che square to the guard which he

204

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

III

found commanded by Sergeant Clarke. It was part of the plan
that the mutineers were to take to their arms on some night when
Sergeant Clarke and Corporal O'Brien were on guard. They were
now on guard. The guard presented arms. Colonel Brock ad-
vanced and said : " Sergeant, let your guard shoulder arms." It
was done. " Come here, Sergeant," he said, authoritatively, " lay
down your pike." The pike was laid down. " Corporal O'Brien,
bring a pair of handcuffs and put them on this sergeant and lock
him up in the cells and bring me the key." This was done.
" Come here, Corporal, lay down your arms, take off your accoutre-
ments and lay them down also." Obeyed. " Come here you
grenadier " — addressing the right hand man of the guard — " bring
a pair of hancjcuffs and put them on this corporal, and lock him
up in another cell and bring me the key." They were brought,
and Brock cried : " Drummer, beat to arms." Just then Lieutenant
Williams was seen issuing from the nearest building: " Williams,"
cried Brock, " go and instantly secure Rock, and if he hesitate to
obey, even for a moment, cut him down." Williams ran up stairs and
told Rock to come down. " Yes, sir, when I take my arms." " No
you must come down without them." " I must have my arms,
sir." " If you touch your musket I will cut you down instantly ;
go down before me." Thirteen conspirators were taken, and they
and seven deserters were sent on to Quebec where they were tried
by Court-Martial. Four of the mutineers — Clarke, O'Brien, Rock,
and Fitzpatrick, and three deserters were condemned to suffer
death.

Why do I recount this circumstance which can shed no lustre
on Irishmen ? Because, as I have already said. Irishmen can af-
ford to have the truth told, and incidentally it shows that the
49th had been recruited in part, in Ireland,

In a letter, dated Quebec, March 17, 1807, and addressed to the
adjutant-general of His Majesty's forces. Brock speaks of the
lOOth regiment in a contradictory manner. He says : " The
winter has passed without a single instance of neglect or miscon-
duct having occurred among the 100th regiment, and it is a pleas-
ing task to report that so exemplary have the men behaved, that
even regimentally, only one corporal punishment has been inflicted
for the last three months." So far so good. He adds with singu-

THE CURTAIN RISES.

205

lar absurdity : " I am now speaking of men, vrho, being nearly all
Irish, are of a]l others the most volatile and easily led astray * *
The men were principally raised in the north of Ireland and are
nearly all Pi'otestants. They are robust, active and good looking."
By the returns of the 100th regiment, dated IGth March, 1807, it
appears that only one officer was an Englishman, Lieutenant-
Colonel Murray, one — the assistant surgeon — a Scotchman, while
twenty-six were Irish ; eight unknown, being absent on leave or
not having joined ; two vacancies ; making a total of 38 officers.
Of the non-commissioned officers and privates, out of 468,
the Irish numbered 4)58 ; there being nine English and one
Scotch.

Fitzgibbon, always the right hand man of Brock, became, as
already indicated. Lieutenant in 1809.

The curtain must now rise on war. We cannot, nor is it
necessary, to mention the names of all the Irishmen engaged in it.
The ^*^ards, such men as Edward Wright and Mr. Rogers, had
their comrades and counterparts. There is one prominent Irish
hero ; perhaps, by and by, we shall have to admit a poor private
to that position — James O'Hara, better known as " Jimmy"
O'Hara, of whom more anon.

The Americans commenced hostilities by taking Mackinaw,
a small military outpost for the protection of the fur trade, an ad-
vantage of which they were soon deprived. Meanwhile, General
Hull, an officer of the war of independence, on the 12th July
crossed the river Detroit, with a force of two thousand five hun-
dred, and a strong park of artillery. He planted the American
standard on our shores, and issued a bombastic proclamation,
in which he said, that the standard of the Union waved
over the territory of Canada, that it brought no danger to peace-
able unofiending inhabitants, that he^ came to find, not to make
enemies, to protect, not injure Canadians. He reminded them
that they had felt the tyranny of Great Britain and seen her in-
justice. But, he magnanimously added, that he did not ask
them to avenge the one or redress the other. The United States
were powerful enough to do both and much more. " Had I any
doubt of eventual success," he went on, " I might ask your assist-
ance. But I do not. I come prepared for every contingency. I

•II

206

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

liave a for which will break down all opposition, and that force
is but the vanffuard of a much 'greater. " After more .sturt' of the
same sort, be declared that no white man found fightin*^ by the
side of ail Indian would be taktm prisontT ; " instant death will be
his lot." A few weeks afterwards, General I^lull had retreated
acro.'is the river, and had surrendered Detroit.

An unknown author using the nam de plmne, " An Acadian,"
writes with great bitterness in his " Poetical Account." But
as the poem was written as the war progressed and })ublish-
ed in 1815, it is valuable as expressing the sentiments of the
hour.

The publisher, John Howe, jun., dedicates the letters to the
people of Canada. The last lines are dated "United States of
Amgrica, December, 1813." It is clear the author was an en-
forced exile amongst a people for whom he had a special, I had
almost said, an exaggerated antipathy. As he wrote nothing about
1314, I gather either that he died, or else that he obtained his
freedom, and was a bird who could only sing when caged.

Adieu ! the wintry wind blows hard around
And nature in an icy chain is bjund,
May Spring revive in Enijland's happy isle
With cheering hopes and most propitio'is smile,
And may the war and my sad exile end,
Prays with sincerity thy faithful friend.

And so he disapppears over the snow crusted landscape. It may
be that he was conscious that he had not in supreme measure the
divine afflatus. Yet the verses dealing with the surrender at
Detroit are not without spirit, though they scarcely fulfil the
conditions of poetry.

Brock led them* through the deep rolling flood.
And at Detroit the fearless body stood :
Around the towns in slonder lines they spread ;
And through the columns whistled English lead,
Hissing too loud to please a Yankee's ear,
Soon wild disorder imitated fear.
'■ Capitulation " whispered every way,
And on the fort gleamed in the sunny ray
The flag of peace, white as the thorn of May.

*The Indians.

rJATTF.E OF gUEENSTON HEIOHTS.

Parley the trum])et Hpoko, thu ntrifo woh Htill,
And HiauKhter Htayeil iigainHt the IniliuiiH' will,
Fi)riii tliiir i-arn, thcMt! wonls n^vihnvte IdikI,
" No (nmrtur give— but maHHacru the crowd ! "

207

' at

On the first gate, Hull's proclamation spread,
J.tMt UH that caijtive general hIiowM liii head,
The Indian chief stepped forward from his band,
And pointing to the line with lifted hand,
Where Hull had jironused death to all his race,
He flings his hatchet with indignant face,
And from the j)aper struck its every trace.

It does not come within my task to point out how Sir George
Prevost tied Brock's hands, or to describe thu most irritating of
all spectacles, a superior mind controlled by an inferior one, a
swift intuition and a strong will reined in by blundering and vacil-
lation. The American plan embraced a combined attack. Hull
was to enter Canada at the west by crossing the Detroit River ;
Van Ransallaer at the Niagara River ; Dearborn by way of Lake
Champlain and the Richelieu ; all aided by harassing incursions
at minor points along the frontier.

Van Ransallaer at Queenston, made Captain Dennis, with two
companies of the 49th retreat to the north end of the village.
Here he was met by Brock, who dismounting from his horse, put
himself at the head of a company of the 49th, resolved to take the
heights, now in possession of the Americans. Under a heavy fire,
he advanced at double quick time, crying out as he waved his
sword to " push on the brave York volunteers." He fell as the
words escaped iiis lips. A cry rose, which be sure was swelled
with Irish voices, to avenge the General, and regulars and militia,
though so much outnumbered, drove the enemy from its strong
position on the crest of the hill. The enemy being reinforced
ti^ey were obliged to retire. Then Major-General Sheaffc on whom
the command devolved, came up with reinforcements ; the conflict
was renewed; regulars and militia, though still outnumbered,
charged again and again, until they turned the left flank of
the Americans, and the day was won. Among the officers men-
tioned in the report of General Sheafie as having distinguished
themselves, were at least two Irishmen, Lieutenant-Colonel Butler

ff I

MPm

208

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA,

and Lieutenant Thomas Butler. The British loss did not exceed
one hundred men, while that on the American side was not less
than two thousand. Amon}.^ the former was the {.^allant provin-
cial aide-dti-camp of Brock, Colonel McDonald. This battle was
the Thermopyhe of the war. Brock, as he entere<l among
the shades, might have greeted Leonidas as his brothtsr ; and the
meii whose blood enriched those heights, whence to-day the eye
drinks in a scene of such varied beauty, the gi-een slopes, tho
pretty town, the bright waters of Ontario ; Brock's monument, and
the union jack giving a British character to the whole ; might
speak to the traveller who visits this spot of heroic associations,
sending Canadians a parody of the innnortal message :

Tell the Spartans, at their bidding,
Stranger, here in death we lie.*

There could indeed be no nobler resting place for a hero than near
the measureless grandeur of the Falls ; material sublimity near
moral sublimity ; and yet when contrasted with this the myriad
might of the watery plunge into the boiling chasm seeming so
small. Ages upon ages have elapsed since the waters commenced
to cleave a way through the rock, and when a like period has
passed away, this thunderous voice may still be heard, and tho
name of Brock be mingled with its legends when his column
shall be a shapeless fragment, and the language he spoke a curious
study for the learned.

Brock's mauaoleum, distant worlds shall tell,
And paint Niagara where the hero fell.
Time spuming flood ! When nations are no more,
Thou wilt relate the tragic story o'er ;
And show that grave, beside his on the hill
Where brave Macdonald holds his station still ;
For as in life — in fortune's hours they sped.
So side by side are laid the heroes dead.

Nor until Brock has ceased to be historical will be forgotten, as one
of the noblest features in his career, that he early discovered the
genius of the brave and simple Fitzgibbon.

• Lines composed by Simonides and inscribed on the monument erected at Thermo-
pylae in honour of the defenders of Greece.

.RMISTTC'E. THE ENEMY AT THE GATE.

209

one
the

kermo-

Van RanHjillaer, disgusted with the conduct of the American
militia — wlio, after they hud seen what Brito-Hiberniau valour
meant, pleaded the " constitution " when he wanted them to ad-
vance into Canadian territory — resigned, and was succeeded by
Brigadier-General Smyth in the connuand of what may be called
the American army of the centre.

If we ha<l to discuss the generalship of the British commander
and the armistice, disapproved of even by Prevost, which he con-
cluded, we should in justice to him bear in mind that the prisoners
he had taken greatly out numbered his little army.* But Brock
had he survived would have followed u[) the advantage. As it was,
what happened ? The enemy availed themselves of the opportunity
to recruit and reorganize their army, as well as to collect a flotilla
at the lower end of Lake Erie.

A bleak, cold, cheerless November blew its icy breath over the
colony at whose gates still watched the aggressors, soon to retire
into brief winter quarters, baffled and beaten at all points. Harri-
son, with his Kentucky forest rangers and sharp-shooters from
that State, which makes half the southern boundary of Lake Erie,
and rests in the lap of the Ohio, hurrying to swell the majestic
volume of the Mississippi, rolling to the Gulf, threatened the small
force under Proctor in the west ; Smyth, with five thousand men,
strutted on the eastern shore of the Niagara River ; Dearborn, at
the head of ten thousand men, hung on the confines of the Lower
Province ; for though beaten on land the successes of the Ameri-
cans at sea kept up their spirits. The same good fortune did not
attend them on our lakes, though they pounced upon Canadian
shipping under the guns of the forts at Kingston, York, and
Niagara. An attempt on a British advanced post near Rouse's
Point called forth ail the ardour of Lower Canadians, of whatever
origin, and the Montreal militia rose as one man.

To the feeling in Lower Canada, as well as all over the country,
all historians bear witness. Through the kindness of Mr, A. Thorn-
ton Todd, I have been put in possession of some valuable corres-
pondence of his grand-uncle, Isaac Todd, an eminent Irish merchant

♦Neither Sheaffe nor Prevost were English or Scotch or Irish. Prevost was bom in
New York and his father was a Swiss. Sheaffe was born in Boston and was of German
descent.

'i|!i

210

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

in Montreal, whose brother was one of the leaders of the North-
West Fur Company, after whom the first ship to the Columbia
River on the Pacific was called. In a letter dated Montreal, 20th
of October, 1812, he writes to his correspondent at Liverpool, that,
as he knew, his object in coming here was to sell property, " but
the unfortunate war makes pioperty of no value here, nor does
there appear any business but soldiering." In a previous letter
dated the 23rd September, 1812, he says : " There seems'a determi-
nation and spirit in English and Canadians to defend their Pro-
vince. The Americans are advancing with ten thousand men
(Dearborn's) by report, and are now near the line which separates
this Province anJ the United States, about thirty miles from the
opposite side of the river. What may be the event God knows, or
what can influence the President to persist in a war when the
great part of the pretended cause (the Orders in Council) is done
away, and when he mu..t know it is reprobated by almost all the
good men in the United States. There is still hope thit he will
not be re-elected President, or that when Congress meets there
will be a majority for peace." Having pointed out that the two
countries should, though separated in government and laws and
empire, be united " from nature and interest," he goes on to say :
" Although at my time of life I can do little good as a soldier, yet
as this place is threatened with invasion I don't like to leave my
friends. I have therefore determined on waiting the event and
wintering here."

Smytji [had meanwhile issued a proclamation to the men of
New York, and addressed his soldiers in a melo-draniatic style ;
had embarked and re-embarked, irresolute one should say, rather
than resolute to conquer; and terrified by a bugle horn, had given
up the enterprise. " I must not be defeated," he said, when put-
ting liimself at the head of his troops. Nor was he. To fight is
as necessary a preliminary to defeat as to victory. The people of
the United States nicknamed Smyth, General Van Bladder, and
the tavern keepers thinking him unworthy even of a cock-tail,
shut their doors in his face. *

* In his address to the men of New York, this braggart had said : (the italics are
mine) "The valour of the American people has been conspicuous ; but thvnation has

CANADA'S SPIRIT UP.

211

" Acadian " pours forth all the vials of his scorn on the unfor-
tunate General : —

The welkin now wiis still— the air serene,

The General roused once more his sleeping spleen,

His courage rose— "for Canada push on,

The way in clear— the heavy clouds are gone,"

He spoke, as bray'd along the distant range

The haughty bugle with its warlike change.

Still stood the knight, of all his honours shorn

Forgetful hero— whv 'ot have spiked the horn?

" Back ! back ! " he c led, " Row ! row I with speed away,

That Canada, I cannot take to-day."

When the armies had gone into 'vinter quarters, the Loyal and
Patriotic Society of Upper ('.'.ada vas formed to provide for
those on wliom the brunt of < iie vrar 'lad fallen. This fund was
warrrJy supported in Canada, in i/he West Indies, in the old
count'.y, and in Nova Scotia, a statement in which Irishmen may
feel a personal pride as well as their brethren of the same blood
from England and Scotland. By the Legislatures of both Pro-
vinces large votes were passed for equipping and embodying a
jtrong force of militia. Recruiting was responded to so readily
that for the campaign of 1813 the offensive force, including regu-
lars and militia, amounted to 8,000, which had, however, to face
three times their number — making a combined movement on the
three keys of Canada's safety, Amhertsburg, the Niagara frontier,
and the St. Lawrence. Early in the year Proctor gave a good ac-
count of Harrison in the Far West ; the Highland Glengarries,

been unfortunate in the selection of those who have directed it. . . . Must I turn from
you, and ask the men of the Six Nations to support the Government of the United
States. Sh-'ll I imitate," he asks with admirable Pistol eloquence, "the officers of the
British king, and suffer our ungathered laurels to be tarnished by ruthless deeds-
shame where's thy blush— no — advance then to our aid— I will wait for you a few days
— I cannot give you the day of my departure— but come on— <5ome in companies, half
companies, pairs or singly — I will organise yovi for a short tour ; ride to this place if
the distance is far — and send back your horses."

In his address to the soldiers, he told them tht^y were about to conquer Canada ; that
they were superior in number and in personal strength, and'activity to the British ;
that the British soldiers were old and sickly, and quite unfit to endure their charge.
He little knew he was speaking of men, who, if Napoleon's picked troops were charging
them, would not reel.

In his despatch, he said ; " The affair at Quepnsfc^n is a oaution against relying on
crowds who go to the banks of Niagara to look a*' a bittle, as on a theatrical exhibition."

212

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

while the ice was still on the river, had distinguished themselves
on the St. Lawrence, by a brilliant demonstration against Fort
La Presentation. When the ice had disappeared from the river
it was determined to assault York. On the 27th of April, the fleet
stood before the capital of Upper Canada. To the landing of the
enemy a most determined resistance was made by a small force. In
this force were the Rogers, the Duggans, the Wrights, and the like.
Overpowered by numbers, they were obliged to retire. The Ameri-
cans, commanded by General Pike, having effected a landing, ad-
vanced to the fort situate where the Great West ... xreight depot
stands to-day — a spot which, in 1812, was two miles to the west of
the town, in the midst of a country thickly wooded,* unburdened by
asylums, and unbeautified by princely mansions. They formed into
two lines, and carried the battery by assault. They then advanced
towards the citadel in the same order, and in doing so captured a
small intervening battery. There they halted to dress their lines
for the supreme attack on the mainworks, when a magazine was
fired by an Irish Artillery Sergeant, named Marshall. The explo-
sion killed and wounded a good many on both side.s, and amongst
the killed was General Pike. After a brave struggle, there was
nothing for it but that the little band should retreat. This they
did in good order towards York. There was one man, however,
who would not quit the fort, and, though his conduct may
seem Quixotic, it shows him to have possessed the stuff of which
heroes ivre made. Nor did the people of Toronto forget it when,
having been meanwhile soiled by gross weaknesses, he was borne,
amid vast crowds, to his grave. The humble hero was James
O'Hara, v/hose name speaks for his nationality. He swore he
would not leave the fort. When the Americans came in, O'Hara
asked them what they wanted, and, lifting the butt-end of his
musket, was about to strike, when he was overpowered and dis-
armed. Here we have the spirit of Tecumseh fighting to the last
blow amongst his braves. Why did this hero remain a private ?
For a cause which has kept more men, Irish and otherwise, back

* In the thirteenth of tb» Dudden Sonnets, Wordsworth sings of

" The gusts that lash
The matted forests of Ontario's shore,
By wasteful stsal unsniitten."

VINCENTS GALLANT DEFENCE.

213

than any other — a cause which Sir Walter Scott, brought up in
the midst of a drinking society, characterized as the one vice in-
consistent with gi-eatnesH.

In York General Sheaffe held a Council of War, when it was
resolved to abandon the town and retreat toward Kingston. In
the capture of York the Canadians lost four hundred, forty of
whom were killed or wounded ; the Americans from four to five
hundred, forty of whom were killed and two hundred and twenty-
two wounded by the explosion.

On the 8th of May, the Americans evacuated York, re-embarked,
proceeded to Sackett's Harbour where under Dearborn's instruc-
tions — the General was sick in bed — great preparations were
made for invading the Niagara frontier.*

Again he alludes to this in the canto or letter describing the
attack on the Niatjara frontier. The student of the war should get
before his mind a clear picture of the geographical situation.

General Vincent defended Fort George, at Niagara, with 1,400
men against G,000 men and 11 vessels with a fighting broadside
of 52 guns. A landing severely contested was effected under
cover of the guns from the ships. Having landed however, the
Americans did not have it all llieir own way. They were three
times driven back at the point of the bayonet, nor was it until the
corpse of every mounted officer disfigured that placid shore, and
every gunner lay dead or dying near his gun that Vincent aban-
doned the desperate struggle against ten-fold odds. He spiked
his guns, blew up his magazine and retreated in good order on the
Beaver Dam, a strong position twelve miles from Niagara on the
road to Burlington Heights. Fort George fell into the enemy's

* Acadian refers with a want of taste to Dearborn's infirmity.

Near the Lake's margin little York town stood,

Wrapp'd in a robe of deeply folding wood ;

Its youthful beauty no disorder sL . w'd,

But i)eace and plenty made it the'r abode ;

One fort api)ear'(l, but of the sr^ailest size

With Britain's ensign waving to the skies,

From whose dark l)attery clouds of smoke were spread,

As the invaders on their numbers led ;

The General sick and weari/ staid behind,

To fight his stomach was not much inclin^iH.

ill

! , I

ill

214

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

hands and 445 brave Canadians, whether Irish, English or Scotch,
lay dead around the little town. The Americans made no ener-
getic effort to follow up the advantage, and by the time the 3,000
men and nine field pieces sent in pursuit arrived, Vincent had
entrenched himself at Stony Creek. The American purauing force
was under Generals Winder and Chandler, the former being chief
in command. The Acadian says — with I fear — as just bitternesfj
as contempt, although some Canadian historians do not mention
the circumstance of cottage burning, and Americans deny it :

This sober general moved not on in haste,
Slowly he marcK'd, and laid each cottage waste;
Arriving safe, the fiftii iair cloudless day.
Within ten miles of where the British lay
On a fair plain, that its broad bosom lent
An ample space to halt, he spread his tent.
This was enough, no other thought was near.
No cautions whisper reach'd his warlike ear ;
• But all supine, he and his army fed
On brave spoils pilfer'd from the peasant's shed.

On the 1st June, 1813, T.Ir. Isaac Todd speaks of the "critical
situation" of the country, particularly Upper Canada. " They have
had all this spring," he writes, " a superior force on Lake Ontario,
and by great numbers have obtained possession of one of our forts
after severe fighting, as you will see by a hand bill. Since the
arrival of Sir James Yeo with officers and 500 seamen, we have
now a fleet ready and wi]ling to meet them, the event of which
[meeting] may partly decide the fiite of Upper Canada. Sir George
Prevost is in Upper Canada, and anxiously awaiting the arrival of
more troof)s to attack them. Our troops are so superior that on a
plain they can beat three times their number, and our Indian
allies behave so well, I trust Great Britain will never make peace
without attending to their interests and protection. We have yet
exclusive of seamen, only about 1,000 troops, and the 19th regi-
ment of Light Dragoons, arrived. The latter will not be mounted
these twelve months, and if they were, would be of little use in
woods. There are two American gentlemen sent by the American
Government to Russia, it is said, to solicit the Emperor's mediation
for peace. Before they obtain it, they ought to be humbled."

How Vincent had the enemy's position reconnoitred, and ho w a
night attack of 600 on 3,000 was a complete success, the two

VINCENT TAKES THE OFFENSIVE. A HEROINE.

215

generals with 620 officers and men, and four guns, falling into the
hands of the brave captain, is well known, as is also, how the rest
fled in confusion,* The enemy was now thrown back on the edge
of the frontier at Fort George.

General Vincent, slightly reinforced, took the offensive. He
placed his right wing under the command of Lieut.-Col. Bisshopp.
The Colonel pushed forward detachments, and took up two posi-
tions commanding the cross-roads at the Ten -mile Creek and the
Beaver Dam. Dearborn despatched Lieut.-Col. Baerstler with a
force of seven hundred men from Fort George to attack the hand-
ful of men, only thirty, who, under Lieutenant Fitzgibbon, of the
49th, had taken up their position in a stone house near the Beaver
Dam. A woman named Mary Secord, the widow of a man who
had been wounded at Queenston, heard from private sources that
it was the intention of the American forces to surround Fitzgibbon.
She determined to apprise Fitzgibbon, if possible, of his danger.
She left early in the June morning, her heart beating with anxiety
lest she should not get through the American guards, out ten miles
in the country. Through all the burning summer tide she walked
over a rough coimtry, and as she came into the neighbourhood of
the Beaver Dam, daylight was gone. Captain Kerr, wit)i a party
of Indians, occupied the adjacent woods. There was a moon, and
as the brave woman strode on in a light more attuned to tender
associations than to those of war, she came on the Indian encamp-
ment. For a moment, and to a mind free from apprehension, the
scene was picturesque. But when two hundred armed Indians
rose, and yelled and shouted, " woman !" it was terrible. " It made
me tremble," said Mrs. Secord, when recounting the circumstance.
'•' I cannot," she added, " express the awful feeling it gave me."
She did not, however, lose her presence of mind. Advancing to
one of the chiefs, she made him understand she had great news
for Fitzgibbon. Fitzgibbon, benefiting by the information, made
his arrangements.

The following day Colonel Baerstler came unexpectedly on this

* Chandler, one of the Generals taken, had, on he 4th of July, 1812, given as a toast,
" The 4th of July, 1813, may we on that day drink wine within the walls of Quebec."
He probably had hia wish, as on that day he was a prisoner within those walls.

216

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA,

same body of Indians. Fighting ensued. Fitzgibbon soon came
up with his thirty men. The fighting grew hotter. Baerstler
fearing an ambuscade drew off his large body of infantry, his
dragoons and his field pieces towards Lundy's Lane.

Lieutenant Fitzgibbon reconnoitred and having discovered that
reinforcements had been sent for, determined on a step so bold, and
so instinct with the true soldier genius, that it deserves to be
placed on record as among the master feats of the world, with that
of the Huguenot Captain Normand and the soldier Barbot when
the Duke of Anjou was besieging Rochelle, with the gallantry of
*Elizabeth's great Admira- attacking a whole Spanish fleet with
a single ship; a feat which gives a revived lustre to the Chevalier
Bayard's grand motto"f* too often forgotten in these degenerate
days, and for which Fitzgibbon was much praised. He determined
to summon the Americans to surrender. Baerstler was entrapped
by the boldness of the step. He surrendered. Terms of capitu-
lation were drawn up. By a judicious disposition of a few men
Fitzgibbon had given Baerstler the idea that he was surrounded.
Five hundred infantry, fifty mounted dragoons, two field guns,
with ammunition waggons and the colours of the 16th United
States Regiment were taken. This, as Miss Machar says, was one
of the most brilliant, if, indeed, it was not the most brilliant
exploit of the war. J Of course the exploit was on a small scale,
but it was in the grand manner. Fitzgibbon was as much out-
numbered as Miltiades was at Marathon.

* Sir Richard Grenville.

t Bayard'8 device was a porcupine with the motto —Vires agminis unus habet. That
is — one man is as strong as an army corps.

Z The allusion made above to the siege of Rochelle, the historical student will excuse
me ej. plaining for the benefit of some of my friends. Near the counterscarp of Rochelle
was a mill which Nonnand had taken possession of and in which he placed one soldier.
Stiozzi, one of the besieging generals, attacked it in the night. The soldier Barbot held
it resolutely, firing with incredible quickness a number of shots from an arquebuss on
the assailants. By varying the inflection of his voice the impression was given that he
had a considerable garrison, while Normand from a battlement encouraged him in words
which kept up the delusion. Barbot, on the point of being forced, demanded quarter
for all in the mill. Quarter being granted he surrendered the entire garrison in his own
person. If it is permissible to mingle the sublime with the ridiculous, compare the
soug,

" ' Let me out ! Let me out ! ' ' Zounds ! what a bother
If there's two of you, why not help one another ?' "

ROMANCE AMID BATTLE.

217

Be
le

Fitzgibbon received his captain's commission on the field. No
warrior that Frossart celebrated was braver than this man, and
that he would not have been out of place in the old chronicler's
knightly narrative when men dared great things for the smile of
fair ladies, will be seen by what follows. The moment he was
captain, he asked leave of absence for three days. The request
waa extraordinary ; another battle was expected soon. General
Sheaffe after a moment's hesitation refused the request. But
when Fitzgibbon told his story; how there was a little girl he
loved and how he wanted to marry her so that if he was killed she
should have the pension of a captain's widow, the refusal was
withdrawn and the request granted.

Can you not follow the lover hero, riding one hundred and fifty
miles or more to Bath, to marry the girl he loved ? How full of
all sorts of various and conflicting emoiions his breast would be.
Her name was Mary Shea. They were married, and he was back to
his duty in time.

Fitzgibbon was a plain simple man, in all points heroic. With
that absurd desire so often witnessed to deprive the common
people of great qualities, an attempt has been made more than
once to connect him with what is called "a good family," and some
have for this purpose drawn largely on their imagination. But
his own words and the portrait of him painted by a master hand,
the accomplished author of " Winter Studies," * leave no doubt that
he sprang from the peasant class, I commend him for not seeking
to disown his origin. I have lately had to read with some
care "Morgan's Parliamentary Companion," and the impression it
makes on me is, that none but aristocrats have emigrated to-
Canada from Scotland and Ireland and I may add England. A
reproach has been hurled at us colonists that we "steal crests."
There could be no meaner vulgarity. Fitzgibbon was above this.
Nor was he ashamed of his humble mother as I have known some
modern heroes to he.f

* Mrs. Jameson, an Irishwoman, to whom I shall ha. ^ again to refer,
t A .soldier who distinguished himself in one of our recent African wars, and whos
career I followed with some interest, lost all claim to respect in my eyes when I dis-
covered that he was not only ungrateful to his aged mother but ashamed of her humble
position.

■218

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

One February morning, nearly forty years ago, Mrs. Jameson
wan visited hy a man " who," she says " would have pleased me
anywhere, hut here he is really invalus.ble." This was Colonel
Fitzgibbon — the eager lover and Ulyssian soldier of our present
■chapter. She then recounts an incident told her by Fiiz^ibbon
with the view of showing the simplicity of his character.

In earlier pages it has been shown that the writer knows the ad-
vantages of Canada. She is not without disadvantages as com-
pared with Ireland or Great Britain. What Irishman, country-
born, has not been waked in the early summer morning with a
chorus of birds in the elms and beeches around his home — the
thrush's song, the blackbird's rich note, the robin's hymn elate,
the linnet's warbling, the finch's quick-beat notes, all making a
various harmony while

" Night murmurs to the Morning,
' Lie still, love, lie still ! ' "

and glimmering day spreads silvery arms around the shadowy
walls of the room of his childhood. What Englishman, what
traveller who has loitered in the gloaming amid Wiltshire orchards,
or with devious step lingered to inhale the fragrance of a Surrey
flower garden, snugly lying under the protection of a fir-covered
heather-clad foi'est, and not heard with rapture the nightingale
wooing the rose, and with breast pressed against the beloved thorn,
singing so that the night air pauses on his way to listen. These
are joys which are not for us in Canada. Nor, again, have we
another joy to see and hear, when the land is all gold with sum-
mer, the lark go up like a stream of song, and hidden in a cage of
sunlight, with a sunbeam for his perch, pour forth the gladdest
of all bursts of melody. In his boyhood, Fitzgibboii had often, in
his wanderings over the fields, seen the lark rise and heard him
sing, and like all true, simple natures, he had learned to love the
bird. Besides, it was associated with home, with the fields of his
childhood, with the daisies and buttercups, the hurrying cadent
streams streaking the mountain side with silver, and making
darkening mysterious mirrors in the valleys for the changing
landscape — mirrors of limped gloom, framed by many a blue wild
flower, peeping out from nook or tiny cleft of half-moss-hidden

■MUM

POWER OF ASSOCIATION.

219

rock. It is in such scenes we fill the goblet with a pure and holy in-
spiration whence the mind, amid the sin and sorrow of the world*
drinks refreshing, scenes to which we fly when experience proves the
mocked commonplace of the preacher, that the world is vanity, and
all its triumphs dead sea fruits. For nature when unmarred
by man, by his proud iutixi«iuii or his hideous gas lamp, or his
smoking factory, is as the face of God, full of sweetness and pity
and sympathy, to whom we -an go, and having poured out .^ur
griefs, dry the tears and smooth away the wrinkles, and return
again to the world with a spirit and look of proud endurance.
And how grateful are we for whatever helps us in the midst of
the busy heartless crowd, snaffled with greed and whipt on by
Mammon, for whatever repeopies the old vanished world with its
purple light u.id the glories of imaginative childhood, just hover-
ing over the mountain ere they depart for ever! It may be the
note of a flute, a flower, the wind haiping among the trees, the
roll of the lake on the beach, the drip of the suspended oar which
shall prove the enchanter, or the magician's voice may be the song
of a bird,

Now it hapj.oaed that in Fitzgibbon's 'lase the enchanter was
a lark, a bird long known in Toronto as tbe "emigrant lark." Mrs.
Jameson recalls some lines from one of Wordsworth's lyrics —
" The Reverie of Poor Susan," in which is described the emotions
of a simple servant girl from the country, on hearing the song of a
caged bird in Cbeapside.

'Tis a note of eui;hantment— what ails her ? she sees
A mountain asctiiding, a vision of trees ;
And a single small cottage, a nest like a dove's,
The one only dwelling on earth that she loves !

The fair writer having remarked on the nearness of the alliance
between all human hearts in natural instincts and sympathies with
their unfailing fountains of poetry, describes how Fitzgibbon told
her on their first interview how as he was turning down a by-
street in Toronto he heard somewhere near him the so\>g of the
lark, and how he described his emotions on the occasion in the
following words : " When I heard the voice of the bird in the
air, I looked by the natural instinct up to the heavens, though
I knew it could not be there, and then on this side, and then

220

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

on that, and at last I Haw the littlo creature perched
on itH sod of turf in a cage, and there it kept trilling and
warbling away, and there I stood stock-still — listening with my
heart. Wtil, I don't know what it was came over me, but every-
thing seemed to change before my eyes, and I was in Ireland, and
my home all about me, an<l I was again a wild slip of a boy lying
on my back on the hill-side near my mother's cabin, and watch-
ing as I used to do, the lark soaring above my head, and I straining
my eyes to follow hei , till .she melted into the blue sky — I stood,"
he continued, " listening to the bird lost, as in a dream, and there
I think I could have stood until this day." Mrs. Jameson goes on
to describe how " the eyes of the rough soldier filled with tears."
He was, she says, as unconscious that he was talking poetry as
Monsieur Jourdain that he was talking prose. " Colonel Fitz-
gibbon," she continues, " is a soldier of fortune ; that phrase
means in his case at least, that he owes nothing whatever to for-
tune, but everything to his owji good heart, his own good sense,
and his own good sword. He was the son, and glories in it of an
Irish cotter, on the estate of the Knight of Glyn." We have
seen something of his early career. We have it on his own
authority, that up to the time he shouldered a musket, his only
reading had been " The Seven Champions of Christendom," and
The Seven Wise Masters," " with his head full of these examples
of chivalry he marched to his first battle field vowing to himself
that if tMere were a dragon to be fought or a giant to be defied he
would be their man ! At all events he would enact some valorous
exploit, some doughty deed of arms, which should astonish the world
and dub him captain on the spot." He then — Mrs. Jameson is
speaking — " described with great humour and feeling his utter
astonishment and mortification on finding the mechanical
slaughter of a modern battle so widely different from the picture
in his fancy ; when he found himself one of a mass in which the
individua' heart and arm however generous, however strong,
went for nothing — forced to stand still, to fire only by the word
of command — the chill it sent to his heart, and his emotions
when he saw the comrade at his side fall a quivering corpse at
his feet, — all this he described with a graphic liveliness and sim-
plicity which was very amusing." We have seen how he was

A IJEROS SHAME. PILLAGE.

221

taken prisoner. Mrs. Jameson ac^'ls the following details. " He
was afterwards taken prisoner, and at the time he was so over-
come by the idea of the indignity he had incurred hy being' cap-
tured and stripped [of his arms], and of the afHiction and dis-
honour that would fall oji hi^- mother that he was tempt(Ml to com-
mit suicide in the old Reman fashion ; but on seeing a lieutenant
of his own regiment brought in prisoner he thought better of it :
a dishonour which the lieutenant endured with philosophy might
he thought be borne by a subaltern, for by this time, at the age of
eighteen he was ain.ady a sergeant." Mrs. Jameson feels inclined
to patronize the colonel a little after the manner of a literary lady
highly cultivated, and fresh from the old country, dealing with an
old Canadian veteran. In another paragraph she says : — " The
men who have most interested me through life were all self edu-
cated and what are called originals. This dear good F. is most
original. Some time ago he amused me and gave me at the same
time a most vivid idea of the minor horrors and irremediable mis-
chiefs of war, by a description of his being qnarteied in a church
in Flanders. The Ss, iers on taking possession of their lodging
began by breaking open the poor boxes, and ransacking the
sacristy. They then broke up the chairs and benches for fires to
cook their rations, and these not sufficing, the wooden saints and
carved altars were soon torn down. Finding themselves incom-
moded by the smoke, some of the soldiers climbed up by the pro-
jecting ornaments, and smashed through the windows of rich
stained glass to admit the air, and let out the smoke. The n'^xt
morning at sunrisu,'' says Mrs. Jameson, " they left this sanctuary
of religion and art a foul defaced ruin. A century could not
make good again the pollution and spoliation of those few hours.
' You must not be too hard on us poor soldiers,' added Fitzgibbon,
as if answering to a look, for I^ did not comment aloud, ' I had a
sort of instinctive perception of the mischief we were doing, but I
was certainly the only one ; they knew no better, and ths pre-
carious life of a soldier gives him the habit of sacrificing every-
thing to the present moment, and a certain callousness to the
suffering and destruction which besides that it ministers to the
Immediate want, is out of sight and forgotten the next instant.
Why, I was not quite so insensible as the rest, I cannot tell unless

I'll
i iw

222

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

it was tlirough the j^'oodne.ss of God. When I was a boy, my first
feeliiif^ next to my love for my mother wn,s j^ratitiulo to Ood fi)v
having' made me and called me into being out of nothing. My
first thought was what I could do to please him. » * ♦
I looked about in the fulness of my heart to see what I could do
— and I fancicMl there was a voice which whispered continually,
' Do good to your neighbouj do good to your neighbour ! ' With
so much overflowing benevolence and fearless energy of character,
and all the eccentricity and sensibility and poetry and headlong
courage of his country, you cannot wonder that tliis brave and
worthy man interests me."

The unknown poet, I have so often quoted deals very gi-aphi-
eally with the affair of the Beaver Dam.

At Beaver Dam collecting their «ni)i)lieB
The British lay with force of little Hize,
Some fifty Hoiils 'twas easy to defeat,
And John could never fight unleBS he eat.
Therefore thiH victory would crown their name
With noble conquestH and the wreath of fame.
On th«y advanced— their cannon in their rear
Their strength precluding order, caution, fear.
And hover'd on the Bkirts of Beaver near,
BeHide a wood, whose deep and sombre shade
Encircled round a little peac^^ful glade,
When like flamingos the g'^ s among,

Appear'd the British, st' line along ;

The dazzling red-coa* dvery side,*

Before, behind, all g far and wide,

And by their side u ..Ke Indian band.
With each his bow and tomahawk in hand.
Their Chieftain's visage glar'-' with deeper red
As to behold the foe he rais'd his head ;
And from his eye-balls flash'd indignant ire
Li'i :i a dark cloud shooting its vivid fire.
His bow and quiver to his shoulder slung
And in his belt his heavy hatchet hung.
He marked Fitzgibbon with a i)iercing look
And from that silent signal, orders took.
The young lieutenant with intrepid eye
Forward advanc'd — and bade them yield or die.
His major's name he urg'd, whose force at hand
Would treble theirs ; a sturdy veteran band ;
And their resistance nothing could avail.
The crest-fallen Colonel listened to the tale.

* I tzgibboii had so disposed his little force that it seemed very formidable.

SUCCESSFUL ATTACK ON BLACK ROCK. 22^

Ga»e up hlH men uiul afl he ntill declnres —
* " From pure humanity," that evor Hpares.
Gentle, kind creature ! Tjet hin name he great !
He ruhbed hiu friend to aid his foe'H eutate.

On hearin*,' of Bneistler's critical position, a reinforccmont of 300
men were despatched to his aid. But when they found tliat his
«' critical " situation was capitulation, the}' returned to th(» camp.

Tlie brilliant stroke of F'itzgihixjn was kept in countenance; by the
gallant descent of Colonel Clark (Canadian Militia,) and (Jolonel
Bisshopp, on the 11th July, on Black Rock. Bisshopp with a
detachment of royal artillery under Lieutenant Armstrong', forty
of the King's regiment under Lieutenant Barston, one hundred of
the 41st under Captain Saunders, forty of the 49th untler Cap-
tain Fitzgibbon, and about forty of the 2nd and 3rd Lincoln
militia, embarked at two o'clock in the morning, to attack the bat-
teries of Black Rock.f The detachment landed half an hour be-
fore daylight. So stealthily was this done, that not a sentry
stiiTed. They at once proceeded to attack the batteries, which
they carried by surprise. The enemy hearing the firing at their
advanced posts, retreated precipitately on Buffalo. The British
immediately set to work to destroy block-houses and barracks,,
and the morning sky anrJ limpid water were soon red with the
flames from these, from a navy-yard, and from a largo schooner
Such of the public stores as could be got off were taken across the
river. While they were completing the transportation of stores
the enemy, having been reinforced by a large body of Indians, came
up. The Indians were posted in the woods, on their flanks, and in
advance of them. A gallant fight was made by the British. Find-
ing, however, that the Indians could not be driven from the woods
without great loss, Bisshopp determined to retreat to the boats. In
the retreat, he fell. The detachment, however, did not suffer,
as all necessary pre-arrangments had been made. The sun was
now getting strong, and in his full morning beams it was a splen-
did sight to see the boats bearing the heroic band somewhat
thinned, across the river, while the American regulars, mill' ia and
Indians, poured on them a heavy fire. The}» had eighteen killed,.

* Colonel Baerstler said he capitulated on the score of humanity,
t A stronghold near Buffalo.

22*

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

nineteen wounded, and six ])rivates were niis.sing. They had
Hoi^^ed and captured valuable Htores, and destroyed a great quan-
tity of ordnance.* The descent at Black Rock was a great .suc-
cess, though itwas very dearly pui'chased by the death of Bisshopp,
and Bissho])p's death seems to be conn- jd with the eager cha-
racter more than once exemplified by FitzgiVjbon. Captain Fitz-
gibbon had been placed by General Vincent in connnand of a sort
of independent com])any of Hangers. Volunteers from the various
regiments were called for. So many men came forward from
every regiment, that the difficulty was to decide who should be
permitted to go. Any number of young subs tendered Fitzgibbon
their services. Ho selected Lieutenant Winder f of the 49th, a
friend of his, volunteer 1). A. Macdonell, of the 8th ; volunteer
Augustus Thompson, of the 49th, and another from the same regi-
ment. The.se were permitted as a great favour to join his corps. They
were all dref-.sed in green, the Irish colour, and tliey were known
as "Fitzgibbon's Green ' Uns." They were the fir.st to cross the
river on the Black Rock expedition, and Fitzgibbon pressed on
with such ardour, that the block -house was in their possession
long before Colonel Bisshopp w'*s ready to move forward. This was
considered a piece of impei'tinence, and the "Green 'Uns" were
punished by being sent without breakfast, to watch the enemy
near Buffalo, while the rest of the detachment was carrying off
the stores. This accomplished, they were ordered to return and
cover the re-embarkation. Colonel Bisshopp was nettled at not
having been in front during the advance. He was now deter-
mined to be the last to retire. All had embarked safely. But
the moment they began to push from shore, the Indians who, un-
perccived, had crawled to the banks, fired on them. Tiie "Green
'Uns " disembarked and drove the enemy to the woods. On
re-embarking the fire was renewed. Again they disembarked.
Again the Indians sought the woody .shelter. But by this time,
Porter with his whole force was upon them. The only thing was
to rush for the boats. In the confusion, some oars of the boat
into which Bisshopp sprang were lost overboard. She drifted

" Letter of Thomas Obirke, Lieutenai.t-Colonel 2nd Lincoln Militia, to Lieutenant-
•Colonel Harvey, Deputy- Adjutant General.

t Afterwards Dr. Winder, liibranra to the House of Assembly at Quebec.

DESCENT ON HACKETT's HARBOUR.

225

In
In

down stream, the enemy firing mto hiir. Thns, says* the authority
for this version, gallant Bisshopp, the darling of the army, re-
ceived hi.s death wound, and never was any ottiecr, save Brock,
more regretted than he wa«.* The same authority asserts that
on this occasion all the fighting was done by Fitzgi'obon's men.
It would be more satisfactory if .the v/riter of the letter had not
with})eld liis name. But it is to be presumed that Auchinleck would
not ([uote it, unless the writer was known to him as trustworthy.
All we know of him is, that he was one if the subs of tlie 4Uth.

Seven <lays before, when Colonel dark's militia cro.sst^d over
from Chi})[)aNva, and captured the guard stationed at F(M't Schlos-
ser, bringing back with them a large quantity of provisions, a six
pounder, several stand of arms ami abundant ammunition, a por-
tion of the Greens, commanded }>y Lieutenant Winder were with
them. On the following day, when a large detachment crossed
from Buti'alo.they were encountered hy twenty-five of Fitzgib})on'a
men, under Thompson, and were ^jroed to make a running fight to
their boats.

While the operations we have glancerl at were going forward on
the Niagara fi-ontier, an expi-ditiun was fitted out at Kingston for
a descent upon Sackc'tt's Harbour, under an understanding be-
tween Sir George Prevost, tlie Commander-in-Chief, and Sir James
Lucas Yeo, the British Conunodore. The expedition was ready on
the 28th of May — three gun-ships carrying troops and accompanied
by the Connnodore's fla.g ship. At ten o'clock at night they stood
for the American side. When tliey ap])eared before Sackett's Har-
bour, they found 'he enemy on the alert ; signaL-n were given.
The American regulars and militia posted near hurried to the re.
lief of the troops left by Dearborn to <l<;iend the place. Never-
theless a landing was effected in the face of a large force of mili-
tia, and no sooner had the British troops formed on the beach and
given them a volley than they broke and fitd in confusion.
The advanced guard, composed of the grenadiers of the 100th
Regiment, all of them Lish, as we have seen, drove the enemy
from every position he had taken up.-f-

♦Letter from " A Green 'Un," quoted by Auchinleck, in his Hi.<)tory of the War. p.
178.
+ History of the War. By David Thompson, of the Royal Scots, p. 190.
15

226

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

Now the British troops were placed in a crit'cal position. Col.
Baynes was proceeding to attack the batteries with the view of
tr king the town and arsenal when he found himself attacked in
the rear by a large body of the United States militia, brought up
by General Brown, the batteries meanwhile pouring on the
British fro» t a furious fire. There was nothing for it but to re-
embark. The British loss was two hundred and fifty-nine in
killed and wounded and missing. But for the arrival of
jeneral Brown the town and arsenal would have been captured, as
prior to his coming up the enemy had commenced to burnhis stores .

In the west, Proctor was waging an unequal and doubtful
struggle against Harrison, in which though greatly outnumbered
Scotchmen — witness the splendid charge of the 41st, under Muir —
and Englishmen were behaving as they always have done in
battle. It is scarcely within the scope of this work to dwell on
the fighting on Lake Ontario between Chauncy and Yeo, or the
second descent on York, when the devastation previously com-
menced was finished ; on the American attacking parties amid the
blue mazes of the Thousand Islands, intercepting convoys of
batteaux, conveying provisions for western garrisons ; on the
attempts against Canada niade from the mountain girdled bays of
Lake Champlain ; on the naval conflicts far out on th(^ stormy
Atlantic ; on the vigilant blockade established by Sir John Borlase
on the American coast. I have an impression that the overwhelm-
ing majority of " tars" have been Englishmen. I know of course
that Scotchmen and Irishmen were, and are, to be found among
the men and officers of the British fleet. But the above impres-
sion is strong, and therefore I have always thought the glory of
naval victories belongs in a peculiar manner to the great Eng-
lish section of the two islands which have made the empire. I
must however add, that I never have had time or opportunity to
verify this impression ; and I have met a good many Irishmen
in all ranks on board men-of-war.

As the fiery tints which promise the fall, began to appear in the
woods, the American leaders determined to act with an energy
which could not fail of success. Hampton in the east, crossed
Lake Champlain at the head of 5,000 men, with the view of ad-
vancing on Montreal. Wilkinson with a force of 10,000 men

1
t
1
1
I

E
V

PROCTORS RETREAT. TECUMSEH S DEATH.

227

threatened Kingston from Saclett's Harbour. Fort Georffe
was in the possession of the enem}', watched by Vincent. In the
west, General Harrison was awaiting reinforcements to advance
with 6,000 men on Proctor.

Fort Maiden, Proctor's main stronghold, had been despoiled
of arms and ammunition to supply Barclay's fleet. When Bar-
clay's squadron — overpowered by numbers, every vessel unman-
ageable, every officer killed or wounded, a third of the crews
hors de combat, and Barclay himself so mutilated, that when
months afterwards he appeared before the Admiralty, stem
warriors, whose eyes were not used to the melting mood, wept, had
to surrender. Proctor was in a position to which little justice is
done by describing it as critical. His last hope was destroyed.
Had Barclay beaten Perry he could have rendered assistance to
Proctor, which would perhaps have forced Harrison to abandon
his position. But now before the English Commander the only
alternative was retreat or ruin, and retreat across the wilder-
ness in rainy autumn weather, was beset with dangers. Fort
Detroit was therefore dismantled and abandoned. With a force
of 830 men the unfortunate Commander, deaf to the remonstrance
of Tecumseh, and with misery and humiliation in his heart, re-
treated to Burlington Heights. Tecumseh with 300 Indian fol-
lowers accompanied him. Harrison with 3,800 men pursued. Proc-
tor's rear guard was surprised, stores and ammunition were cap-
tured, and 100 prisoners taken. Proctor was brought to bay. The
brief fight came off at Moravian Town, on the Thames. Proctor
was the last man to be equal to perilous demands. He was
routed, and with a remnant of his troops effected a miserable re-
treat. In Tecumseh, the heroic fire of perhaps a once civilized
race blazed forth, and he, the last of the great Indian chiefs, fell
like the English Warwick, the last of the great English Barons.
Lakes Erie and Huron and the western frontier were now com-
pletely under the control of the Americans.

Vincent was compelled to raise the blockade of Fort George.
Everything looked dark. Prevost issued ordors to abandon the
Upper Province west of Kingston. But in the face of this order of
the timid Prevost, a council of war was held on Burlington Heights
and the resolution formed to defend the western peninsula.

228

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

There we^e in Lower Canada 3,000 British troops, supported by
a French Canadian militia, to face 21,000 men under Wilkinson
and Hampton, bent on the conquest of the province. Upper
Canada was considered by the Americans as practically at their
mercy, and indeed it was a dark hour for the British. How is the
little colony going to Keep out of the maw of the Republic ? The
letters of Mr. Todd, wntten at this time, show how great was the
crisis, and yet how nl^L was the spirit of the young nation.

It has been doubted whether Wilkinson intended to attack King-
ston, If he did so intend, 2,000 troops having been thrown into
Kingston, his mind was directed into another channel. After
he had collected all his forces on Grenadier's Island, between King-
ston and Sackett's Harbour, they were embarked on board a
flotilla, and began the descent of the St. Lawrence. On the Gth
November, they arrived at Williamsburg, where the troops, toge-
ther with the stores and munitions of war disembarked on the
Canadian side of the river. They meant to pass undiscovered
during night, the British posts at Prescott and its neighbourhood.
They reckoned without their host. A force, small when com-
pared with that of the enemy, consisting of the skeletons of the
49th and 89th regiments, and three companies of Canadian
voltigeurs, with a few militia and a couple of gun-boats, in all not
more than eight hundred men, under the command of Colonel
Morrison, had hovered on the rear of the flotilla. At Prescott their
movements were known. The enemy was about to move past the
Fort, fondly believing that all was quiet within, when they were
assailed on both land and water, by a disconcerting fire of
musketry and battery guns. In the morning, a few miles below
Prescott, when they were preparing the flotilla to move on to-
wards the rapids of the Long Sault, Colonel Morrison, with his
detachment, came up with them. As a considerable p oportion
of the 800 men were Irish it is not beyond the scope of this
book to describe the Battle of Chrysler's Farm, where the
fathers of some of cur prominent citizens in every town in Canada
fought, and where some of them gloriously fell. It was the first
battle where the British and American troops met on the open
plains. Here there was no shelter for the American riflemen ; no
rests for their pieces.

BATTLE OF CHRYSLERS FARM.

229

On the 11th of November, about two o'clock in the afternoon, two
brigades of infantry and a regiment of cavahy, amounting to
between three and four thousand men under Gene/al Boyd, were
sent against Morrison's advance. These fell gradually back to
the position chosen for the detachment to occupy. The British
force exhibited a front of about seven hundred yards. At one end
of the seven hundred yards rolled the St T,awvence; at the other
frowned a pine wood. The British rigi, ited on the former;
the left on the latter. The right consisted of v flank companies
of the 49th, a detachment of the Canadian Fencibles, and one field
piece. These were a little advanced on the road and were sup-
ported by three companies of the 89th with a gun, formed in
echelon.* The 49th and 89th thrown more to the rear with a gun
formed the main body ; a reserve extended to the bleak woods on
the left, which were occupied by the voltigeurs and a few Indians.
An hour after the first gun M^as fired the action became general.
The enemy moved forwanl r- br.igade to turn the British left ;
they were repulsed by the 8')th and 49th. The next movement
was directed against the right. The 49th hurried in echelon to
meet the foe followed by the 89th ; the 49th advanced until within
half musket shot of the enemy. They were then ordered to form
into line which they did under a heary fire. "Charge!" rang out
on the cold November air, and the 49th were told to advance
and take the gun. They moved forward, but, when they were
within a short distance of their prize, their ardour was checked
by a command to halt. The enemy's cavalry had charged on the
right and there was danger if the attempt to take the gun
had been persevered in, they might have fallen on the rear of
49th. They were however so well received by the companies of
the 89th and the British artillery poured into them so well directed
a fire that they quickly retreated. An immediate charge was
then made and the gun was taken. The British were now ordered
to move foi-ward along the whole line. The Americans concen-
trated their forces to check this advance. But bef )ve the steady

* Echelon ia a French word and means the step of a ladder. It is figuratively applied
to the position of a body of troops arranged in lines or divisions having the right of the
one bordering upon but slightly behind the left of the other. To the eye of a person
on horseback it looks like a ladder.

230

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

valour and well directed lire of the British they gave way at all
points. Nearly 4,000 had been in fact beaten by 800, from an
exceedingly strong position. They sought to cover their retreat
by their light infantry; but they were soon routed. The de-
tachment that night occupied the ground from which the
enemy had been driven. His whole infantry lied to the boats
and sought the American shore.

Some three weeks earlier Colonel de Salaberry, with a few hun-
dred Canadians, confronted Hampton with a force which must
have been near eight thousand, seeking to enter Canada by the
Chateauguay River on his march to Montreal. On the 26th of
October, Hampton's light troops forming his advance were seen
moving up both sides of the Chateauguay. By an admirable dis-
position of his troops Colonel de Salaberry checked the advance
on the left bank of the river, the enemy causing his light troops
and the whole main body of the army to retire, while his advance
on the right bank of the river was turned by Captain Daly's com-
pany of the Third Battalion of embodied militia and Captain
Bruyere's company of Chateauguay chasseurs. The enemy made
frequent attempts during the day to advance. He was each time
repulsed, and under cover of night he retreated across the St.
Lawrence. In the general orders of October 27th, special mention
is made of Captain Daly's " spirited advance," and we are told that
Lieutenant-Colonel de Salaberry experienced the most able sup-
port from, amongst others, Adjutant O'Sullivan.

Wilkinson had ordered Hampton to join him at St. Regis. We
have seen how Wilkinson himself behaved. When he received a
letter from Hampton on the 12th November, the day after he had
fled before Morrison's little band, he declared his hopes were
blasted. The invasion planned on so large a scale had failed
miserably. An American journal said democracy had rolled her-
self up in weeds and lain down for its last wallowing in the slough
of disgrace.* All danger having been removed by the retreat of
the two American generals the Sedentary Canadian Militia was
dismissed on the 17th November.

General McClure was still in the possession of Fort George, and

* fiostun Gazette

FORT NIAGARA TAKEN.

,231

his soldiers greatly distressed the neighbourhood. General Mur-
ray of the 100th, was sent by Vincent to check the depredations
on the farmers. General McClure decamped with has<te from
Twenty Mile Creek, and hearing of the disastrous termination of
Wilkinson's expedition he precipitately abandoned Fort George,
having first however, contrary to plighted faith, set fire to Newark.
That beautiful peaceful little town which every summer gleams
afar over the steely silvery water to the eye of the inhabitants of
Toronto going over in " the boat " to the Queen's Royal, or making
for the hundi-edth time the pilgrimage to the Falls, was one mass
of flame ; those wooded, mirrored shores, which are known best as
varied with glaring sunlight and illuminated mist, sweeping away
in long links until lost in silver haze, where the lake and sky are
one, were then bare of leaf ; every tiny limb had its burden of snow ;
and on receding bay and frozen branch the conflagration cast a glow
which had its companion flare in the wintry heavens. The blue
wooded heights which form so appropriate a back-ground to the
picture, in the month of June, were splendid with the reflection of
the flames, and where so much comfort and hospitality and good
cheer reigns to-day there was nothing but cold and want and misery.
Every house save one was a smoking ruin. Of a valuable library,
the property of Counsellor Dickson, and which had cost a vast sum,
not a book remained. Dickson was a prisoner. His wife lay on
a sick bed. The ruffians who fired her house took her and placed
her on the snow before her devoted building. On a December
night of an unusually severe winter four hundred helpless women
and children were compelled to seek shelter where they might.
Colonel Murray now pi;oposed an attack on Fort Niagara and the
proposal was approved by General Drummond. A surprise was
resolved on. The embarkation commenced on the night of the
18th December. The whole of the troops had landed three miles
from the fort early on the following morning. The force was as
follows, and consisted as will be seen largely of Irish, fighting
happily side by side with their English and Scotch brethren. The
order of attack is adhered to, and as the reader cannot fail to
observe the Irish 100th was assigned the post of honour : an ad-
vance guard, one subaltern and twenty rank and file, grenadiers
of the 100th Regt., Royal Artillery with grenadiers, five com-

232,

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

panies of the 100th Ref,'t. under Lieutenant-Colonel Hamilton, to
assault the main gate and escalade the walls adjacent ; three
com])anies of the 100th under Captain Martin — an Irishman —
to storm the eastern demi-bastion ; Captain Bailey with the
grenadiers and Royal Scots was directed to attack the salient
angle of the ioi-tification, and the flank companies of the 41st
Regt. were ordered to support the principal attack. Each
party had scaling ladders and axes. The fortress was carried by
assault after a short but spirited resistance. Among the officers
singled out for distinguished bravery were Captain Martin, who
stormed the demi-bastion in the most intrepid manner, and Lieu-
tenant Dawson and Captain Fawcett, both of the 100th. They
were respectively in commaml of tlie advance and grenadiers, and
cut otf two of the enemy's piquets, surprised the sentries on the
glacis and at the gate, and thus obtained the watchword, " to
which," says Colonel Murray, "may be attributed our trifling
loss." The exertions of Quarter-master Pilkington, of the 100th»
are eulogized, as are those of Captain Kirby,* Lieutenants Ball,

li- 1

♦ The Resolution of the Honourable the House of Assembly of Upper Canada.

Resolved unanimously :— That a sword, value of fifty guineas, be presented to Capt.

Jas. Kirby, of the Incorj)orated Militia, as a memoral of the high sense they entertain

of the very important services which he rendered in crossing the troops to the territory

of the United States, and the gallantry displayed by him at the capture by assault

of Fort Niagara on the 19th of October, 1813.

(Signed) GRANT POWELL,

Clerk of Axiemblv.
York, r2th of April, 3815.

Inscription upon the Sword :- -" From the House of Assembly of Upper Canada to
Captain James Kirby for his judicious and gallant conduct at the assault and reduc-
tion of Fort Niagara on the 19th December 1813."

His glorious achievement " which left the Niagara shores free from the enemy and
contributed in a high degree to the result of the next campaign," so writes Allan
Maclean, speaker of the House of Assembly of Upper Canada in a congratulatory
letter dated Kingston, 10th October, 1815.

It seems incredible but I am assured it is true nevertheless that owing to the surprise
some American officers were found playing cards in the officers' quarters. James
McFarland piloted a party of Irishmen, and as they opened the door on a number of
officers who were playing " High, low. Jack and game," the question was asked " What
is trumps ? " " British bayonets, be — ! " cried the foremost of the party. In visiting so me
of the battle-fields of 1812-14, 1 found Mr. Duncan McFarland, of Niagara, an entertain-
ing guide. This gentleman's father was Scotch and his mother Irish- -she the daughter
of Irish John Wilson who brought » large family into Cannda at the close of the war
He himself while yet a boy served in the war, first as oxon driver and afterwards as
driver of horses. He says he was promoted to drive horses for what was deemed

K <

NEWARK AVENGED.

283

Scroos, and Hamilton of different provincial corps. The British
force consisted of 500 rank .nd file. Twenty-seven pieces oi
cannon were on the works. There were upwards of ?,000 stand of
arms in the arsenal. The store-houses were full of clothing and
camp equipage of every description.

On the same day the Village of Lcwiston was taken posses-
sion of, and together with Youngstown and Manchester, in re-
venge for Newark, given to the flames. It would have been
better to have acted more magnanimously. Later on Black Rock
was taken by Major General Ryall with a force composed of por-
tions of the 89th, the 41st and 100th regimenty, with about fifty
militia volunteers, and a body of Indian warriors.

The language of " Acadian " paints for us the feelings of the
hour in vigorous terms, Homeric in their simplicity : —

The foe had safely reached his native shore,
There their wild revellings and riots roar ;
Not long these drunken wassaili spread their noise.
Short was the tumult of their hearty joys :
Britannia's vengeance reached the saucy crew,
And on Niagara's fort her veterans flew.
That fortress fell with one resistless storm.
Newark's bright flame matle her defenders warm,- -
" Newark ! " the avenging word, as on they sped,

bravery, but which was in reality cowardice. The first Congreve rockets which were
used in the war were about to be tried and all were ordered to squat. Young McFar-
land stood erect. "Why did you not squat?" asked General Murray. *'What do I
care for your rockets, was the saucy reply of the boy, wherjupon he was promoted to
to the rank of driver of horses.

I asked how he came to have *' D " after his name. The " D " was adopted to save
his father's rations. There was another man named McFarlane in the regiment, and
he used to drink his rum. The change of a letter secured the grog. Duncan
McFarland tells how he was standing on the road near the old McFarland ravine about
two miles from Niagara, when an Indian asked him where the sentry was. The boy
who had not yet taken the reins in hand told him, whereupon the Indian crept on his
belly like an eel, and in a few minutes a shot wa-s heard and the sentry fell, which was
the signal for a skirmish. Duncan McFarland saw Moore sitting under an oak tree
where the Lewiston road now runs by the McFarland farm, composing and writing
poetry. It was probably here he wrote part of his letter to Lady Charlotte Raw-
don — the description of Niagara would be penned in the heat of early impressions.
In the ravine two bayonets which are now in the possession of my friend T. A. Keefer,
of Toronto, were found, one English and the other American, and no doubt, on the spot
two soldiers fell at the same moment, as I have seen them fall during the Franco-Ger-
manic -,var. In McFarland's house are clocks, mirrors, and other household gear which
had been buried during the war.

234

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

" Newark ! " was echoed a,H the Yankees fled ;
A Hecond Newark LewiHton dispUyed,
Blazing ret>riHal8 through the gloomy Hhade.

Mr. Isaac Todd, on the 25tli December writes from Montreal,
(and his words not only indicate the improved state of public feel-
ing, but give us a glimpse of the way the Governor and the mer-
chants occasionally spent their evenings, amid all the difficul-
ties) : — " Public mattei-s look much better in the Upper Pro-
vince. We are again in possession of Fort George, and all our
former line to Fort Erie ; and your brother has given to Sir George
an opinion which if followed will, I hope, protect Michilimakinac
and Lake Huron, and, of course, the usual communication by the
Grand River. ... I think we will [note the Irish use of
will,] have a decided superiority on Lake Ontario next summer.
We have a frigate of forty guns, and two smaller vessels, that will
be ready to launch by April, and before if necessary. Sir George
left this last week for Quebec. I feel his loss, having a general
invitation to dine and play a rubber every evening. Indeed he
has been particularly civil to me ; and since he went to Quebec he
has reminded me of my promise to visit him there."

The blazing a.nd smoking ruins of the American frontier from
Lake Ontario to Lake Erie, furnished the drop scene of the second
act of the war. The conquest of Canada was as remote as ever.
There was not a foot of Canadian soil in possession of the enemy,
excepting Amherstburg, in the far west, against the loss of which
British possession of Fort Niagara might fairly be set ; while the
American seaboard was blockaded, and American commerce was
paralyzed.

The fourth letter of " Acadian " concludes with a bitter attack
on American life and manners. The writer's hatred of the rule of
the many is as great as Mr. Loa,\ e's ; and two of his lines would
recall the famous description of democracy, " that barren plain
where every mole-hill is a mountain, and every thistle a forest
tree":—

All here aro great — all legislate and mAe,
E'en boys are prating orators at school.

To dwell further on " Acadian's " poem is foreign to my purpose.

AMERICAN MANNERS SIXTY YEARS AGO. 235

With cheering hopeHand most propitious smile,

every house situated-aHtl^^ite/eltl T'^ '''^ '""'^^ '"^ "'« «'**«» "'»'^«

rooms on a floor and two stonrw 1 . \"'f ~ *** *^*' '''^' ""^ *^« '•«''*1 ^th two

the "wooden «eat " i^he S o;J^;e:r;'f;:'1 ^^'^ *^« --« "^ "«-'.- Hence
wie louowmg verses of the Juvenal in exile of 1812 :

All gentlemen-not like Cato wise

Z^TJT' ^" P'""^'^-f''^'-e needed no disguise,

But that the ,m.n would dignify his state,

And w,,rth and wisdom make his station great ;

Here they all brag- and hide with flimsy f^u.e

Ihe dung hdl that their parent-stem supplies.

I hat Qesar R«gers-in a log-house born,

His mfarit-cradle now beholds with scon, ;

Talks of his family-iu power and worti.

And scorns the poor for their fow abject birth.

HiB kmd biographer declares him great,

Bon', as he says on his own sire's estate.

ii> -T true and I will paint its size,
^aint all its beauty to the dullest eyes •

A mansion, twelve feet square, one side a door,
A shmgled roof, hung o'er an unplaned floor,
Received each traveUer who deigned to stay
And bait h,.j horse or break fast on the way ;
Ihis was his own estate, but now it stands '^

AS ted by better means and abler hands,
in better garb arranged a wooden seat,
Painted and white-wash'd all aroimd complete ;
Here mushroom like they all spring up by chance.
To make a gentleman he neeu but dance '

liien off they fling and strut and brag aloud
And trample down the humble menial crowd,
G«t placed in office and like beggars ride,
And mal.e the wretched feel their upstart pride.

He goes on, rising to a height he seldom attains, in a strain of true poetry :-

Thin), not I scorn the poor- or low-born worth I
Or look for Virtue in high titled birth.
Ah no ! the violet beside the stream,

On ^!°"™!ff ;««« th*t SreeU the morning beam.
On the wild desert or the mountain's side,
More lovely seems than all the garden's pride

•23G

TIIK lUISIIMAN IN CANADA.

On tlio 3r(l FcV)ruaiy, 1814, wo find Isaac Todd writing &h fol-
lows fionj Montroal. Hia luttur may be taken as an index of the
general sentiment.

" I have," ho says, " desired tliat none of my land be sold under
two dollars an acre, and I think in peace the number of settlers
from the States and disl)anded soldiers will increase the value of
land, and the sums raised here and in F^ngland will be sufficient to
compen.sate all those who have suffered from the war. Indeed,
my opinion is, that Upper Canada has gained by the war, though
some individuals have sutTered. I lately thought we would (note
the use of would,) have ])cace this spring, and now I think it
doubtful. Americans must be beat {sic) out of their arrogance
.and insolence."

If we except some little brushes in the west;, arising out of the
predatory incursions of the enemy, who held Fort Maiden, nothing
of any consequence wivs done until March. Towards the end of
that month, Wilkinson with a force of 5000 infantry, 100 cavalry,
and 11 guns, failed ^o take Lacolle Mills, ten miles from Rouse's
Point, though it was defended by only a slender garrison of 500
men. The besiegers retired after four hours' fighting, and betook
themselves to the shores of Lake Ontario. At Oswego, the fleet
made a descent on the An?erican troops, numbering 1,080, and put
them to fiight. Chauncey was blockaded in Sackett's Harbour.
Meanwhile, American troo})s under General Brown, were h.irrass-
ing the Niagara frontier. Port Dover, without the least excuse,
was wantonly burned down. Fort Erie, vvith a British ganison
of 170, surrendered without firing a shot, to 4/^00 assailants. The
170 men were of the 8th or King's regiment, commanded by
Colonel Buck. There was along the frontier only 1J80 British
troops, to meet a formidable foe.

The fall of Fort Erie led to a gallant struggle, in which Irish-
men shone. General Brown, thank'*ul for sujall mercies and

Less sullied and more sweet it drinks the dew,
Cheering with excellence the dreary view :
The garden's gaudy pride rich compost gives ;
In purity the mountain lily lives ;
The Daw in borrow'd feathers I deride,
Not the wild goldfinch singing by his side.

A GALLANT STRUGGLE.

237

flushed with his succchh over 170 men, marched down the river to
the British riji^lit, at the mouth of tlie Chippawa or Welland Iklvor.
Lieufenant-Colom^l Pearson witli tlie light companies of the 100th,
some militia, and a few Indians, reconnoitred their position and
found them pasted on a rid<(e parallel with the river in strong
force. (Jn learning that the 8th regiment was hourly expected
from Toronto, or York, as it was then called, Major-General Ryall
postponed the attack.

On the 4th, Lieutenant-Colonel Pearson with the light com-
pany of the Royal Scots, and the Hank company of the 100th,
and a few of the 19th Light Dragoons was in advance, in a
general reconnaissance. A slight skiiiiiish took [)lace with the
enemy's riflemen. On the morning of the 5th, the King's regi-
ment arrived. At four o'clock in the afternoon dispositions for
attack were made. The advance consisted of the light companies
of the Royal Scots and of the 100th regiment, with the second
liincoln militia. The Indians were on the right flank in the
woods. The troops moved in three colunms. The enemy had
taken up a strong position ; his right resting on some buildings
and orchards, close on the river Niagara, and strongly supported
by artillery; his left toward the wood, a considerable body of rifle-
men and Indians in front of it.

The Indiai. s on the British side and the militia advancing, were
soon engaged with the enemy's riflemen and Indians. The advance
was checked for the moment, but it was only for a moment. The
light troops were brought up to their support. Then in handsome
style, after a shai'p contest, they dislodged the riflemen and Indians
of the enemy. Two light twenty-four pounders and a howitzer
were placed against the right of the enemy. The Royal Scots and
100th Regiment were formed to attack his left, which opened a
heavy fire. The King's Regiment was then moved to the right,
and the Rcyal Scots and the 100th were ordered to charge him
in front. Under a most destructive fire they charged with
splendid gallantry, — the Scots of Scotia Major, and the Scots of
Scotia Minor. They suffered severely, however, and having regard
to the numbers of the enemy, it was thought well to withdraw
tl. Tu. A retreat on Chippawa was made in good order. Not a

238

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

single prisoner fell into the enemy's hands, save those who were
disabled by wounds.

General Ryall's attack on an enemy four or five times his num-
ber, was justified by the past history of the war, by its results, and
by his Irish blood. Brown had not even the spirit left to pursue
him. His own men gained in form by the attack. The enemy
was prevented trying to cut off communication with Burlington.
Finding that Chauixcey's fleet was being watched and held in dur-
ance by Commodore Yeo, and that therefore it could not assist him
to take Fort George, General Brown retreated to Chippawa, pur-
sued by whom he should have pursued. Ryall tok up a position
at Lundy's Lane, about a mile from the Falls, and about two and a-
liaii inAii the American position.

General Drummond had hastened from Kingston to Niagara.
He sent Colonel Tucker with a detachment to the other side of the
river, and pushed on himself to Lewiston. The Americans, under
Scott, had advanced to the Falls, and that commander sent for
Brown to join him. In the face of this juncture Ryall was retreat-
ing from Lundy's Lane, when Drummond came up and counter-
manded the or it r to retire. The formation of the British troops
was scarcely com^ueted when the whole front was warmly engaged.
Both sides fought well. So determined were the attacks of the
enemy that the British artillerymen were bayoneted while in the
act of loading. Gunlip was within a few yards of gunlip. Long
ere the last act of the bloody drama had begun, night closed over
the scene. There was charge and countercharge, recoil and rally,
and the moonlit gleam of sword and bayonet was like the phospho-
rescent glow of the breakers of a bloody sea. At nine o'clock there
was a short intermission, during which the muttied roar of the
Falls was lieard above the groans of the dying, as though Eter-
nity, calm and strong, awful and changeless, were chanting the
requiem of the brave souls passing into her infinite bosom. Again
there came from out the darkness a blaze, from out the comparative
silence a rattle of musketry, and the enemy, like the movements
of a fire-fly, could be discerned by his glare as he went into action.
Though his attacks were everywhere renewed with fresh troops,
they were everywhere repulsed. At midnight Brown was beaten,
. and from before a force of only half his number, retreated, leaving

AMERICANS BLOCKADED IN FORT ERIE.

239

nearly a thousand dead on the field. The British loss was very little
less ; but the gallant force in which the Royal Scots played a
splendid part, sat down the victors on that bloody scene.

The eneray retreated on Chippawa. The following day he
abandoned his camp, threw most of his baggage, camp equipage
and provisions into the rapids and having set fire to Street's
Mills and destroyed the Chippawa bridge, retreated in great dis-
order on Fort Erie. The whole force of 5,000 Americans had
been engaged. Lieutenant GeneralDrummond mentions Major Kirby
as among those who had distinguished themselves. The English
and Scotch regiments behaved magnificently, and I only regret
it does not come within the plan of this work to do them justice.
At Lundy's Lane the Americans for the first time during the
war ventured to cross bayonets with British troops.

The Americans sought to make Fort Erie as strong as possible.
Meanwhile Drummond, at the earliest moment determined to
take it by storm. He opened a battery on it on the 13th of Au-
gust, and having done considerable damage, determined to assault
it en the 14th. He directed a heavy column against the entrench-
ments on the side of Snake- 1 all. Two columns advanced from the
battery against the fort and the entrenchments on the side facing
the battery. In the heavy column we find our old friends the
flank companies of the 100th and 89th. jBoch attacks were made
two hours before day-light. Both failed. The Briti.sh loss was
very severe in killed and wounded, amounting to over 900.
Among the officers thanKed were Lieut. Munay of the 100th, and
Captain O'K^efe of one of the flank companies. Notwithstand-
ing the large number of men slain and wounded, Drummond btmg
reinforced was able to keep the Amer' is blockaded.

Peace was made with France on the 4th of April, 1814. The
Titan of war for whom the world did not seem vast enough, had
accepted Elba as a retreat — an eagle confined in a canary cage —
and the small heart of Louis XVIII. was fluttering with joy at
the prospect of entering and ruling in those halls whence the
mighty one had been driven. The British fleet was now free to
turn its attention to xVmerica. British men of war made
inroads along the entire American coast, and British troops de-
scending at various points made it necessary to recall some of the

240

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

troops operating on the Canadian frontier. The various events
leading up to that conflagration which made the Potomac wear the
colour of Lake Ontario and the Bay, when little York was given
to the flames, it is not mine to tell ; nor the repulse of the attempt
on Baltimore ; nor yet the repulse of the assault on New Orleans
and the consequent retreat ; a repulse which was perhaps favour-
able to peace, as it placed the Americans on better terms with
themselves.

On the 8 th of August the plenipotentiaries of Great Britain and
the United States held their first conference at Ghent, but the
treaty of peace was not signed until the 24th of December. In
the interval occurred the inglorious advance on Plattsburgh which
gave the coup de [/race to any military reputation Prevost may
ever have enjoyed. The British troof)s were indignant at being
ordered to retire. Tears of anger burst from many eyes, and offi-
cers broke their swords declaring they would never serve again.

The disaster on Lake Champlain encouraged the Americans be-
sieged in Fort Erie to make a sortie. After a struggle for a time
doubtful, they were driven back and pursued to the glacis of the
fort with a loss of 500 men. Izzard was now advancing in force,
and Drummond thought it prudent to withdraw to Chippawa.
On Lake Ontario, all had gone well for the Union Jack, and as
Niagara frontier could be therefore abundantly provisioned,
Izzard who had 8,000 men despaired of the invasion, blew up the
works at Fort Erie, crossed over to American territory, and that
beautiful frontier disturbed for three years, was once more left to
repose in the varied radiance of the Indian summer.

The last date in Isaac Todd's* correspondence from Canada, is
Quebec, 16th July, 1814. He was then on the point of leaving
for the old cmmtry, for the next letter is dated Portsmouth,
August 17th. In a memorandum of the IGth July, he says: " Wrote
Jane and Agnes I would send them a piano." At that date pianos
were not as plentiful in Montreal as they are to-day. He says
nothing about the war ; he sends such a message as he would in
times of security, and indeed throughout 1814, there seems not to

* This great business Irishman seems to have been a man of ability, v«ry correct
formal habitb, much capacity for friendshir and with genuine kindness of heart. He
died in England in 1819. His partner was the founder of McGill University.

PREVOSTS DISGRACE. TRIUMPHANT PEACE.

241

have been the least misgiving in Canada as to the result of the

war.

On the 5th of January, 1815, Isaac Todd writes from Bath, Eng-
land, addressing a Montreal fi^m, that the signing of the Prelimin-
aries of peace was very unexpected. He feared the particulars
would not be such as would please in Canada, " as there will be no
extension of boundary." He adds, " peace is no doubt desirable, as
it gives security, and from the heavy taxes laid on lands, tSsc, in
the United States, you will have numbers flock into Canada, and
what with discharged soldiers &c., the Upper Province will very
soon be greatly increased in inhabitants. You will see by the
newspapers (most probably English newspapers sent by the same
mail as the letter) various reports about Sir George Prevost, &c.,
which I believe have little foundation." Unfortunately for poor
Provost's reputation, those reports had only too much in their
foundation that was other than unsubstantial.

For three years, the United States had carried on an unjust,
an unsuccessful, and an inglorious contest. Canada had waged
a defensive warfare, just, noble, unequal, full of success and
glory. Materially injured for the time, it is probable the shrewd
fur merchant was right in anticipating advantages, as likely to
accrue, though Howison and Miss Machar both insist that
materially the results were pernicious. There can be no dispute
however, that morally the war was beneficial to Canada. Irish-
men, Scotchmen, Englishmen, Frenchmen, Germans, and men of
these great races born on Canadian soil, fought side by side, and
learned to love more intensely the beautiful country for which
they bled. The budding national life took a deeper and more
beautiful tint, and gathered a ^ ore splendid promise, because its
root-soil was enriched with blood. If peace was pale from mourn-
ing over precious lives wasted, the light of victory was in her eye,
the rythm of triumph gave stateliness to her step, and all her form
was instinct with the ennobling consciousness of duty.

242

THE TKISHMAN IN CANADA.

OHAPTER VII.

In the perusal of history nothing is so sad as the truth forced
on us from every side that hitherto the lot of the poor as compared
with that of others has been unbef '-ably hard. It is not merely
that, in the ordinary course of life, they are without the pleasant
su loujidings which smoothen oh' tsXi-stonce of those raised above
a hand-to-mouth economy. Are harvests bad ? The poor suffer
most. Does pestilence sweep over the land ? The destroying
angel visits the crowded room and smites down the ill-fed and
little washed. War ? The poor have thousands and tens of thou-
sands slain and they afterwards pay for the cost of the bloody
machine by which their sons and fathers have been mown down.
Does any sudden increase in wealth take place? The poor do not
share in it. They witness the land-OAvner increase his luxuries,
the manufacturer ride to church in a more splendid carriage, the
shopkeeper purse up his chin in folds of more insolent pride, but
they are as they were before.

The great war had enriched the landowner, the capitalist, the
manufacturer, and the farmer; the poor it made poorer. It is
from the years lying between the Peace of Amiens and Waterloo,
years which studded Europe with famous battle fields, which raised
individuals to the height of glorj?^ and wealth and power, which
filled . hundred trenches with nameless dead a nd scattered stars
on a few padded breasts, it is from those years of blood and war
prices that the historian dates that strife of classes, that social
estrangement, that severance in sympathy between rich and poor,

[Authorities for Chapters VII and VIII. -Original information gleaned from all
parts of the country. McMullen's "History." D'Arcy McG-ee's " Irish Position in
British and Republican North America." *' Five Years' Residence in the Canadas,"
By Ed. Allen Talbot. Mrs. Jameson's " Winter Studies." Green's 'History of the
English People." Scadding's " Toronto of Old." The Gazette. Almanacs for 1821,
1825, 1832, 1837, 1839. FotheringiU's "Sketch of the Present Htate of Canada."
Lambert's "Travels," Morgan's "Celebrated Canadians." Morgan's "Parliamentary
Companion." The Olobe. The Mail. Poole's " Early Settlement and Subsequent
ProgresB of the Town of Peterborough." Darid's " Biographies and Portraits."!

THE LEGACY OF GLORIOUS WAR.

243

Lll

between the capitalist and his "hands," between employers and
employed, which constitutes one of the great difficulties of the
politics of the Three Kingdoms, and projects into the future a lurid
ominous light.

Nor was it merely the war which had led to the enormous in-
crease of wealth. The discoveries of Watt and Arkwright, enabled
the manufacturer to treble production without increasing his
expenses, and that which was destined in the long run to benefit
the poor, seemed at arst to add to the weight of the millstone
which ground them down. Even a succession of bad harvests
swelled the causes which gave the agriculturists a fever.' m and
unnatural prosperity. Wheat rose to famine prices and land
shared proportionately in the upward movement. An idiot named
Ned Ludd once broke some frames in a passion, and thus without
designing it gave his name to a labour sect. In the winter of
1811 parties of men, maddened by want and thinking the inven-
tions of Arkwright and Watt fatal contrivances for their own
destruction, went about breaking frames and machinery. In the
following year serious riots occurred. Numerous bodies of unem-
ployed artisans committed great excesses. Several of the Luddites
were tried and executed. The legacy of a glorious war was heavy
taxation, an enormous debt and general distress, the pressure of
which was increased by the selfish, short-sighted policy of a par-
liament of landowners. Aware that the enormous addition to
their revenues depended on a factitious cause, which, once removed,
they would have to be content with their incomes before the war,
they sought to keep up the war price for corn, and to enact by
Jaw that the poor should be half-starved. They passed a bill in
1815 prohibiting the introduction of foreign corn. This is what
an English parliament did for an English people. Napoleon's
guns were not as dreadful as this statute. Better be food for
powder than food for famine.

In Ir iir^nd, where the people were consumers of that ill-starred
root, the potat:o, the situation was more complicated. An agii-
cultural country, the farmers who were not in a position to be
rack-rented, gained by the war. The squire had his income in-
creased, and in consequence launched out into a lavish expenditure,
which was destined to scatter his family as surely as his father's

244

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

sword had scattered the early owners of his broad acres. Hence
to-day in fair old houses, by storied crystal streams, on green
wood-embosomed terraces, the stranger is lord.* Sometimes the
estate was purchased, not by a stranger, but by one of the old
Catholic families who, having made money in trade, foolishly, but
naturally, turned away from the cooperage, or the tanyard, to be-
come an esquire of a Ballyscanlan or a Mount Leader. Sometimes
by a curious irony, an illegitimate child put to trade as good enough
for him, has purchased the '' big house;" while the young mis-
tresses of his unhappy mother have become governesses in
Australia and in America, and his legitimate brethren have driven
cabs in Melbourne, or loafed at farming in Canada. Where they
had genius they have risen to eminence in some imperial or foreign
employment ; while those of energy and moderate talents have
given officials and jurists to all the colonies of Great Britain.
Ireland used to swell, as she does now, the population of the
manufacturing towns of England, and ohe fall in the demand for
labourers in Lancashire was felt in the remote west of Gal way.
Jealous English legislation all but destroyed the Irish linen
trade. Population was rapidly increasing. The consequence of
all was, that the poor in Ireland were in even a worse condition
than they were in England, and soon after the termination of the
war, a large emigration to Canada took place. The thirteen thou-
sand emigrants who arrived at Quebec in 1819, were, Christie
tells us, chiefly from Ireland. The same remark is true of the
forty thousand who arrived in the four following years. In the
seven years from 1819 to 1825, 68,534 emigrants came to Canada,

* This change haa been always going on. The son of t^e stranger of to-day will feel
himself to be connected by family and " old associations " with Ireland, and his son or
grandson will be swept off,. Now economical laws do what revolutions did in other
times. In a ballad of the Jacobite era, there runs a verse which has always struck me
na being singularly pathetic : —

'Tis my grief that Patrick Laughlin is not

Earl in Erris still ;
That Brian Duif no longer rules as

Lord upon t'ae Hill ;
That Colonel Hugh McGrady should

Be lying stark and low ;
And I sailing, sailing swiftly

From the County of Mayo.

IRISH IMMIGRATION AFTER 1815.

246

2el

lor

ker

— tradesmen, journeymen, and day labourers, who for the most
part took up their residence in the Town of Quebec and in Mon-
treal. In the following seven yeai*s the average of arrivals rose
much higher. In one year, 1831, as many as 50,000 persons landed
at Quebec, most of them being Irish. This large immigration soon
told, even in Lower Canada. In 1820, among the new members
returned to parliament was Michael O'Sullivan, for ihe County of
Huntingdon, a gentleman of great ability, who died Chief Justice
of Lower. Canada. In Quebec, in the parishes of Megantic, Lotbi-
niere, and Portneuf, at St. Colombe in the district of Montreal, in
the townships of the Ottawa, and in Upper Canada, there are
several Irish settlements due to the Irish exodus of this period.

There are two aspects to the Irish emigration to Canada. What
the Irishman has done for Canada is the first. The second is not
less important, what Canada has done for the Irishman. Nor
could there be a better way of impressing the former on the mind
than by dilating on the latter. Men have come here who were un-
able to spell, who never tasted meat, who never knew what it was
to have a shoe to their foot in Ireland, and they tell me they are
masters of 1,000, or 2,000, or 3,000 acres, as the case may be, of
the finest land in Canada. One of the best known professional
men in this country, and one of tl^e oldest settlers, writes me that
in his opinion nothing is more gratifying than to contemplate the
class of substantial farmers the Irish emigration has produced.
" Go into whatever part of Ontario you may, you will find Irish-
men on farms of value from $5,000 to $10,000 ; many of whom
have also heavy investments at their bankers." On the very day
he wrote to me he received a letter from a friend containing these
words, " Uncle Robert Scott is dead, worth $20,000." This man
came to Canada poor. He went on a wild lot and cut his way to
fortune. " I know many men," adds my con espondent, " who
emigi'ated from places adjacent to my native place who were poor
men on their arrival in Canada, and are now in independent cir-
cumstances — some as well off as the above named, T!ese I look
upon as reflecting more honour on Ireland and Irish character than
her gentlemen. I think I am safe in asserting that our thrifty
Ulster men are as fair specimens of success as the canny Scotch."

I have received dozens of letters, all authenticated with names

246

THE IliISU»LA.N IN CANADA.

and addresses, from well-to-do fanners, which make out a much
more emphatic case than the above.

The other day Guelph held her jubilee to celebrate the cutting
of the first tree where the county town of Wellington now stands,
in which Irishmen have done their part in all resi)ect.s. When the
emigrants began to pour into Canada they found no colonization
roads to aid their progress. Where a dozen rich counties yield
the means of a happy and cultivated existence to thousands, there
was nothing but unbroken forest. There were few cows and fewer
horses. N?t half a million of acres were cultivated, even after a
fashion. Ottawa did not exist even as the Village of By town.
Not a tree had been cut where London stands now. In 1821,
in the whole of that vast tract which to-day compi'ises the Coun-
ties of Northumberland and Durham, TS', *th and South Victoria,
Peterborough and Halliburton, there were only two post offices.
Newcastle and Bowmanville had not emerged into the village
state. The forest gloomed where Lindsay and Peterborough
flourish. There was, as we shall sec by -and -by, but small
educational advantages. The howl of the wolf was more familiar
than the voice of preacher or teacher. Loo)-. at Canada to-day.
The change is undoubtedly due in part to the Englishman and
Scotchman, but if the truth must be told, the greater part of the
work was done by Irishmen, To-day, in Toronto streets there
are splendid stores where the water of the Bay rolled fifty years
ago. There is a Custom House which would be an ornament to
any city in the world — which would not have been out of place in
Athens in the days of Pericles. Fifty years ago a wooden shanty
was enough for all purposes. Tens of thousands of dollars worth
of goods psiss through this Custom House in a year. Fifty years
ago they used to import little parcels of tea. Fifty years ago, in
fact, Toronto was a village. Most of the houses were below the
Market, east of which all the business was done. There was an
orchard where the establishment of Mr. Kay stands, at the corner
of Yonge and King. There was another orchard between Melinda
and Wellington. According to Mr. James Stitt, who came from
Derry, and who has been here for over half a century, there were
at this period plenty of Irish in Toronto. There was little money.
You could hire a man for six dollars a month and a girl for three

AN IRISH AUTHOR ON CANADA IN 1823.

247

There was one Roman Catholic Church and one Presbyterian and
one English — all very small. John Baldwin, Ijrother to Dr.
Baldwin, kept a store in King Street. When Mr. Beaty came here,
in 1817, there was only one brick house in the town. Five thou-
sand Indians and their squaws used to meet where Adelaide Street

runs.

In 1824 with the view of encouraging immigration, and giving
some idea of Canada, Edward A Hen Talbot, a relative of Colonel
Talbot, published a book in two volumes in which he gave his
impressions of the country. He was very ready to condemn what-
ever displeased him. His testimony when it was favourable was
therefore all the more convincing. Great changes must have taken
place since he visited Canada fifty-four years ago. For instance
he says Canadian women of that time, though possessed of the
finest black eyes, could boast of very few of those irresistible
charms which captivate the heart. The immigration of the fol-
lowing years composed in part of English and Scotch, but mainly
of Irish, must in half a century have wrought a wonderful change.
The women had one hideous defect peculiarly offensive. There
was hardly one of them over twenty years of age whose teeth
were not entirely destroyed. They were also subject to goitre.

Talbot found in Upper Canada, two classes of society : The first
class composed of professional men, merchants, civil and military
officers, and the members of the Prorincial Parliament ; the
second of farmers, mechanics and labourers, who associated to-
gether on all occasions " without any distinction." The first class
dressed exactly in the same way as people in the old country, but
the men Here much less intelligent and the women not so refined
in their manners. They were fond of public assemblies but had
no taste for small social parties, a criticism as true to-day as in
1823. In the winter subscription balls were common, and every
tavern in the country however destitute in other accommodation,
was provided with an extensive ball-room. There was no intro-
duction, admission being a matter of course on producing a ticket.
The gentlemen sat on one side of the room, the ladies on the other.
* A line of demarcation appears to be drawn between them over
which one would suppose it was high treason to pass, or to throw
even a sentiment. Both parties maintain an obstinate silence and

248

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

appear as cautious of trespassing beyond tlie imaginary landmark
which divides their respective domains, as if the pass was guarded
by rattle snakes." When the order for dancing was given the
gentlemen signified their wish to take a })artner by " awkwardly
placing themselves via-a-vis to their fair antagonist, and making
a sort of bow so stiff that as the head slowly inclines towards the
floor you imagine you hear the spine and the marrow separating."

Those were the days before the "Boston." The gay youths and
lively maidens of those times were much attached to country
dances. The ladies vied with each other in introducing the most
difficult figures. Few steps were danced but all were deeply
" skilled " in the " right and left, six hands round, and down the
middle." When supper was announced the gentlemen led their
partners to the supper-room and immediately returned to the ball-
room, where they waited until the ladies had done. The gentle-^
men then " su})ped undismayed by female presence." After supper
dancing recommenced and was continued until daylight.

This aristocratic but not untruthful critic says, that men "of the
first class" in Canada, in 1823, were, with very few exceptions, of
" mean origin" — by which, doubtless, he means poor. Put they
had acquired considerable fortunes, and made quite " a genteel
appearance." Indeed, he found them " very little inferior" to coun-
try gentlemen in the three kingdoms, either in look or address.
He could not say as much for the women. They had allowed their
fortunes greatly to outstrip their minds and persons in improve-
ment. " That graceful and dignified carriage, that polite and fas-
cinating address, that demeanour, ' nor bashful nor obtrusive,'
which so eminently mark the lady of family of Great Britain
and Ireland, are nowhere to be witnessed." Nevertheless, the
majority of the young ladies of Upper Canada were " decently, if
not fashionably, educated," but they had little taste for reading,
and were averse to conversation. Again, it must be remarked —
what a change has come over the people of Canada ! It must be re-
membered this man saw tlie best society ; that he is a competent
witness. He declares that the ladies he met would sit for hours
in the company of gentlemen without once interchanging a senti-
ment, or manifesting the slightest ir ist in conversation of any
kind. A settled melancholy sat upon ».aeir countenances, —

MARRIAGE IN 1823. CLASSES.

249

And Htealing oft a look at tho bijf jiloom, —

the men came to partake of the same "^luinijishncss." You might
as well have tried to reverse the order of nature, as have attempted
to extort a smile from their countenances. Yet he was told when
emancipated from the presence of men they could converse with
volubility.

In those days all the ladies married yonng, nor was fortune with
them a matter of consideration. If one attained her twenty-fifth
year without marrying, she was regarded as having passed her
youth, and no longer entitled to gallant attentions from the other
sex. However, an old maid was " a delicacy," of which few man-
sions could boast.

Not only has a great change for the better come over our Ca-
nadian women, a great change has come over our Canadian men —
for the better? In those days it seems, every man on attaining his
twenty-first year resolved to take a wife. Women were therefore
a " scarce commodity in the Canadian market." In one respect,
the difference between the men of that time and the men of to-
day is specially gratifying. It is a rare thing in Canada for a
man who has any respect, for himself, or who occupies the position
of a gentleman, to get drunk. But Mr. Talbot found the Canadian
gentlemen very fond of drinking to excess, their favourite bev-
erage being Jamaica spirits, brandy, shrub and peppermint.

What our critic calls "the second or lower class" had, he assures
us, much the same manners and customs as the higher class. They
were, however, less intelligent ; their women were very poorly
educated, greatly addicted to pleasure, immoderately fond of
dress, and after eighteen, determined to follow their own hearts
in the choice of a husband. He gives a very unpleasant picture
of morals, and if not exaggerated, we have only to congratulate
ourselves that in this important particular we have made great
progress. He says, Irish women were held in high esteem. " The
Irish ladies are such as might naturally be expected, such as have
stamped a high and exalted character on the domestic economy of
our country, and have rendered her in this respect, the envy and
admiration of the world. In Europe and America, in every place
where they are known, the daughters of Hibernia are regarded as.

-250

THK lUIHHMAN IN CANADA.

the Lucretias of modern times ; as the proud and honouraV»l(> ex-
«in|)liHcati()U of the wise man'.s words : ' She will do her husband
j^ood and not evil all the days of his life. 8he openeth her mouth
with wisdom, and in her tongue is the law of kindness.'"

Mr. Tali >ot assures us that in the House of Assembly there were
many who could neither sign their names nor even read, and lie
comments with much justice on the bad effect it must have on
the mind of the country to see incompetent and ignorant persons
filling exalted stations and responsible positions. There is no
stimulus to culture. His remarks indicate a want of appreciation
of the necessary conditions of a new country. That he should
comment on the fact that in Canada in 1823 literary merit could
not anticipate " honour and renown," as its certain rev/ard, will
create a smile in ] 877. The young Canadian " looks around him
and plainly discovers that a superior education is by no means
necessary to qualify him for the highest situation in tlie land, for
he finds that the greater part of those who ^^1 official situations
are as ignorant as himself." Even in 1877 a prominent merchant
in Toronto, when one of his boys showed artistic talent _jrew
alarmed, and when it was suggested to him to cultivate the lad's
gifts replied with much self-complacency that lie would do nothing
of the kind. He did not see, he said, that those men who learned so
much were any the cleverer at making money. We have, I would
fain believe, improved on fifty years ago in reverence. Mr. Talbot
found there was a pervading and persistent propensity to «-d,ke the
name of God in vain. There was a perpetual use of the most
dreadful oaths and imprecations; a uniform violation of all
decency and a practical contempt for everything which bore the
character of virtue. In respect to swearing which is a practice
as vulgar as it is wicked, there is still room for progress and ground
for regret.* The criticisms of this Irishman who has long past
to his account may perhaps have a reforming infl.uence to-day.

' I once count*"d the number of times in ten minutes a prominent man, in idle con-
versation, used the solemn phrase — " By God." He used it thirty-five times ! nearly as
often as he resorted to that other abominable but not so serious American vulgarism-^
" you know :" " we went you know and then by G — you know whom should we meet
you know ? A and B themselves, by G — , and you know, etc." The young men I think
do not swear as much as their elders, and if they use supernatural expletives content
themselves with the comparatively inoffensive, but still vulgar, " damn."

EXFEllIENCE OF EIGHTEEN SETTLEllS.

251

Though ho (lenonncos camp iiieotings, ho pays a high trihutc to
tho work tho Metliodi.sfcH did in oso early days.

Fifty or .sixty years ag(j the wages usually paid to labourers all
over Canada was two shillings and sixpence a day with hoard and
lodging. Carpenters and hewers of wood received double this
sum. Mr. E. A. Talljot, on the first of July 1823, addressed a
letter to those of " my fatlu'r's settlers, who are now residing in
the Township of London," asking them what their position was
and whether they were content with their lot. Eighteen men, all
of them Irishmen, replied that they were perfectly satisfied with
their adoj)ted country. It may be well to go over their names,
because their descendants are flourishing among us to-day. William
Geary had £300 when leaving Ireland. He took up 200acres of land,
had cleared thirty acres, possessed one yol^e of oxen, six cows, no
sheep, eight young cattle ; and had no acquired capital. Charles
Golding,£100;150 acres; 2 yoke of oxen; 5 cows ; 6 young cattle; 10
.sheep. Joseph O'Brien, £100; 100 acres; 20 acres cleared; 1 yoke
oxen, and 1 horse; 4 cows; 4 young cattle; 20 sheep. Thomas Gush,
£100 ; 200 acres ; 15 acres ; 1 yoke oxen ; 3 cows ; 5 young cattle ;
5 sheep. Robert Ralph, £50 ; 100 acres; 15 acres ; no oxen ; 3
cows ; 5 young cattle ; no .sheep. John Grey, £50 ; 100 acres ; 26
acres ; 1 yoke oxen ; 4 cows ; 6 young cattle ; 10 sheep. William
Haskett, £100 ; 100 acres; 15 acres; 1 yoke oxen and 1 hor? e ; 3
cows ; 5 young cattle ; 10 sheep. Francis Lewis, £75 ; 100 ^res ;
2' acres ; 1 yoke oxen ; 2 cows ; 4 young cattle ; 5 sheep. Foilet
Grey, 100 acres ; 25 acres ; 1 yoke oxen ; 5 cows ; G young cattle ;
10 sheep. John Grey, jun., £40 ; 100 acres ; 10 acres ; 1 yoke
oxen ; 2 cows ; 3 young cattle ; no sheep. Thomas Howay, £50 ;
100 acres ; 25 acres ; 2 yoke oxen, :vnd 1 horse ; 1 cow ; 2 sheep.
James Howay, £20 ; 100 acres ; 10 acres ; 1 yoke oxen ; 4 cows ;
1 young cattle ; 5 sheep. John Turner, £100 ; 100 acres ; 20 acres ;
I yoke oxen ; 3 cows ; 5 young cattle ; no sheep, Thomas
Howard, £50; 100 acres ; 25 acres ; 1 yoke oxen ; 3 cows ; 3 young
cattle ; 10 sheep. Robert Keys, £50 ; 100 acres ; 15 acres ; 1 yoke
oxen ; 3 cows ; 4 young cattle ; 10 sheep. William Evans. £50 ;
100 acres ; 15 acres ; 1 yoke oxen ; 2 cows ; 2 young cattle , no
sheep. William Neil, £50 ; 100 acres ; 17 acres ; 1 yoke oxen ; 3
cows : 4 young cattle ; 10 sheep. George Foster, £30 ; 100 acres ;

^t^trnmrn

252

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

15 acres ; 1 yoko oxen ; 2 cows ; 3 3'oun^' cattle ; 10 sheep. None
had any accjuired capital. Mr. Talbot made a strong appeal for
f^migratioi) from overcrowded Ireland, ai;d against pauper emigra-
tion. " Were I a poor Irish peasant, compelled to toil year after
year without a hope of bettering my circumstances, I would
endeavour to find my way to this country it such an object could
be achieved by any human exertions. Nay, if I could not other-
wise obtain money sufllicient to defray my expenses, I would
attire myself in the habit of a common beggar, and for seven
years, if necessary, would continually solicit alms, in order thereby
to amass the necessary .sum to effect my object."

There has been no period in our history when persons were not
to be found who believed our manifest destiny was annexation.
Such persons rarely appeared among the Iiish, nor aic they found
among them to-day. In 1828, annexation was thought to be
very near — who has proved right ? The men who said in 1823,
that it was only a matter of a few years, or the Irishman who put
on rejord that the pro])hets of annexation anticipated an event
which would never take place ? Talbot declared from his knowledge
of the people of Canada then, that were their adopted country
invaded, they would " meet the foe with a determined resolu-
tion that w luld ensure success to a more dangerous enterprise."
Inhabited by such a people, he asked what had Canada to fear.
Wj had England to fear ? Nothing. But she had much to do.
Mr. Talbot s?w the governmental bureaucratic abuses which other
Irishmen were to sweep away, and he called on the Imperial
Parliament to adopt measures as more likely to issue in desirable
results than some of those acts which had enian^.ted from the
resident authorities.

Talbot was disgusted with Canadian hotels, and the carelessness
of their proprietors respecting the comforts of what we call
" guests," a curious euphuism, by which an hotel keeper describes
his patrons and employers. He was also offended by their curi-
osity and frank impertinence. In the course of a pedestrian tour
from the Talbot settlement to Montreal, he stopped at an hotel
where the landlord, finding his sly inquisitorial attempts in vain,
after many guesses asked : " What are you V " An Irishman," re-
plied Talbot. " Well, 1 swear that's pretty particular tarnation

HOTEL KEEPERS FIFTY YEARS AGO.

253

0(1(1 too," cried this Boniface, who proved to ])e a Yankee. " Why,
I vow you Hpeak lunglish nearly as well as we Americans does."
Tliis was nearly as ^^ood as the assurance of a New York citizen to a
well-known Oxford professor: '"1 knew at once," said the New-york-
er, " you were an Englishman, by your provincial accent." On pre-
senting himself at another hotel or tavern, and asking a damsel
to get him some dinner, he met with no direct response. The girl
merely turned to her mother and said : " Mother, the man wants
to eat." If he could rise from his ashes and come to Canada to-
day, he would find our hotels and taverns in many respects
changed. The hotel-keeper to-day is too important or too polite
to manifest any curiosity about anyone, if his conscience is at rest
as to the matter of payment. On the score of comfort he would
have little to complain, beyond the fact that at the big hotels, fish,
fowl, beef, mutton, venison, veal, have a community of flavour, sug-
gestive of the belief that during the process of cooking they have
been endeavouring to solve the great pi-oblem of young countries
in modern days : how to make the heterogeneous homogeneous.
He strongly condemns the charivaris then common, and apparently,
seeing that one occurred tlie other day, not wholly extinct yet.
Ho was delighted with the Lower Canadians. In view of Mr,
Gladstone's legislation, and of (juestions frequently raised among
ourselves, it is hard to resist ([noting a passage from the pen of this
Irish Conservative, as he describes himself, of course with refer-
ence to home politics, in 1823. But I nmst content myself with
giving the substance. The French Canadians seemed to him the
happiest people on earth. They were almost to a man in that en-
viable state of mediocrity which Agur considered the most favour-
able to the preservation of a virtuous mind, when he prayed for
" neither poverty nor riches " Fo had frequently observed a strik-
ing resemblance in manr >'' ius well as in religi(jn between the Irish
peasantry and the Lowe Canadians. But he had not been able to
pursue the compariscm without making a melancholy contrast.
The liearts of his " oppressed countrymen" were e(pially light and
equally susceptible of the tenderest impressions. They were oq ually
ardent in tiieir afl'ectionf-, equally hospitable, but more sociable.
But in every other resnect how different ! While the habitant
appreciated the British constitution, which guarded his civil rights

254

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

and religious liberty, and lived a stranger to want and care, misery
and wretchedness, in happ^ seclusion from disaffection, discontent,
and bloodshed, the Irishman dragged out a wretched existence,
under what " he erroneously conceives to be a government whose
grand object is to keep him in poverty and slavery, at once the pity
and the scorn of the Avorld." While the Catholic Canadian rev-
ei'en(.ed the constitution and the laws, the Catholic Irishman
seemed to exist only that he might subvert both. But why was
this ? Because the laws were wise in Lower Canada, and dealt
out justice to the Catholic Canadian, whereas they were unwise in
Ireland, and dealt out injustice to the Catholic Irishman. Had
Pitt, in 1800, been able to carry out his policy of emancipation,
and had the land laws been reformed, the miseries of sixty years
would have been impossible. " I have often heard it argued," says
Mr. Talbot, himself a Protestant, " that Catholics cannot feel well-
affected to a Protestant Government ; but surely there is here a
full refutation of this absurd opinion. I question much if out of
England's twelve millions Protestants there could be selected l»ur
hundred thousand individuals better affected towards the English
Government and constitution than the Catholics of Lower Canada.'*
And have we not in Upper Canada found them loyal ? Mr. Talbot
thoiTght all that was necessary to i)acify Ireland was to treat them
as a half a century earlier the French Canadians were treated.
To-day I can assure my fellow Protestants that all they have to do
in order to remove whatever they deem objectionable to the Catho-
lic as a politician is, to treat him on equal terms. It is no wonder
that they should be peculiar and puzzling, that their thoughts
should not be our thoughts, nor their political passion our political
paasion, nor their language our language, when, partly through our
fault and partly thiough their own, they live amongst us but are
not of us, almost as separated as the Jews were from the suri'ound-
ing populations in mediaeval times. Those who have truth on
their side may nullify its powers by associating it with repellant
ideas. Injustice in any form, f< nd intolerance however subdued,
clouds up this 3un of humanity's hopes, the brightest of whose at-
tendant stars is toleration, whose beauty has ravished the choicest
spirits of the world — calm, ruild-beaming in its light, and sweet
and comforting as charity. It sometimes appears to me as if Catho-

HUMAN NARROWNESS. LITTLE YORK IN 1817.

255

A >

lies and Protestants, with passions at least as strong as their con-
victions, forget that the God whom they both profess to serve does
not hate either ; rather, we are assured on all hands loves both,
though one or both may — for man is fallible — hold some mistaken
views. So far, therefo'-o, as they hate each other they are actuated
by a spirit contrary to that of God. The people of Nineveh were
heathen. Jonah was offended with Jehovah because he did not
destroy that great city. God spared them, and rebuked the Jew-
ish exclusiveness of the narrow-minded prophet, who, though he
waa willing to see Nineveh in ashes, was vexed so as to be ready
to die because a gourd which grew up in a night withered. Are
we not, most of us, occupied with our gourds, and do we not think
too little about humanity, not to speak of the teachings of One
we all profess to revere ?

Among the earliest fruits of the work of war and bad laws
combined, as emigration agents, an emigrant ship in 1817 stood
out from the port then know i as the Cove of Cork, but which
on the occasion of the Queen's visit some three decades since
changed its name. To-day across the hill encircled harbour, un-
rivalled in beauty w^A .capacity, there shines the front of splendid
hotels and stately mansions on terrace above terrace. But in 1817
Queenstown was nothing better than a good sized village whose ho-
tels with their dining rooms over the mighty b«.y were a popular
attraction. Edward Gate?, a Corkraan, nad chartered a vessel to
bring out emigrants to Montreal. The vessel was left at Quebec
while they made their way to Montreal in the "Swift-Sure" steamer.
Gates having loaded his vessel for the return voyage travelled with
his family up to little York v/hich was then a miiddy and dirty
little place, without trottoirs. The seaman was an enterprising
fellow. He at once started a store at the corner of Caroline Street
and King Stroet and commenced manufacturing soap and candles,
and tobacco. In 1820 he built a packet to run between little
York and Niagara. The Duke of Richmond was then Governor
of Lower Canada, and the boat was called after his Grace, who
had not perhaps quite lost his popularity. This waa the iirst re-
gular packet between York and Niagara, and on its first trij)
Colonel Johnson, who was commanding the G8th,made the vesse! a
present of a suit of flags and a small piece of ordnance, to be fired

25G

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

of! on its arrival and departure. Gates sailed the "Duke of Rich-
mond" on tlie lake until 1H2G, when Richardson built the steamer
"Canada." He then got a situation at Port l)alhousi(5, being
made collector just as a canal was opened. He died there in 1827,
and was buried at St. Cathariner..

He was a tall man of dignified bearing. He had seen service,
had been master in the navy, and commanded a privateer. That
the above facts are well worthy of record will be seen by the fol-
lowing extract from the newspaper of the day. Having described
the launch and informed us that judges consider the vessel a very
fine one the reporter 8a3'^H : — " It is now several years since any
launch has been had here ; it therefore, though so small a ves8el,at-
>acts a good deal of attention.

The son, R. H. Gates, lives in Toronto. He has been engaged
in various businesses here and at Bradford where there are many
Irish families, such as the Armstrongs and the Stoddars. He
founded the; York Pioneers in 1869, and he assisted in the forma-
tion of the United Canadian Association in 1870, of which for the
last two years he has been president. This is the gentleman who
in 1870 made such praiseworthy, but unsuccessful efforts to find
the bones of Tecumseh, and who ha^ in his possession several
valuable relics, among others a gun found in the bay, a veritable
" brown bess."

To return to the passengers in Gates' ship. Crossing the Atlan-
tic was then a very different thing from what it is to-day. A
graphic account of the voyage might be made from a little book
written in faded ink kept by one of the passengers. Diarists are,
as a inile, an imbecile class. A diary v/as picked up some twelve
months ago, on Front Street, in which the owner entered, day
after day, that he had risen at six, had had a wash, and felt
splendid ; at certain intervals there was a variation — he seems on
occasions to have risen as usual at six, to have gone through his
customary ablations, and to have felt not "splendid " l*ut " first
rate." Charles Stotesbury's diary was kept on a more instructive
principle. Thecinigrant sliip left Cork harbour on Tlun-sday, the
15th May, 1817, at 7 o'clock. Gn the IGth, Stotesbuiy saw a
crrampus. After they were at sea six days, during the last thiee of
which they had dirty weather, a little robin (^ame on board. It

n
Is
It

If
It

AN EMIGRANTS DIARY.

257

w a pity the little red-breast died, as he might have taken his
place side by side with the " emigrant lark." On the 24'th of May
a storm took away the top sails of the ship. Stotesbury's trunk
and the long-boat were washed over})oard. The main-sheet was
torn away. " Our shrouding disabled. Our cook and evorything
almost drenched. Every p(}rson on board in be<l." The next day
was spent in making repairs. " Found out," he says, " some
sweet water saved by the sailors which was of great service." On
the 4th of June, we have the entry : " Put on three potatoes per
day at our dinner. Water very bad. Blowing all night. Con-
trary wind." On the 29th of July : " Going to heave the lead.
Supposed to be on the banks. Saw several ice islands." If voy-
aging in those days had some un})leasantness, there were compen-
sations. Who coming hither in one of the Allan Line could
write at the end of a six weeks* journey, such an entry as the fol-
lowing :—" June *^()th, wont out in a small boat fishing and
fowling; a perfect calm; got sounding on the banks of New'
foundland, and caught a few cod." On July the 2nd, there is
another calm day, and they catch a large quantity of turbot and
codfish. " Dined on iurbot and cod pie," the diarist notes with
inward satisfaction. A succession of fine days followed. On
Tuesday, the 25th August, they are twen^.y-five miles from Que-
bec, and Stotesbury went on shore with four passengers, of whom
one was named Daly, who had his family with him, and who was
about "to look for a place or get a snug farm." The diarist adds :
" Bought some bread and milk at a l)ake-liouse. The owm^r has
three windmills on the sea shore, ilis family live here in the first
style. His daughter was going to mass in a hi>rse-ehair. In the
summer this is a most beautiful plac(!. But," he sighs, " they
have but five months summer and seven of winter." On the Ifith
of August they passed, at four o'clo(!k, the Falls of Montmor-
ency and in half an hour had a full view of the citadel-crowned
city. At six o'clock they were at the <iuay, the journey hav-
ing taken four months.

On the 15th August, there is the following entry : " Sent Mr.
SullivaTi and Miss Jones oft" to Montreal in the steamboat. There
are tiiree of them at present running, and they are building two

258

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

h !

moro, one of .seven hundred, tlio other about eij^lit hundied tons
witli a Hixty lior.se power engine."

Mr. Stoteshury had neitli(.'r the literary power noi- th(! culture
of Mr. W. D. IIowelLs, wh<j,se genius i.s never more happy than when
it takes wing from Preseott gate, alights on the ('itadel orhovei's
over the Plains of Ahialiam, But it is extraordinary what a vivid
picture he gives you of Quebec in his own liumble, na'ive way.
Quebec lie tells us looked very "handsome" from a short distance.
" When the sun is up it has a most })eautiful appearance as the
houses are covered with sheet tin." The lowi'-r town ho thought
a most disagreeable place, the streets " always covennl with uiud."
"There are two ways of going to th<i Uj)per Town, one u]) a hill
the way the horses go, tlu; otlier up a ladder or stairs made of tim-
ber. The pathways are mostly made of wood as also the shores,
There are very few manufactures here of any kind. Each shop
sells everything you could mention. AH the goods that arrive
here are sold b}'- auction. When th(;r(! is a glut of anything th(;y
are sold for little or nothing. The shop-keepers charge a mcjst
enormous price for evcnything ; as they do little or no lousiness in
tVie winter they must make it up in the summer. Boarding houses
are from 6s. to 10s. per day. The steand)oats carry about eight
liundnjd persons to Montreal at a time ; £'S jx^r cabin fare and
everything found, £1 for steerage and nothing found. AlxAit
three days to go up. An immense number of Indians t)'ade iiere
in their canoes. They always carry their paddl(!s in their hands.
A large piece of cloth or blank(!t wrapped about them, tied in the
middle, a hat trimmed with silver lace and silver clasps about
their arms and hanging to some of their 'oacks lar-ge plates of silver.
They are of a black complexion, high cheek bones. lj|ie shops do
not seem to do much business. There are a few i-egular butchers
here who keep stalls in the Market Place. The markets are sup-
plied in that and everything else, especially fruit by the couivtry
people who come to town in a light kind of cart and gericrally
driven l>y the women of the family. They draw up theii- carts in
a straight line across the Market Placid and you purchase out of
their carts. They also carry a ))aras()l to keep off the sun in sum-
mer and snow in winter. In wintei- they come to town in sleighs."
Whai a Dutch picture he makes of the romantic old city. Not a

FIRST IMPUESSIONS OF QUEBKC.

259

lie

Irs

|i-

memory is .stirred in him of Wolfe, of Montgomery, or of Arnold.
" It is very hard," he says i)athetically, " to do biisinosH here
without knowing French. The watchmakers' ami silversmiths'
shops art! the handsomest looking shops in Quebec. They do but
little business, but have great profit. Very few shops h(jre have
large windows ; only parlour windows as we call them. They call
them (the shops) stores."

"As you pass along the river from Quebec to Montreal, you see
the houses at both sides and a chapel which are built all alike at
about nine miles distant from each other by govei'innent. Tho
people here are very indolcmt. As soon as they can clear as much
ground as will (suable th(!m to live comfortably, keep a horse and
cow and a few sheep and pigs, a few acres of wheat, oats and a
snug kitchen garden with a chaise or light cart which they use to
go to chapel in or market, and a sleigh which they use six months
of the year on the river on the ice instead of the road, they never
think of tilling any more of the land but let it lie in woods as
they got it except they want fire wood, tlwm they cut down the
timber ami burn the branches which manui'cs the ground for them
and from which they get a crop tho following year,"

Here we have evidently Stotesbury's own observations, mixed
up with what he had heard from others. J3ut, nevertheless, thciro
is noi a word which has not historical value. He concludes his
little essay headed " The Town of Quebec," by the remai'k : " Any
man that has a wife and wisluis to live in the country, and has
about (jne hundred guineas, can secure an imlependeiice hereby
getting a grant of land and clearing it."

Stotesbury seems to have had friends at Quebec. On the Sun-
day after his landing, he tells us he dine<l at one Keatiug's, in
whose garden he g(^ ))lenty of fruit. In the morning he went to
the Chuich of P]ngland. The church and organ he found " very
line," and the minister "very good." The name of one of his fel-
^ low passengers was Jefirys. This Jeffrya had taken lodgings in
Quebec. " I do not know how he is going to support himself/'
remarks the diarist. " I do not think he knows himself ycst."

On the loth, we have later entries, which give us an inkling re-
garding eaily emigrant life, and show that already there was the
nucleus of an Irish colony in Quebec.

260

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

i I

On Tnesrlay, 14th of August, "met Smith, the coppersmith, and
Mahony, tlie distiller. Sold about ten shillings worth of my wor-
sted st(jckings. Kept three pair for myself." On the following
day, " Sold two casks of my glass at forty per cent, profit." On
the 22nd, " Spent the day with Mr. Gibb, the chandler, who is
making but little ; there is such a quantity of soap and candles
imported here. Drank tea with Mr. Doyle." On the following
day he drank tea with Mr. Atkins. All the above names are those
of Cork families.

On the 24th, he embarked in a sailing vessel, the " Lord Welling-
ton," which weighed anchor atl2o'clock, bound for Montreal. The
passengers consisted of eight men, four women, and eight children.
At Three jJivers, two of the passengers got work; one as a turner,
at SIO per month, the other, as a boy to mind horses, at S4. Each
got beside, diet, washing and lodging, The charge for washing
was from os. to 6s. a dozen.

On the 1st September, they anchored in Lake St. Peter, and
some of them went ashore. Stotesbury got into quiet raptures
over the black currants, the best he ever saw ; strawbemes, rasp-
berries, and blackberries and some gooseberries. The place was
for the most part wood. A few cattle were grazing. The hi*^-
was at least six feet high. As he picked his currants, an eagle
wheeled above him. He fired, but the king of birds with a scream
soared unharmed away. On the 3rd, they anchored iifty miles
from Montreal, and a little party again went on shore. He picked
in the woods the handsomost bunch of flowers he ever saw. The
women that went ashore with him found a litter of young pigs
in the woods, and stole two of them. It is with a note of joy, he
marks the disappearance of tlie mosquitos, by which he said his
fellow-passengers had been terribly bitten. When they entered
the river first, some of the passengers' eyes were entirely closed.
Their feet and hands were swelled, and even at this Y)eriod the
" bites" had not left the legs of poor Stotesbury. They reached
Montreal on the 15th, a Sunday.

Montreal he considered half the size of Cork, and therefore, it
need not be said, that it must have grown considerably since.
There were scarcely any public buildings to attract his eye. He
thought Nelson's i lonument and pillar very handsome. The Court

MONTREAL AND MUDDY YORK IN 1817.

2G1

trs

118

lit

House and Gaol were the only public buildings he thought worth
mentioning. Thert; wore fourvery handsome brick houses, and the
man who built them had made the bricks liimself. Auctions were
innumeral)le. The hotels and boarding-houses charged enor-
mously. It was common to see two or three dogs drawing a little
cart, and one, two, three, four, five or six bullocks, drawing a
waggon. There were three or four chapels, and one church, " the
handsomest finished inside, I ever saw." There were three soap
manufactories, which did a good business ; two foundries, one of
which had an air furnace, the other, a six-horse power engine ;
two potash manufactories. The only ship-building that was going
forward was the building of two steamboats. He was pleased
with Montreal. " This," he says, " is a much better town than
Quebec for business, or for a person to live in. The people gener-
ally get up at five o'clock, eat their breakfast at eight, dine at
one, drink tea at six. Labourers live here as well as tradesmen at
home."

Mr. Gates bought two horses and carts, in which they set off* for
York. In the first part of the journey they were greatly incon-
venienced, in consequence of their ignorance of French and the
ignorance of English of the inhabitants. After fourteen days they
arrived at Kingston, where they swopped one of their horses.
They then set otf for York, passed the Indian woods, which were
twelve miles square, slept at an Indian tavern, and after twelve
days arrived at York, the journey from Montreal thither having
taken them twenty-six days.

His description of York is so concise that it shall be given word
for word. " York is a very snug place, very beautifully situated,
a great many stores and very few manufactories. It is not a great
deal more severe in winter, nor much more warm in summer, than
in Ireland. Scarcely any people to be seen in the streets; and the
streets are so confoundedly muddy that there is no walking."
When Mr. Stotesbury passed a January and a July in York, he
changed his opinion as to the heat and cold of i*"^ relatively to Ire-
land.

Among the men associated with the advent of the Oates's to
Canada wtifi John Carey, who started the Observer newspaper,
which he printed and published in King Street, where used to

2G2

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

stand tlie cstaLlishmcnt of Hunter, Rose & Co. In those days of
small things this paper did good work by giving the debates, and
ultimately exposing the sins of the Government. There was a
rival journal, whose crushing satire against poor Carey's paper
was to call it "Mother C — y." A correspondent stylos it "The
Political Weathercock and Slang Gazeteer." The modern Cana-
dian journalist must see that even before his time delicate and
refined satire was understood in Canada. Carey died in Spring-
field, on the Credit.

Another Irish journalistic pioneer was Francis Collins, proprietor
of the Freeman, whose editorials were remarkable for liAelinesS)
and breadth of information. He died of cholera in 1834. He was
imprisoned in 1828, for applying the words "native malignity"
to the Attorney-General. It is pleasanter to be a journalist in
Canada to-day than tifty years ago.

At this period there arrived in York from Cork, a man whoso
family was destined to exercise considerable influence on the
thought of Canada. John Tyner, the father of Mr. Tyner the
brilliant editor of the Hamilton Times, and of the late Mr. A.
Tyner, the editor of the Telegraph, a man of great power and
brilliancy. The eldest of John Tyner's three sons was intended
for the church, but died early.

Mr. Arthurs, the father of Colonel Arthurs, was early well-
known ; and his name is one of the first which appear in the
books of the Custom House. He took an active part in civic
politics. Another remarkable man in this way was Rice Lewis.
With much clearness and native force of character, he laid the
foundation of the largest iron and hardware business in Toronto
The Monaghan Hamiltons have sent ofiTshoots into every part of
this continent, aitd it gave Toronto a worthy branch when the
father of Alexander Hamilton, the painter, settled in York. Alex-
ander was born in Cavan, whither the family had removed prior
to crossing the Atlantic. On emigrating they sailed direct for
New York, whence, being persecuted on account of their loyalty
to Great Britain, and strong opinion concerning the unrighteous
war of 1812, they came to Canada and cleared ground in the Tor-
onto Township. Alexander Hamilton, electing to lead a city life,
went for three years and a half to New York, to learn ft trade.

\^*

THE HAMILTONS. ALEXANDER DIXON.

203

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which he thou^^ht would prove jirofitable and useful in the growing
City of Toronto. His charactei" as a citizen and a man of business
is well known. He early w^on the confidence of his fellow-citizens,
and served in the council. He was captain in the Toronto militia
in 1837, and served against the rebels. As a York pioneer, and
a meniV)er of the Irish Protestant Benevolent Society, as an
active Methodist and Sabbath -school teacher he })is done good
work. Mr. James sJ. Hamilton, LL.B., is the second son of the
Rev. Doctor Hami'.on, a well-known contributor to sacred lite-
rature. Mr. Hamilton is a member of the law firm of Beaty,
Hamilton & Cassels. He has written a book called " The Prairie
Province."

Thomas James Preston, a native of Old Castle, County Meath
settled in " Muddy York " in 1827, where he became a leading
draper. He secured a handsome competence, on which he lived
many years in retirement, until his <leath in 1873. He left a
numerous family. The Rev. James A. Preston of Cornwall, is his
eldest son. The father held the rank of lieutenant-colonel in the
militia, was a Justice of the Peace, and served as a member of
the City Council for two years.

Alexander Dixon came to Upper Canada from the Cityof Dublin,
with the intention of proceeding to Mount Vernon, in the State of
Ohio, where a large number of Irish Protestants were induced to
settle. Mr. Dixon, finding that things at Mount Vernon differed
altogether from the highly coloured Utopian rej)resentations which
induced him to emigrate, returned to Canada, intending to go
back to Ireland, Owing however to the advice and urgent repre-
sentations of Mr. Dunn, the Recei/ej-General of that time, and
father of the dashing cavalry officer who won the Victoria Cross in
the memorable Balaklava charge, he determined to make York his
home. He procured a lease of a portion of an orchard which
occupied that part of King Street where Adelaide Buildings now
stand. In a shore time two houses arose which, at that period
were marvels of shop architecture. In this way his long and suc-
cessful career as a man of business commenced.

In 1834 Toronto was incorporated and changed its nam3 from
York. Shortly after this Mr. Dixon was chosen Alderman for St.
Lawrence Ward. In Toronto and elsewhere Irishmen have dis-

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264

THE IKISHMAN IN CANADA.

playefl great capacity for civic government. Some of our most
prominent city fathers to-day are Irishmen. In 1870, Mr. Henry
Rowsell published a pamphlet giving the names of the members
of the Municipal Council and Civic Officials of the City from the
year 1834 forward. An analysis of this tract shows that the
second mayor was an Irishman, Robert Baldwin Sullivan, the first
mayor being William Lyon Mackenzie. From 1836 to 18-50, in-
clusive, the mayors are Thomas D. Morrison, M.D. (one year),
George Gurnett (one year), John Powell (1838, 1840), George
Monro (1841), Hon. Henry Sherwood, Q.C. (1842-1844), William
Henry Boulton (1845-1847), George Gurnett (1848-1850). In
1851 we have an Irishman, Mr. Bowes, in the chair, and he ruled
for three years. After a leap of three years — Joshua George Beard,
the Hon. John Beverley Robhison (1854), the Hon. George William
Allan (1855), Hon. John Beverley Robinson (1856,) we have in
1857 an Irishman, John Hutchinson, in the chair. In 1858, we
have the name of W^illiam Henry Boulton and David Brecken-
bridge Read, Q.C. bracketed. In 1859, the Hon. Adam Wilson,
Q.C, was mayor ; in 1860, he had associated with him John Carr,
as president. Then follow three years of John George Bowes ai»d
three years of Francis H. Medcalf. Since then Mr. Medcalf has
presided as mayor for more than one year in the City CouDcil. Mr.
Manning has been mayor and the probability is that an Irishman
will be our mayor f jr 1878.

In 1834 there were four members of Council and two Alder-
men, Iri.sh : John Armstrong, John Craig, William Arthurs, James
Trotter, Councilmen ; John Harper, Alderman for St. Andrew's
Ward. Geo. Duggan, Sen., for that of St. Lawrence ; Mr. Andrew
T. McCord was Chamberlain, and was destined to hold that im-
portant office for forty years. In 1835, the Irishmen are : Coun-
cilmen — John Armstrong, John Craig, Alexander Dixon, James
Trotter, Geo. Nicol; Aldermen: — John Harper, Hon. R. B. Sul-
livan (also Mayor), Geo. Duggan, John King, Richd. H. Thorn-
hill. Among the officials in addition to the Chamberlain, we
have Charles Daly, City Clerk and Geo. Kingsmill, Chief of
Police. In 1836, Councilmen — Edward McEIderry, John Craig,
James Beaty, William Arthurs, James Trotter; Aldermen John
Hai-per, John King, M. D ; 1837, Councilmen — John Ritchey,

'W'*.m

TORONTO TOWN COUNCIL.

266

I'-'-i

John Craig, James Browne, James Trotter, Robert Blevins;
Aldermen — John Armstrong, John King, M. D., Alexander Dixon ;
1838, the same with the exception that Dr. King disappears from St.
George's Ward and Charles Stotesbuiy and Geo. Duggan, Jun.,
are Aldermen for St. David's ; Alexander Hamilton was elected
Councilman instead of James Turner ; 1839 saw no change but
the replacement of Robert Blevins by a Scotchman, Mr. William
Mathers. In 1840 things remained unchanged further than this,
a city solicitor was appointed and the appointment feli to the lot
of an Irish Canadian, Mr. Clarke Gamble. In 1841, no change but
the re-appearance of Robert Blevins. Nor is there any change in
1842, four of the prominent officials are still Irish and the Council
and Aideraien's roll remains, so far as our purpose is concerned, as
they were ; and so until 1847, when nearly every man in the
council is an Irishman. What a council this was ! Among the
Aldermen were the Hon. John Hillyard Cameron, Q.C., Scotch ; and
Irish — Joseph Workman, J . H. Hagarty, Q.C., James Beaty, John
Armstrong, Geo. Duggan; of twelve councilmen, ten were Irish,
namely, Samuel Shaw, John Ritchey, William Davis, George Piatt,
John Craig, Thomas J. Preston, Alex. Hamilton, Samuel Piatt,
John Carr, James Trotter. In the officials the only change is that
Geo. L. Allan has superseded Geo. Kingsmill, one Irishman super-
seding another and James Armstrong, an Irishman, has replaced
Robert Beard as Chief Engineer of the Fire Brigade. The next
year we miss the names of Cameron and Hagarty. The Irish
Aldermen for 1848 are George Duggan, Jr., Richard Dempsey,
Jos'iph Workman, John Armstrong, James Beaty ; Councilmen:
V/ni. Dav^ , Alex. Hamilton, Robert James, Jr., Samuel Piatt, John
Carr, John Smith. In 1849, James Ashfield was among the other
Irishmen iv. the Council; in 1851 Michael Hays; in 1852 Kivas
Tully, Adam Beatt> and R. C. McMu '3n; in 1852 Samuel Rogers,
find S^-iauel T. Green; in 1853 James Good and Thomas McCon-
key, William Murphy, Thomas Mara, and Theoi)hilus Earl; in
1854 Ogle R, Gowan appears among the Aldermen; for 1855 the
names of John Wilson, Wm. Murphy, and Robert Moodie should
bv mentioned, that of Alexander Manning in the following year ;
in 1857 the names of William Ardagh, William Ramsay, William
W. Fox, and Robert Moodie appear, as do those of George Boomer,

M 1

" §

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266

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

John Purdy, Christopher Mitchell, Robert J. Griffith, Wm. Len-
nox; in 1859 a^nong the list of Aldermen we find Thompson
McCleary, John O'Donoghue, Kivas Tully, W. W. Fox, and
Michael Lawlor, M D. Among the Common Councilmen the
only new name is that of George Carroll; in 1860 Patrick Conlin
appears as a new name, as does James Farrell; in 1862 Patrick
Hynes, Alderman; in 1863 John Spence and Nathaniel Dickey
and John O'Connell are elected for the first time; in 1864 John
Canavan; in 1866 Francis Riddell; in 1870 we find among other
Irishmen already mentioned, Robert Bell, Arthur Lepper, and
John J. Vickers, Aldermen; the Judge of the County Court,
George Uuggan ; City Clerk, John Carr ; Stephen RadcliflPe,
Assistant Clerk; and Robert Roddy, Second Clerk. A large pro-
portion of the minor oflicials were Irish.

But to return to Mr. Dixon. As we have seen, he was fre-
quently chosen alderman. He also held a commission of the
peace, and was a very active district magistrate. No citizen of
Toronl/O did more for our public and private buildings. Adelaide
Buildings, the first structure on King Street possessing any pre-
tensions to architectural beauty, we owe to him and to Mr. Peter
Paterson. His own handsome residence on Gerrard Street, now
occupied by Dr. Tupper, set the example for the numerous man-
sions which adorn the city. To his correct taste and sound archi-
tectural judgment. Trinity Church and the present St. James's
Cathedi"al were not a little indebted. A strong Conservative and
a zealous churchman, he was the means of erecting Trinity Church,
whose " father and founder " he has been called. Ho was, how-
ever, helped in the task by Messrs. Gooderham, Turner, Beard,
and Kent. A good writer and speaker, he took an effective and
useful part in public discussion. His eldest son is the Rrjv. Canon
Alexander Dixon, Rector of Guelph.

Mr. Williari Dixon, his second son, educated at Upper Canada
College, was for some years Chief Agent of Emigration for the
Dominion in Great Britain. His connection with the Canadian
Government commenced at the time of the Great Exhibition in
1862, when he had charge of the Canadian Department ; soon
after he was appointed E.iigration Agent for the Dominion, with
his head -quarters at Liverpool. In consequence of his represen-

1 '1

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WILLIAM DIXON. SCOTT HOWARD,

207

n
d

• i

tations the head ofRce was opened in London. In 1870 he was
summoned to Ottawa, and was for several weeks there aidin<;j in
the organisation of a general and comprehensive system of
immigration. In 1871 he was again summoned there, to consult
with the Hon. J. H. Pope, who was appointed iiead of that
Department. In the summer of 1873 his health began to fail,
under the severe pressure of his official duties. So assiduous was
he, that, even four or five days previous to his death, he sent off
his usual weekly despatches to Ottawa. He died in the end of
October, 1873. Shortly after, in a letter written to his brother,
Canon Dixon, the Hon. J. H. Pope said : — " He was the most care-
ful and conscientious administrator that I ever knew. His loss is
not only a loss to the Department, and to his friends, but to the
public service of the Dominion as well." In a speech in Parliament
also, Mr. Pope bore very high testimony to his services.

A third son, Mr. F. E. Dixon, was Adjutano of the Queen's Own
for some years, and did much towards raising that regiment to its
high state of efficiency. He was Captain of No. 2 Company at
the time of the Fenian raid, when this company met with serious
losses. He was afterwards promoted to be Major, and wrote a
work on " The Internal Economy of a Regiment," which was
made a text book for volunteers, and was adopted by some of the
regular troops then qup,T',eroL in Canada.

We have already se. :■ something of the valuable material the
Huguenot Irishman sent to Canada, ames Scott Howard })elonged
to a family who sought, away from the sunny lands of France, from
the " proud city of the waters," away from delusive edicts, from
Vassys and Bartholomews, an asylum for their faith at Bandon,
in the County Cork. Here Nicholas Howard established silk
manufactures. Success at first smiled on the enterprise, but owing
to the hostile legislation of England the manufactures languished,
and the family became impoverished. In the midst of the stormy
period of 1798, James Scott Howard was born. In 1819, when
he was twenty-one years old, he arrived in York, bearing letters
of introduction to the Rev. Dr. Strachan, and to Dr. Baldwin.
He was an adventurous follow. Before coming to '^anada, he
explored the maritime provinces. With a canoe he \\rnt ^vhither
he listed. Paddling the River. du Loup and the Madawaska, he

■'IP'—

268

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

It i

h H

reached the head waters of St. John, down which he went to
Frtderickton. Here he met his fate in the fair daughter of Captain
Archibald McLean. Having with his young bride come on
to York, he entered the office of the Hon. Wm. Allan.
He and his wife stayed for some time with Dr. Baldwin at
Spadina, which was then reached by a path through the woods
commencing where Yonge Street now runs. An instructive light
is thrown on the condition of things at this time, by merely enu-
merating the functions fulfilled b^' Mr. Allan ; Postmaster, Collector
of Customs, Inspector of shop, still, and tavern licenses, Trustea of
the General Hospital for Upper Canada, Treasurer for the Society
of Strangers in Distress, at York, Commissioner for vesting the
estates of certain traitors and aliens in His Majesty, also for in-
vestigating the claims for losses during the late war with the
United States, Director of the Bank of Upper Canada, Treasurer
of the Old Home District which at that time consisted of
what is now known as the Counties of York, Halton, Peel, Wel-
lington, Grey, Simcoe, and Ontario. Collecting the customs
was in those days a light matter as were the duties devolving on
the Postmaster. Nevertheless, the aggregation of so many posi-
tions must have kupt the hands of any one man very full. All the
work of Mr. Allan, Mr. Howard, when that gentleman was in Eng-
land, performed as his deputy. He ultimately became Postmaster,
but was unjustly deprived of his office in 1837, for alleged
sympathy vith the rebellion. .In 1840, he went to reside on a
farm in the Township of Burfcrd, County of Oxford, where he
was one r,^ Mr. Hincks' warmest supporters, who appointed him
Treasurer of fne Home District. A man of benevolence and
genuine Irisl) instincts, he was Treasurer for the Irish Relief
Fund, raised during the famine year of 1847. He was one of
the beat secretaries the Bible Society has had, and die 1 in the
very act of writing a letter in its behalf. His services to the
Society were such as to lead them to present him with a valuable
piece of plate. He was, moreover, Treasurer of the Upper Canada
Tract Society, and a member of the Council of Public Instruction,
from its formation to his death, and a Magistrate for the Counties
of York and Peel.

Another well-known official has already been mentioned in a •

CREDR' OF THE CITY OF TORONTO.

2G9

passing way. Andrew Taylor McCord is the son of the late
Andrew McCord, who was a manufacturer in the Town of Belfast,
in the North of Ireland. Mr. McCord was educated at the Bel-
fast College and was brought up to mercantile business in Bel-
fast, which city he left in the year 1831, for Little York, which
at that time contained not more than 6,000 inhabitants. Mr^
McCord, as we have seen, was appointed City Chamberlain and
Treasurer, the first year of its incorpoio,Mon as a city and held
that office for upwards of forty years until he resigned in the
latter part of 1874, when the city had increased to about 70,000
inhabitants. The finances of the city so far as he had the manage-
ment of them, were administered l>y him during thfit long period,
honestly and economically. In the year 1856, when the debentures
of the city only realized about eighty in Toronto he went to Eng-
land and succeeded in placing them in the London market at par,
and in a great-measure owing to h's punctuality in the payment
of interest and principal on the days they fell due, they have held
to that figure since. At times indeed they have sold at 105. In
this way undoubtedly a very large amount has been gained by
the city.

The credit of the corporation bonds stands high and furnishes
a striking contrast to the state of things in the year 1834, when
the first £1000 expended for improvements was raised in antici-
pation of the taxes, by every member of the Council, including
the Mayor and the city officials, signing a promisfeory note.

Very few of the old ro nibers of the previous Council are now
living. The only persons who served in the year 1834, are Wm.
Cawthra, Jas. Lesslie and George Monro.

When speaking of officials it would be wrong to forget a family
which has given us one of the ablest heads in the Post-office de-
partment to-day. From the same town on which young Howard
turned his back in 1819. there came to Little York four years later
Matthew Sweetnam, His wife, Elizabeth Reilly, was a native of
Drun.\reilly, County Leitrira. In 1831, their son Matthew Sweet-
nam was born. Having received a good sound education, he entered
the Post-office service in 1852 as assistant Post-master. Five years
afterwards he was appointed Post-office Inspector of the Kingston
postal division. In 1870 he was transferred to the Inspectorship.

r »•.«

I i
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270

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

of the Toronto division. A man of strong religious views and
active public spirit, he is Vice President of the Upper Canada
Bible Society and was for four years president of the Toronto
Mechanics' Institute. He has taken an active interest in various
literary and educational societies, in hospital management and
the like. Possessed of good administrative abilities and grea^ Torce
of character, a vigorous writer and a fair speaker, he is well cal-
culated to play a useful and a leading part in an^- ent^^rprise of
whatev-ji- character to which he may devote himself. One of the
senior Inspectors of the Post-office Department, he has been a
guiding influence in the improvements which have been made in
post-ofjfice management within the last twenty years. In 1857
when the colonization roads were being opened up he had jurisdic-
tion over the new postal arrangements for the district. In 18G2
h - was a commissioner to examine into the management of the
j)ost-offices at Montreal, Hamilton and London. ♦

If we pass to Toronto merchants, we find ourselves in the pre-
sence of success and integrity sometimes conjoined with large
talent for public affairs.

One of the most remarkable men who came to Canada during
this period is the Hon. William McMaster. The present writer
believes phrenology is trustworthy only to a limited extent. It
seems, however, established that to do large things there must be
a large brain. Hood used to say that no man ever did anything
great who had not a large neck, and he would })oint to the bust
of Walter Scott and account for Scott's easy power by dwelling
on his broad neck. To have force it is necessary that the back of
the head should be large. A phrenologist could not have a better
text than the head of William McMaster, It is large and well
balanced and his life partakes of the same character. He has
known how to make money, and he has known how to do good.

Born in 1811 in the County of Tyrone, he emigrated to Canada
in 1833. He entered the wholesale and retail est iblishraent of
Robert Cathcart, whose store was on the south fide of Kiug street
facing Toronto street. There could be no higher uroof of his busi-

O O J.

ness ability than that after a year he became a partner. Ultim-
ately he saw his way to do better still and set up for himself as a
wholesale merchant on Yonge Street, just below King Street.

HON. WILLIAM MCMASTER.

271

-.V'-

At that time the principal distributing centre even for Upper
Canada was Montreal. But Mr. McMaster saw that this was not
destined to be perpetual ; that a change had already set in and that
by energy and business talent, Toronto could be made a formid-
able rival to Montreal. "Mr. McMaster can hardly be described as
a pioneer in the attempt to divert the trade from its old and well-
worn channel, but hardly any one has done more than he has to
make the attempt successful*." He extended his business until
all Western Ontario was his market. He built large premises and
took his nephews into partnership with him. Extended business
again compelled him to build. The magnificent store on Front
Street, near Yonge Street, now occupied by his nephews, was the
lesult.

Mr. McMasver began to give more attention to finance than
to commerce, and in time left the whole of his Dry -goods business
to Captain McMaster and his brothers. He became a director of
the Ontario Bank, and of the Bank of Montreal. He has been
for many years President of the Freehold Loan and Savings Com-
pany, Vice President of the Confederation Life Association, and
director of the Isolated Risk Insurance Company. He was the
founder of the Canadian Bar '•: of Commerce of which he has been
President for sixteen years, and the success of which is mainly
due to his large capacity and business power. His conduct as
chairman of the Canadian Board of the Great Western Railway
reflects on him the highest credit. In politics a reformer, he was
in 1862 elected for the Midland Division in the Legisl«tlv^e Coun-
cil of Canada. After Confederation he was chosen as one of the
senators to represent Ontario. In 1 865 he bef'ame a member of
the Council of Public Instruction, and for tcu years represented at
the Board the Baptist Church of which he is a pillar. In 1873
he was nominated one of the members of the Senate of Toronto
University. He has been a liberal supporter of the Canadian
Literary Institute at Woodstock. His contribution to the build-
ing fund was $12,000 ; and his annual donations have been very
liberal.

The foundation of the Superannuated Ministers' Society of the

* Weekly Globe, March 10th, 1876.

272

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

t !

Baptist Church of Ontario is due in great part to him, and he has
been the principal factor of its success. The new Baptist Church
on the corner of Genard and Jarvis Streets, which is one of the
handsomest in the city, would never have been erected but I'or
him. The joint contribution of himself and his wife exceeded
$50,000. He is the treasurer of the Upper Canada Bible Society
to which he has been accustomed liberally to subscribe. Altogether
it must a^- once be admitted by any one who runs over his career
that his life, beyond that of most men, has been singularly s\icces8-
ful and useful, and well asserts the capacity of Irishmen to take a
foremost place as merchants and bankers. He is a strict teetota-
ler. At his parties no wine is to be seen, and those parties are
not less pleasant than others where loaded sherry and champagne
of doubtful origin circulate freely. The energy of Mr. McMaster
in his sixty-sixth year is a fine testimony to the truth preached
by Pindar many centuries ago, that water is the best of all bev-
erages.

Mr. Foy, the father of Mr. J. J. Foy, the barrister, came to Can-
ada in 1832. He was then twenty years of age, not possessed of
much worldly goods, but, having industry and energy, he made his
way. After a little delay at Montreal he came on to York, where
he went into business with Mr. Austin, the President of the Dom-
inion Bank. " They were,' said Mr. Foy to the writer, " fortu-
nate in their ventures, and are an example of what Orange and
Green might do when working in harmony instead of dissipating
their energies against each othor."

The partner of the deceased Mr. Foy, Mr. James Austin, happily
still survives, a wealthy man, and a useful citizen. Mr. Austin
was bom in the County of Armagh, in the year 1813. When he
was sixteen years of age, his parents, who had heard flattering
accounts of Canada, and especially of York, determined to emi-
grate thither. They arrived on the 10th October, 1829, after a
passage of seventy days, ten of which passed away between Mon-
treal and Prescott, in the small flat-bottomed boats propelled from
the shore by habitans, with poles. When a rapid was reached,
several yoke of oxen were harnessed to the craft by means of a
strong hawser, and she was dragged through until she was once
more in still water. At this time there were no side paths, sewers,

■3 ,
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AUSTIN AND FOY. SCOLLARD.

273

or any means of li<^hting the streets of " muddy little York." The
disappointment of the family was extreme. Only that the season
wa-s so far advanced they would have returned home again ; as it
was, they resolved to remain.

In DecemV)er, Mr. Austin's father determined to apprentice him
to William Lyon Mackenzie for four years and a-half, to learn the
printing business. His boy thus provided for, he purchased a farm
in the Township of Trafalgar, to which, with the remainder of his
family, he removed. His son spent twelve years at the printing
business, and he attributes whatever success he has achieved, to
the gener.-'l knowledge he acquired of men and things during his
connexion with that trade. Having, by the dint of close appli-
cation and self-denial, acquired a small sura, he embarked in bus-
iness with Mr. Foy, in 184G, and after sixteen years accumulated
a handsome fortune. In the crisis which followed the Russian war
he and his partner were afraid to let goods out of their j)ossession
on credit ; the business naturally fell off ; they resolved to invest
their capital more securely ; and each having his own views, they
decided, in 1859, to dissolve partnership.

In 1870 Mr. Austin was induced by some friends to assist in
working up the stock of the Dominion Bank. This was accom-
plished in a period brief beyond precedent. He was appointed
President, which position, togethei with others of a responsible
character, he still holds. Mr. Austin is sixty-four years of age, and
is full of health and vigour. He has witnessed the cholera of 1832
and ISS^-, when the deaths often averaged from twenty to forty a
day ; the emigrant fever, which proved more disastrous ; the rebel-
lion of 1837, which for months paralyzed business, and demora-
lized the people ; together with agitations for responsible govern-
ment, and against clergy reserves ; and Fenian invasions, such as
they were.

A wit as well as a banker, was Maurice Scollard, who came

here from Cork, in 1819. He was long, well, and favourably known

in connection with the Bank of Upper Canada. He was a good

sample of the Irish gentleman. Warm hearted, open handed ,

genial and sparkling, his sayings and doings are still referred to

with pleasure. His humour and power of repartee made him a

coveted companion and a dangerous foe in wordy war. His gen-
18

274

THR IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

uine charactor is strikin/^ly shewn })y a deed which has a parallel
in the conduct of another Irislunan, who has been Mayor of Mon-
treal. His Itrotiier in Cork, having failed for a large amount,
Maurice charged himself with the debt as a debt of honour. He
never lost sight of this, and had a few years before his death paid
it to the uttermost farthing, Bank clerks have not princely in-
comes, and this almost (quixotically honourable ct duct on the part
of Maurice Scollard, must have kept him poor all his days. Quix-
otically : for no man should hold himself responsible for his bro-
ther's conduct, unless that brother is under age, or unless he has
been the means of inducing others to trust him. Don Quixote is
one of the noblest characters ever created by dramatist or novelist,
but, as is so often the case with a great nature, he is not a very
practical person.

Mr, John Ritchey's name has been inentioned in connexion Avith
the Cov.no' 1. He was a builder, and came hither from Belfast, in
1811). He wiiS for many years one of the leading builders in Toronto,
and ovned a- large amount of property in the city. He maj' be
said to have built and owned the first theatre in the place — The
Royal Lyceum. Much of Toronto was built by four brothers, John,
William, Samuel and James Rogers, builders and painters, &c.,
who came here from Coleraine, in 1832. The Messrs. Langley, of
Langley &l Burke, one of the leading firms of Dominion architects,
are the sons of a Tipperary man.

A family of Somersets from the County Cavan, carl}'- came here
and having acquired wealth settled on a farm in the Township of
Toronto. Mr. Somerset was an active member of the early Metho-
dist church in York. The families of Somerset and Harper be-
came allied, and both in time mingled with the family of Aikens.
About ohe time Mr. Harper came to York, Mr. James Aikens set-
tled one concession north of the Dundas Road, in the old Township
of Toronto. There being no Presbyterian clergyman near, Mr.
Aikens invited the itim rant Methodist preachers to conduct ser-
vice in his house. He was thus led to connect himself with the
Methodist church, and brought up his family within its precincts.
It is no unimportant matter that Mr. p Mrs. Aikens became a
centre, whence radiated religious influence, nor that the wander-

HON, JAMES AIKENS. JOHN UKATTY.

275

ing ovangeliat ev-.-r found a hospitable reception in their comfort-
al ! home.

Their ehlestson is tlie Hon. James Cox Aikens. Ho married the
only daughter of Mr. Somerset, and lived the life of a well-to-do
yeoman, a few miles from the paternal homestead, fie recciived
a liberal education at Vict-./ia College, Cohourg. Thus litted for
public life, he in due time turned his attention to affairs, and as a,
member of the reform party, was returned for Peel in IS He

represented this constituency until 18GI, when he was defeated.
From ISG2, until the Union, he was a mend>er of the Legislative
Council for the " Home" Division, and in 1807 was called to the
Senate by Royal Proclamation. In 18G9, he joined Sir John
Macdonald's government, and became Secretary of State, with
charge of the Dominion lands in Manitoba and the North- West
Territories. He held this office imtil Sir John Macdonald's resig-
nation on the 5th November, 187.3. He is still down in " Mor-
gan" or rather "Mackintosh," as a "?liberal." Since 18G9, he has
resided in Toronto. His brother, Dr. Aikens, is well known in
Toronto, as a leading physician. Another brotlier. Dr. Moses
Aikens lives in the paternal homestead — one might write mansion
— and Ct^rries on an extensive practice.

Many of Mr. James Aikens' most successful fellow immigrants
and colleagues in settling that part of the country known as
"The New Purchase," including the old and new surveys of
Toronto, Trafalgar, Chinguacousy, Erin, Albion, Gore of Toronto,
and adjacent places, were Irishmen. One of these, John Beatty,
who had accumulated wealth in New York, was employed by
some of his old friends in Ireland and in the States to spy out
the land and make " locations " for them. Mr. Beatty and his
fellow commissioners were pious men, and when they crossed the
Etobicoke, and entered on what was known as the " Back Road,''
they knelt down and asked the guidance of Heaven. Mr. Beatty
himself settled on the flats of the River Credit, where the beauti-
ful Village of Meadowvale now gleams out in gai'dened beauty on
the traveller. He was long a leading mind in that place, in mat-
ters religious, civil, social and military. He was a local preacher,
magistrate, and militia captain; h"s eldest daughtei married an
influential Irishman, who had put down his stakes in Trafalgar —

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276

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

James Crawford, son of Patrick Crawford. Ilis second daughter
married Stewart Grafton, the s i of a patriarchal Irish yeoman —
a well-to-do farmer, who resided in the Township of York, on the
lot lately occupied by Mr. Isaac Robinson. The son. Dr. John
Beatty, has long been an influentijLl resident and practitioner at
Cobourg. This gentleman n^arried a daughter of James Rogers
Armstrong, who, with his brother, the late Dr. Armstrong, of
Kingston, were of North of Ireland origin. One of the beautiful
daughters of Dr. Beatty is the second wife of the Hon. William
McDougall.

Time and space alike would fail to tell of all the Irishmen in
Mr. Beatty's settlements who rose by their industry and energy.
One might dwell on Dr. Todd and his brothers ; on Alexander
Broddy, one of whose sons is the sheriff of the county and the
richest man in his vicinity ; on Bartholomew Bull, at Davenport,
who worked his way up from bush-farming to be a large property
holder, and who gave to the country two physicians, one lawyer,
and one magistrate — John P. Bull, J.P., who is ever helping on
all kinds of improvement ; nor, perhaps, if particulars are to be
enlarged on, should it be forgotten, gave wives to two gentle-
men — Dr. Patullo and Mr. James Good — both of Irish origin.

The eldest son of Patrick Crawford, mentioned above, was the
Hon. George Crawford, father of the late Lieutenant-Governor of
Ontario. He became a Government contractor on the Rideau
Canal ; made wejilth, and, having married a Miss Sherwood — his
sec(md wife — settled at Brock ville. His brother James was an
amiable man, of a retiring disposition, who early retired from
business and lived in good style — first at Meadowvale, then at
Hamilton, and finally at Brantford, where he died. All his chil-
dren occupy good positions, and his youngest son is a well-known
physici^n in Hamilton. Another brotiier, Mr. Lindsay Crawford
— called Lindsay after an Irish family in that quarter — early
turned his attention to commerce, and boc: me a dry-goods mer-
chant in Hamilton, where he marriea the daughter of an Irish
house — Miss Magill. Another brother, Patrick Crawford, never
left the scenes of his boyhood.

The second son of the Hon. George Ch-awford, by his first wife.
Miss Brown, was born in the County Cavan. He was educated in

daughter
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tioner at
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William

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lexander

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ire to be
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rat wife,
icated in

LIEUTENAJ^T GO PERNOR CRAWFORD.

277

Toronto, where he was called to the bar in 1839. He became a
Queen's Counsel in 1867, having meanwhile been associated with
Mr, Hagarty (the present Chief Justice), in business. He after-
wards took Mr. Crombie into partnership. He sat for Toronto
East in the Canadian Assembly, as a Conservative, from 1861 to
1863, and for South Leeds in the House of Commons from the
Union until 1872. At the ensuing general election he was re-
turned for West Toronto. He was President of the Royal Cana-
dian Bank, of the Imperial Building, Savings and Investment
Society, and of the Canada Car Company ; a Bencher of the Law
Society of Ontario, and Lieutenant-Colonel 5th Battalion, Toronto
Militia; he had also been President of the Toronto & Nipissing
Railway Company. As Lieutenant-Governor his bearing was all
that could be wished. But a difficult task was assigned him and
Mrs. Crawford. To follow so popular a woman as Mrs. Howland
was a trying task. He died before the expiry of his term of office.

In the same part of the country, the Watkinses, who W' nt in
when it was a wilderness and achieved wealth, would well illus-
trate the en rgy and perseverance Irishmen have brought to their
adopted land ; as would the Baileys, the Websters, families more-
over, whence the Methodist Church drew some zealous local preach-
ers. Mr. Webster, the local preacher, who is at the present moment
a leading influence, was, if informants do not deceive, the first
editor of the Canadian Christian Advocate. He has published
several books, amongst them — adventurous theme ! — " Woman,
Man's Equal." His last work is the admirable "Life of Bishop
Richardson." His writings have won for him the honorary D.D.

The numerous family of Morrows, who came here in 1820 and
settled in the Township of Hope, one concession north of the main
road running from York to Kingston, have scattered tcions all
over the country. The Mahas, the Skellys, the Scullys, tho Prices,
the Allisons, the Sandersons, the Beattys of Thorold, arid others
have done such service as it would take many pages to recount.
Take an instance. Wm. Beatty settled at Thorold in 1834. He
obtained a mill privilege from the directors of the Welland Canal.
He erected a mill and went largely into the busines.\ He also
went into tanning. He must have brouglit considerable capital
with him; but he very soon greatly increased it. He at one time

1 I'l

278

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

represented tlie County of Welland in the Ontario Assembly.
His sons were the first to colonize Parry Sound, and build a mill
there. William Beatty is still the principal landowner; he has
built a Methodist church, organized a Sabbath-school, and laid
the foundation of useful institutions. The brothers James and
William Beatty were the first to run a steamer from Colling-
wood to Parry Sound and under their auspices the first weekly
paper was launched in the District of Algoma. The Beatty line
of steamers tells its own story.

Mr. James Beaty, the proprietor of the Leader, does not belong
to the Beattys of Sarnia. The name is spelled differently, but un-
doubtedly all the Beaty s are of the same family originally. James
Beaty came here in 1817 from County Cavan, from that part
where the river divides the County from the County Leitrim.
On the 17th of March he dined with about thirteen Irishmen,
amongst them bei'^g the father of Dr. Bergin, M.P. One of
these was a man named Rse, who came out in the vessel with
Mr. Beaty. R{b was a Roman Catholic, and, it is said was
the first who read mass in Little York. But could a man who
was not a priest read mass ? Mr. Beaty, as we have seen,
was in the second Council of this city. He proposed Dr. Mor-
rison for mayor. He opposed the Family Compact, and was a
strong antagonist of the clergy reserves. He was managing
director of the bank of which Sir Francis Hincks was cashier, and
although most of those who were directors of that bank went
wrong in 1837, he never wavered in his allegiance. He loves
to talk of a clever Roman Catholic priest named O'Grad^'^, who
figured prominently on the eve of Mackenzie's abortive rebel-
lion. One night O'Grady moved to have a secret committoe.
" Well," said Mr. Beat}^ " I have no secrets in politics or religion.
I will belong to no party that has secrets in it." O'Grady, accord-
ing to Mr. Beaty, was as good-hearted an Irishman as ever lived.
According to Mr. Beaty, Foley would have been sent for when
Sandfield Macdonald was called on to form a Govejnment, but
for Sandfield's intrigues. Mr. Beat)'' was director of the first
Mutual Insurance Company, in the Home district ; Presi dent
of one of the first Building Societies ; Commissioner of the Pro-
vincial Lunatic Asylum ; Trustee of the General Hospital, and as

a,^.i.Ji^.i.,aFt*

JAMES BEATY. J. G. BOWES.

279

lill

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Ind

ine

such superintended, with others, the construction of the New
Hospital. He has been Alderman ; was for nine years a director
of the Grand Trunk Railway, and has long been proprietor of the
Leader and the Patriot. He was returned to Parliament for
East Toronto in 1867, and re-elected at the General Election fol-
lowing. He is a Conservative in politics and in religion a
" Disciple," the Disciples being a sect like the Plymouth Brethren
in all respects but that they reject the notion of a sinner praj'ing
to be converted, and do not believe in the spiritual illumination on
which the Brethren set so much store. His brother, John
Beaty, came here in 1818, and remained in Trafalgar, County of

vlton, over fifty years, until his death, in 1870, at eighty years
of age, leaving behind him sons who are well known men — Robert
Beaty, John Beaty, and William C. Beaty, J. P., of Ashdale,
Trafalgar, an active and leading man in local politics. He farms
five hundred acres, and raises thoroughbred and other stock exten-
sively. His youngest son, James Beaty, Jun., Q.C., an alderman
of Toronto, was born on the Ashdale farm.

Other connections of Mr. James Beaty are Mr. John and Mr.
Samuel Beaty, both enterprising and energetic newspaper men who
take an active part in the management of the Leader. The Bel-
ford family is also closely''related to Mr. Beaty. Charles Belford
is a well-known journalist. At ont time editor of the Leader, he
elected when the Mail was started to OiU its staff*. He has ever
since been the principal political writer on it. His brothers, the
Messrs. Belford Brotherr, have, as publishers, displayed great en-
terprise, energy and taste, and thrown a new light on the possi-
bilities of the trade in Canada.

One of the most remarkable men who ever walked down King
Street was the late John Geo. Bowes. He was born near (Clones, in
the County of Monaghan in 1812 and came to Canada in 1833. He
went into the employment of his brother-in-law, Samuel E. Taylor,
on whose decease in 1838 he wound up the business and became
manager for the Messrs. Benjamin who took the premises. The
Benjamins removed to Montreal. Bowes took his brother-in-
law into partnership with him ; opened a wholesale dry goods
warehouse ; they were so successful that after three years they
were able to purchase the business of Messrs. Buchanan, Harris

280

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

& Co., upon these removing to Hamilton. Henceforth he was in
the front rank of the wholesale men in Canada. As a financier
he had few equals.

Of middle heigh o and of exceedingly well knit frame, he
was fond of manly exercises and was, in expressive coHof^aial lan-
guage, an ugly customer in a row. Character lives in all we do,
and the secret of his success may be extract. d from the following
incident, perhaps as certainly as from a heavy business transac-
tion. Having occasion when mayor to visit the garrison, he took
with him a member of the Council. Thv re existed at the time a
species of feud between the military and the civilians. While
Bowes and his friend were walking about the garrison, making
observations in vegard to certain projected civic improvements,
they were set upon by five soldiers who had marked them for an
easy prey. The warriors had made a grand mistake. Bowei
handled three of them. The first he struck went right down,
Bowes having caught him under the chin. Two of the soldiers
rushed at him, but before they had time to toucn him — one ! two !
and they were reeling back se /eral feet. Meanwhile the first had
risen and sought to close with his antagonist. To this under or-
dinary circumstances, Bowes would have had no objection. He
had now however to keep his eye on more than one. The soldier
struck him on the breast bat the blow had no more effect on that
iron frame than a pea shot against, or the rat-tat of a drummer boy
on a drum. The next moment a blow over the right temple again
sent the man of war to the ground. On came his comrades to
avenge his fall. By this time Bowes' blood was thoroughly up ;
it ran lightning; the veins his companion observed, occupie;]
though he was, stood out on his foiehead ; with his great mane-
like head of hair he was suggestive of a lion at bay. His blows
rained on his foes who felt his knuckles as though he wore iron
gauntlets. In a few minutes he was able to come to iiis friend's
assistance and the enemy fied. It would have been easy to find
out the soldiers — for there was not one of them on whom Bowes
had not put his sign manual, and to have had them punished. But
though mayor of the city, feeling for them that kind of affection-
ate t^ nderness we have for people whom we have well beaten, he
refused to have them arrested.

llflBJliA.

CATCHING THE HUMOUR OF THE CROWD.

281

T-as m
incier

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1 lan-
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wing
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iking

An alderman of St. James' ward, 1850, we have seen how he
was 3lected Mayor by the Council for 1851-52-53, and by popular
vote in 1861-62-63. He was elected one of the members for the
the city in 1854 and took an eager interest in the legislation of"
the period. When the separate school question was agitating the
country, he threw the weight of his influence on the side of
separate schools. Fortunate in business, he lost a laige portion of
the wealth he had made by expensive political contests and the
reckless speculation of his partner.

He was President of the Toronto and Guelph Kailway, and was
connectec^ with various monetary institutions. He died on the 20th
of May, 1864, at the early age of fifty-two. His funeral was the
largest ever seen in Toronto, and was attended by all classes of
the community. He left a widow and nine children. One of his
sons is a rising young barrister,not unlike the father in appearance,,
but projected — physically — on a smaller scale, and fair, whereas
the father was somewhat dark.

Bowes seems tohave been capable of making a careless statement
to catch the humour of a crowd. On a hustings occasion, Mr. M.
C. Cameron had told his audience with what aiwopos, I am in no
position to say, that he was related to the Stuart line of Kings,
a line of men the least admirable Scotland has ever produced.
Mr. Alexander Manning who was a bosom friend of Bowes, said
to him : " Now you can beat that. Say j'ou are descended from a
greater man than any Stuart, Brian Boru." Accordingly, when
Bowes' turn came to speak, he said : — " Mr. Cameron says he is
descended from the Stuarts, why, I am descended from a man
greater thfin any Stuart ever was. I am descended from Brian
Boru himself." The crowd which was mainly Irish, gaped and
then cheered, as those present had never heard a crowd cheer be-
fore. This may have been cleverly done. I have heard Bowes
praised for it by very able men who were present at the
time. But it is not defensible. In the first place, it was not
true, and nothing, no not the heat of an election strife will justify
even what are called " harmless fibs." In the next place, it was
an appeal to the ignorance of the audience, and the duty of a
public man is not to appeal to the ignorance of the people, but to
drive away as far as in him lies that ignorance, and appeal to reason, .

1 M"

•282

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

judgment, and the living passions which are born of the gi'eat
issues of the day. There was a much better answer to Mr.
Cameron's boast or joke, for it is hard to regard his statement in
a serious light. That answer was to dwell on the chai-acter of
the Stuarts, men and women, and show what a pack they were,
and then make Mr. Cameron c 3sent of his royal relatives.
Having done this, Mr. Bowes, could have asked what on earth the
family tie had to do with the issue of the moment.

A scandal gathered round Mr. Bowes' name in connection with
a profit of £10,000, made by the purchase of £50,000 city deben-
tures, in regard to which Mr. Hincks (Sir Francis) had a bill
passed through Parliament. No one can doubt for a moment
that such a purchase was, to say the least, an improper act. It
is perhaps only just to his memory, to give the following account
of the transaction which is from the pen of a surviving friend.

"Mr. Bowes thought at the time of the purchase of the £50,000 of
debentures issued by the city that he had a perfect right to buy
them; he also asserted that whatever was done by tl Council in
the matter or by himself as mayor, was done solely upon public
grounds and with a view to public interests ; that the arrange-
ments the Council did enter into were clearly for the advantage
of the fity, and in no manner injurious to its interests, but very
much tiie reverse.

" Tiiere is no doubt the credit of the City of Toronto was greatly
improved b}'^ the resale which Mr. Bowes succeeded in making of
the debentures — but in after life, in consequence of the suspi-
cions, the discussions and contentions to which it gave rise, and
the unfavourable inferences drawn from his silence at the time of
the transaction, he regretted most deeply the part he took in the
matter.

" The City of Toronto lost nothing however, by the transaction
— in fact it obtained the profit made on the sale of the Debentures,
some $5,000.

" Mr. Justice McLean in giving judgment in the appeal case of
Bowes V. The City, says :

" ' In all this I confess that I have not been able to see any vio-
lation of duty, or of any obligation which the appellant owed to
he City o Toronto as an alderman or as mayor ; no portion of

; :|'

mmm

THE DEBENTURES SCANDAI,,

283

the public moneys have been misapplied or diverted to the benefit
of the appellant : no loss has been caused to the city, but on the
contrary a considerable gain has accriT id from thj whole proceed-
ing ; and, admitting to the fullest extent that the appellant was in
the character of a trustee for the city while he filled the ofiice of
mayor, 1 do not find that the evidence brings home to him any
violation of trust or <any dereliction of duty which can entitle the
City of Toronto to insist on his paying into its treasury an amount
which has been derived from the use of funds furnished by a
third party. In coming to this conclusion, I must admit that I
do so with some considerable doubt, knowing that the point has
been carefully considered and ably adjudicated upon in the court
below by judges much more experienced in the consideration of
cases of trust; bui, I have not been able to satisfy myself that the
appellant has done anything which can entitle the respondents to
recover against him in this action. I am therefore of opinion that
the judgment of the court below should be reversed and that the
bill filed by the city at the information of certain parties should
be dismissed.'

" The majority of the judges, however, were of opinion that, tak-
ing into consideration the quasi fiduciary position of Mr. Bowes,
the profit made by the sale of the debentures should be handed
over to the Corporation."

Another representative man, though of a very difierent type is
the Hon. Frank Smith. He was born at Richfield, Armagh, in
1832, and was brought by his father to Canada in 1832. The
family settled near Toronto. From 1849 to 1867 he carried on
business in London. At the latter date he removed to Toronto
where he continues hia wholesale grocery trade. He was an
alderman in London for many year.s, and was mayor of that city
in 1806. He is connected with some large institutions such as the
Northern Extension Railway, of which he is president. He is also
president of the Toronto Savings Bank, and a director of the Do-
minion Bank. A conservative, he was called to the Senate in
Feb., 1871.

To this class belong the Hughes, the McCrossons, the Merricks,
and the like.

A representative man of another type is Mr. Alexander Manning,

284

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

one of our largest contractors, who has been aldi rman and mayor,
and has within comparatively few yeai s raised himself to wealth.
During his mayoralty he entertained the Duke of Manchester,
and he placed his handsome residence on Wellington Street
with its commodious grounds at the disposal of Lord Dutierin,
when the Governor-General was visiting Toronto. Knowing how
expensive politics are, he has hitherto kept out of those engulfing
waters. He has a reputation it would take a Rembrandt to paint.
Beneath the shrewdness and determination without which wealth
cannot be made, there is a tender heart and, in the midst of shad
ing which would seem to indicate hardness of character, shine out
one or two large acts of spirited and apparently even reckless
generosity. A deviser of schemes, he has learned how to use men,
and always on the alert to put a little train of one kind or another
in motion, he is suspicious lest he himself should be taken in and
too cheaply used. When addressing the electors at one of the
hotels during a contest for the mayoralty, he properly boasted
that he liad been a working-man. There could not be a better
instance than is furnislicd by Alexander Manning of what Canada
can do for persons with brains and thrift. Mr. Manning has been
a useful citizen and may yet play a niore prominent part when,
sptisfied with the wealth he has acquired, he throws contracting
aside.

A man whose name has often been associated with that of Mr.
Manning — they arc, if I do not mistake, full cousins — is John
Ginty, himself a contractor. Mr. Ginty glides quietly through life
and exercises considerable influence in a noiseless way, keeping
meanwhile his own counsel with considerable success. Deeper
than he seems, over the surface of his character might be written
Denham's lines : —

" Search not to find what lies too deeply hid
Nor to know things where knowledge is forbid."

Though careful of money he has done many generous acts and
lost much from his desire to help others. His father came here
in the year 1827 ; but he must be dealt with later on.

A family, not without being typical, is the Morphy family.

THE MOllPHYS. THE HARRTSONS.

285

Duiing the Napoleonic wars, a young Irishman named Morphy,
devoted to tlie crown, and anxious for military distinction, raised
a hundred volunteers, for which he was rewarded with a commis-
sion in the 9oth regiment. He served in the Peninsula and at
Waterloo, after which battle he retired on a captain's half-pay,
and settled in Cork. He was ai)pointed magistrate. He died in
1831, leaving behind him a consiuerable amount of property —
valuable paintings, works of art, articles of vertu collected during
his campaigns — the proceeds of which, amounting to several thous-
and pounds, were equally divided between his next of kin, four
cousins, two of whom were men.

One of the men, who had seven sons, emigrated to Canada on
the eve of Mackenzie's rebellion, and settled in Toronto. The
lads grew up in Toronto, and entered, some the professions,
some mercantile life, some official employ ; all did well, and won
for themselves respectable positions. They did even better
than this. They married and became the fathers of numerous
families, who, if collected together, would make a respectable
congregation and a tolerably large town. So delighted were they
with their adopted country, that they wrote to Ireland, and pre-
vailed with children of another of the legatees to come to Canadq,.
They were five boys, and are now wealthy merchants and good
citizens of the Province of Ontario. Several years ago, the eldest
of the seven boys went to Ireland, and brought back with him
to Ontario about one hundred able-bodied men worth many thou-
sand dollars to the country. Such has been the result of the pic-
tures and articles of vertu collected by the captain, during his
campaigns on the continent.

I shall have, in another place, to speak of Chief Justice Harri-
son — a splendid specimen of Irish geniality, power, and perseve-
rance — but his family will claim a word here. The family is a
remarkable one, and is said to be of Danish origin, like so many
of the greatest families in Ireland. To speculate on the form of
the name would be fruitless, because, in Ireland, a process has gone
forward of a very misleading character. As I have shown in the
introductory chapters, at an early period, the Normans assumed
Irish names with a motive akin to those which made them
mhernis ipsis Hiherniorea. Something must be put down to

Ill

286

TIIK [RISIJMAN IN CANADA.

the attraction of which Mr. Froiido npeaksso emphatically ; some-
thing I fear must ho put down to the (le.sire to increase tlieir
power with a elan or clans, even as the tyranny they wen; enal>led
to inflict under the Irish law was undoubtedly a factor in the
aggregate considerations which made them become " more Irish
than the Irish themselves.*' On the other hand, in the course of
time, when every Irish thing fell under a ban, it became the interest,
and sometimes the object of the owners of Irish names to denude
them of their distinctively Irish character. Before our eyes to-
day, with persons who could have no reason arising out of fear or
favour to yield to this process, we yet see their names become
subject to it, owing to the quiet but enormous and overwhelming
force of the mere fact, that a race whose patronymics have a cer-
tain form is the race which, at least in the past, has bet^n domi-
nant. Macaulay's name, in its Celtic form would be McCaulay —
Macaulay looks, though it does not sound, English. The Rev. Mr.
Macdonnell's nan^e in its Celtic form would be McDonellor O'Don-
nell, for the " Mc " and " O " mean the same thing. Thirty years
ago Sir John Macdonald's name was always printed in the news-
papers McB..--ald, as was that of the present Lieutenant-Governor
and his brother, Sandfield Macdonald. Neither of these men
could be supposed capable of stooping to the folly of modifying
the form of writing his name. But the assimilating power, that
power which has made the Scotch and Irish Gael speak a Saxon
dialect on pain of effacement, that power which has made Gaelic
and Erse dead languages, works vdiere there is no motive of the
least magnitude, like a Nasmyth hammer which, though it can
crush an elephant with ease, can crack a nut with delicacy. In other
days there were strong cogent reasons why the young Scotchman,
pushing his fortune in London, should seek to get rid of his accent
and all that reminded the conquering Saxon of his peculiar origin ;
there were equally strong reasons why Irishmen should modify
the dangerous, and often the only legacy left them by their
fathers — a Celtic name. It was easily done. Take away the "0"
or " Mac " and put son at the end of the name. Iverson and
Wattson sound very English — make them Mc Watts and Mclver
and they are Celtic again. How English Morrow sounds. Yet it
is the same as Murrough — the ne^me of Brian Boru's eldest son.

IRISH NAMES. REV. RICHARD HARRISON.

287

McMuiTogh is tho same name with tlie patronymic })refix, and
this i.s tho Hamo as the Irish MacMurray and the Scotch McMur-
rich, and all are prubuhly tlie same as Murpliy.

If a process, such as I have endeavoured to indicate, liad not
gone forward, there would be little difficulty in assij,niin<,' the
Harrison family its source. As it is we must he content with the
tradition which gives it a Danish classification. Whether they
came from over the Noi-th Sea or from the Continent ; whether
Celtic or Saxon in origin, they were found at a tolerably early
period in the County of Monaghan, where, on " Harrison Farm,"
Richard Hamson the emigrant was born. He married at the ajre
of twenty-seven and forthwith removed to Canada. He settled
first at Markham, but some time afterwards removed to Toronto,
where by attention to business he won for himself a handsome
fortune.

He had three daughters and three sons — the present Chief Jus-
tice of Ontario, the Eev. Richari' Harrison and the late Mr. Frank
Harrison, for some years Lieutenant in the IGth Regiment.

The Rev. Richard Harrison, after a distinguished course in
honours at Trinity College, was admitted and became curate
of St. George's, Toronto, Missionary of Beverley, Incumbent of*
Woodbridge, and now of jSt. Matthias. In 1870, he married
Cecilia Marie, daughter of William Leslie, of the County of Wel-
lington, one of the oldest living representatives of the Leslies of
Fermanagh. The achievements of the " Leslie Troop " in India
will long keep his relative. Colonel Leslie's name alive.

The father of Mr. Leslie, a retired captain, removed to Canada
some thirty years ago, having married a French lady named Le
Vine. He was lost at sea while returning hither after a
visit to Ireland. The weight of the family cares fell on the
shoulders of William the eldest son, then only nineteen. This
young man was born at St. Omer in France, and educated at
Portora, Enniskillen. An I ish conservative churchman in the
midst of a Scotch Presbyterian settlement, there is no name in
the County of Wellington more honoured than that of William
Leslie. His son, Henry Leslie, having graduated at Trinity Col-
lege, is devoting himself to the ministry.

I am now about to speak of one of the most interesting episodes

288

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

in tlie history of emigration ; an episode wliich can only find a
parallel in another little Irish ((ua8i-arif;locratic exodus, an account
of which will l)0 given in another chapter. What an incident for
an emigration novel ! What a suhject foi a book or canto of
D'Arcy^McGee's projected emigration epic ! From Kinsale, whore
early in the seventeenth century the last of the independent Irish
chieftains, O'Neill and O'Donnell, were overthrown, and a thousand
of their followers having fallen before the swords of the Lord De-
puty's horse, lay the stark emblems of a lost cause within reach of
the roar of the whitening billows of the upbraiding sea — where
James II. landed in 1G89 and was received hy the Roman Catholic
population with shouts of unfeigned joy — which fell after a gal-
lant resistance before the all conquering sword of Marlborough,
who with his usual skill in improving a victory had, on the fall of
Cork, hurried on to the fort which of all others was most imj)ortant
from the point of view of French aid to the Irish — from this
historical spot four roung gentlemen started just three quarters of
a century ago to aeek their fortunes in Canada.

Lawrence Hayden was only sixteen years of age. He and his
school-fellows John and William Warren, and Callaghan Holmes,
with their hired man Pat Deashy, took passage in a brig The Orace
of llfracomhe, determined to follow in the distant colony " agri-
cultural and farming business." In due time they touched the
shore at Quebec. They lingered in the historic city to visit the
fortifications and the Falls of Montmorency. They then pro-
ceeded up the river and lake to York, where the Warrens, being
related to the family of Dr. Baldwin, that generous and good man
gave the young adventurers an Irish welcome. They at once set
about obtaining information, and at length decided to settle in
Whitby. Prudence dictated that they should not commit them-
selves very deeply. They purchased a lot conjointly, one hun-
dred acres in the third concession of Whitby, upon which they at
once settled. Scarcely had they entered on their land when they
heard Pat Deashy shouting, " master William ! Master John I
Come here ! Come here ! " Hastening to whence the shouts
came they fo and Pat looking up into a high tree on which were
three bears, the mother e-^ J two large sized cubs. Hayden des-
patched them with his gun. One of them caught in a fork of the

THE WEAKY WILDEUNESS.

iad

branches. There was nothing for it but to leave part of their prize
behind tliem or fell the tree. They set to work an<l in <luo time the
tree shuddered and shook its l')fty cone, and, Wi^h what the an-
cients would have regarded as a groan, fi .1. The bears were
skinned and for several winters Hayden wore a cap uade from the
pelt of the old bear.

They were the lirst Irishmen to settle in that section of the
country and were known by subse([uent settlers as " The Four
Irishmen." After a time they found — mere youths that they
were and gently nurtured — the task they had undertaken too
onerous. New and pleasant cnouifh for a time, when the novelty
wore off, when tho sense of campinj.' out was gone, when the un-
social monotony appeared in all its grimness of stern reality, they
found it unsufterable. There was no voice of woman near them
to round their lives with subtle nnisic, no sympathetic touch of
gentle hand to soothe them, no smile bathed in tenderness — like
early sunshine among early dew — to cheer them on, and life
Vjecame as weary as Mariana's, and they discovered that in the
midst of boundless wilderness there may be a moral prison-house.
It is not merely that they missed the more spiritual assiduities
with which women cheer and charm; those little household duties
which women best attend to fell to the lot ot young men who
had been accustomed to the refinements of the home of Irish gentle-
men, where the women, si.-jter3, moth 3rs, cousins, and sweethearts are
not only beautiful, but have about them an elevation and purity
as if they had only just stepped out of Bunyan's " House Beauti-
ful" and were own sisters to Discretion, Prudence and Charity,
and had caught the serene light in their eyes from gazing on the
Delectable Mountains. The poor young adventurers cooked their
own meals, made their own bread, mended their own clothing,
" did " their own washing. Their ignorance of farming was very
great. The following incident of their cooking is worth relating.
For a long time it was their custom to take alternate Christmases
at Toronto, when they were entertained by Dr. Baldwin. Once
when the two holiday-makers returned to Whitby they found the
edges of their razors hopelessly blunt. On inquiring the cause they
learned that the two who had remained at home had killed a pig

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THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

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and instead of taking the bristles off in the usual v/ay, by scalding,
had shaved them off.

At length, heartily tired of the "agricultural and farming bus-
iness," the Warrens sold out their interest to Mr. Hay den, as did
Mr. Holmes. The Warrens opened a store near what is to-day the
Town of Whitby. The brothers soon separated. John went and
opened a store where Oshawa now stands. He built a mill, and
laid the foundation of the growth and prosperity of that flourish-
ing town. He named it, choosing an Indian word which signifies
the crossing of two paths. Ho was very successful. He still re-
sides at Oshawa. His brother William became Collector of Cus-
toms at Whitby harbour. The duties of his post he discharged in
a Tery satisfactoiy manner until last year, when he was superan-
nuated.

Callaghan Holmes died of the chojora on his way to Ireland in
183^5. Pat Deashy remained only a short time with Mr. Hayden,
after he was left alone. Pat went to Buffalo, where he soon died.
Hayden sold his lot and purchased another, and sold this, and
opened a store on the Kingston road. Finding himself, after a few
years of store-keeping, prosperous, he sold out his stock and retired
to a farm he had purchased in the meantime. In 1830 he mar-
ried Barbara Sullivan, a niece of Dr. Baldwin. About the year
1840 he furbished up his c) ssics, passed an examination, and was
entered as a student-at-law. A long illness compelled him to give
up the study of the law. He returned to his farm near Whitby.
In 1845 he removed with his family to Toronto, to take charge of
the large landed properties of the Messrs. Baldwin and their cli-
ents. He was thus engaged until 1850, when he was appointed
Clerk of the Crown and Pleas, Court of Common Pleas. This
office he held until the death of Mr. Small, in 1864, when he suc-
ceeded that gentleman in the Crown Office. He died in 1868, at
his residence in Bloor Street, having played many parts, and played
them successfully. He was placed on the Commission of the
Peace as early as 1828. In 1825, he received his commission as cap-
tain in the 2nd regiment of East York Militia, from which he re-
tired with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. As a magistrate, he did
much towards allaying the excitement during the troublous times
of 1837-'38. Grudges and hatreds were gratified by making accu-

HAYDRN PROMOTES IMMIGRATION.

291

sations of treason, and in times of excitement and danger such cases
were difficult to handle. The delicate task Mr. Hayden seems to
have performed well. In those days magistrates had to [)erf orra the
marriage ceremony, and Hayden united together in the happy bond
of matrimony thirty-eight couples. He was also a Commissioner
of the Court of Requests, Coroner, and frequently Returning
Officer.

The fam'Mes of " The Four Irishmen," had considerable local
infl aence in their part of the County of Cork, and an unremitting
correspondence being kept up, many of their countrymen v.fjre
induced to settle at Whitby. Hayden always took a deep and
unselfish interest in the welfare and success of these emigra?ii,s,
many of them being forward to assert to-day that they owe cheir
prosperity'" to his kindness and good offices. One recf^Mnt with
gratitude the following circumstance. He is a man, now highly
prosperous, who had for some reason or other failed to procure /or
himself a farm. He was induced by Mr. Hayden, to lease a two
hundred acre lot on a term of years, with the right to purchase it
at a given price. He cleared the lot, built a house, paid the rent,
raised a large family, but, naturally improvident, forgot all about the
purchase, until the time, had passed for paying the money. Con-
vinced that ho had lost his farm, he came to Mr. Hayden, telling
him of his great trouble. What was his surprise and joy to hear
from his benefactor, that, fearing something of the kind would
happen, he had himself paid the money ?

Party feeling ran high between the Roman Catholics and
Orangemen. Hayden worked hard to allay passions, and in a great
measure succeeded. On one 12th of July, he met a party of (Catho-
lics on their way to contest the day with the Orangemen. An en-
lightened Catholic himself, he sought to induce them to return
home, and after much entreaty succeeded in persuading them.
Loyal to the British flag, which is the Irish and Scotch flag as well
as the English, he resisted many temptations to become a citizen
of the United States. The late Mr. Senator Morgan, of New York,
who had married a sister of Dr. Baldwin, urged him in vain to go
to New York, though he promised what he had the power to per-
form, to look after his advancement. A man of wealth, named
Dodge, wished him to become a partner, and take charge of an

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extensive iron manufactory in Buffalo. These men and others,
recognised in Hayden's grave, earnest, intelligent and thoughtful
character, qualities which required only an extended field, to make
a great mark. Throughout his whole life he bore a high charac-
ter, upright in business, blameless in his private life.

A reticent man, not given to speak much of himself, he yet
sometimes told of a narrow escape he had had on Lake Ontario,
when he used to take his wheat to York to be ground. On one
occasion he set sail from Big Bay, now the harbour at Whitby, in
a " Dug-out," with five bags of wheat. It was late in the evening
when he started. It was important to gain time. He made the
stretch from one headland to another. As he was nearing York,
a storm came on. The night was pitch dark. He could no longer
tell his bearings. In the midst of his bewilderment the boat cap-
sized. Like most Cork men, a good swimmer, he struck out un-
daunted, until he touched ohe sides of the unhappy craft which
had turned turtle. To this he clung, knowing that the waves
would drive it ashore. After what seemed two or three hours, he
touched bottom. He pulled his boat up on to the beach, and
dripping wet, took shelter underneath it until the morning, when
he found he had drifted against the island. He dragged the boat
across the sand into the bay, over which he paddled himself to
York. His grist was at the bottom of Lake Ontario.

On another occasion, late in the evening, astride of a young
colt, he left York. Night came, and a thunderstorm. A tiash of
lightning broke athwart his path. This startled the young beast.
A buck jump — and he was off like the electric gleam which had
frightened him. A good rider, Hayden kept his seat. The horse
stopped on a sudden, throwing his rider on to his neck. The
horse screamed with terror. A great broad flash which lit up the
whole country and unveiled the face of the lurid waters to the
horizon, revealed the cause. He was on the brink of Scarboro'
Heights, with the lake roaring eight hundred feet below. The rider
did not lose his nerve, but slid quietly off the horse. The animal
then recovered his position on the bank. When the storm

" Moaning and calliug out of other lands,
Had left the ravaged woodland yet once more
To peace,"

HAYDENS FERTILITY OF RESOURCE.

293

Hayden resumed his journey. He must have possessed great
physical endurance. On one occasion, election business pressing,
he rode from York to Whitby, back again to York, and thence back
again to Whitby, eighty-four miles in the daylight of one day.

He was full of resource. When alone on his farm at the Bay,
finding his money running short, he determined to have some.
He set to work, chopped trees, and made ashes sufficient to pro-
duce a barrel of potash. This he shipped for Montreal, taking
passage himself. He sold his ashes to advantage. Not caring to
go back the way he went, and wanting a horse, he bought one at
an auction and rode him bare-backed to Whitby. His early ex-
periences in Ireland, where even young gentlemen are accustomed
to take out a, bridle with them and without a saddle have a canter
over the fields on one of their father's horses, would make this ride
a light matter.

He always retained his hold on the affections and regard of the
early suttlei-s in and about Whitby, and on their families. Mr.
Blake, when he accepted the Chancellorship, represented East
York. The moment the vacancy occurred, some of the principal
men of East York belonging to each side oi politics, urged him to
offer himself for their suffi-ages. He had every prospect of being
elected without opposition. The offer was as tempting as it was
gratifying. But f^s he would, in case he accepted it, have had to
sacriffce a public position, which he felt bound in the interest of his
family to keep, he declined.

Mr. Hayden seems to have had decided opinions on religious
and political questions. In religion, I am informed by a relative,
who can speak with ample authority, he was a Roman Catholic,
and as such was the first to settle in South Ontario. " He may,"
writes my informant, " be styled the father of the Catholics in that
section, in more senses than one. He was possessed of a sincere
and firm conviction of religious truth, and his whole life, thoughts
and actions were governed by its teaching and principles." In
politics, he was a reformer of the Baldwin type, and he did much
to keep alive the principles and spirit of the party. He possessed,
at all times, the entire confidence of his leader, Mr. Baldwin, with
whom his public and private relations were of the most confiden-
tial and friendly character. While living in East York, he took a

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THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

deep interest in all undertakings of a public nature, and his in-
fluence with the Government was readily exerted to benefit public
undertakings and individuals whom he deemed worthy of the
confidence of those in power.

The father of John Ginty, mentioned in an earlier part of this
chapter, came to Canada from Old Castle, Westmear.h, in 1827>
and settled in South Simcoe. He was a good public speaker, an
exceedingly clever man generally, and possessed consi<lerable local
influence which he exercised in support of the late Hon. W. E.
Robinson, Owing to his exertions and exposure in the rebellion
of 1837 he got erysipelas of which he died. His wife is still alive.
In 1854 the son removed to Toronto.

In Simcoe the late Mr. Ginty was frequently brought in contact
with a remai'kable man who did a good day's work i:or Canada,
and whose family are in various ways contributing to its political,
social, and intellectual life. Colonel O'Brien belonged to that
interesting cl^ss the ranks of which have been fed mainly from
Ireland — the gentlemen settlers — who brought to their adopted
country means, talent, and culture, and to whom we owe nearly all
the refinement of which we can boast.

Colonel O'Brien was born at Woolwich, on the 9th of January,
1798. His father, who had married the eldest daughter of Colonel
Calendar, was a Captain and Adjutant in the Royal Artillery,
who had served in the West Indies and who, for his services, was
allowed to retire on half -pay. It may not be uninteresting to put
on record that one of the sisters of Miss Calendar maMed Thom*^
Brinsley Sheridan, whose wit was nearly as bright as his father's.
They had three remarkable daughters, who were so beautiful that
they were known as the " Three Graces." One married the late
Lord Dufierin, another the Honourable Mr. Norton, and the third
the Duke of Somerset. Both Lady DufFerin and the Honourable
Mrs. Norton won for themselves a place in literature. Mrs. Norton
was, at fifty years of age, strikingly handsome. Seen five minutes
she made on the mind an inefiaceable impression, and her second
marriage would seem to indicate that like all supreme beauties
she carried with her into the sick room, and to the verge of the
grave, the power and charm which enchain the heart.

Colonel O'Brien's earliest days were passed in the neighbourhood

•GENTLEMEN SMUGGLERS.

295

of Cork, where his father was stationed for several years. His
education which was commenced at Spike Island — a military
station and a scene of convict labour in the harbour of Cork —
was of a peculiar cliaracter, and the only wonder is that instead
of the most honourable of men, he did not develop into a free-
booter. Not only was he taught the usual rudiments of a liberal
education, especially in the science branches, he received fruitful
instruction in the manly art with the history of which in Canada
his name is inseparably connected. In those days amateur smug-
gling was considered a good joke. A gentleman did not shrink
from it. It was like breathing the Proctor's dogs at college. It
was indulged in with the graceful recklessness of a "Prince Hal,"
at the promptings of a spirit of adventure such as made James of
Scotland unconsciously provide material for the most effective of
Scott's poems. To get a cask of wine into a man's cellar without
paying duty, though a malum prohibitum was not regarded as a
malum m se. Even men holding His Majesty's commission en-
gaged in the " sport." Captain O'Brien — the Colonel's father —
fell in with the custom of the hour. An expert boatman, with
the fastest wherry and best crew in the harbour, it was his delight
assisted often by friends from the men-of-wa. riding at anchor on
the bosom of this unrivalled bay, or better still, returning from
Spain or Portugal, to outwit the custom-house officers and revenue
cutters. Often pursued, whether in sliine or storm he was never
caught. When the revenue dogs were in full cry he sat confident:—

Tunc me biremis praesidio scaphse
Tutum per ^gseos tumultua

Aura feret, geminiisque Pollux.

And loud was the laughter and high the mirth, as they broached
the cask, and drank the furtive wine singing : —

" Vive la contrebande ! "

Captain Vansittart, so well known as Admiral Vansittart, in
Woodstock, where he laid out the beautiful property of Eastwood,
framed with woodland, now in possession of Mr. T. C. Patteson,
used to tell of casks of P rt and Madeira brought in his ship and
the exciting chases which took place, when the game broke cover

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beneath her cannon-frowning sides. On these occasions his
father's chosen companion, the boy, while yet a stripling, became
an adept in the management of a boat. In this way he largely
acquired those tastes and that seaman-like skill which influenced
his whole career, and fitted him to play the part of founder of
yachting as an institution among us. For Irishmen, founders in
so much else Canadian, are also founders here.

No better boatman or more finished yachtsman than Colonel
O'Brien has ever sailed Canadian waters. lie originated and
organised the first yacht club in Toronto. Dr. Hodder, the son
of an Irishman who was a great friend of Captain O'Brien's,
was the means of bringing into prominence its successor, the
Royal Canadian Yacht Club. Some of the older yachting
men still talk of the " Coquette," built in O'Brien's barn, on
the shoies of Lake Simcoe. Her rigging and sails were made
with his own hands. The " Gazelle " followed, and the " Fan-
qui." Fanqui is a Chinese word, and means " foreign rascal,"
a term applied by the Celestials to the outside barbarians. The
yacht was thus opprobriously baptized because of her peculiar
shape and rig. His son, Mr. Henry O'Brien, a leading member
of ^a leading law firm in Toronto, inheriting his father's tastes and
aptitudes formanly exercises,and especially for boating and yacht-
ing, started, some few years ago, the Argonaut Club. The last
time Colonel O'Brien was on the water he took an oar in a four-
oared boat of the Argonauts.

With such a training as young O'Brien had, it was natural that
the sea should have been his choice when the question of a pro-
fession was mooted. Indeed, with or without this training, he
would, at the age he was called on to decide, have declared for
Neptune. Every boy of spirit reared in Cork wants to go to sea ;
and anxious mothers and ambitious fathers are sorely troubled by
their young hopefuls, from their seventh to their fourteenth year,
who long for the life of a seaman bold, who pine for the stormy
sea. This contiguity with the sea and necessary contact with
shipping, with foreigners and foreign seamen, with stately war-
ships, with regiments embarking and disembarking; the blare of
the bugle in the morning from the heights of Barrack Hill ; the
recall as evening settles slowly down on the beautiful city and

A SEA-ROCKED CRADLE OF GREATNESS.

297

darkens over the wooded terraces of the pellucid river, and clothes
the towering belfry of Shandon with congenial shadows ; the
sham battles in the park ; the gaiety of the princely promenade of
the New Wall ; all the beauty of form and colour of the various
landscape which no one could know without loving it in its
changing moods, as though it were a beautiful, capricious, yet
noble-hearted woman ; streets which run over the graves of
heroes ; storied towers ; associations with Spenser and kindred
men ; all this expands the mind of the child, fills it with vague
longings after adventure and greatness, sends his mind down the
handsome river, like a little rudderless boat, dreaming out to sea ;
dreaming Heaven knows what of grand achievement and daring
deed. It is to this stimulating surrounding we must in no small
part attribute the fact that Cork has produced so many remark-
able men. And when the child, while the disturbing effeminacy
of the passions is in abeyance, thinks of adventure, and his eager
nature longs for action — what horse sa sure to bear him at once
to all he longs for as the white-maned steed that frets hard by
yonder green-capped cliff ? The earliest song he hears praises a
life on the ocean wave, and exalts beyond all quieter homes, a
home on the rolling deep. The comely mother of seven or eight
sons, and looking younger than one of our young women of
twenty, has not made your acquaintance an hour bbfore you hear
from her maternal but rosy lips, that the fine boy whose head she
pats is determined to go to sea. She supposes it must be, but the
sea is a dreadful life. And Tom or Bill at once takes you into
his confidence, runs off for his well-rigged boat which he sails on
one of the inlets of the river, and he assures you he means to be
captain of just such a ship as he bears in his arms.

Young O' Brien was not ten years of age when he had fixed his
destiny. Having passed through a short preparatory course at Ply-
month, when only eleven years of age he went to sea as a middy in
the "Sybelle" frigate, having received from his mother ere the ^ist
embrace the admonition — " Never to forget his Bible, orthat he was
the SOP of an Irish gentleman." This was at the close of the gi'eat
war wuen a midshipman's life had none of those comforts which
now-a-days make it one of comparative luxury. He subsequently
served in the China seas in the craik 36-gun frigate "Doris," com-

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THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

mantled by his cousin Captain Robert O'Brien, who afterwards
came to this country an Admiral, and Uved at Woodstook and at
Tollendal, n jar iiarrie. Captain O'Brien obtained his promotion
by his skill in taking a merchantman off the Goodwin Sands.
The peace with America put an end to the long naval contest and
an end also to any speedy advancement in the navy. O'Brien,
therefore, joined the army. He was given a commission in the
2nd Dragoons, but finding this corps d'elite, in all senses, too ex-
pensive, he exchanged into the 58th Regiment, then under orders
for service in the West Indies. Here his health failing he retired
on half pay.

Now his mind returned to its first love. He went into the mer-
chant service and made several voyages to the East. His reputa-
tion for seamanship and general capacity brought him an ofier of
one of the fine East Indian passenger ships of that day. As he
was about to take command he was attacked by a severe illness
v^hich compelled him to give up the sea for ever.

His restless activity, however, would not permit him to settle
down to a quiet life in the Old Country. He determined to seek
his fortune in the backwoods of Canada. With a number of other
half-pay ofiicers he settled on the North Shore of Lake Simcoe,
taking up his grant in the Township of Oro. Sir John Colborne
had put him in charge of the settlement. Here he built the house
where he ended his days. A beautiful picture of this house has
been painted by his son, Mr. Lucius O'Brien, whose name as that
of the foremost artist in Canada will again come up. Mr. O'Brien
was the only settler on the shore of Lake Simcoe who retained his
grant to the end.

Here with his newly married wife and a family growing up
about them — all the children survive — he entered on the toils and
hardships of the backwoods. He and his wife did all that kind
hearts and fertile brains and ready hands, far from empty, could
do to promote the happiness of all around them. They visited
and succoured the sick and needy. He filled many offices of trust.
He became Chairman of the Quarter Sessions, Commissioner of
the Court of Requests, and Colonel in the Militia. As a Justice
of the Peace he was fearless and active, and some thought severe.
But in those days there were many turbulent characters in the

AN ENERQETIC GENTLEIVIAN SETTLER.

299

Simcoe District who required a firm hand. In the suppression of
the rebellion he took an active part, and was for some time en-
gaged at Lloydtown, a hotbed of disaffection, in the discharge of
magisterial duties.

Shortly after the establishment of the County of Simcoe as a
municipality Mr. O'Brien left "The Woods" and removed to Toronto
where he lived for many years. With his accustomed energy he
threw himself into various business schemes. He was one of the
moving spirits in the first projected railway from Toronto to Lake
Huron, with a terminus at Sarnia, and was secretary of a company
formed to promote it. He was opposed to having a terminus at
Collingwood. He was the organizer and first manager of the Pro-
vincial Insurance Company. He was also connected with the
press, and at one time owned the old Patriot and the Colonist. A
staunch loyalist and a strong Conservative he took an active part
in the politics of the day.

Fis chief public interest like that of Mr. Dixon's was the wel-
fare and prosperity of the Church. His first care on settling at
Lake Simcoe was to set apart a portion of his land for a church
and glebe. On this one of the first missions north of Toronto was
established, and through his exertions the church was built. To
the little church -yard of this church over the bright fields, one day
in the summer of 1875, the brave old man's remains were carried
by his sons and old friends.

He hated whatever was false and mean. Owing, perhaps, to his
early training, his manner was dictatorial. He had strong views
on men and things which he fully expressed. He used to hesitate
or rather stutter bu^ could not bear to be helped out of his difii-
culty. On one occasion he was saying — " It is not worth a si-si-
si — ." " Sixpence," suggested some one. " No, sir," replied O'Brien,
" not worth a shilling." If there was a blemish in his character
it was of the most superficial nature, while his sterling qualities
were such that no one ever knew him without loving him.

Dr. Lucius O'Brien, the Colonel's brother, who was surgeon to
the troops engaged in the suppression of the rebellion in Jamaica,
in 1831, soon after left the army, and hearing glowing accounts
of Canada from the Colonel, came here and settled fourteen miles

300

THE IRISKtMAN IN CANADA.

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north of Toronto, at Thomhill, where he had for some years a large
practice.

At that time, the indulgence in whiskey-drinking was carried
to unhappy lengths among the rural population. Dr. O'Brien,
though hitherto a wine drinker, determined to become a teetotaler.
He established a temperance .society of which he was President,
until he removed to Toronto in 1838. In 1837-8, he was appointed
chief military sur<:^eon at Toronto, where, when the troops were
disbanded, he settled down to practice. He held several impor-
tant public positions in connection with his profession. A re-
ligious man, he took a deep interest in the Bible Society, of which
he was Vice-Presi'^ent for many years before he died. In 1845,
he was appointed to the chair of Medical Jurisprudence at King's
College, and lectured until 18.53, when the school was done away
with. A strong Conservative, he became editor of the Toronto
Patriot, which he continued to edit for eight years. If he was
lesponsible for all the articles in that paper during Lord Elgin's
time, his editorial labours are not so creditable as his medical.
Having lost money through injudicious speculations, he accepted
the office of Secretary to the Hon. Wm. Cayley. He subscfjuently
received an appointment in the Finance Department. He died
at Ottawa, in 1870, at the advanced age of seventy-five.

We now return for a moment to the County of Simcoe. In
1822, the McConkey family eniigrated to Canada from Tjrone,
where Thomas David McConkey was bom in 1815. The family
first settled in the Niagara district, but in 1825 removed to the
County of Simcoe. Thomas was educated at a common school,
and when he came to man's estate he opened a geneial store in
Ban'ie, immediately after the new district was set apart and pro-
claimed. Success beyond his expectation followed, and a few
years ago he retired from business.

Like most of his countrymen, he had a capacity for public em-
ployment, and was elected a member of the first Town Council of
Barrie, where he rendered the county great service. He held the
position of Reeve of the town for nine yeartf In 1860, he was
elected Warden of the Cc mty of Simcoe, an office he held for two
Vv^ars.

A strong reformer, he in 1861 unsuccessfully contested North

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THE TOWN-LINE BLAZERS.

301

Simcoe with Mr. Angus MorriHon. Ho again opposed Morrison in
1803, when he was elected a member of the old Canadian parlia-
ment. He supported Confederation, and at the general election of
1867, he was elected unanimously for the first House of Counnons
of the Dominion of Canada. He declined a nomination in 1872.
Ill ^ 875, he was nominated to contest West Simcoe, but was de-
feated. For nearly twenty years up to his appointment in 1875
to the Shrievalty of the county, he was a justice of the peace. He
is a good speaker and a man of convictions and integrity.

The greater part of a township near Streetsville, County of
Peel, is settled by emigrants from "gallant Tipperary." Th y used
to be Ctilled some years age the " Town-line blazers." The names
all smack of Ireland— the Cooks', the Cantlans', the Millers,' the
Coles,' the Waits,' the Orrs.' They were accustomed to come down
to town with their guns, a practice which I hope they have dis-
continued. " One old boy," writ'^s a correspondt^nt, " would come
down, and when he took a glass too much he would say : 'Do yoii

think you could box a Cole or a Cantlan? No! nor by could

you box old Rowley himself.'"

John Hammond and his wife came out early to Canada. He
died at Lachine, of cholera, and his wife with her son William
Hammoi d (now of Yonge Street), went on as far as Brampton.
All the relatives of this lady have done well. A brother of Mr.
Hammond farms two hundred acres of land at Owen Sound,
and is doing " first-rate," whilst an uncle farms 300 acres at Bramp-
ton, and is very prosperous. In the neighbourhood of Brampton,
the Whitehead «/.he Arnots, the Willis's, and a score of other fami-
lies attest at once the energy of Irishmen, and the scope of Canada
for industry.

Already it has been shown that Ireland has sent to Canada re-
markable men, and furnished interesting incidents for the histor-
ian of emigration. But the story is not half told, as will be seen
by the following chapter.

302

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

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CHAFTEP VIII.

Some of the most striking facts connected with the early Irish
emigration will now be laid before the reader.

In 1H32 the Messrs. Edward and Dominick Blake, with some
connections and friends, left Ireland for Canada to seek a kinder
fortune beneath colder skies. Nothing was to be despaired of
with such leaders. It was hard to leave a country where the
family had made for itself a name and place. But necessity was
severe as the father of Teucer, and there was nothing for it but to
bedew the shamrock with wine and on the morrow sail the
boundless main.

The Blakes of Castlegrove, County of Galway, held a good place
p.mong the country gentry. Dominick Edward Blake, of Castle-
grove, married first the Honourable Miss Netterville, a daughter
of Lord Netterville, of Drogheda, by whom he had three sons,
Edward, Andrew, and John Netterville. He afterwards maiTied
a daughter of Sir Joseph Hoai-e, Baronet, of Annabella, in the
County of Cork, by whom he had four sons, one of whom was
Dominick Edward Blake, who chose the Church as his profes-
sion. He married Anne Margaret flume, eldest daughter of Wil-
liam Hume, of Humewood, County Wicklow. His wife survived
him as did his three daughters, and the two sons Dominick Ed-
ward and William Hume, both of whom were educated at Trinity
College^ Dublin. Dominick Edward, the eldest, was ordained as
a clergyman of the Church of England, while his brother studied
surgery under Surgeon-General Sir Philip Crampton.

The Rev. D. E. Blake soon married, the lady being a Miss Jones,
the eldest daughter of a man who was connected in a passing way
with Canada, and whose conversation respecting the country had
no small influence on the mind of his son-in-law. Major Jones
was a retired oflUcer who had held commissions in the 37th, 49th,
and 60th regiments. He had served throughout the Peninsular
War and in Canada during the war of 1812. He took part in the
battles of Lundy^s Lane and Queenston Heights.

THE BLAKES START FOR CAN VDA.

303

William Ilume Blako married Mias Catharine Hume, the daugh-
ter of a younger brother of William Hume, of Humewood. In
1832, lie and his brother determined to emigrate to Canada. In
the July of that year they sailed for this country, accompanied
by their mother and sisters ; by the late Archdeacon Brough, who
had married Miss Wilhelmina Blake ; by the late Mr. Justice
Connor ; by Dr. Robinson and his sons, Arthur Robinson, now of
Orillio, and (Charles Robinson, the present Judge of the County of
Lambton ; by the Rev. Benjamin Cronyn, late Bishop of Huron,
and tlie Rev. Mr. Palmer, now the Archdeacon of Huron. TI.ey
chartered a vessel the " Ann of Halifax/' and with high hopes
and brave hearts stood out to sea.

When only three days out one of the crew was seized with
cholera and liefore morning his body was thrown overboard.
Owing to the prophylactic measures of Dr. Robinson the plague was
stayed. Yet for some time there was an inclination in the breasts
of the emigrants to put the ship's head about and return to Ireland.
After six weeks they arrived in the St. Lawrence and were .sub-
jected to a long quar^^ ntine at Grosse Isle. September had arrived
before they were allowed to proceed. The cholera was now epi-
demic.

They remained about six months in Little York, and then
separated, Mr. Brough, Mr. SkefRngton Connor, and Doctor Robin-
son going northwards, to the Township of Oro, on Lake Simcoe,
j,nd the remainder going west to the Township of Adelaide, of
which i]ie Reverend D. E. Blake had been appointed rector by Sir
John Colbome, then Governor of the Province.

Mr. W. H. Blake purchased a farm at Bear Creek, about seven
miles from Adelaide, near where the Town of Strathroy now
stands. He resided there about two years, after which he returned
to Toronto, and commenced to study law. The Reverend Mr.
Blake, with whom his motht^r resided, remained for about twelve
years in Adelaide, during whiah time he built the three churches
in which he held service. Having been appointed rector of Thorn-
hill in the year 1844, he removed thither, and for thirteen years
continued his ministrations in each of his three churches every
Sunda3^ Travelling twenty-four miles in all weathers, and con-
ducting three services, proved, however, in time, too much for

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304

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

him, and he had reluctantly to abandon the most distant one to
the care of others. Notwithstanding his failing health he con-
tinued his ministrations in the remaining two churches up to the
time of his death, which took place in June, 1859, at Trinity
College, Toronto, upon the evening of the annual convocation.
His widow and two sons, Dominick Edward and John Netterville,
and two daughters survived him. His mother lived until towards
the close of 1867, when she died at the age of ninety-three, in
London, Ontario, at the residence of her youngest daughter, the
widow of the Reverend Richard Flood, late of Delaware. A
woman of remarkable strength of mind and firmness of character,
up to the time of her death she remained in full possession of all
her mental faculties.

The history of the early settlement of the district west of
London differs little from that of the newer districts of the pre-
sent day. Roads tL:;re were none, except one or two leadirg
colonization lines cut out through the wilderness. The present site
of London was then known as the Forks of the Thames, and the
baggage and household belongings of the Blakes had to be dragged
by oxen, through quagmires and over streams, from Port Stanley
to Adelaide.

For some time the nearest post office to where the Reverend Mr.
Blake resided, was fifteen miles distant, \7hat is now the Egre
mont Gravel Road, passing through a rich farming district, havisig
on either side comfortable residences and farm "steadings," war, then
a mere trail, unfit for travel except with oxen and waggons. On
either hand lay a dense wilderness, through which the wolves
howled as they chased the deer during the long winter nights. At
first no medical man could be found nearer than London; and tho
emigrants with whom the township was being settled, consisting
chiefly of old soldiers (many of them with no more worldly goods
than they btood up in), had to be housed and fed at the expense
of the Government. Typhus fever soon broke out amongst them,
and many d'^^d for want of proper treatment. The Revere?ad Mr.
Blake fortunately had some knowledge of medicine, and betv/een
visiting l:he jick and attending to his parochial dutiee, the firfitfev
years of ais life as a colonist passed rapidly.

One of the, LI settlers, the late Colonel Johnston, of Strathroy,

LOST IN THE WOODS.

805

used to relate the following anecdote of him : — On the occasion of
a visit of inspection which Sir John Colborne paid to the dis-
trict, Mr. Blake invited several retired officers and gentlemen in
the township to meet the Governor, and accompany him on a
tour amongst the settlers. Passing along a trail through the
woods, the party came upon a large oak tree which had fallen
across the path, fully six feet high. Each one took a look at it,
but did not care to try such a leap. Mr. Blake, however, in spite
of the remonstrances of the remainder of the party, put his horse
to a gallop and cleared the obstruction without any more difficulty
than if it had been a hedge, and the occasion a hunt with the
Castlegrove pack. The remainder of the party, including the
Governor, Arere content to plunge through mire and brushwood
around the tree, until they reached the path qgain.

On another occasion, of a wintry afternoon, late in November,
Mr. Blake rode on horseback some miles to perform service at one
of his churches. It was nearly dark by the time service was over,
and the homeward road a mere cow path through the woods.
Just as he had mounted, a messenger arrived to say that a settler
living a short distance was dangerously ill, and wished to see him.
Proceeding onwards, he remained with the dying man until late
in the night, and then started for home. Before long, however, a
snow-storm set in. He missed his way. He wandered through
the woods completely lost. The cold became more intense as the
night wore on. Packs of wolves frequently passed close to him
in chase of deer, and at such times his horse showed tremulous
symptoms of distress and panic. It was difficult to restrain him
from dashing off amongst the trees. As it was, Mr. Blake lost his
hat. Several times he had like to be torn off his horse by pro-
jectirg limbs. When daylight came, the animal left to himself,
found his way home. Mr. Blake became dangerously ill, and
never quite recovered from the effects of his exposure. Both the
Blakes had been in Ireland, like the rest of their family, Conser-
vatives. In Canada the Revd. Dominick Blake remained Conser-
vative, but never took any part in political contests, as he co.i-
sidered doing so not proper for a clergyman. After his appoint-
ment to the Rectory of Thornhill, near Toronto, he took an active

interest in the Church Society of the Diccese, and fjr many years
20

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306

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

strove earnestly to establish harmonious action between clergy
and laity in church matters. At the same time he exerted him-
self to improve the condition of those of the clergy who were
entirely dependent upon voluntary contributions for their support,
while he sought to extend the influence of religion and the.
Church into the newer districts. He was a good writer, and
published some able essays on the canons and other matters rela-
tive to church government. His ability, his sound judgment, and
the well-known moderation of his views, secured for him the res-
pect and confidence of Bishop Strachan, as well as o* the clergy
and laity generally. His death, at a comparatively early age, was
a serious loss to the church of which he had been so able and
devoted a servant.

William Hume Blake, the late Chancellor, will appear frequently
in the couise of this history. His sons, the Hon. Edward Blake,
and the Hon. Vice-Chancellor Blake, will also be dealt with else-
where. The sons of the Rev. Dominick Blake are not unworthy
of the gifted family to which they belong.

Dominick Edward Blake has been compelled to occupy himself
altogeth'.r with agricultural pursuits, owing to the state of his
health. At the age of thirteen, in consequence of the death of his
father, Mr. J. N . Blake was thrown upon his own resources, and
he has, wholly unaided, made his way. In 1862, he commenced
studying law and in 1867, at the age of 21, was called to the bar.
A severe attack of illness prevented him for some time applying
himsely closely to practice. In 1873, he projected the Lake Sim-
coe Junction Railway (now approaching completion), and be-
came Managing Director and afterwards President, which position
he still occupies.

The Rev. Mr. Flood came out to Canada in 1833. He was one
of the missionaries of the time, and his career was similar to that
of his brother-in-law, Dominick Blake. He settled down near
the Village of Delaware, Township of Caradoc. Not only did he
have services at his little church in Delaware, he had congrega-
gations at the neighbouring Indian villages.

A melancholy occurrence, which nearly proved fatal to Mr.
Flood, took place at Delaware, on the second Sunday in April,
1843. A temporary scow was constructed for the purpose of

A FATAL SHIPWRECK.

307

;lergy
him-

crossing the river, now overriding its banks. Flood and thir-
teen others returning home from church embarked on the scow.
Scarcely had they reached mid -current, when the scow was
carried violently down stream. The situation was perilous.
The swollen waves laden with drift boiled around the awk-
ward craft and roared in angry eddies. There was nothing for
it but to trust in Providence ; they were at the mercy of the
merciless river. Down they went, living waifs of the headlong
heedless waters. As they turned their helpless glances each on
each, vague bewilderment gave place to imminent peril and defi-
nite alarm. A willow leaned across, and dipped its branches into
the turbid river. Nothing could be done. In a moment the scow
dashed against the procumbent tree. A shock ; the tree swayed ;
the rifted bark shcved the white ; the scow was swamped. The
whole party managed to lay hold of the tree, which the weight
of fourteen persons brought on a level with the surface of the
water.

Luckily, a man on the shore saw their distress. Taking with
him a rope, he put off in a skiff. The rope was attached to the
tree ; two of the shipwrecked got into the boat ; the other end
of the rope was attached to a larger tree. There was a dan-
ger of the roots of the low-lying tree giving way ; the rope
was to enable some of those who were clinging to it to
lighten the burden. Those who had recourse to the rope, inched
themselves on until they reached the large tree into which
they climbed. Meanwhile the gallant little skiff upset. All hope
was now abandoned by some. But after nearly an hour had elapsed,
another skiff, a miserable little thing, long condemned, was patched
up, and a young man named F. Tiffany, of Delaware, put boldly
off to the rescue of the sufferers. By this time three persons were
drowned. Mr. Flood and two others, the one a mechanic in
the neighbourhood, the other. Captain Somers, formerly of the
British army, alone remained on the tree first seized. Mrs. Flood
was throughout peifectly calm and self-possessed, as was her hus-
band, and directed Mr. Tiffany's efforts in the first place to Captain
Somers, who was ahnost in a state of exhaustion. Several efforts
were made to g^t ^\im into the boat, but in vain. At length it
was discovered that one of the drowned men had laid hold on one

S08

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

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of his legs, and held it in the grasp of death, and hy a stronger
cord than Mezentius ever knew, iiie dead and the living were
bound together. Each together had taken the sacrament of Christ
a little more than an hour before ; but in the last desperate effort
for life, no thought of charity, no ovei-whelming motive of self-
sacrifice had play. Around was the whitening waters, in his ear
their dreadful hum. Quickened fancy formed and framed pictures
of the past ; the happy fields of busy men ; the sun climbing up the
sky ; the myriad mirroring dew-drops, spangling expanding
meads, and making glitter on low-lying leas ; the sunsets — those
grand rose windows of the cathedral of heaven ; the sweet domes-
ticities of life, the friendship of man, the love of lovely woman ; all
passed in a moment ; his heart dilated with the passion to live ;
he clutched his companion; a struggle and his spirit is mingling
with the waters; and the dead hand keeping the last command of
the will, carries within the cold ghastly knuckles poor Somers'
doom.

Every effort was made to set the fated captain free. But while
those fruitless attempts at .deliverance were going forward, Cap-
tain Somers' gi'asp of the tree relaxed ; he cast around a glance
of fearful meaning, and sank lifeless in the waters, leaving be-
hind him a wife and eleven children. Tiffany was now at liberty
to direct his attention to Mr. Flood, whom he succeeded in getting
ashore. The names of those who perished were Captain Somers,
James Rawlins, George Robinson, and William Edmonds. Mr.
Flood had held Edmonds above the water until he was a corpse
and was himself well nigh exhausted. Poor fellow, when he
was nearly powerless, asked Mr. Flood if there was any sign of
the raft ? The reply was : " Dear friend, Christ is the only raft
of which I can now assure you."

A son of Mr. Flood, Mr. Edward Flood, is settled at Lindsay,
where he ably edits the Victoria Warder, a paper of which he is
the proprietor.

There were emigrants, a contrast in every way to the Blakes,
who illustrate not less strikingly the subject and object of this
book. At the very time the Blakes were leaving Ireland in their
chartered vessel, another emigrant ship was sailing out of Dublin
Bay, from one of whose passengers I have received a letter, in

^11

WHAT CANADA HAS DONE.

309

)nger
were
ihrist
iffort
self-

which he says that Canada has done more for Irish, English and
Scotch, than they have done for Canada, which is quite true.
Canada is the bountiful mother which only needs a little coax-
ing to lay bare all the wealth of her life. The writer of the let-
ter left Dublin with his father. When the vessel was out three
weeks the cholera attacked the passengers. In eight days they
lost forty-five persons. Throwing bodies overVoard became mo-
notonous. The writer's father and mother, a sister and child of
tender years, all died. When he arrived at Montreal, about
seventy were dying daily. He got to Middlesex. Up to this
time he and his brother never owned a new pair of shoes or boots.
Each had only one clean shirt for Sunday, and very little of
any other clothes for Sunday or Monday. They used to be sent
with a small dish of dirty grain to feed about eight or ter.» hogs.
It was hardly safe for a boy to go near so many starving hogs ;
aboat half of which would die of starvation ere spring. " One
of these same boys is now worth $20,000, not by speculation,
but by hard work on a farm, and he is respected everywhere. I
remember," continues my correspondent, " when a brother of mine
would not be let eat only out of the pot, when the family which
he lived with had had their share taken out of it. He was
knocked about from Tom to Dick and Harry, and had scarcely
a home. Now some people say he is worth $30,000."

About the same time there came to Middlesex a young man
with large feet, and when he saw the " minister " coming his way
he stood in a great bunch of weeds to hide his bare feet till the
" preacher " had passed. That man is now well to do in a flourish-
ing county of Ontario, and " it is likely that if tho Prince of
Wales came to Canada, his daughter would be invited to the
Prince's ball. Does a man," asks my correspondent, in bad Eng-
lish and bad spelling, but with much strength of observation,
" think that the Irish are a more superior rac" than English or
Scotch ? Not so. The Irish need mixing with the canny
Scotch."

The mixture is a good one. But even without the mixture
Irishmen can show themselves canny, and have shown themselves
so. The great thing is to imist on education, and wide and

310

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

ill

varied reading. Nothing makes men differ so much, even in
bodily appearance, as mental development.

" Forty years ago," the same gentleman writes, " I happened to
pass by a poor nan's house. I saw that he had, by some means,
bought a yoke of steer, and they having some vermin on them,
the man shook some wood ashes on their backs. One lay dead,
*'he other was dying, leaving the man as poor ^s Job's turkey.
Some years afterwards I passed that way. There was a house fit
for the Governor, made from hard industry on the same farm."

The man who has thus supplied my palette with colours is him-
self worth $20,000.

There are several counties which have been wholly, or almost
wholly cleared by Irishmen. Foremost among these stands the
County of Caileton, which comprises the Townships of Nepean,
North Gower, Marlborough, Goulburn, March, Huntley, Torbolton.
Fitzroy, the Village of Richmond and the City of Ottawa.
Throughout the county the Irish element predominates, save in
the Townships of Fitzroy and Torbolton, which are chiefly settled
by that other branch of the Celtic race whose hardihood has been
nourished in the land of heather aiid shaggy wood, amid the stern
sublimities of mountains and mountain streams. In the northern
part of March, too, there are a great many of the Imperial English
blood. Part of the Township of Goulburn, including the Village
of Richmond, was settled by the Duke of Richmond, about 1815,
with officers of the 99th. Among these military settlers were
Irishmen such as Captain Burke ; Lieutenant Maxwell, to whom
we shall have again to refer ; Captain Lett ; Rev. Dr. Short, mili-
tary chaplain ; Captain Lyon, laeutenant Ormsby, and Lieutenant
Bradley. Into this settlement some naval officers also found their
way. The northern part of the Township of March was settled
by Captain Monk, an Englishman, and Colonel Lloyd, an Irish-
man. With such exceptions, the whole of the raetropolitan
county of the Dominion was settled by the Irish emigi'ant, with
no assistance from anybody : his capital, his friends, his patrons,
were his strong right arm, bis resolute will and the axe upon his
shoulder. Some particulars relating to the two classes of pioneers
will not be uninteresting.

George ^ Burke, of the 99th Regiment, and Colonel of the

SOLDIER. JOURNALIST. LUMBERER.

311

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Carleton Militia, was a native of Tipperary. He served in the
Peninaula, and afterwards in Canada, during the war of 181?.
During his campaigns here he contracted that fondness for Canada
which has made of many who intended no more than a flying visit
permanent settlers. When he retired from the service he took
up his residence at Richmond. He was an Irish gentleman of the
old school, a Conservative and a staunch Loyalist. He was the
first Registrar of the County of Carleton, a position which he re-
tained until his death.

His son, James Henry Burke, early gave evidence of literary
and even poetical, talents. Feeling himself walled in from con-
genial opportunity in the wild region round Richmond — Ottawa
being then the small landing-place, Bytown — he made a voyage to
the Arctic Region, and saw something of the great world outside.
In 1854, he, having gained much experience and enlarged his
views, settled at Ottawa, and started the Ottawa Tribune, in the
Irish Roman Catholic interest. This paper he conducted in a very
able manner until his death. On the decease of John Egan, in

1857, he ran for Pontiac, but was defeated by Mr. Heath. With
the exception of Mr. Egan, he did more for the Ottawa district
than any man of his day. The opening up of the Ottawa Valley
was a subject on which he held enlightened views, and one on
which he spoke and wrote well. He died on the 8th of January,

1858, at the early age of thirty-seven, having given promise of
great things, both in statesmanship and literature.

John Egan was a native of Aughrim. He emigrated in 1832.
He died at the early age of forty-seven. In the fifteen years he
was spared to his adopted country he did as much as any man ever
achieved in so brief a period. Few men were better acquainted
with the trade of the Ottawa. The resources of the countrv and
its requirements were thoroughly mastered by him. He worked
his way from nothing to the head of the largest business on the
river. It was he first gave system to its lumber trade, a trade
which has yielded a return equal to one-fourth of the entire
revenue of Canada. Before his time lumbering on the Ottawa
was a wild venture. The annual b- ^iness of his house ran up a
few years before his death to from $800,000 to $1,000,000. It gave
employment directly to over 2,000 men, It required 1,600 horses

312

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

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and oxen. His living machinery consumed annually 90,000 bushek
of oats, 12,000 barrels of pork, 15,000 barrels of flour. The
ramifications of the house occupied a portion of nearly every
stream on the Ottawa's course.

A handsome man, whose life was divided between business and
generous deeds, he was very popular. He represented the County
of Ottawa until it was divided, whon he was returned by acclama-
tion for Pontiac. His name has become part of the topographical
nomenclature of the Ottawa, he having, with his clerk, the late Mr.
Michael Joseph Hickey, founded and named Eganville.

Mr. Hickey was born at Nenagh, County Tipperary, in 1825.
He was the oldest son of Mr. Patrick Hickey of the same place.
He came to Canada while quite a young man and entered as clerk
the employment of Mr. Egan, who soon selected him to take
charge of his important business on the River Bonnechere, where a
large number of emigrants from Donegal were settled. Hickey
induced Egan to build gristand saw mills, and the advance of civili-
zation was soon attested by the erection of a tavern. The nucleus
of a village was now formed. Hickey suggested the name of Egan-
ville to the Post-office authorities. Eganville is now a considera-
ble place with chui*ches, mills, numerous stores. The population
is about six hundred.

Here Hickey commenced business under the name of Hickey
Brothers. But owing to the depression in the lumber trade he re-
tired leaving the business to his brothers, John and Thomas, men of
ability and genial popular manners. Michael Joseph Hickey had
literary ability, and edited for a considerable time with great
success the Ottawa Tribune. It was in connection with Hickey
that McGee started the J^ew Era. Differing on the seat of gov-
ernment question — Hickey being stoutly in favour of Ottawa —
they severed business connection but maintained their friendship.
Hickey then went to the bar and practised his profession in
Ottawa. Business took him to Toronto in the November of 1864.
As he was walking along the Esplanade he fell into the Bay and
was drowned. He was a constant contributor to Harper's Maga-^
zine and a paper contributed to that periodical, entitled "The Capi-
tal of Canada," deservedly attracted a great deal of attention.

When speaking of those connected with lumbering, Robert and

THE FOUNDER OF PEMBROKE.

313

James Cobum, of Pembroke, should not be forgotten. When
growing youths, in 1830, they with their mother, a widow, emi-
grated to Canada. They first resided in Nepean. Ready employ-
ment and good pay in the lumber shanties early took them up the
Ottawa. They soon began to do business for themselves and suc-
ceeded. They live on their own estates within a few miles of the
fast-growin-g and beautiful Town of Pembroke, and are now as
always fast friends of Methodism.

The founder of Pembroke came from Tipperary, Daniel O'Meara
was born in 1812. His family is a respectable one, and well
known in that part of Ireland. Educated at his native town,
and in Dublin, on the death of his father in 1834, he came to
Canada, After a brief sojourn in Quebec, he joined a party bound
for the Upper Ottawa. Finally he settled where now stands the
Town of Pembroke, which, in conjunction with Alexander Moflat,
he founded in 1835. He carried on business for some time as a
general merchant. In the latter years of his life he engaged in
lumbering. He used to go every year to Quebec, and bring emi-
grant^s thence at his own expense. Not a few of the prominent
men or. the Ottawa valley acknowledge that they owe the foun-
dation of their prosperity to O'Meara. Shortly before his death
he greatly extended his business by the establishment of numerous
branches. He started two of his brothers, Michael and William,
in business as merchants and lumbermen, both well known and
greatly respected, in the County of Renfrew. He died in 1859,
at the early age of 47, leaving three sons and two daughters, who
survive. Mr. O'Meara was a Roman Catholic. He had built a
church, and on his death-bed gave £500 towards the erection of a
new one. He was a Conservative in politics. The reform journal of
Pembroke — the Observer — in its issue of the 2?nd April, 1859, in
the course of an eloquent article, mourns the loss to Pembroke of
its leading business man, and dwells in terms of eulogy on the
energy, the adherence to principle, the open-handed generosity of
O'Meara.

Another man whose name is of note in connexion with lumber-
ing, was John Brady, who was born in Cavan, in 1797. He came
to this country in 1819, having suffered great hardships during
a voyage of eighteen weeks across the Atlantic. He first settled

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THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

in the County of Glengarry, where he was married to Rachel
McDonald, at St. RapLael's Chui-ch, by Bishop McDonell. He
subsequently removed from thence to the Township of Alfred, in
the County of Prescott, near the Ottawa river, the settlement
being known to this day by the name of the Brady Settlement.
He threw himself with energy into farming and lumbering. He
was elected one of the old District Councillors. He was also
Justice of the Peace and Coroner for the county. These offices
he filled until the year 1847, when he removed to the County
of Oxford, where he was soon elected to the County Council,
which office he filled until his death, in 1853. In politics he was
a Reformer, and took a very active part in affairs. He was
a Roman Catholic. His wife is still living with his third son, James,
in the Town of Ingersoll. The family consisted of five sons and
three daught'drs, all of whom are living, except one daughter. John
Brady had a brother named Thomas Brady, who settled in the
same neighbourhood, and who died recently at the age of 95 years.
John Brady's son, James Brady, who is a well-known man in Inger-
soll, was born at Prescott, in 1839.

It would require many volumes to recount the lives and deeds of
all those Irishmen who have made the County of Carleton what
it is. A rapid survey must content us here.

John Boucher came to Canada in 1819, having been born in
1789. He worked for a year on the canal in the employ of Colonel
By. With what he saved in this year he went into March township
and began to clear with his own hands a dense bush. His
daughter, Mrs. Riddel 1, was the first child bom in the Township
of March. Boucher was married three times and had in all twenty-
five children, eleven boys and fourteen girls. At his death, this
man — who went into the Township of March with his axe on his
shoulder — left each of his sons a farm and each of his daughters a
portion of money. He worked at farming all his life, excepting
about twelve years which he devoted to the business of hotel-
keeping. He belonged to the Church of England, and was a strong
Conservative.

If all his children have proved as prolific as Mrs. Riddell, his
great-grandchildven alone now number 875. His descendants
at this moment are very numerous.

A PIONEER BREWER.

316

Not 80 successful was Ralph feinith, who was born in Queen's
County in 1777, and emigrated in 1819. He settled in the wilder-
ness near where the City of Ottawa stands to-day. The only farm
in the whole county in 1819 was one occupied by Philemon
Wright, the pioneer of the North Shore of the Ottawa River.
Smith built the first house of any kind on the South Shore, from
the furthest settlement to Point Fortune. The second was a hut
raised by the late Nicholas Sparks on his purchase of " Lot C,"
Concession C, now the most populous portion of the City of
Ottawa.

Mr. Smith went into business as a brewer or distiller. He was
the pioneer of this trade in Central Canada. Possessed of ample
means when he arrived in Canada, and a complete master of a
lucrative if not a very useful business, he ought to have realized
wealth. But confidence in others led to pecuniary losses which
swamped the greatest portion of his capital. But — happy consti-
tution! — his pecuniary losses never affected either his good humour
or his character, nor abated in the least from the esteem in which
he was held. He die t an advanced age, being over four score
years. He was a Conservative and a member of the Church of
England.

Mr. John Nesbitt, a native of County Cavan, was bom in 1803,
and emigrated in 1823. He settled in the Township of March. He
ultimately purchased large farms in the Township of Nepean,
where he has since resided. He has done much to settle and im-
prove the County of Carleton. Genial and hospitable, his friends
throughout the county are as numerous as his acquaintances.
Always an active member of the Church of England, he liberally
assisted the completion of the parish church and parsonage in
South March. He has always been an energetic Conservative.
He has been for over thirty years in the commission of the peace.
He has reared a large family, all settled in Carleton, and all in
comfortable circumstances. Owing to a slightly aristocratic man-
ner, as well as to his influence in the township, his neighbours
style him " Lord John," by which title he is known throughout
the County of Carleton.

Thomas Sproule, who died in 1849, is still remembered in
Ottawa. He was born at Athlone, County Westmeath, in 1772.

_' «

310

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

1 K >a

■
i

He entered the Royal Navy as iiiidshipinan at the age of seven-
teen and afterwards the Ea.st India Company's service. He was
present at the storming of Stsringapatam. After returning to
Ireland he served in the yeonunry, and emigrated in 1820. He at
once ]>roceeded to the military rer^erve of Richmond, purchased
land and settled there, a' the Chaudi^re on the Ottawa, where the
batteaux from Montreal landed their freight. Sproule and his
party arrived in the spring of 1820, and whilst admiring the wild
grandeur of the scenery from the bluff on which is now erected
the Parliament Buildings, was offered the whole of the present
Ordnance Property then belonging to a private individual and
consisting of more than half the present City of Ottawa, inchiding
the hill on which the public buildings are erected, for the sura of
£7^>. But he preferred proceeding to the settlement of Richmond,
He was appointed first coroner of the Bathurst District, which
was afterwards formed into the Counties of Carleton, Lanark and
Renfrew, and made a captain in the Carleton Militia. He was
one of the first in organizing a Church of England parish at Rich-
mond. He was a Tory of a now extinct school ; with a strong
spice of the old sailor in him.

The founders of a settlement ir Lanark came from the south of
Ireland. If ever any author sb ike it into his head to write

" Remarkable Men of Can^ ' a companion volume to the

" Celebrities of Canada," .^even Irishmen must be given a

prominent, if not a forerao... place in the volume. John Quinn,
Patrick Quinn, Terence Doyle, James Power, John Cullen,
William Scanlen, and James Carbe^'ry — six from the County of
Waterford and one from the County of Limerick, all young
energetic men, decided to emigrate to this country in the year
1820. Previously to doing so, they made a compact that they
would stick together through every trial and vicissitude, in evil
report and good report, in sickness and in health. Where all could
not get work none would remain. They were determined to
fight the battle of life together, and fought their way through all
sort^ c' difficulties till they got to Perth, then a military station
'..lull . Txly a few houses. They immediately got the job of clear-
ing Ujj ten acres of land, fit for cropping with grain the following
fall. This job was given them by Col. Powell, father to the present

Ju.

THE SEVEN IRISHMEN SETTLEMENT.

317

Sheriff of Carloton, and tniu to fchuir agreement, they wouhl not
separate, V)Ut built a log slianty on tlieir lot and all lived together.
Col. Powell, learning their .secret, ])rocured for them a lot of land,
200 acres for each, all in one block. They built a house upon one
of the lots and lived together. Each was cook in rotation. They
took their turns at carrying provisions from Perth, a distance of
foui*teen miles — two of them going to Perth for a bairel of flour
and relieving each other on the road, which was only a blaze
through the bush. One of them used, when old, to tell a story of
liow he went to Perth for seed corn, but unfortunately on his way
back he lost the blaze. Patting dovvn his corn, he went to seek
his lost blaze. He found the Vjlaze but never found his corn.
Old government rum had perhaps something to do with this.
They thus worked together until they had secured enough for
each one to settle on his separate lot, and having done so, they
toiled indefatigably, but always together, and always succes.sfully,
until finally the settlement became known as that of the Seven
Irishmen. Their ho.spitality became proverbial. Every pei-son
had a hearty welcome ; new settlers being objects of special
attention. They gave them information; showed them the best
lands ; how, where, and v^hen to plant the different seeds. Their
descendants have spread out and flourish. The settlement has
become a large and important one in the County of Lanark. All
the original seven settlers are dead. The last, John Quinn, died
in the year 1869, after having passed the allotted span. They
were all Roman Catholics.

Daniel O'Connor, a man of considerable capacity, early attracted
the attention of Colonc;! By. A. native of the City of Waterford,
he was bom in 179G. He was twice in America before his settle-
ment in Canada ; once as a volunteer in an adventurous expedi
tion to South America.. He came to Canada in 1826, and was
about to return to Ireland in 1827, when he met Colonel By at
Kingston, who strongly advised him to settle in Bytoww. He
accordingly went to Old By town, where he immediately opened
business as a mercha it, and was very successful. Colonel By had
commenced operations on the Rideau Canal, and By town wa.-^
very rough place. This, was the time of the "shiners," the " By-
town shiners," who were notorious, not only in Canada, but in the

318

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA,

i I

United States. They \\'ere the old type of the raftsmen on the
Ottawa. Mr. O'Connor, on his amval, was appointed Justice of
the Peace, and he often found it a hard job to fuhu his special
position, and conserve tlu peace. But he -exercised a great deal of
influence over his rough charge, and waL. .espected by the wildest
man on the river.

Shortly afterward J, h(; was offered by the Government his
choice of Sheriff or Treasurer of the District of Dalhousie. Being
in business, he chose the latter office, the duties of which he dis-
charged until his death. The District of Dalhousie was subsequently
constituted the County of Carleton. The first election after the
triumph of responsible government, he ran against Hon. Thom: 3
McKay, for the District of Dalhousie, and although he polled a large
vote, was beaten by a majority of three. The election lasted a
wef.k. His daughter, Mrs. Fricl, widow of the late Mr. H. I. Friel,
who was Mayor of the ciiy, was the first child born in By town.
He died in 1858, aged 62, on the anniversary of the day he landed
in Bytown. He was a (conservative and a Roman Co.tholic.

Irishmen, the first ia so many things in Carleton and its
incipient capital Bytown, can also claim to have been the first
there in the noble band of pioneer school-teachers.

Hugh O'Hagan, born in Deny, October 1788, came to Canada.
1799. He remained soi ae time at Montreal, and then removed to
St. Maiy's, where, in 1824, he was appointed a Justice of the
Peace. Owing to local difficulties, ^nd in order to avoid violence
he sacrificed his property, and removed to old Bytown, in 1837,
where he for many ycirs taught school. He was one of the first
school-teachers in By« )wn. Many of the old inhabitants were
indebted to him for v hat they know. He was Captain of the
Carleton Militia, was i Roman Catholic, and a strong Conserva-
tive. He used to prou* ly call himself " a I'ory of the Tories." He
was a gentlemanly m 3 n, and very hospitable. He died in the
fall of 1865,and,altho i^h a Freemason of the highest orders, was
buried in the family ^ ault under the Roman Catholic Church,
Gatineau Point.

His son, Frank O'Hagan was born in 1833 at Bytown. He was
intended and studied for the Church, but finding his tastes were
in another direction, he «Tfave up the idea and entered into litorary

A PIONEER STOCK-RAISER,

319'

pursuits, for which he w&s eminently fitted^ He was for several
years a newspaper editor in New York and the Western States.
H.4 edit( 1 a paper in Chicago. He was a great lover of the-
atricals, and himself an actor of considerable talent. He was also a
poet, and published several poems. One particularly called "To
my Mother," written when quite young, is very touching. He
returned to Ottawa several years before his death, and wrote for the
Ottawa Times and Citizen. He gradually sank under the great
destroyer, consumption. He died in 1872 in his 39th year, and
was laid beside his father. He left a wife and two children. Had
he lived more by rule he might l/C alive to-day.

I have mentioned above Lieutejiaut Joseph Maxwell as one of
the foundation stones of Richmond. He deserves more* than a
passing word, not merely as a public spirited man whose sword
and muscle were at the service of his adopted country, but as one
whose clear glance even at that early day anticipated one of the
most useful enterprises of our own time, happily richer in oppor-
tunity. To-day, Bow Park is one of the sights which an intelli-
gent visitor to Canada must see, and in other parts of Canada Irish
breeders are doing a good work. The Honourable George Brown
has shown in the most practical way his conviction that a pro-
gressive coil ntry must have well-bred animals ; if we are to have
good beef and mutton, good butter and wool, attention must be
paid to the ;aising of stock. In soil and temperature Canada is
well adapted for raising first-class beasts. We have grasses capa-
ble of giving an excellent flavour to mutton, and making tender,
nourishing beef. Short-horns thrive as well here as elsewhere, as,
notwil: -standing < ir sudden changes, and extremes of heat and
cold, on the whole do sheep, whether English Leicesters and
Downs, or the Scotch Cheviots and Blackfaced ; and the day is
fast approaching when the Canadian breeds of cattle and sheep
will be second to the breeds of no other country. Mr. Brown, and
other rre&t breeders, who have the honour of having done so much
in thijt important particular, will perhaps be surprised to find that
they v'ere anticipated by an Irish lieutenant, at a time when the
noblest, belts and stretches of Ontario were covered with bush and.
were tl le haunts of bears and wolves.

Lieui.entjnt Maxwell must have been a man of an original cast of

I !^ f

I:,

11 :

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Al'

320

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

inincl, for even at this hour in Iioland, the special division of
stock-raising, in which he excelled, is attended to, but perfunc-
torily . The physical characteristics of Ireland are well adapted
for the breeding of all kinds of sheep. No intense heat, no severe
cold, a mean of 48° of temperature, forty inches annual rainfall,
a noble v .ety of hill, dale, and grasses, Ireland seems marked
out for sheep husbandry. The native breeds are not of the best,
and the introduction of others has as yet been far from sufficiently
extensiv^e. The Cottagh, with a small, pretty head, and upright
ears, small bones, light body, and a neck almost as long as a deer b,
puts up very sweet meat. The Long Woolled has long legs, a long
neck, a long head, large car«. grey faces, and a narrow but larg'^
body. Of both, the wool is good, and either crossed with Downe
or Leicesters would make a noble breed of sheep. Something,
but yet too little has been done. In Maxwell's youth, however,^
breeding was an undiscovered mystery in Ireland.

Born at Roscrea, in the County Tipperary — as a boy, he often
followed the hounds around the base of Devilsbit, or as they
woke the morning echoes amid the frowning shadows of Slieve-
bloom ; nor could so intelligent a lad see without reflectii'.g the
sheep allowed to wander indiscriminately over the mountains, or
along the green banks, where the Suir hurries past Templemore,
eager to play with the historic memories of Cashel, and on its
way to the sea, catch a dim ai^d distant glimpse of the cloudy
gloom of Knockmealdown. But if any thoughts of improving
the breeds of his native country stirred within him, they were
driven away by the call of the bugle bidding him to the battle
field. When there was no sign of manhood on his cheeks but
dubious down, he joined the 99th regiment. With this regiment,
nearly every man in which, as we have seen, was an Irishman, he
came to Canada and took his part in the war of 1812. When he
and his friends settled at Richmond, they did not forget their
military traditions. They at once formed a regiment with Cap-
tain Geo. J. Burke as Colonel ; Maxwell, Lyon and Lett, Captains;
Sproule, Lieutenant; Short, Chaplain, and Crawford (a large-
hearted Scotchman), physician. They were among the first to
turn out during the rebellion of 1837-38. Their sons got up one
of the first, if not the first, volunteer battery of artillerj' organized

SHEEP BREEDING. CONSERVATIVES.

321

in Upper Canada. William Pitman Lett, the city clerk of Ottawa,
was one of the most prominent in raising the new corps.

Lieutenant Maxwell, on first settling in Richmond, entered on
mercantile pursuits. Finding commerce uncongenial he, after
two years, gave it up and settled down to farming on one of the
finest tracts of land in the neighbourhood. There he devoted
special attention to the raising of stock. He imported the best
breeds of sheep, and his stock became noted throughout the en-
tire country. If to-day we see, in Carleton and in the surround-
ing counties, sheep which are a credit and full of promise, it is to
no small extent due to the gallant Irishman, who, in the dawn of
our nation, did not indeed literally beat hi^ sword, red with the
blood of her enemies, into a pruning hook or a shepherd's staff,
but who, while keeping near him the warlike and war-worn brand,
obtained those peaceful weapons which fight the noblest battles —
the plough and kindred implements of the field. Maxwell
was one of the first Justices of the Peace. Hospitable to a fault,
his house was open not only to friends, but it is said even to foes.
He was a member of the Church of England, and acted with the
Conservative party. He died in 1848. ^

It should be borne in mind that when the word Conservative is
applied to a man at the period of Maxwell's active life, it means
something very different from what it means to-day. The differ-
ence will be made abundantly clear in succeeding chapters. A
Conservative, prior to the culmination of Baldwin's long and heroic
struggle for responsible government, was on the side of bureau-
crats, who represented the last defenders of a decaying, and when
decaying no longer useful, cai se.

There was a time in the history of Canada when something like
the paternal rule of a crown colony wasfbest for it. But that
time had passed away, at least, as early as 1825, and possibly be-
fore. The true distinguishing names for the two parties in Cana-
da up, certainly, to Lord Sydenham's time, and it may be for
some year? afterwards, are not " Conservatives " and " Lib-
erals," but the Bureaucratic Party and the Popular Party,
the Famil}*^ Compact founded on selfishness and buttressed by
wrong, and teeming with the fruitful seeds of revolution ;

the "Popular Party" raised on the rock of eternal justice j
21

322

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

m \

Mi'

the cleternuned bravery of its garrison, the heroism of its
skirmishing parties, braced by grievances, commanded by a man
of unstained conscience and spotless repute. The battle was bit-
terly fought, but the victory could not at any time have been
doubtful. It never is doubtful where one side lights for a great
cause, for justice, and therefore for God; and the other struggles,
with heroic b". eness, to preserve the ignoble and perishable ram-
parts of egotism.

An Englishman, Mr. Howard, has presented to Toronto a park
which is destined to be the finest park on this Continent. It is a
noble gift and Mr. Howard should always be gratefully remem-
bered by our citizens ; nor should Mr. P. G. Close's exertions in
regard to this splendid lung for Toronto be forgotten. In 1816
there came to this country a poor young fellow who was destined
to be to Ottawa a benefactor nearly as splendid as Mr. Howard
has been to Toronto.

Nicholas Sparks was a native of Wexford, who emigrated to
Canada in 1816. Having worked his way up to the Township of
Hull, on the North shore of the Ottawa River and directly oppo-
site the site of the presejit City of Ottawa, he engaged as a farm
servant with Philemon Wright. He saved a sufEciert sum to pur-
chase lot C in Concession C, Rideau froxxt, in the Township of
Nepean, consisting of two hundred acres, on the south side of the
Ottawa River. He bought the lot from John B. Honey, the
patentee from the Crown, on the 20th of June, A.D. 1826, for
ninety-five pounds sterling. At the time of his purchase the lot
was a wild bush, which it wfts his intention to turn to farming
purposes. Having with his own hands cleared a spot he built a
shanty. The commencement of the Rideau Canal in the follow-
ing year, however, changed his purpose. With his natural shrewd-
ness, he perceived that his and the surrounding property was des-
tined to be the site of a town of some importance, and the lot
purchased by him for ninety-five pounds is now one of the most
populous and wealthy portions of the City of Ottawa, where
stand the Court House, the Jail, the City Hall, the Post-Office,
the Ladies' College, the Opera House, the Orange Hall, the Pro-
testant Orphans' Home, Christ Church, St. Andrev^r^, Baijk Street
Church, the Dominion Wesleyan. Methodist *Chur6li, the Baptist

FOUNDER OF ORANOEISM IN CANADA.

323

Church, the Congregational Church, the Catholic Apostolic Church,
Russell House, several first-class hotels, and every bank in the
City. The property with the buildings is now estimated as worth
four million dollars.

Mr. Sparks was a Conservative in politics, but never pushed him-
self forward in political life, the only public positions he held
being that of alderman for the city, during the years 1855-6-7,
and Justice of the Peace for the County of '"'"ripton. Unosten-
^tious in his prosperity, he was made of the .oest human clay.
/The Court-house and Jail Square, and City Hall L .^uare were pre-
1 sented by him to By town ; and to the Cb"-< ch of England, of which
Tie was a member, the site for Christ Church, with parsonage and
school. He died on the 27th February, 1862, aged sixty-eight
years, leaving one son, who has since died, and two daughters, who
survive.

Another Carleton pioneer, who died a millionaire, was "William
Hodgins, who came to Canada in 1820. He was bom in Tipperary,
in 1787. He settled about twelve miles from where Ottawa stands.
His history is the history of hundreds : he cleared land and made
wealth, dying worth $250,000. He was eighty-one years of age
when he died.

A representative man of the Orange body was Arthur Hopper,
Ogle R. Gowan has usually been considered the founder of
Orangeism in Canada. This opinion is not correct. The real
founder was the venerable old man who died in 1872, in his
eighty-eighth year, to whose ample board, though he sported the
orange lily every 12th of July, the Catholic priest was as welcome
as the Protestant minister ; who was a devoted friend to men of
every creed, if they carried under their waistcoat the talisman of
an Irish heart.

Born at Roscrea, in 1784, Mi-. Hopper emigrated to Canada in
1812. He carried on a business for three years at Montreal, and
in 1825 he set up in the Township of Huntley as a merchant.
While residing here his advice was sought by all the inhabitants,
especially by his own countrymen. Catholic and Protestant. Sub-
sequently he purchased six hundred acres in the Township of Ne-
pean, where he finally settled. Situated six miles from Ottawa,
witfh three Churches, a School-house, an Hotel, an Orange Hall, and

S24

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

several tradesmen's shops, is the thriving village of Merivale. It
is settled almost entirely by Irish, all of whom are in comfortable
circumstances. This village owes its existence to Arthur Hopper.

He became a member of the Orange Association in his eighteenth
year. He took his first degree in Dublin, in 1802, where he served
as a yooman during the disturbance of 1803. Having filled several
subordinate ofiices, he, for many years, occupied the chair, as De-
puty Grand Master of the County of Tipperary.

Soon after his arrival in Montreal, he, with the late Mr. William
Burton, Mr. John Dyer, Mr. Francis Abbott, and about six or eight
others, formed the first Orange Lodge ever opened in British Ame-
rica. This was done under warrant from the Grand Lodge of Ire-
land. This warrant William Burton went home expressly to pro-
Cure. Burton was elected the first master. From such small be-
ginnings, nearly sixty years ago, the present powerful Orange As-
sociation has grown.

In subsequent years Arthur Hopper was elected to fill the chair
with the additional power of granting warrants to subordinate
lodges, given under the Great Seal of the Grand Lodge of Ireland,
of which the Earl of Enniskillen was the Grand Master. The first
warrant ever granted to a subordinate lodge in British America
was granted to Mr. Robert Birch, of Richmond, under the hand
and seal of Mr. Arthur Hopper, as Grand Master, and Mr. William
Burton as Deputy-Grand Master. Soon after Ogle R. Gowan
came here with credentials from the Grand Lodge of Ireland. A
council with the lodges then in existence was held, and the present
system inaugurated. When Mr. Hopper settled in Huntly he
opened the first lodge in that township. He subsequently inaugu-
rated lodges in difierent parts of the County of Carle ton. The last
one which he inaugurated was Number Eighty -five of Nepean, of
which he was first Master, and of which he was made an honorary
member for life, when through infirmity he could no longer attend
the meetings. When he died, in 1872, he had been seventy years
in connection with the Order during which he had attained all the
degrees from the Orange to the highest Black. When grown
garrulous with years he loved to talk over old days. He had seen
the fajl of one national government and the rise of another. He

RICHARD BISHOP. THE BATTLE FAMILY.

325

was present at the closing of the last Irish Pariiament and at the
opening of the first Pariiaraent of the Doiuinion.

As an instance of success it would not be easy to find a more
remarkable man than Richard Bishop, who was bom in the County
Limerick, and emigrated with his father, Richard Bishop, in 1829.
The father purchased land and settled in the Township of March
He amassed a considerable fortune and died in 18()3, aged sixty-
eight. His son, who is now fifty-six years of age, is one of the
most successful of a successful family. At an early age he left his
father's house and struck out for himself in Bytown. He rapidly
rose both in wealth and public estimation. A large landed pro-
prietor of the County of Carleton, he is now able to retire a rich
man. He is a Conservative and an active member of the Church
of England.

The Battle family is in its way representative. They belong origi-
nally to the County of Sligo, whence they came to Canada in 1832.
The elder members of the family consisted of three brothers,
Patrick Battle, v^ho settled in Quebec ; John Battle, who settled
in Toronto ; and Matthew Battle, who settled in Liverpool, Eng-
land. Patrick Battle resided in Quebec where he lived until
1870, when he removed with his family to Ottawa, where his son
is now Collector of Inland Revenue. This gentleman, Mr. Martin
Battle, was bom in 1828, in Ballymote. He lived in Quebec till
18.56, when he removed to St. Catharines where some of his rela-
tives were settled. There he was employed in responsible work
by Sheckluna, the celebrated Lake Ship Builder. In 1859
he was appointed to superintend the removal of Government
stores from Toronto to Quebec. Subsequently he had charge of
stores in connection with the trips of H. R. H. the Prince of Wales
and H. R. H. the Duke of Edinburgh, and the chief management
of the stores when the Government was removed from Quebec to
Ottawa. For his efficient discharge of these duties Mr. Battle re-
ceived appreciative letters from the eminent persons concerned,
and was complimented by the London Times. In 1870 he was
appointed Collector of Hydraulic Rents, and in 1873 Collector of
Inland Revenue at Ottawa. He has always been a strong advo-
cate of temperance, having taken the pledge from the well-known
Father McMahon, of Quebec. He is one of those who founded

326

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

the St. Patrick's Orphan Asylum at Ottawa, and has acted as
Sfcijretary to the Institution for seven years. He was also instni-
mentai in the formation of the Ottawa Irish Catholic Temperance
Society, Benevolent Branch, which is now a strong institution
and which has been of the greatest advantage to the working men.
Mr. Battle attributes his advancement in life to his teetotalism.
Like all his family Martin Battle is a member of the Roman
Catholic Church, and a genuine Irishman. He was the first per-
son who presented an address to D'Arcy McGee when that great
orator came to Canada.

Another official, well and favourably known in the capital, is
Zechariah Wilson, the eldest son of Hugh Wilson, who early in
the present century emigrated from the County Tyrone, and set-
tled first at St. Johns, in the Province of Quebec, where his son
was born in 1815. Having received the best education available
at the time and place, he in 1836, removed to Bytown, and entered
into business with his brother, Hugh L. Wilson. The firm was
successful The partnership was dissolved, when Hugh determined
to go to New York to enter business on a larger field. Zechariah
remained in Canada. He is now collector of Customs at the port
of Ottawa, where his amiable qualities have won for him friends
amongst all classes. He was a good working member of the Irish
Protestant Benevolent Society at Ottawa, when it was one of the
forem<;st national organizations there.

A good instance of what Canada has done for Irishmen is Peter
Egleson, an extensive land owner and capitalist. He is a native
of Cavan. He came to Canada about 1834, and for awhile was at
Grenville — half-way between Montreal and Ottawa, and then a
more important place than Bytown. On coming to Ottawa, he
went into service as coachman to Colonel Bolton, Commandant of
the Engineers at work on the canal. He married Bolton's house-
keeper, a widow with one child. He soon quarrelled with Bolton,
and set up as a country schoolmaster in Gloucester township,
County of Carleton. After a year's experience of the tr} mg life
of a pedagogue in the country, he returned to Bytown, and con-
tinued the same work. At the end of two years he abandoned
the ferule for a general trader's counter. He has since made
money rapidly, and is now worth at least $200,000. He has been

m ^f

AN OTTAWA POET.

327

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)wnship,
ying life
and con-
andoned
ce made
has been

an active promoter of the local building societies, from which he
has derived considerable personal benefit. He was for some years
member of the school board and municipal council.

His son James is a colonel in a volunteer corps, and is even a
better business man and more wealthy than his father. There is
a large family of the Eglesons about Ottawa, some Catholics and
some Protestants and all well to do.

While Ireland thus supplied Carleton with pioneers and busi-
ness men, she also poured in humanizing influences, and amongst
those whose literary turn has helped to brighten and spiritualise
existence, a prominent place must be given to William Pittman
Lett, bom at Wexford, the second son of the late Andrews Lett,
who was a captain in the 26th Cameronian regiment, with which
corps he saw considerable service in Spain, under the command of
Sir John Moore ; who was present with his regiment, then under the
command of the Earl of Dalhousie, at the battle of Corunna ; and
was a witness of the moonlight obsequies of Sir John Moore, ren-
dered doubly immortal by the pen of his fellow-countryman, Wolfl[.
He and his son, as we have seen, came to Canada in 1820, and set-
tled at the Village of Richmond. In 1828, after the death of the
captain, the family removed to what is now Ottawa. Young Lett
obtained his education in the public schools of Bytown, and in
the High School of Montreal. He was for a few years a pupil of
the late Rev. Alexander Fletcher, of Plantagenet, who is said to
have been an accomplished scholar. From 1845 until 1853, Mr.
Lett was connected editorially with the Conservative press, and
during thirty years he has written not only in prose, but in verse
for the newspapers. He l;as acquired a considerable local reputa-
tion as a poet,* He has published " Recollections of Bytown and
its Inhabitants." He is the author of the letters signed Sweeney
Ryan, which displayed no small amount of humour. Had he been
able to devote himself to literature, he might have achieved an
unviable reputation. Whether he would have been a happier man
is another question.

♦ On a recent occasion he composed some lines of which a couple of verses deserve,
both for sentiment and expression, quotation here.

i '♦

328 THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA. •

Come, let us in thifl far-off land,

From Erin's sea-girt shore
One blood, one race, in union stand

Round memories of yore.
To-day we'll gently level down

The barriers that divide ;
And close together hand-in-hand,

Stand brothers side by side.

We ask not wliat may be your name.

Come to us whence you may ;
We ask not by what path yon came,

Or where you kneel to pray.
Your common birthright of the lan<i

Is all we seek to scan,
To-day we offer friendship's hand

To cTery Irishman !

. To the knowledge without which our schemes of development
would be like rudderless, compassless ships, Irishmen have given
a stimulus which has borne practical fruit. John McMullin, now
residing at Eganville, deserves a place among those who have made
us acquainted with the geological character of a countr}'^ which
is rich in scientific suggestion. Born at Newry, in 1817, he came
with his parents to Canada in 1820. The family resided for some
years in Quebec, While quite young John McMullin engaged in
the lumber trade on the Ottawa. Having a great desire for the
acquisition of knowledge, his inquisitive mind busied itself with
geology. He attracted the attention of the late Sir William Logan,
in whose Department at Montreal he was engaged for two years.
While there he discovered the Dawn of Life. The late Dr. Beau-
bien frequently quoted him in his lectures.

If I were to attempt to write the history of all who live in
Montreal and dfeserve a place in this book, I should have to write
a whole volume about that noble city, and call it the " Irishmen
in Montreal." There are, however, a certain number who, for one
reason or another, are so prominent that there is no difficulty in
selection, for public rumour has already made the selection for me.

The name of Mr. Thomas White- -or " Tom White," as he is
familiarly called — has become a house-hold word in Canada. Bom
at Montreal in 1830, his father came from Westmeath, while his
mother was of Scotcli descent. When young White was growing
up, the principal school in Montreal was Mr. Workman's. Thither
Thomas White was sent. When the High School was opened he

TOM WHITE. EFFIOIRNCY OF PARLIAMENT.

fi29

left Mr. "Workman's and attended the classes of the new school.
He passed through his school -boy studies with credit. When six-
teer years of age he was engaged in the office of a merchant. At
the < nd of three years he entered the office of the Queen's Printer
as an apprentice. When in 1851-2 the Government removed to
Quebec he followed it, and through the influence of Stuart Derby-
shire he was appointed to the office of assistant editor on the
Quebec Gazette. In the spring of 1853 he went to Peterborough,
where he started the Peterborough Review. In 1860 he turned
his back on newspaper work for a time and entered the office of
the Honourable Sidney Smith to study law, and four yeai-s after-
wards was called to the bar of Upper Canada. He did not prac-
tise long, A newspaper man to the finger tips, he pined for
printer's ink. In connection with his brother, he purchased the
Hamilton Spectator. In 1866 he ran for South Wentworth, but
was defeated by the small majority of three votes. In 1869, at
the request of the Honourable John Carling, Emigration Commis-
sioner for Ontario, he went to England and delivered lectures on
■Canada fl roughout Great Britain. In the following year he again
went to England on the ^^arae errand. Meanwhile his brother made
arrangements for the purchase of the Montreal Gazette, and on his
return he settled in Montreal and took charge of the editorial de-
partment of the leading Conservative newspaper of Lower Canada.

In the general election of 1872, he ran for Prescott and was
defeated by five votes. He subsequently ran for Montreal West
and was again defeated by a small majority, — seven votes. In the
same constituency he again ran against Mr. Thos. Workman. He
was beaten by fifty votes, but polled two hundred more than on
the previous occasion.

Mr. White's return to Parliament for some constituency is only
a matter of time. There must be many an electorate throughout
the country that had rather be represented by a man than by a
voting machine. The intelligence of a constituency is to be mea-
sured by its representative. Mr. White is one of the rising young
men of the Dominion, whom all parties would like to see in the
House of Commons. His wide information, his talents, his facility
of expression, his strong political instinct, would make him a
great accession to those whose utterances tend to raise our Dominion

1(1

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THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

Parliamont to a position comriionHU rate with the character of this
young nation ; to constitute it tliat lever of echication and pul>lic
spirit whicli it must become, when it shall be ruled by our best
minds and shall march forward in the serene consciousness of
power sa<,'cly directed to great ends.

Mr. White has published much in a pamphlet form. He is a
leading Mason, President of the Rej)orters' Gallery of the House
of Connnons, President of the Press Association of Uyper Canada.
He has for many years represented St. George's Church in the
Diocesan Synod. He did that wise thing, marry early. He was
only tw j!*y-three. Even this gives him claims, for, as old Fuller
says, though bachelors are the strongest stakes, married men are
the bef;t binders in the hedge of the commonwealth.

Few business families have b3en more useful to Canada than
the Miller family, of whom Robert Miller is now the leading re-
presentative. Born in the City of Cork in 1810, ho is the youngest
son of the late Adam Miller and Theodora Lovtll. The family
emigrated to Canada in the year 1820, and settled at St. Johns,
where his father occupied the position of teacher in the Govern-
ment School until his death in 1 826. Mr. Miller removed to Mon-
treal in 1833, and after serving an apprenticeship with the late
Ariel Bowman and the late Campbell Bryson, booksellers, St.
Francois Xavier vStreet, commenced business on his own account in
1841. He subseijuently formed a partnership with his brother
Adam, and the business was for many years carried on under the
firm of R. & A. Miller, both in Montreal and Toronto.

Having obtained permission from the Commissioner of National
Education in Ireland, they republished the Irish National series
of school books, which were authorized by ih;^ Upper Canada
Council of Public Instruction. This series was for a number of
years in general use throughout Canada.

On the dissolution of the partnership between the two brothers
in 1803, Adam went to Toronto where he died a few years ago.
His brother Robert retained the business of the Montreal House.
His establishment is now one of the largest in the city.

Mr. Miller has been from its foundation a member of the Irish
Protestant Benevolent Society. He has been the Managing
Director for some years cf the Danville School-Slate Company,

SIDNEY IlOUKllT BELLINOHAM.

331

He has taken an active part in the Young Men's CliriHtian Asso-
ciation, and been one of its vice-prnsidents. For a great many
years ho has been, and is, a working niendjer of the Methodist
Church.

The name of Sidney Robert Bellingliam was at one time a
name of power in Montreal, and known throughout Canada.
Tlie fourth son of the late Sir Allan Bellingham, Baronet, of
Castle Bellingham, County Louth, by Elizabeth, second daughter
of the Reverend Edward Walls, of Boothby Hall, Lincolnshire,
he was the grandson of Sir William Bellingham, the tirst Baronet,
who was some time Secretary to the Right Honourable William
Pitt ; afterwards Commissioner of the Royal Navy ; and who
represented Reigate in the English House of Commons. Mr.
Bellingham was born on the second day of August, 1808. He
was educated in Ireland. After his residence in Canada for some
time, he married Arabella, the daughter of William Holmes, of
Quebec. He was called to the Bar of Lower Canada in 1841. He
was one of the best known political writers for the newspaper
press of Lower Canada, principally for the Montreal Times, and
afterwards for the Montreal Daily N&wh.

During the troubles of the Rebellion, in 1837, Mr. Bellingham
was the magi.^trate sent with Col, Wetherall to attack St. Charles.
He afterwards devoted much time to develop the military spirit
of the county, he so long represented in Parliament, and as Lieut.-
Colonel of the Argenteuil Rangers, he brought up the regiment
to a high state of drill. He sat for the county in the Canadian
Assembly from 1854 to I860, when he was unseated. Mr. Bel-
lingham had the honour of being President of the St. Patrick's
Society of Montreal at that pe . 'od when Catholic and Protestant
were alike eUgible for the office. Retiring a year or two ago from
public lif 3, he bade farewell to Canada, and now resides in
Ireland. During O'Connell's Repeal agitation, Mr. Bellingham
used to speak strongly in favour of that policy.

Neale, in his History of the Puritans, speaks of the Rev. William
Workman, who was lecturer at St. Stephen's church, in Glouces-
i "^, from 1618 to 1633. Neale describes him as a man of great
piety, wisdom and moderation. His wife was a fruitful bough.

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THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA,

In consideration of small salary and large family — common but
perplexing antithesis ! — the City of Gloucester voted him an
annuity of twenty pounds.

Meanwhile Laud had attained the Archiepiscopal mitre, and
was addressing himself with energy to stemming the tide of
"afornmtion. The images and pictures were restored to the
churches. The clergy indued themselves in gorgeous vestments,
such as those used by the elegy of the Roman Catholic Church.
They who disapproved of the new order of things and resented
the policy of Laud, were naturally enough regarded by the
Primate with no friendly eye. Workman in one of his sermons
stigmatized pictures and statues of the founders of Christianity,
the Apostles, the fathers, eminent Christian women, as unfit orna-
ments for churches. He declared that to set up images of Christ
or of the Saints in the private houses, was, according to the Hom-
ily, unlawful, and tended to idolatry. He was brought before
the Court of High Commission. After a trial, in which the
charges agains^ ^im wer© easily proved, he was deposed and
excommunicataa.

He now opened a school in order to support his family. As an
excommunicated person, he was inhibited from teaching youth.
He then commenced the practice of medicine, in which he had
some skill. The Archbishop forbade him. Those were the days
of persecution, when Protestants and Catholics alike abused power,
the days before the newspaper and the emigrant ship, and Work-
man, not knowing where to turn in order to support his family,
fell into a settled melancholy and died.

These circumstances naturally made a deep impression on his
children. His oons eagerly joined the Parliamentary army, in which
William Workman, fi'om whom the Canadian Workmans spring,
held a commission, and was one of those who met the charge of
Rupert on the field of Naseby. He served until 1648, when he
went over to Ireland with Cromwell. On the close of the Irish
campaign he retired from military life, receiving as a reward for
bis services, a grant of the two town lands of Merlacoo, and two
sizeacks in the County of Armagh. Of these lands, the old soldier
held possession for some time. But he was in the midst of a
hostile population, different in race and religion, with bitter

THE WORKMAN S IN IRELAND.

333

memories of defeat, and a passionate hunger for vengo^'acc jorn
of great wrongs, and whetted by the policy of eminent men, vsing
the peasant as a pawn in a game for empire, calling a brave,
ignorant, enthusiastic people, from wise acquiescence in the inevi-
|iable, to fling t^iemselves on the spears of fate, under the banner
of a doomed cause. During Tyrconnel's administration, he removed
to the County Down, near Donaghadee, whence he was obliged to
flee and shelter his old age behind the fortress of Derry, soon to
be invested by the Irish army, He must have succumbed to the
appalling privations of the siege, as his name does not appear in
the history of an event, which in all its particulars is as well known
as the transactions of one of our local Parliaments.

When at last, the besieging army, a long column of pikes and
standards, was seen retreating up the left bank of the Foyle to-
wards where Carleton was to be born, his two sons and their
wives emerged from the war-scarred walls of Derry, and settled
in the County Antrim, In the following year, William III landed
at Carrickfergus The inhabitants hurried to the shore to welcome
him. The wife of one of the Workmans was a comely person, and
had taken her child in her arms and joined the crowd. William,
with his habitual coldness, passed hurriedly through the throng.
But ol»serving the beauty of the infant in Mrs. Workman's arms,
and perhaps — for that stern eye was not insensible to female
charms— not unmindful of its mother's; aware too, no doubt, that
no act could appeal more strongly to the popular heart, than a
great statesman and leader of armies, pausing in the midst of a
dangerous and momentous enterprise to fondk a babe; he stopped
and k'ssed the child, and whispered a compliment to the proud
matron whose blushes did not make her less beautiful. Hence
the saying, that the first person King ^''^illiam kissed on landing
in Ireland was a Workman.

One of the brothers settled at Brookend Mills, near Coagh,
whence he removed to Monyraore to take charge of the mill
there. For more than a century this mill remained in charge of
successive generations of Workmans. Joseph Workman, the
father of Dr. Workman, was the last of the family who occupied
the Monymore mill. This man having made a visit of three
years to the Uxiited States returned to Ireland and took up his

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THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

abode in Ballymacash, a mile and a half west of the village of
Lisburn, where his family, nine in uumbe", were born, all of
whom with their father ultimately emigrated here.

Benjamin, the eldest, came in 1819. He in connection with his
brother established the Union School at Montreal. For twenty
years it was the largest English school in Canada. Among its
pupils were several men who were afterwards distinguished : Sir
Henry Smith at one time speaker of the Houss of Assembly ; Hon.
Lewis Wallbridge, who also became speaker ; Henry Myers, M.P.P.;
Hon.L. H. Holton,M.P. ; Thomas Workman, M.P., and many others
who attained eminence in commercial and professional walks. Ben-
jamin Workman did more than teach school in order to diffuse en-
lightenment among his fellow- citizens. He published the Canadian
Gourant for five years. It was prospering when he sided with
the teetotallers, wliereupon the licensed victuallers withdrew their
patronage and the paper died.

He now determined to study medicine. After six years at
McGill College he in 1853 was admitted to practice. Three years
afterwards he accepted the appointment of Assistant Medical
Superintendent in the Provincial Lunatic Asylum, Toronto, where
his brother Joseph was Superintendent, whence in 1875 he re-
tired superannuated by old age.

WilliaiQ Workman emigi-ated in 1829, having spent the three
years preceding his emigration with the Royal Engineers on the
Irish survey. He became assistant editor of the Gourant. Aban-
doning journalism he entered an important establishment in
the hardware trade. He soon became partner and the firm still
retains his name. He retired from the firm in 1859. In 1849
he was elected President of the City Bank, a position which he
held for twenty-four years. He was the first President of the
City and District Savings Bank, an institution of which he was
the founder. In 1868 and for the two following years he was
elected Mayor of Montreal, and performed the duties of that great
office with a dignity and hospitality worthy of the great city over
which he presided. So satisfactorily did he do his work that he
was twice honoured with a public banquet in which all classes and
creeds joined. When he refused re-election as president of the
City and District Sa'/ings Bank the officials presented him with

AN ENERGETIC RACE.

335

a grand epergne and plate, very costly, and on the occasion of his
retirement from the Mayoralty the citizens gave him a diamond ring
which cost a little fortune, and with it two massive pieces of plate
accompanied by a flattering address. Chief Justice Cockburn,
when addressing the jaiy in the famous Tichborne suit, said with
truth that in the discharge of a public duty no man can be insen-
sible to public opinion. Mr. William Workman may well feel
gratified that his services in great and responsible positions met with
the appreciation of his fellow -citizens. During the visit of Prince
Arthur he had the honour of receiving not the least frank and en-
gaging of the sons of his Sovereign. Still the president of the Pro-
testant House of Industry and Refuge, of the Montreal Dispensary^
of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animal, i, and of
the Western Hospital, he has been an active and directing mind in
most of the great philanthrophic and commercial institutions of
Montreal. He was president of the St. Patrick's Society in Mon-
treal when that society was composed of Catholics and Protest-
ants.

Alexander Workman is at present a hardware merchant at Ot-
tawa. He it was who co-operated with Benjamin Workman in
school teaching at Montreal. Leaving Montreal, he went to the
Ottawa district, and for a few years worked a farm in Huntly
township. This did not suit him. He again tried Montreal, only
once more to return to By town, and embarked in the hardware
trade with Edward Griffin. Griffin left the firm some years ago.
The business has since been carried on by Mr. Workman, who is
now nearly eighty years of age.

Like all ^is family, he is a man of versatile talents, and large
capacity for public life. For several years a member of the Otta-
wa City Council, and Mayor cl the City in 1860 and 1861. In
this year the Prince of Wales laid the corner stone of the Parlia-
ment Buildings, and Mr. Workman performed his part of the
ceremonies with credit. Though possessing so much public spirit
and talents for public life, he is like so many of his countrymen,
a man of retiring disposition. He has therefore shunned the
broadest glare of the public stage, and never sought "parliament-
ary honours," though he might have been easily returned to Par-
liament. A shrewd business man, he has a generous heart. The

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THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

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County of Carloton Protestant Hospital owes him much. On it
neither his time nor hiS money has been spared.

The brave old man's later years have been beclouded by be-
reavement. Nine years ago he lost his only son, a promising
young man. with his father's ability, wealth of philanthropic feel-
ing, and popular manners. A few years elapsed and he laid his
wife in the grave, in which lay buried their mutual hopes. It is
the common tragedy of life. He will go to them ; they caanot
return to him.

Thomas Workman, the member for Montreal West, is the only
one of his family who is not Conservative. He was born at the
Monymore Mill, in 1813, and was educated at Montreal, where he
is senior partner in the hardware firm of Frothingham & Work-
man. His business capacity is attested by the fact that he is
Vice-President of Molson's Bank, President of the Sun Mutual
Life Insurance Company, Chairman of the Montreal Branch of
the Stadacona Fire Insurance Company, a Director of the Canada
Shipping Company. He has been President of the Irish Protestant
Benevolent Society. He sat for Montreal Centre in the House of
Commons from the Union until 1872, when he retired from Par-
liament. As we have seen, he defeated Mr. White, for Montreal
West, in 1875. He is described in " Mackintosh " as a Liberal,
and a supporter of Mr. Mackenzie. Like all the Workmans, he is
a man of great energy and ability, with those qualities which win
public confidence.

Befo. 3 proceeding to the great Irish settlements of Victoria and
Lindsay, there are a few individual cases worthy of note, which
may be taken up in a draaltory way.

James Cross was born in the County Fermanagh, and came to
Canada in 1825. He settled at Spring Brook, in the, Township
of Caledonia, in the County of Prescott. His place is within a
few miles of the Ottawa River, and close to the celebrated Cale-
donia Springs. Here he first sat down, one of the earliest
settlers in the district. He lumbered as well as farmed. Having
accumulated a fortune, he retired from active business twenty
years ago, and devoted his attention to the improvement of his
lands. Like his countryman. Maxwell, he has done much for the
advancement of agriculture, and the improvement of stock. He

KING OF THE IRISH. OFFICIALS.

337

served many years in the Municipal Council, and vras captain
in the Militia. He has been a Justice of the Peace for twenty-live
years.

In 1829 he married Ann Holms, a highly cultivated lady, whose
parents came here from the County Carlow. The fruit of the
marriage was five sons and three daughters. Three of the sons
settled on the paternal acres, one went into merchandise, one into
the army, and one, James Fletcher Cross, LL.B., is a barrister
practising in Toronto.

In the Township of Oxford, not far from Norwichville, dwells
an Irish Roman Catholic, Mr. McNally, a man respected by every-
body, and so influential among his countrymen that he is ca.ied
the King of the Irish.

The name of Bull is well known in Hamilton, Toronto and
Montreal. In 1835, we find George Perkins Bull publishing the
Reader, in Toronto. A few years afterwards he removed to
Hamilton, where he published the Gazette. Mr. H. B. Bull brought
the Gazette to an end, and published a church newspaper in Tor-
onto. His son, Richard Bull, is secretary to the Life Association
of Scotland.

As I write, the York Pioneers' flag is half-mast high at St.
Lawrence Hall, in respect to the memory of Mr. J. P. Dunn, of
the Custom House. The poet writes —

" The flag is hoisted half-mast high,
A mournful signal o'er the main,
Seen only when the illustrious die,
Or are in glorious battle slain."

But for good, though comparatively humble service in a new
cor.jitry, the honour may be as appropriately paid as if around the
cold brows of the dead there twined the bloody laurels of war.

Mr. Dunn came to Canada from the County Kildare, in 1823,
and settled in Toronto in 1 833. He was the oldest revenue officer
in the country, having been for thirty-five yeai's an official in
the Custom House. He was a Mason, an Odd Fellow, a York
Pioneer, and a member of the Irish Protestant Benevolent
Society.

Another Irish official, who should not be forgotten, died some
months before Mr. Dunn. Christopher Walsh came to this
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338

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

country in 1842, ho being then thirty-two years of age. Soon
afterwards he received an appointment as clerk in the Toronto
Post-oflfice, where his courtesy and business ability gained him
friends. In 1853 he was appointed Collector of Customs at New-
castle ; in 1854 he was removed to Oshawa, where he filled the
duties of collector until 1875, when he was superannuated. He was
a generous man to his Church and to all worthy objects. Never
having married, and having no relatives, he left his property t(^ be
divided between the House of Providence, the Catholic Church,
St. Gregory's Church, Oshawa, and his housekeeper. At his burial,
his old priest and friend. Dean Proulx, of Toronto, officiated, and
Father Berrigan, of Duffin's Creek, preached the funeral sermon.

The parents of the Hon. John O'Connor settled at Maidstone,
County of Essex, in 1828, when he was only four years of age.
The country was wilderness. A few Irish families had settled
on a line through the Township of Sandwich, Maidstone and
Rochester, forming what was afterwards called the Iri.h Set-
tlement.

The distance from the house of the O'Connors to Sandwich was
fourteen miles, the road being a mere cart-road cut through the
wood. It used to occupy two days with an ox- team and cart
going to Sandwich and two more to return. This part of the
country is level and only slightly diversified in places by small
ridges of dry ground. Between the ridges, water might at times,
in the spring and fall, be seen for miles. The first improvement
in the roadway was a path made by slashing trees one after another
upon which the people walked balancing themselves with a long
pole. The timbers throughout were very heavy on the ridges
consisting of white oak, beech, hard maple, hickory, iron-wood
and other varieties; in the low grounds elm, butter- wood, black
ash. By degrees the land along the line of road was cleared in
patches, drained and tilled. The settlers were nearly all Roman
Catholics. The first church in the settlement was built in the
yea.r 1839 or 1840, a log building'at a place called Maidstone Cross,
hard by the Willow Swamp. It was a dismal place. The log
building in time gave way to a handsome brick church and the
parish is now one of the most wealthy in the county. The first
resident priest was Father Michael McDonnell, a native of Lime-

HARDSHIPS OF EARLY SETTLERS.

339

rick. Before his arrival the parish used to be visited by clergy-
men from Detroit {ind Sandwich ; Father Cullen, from Detroit, a
native of Queen's County, Ireland, visited the place every second
Sunday for two or three years.

As an instance of the hardships and privations of the first set
tiers, the Honourable John O'Connor tells of a family from Kil-
kenny, named Kavanagh, consisting of the father, mother, three
sons, and two daughters. The father, the sons, and the daughters
set to work clearitjg up the land and tilling it from year to year.
While they were thus employed, the mother, a brave little woman,
forty-five years of age, supplied them with provisions, which, for
two long years, she carried on her back from Sandwich, a distance
of thirteen miles, froquently bringing a hundred-weight of flour,
while at every step she was almost knee deep in mud and water.
She deserves a place side by side with the most distinguished of
the Kavanaghs. A man might well be prouder of her than if she
were a luxurious lady, full of idleness and vapours, wasting her
time in fashionable follies, and dissipating whatever mind she
might happen to have, over insane novels and the propagation of
the latest scandal.

The settlement having been cleared with such heroic labom^
the country having been drained and tilled, is now one of the
most flourishing in the Dominion. James Cahill,one of the original
settlers is still living, a hale old man of ninety years, as is William
Colter, another original settler.

The Honourable John O'Connor, who was called to the bar of
Upper Canada in 1854, and created a Q.C. in 1872, has been Reeve
of the Town of Windsor. He was Warden of Essex for three years
and for twelve y ears he fulfilled the duties of Chairman of the
Board of Education of the Town of Windsor. He is the author-
of " Letters addressed to the Governor-General on the subject of
Fenianism (1870)." He was sworn of the Privy Council and was
President of that body from July 2nd, 1872, until March, 1873,
whenhe was appointed Minister of Inland Revenue. An unsuccess-
ful candidate for Essex in 1861, he was returned by that constitu-
ency in 1863, only however, to be soon after unseated. At the
general election of 1867, he was returned to the Commons and was
re-elected in the following general election, but in that of 1874,

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THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

he was beaten l»y William McGregor hy a large majority. Mr.
McGregor having been unseated on petition, Jeremiah O'Connor
ran against him, but McGregor again won the seat by a still
larger majority.

William Moore Kelly instituted the Provincial Reformatory, of
which he is Warden. He belongs to the family of the Kellys, of
Cinuigmore, County Galway, and is a nephew of the late Arch-
bishop of Tuam. He came here immediately on the eve of th(;
Rebellion of 1837. He was appointed Captain in the 4th Batta-
lion of Incorporated Militia, and served with his regiment until
1842. On its being disbanded he was appointed Collector of
Customs at Toronto. When Baldwin came into power Kelly was
dismissed. Men carrying out f^overnments are quite justified ii
appointing their own friends to offices, provided always that their
friends are fit. But Metcalfe seems most improperly to have
ignored the nominee of his constitutional advisers. He appointed
Robert Stanton, who was not a friend of the Government. This
was one of the earliest acts which showed the arbitary autocrfttic
temper of Sir Charles Metcalfe, and heralded the struggle winch
aggravated his ailments, injured the country, emphasized the evils
of the Family Compact, and finally sent poor Metcalfe frorji our
shores to die, painfully conscious that in Canada he had AvhoUy
failed, all of which will be told at length later on.

Mr. Kelly's friends said he was dismissed without any charge
being made against him, or without the grounds for any charge
such as would justify his dismissal. A long and acrimonious cor-
respondence between the Finance Minister and Mr. K 41y followed.
The matter was frequently discussed in the Assembly. Mr. Kelly
and his friends called for a searching scrutiny into every act of
his official life. He was paid upwards of $1,700 balance due him.
It would be out of place at this day and here to discuss the ques-
tion between Mr. Kelly and the Government of the time. The
important fact connected with his dismissal is that which throws
light upon Lord Metcalfe's rule. The idea of a man coming to
carry out responsible government refusing to listen to his Ministers
in the matter of the appointment of a collector of customs ! But
the mistakes and blunders, the faults and follies of Lord Metcalfe's
rule must await another chapter.

THE BARBERS AND VHE BIORDANS.

341

It is worthy of remark that the two leading firms of paper manu-
facturers in Ontario are Irish — the Barbers and the Riordans. The
histoiy of both in business would be a record of success and there-
fore would have little of those elements out of which an interest-
ing narrative could be built up. The incidents, however, of the
emigration and settlement of one of these families is so character-
istic, and so illustrative of the country of over fifty years ago, that
I am tempted, though anxious to hurry forward to the more im-
portant events of succeeding chapters, to linger a little around this
bit of private history, which is also well calculated to stimulate
hope and brace resolve for long endeavour.

On the 12th of May, 1822, a family named Barber — con-
sisting of the father, mother, four sons, and a daughter, all of
whom were born in Antrim, sailed from Belfast for Quebec,
where they arrived on the 10th of July. The next day they went
up the river in a steamer to Montreal ; thence to Lachine , a dis-
tance of nine miles, in carts. Here they took a Durham boat
for Prescott and compassed the rapids as we have seen Mr. Aus-
tin and his friends do. The passengers were ordered at times to
pioceed on foot for miles along the banks. On such occasions they
were much alarmed by the song of the gi'asshoppers, which they
took for the hissing of snakes. The greater part of the way was
wood with only a few clearings. They were not accustomed to
bush, and the grasshoppers' cry caused more alarm than it would
have done had the country been open. After eleven days they
airived at Prescott. The distance is now run by rail in four
hours. Old Mr. Barber, who was a mason and bricklayer-, found at
Preiicott employment, for the remainder of the season, at good
wages, of which a certain part was in kind, or as it was called
then, " store pay," the balance being in money. Prescott was, in
those days, a very important town. All produce coming down
the lakes for Montreal or Quebec had to be transhipped there..
This consisted for the most part of flour, staves, and tobacco,
■w^hich, at Prescott, had first to be put on board of Durham boats,,
as none of the lake vessels could live in the rapids.

The season for mason work over, and the impression being
general tiiat the country westward was better to settle in, Mr.
Barber determined to go to Niagara, where he arrived on the

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342

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

12th December. Niagara was then a flourishing town. From
the head of the lake and from York, people went thither to buy
their goods. After some time the Hon. James Crooks went to
Niagara to try to find a mason to go with him to West Flam-
borough. He offered employment to as many of the family as could
work. He was carrying on an extensive and various business ; a
flour mill, saw mill, oil mill, woollen factory, tannery, distillery
and a large general store. A few years afterwards he built the
first paper mill in Upper Canada, for which he received a bounty
from the Government of five hundred dollars.

The eldest of the young Barbers went into the woollen fac-
toiy and served his time to the trade. The second learned the
paper-making business ; the third, the mill-wright business ; the
youngest, like the eldest, going into the woollen factory. In 1831,
the father died. But the family kept together and remained with
Mr. James Crooks, two of the brothei-s renting the woollen fac-
tory from him.

In 1837, they bought, from George Kennedy, a small woollen
factory, at Georgetown, in the Township of Esquesing, County
of italton, where the four brothers sat to work "^A-ith great energy.
Georgetown is situated on the River Credit, and possesses great
water advantages. It has, to-day, a population of 1,282. It is
served by two railways, and will be served by another when the
Credit Valley is completed. It contains paper mills, a tannery, a
brewery, an ironfoundry, a grist mill, marble works, a printingoffice,
three hotels, twenty stores. It is the theatre of a large lumber,
grain, and general produce trade. It can boast of a weekly paper.
Forty years ago there were only three families in the place. The
township was thinly settled, the clearings being small. The roads
were bad, and, as elsewhere, there were plenty of wolves. In the
fall, especially, their long howling made the night dismal. The four
brothers were in the wilderness, and never could have got on had
they not had quick brains, fertile in resource. Anything they
required in the way of machinery, they had to make. At this
time all the farmers manufacturecl their own cloth. But when the
Barbers had their machinery goi: the farmers gradually began
to exchange their wool for the machine-made cloth. After a few
years the manufacture of cloth was extended beyond the require-

QROWING WITH THE COUNTRY.

848

nients of the home department. Another market must be found.
This was not easy. Ultimately Messrs. Walker &; Hutchinson
became customers ; Messrs. Ross &; Mitchell next bought, and con-
tinued to do so until they retired from business. Other customers
now presented themselves, and the difficulty of a market trouliled
the young manufacturers no more.

Business increased. A second mill was started at Streetsvillc, in
1843. Later on. the water power at Georgetown failing, the two
woollen mills were consolidated, and the large mills, now known
as the Toronto Woollen Mills, were erected in 1853. Three of the
brothers remaining at Georgetown, and James being a practical
paper maker, it was decided to commence that business near George-
town, on the main stream of the River Credit. The first mill was
erected in 1854, the second in 1858, since which time large addi-
tions have been made. During the building of the Grand Trunk
Railway, the firm supplied all the car and other iron work, except-
in|^ that for bridges, used between Toronto and Guelph. The only
serious reverse was experienced in 1861, when the woollen mill at
Streetsville was totally destroyed by fire, entailing a loss of $80,-
000 dollars above insurance. The same year a large boiler exploded
at the paper mills, the loss being over $8,000. The woollen mills
contain seven set of the most improved machinery, and turn out
on an average one thousand yards of tweed per day. The paper
mills are supplied with three of the best machines, and make daily
over five thousand pounds of the material for books and newspa-
pers. All the paper used by the Canadian Government, during
the past seventeen years, has been made here. The firm was
dissolved in 1809, after an existence of thirty-two years, without
a deed of partnership or any division of profits, each one drawing
according to his requirements. William and Robert Barber pur-
chased the woollen business ; James, the paper mills ; while Jose})h
Barber, and Benjamin Franklin, a brother-in-law, retired. William
Barber, during his residence in Halton, was one of the oldest mem-
bers of the County Council. He was a Justice of the Peace since
the first commission was issued in the county. He represented
Halton in the first and second Parliaments of Ontario. James Bar-
ber is one of the oldest coroners in the county, and the other bro-
thers are magistrates of many years' standing. Of the family of

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344

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

five cliiklren who loft Ireland in 1822, all are yet alive and in good
health. So many years of hard work and close economy could
have only one effect in Canada, namely, the accumulation of pro-
perty. Those competent to judge estimate the combined family to
represent close on three-quarters of a million dollars. Of the five
families there are now twent3'-five children living, many of th«'m
married, and having families of their own, so that the name is not
likely to pass out of Canadian history for some tune ; and unless
the offspring were to degenerate very sadly — a most unlikely .
thing — from tlieir sires, it is desirable that the name should long
illustrate our commercial and political annals.

Few counties, if any, have advanced more rapidly than Victoria,
as few towns have made more vigorous progress than Lindsay.
On the 30th of July of the present year a trip was made to Lind-
say on the occasion of the opening of an extension there of the
Whitby & Port Perry Railway. The Pres.. .it, an Irishman, of
whom something lias already been said, Mr. Austin ; Mr. James
Michie, a Scotchman, the Vice-President — a man who if Ik were
an Irishman, could not have a larger or kinder heart, nor if he
were an Englishman, a fairer or more unprejudiced mind — and a
large number of gentlemen from Toronto were on the special cars.
The train stopped for a moment at Manilla, where the stalwart
men and tall comely women spoke well for their race. Mr. Caw-
thra turning to a gentleman near whom he sat observed, as the
wheels began to move over the level lines, that they were entering
the beautiful Township of Mariposa. He further remarked on
the wealth of the township and neighbouring townships; on
their cultivation and prosperity ; that Canadians had much to be
proud of; and told how when he was a boy the people used
to go over crude paths all the way to his father's store in New-
market to buy their goods. Mariposa is now a scene of beauty
and wealth. A typical township, it is settled in great part
by Irish and a good deal by Scotch and English ; over the smil-
ing country, one of the finest for wheat-growing in Canada, in the
character of the people, m. the faces of the children, the splendour
of the rose, tlie beauty of the shamrock's refreshing tint and ex-
quisite form, the independence of the sturdy thistle with its heart
as if stained by the blood of battle, seem blended in magnificent

THE CAPITAL OF VICTOIUA.

84^

pronii.se of tlie homogeneous Canadian race that is to be. When
the train arrived at Lindsay, crowdin, on each side of the plat-
form were the citizens, men and women, all looking wealthy and
comfortable and happy, well-(h-es,sed and good looking, with the
gleam of hope, the untroubled light of pros[)erity in their eyes.
Not a trace of the terrible listlessness which a few years ago
would be in the faces of a crowd in Ireland.

Lindsay settled by Irishmen of energy, in a land where there
was room for hope, her past has been as successful as her future
is brilliant. Forty years ago where Lindsay stands ; with a prin-
cipal street which is twice as wide as King Street, Toronto, built
on either side with large busy stores ; with its large lumber and
and grain trade, its telegraph offices, branch banks, county build-
ings, schools, gi'ist and saw mills, manufactories of iron castings,
machinery, leather, woollen goods, wooden ware, boots and shoes ;
with its brewery and spacious hotels ; two weekly newspapers,
each edited by able men, the Reform paper by Mr. Barr, a skilful
journalist who learned his craft on the Olobe — the Conservative,
by Mr. Flood, who like so many successful newspaper men ex-
changed a commercial position for the printing office ; with its
population of six thousand ; where all this busy prosperity
astonished not a few from the Capital of Ontario, forty years ago
was a dense forest. In 1854, the population of Lindsay was about
400, which increased by rapid strides until 1861, when it number d
3,000. In the July of that year a destructive tire took piace
which consumed the whole of its business portion. In 1877 the
population is close upon 6,000. One of the greatest events in the
early history of Lindsay was the building of the Midland Rail-
way in 1857. Up to that time it was little more than a small
village. Then the tide of prosperity began to flow, and now it
has three railways and a fourth is being built. Its water com-
munication extends over hundreds of miles. In short it is one
of the most flourishing towns in Ontario. These great results are
in part due to the natural advantages of its position. But it has
been achieved principally by the exertions and perseverance of
its inhabitants, who despite the difficulties and privations they had
to endure, have succeeded in making the town one on which the
largest hopes may be built. Nearly S200,000 has been voted

ill

Hi f

■

Ws i-

III

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i'i

f- ••

-346

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

in ' '• of the various railways. The one thing which more than
any other strikes the visitor to Lindsay, and the Township of Ops,
is the prevailing nationality of the inhabitants ; they are almost
wholly Irish. Here ard there we see an English or a Scotch
face, but the Irishmen are in an overwhelming majority. The
earliest inhabitants of both town and township were, as will be
seen, almost without exception Irish, and it is to them and their
undaunted pluck in the main that Lindsay owes its present jjros-
perity.

In the Town of Lindsay, ar. the present moment, we have many
successful Irishmen v/hose intelligence and culture equal their
business ce.pacity. M ^jor Deacon, now Colonel Deacon, a hero of
the Crimean war, who cracked many a joke with Dr. Russell
over the camp fire and in the trenches, came out here in 1866,
and at once by his gi'eat energy, business cai)acity and genial
nianrers made himself popular. He has been Reeve of the Tcjwn.
Mr. William Grace, descended from a well-known Irish-Norman
family, whose ancestors often led the charge of feudal warfare to
the cry of " OrciySfteach ahoe,"--the Grace's cause — came to Canada
in 1850. He is clerk of the County Court of Lindsay, Registrar
of tlie Surrogate Court, Deputy Clerk of the Crown and Pleas,
H. Dhairman of the School Board. Mr. John Dobson, is one of
the most prominent merchants in Lindsay. He came originally
from Cavan. After some stay in Toronto he settled at Lindsay,
where he has now conducted a successful business for over four-
teen years. His partner, Mr. Thomas Niblock is also an irishman.
One of the most remarkable men in this ,[)art o^' the country i.s one
who enjoys more than a local fame. Mr. William McDonnell is at
once one of Lindse^'s oldcsr inhabitants and brightest ornaments.
Few men have done as much to build up the town. Ho is a large
property holder. In the early days of Lindsay he performed im-
portant serv^ices. He was the only acting magistrate up to the
incorporation of the town, which took place in 1857. He is the
embodiment of public spirit. His success as an author is beyond
the arbitration o" criticism His " Exeter Hall," and " The
Heathens of the Heath," vindicate his claini to a place in the
literary Pantheon. Another public spirited man is Mr. Thon)9
Ke^iuan, who came to Canada nearlv forty years ago. He began

LINDSAYS LEADING MEN.

347

business in a small way. By energy, by probity, by pru-
dence and ability, he has accumulated a large amount of property
both in the Town of Lindsay and the Township of Ops. Mr. John
Kennedy has been a resident of Lindsay for twenty years. He
is a successful merchant, and was, for over fifteen years. Treasurer
of the Town. He has alao been Treasurer of the Township of Ops.
Mr. James McGibbon, has done good service to the county. He
is the Crown Land Agent. Another old and respected inhabitant
and one of the first settlers is Jeremiah O'Leary, whose two sons,
Arthur and Hugh, are now successful practising bai'risters.
Thomas W. Poole M.D., who published in 18G7 a very interesting
sketch of the settlement of Peterborough, having thrown away
the quill for the lancet, and fled from printers' ink and " printers'
devils " to patients, settled at Lindsay ten years ago. He has
proved a successful practitioner, and has twice won the confidence
of his fellow citizens as a candidate for the mayoralty. Mr.
William L. Russell is another successful man — a broker and com-
mission merchant. He Las resided in Lindsay for twenty -five
years. He is from the County of Kilkenny, and is a man of good
family, Mr. Thomas Matchett, the County Treasurer, was the
first representative to the Local Legislature, for the South Riding
of the County of Victoria, under the Sandfield Macdonald regime.
He lived in Omemee for forty years. He received his present
appointment on the Honourable Samuel Casey Wood becoming a
member of Mr. Mowat's administration. Mr. Edward Veitch is an
old resident of Lindsay, having been in that town not less than
twenty years. He is a successful hotel-keeper, and has thus
passed the preat test of merit below the line. He owns large
property. He is an ardent politician, and possesses a greitu deal
of ability. He is a well-read man and full of public spirit. Mr.
William Bell is among the o) :s\, and most entei"prising residents
of the town, and has done eat deal to build it up. Mr. Lan-y
Maguire occupied the Mayor's chair for two yea,rs. He is a mer-
chant. His brother-in-law, Mr. Joseph Dundas, is doing a large
commercial business, and is one of Lindsay's heaviest grain buyers.
J\les8rs. Grace, McJ3onnell, Veitch and Kennedy and Colonel
Deacon have been forw a'd in raiiway enterprise. Among those
who have passed away was Mr. Donner, for a short time a mem-

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348

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA,

ber for South Victoria. He was the son of an Irishman, was a
lawyer of considerable power, and a man of great social brilliancy.

When we go outside Lindsay into the township, the first man
we think of is venerable John Walker, with his strong noble face
and white hair sweeping Vjack over his shoulders. He was born
in 1798, and came to Canada in 1832, with his five sons, among
whom was Samuel, then seven years old. They first landed
at Quebec, whence they got to Montreal in a steamer. Part of the
way to Cobourg was travelled in l)oats towed by horses known as
Durham boats. At Cobourg, Mrs. Walker and her children
remained in the emigrant sheds until the father prospected the
land on which he now lives. They got to Peterborough, having
travelled in scows across Rice Lake. At Peterborough they
stopped two weeks. They were taken across Mud Lake and
Pigeon Lake to the place where Omemee now stands. There were
plenty of Indians about then. They were cast for lot fifteen in
the seventh concession. There came at that time to the neigh-
bourhood a family named Drummond, with the view of driving a
trade with the emigrants, who had come to settle in the
wilds. They charged so much for showing the land allotted and
building the shanty. In a month the Walkers were at work.

The only emigrant here before Mr. John Walker was the father
of Mr. John Connolly. The clearing progress went on. The
branches were lopped from the trees which were then cut so as
to fall in the same direction. The branches were then burned.
This done, the trees were sawn into lengths and piled on each
other and burned. For some time logging bees were out of the
question. But when the immigrants increased, the logging bee
and pig-sticking bee and other kinds of bee came into vogue.
Numbers of men assembled and helped to cut and piie up the
logs, and the whiskey flowed ; so nmch whit- key was set in motion
by a logging bee ; a smaller quantity for a pig-sticking bee, and
so on.

Meanwhile they had to send to Port Hope, or Kingston for food.
If a man wanted an axe ground he went to Kingston and marked
with an axe or V)lazed his way through the woods in order t > kno^t
how to return. Sometimes they ground the wheat with theii teeth
for dinner. But I am anticipating. In the second year the

A PROLIFIC SKTTLER. A PHILOSOPHER.

340

Walkers planted potatoes, and hy and by grain. So fruitful are
the Irish loins, and so conchicive to health is Canada that the de-
scendants of old Mr. Walker now number themselves by hundreds..
One is a senator below the line. One son had fourteen children, one
daughter fifteen. Another son had twelve children, a third eleven,
a fourth ten, and a fifth nine ; one had four and another three, A
daughter now living in Lindsay is the moth(;r of six children.

Samuel Walker is now a rich man in Lindsay, living on and
placing his money where it may be most jn-ofitable. Mr. Samuel
Walker is a philosopher, who thinks for himself, and believes a
great deal is wasted on mere fashion, — and who can doul)t but
that he is right ? He tells with graj)hic power how the boys, in
the depth of winter, cut out a piece of bass-wood in the shape of
a sole, and having warmed it at the fire, tied it on with leather
wood and made for the school-master, who lived in a little bit of
a shanty. " We were far happier then," said Mr. Samuel Walker,
with a tone of regret, as though ^e despised wealth as well as
fashion, " no fashions, no style, no doctors to pay, and when Sun-
day came all you did was to take a walk in the Inish." " And
what did you do for the consolations of religion ?" " We did
without them." By-and-by they learned to make maple-sugar,
and with that, potatoes, and wheat, lived like " fighting cocks."
The man who carried the wheat to the mill, — it took him four
days to go and come, — would keep for wages half the floui- and
all the brin.

The McHugh family is a remarkable one. The first McHugh
was a .sergeant, who came to Canada ii^ 1831. His eldest son
was the first warden of the County of Victoria ; his f(;ur other
sons are now large farmers in the township. I have already
sj)oken of Mr. John Connolly. His father came out from Ireland
in 1830, and settled in the Township of Ops. John, who is the
owner of a large proj.'erty in the Township of Ops, has for many
years held the position of Reeve. Mr. William O'Keefe came out
about the same time as Mr. Connolly, and is vary highly respected.

Mr. Alexander Byson is one of the oldest settlers. He has
brought up a large family, — nine sons and one daughter. A man
known as " King Connell," or " King of Ops," h said by some
to have preceded Connolly ; and he and his son Maurice

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350

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

ih..

own considerable property on the banks of the Scugog. Opa was a
Catholic settloinont, one of Mr. Peter Robinson's.

In Emily Township and the Village of Omeniee, one of the first
names that occur is that of McQuade. Mr. McQuade is the member
for the South Riding in the Dominion Parliament. He is a veiy
Ifir'fj^i' property holder in real estate. He is from Cavan, where he
was born in 1817. His father, Henry McQuade, died in Ireland ;
his mother, whoso maiden name was Mary Curran, came to the
United States with a large family, Thence the family removed
to the Township of Emily, where they arrived in 1837. Most
of ^ hti brothers and sisters are dead. One sister is still alive
in West Durham, where she is married to a Mr. Henry Gibson, an
Irisliman from the North of Ireland. Arthur McQuade, when he
first came to Canada, " hired out " to a farmer for ten dollars a
month ; he worked with the same man for a second year at eleven
dollars per month. He then purchased from his employer one hun-
dred acres of land. He married Susan, a daughter of Thomas
Trotter, who came from Fermanagh, and was one of the oldest
settlers of that section of the country. Mr. McQuade has seven
children living, all well to do ; five died. He at present owns one
thousand acres of land, and has considerable investments in stocks,
mortgages, and the like. He is probably worth $100,000. He
has for years resided in Emily Township ; he was for twenty
years collector of taxes there, deputy-reeve for eleven years, being
fiequently returned by acclamation. He was school-teacher for
fifteen years, and can look back on a career of usefulness
and success. He is a hale, hearty, open-hearted man ; a Con-
servative in politics. Hj is a Protestant, and has been County
Master of the Loyal Orange Society in the County. The wise
liberality of the Roman Catholics in Victoria could not be more
sti'ikingly shown than in the election of Mr. McQuade. Mr. Mc-
Quade is a great man at agricultural association».

The late Morris Cottingham was one of the eldest settlers.
I le took an active part in all public movements having relation
to the interest and welfare of the country. He was a large
property holder and died in 1876 leaving a large family. He and
his wife and sons sailed from Belfast in 1820. The voyage from
Belfast to Quebec occupied seven weeks and three days ; from La-

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THE COTTINQHAMS.

351

chine to Kingston they took passage in Durham boats. On the
])a.ssage up an accident occurred to one of the fellow -passengers.
At Cornwall a woman named Trotter was robbed of all her money
V)y an AMencan sharper who joined the party. He cut out her
pocket and took 100 guineas and forty doubloons. They went
from Kingston to Port Hope in a sailing vessel and were wrecked
on Gull Island. Finally, they reached Port Hope which consisted
of only a few houses. John Brown and J. I). Smith, who were the
pioneers of the business of Port Hope had stores there. The Cot-
tinghams purciiased a cow from John Brown and drove her through
the wilderness to the present Township of Emily, to the site of the
Village of Omemee. The son, Samuel Cottingham having felled
the first tree, crossed over Pigeon River on it. They made the
first clearing where the Methodist Church now stands, but did not
settle on the lot till the spring of 1821. They lived meanwhile
in the neighbouring Township of Cavan.

They had not long settled in their new home when they were
visited by Indians who were without clothing, but seemed very
inoffensive, and at once made friends with the family, calling them
all names of their own. One day the Chief having imbibed pretty
freely of Fire Water, began asking what brought theni to settle in
th(^ir country, and being answered that King George had sent
them, he replied : " King Geoige — <lamn rascal."

In the year 1824 William and Samuel went to Montreal, and
|)urohased clothing for the Indians, sup[)lie8, ammunition, and
otluir merchandise.

In the summer of 1825 occurred what is known as Pei'T Robin-
son's emigration, principally from the south of Ireland. The emi-
grants settled in this and the neighbouring townships. They
landed at Cobourg, and the brothers were employed in locating
theiu. The Government acted very liberally, giving < ach family
100 acres fite, supplying them with farm impUments for work,
besides building for each settler a shanty twelve l)y fourteen
feet. From that time to the present the Irish race has predomi-
nated in this section of the country, which has kept pace with any
other part of Canada. The hardships and innumerable difficulties
which beset the family at that early period, would take a large
book to chronicle. The present Town of Peterborough contained

352

THE IKIHHMAN IN CANADA.

ono liouso, kept })y a man who corultinod a saw and grist mill, and
blacksmith .sh<)|) ; ho aftorward.s, in 1820, built for William Cot-
tin^diam, the first mill in the county. Their |,'rain had previously
to be taken some fifteen nnles to V)e ground, through a long
stretch of swamp and heavy timbenid land. Samuel (Nottingham
assisted in the survey of four townships, B'enelon, Verulam,
Methuen, and Ops. Colonel McDonald, of Glengarry, liad the
surveying of the Township of Op.s, in which the site for the
present Town of Lindsay was laid out, but some time elap.sed
before any one settled there. He' also collected the first taxes for
this township, having to make his return to John Bundiam, of
Col)<)urg, a distance of forty miles. He carried tlie whole sum to
him, amounting to four dollars, his fees for the same being one
shilling. In 183G he ct»ntracted with the Government to l)uild
twelve houses for tiie Indians, on wliat is now known as Indian
Point, in Balsairi Lake. He had to go to Toronto to draw his pay.
It is now a very valua]»le property, and is in a liighly cultivated
state. In the fall of 1837 the Cottinghams and their neighlxmrs
promptly marched to Bowmanville at the call of the Government
to (piell the rebellion under Mackenzie. They wintered at Bow-
manville, and left in May, 1838, William being diseliargcid with a
captain's commission, and Samuel with a lieutenant's. Indeed no
people proved more loyal to the Government on that occasion
than did the Irish in this district. William Cottingham is at pre-
sent Reeve of the Village of Omemee.

An<jther prominent man, and a successful merchant and large
l)roperty holder, is Mr. Thomas Stephenson, Reeve of the Town-
ship of Emily. Then there is Mr. John Scully, Mr. Denis Scully,
and Mr. Jeremiah Scully, who settled in the township tliirty years
ago. They have succi;eded by their energy and industry in accu-
mulating a large amount of real estate. Michael Lehane is
a prominent agriculturist, and identified with all movements bear-
ing on the cultivation of the soil. He is one of the oldest magi.s-
trates in that part of Victoria.

In Fenelon Township we have Hugh Crawford, a prominent
man as an agriculturist ; Samuel Raizin, who has done much for
railway enterprise ; Henry Raizin, who is a County Inspector of
Public Schoch ; both men of great intelligence, and of social md

THE WORTHIES OF THE VICTOUIA TOWNSHIPS.

353

|)ublic ;iHofulne.sH. There arc William and Henry Downer, botli
practici' a;^riculturi.st.s ; Joseph and Samuel McCiee, prosperous far-
mers ; the Jordan family ; Henry Perdue, a Tipperary man, noted
foi" liis spl(;rjdid breed of Devon cattle ; Jolm Daniel, another suc-
cessful farmer, who has 1,500 acres under cultivation, and is rapidly
HulMhiiiiir the wilderness.

In Marij)osa, already mentioned, William Foster and John
Glenny aie first-class a^^riculturists, and are full of puldic spirit.
Here is the prosperous family of tlie Irvins, and as fruitful as
pi osperous. Stephen Dundas is also pr(jminent as an a/^ricul-
turisl, as is James Moffat. The Davidsons represent " Old
S<iuire 1 Javidson." There is a whole settlement of them — millers,
agricult-iirists, and all most successful.

Behind Fenelon is the Township of Bexley, ^^ here we find the
Staples, of whom Joseph Staple is the head. This gentleman re-
presented North Victoria in the Commons as a Conservative. Ho
is the first and only Reeve of Bexley, and was for several years
Warden of the County. James Moore is one of the foremost
agriculturists of Bexley.

In the I'ownsliip of Bixhjy, Robert Sta|)les stands in the front
as a lumberer and agriculturist. He represented the town.ship in
the (y'ounty Council for years. And there is John Bailey, the
present Reeve.

In the Township of Soiuerville, in the foremost ranks of prac-
tical agriculturists stands James Eliot, tlien we have Benjamin
BurclnjU, Mr. Per<lue, and others.

In the Township of Verulam, there is Morsom Boyd, " the King
of Pines," as Mr. George Laidlaw called him — the ])rince of lum
berint'U in that part, and one of the first settlers. Then we have
the Junkin family, sixteen of them, all practical agriculturists
and taking a deep interest in munici{)al matters. The principal
hotel keeper is Mr, John Sim})8on, po.ssessed of plenty of Irish
geniality, and no mean judge of a hoi'se. Then there is the Ire-
ton family, a large connection of them, all connected with the
Episcopal Church. There is also the Bell family, agriculturists
and manufacturers. Nor should we forget that prime agricuU
turisi, William Playfair ; nor Jabez Thurston, agriculturist and
lumberman, at the head of a large family connection. Then there

:-5;3

354

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

is honest Ned Kelly, and W. B. Reed, a successful merchant in
Bobcaygeon.

In the Township of Garden, James Fitzgerald is Reeve, a quiet
good fellow, a great pioneer, warring with the bush, but all the
time taking a lively interest in iii'inicipal affairs.

Mrs. Foley {n^e Sullivan), of Garden, is a genuine heroine. She
was bom on the shores of those beautiful lakes which every sum-
mer attract tourists from all parts of the world to Killainey. She
married early, and had three children. One day she said to her
husband : " We shall never do anything here. They say Gana<Ui is
a fine country, let us go out there, in the name of God, and try our
luck." But the husband would not hear of it. She then said :
" Well, I must go myself ;" and the brave little dark -eyed woman
saved enough money to biing her to Toronto. In Toronto she
took in washing, and saved enough money to send for her hus-
band and her children. She then said to her husband : " If we
are to do anything for our children, we must push out into the
woods." She heard there was land to be had in Victoria, and
tiuther she went with her family, and worked like a brave woman.
Slie has now 200 acres of land well cultivated, and each of he;
four ssons has 1 00 acres. All four are married, and are raising
happy families.

It' will not be out of place to record an incident which Mr
Gla. ke, an Irish settlei in the Township of Drummond, has often
told. Glarke had been a soldier. He found he was being plun-
dered. One little pig after another disappeared. He suspected
a neighbour who bore no good character, and determined to sit up
and watch. Accordingly, having loaded his gun, he lit his pipe,
and listened for the sound of intruding footsteps. He waited and
watched the whole night, but no sound alarmed him. Just at the
dawn he heard the squealing of a pig. He darted out. The
squealing came from the Beaver meadow. Jumping the fence, he
saw the form, as he thought, of MacNaughton, bearing away his
pig. He called m him, but the call was unheeded. He drew
near and said : " MacNaughton, if you do not stop, I'll shoot you."
The warning was ^ot regarded. Glarke raised his gim and fired
at the legs of the robbi '^. The next moment he saw that the
robber was a she bear which was taking the little pig to her cubs.

THE COUNTY OF PETERBOROUGH.

355

The ball grazed the bear's leg. She paused, threw the pig on the
ground, and with a stroke of her paw killed it ; then made for
Clarke. Clarke ran. Luckily he had brought ammunition with
him, and as he ran he loaded, doubled and fired, hitting the brute,
which, however, only uttered a cry of anger, and continued pursuit.
Clarke loaded again. He was now near the fence, and the bear
close on his heels. He turned and fired, striking the animal in
the forehead. As he fired, he s))rang over the fence. It was well
he did, for the bear uttering a cry such as Clarke could never
forget, sprang towards where he had been, and fell dead in the
act of hugging her fancied prey.

The maiden name of the wife of the present member for South
Victoria has been mentioned. The father of this lady, Thos. Trotter,
one of the oldest settlers of South Victoria, came to Canada previous
to the formation of the " Robinson Settlement." His wife is still
alive, and lives with her son in Emily Township. The old gentle-
man is long dead, and the family much scattered. One daughter
lives near Cobourg. One son lives on Manitoulin Island, and one
at Owen Sound. Another son went to the United States, and has
not been heard of for years. Old Mr. Trotter seems to have been
a wealthy man when he died, and Mr. McQuade, through his wife,
received a portion of the property.

Sixty years ago the County of Peterborough was an unbroken
forest. In the Autumn of 1818 a few pioneers found their way
into the Township of Smith. The next year another exploring
party started for a region where most of them had drawn land
and returned well pleased with w^tal they saw.

Where there are now busy factories and well-lighted streets and
all the life and wealth of Peterborough, prior to 1825 there were
only one or two families. The most sanguine settlers were in des-
pair. But during the Autumn of that year, the Honourable Peter
Robinson, after whom Peterborough is named, conducted a large
emigration from the South of Ireland. In the May of 1825, the
hill of Cove, now known as Queenstown, was a scene of heart-rend-
ing grief. Bitter tears were shed. Bitter cries went up to Heaven,
At first Cove appeared like a vast f lir. More than four thousand
persons had crowded from the country into it. Half the number
were bound for a distant land which lay beyond the vast and dan*

35G

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

.': *r

gerouH ocean. The other half had como to h)ok their last on
daughters and brothers and sons. Gay ribbons were flying from
the head-dress of the women. The men tall, stalwart fellows, the
women with the ^low of health and the beauty for which their
country is renowned sauntered about, talking, bu^ ing articles for
the voyage, and with them the old people, the grey-headed, wrink-
led fatlu'iH, the mothers with a countenance in wi.ich the lines of
tenderntss contended against the furrows of care. The black
ships are lying in that harbour which is among the most beautiful
of the works of God. Monkstown shines white against the hill
and on the heights opposite, which overlook the road leading from
Queenstown to Cork, t'te furze were already yellow with blossom.
The terraced curves of the harbour circle on either side of tlie
harbour's mouth, beyond wliich the Atlantic beats into foam against
the rocky bases of the groen hills. No wonder men find it hard
to leave such a country. It is like a lover tearing himself
away from the woman he has loved and loves. In that hour of
giief and madness and tears, her eye seems brighter, her smile
sweeter than ever, and her sobs accentuate with fatal charm
every beauteous outline. The hour comes. The bells sound.
The boats put off' to the ships. Anchor is weighed. Those left be-
hind press over the low wall which fringes the long straggling hill
commanding the view sea-ward. The emigrants press to the side
of the ship. They wave their handkerchiefs,and as the ships move

away, a wail from the shore rises like but that is indescribable

and beggars comparison. Some faint, others rush madly down to
the water's edge. None turn homewards. Seaward they strain
their eyes until the ships have become specks and disappeared.

On boaid the vessels, grief and sickness prostrate most. But
one emigrant sits in the bow. He watches the waves rise between
him and his beloved country. When the last shadowy outline is
gone, to an old harp, an heirloom of his family, which may have
sounded in the halls of Tara, and with his forefathers' prowess of
song not wholly degraded, he pours forth in words somewhat as
follows, a farewell to his country, in which he mourns over her
history and dilates on her tender beauty : —

AN emiorant's farewkll. ^''7

They're gone ! The green hillu <>' uiy country no more,

IndiHtinct a« a dream I beh.ld o'er tlic Hpray ;
The wild wavoH that daah in'-o foam on the Hhoro,

Will roll darkly and deei).y between us to-day.

Farewell ! O, farewell ! my infancy's clime 1

BrighteBt gem of the sea! choicest flower of the e-vrth !

Gum tyranny-soiled ! flower sullied by crime !

Sunny isle doomed to tears from the hour of thy birth !

Did a hove -pan thy sky, my place were not here ;

The w<ja,lth of Golconda woidil not tempt me to roam ;
But afar I can pay my sole tribute -a tear,

And strike the old harp, so long nilenced at home.

Be still, breaking heart ! A star gleauis in the west ;

In Canadian wilds her old airs sliall resound ;
There her cliildren, hopeftd, ccmtented and blest,

A nation of freemen contribute to found.

No more shall we fight the foul feuds of sorrows ;

The sinister strife cf dark ages shall cease ; •

Our eyes be aglow with the light of glad morrows.

Our breasts with the Ijehests of the Preacher of Peace.

Late in June the vessels arrived ao Quebec. The passenoers,
2,024 souls, were immediately forwarded to Kingston. Thi re they
remained for some weeks. The weather was intensely hot, and
many suffered in consequence from fever and ague. Mr. Robinson,
meanwhile, proceeded to Sc(jtt's Fhiins, as Peterborough was then
called, and spent a week exploring the townships. On the llth
of August, he embarked five hundred on board a steamboat and
landed them the next day at Oobourg. The remainder of the
settlers were brought up in the same manner, the boat making a
trip each week. They were next taken from Cobourg to Smith
at the head of the Otonabee River. The route lay through a
country very thinly inhabited. The twelve miles of road from
Lake Ontario to the Rice Lake were hardly passable. The Oton-
abee River is in many places very rapid, a ad this year the water
was much lower than usual. I'he first thing Mr. Robinson had to
do was to repair the road and make it fit to bear loaded waggons.
In ten days so much progress was made that provisions and bag-
gage could be sent over it with ease. Three laige boats were
transported on wheels to Rice. Lake. A boat was built for the
special purpose of being able to ascend the rapids of the Otonabee.

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358

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

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The ague and fever attacked old and new settlers alike. The
first party Mr. Peter Robinson ascended the river with, consisted
of twenty men of the country, hired as axemen, and thirty of the
healthieet settlers, not one of whom escaped falling ill r.nd two of
whom died. The immigrants, while waiting to be " located " on
their lands sheltered themselves from the heat by constructing
rude huts or wigwams built of slabs, bark, the branches of trees,
sous and the like. The emigration was under the auspices of the
Government, and Government rations were given out to the poor
settlers, one pound of pork and one of flour for each person over
fourteen years of age, half a pound of each to children between
five and eleven years, a pound of meat and a pound of flour to
every four children under five years of age. The provisions were
brought from Cobourg or other places equally happily situated,
and the rations were given out for a period of eighteen months.
It is easy to see that persons with a large family of young chil-
dren wouk^ have more food than they required. The excess of
rations provided some with the luxury of whiskey.

The immigrants accompanied by guides went out in groups to
examine the land and fix on the portions allotted them. To each
family of five persons was given one hundred acres. Each grown
up son also got a hundred acres. Contracts were made by Mr
Robinson with older settlers to erect .shanties at the rate of ten
dollars each. Roads were extemporised through the forest. Teams
of oxen and horses weie purchased for transporting the settlers
vnih their eflfects to the spot where with axe and spade they were
to dig the foundations of a civilized community. Before the close
of autumn the vast immigration had distributed itself into homes,
each family being supplied with a cow, an axe, an auger, a hand
saw, a hammer, one hundred nails, two gimlets, three hoes, one
kettle, one frying pan, one iron pot, five bushels of seed potatoes,
and eight quarts of Indian corn.

But there were many trials yet in store for these poor settlers.
Fever and ague which had assailed them on their landing in the
countiy, pursued them to the bush. During the passage to Quebec
fifteen of them had died. Before the spring of 1826 had well
begun eighty-seven more laid their bones in the earth they had
come to till. Scarcely a family escaped the scourge. Entire

FEVER AND AGUE. SLANDER.

359

households shook for months sc that they could not hand each
other a glass of water. In a single day eleven funerah of immi-
grants saddened the streets of Kir.g iton. In the remoter settle-
ments, away from medical aid, hhe most loathsome devices of a
desperate quackery were resorted to, and miseries untold and
indeseiibable were endured, The people were perishing continu-
ally as though some offended God had discharged his arrows on a
guilty race. But as the land was cleared and the soil became drier,
liability to this depressing and afflicting disease diminished. At
the present day this region is omiriently healthy.

In the Newcastle district six hundred and twenty-one men, five
hundred and twelve women, seven hundred and forty-five children;
in all eighteen hundred and seventy-eight were settled ; in that
of Bathurst a total of fifty-five ; in Montreal, twenty-six ; Kings-
ion, two.

We need not be surprised that the immigrants, were regarded
with critical distrust f>y the older inhabitants. Were one to be-
lie /e their slanderers, we should write that, while their rations
lasted, they acted like many a young gentleman who inherits a
small patrimony ; that they put forth no exertions. They found
it difficult to face the new order of things, and to gird them-
selves to work and exacting toil. But calumnies of this sort are
abundant, where there is the least difference in the circumstances
of sections of humanity, placed aide by side. The ordinary human
heart unaccustomed to generous impulse, cort^'ullpj by the egotism
which would be amusing, were it not cojitemptible, is the narrow
factory of misrepresentation. It is a solaje to ])ett}' characters, to
try anc make themselves out superior in some small way to other
persons. What, however, are the facts ? From the third report of
the Emigration Ccnmittee of the British Parliament, 18/?7, we
learn that th jie were sixty lots xxi Douro, on which 245^ acres
were cleared in 1826 ; 8,251 bushels of potatoes grown ; 4,175
bushels of turnips; 1,777 bushels of Indian corn ; that 80f bushels
of wheat had been sown. 1,159 lbs. of maple sugar were made
by those settlers in Douro ; 11 oxen purchased by themselves, 18
cows and 22 hogs. In the Township of Smith, we find like re-
sults : 34 locations ; 113J acres cleared ; 4,800 bushels of potatoes,
1,150 bushels of turnips, 637 bushels of Indian corn, grown ; 40|

360

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

bushels of wheat sown ; 889 lbs. maple suga** productd. Pur-
chased by the emigrarits, 6 oxen, 7 cows, 21 hogs. In Otonabee,
again we find 51 locations; 186 acres cleared ; produced 10,500
bushels of potatoes, 4,250 of turnips, 1,395 of Indian corn ; 1,419
lbs. of maple sugar. 38 bushels of wheat were sown, and
4 oxen, 13 cows, and 11 hogs, were bought. In Emily, of which
we have already said somethii^g, the figures are as follows : —
Locations, 142; acres cleared, 251^. Produce: potatoes 22,200
bushels, turnips 7,700, Indian com 3,442 ; maple sugar 2.280 lbs ;
sown, 44^ bushels wheat ; bought, 6 oxen, 10 cows, 47 hogs. For
Ennismore, the figurej are equally eloquent. Locations 67 ; acres
cleared 195 ; produce 8,900 bushels of potatoes, 3000 of turnips,
104| of Indian com; 1,330 lbs. of maple sugar ; sown 44| Imshels
of wheat ; bought 4 oxen, 9 cows, 10 hogs. Asphod 1 : Locations
36 ; acres cleared, 173 ; produce, 9,150 bushels of potatoes, 2,850
of turnips, 1,733 of Indian com ; 1,345 lbs. of maple sugar ; sown,
86 bushels of wheat ; bought 2 oxen, 8 cows, 32 hogs. The esti-
mated value of the produce of the immigrants of 1825, up to the ^-^
24th November, 1826, was in Halifax currency, £12,524 1 9s. Od.
If the idleness of the Iri,sh immigrants could do this, what might
not be expected from their industry ?

Oddly enough, in the Colonial Advocate, of Decemlte] 8th,
1826, William Lyon Mackenzie attacked the loyalty and patriotism
of the immigrants ! The man, who ten years afterwards, was to
head an abortive rebellioi>, who had published a series of biogra-
phies in pamphlet form, extolling the genius of Irishmen, who was
proud of his descent from a remote Irish ancestor, assaile<l these
helpless strangers in their most vulnei-r.ble point. The men
whose sons are now the lords of smiling farms in the richest part
of the Dominion, had an ardent desire to go to the United States.
The $30,000 which had been expended in bringing them out and
settling them was thrown into the sea. Worse, it was a bounty
paid out by Canadian councillors to recruit in Ireland soldiers for
the United Siatos. What baseness is there to which low ambi-
tion and factious opposition will not descend ? The charge was at
oiivte refiited. Two communications were published in a London
paper, one from Mr. Thomas Orton, of the Land Registfr Office of
Port Hope, the other from Mr. James Fitzgibbon, better known as.

THE TOWN OF PETERBOROUQH.

361?

Colonel Fitzgibbon, a heroic noble character, to whom we shall have
again to refer. Fitzgibbon pointed out that it would not have
been surprising, if many of the settlers, skilled mechanics, antl
other strangers to forest life, who could find employment and gooil
wages everywhere between the settlement and New York, had
spread themselves abroad. As a fact, they had not done so. Nor,
concluded the gallant i'ellow, had they since their arrival, done
aught for which he or any other countryman of theirs need blush.
Meanwhile, Peterborough began to rise. The few immigrants
who had remained on tlie plains, built themselves little dwellings'.
They plied a trade, they turned their hands to what they might.
John Boates started that sure and sinister mai k of modern civili-
zation, a tavern. Adjoining it was a log house, in which Oapt.
Armstrong lived. Captain Armstrong was engaged in distribut-
ing rations to the settlers. John Sullivan put up a log house on
the south-west corner of George and Charlotte Streets, and ho too
kept a tavern. William Oakely started a bakery, and made the
staff of life, while Boates and Sullivan dispensed a perilous solace
which would not be too harshly described as the fluid of death.
There are ruined children, heart-broken widows, who would not
think me harsh if I called it the instrument of hell. Tlic next
house was on the south side of King Street, where Timothy
O'Connor lived. East of O'Connor's another was built, by James
Hurley, in the \vinterof 182G. Mr. Stewart opened a small store ;
gave credit ; charged the bar of si p, or the half pound of candles,
or the ounce of tea, or the quarter-pound of tobacco, to " the
woman with the red cloak," the " man with the iron grey beard,"
the " girl with the mole on her cheek." Need we wonder he was
bought out? James Bailey, a north of Ireland man, in 1826,
built his house, and kept a tavern. In 1828, John CruAvford, of
Port Hope, put up a frame house. And so the town grew. The
Irishman became fond o* his adopted country, and the grief of
his heari, stilled, he was at leisure to turn his thoughts to the
happy cares of life, and the happier joys of friendship and love*.
Cupid follows the human family everywhere. All climates agree
with him. He discharges his arrows with as murh s];U in a
Canadian winter as in the slumberous, almost volupi loa-, atrno -
phere of the tropics. His song is ever fresh. He fails in with

i li

^62

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

the cadence of the sleigh bells, as well as with the tones of the
lute. Under a maple tree he is as much master of the situation
as under a palm. And so men fell in love and married, and
begot large families, to gladden them with the tenderer love of
parent and child, when the fierce wild heat of the passions could
make their veins run with lightning no more, and when all the
soft and pleasant appliances of civilization should sarround the
home of their old age. Were this not so amid the toil" and pri-
vations of a pioneer life, what a mournful light would steal
through the sunless forest, what a gloom would rest on xhe am(ir-
phcus beginnings of early settlements. Even in the heart of capi-
tals, and in the midst of wealth,

" The hours were dreary,
Life withe 'it love does buc fade ;
Vain it wastes and we grow weary."

Love, more powerful than imagination, cannot merely irradiate
the gloom of a dungeon, and render us independent of that mob
we call society, it makes the couch of poverty softer than down,
and infuses into the heart of privation a IjtIc joy.

In the winter of 1826, His Excellency Sir Peregrme Maitland,
visited the town and settlement. Save where the few houses stood,
that portion of the town then cleared was c isfigured with stumps.
The Governor was accompanied by Colonel Talbot, the Hon. John
Beverley Robinson, the Attorney General, and others. The Vice-
regal party were entertained by Captain Rubridge. He held a rude
levee, at which a large number of settlers attended. Various ud-
dres;4ts were presented. One, from the Magistrates, dwelt on the
good con-'Iu^'.t of the immigrants who had given ground to hope that
they would pro^'^e a valuable acquisition to the Province. A de-
putation from the colony of Smith, came with a verbal address.
The chosen spokesman broke down, as raw onvtors will, Bui he
had presence of rnind enough to turn round to Mr. Jacob Brom-
wellandsay: "Speak it you, sir." The difficulties, occasional
•distress, the want of a mill were dwelt on: " SavJig your presence,
sir," said Bromwell, " I have to get up at night to chew corn for
the children." They were promised assistance. I'atrick Barragan,
-a school-teacher, presented an a-ddress on behalf of the Irish Ro-
niftn Catholics. The Irish immigrants expressed their gratitude to

A VICE-REGAL VISIT.

363

their " gracious good King, and to His Majesty's worthy, good and
humane Government," for all that had been done, " and," said the
address, very characteristically, " we hope yet intend to do for
us." They were equally alive to what Mr. Peter Robinson had
done for them, and equally mindful of the future, so far as he was
concerned. " We are fully sensible that his fine and humane feel-
ings will not permit him to leave anything undone that nii^y for-
ward our welfare." They were satisfied with the doctor and the
officers placed over them. " Please your Excellency," the address
proceeds, still characteristically, and not without some humour ;
" we agree very well, and are pleased with the proceedings of the
old settlers amongst us, as it is the interest of us all to do the
same. And should an enemy ever have the presumption to in-
vade this portion of His Majesty's dominions, your Excellency
will find that we, when (.ailed upon to face and expel the common
foe will, to a man, follow ov brave commanders ; not an Irish
soul will stay behind." They deplored " the want of a clergy-
man to administer to us the comforts of our Holy Religion." They
also said they wanted good schoolmasters to instruct their
children.

The next day the Governor drove out to Ennismore. Mud
Lake was crossed on the ice. The party put up at the shanty of
Mr. Eugene McCarthy, the father of Mr. Jeremiah McCarthy who
was Reeve of Ennismore. Equally loyal addresses were forwarded
from various townships to Earl Bathuist, Col jr/ial Secretary.

The vice-regal visit bore fruit. A grist mill containing two run of
stones, was completed in 1827, and was at once oflTered for sale by
the Government. Mr. John Hall and Mr. Moore Lee became the
purchasers. A bridge was built across the Otonabee. Henceforth
the prosperity of the town and the success of the settlement were
assured.

In 1832 the cholera visited this continent and penetrated to
Peterborough. Out of a population of five hundred, twei. *.;y -three
persons died of this disease. In 1833 the lawyers began to arrive.
Stafford Kirkpatrick " put out his shingle " in 1834. In the year
1832 a couple of small steamers were placed on Rice Lake. About

ii^

304

THE IRISHM.iN IN CANADA.

the same time the great work was conceived of renderinsjf navi-
gable the chain of waters from the Bay of Quinte to Lake Simcoe.

In the civic, legal, and militia affairs of the district the names
which occur most frequently are, as we might expect, Irish. In
1847 the immigrants arriving from Ireland brought w^t,h them a
fever of a malignant ^ype. In 1860 the Prince of Wales was
received magnificently in Peterborough. A pavilion was erected
on the Court House Green for the presentation ol ad Iresses. In
front of the pavilion, seats had been fixed for one thousand children •
The rising ground of the Court House Park would have atlbrded
easy standing room for thirty thousand people. But whether
thirty thousand or only fifteen thousand availed themselves of it
is lefj uncertain by contemporary accounts. In any rasa the
splendour, the arches, the population, all indicate what progress
had been made as far back as seventeen years ago. Schools had
long been opened and ministers of the various forms of Christianity
established in Peterborough.* I need not tell the reader what
Peterborough with its .5,000 inhabitants, its stores, factories, mills,
newspapers, railway and telegraph accommodation, its well laid
out find well-iit streets is to-day- Nor is it necessary to describe
the county with its prosperous townships. The greater part of
all this wealth and prosperity and usefulness to the Dominion is
due to I-ish heads and hands.

A remaikably able business man, whose history has already
been written in one of our own periodicals, is William Cluxton.
Born at Dundalk, County Louth, in 1819, he lost his father when
he was only six years' old, and his mother before he had passed
his twelfth year. On her death the orphaned family was scatter-
ed, and he went to reside with an uncle who carried on a busi-
ness at Cootehill, County Cavan. His uncle soon urged him to
emigrate to Canada. He found himself among friends three
miles from the small village of Peterboro' of that time. Here he
soon discovered that nature did not intend him for farming. With
his friends' consent he sought and o))tained a very humble situa-
tion in the employment of the late John Hall, the father of Judge

* This word is spelled either Peterborough or Peterboro', apparently according to the
whim of the writer.

A SUCCESSFUL IRISH LAD.

365

• the

Hall, also deceased, who was then the leading merchant in the
village. He was soon promoted, and in 1836 we find him at Port
Hope in charge of an establishment belonging to the late John
Crawford. He next went to Peterboro' to take sole charge of a
branch of Mr. Crawford's business. In 1842, he set up business
on hi.s own account. Why particularize ? His history is the his-
tory of thousands. In 1872, he retired from the dry-goods busi-
ness with an amjjle fortune. One of its branches, established at
Lindsay, he sold to a clerk, who is now one of the wealthiest
and best business men in that town. To his two sons and an-
other clerk he sold the Peterboro' establishment. His grain and
lumber transactions are so large that he has as yet been unable to
extricate himself from these branches of speculation. For the last
twenty years he has moved the princi^ml part of the grain along
the whole line of railway from Lindsay to the front. His transac-
tions, it is said, have amounted to half a million annually.

In 1852, he became manager of the Peterboro' branch of the
Commercial Bank of Canada, a position he held for eight years.
He has been President of the Midland Railway Company ; of the
Marmora Mining Company ; of the Little Lake Cemetery Com-
pany ; oi' the Port Hope and Peterboi'o' Gravel Road Company ;
he is still President of the Lake Huron and Quebec Railway Com-
p.iny. He has been both in the Town and County Council. He
iv. ?. magistrate of several years' standing.

after hours, whether clerk or manager, instf'Cvd of chatting
in bar parlours, he devoted liiaiseif to the cultivation of let-
ters and music, in which last humanizing "li he became a profi-
cient. He was thus fitting himself fo''the respon.sibilities of the
future. He was returned to Parliament, in 1&G7, for West Peter-
borough.

In Kingston, we find, in the early days, among prominent Irish-
men, the Rev. M. Salmon, P.P. ; Jaines Salmon, merchant ;
Walter Mc(!1unniffe, merchant ; Anthony Manahan, the first M.P.
for Kingston aftei* the Union, and of whose career particu-
lars will ' . given later on ; Thomas Turpin, merchant ; Dr. James
Sampson, who came to Canada in 1820 as army surgeon, and who
settled in Kingston, of which he ultimately became Mayor ; Dr.
Macaulay, Dr. Tierney, Dr. Keating, Bishop Phalen, Peter Mac-

I '

36f!

THK IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

i i!

doiidld Mecham, Michael Brennan, J. W. Armstrong, R. B. Ann-
strong, P. Driscoll, Robert Deacon, the present postmaster ; George
Douglas, Thomas Murphy, John Rourke, A. Forster, Mr. Jennings,
of T. C. D., a teacher ; Rev. A. Balfour, Thomas Kidd, the poet ;
Thomas & J. Baker, H. Benson, Colonel J. Ferguson, Messrs. Breen
& Harty, J. & J. Greer, J. Williamson, the Messrs. Cunnin-^ham,
large iron merchants ; H. Scanlan, auctioneer in 1834 ; the Rev.
T. Hancock, Church of England minister, son of Sir V. Hancock ;
Keough, a poet ; John & W. Breden, now wealthy men ; Patrick
Slaven, whose descendants are numerous,

Anthony Manahan, mentioned above, was born in 17f)4. in
Mount Bellew, County Galway. He went to the Island of Trini-
dad in 1809, with his brother, a merchant in high repute, who
was private secretary to Sir Ralph Woodward. He married
Sarah, third daughter of the Hon. John Nugent, who was Ad-
ministrator of the Government during an interregnum ol two
years, and came to Kingston in 1824. which he left to take the
management of the Marmora Iron Works, in 1825, established by
Mr. Hayes, like himself an Irishman. After the death of that
gentleman, who sunk a large fortune in the undertaking (Manahan
also lost a considerable sum), he returned to Kingston in 1830.
Mr. Edmond Murray 'of Irish descent) and himself ran on the
Conservative side, in the election for Hastings in 1834, when both
were returned. He was elected for Kingston in 1840, after a
very severe contest with Mr. J. R. Forsyth, owing to the fact that
both Orange and Green united in supporting him ; for though a
Catholic, he was most 'popular with his Orange countrymen. He
was defeated in 1844 by Mr. (now Sir) John A. Macdonald, and
died at Kingston, in 1849.

Peter O'Reilly, descendant of the O'Reillys of Oavan, was born
at Westoort, County of Mayo, in 1791, and emigrated to Canada
in 1832, the year of the first cholera. He nettled at Belleville, and
there carried on the business of a merchant for several years.
When the rebellion of 1837 broke out, Mr. O'Reilly offered hie
services, and received the appointment of Captain of No. 2 Com-
pany in the Hastings Regiment of Militia, in which position he
remained in active service for two years, under Colonel the Baron
de Rottenburgh, his company being the first which was called out,

JAMES O REILLY, Q.C.

ZQ7

and on hie retirement he received the thanks of the Governor of
Upper Canada for his services and loyalty to the Crown. During
the sixteen years he spent in the County of Hastings where, in the
old days, politics did really exist, and party lines w*^re well de-
fined, Peter O'Reilly's voice and influence did much for the side he
espoused.

Mr. O'Reilly took a strong interest in public questions, ard was
the intimate friend of the truly "honourable" Robert Baldwin, by
whom he stood in many c, hard fought contest for constit a clonal
government in this country. He moved to Kingston in 1847, the
year alter that in which his son, the late Mr. James O'Reilly, Q.C,
commenced the practice of law there. Shortly afterwards he was
appointed Clerk of the Crown, Clerk of the County Court, and
Registrar of the Surrogate Court of the United Counties of Fron-
tenac, Lennox and Addington. In Kingston he for many years
exercised a strong influence over his countrymen, by all of whom
he was much beloved, and there he died full of years.

His son, Mr. James O'Reilly, Q.C, was bom at Westport, in the
County Mayo, on the 16th of September, 1823. In 1842 he com-
menced the study of the law. He was the first student examined
by the late Secretary of the Law Society, Mr. Hugh N. Gwynne.

He first entered the law office of Mr. Charles Otis Benson, in
Belleville, where, a short time before, he had completed his educa-
tion under the direction of the late Mr. William Hutton, the head
of the Grammar School of the County of Hastings. A relative of
Sir Francis Hincks, Mr. Hutton was a man of learning and ability,
who subsequently held an important position in the Bureau of
Statistics in the old Province. Mr. O'Reilly after a short tine
with Mr. Benson entered the office of the Hon. John Ross, Q.C,
subsequently Attorney-General for Upper Canada, then engaged
in the practice of his profession and supposed to have secured the
largest practice of any lawyer in the Province.

He remained a few months in Mr. Ross' office until he was
called to the Bar, when he went to Toronto, and completed
his studies in the office of Messrs. Crawford, the late Lieutenant-
Governor of Ontario, and Hagarty, the present Chief Justice
of the Common Pleas. He was called to the Bar, 9th of
August, 1847, and immedi^teiy commenced the practice of his pro-

"868

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

fesHiori in the City of Kingston. The leading mem}>ers of the Bar
of Kingston were Mr. (Sir) John A. Macdonald ; the Hon. Alex-
ander Campbell, Senator of the Dominion of Canada ; the late
Tliomas Kirkpatrick, Q.C., M.P. ; and the late Sir Henry Smith,
Q.C. Mr. O'Reilly, in a short time, secured a large and lucrative
practice, and at one Assize held no less than o'ghty -seven briefs on
the civil side of the Court, besides a number f criminal cases in
which he was engaged as leading counsel.

His first important capital case created much public notice at
the time from trio extraordinary circumstances connected with the
alleged commission of the crime. After two days* investigation
of the evidence the Jury ac(juittcd the prisoner, and Sir James
Buchanan Macaulay, the presiding Judge, paid a high compliment
to the young advocate for the skill and ability shown in the de-
fence of his client. Shortly after this he was associated with Mr.
Kenneth McKenzie, Q C, now Judge of the County Court of the
County of Yr>rk, for the defence in the case of the Queen vs. Mrs.
Smith, for poisoning by strychnine. The prisoner, after an extra-
ordinary effort on the part of her counsel, was acquitted. So great
was the jniblic indignation at the escape of the prisoner that a
guard had to accompany her to the American steamer to save her
fiom tlie violence of the people. Mr. O'Reilly shared largely in
the pre.stige of the acquittal. The case attracted considerable
notoriety in England, and \;'as reported in the Medical Journal as
the tirst in the Colonies t'ov murder by strychnine where the
colour te,' !. — well known to chemists — was employed.

When Mr. McKen.'-:e, Q.C. brought a libel suit against the
publisher of the Daily New.", Kingston, for an alleged libel on his
professional character, Mr. O'Reilly was opposed by the late Hon.
J. Hilly ard Cameron, Q C, yet he won a verdict for the plaintiff
and S250 damages ; a sum at that time considered large damages,
especially as against a public journalist.

Next to the celebrated McGee case, that of the Queen vs. Mrs
Bridget Farrally, for the murder of her brother-in-law by poison-
ing, is the most remarkable. The case was tried at the spring
assizes of 1867, in the County of ^ '.oria. The plea was that of
insanity, which was one of the first cases known either in Ca-
nada or the old country where a plea of insanity proved successful

PROSECUTINO THE MURDF.RER OF MOOEE,

36!)

in a charge of homicide by poisoning ; the fact of the administra-
tion of poison to procure death requiring forethought and design
would seem to be incompatible w'th the presence of insanity at
the time of the commission of the oftence.

In September, 1868 Mr. O'Reilly was appointed crown prose-
cutor in the case of ..le Queen vs. Whelan, for the murder of
D'Aicy McGee. A warm personal friend, a devotee* admirer and
follower of the muidered statesman, Mr. O'Reilly v ked inde-
fatigably in preparing for the trial, which lasted seven days and
ended in the prisoner being found guilty and suffering deatli.

In the course of his speech O'Reilly used the following language
very characteristic, but perhaps too warm for a prosecutor who
should prove his case up to the hilt but show no fceling : —

" God forbid that the man who committed the foul deed should
not suffer the just punishment consequent upon his crime. The
people of this country desire to see the murderer punished ; the
press unanimously agree that every effort should be made to lay
bare the murder, and if I have been instrumental in drawing it to
lig'it I shall go down to my grave satisfied that I have tracked
the felon who killed D'Arcy McGee." Again alluding to the
manner in which the assassin accomplished his work, he said : —
" Who saw him ? — God in heaven saw him on that beautiful
night v/hen all heaven was lighted up, on that night when a
dastardly deed was perpetrated which will bring down the ven-
geance of God and man."

Mr. O'Reilly served in the Council of Kingston as an alderman
for many years, being elected almost unanimously after a resi-
dence in that city for one year and a half. He was often urged
to enter political life, particularly during the local general elec-
tions in 1867. In 1864 he was appointed a Queen's Counsel and
succeeded the late Mr. A. J. Macdcnnell as recorder of Kingston,
which ofH^'-e he continued to fill until it was abolished in 1861) by
the Local ^'^ovemment of Ontario. He was a bencher of the Law
Society and in 1869 he was called to the bar at Quebec. For
many years he was president of the St. Patrick's Society of King-
ston. His full length portrait was presented to him by the Corpor-
ation at the time of the " Trent " affair when he raised a company of

volunteers. He held for several years a commission in the active
24

370

THt' IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

militia, a-:J in 1872 retired with the rank of Major. He was
otherwise identified with tht interests of the surrounding district,
having been a director and the standing counsel of the Kingston
and Pembroke Railway Company.

In 1872 he was elected to the Dominion Parliament for South
Renfrew and sat during <^ .^o short life of the second Parliament.
Upon the dissolution in 1874 he refused again to enter political
life, which interfered too much with his profession. He was a
devoted admirer of Sir John Macdonald, and but a few days be-
fore his death expressed high admiration for that statesman.

It is not unreasonable to suppose that Mr. O'Reilly, having tor
thirty years been a pr^lic man, looked forward to a seat upon the
Bench and comparative relaxation from labour. Alluding to his
prospects not long before his death, he expressed satisfaction at
h .ving been assured that had Sir John Macdcnald's Government
remained in power, it was their intention to elevate him to tiio
Bench whenever a vacancy should occur. He was a fine manly
fellow; amiable; a shrewd observer of human nature; of great per-
ceptive powers, and although a strong believer in the religion of
his forefathers, bigotry, intolerance or prejudice were entirely
foreign to his nature ; he judged a man's practices, not mere pro-
fessions, and frequently alluded when discussing this point to the
noble lines of Thomas Moore —

" Shall I ask the brave soldier who fights by my side.
In the cause of mankind, if our creeds agree ? "

Mr. O'Reilly was one of the wittiest members of the legal pro-
fession in the Dominion ; he frequently convulsed the Bench, Bar
and public, and at times fairly laughed cases out of court. A few
years ago Harpers Monthly published a number of his witticisms,
alh'iing to him as a distinguished member of the Canadian Bar.
His was an active life. Canada's able men have seldom found a
bed of roses to rest on after the la'^nurs of their early days
and prime; so it was with James O'Reilly. Dispensing char-
ity like a prince —charity without ostentation — he found it
necessary to work indefatigably at his profession, going circuit
regularly, and toiling over briefs. By his death the Bar of
Canada lost a distinguished member and the poor of Kingston

O REiLLY S DEATH. HIS WIT.

371

a good friend : an amiable wife and an attractive family lost
an affectionate, thoughtful husband, and an indulgent father. I
will not trust myself to describe his death — his advent to
a happy home after a successful circuit — his complaining of a
slight pain in the head — speaking affectionately to his wife — -the
breaking of the silver chord during her momentary absence from
the room — and her return — the wild cry of sorrow — over this
scene of tragedy and breaking hearts I must cast a veil. .^

I have spoken above of his wit. He was at one time entrusted
with the brief for the plaintiff" in a breach of promise case. His
client was an elderly cook. She was fat as every good cook should
be. Her face was red. She had lost one eye. Her lover was a man
of humble station. O'Reilly had an inspiration. He proved that
the defendant used to visit the plaintiff" and sigh, protest and eat,
that moreover during his acquaintance with the cook he had
gained not less than forty pounds in weight. F.e put in two
photographs of the defendant. One, taken before his days of court-
ing, showed him lean and hungry ; the other plump ss a peach
and fat as an over-fed lap-dog. " To whom," asked the advocate
who had evidently read the Merchant of Venice, " do these forty
pounds belong if not to my client ? " The jury convinced that
the woman had a claim to at least a portion of the plaintiff and
evidently estimating adipose tissue at $5 a pound gave her a ver-
dict of $200.

The member for Kingston in the Local House, Mr, William
Robinson was born in Ballymony, County Antrim, in 1823. He
came to Canada and settled at Kingston in 1846. He is President
of the Kingston and Marmora Railway. He \7as an Alderman of
Kingston for sixteen years and held the office of Mayor for 1869-
70. He was first returned to Parliament in 1871, and re-elected
at the last general election.

Henry Cunningham, of the wealthy firm of Cham and Cun-
ningham — both Irishmen — has been Mayor of Kingston, as also
has been William Ford, wh >oe son, R. M. Ford, is President of the
Board of Trade, as was William Harty, prominent among King-
ston merchants.

In 1864, a very noble character in his way died at Kingston.
Matthew Rourke was born in Armagh, in 1796. He emigrated to

372

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

this continent in 1817, and remained for a short time in the State
of New York, where he met his wife, Mary Malloy, a young wo-
man from his own country, pious, of great attractions and ami-
ability. Soon after marriage he removed into British terri-
tory, and settled at Kingston where he commenced business. His
path at that time was not strewn with roses. But Rourke was
made of a fibre which does not quail before difficulties. By force
of character and int-igrity he succeeded. He was emphatically a
self-inade man. He brought to the. battle of life nothing but his
keen Irish intellect and his indomitable will. He not only made
a fortune, he gained the confidence and respect of all classes of
his fellow citizens. His career is a triumphant answer to those
who assert that the Irishman in this country has cot the ability
to raise himself to prominence. He occupied many of the posi-
tions of trust ir che gift of his fellow citizens. He was a roan of
a charitable disposition, as the poor and the leading Roman Ca-
tholic institutes of Kingston experienced. Like nearly all his
countrymen, he was blessed with a large family ; his excellent
wife bearing him twelve children, seven of whom survive. Three
of his daughters embraced the conventual life. Of his sons, Daniel,
the eldest, and John, ex-alderman of Kingston, are the proprietors
of the well known Kingston Mills, a splendid property situated
on the Rideau, not far from Kingston. They employ a large num-
ber of men. Shiewd business men, they are an example in the
interest they manifest in all that concerns the welfare of their
workmen — a duty which capitalists neglect at their peril. No
man, or class of men, can with impunity treat their brother men,
as " hands." This brings its retribution in the hardening effect on
the capitalist himself, in the emphasis of class distinctions with
all their dangers, in those periodical wars between the rich and the
poor, and in the long run, revolutions with their bloody train of
ghastly disasters.

The youngest son, Francis, is a Doctor in Montreal. He gained
much experience during the Americin civil war. He has invented
a plan for exhausting sewers of sewer gas, which is thought highly
of by scie i^tific n)en.

In Percy we find a represe/iiative man — a namesake of the
late J imes O'Reilly, but apparently no lelative.

DIFFICULTIES AND DECISION.

873

James O'Reilly, born of Catholic parents, in the Parish of
Moiirne, near Kilkeel, County Down, in 1800, was one of a large
family of sons. He emigrated to Canada in 1830, and having
been raised on the sea shore, naturally took to the water, and for
the summer worked a " batteau " in Quebec. In the fall he
removed to Upper Canada, and in the succeeding An crust married
Ellen Dunne, from the County Kildare. He still clung to the
water, working on the old Durham boats. Shortly afterwards he
removed to Queenston, where he was for some time in the employ
of Hon. John Hamilton. In the summer of 1834«, he, with a com-
rade, Lawrence Granitch, a native of Cork, set out for Percy to
" locate " land. They went by steamer co Cobourg, then but a
small village, whence they proceeded on foot to the Township of
Percy. They came to view some land owned by the Revd. John
Carroll, Point Pleasant, Niagarji, but finding neither roads nor
neighbours, and being unused to backwoods life, they gave up the
prospect in disgust. They had proceeded to Cobourg where tiiey
met Mrs. O'Reilly on her way to the backwoods. After gaining
some idea of the hardships of the life of the backwoodsman, lier
husband had sent word that she should remain where she was, but
the messenger had delivered a wrong message, viz : to come imme-
diately. Here was a coil. On leaving Queenston, Mrs. O'Reilly
had sold at a sacrifice every article of furniture not easily removed ;
the remainder she had with her. IJIer husband, after explaining
the difficulties to be encountered, and the hardships to be under-
gone, left the future course to her decision. She, in the spirit of
the heroine of Victoria, answered, " In God's name, let us go to the
woods." His comrade, Lawrence, or as he was familiarly called,
" Larry," decided to throw in his lot with them. They all re-
turned to Percy, where a hospitable Irish Protestant, William, or
as ne was called " Billy " Wilson received them with the genero-
sity of his race. The two men prficeeded to their lot which they
occupied in partnership, and began " underbrushing." Now their
hardships began. It may, however, be remarked, that throughout
the early yesrs of their settlement, the hardship fell principally
to the lot of O'Eeilly, " Larry " being a bachelor, and free at any
time to leave for the " shanties," and having less care and expease.
O'Reilly's situation now may be imagined. Living in an old

^74

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

*' lumber shanty " without a door, unless a blanket hung over an
opening in the wall may be so described, and with other openings
in the centre of uhe roof — troughs — to permit the free egress
of smoke and the ingress of light, as well as wind, rain or snow ;
with small means and a large stock of inexperience, but with
plenty of health and strength, and strong hope for the future, he
began to hew from the primaeval forest a home which he could
call " mine," where agents, bailiffs and tithe proctors were un-
known.

During the following winter, while Larry went to the " shanty,"
O'Reilly occupied, with his \, ife, a house belonging to his friend,
" Billy '■" Wikon, and here hij eldest daughter was born. In the
spring of 1835, they removed to their new home in the woods,
situated six or seven miles from the nearest known settler. They
were twelve miles from the nearest store or mill — Percy Mills,
now Warkworth — and about thirty miles from a post office. He
had to carry the grist on his back twelve miles. Having no team,
he had, after underbiaishing, to " change works " with some more
fortunate settler, that is to say, for one day with a team, he had
to work two in return. He had, besides, to earn a living for his
family, and as there was no settler near, he had to go to the front
of the township, a distance of eight, ten or twelve miles, where-
ever some one might perchance require rail-splitting, logging,
reaping with either the sickle or the like, carrying hie; pay home
on Saturday night. In the mean time his wife remained in the
woods with no one to speak to, no company but her infant daugh-
ter, unless strolling Indian hunters came for a loaf of bread in
exchange for venison. A nighdy serenade of wolves did lot add
to the cheerfulness of the lonelj'^ dwelling. But never was the
slightest insult offered to her ; never was imposition practised, or
other advantage taken of her lonely and helpless position by
those untutored children of the woods. Perhaps the courage with
which .he bore hardship and isolation engendered respect in the
minds of the aborigines, and was her best shield.

Had these been the extent of the hardships, they would prob-
Abl}' soon have surmounted them, as settlers were beginning to
come in. But now the bread-winner for the family was stricken
down by the grea«; enemy of the backwoodsman — fever and ague.

i j

SICKNESS IN THE BUSH.

375

Other diseases ma}^ be thrown off and the former strength reco-
vered, but where the ague takes firm hold of a man his previous
strength is never regained. Thus James O'Reilly, the backwoods-
man, a man of one Imndred and seventy or one hundred and eighty
pounds, with broad chest and erect carriage, who at the age of
forty had not known what sickness was, and was as vigorous as
when twenty-one, was in three years hopelessly prostrated. He
never completely got rid of the ague. During the continuance of
the fe-'or, he became delirious ; when it passed he frequently
fainted, and, though afterwards in good health, never thoroughly
recovered his former vigour. It is very easy to realize what
difficulties and hardships such sickness entailed. The husband
fallen sick, the wife did not escape, and ro their substance was
consumed. Their furniture, and even clothing, had to be given
for doctor's bills.

But all difficulties must have an end, and theirs proved no ex-
ception. Settlers came in ; roads were built ; villages arose in
suitable positions ; as their family grew up their labour became less
onerous, and if not rich, they were independent and respected.

In a pioneer's life there are many points worthy of remark, the
most important of which relates to religion and its influence on
the lives of the settlers. Thus on O'Reilly's migration to the
back-woods there was no minister of his persuasion permanently
established nearer than Belleville, a distance of forty miles. There
the late Reverend Father Brennan was missionary for immense
distances both up and down the lake, and could, therefore, but
seldom visit any one locality. The consequence was that many
of the people became indifl':>rent or careless. Sometimes eight
children of the one mother were baptised at the same time, private
baptism having been previously administered. Thus it was a
standing joke with an old Protestant friend that he vwas the
" priest " who christened the children of the O'Reillys. Subse-
quently the settlers in this locality were visited by Father Butler,
of Peterborough. The first priest permanently established in their
midst was the Reverend Edward Vaughan, who arrived in 1845.
Picture the life of a minister of religion in those times. Then
buggies were not in use for there were no roads to drive them on,
ti*avel being either done on foot or on horseback. His life was not

mmmn

376

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

one of either ease or luxury. Mr. Vaughan's mission included the
Townships of Seymour, Percy, Asphodel, Dummer and Belmont,
which still remain the same mission. Father Vaughan was soon
recalled. By his removal the mission lost a most zealous pastor
and charitable man. He succt.ded by the Reverend J.

Bernard Higgins, who bad kindred difficulties to surmount. Tn
1852 Father Higgins was removed and the Reverend James, now
Vicar-General Farrelly appointed, who erected a priest's house at
Hastings, which, when O'Reilly " moved in," had not a house of
any kind or a tree cut where the village now stands. At that
time there were two wooden churches erected by the present }ms-
tor. Reverend John Quirk, one at Hastings and one at Norwood,
besides a frame church at Campbellford. Warkworth Chuich has
been enlarged. During Father Vaughan's time any small room
would hold the congregation, but now commodious churches are
becoming crowded. These churches have been erected almost
wholly by the Irish people.

Among the hardships of life in the woods there is hardly any-
thing, as we have already seen, more distressing to the settler than
the presence of wolves. Tlieir hideous howling, their treaclierous
and ferocious disposition, and their destructive habits make them
a formidable enemy. Every night sheep, calves, and such helpless
animals had to be secured from harm. This was usually done by
building a square pen of rails which was then weighted. 1 his
pen had what was called a " slip gap " for the admission of the
sheep. The space between the rails left the poor shivering animals
in full view of their terrible foes. The snow was frecjuently
tramped as solid as a road on all sides of the pen. Wolves hunt
in packs. They surround a sheep pen and encourage each other
with their dismal howls, seek for entrance, and woe to the poor
animals if any weak part is discovered in the pen. The pack
usually send out a scout, an old and experienced wolf which will
view the ground before a raid is made. In old times the large
chimneys were the only means of warming the houses or " shan-
ties " of the settlers. The fire was kept up with wood like cord-
wood but split somewhat finer, such wood being piled at nigh<^ at
the side of the hearth. At one or two o'clock one morning the
family was disturbed by the dog which rushed madly against the

WOLVES AND BEARS.

37r

bolted door a ''d then ran off only to return with greater force,
O'Reilly arose to see what was the matter. There was a moon.
By its light he saw a large wolf that chased the dog. Seizing a
stick of wood, and advancing towards the wolf whloh retreated,
he cast the wood at him. The animal deftly dodged the stick and
returned after O'Reilly to the door. O'Reilly pelted him with
sticks of wood which the wolf cunningly avoided, without leaving
his post. Finding stick-throwing to no purpose and bethinking
him of an old musket which he possessed, he determined to try
that. The musket was not in very good condition having the bar-
rel bent, or as one of his friends said, " built for shooting round
comers." He fired without striking the wolf. No sooner was the
report heard, however, than every fence corner, stump, and stone
seemed alive with dismal howls. On another occasion O'Reilly
started before daylight to a neighbouring pond to fish for bass.
Having caught a nice string offish he was returning when he heard
on every side of the path through the woods howl answering
howl. He was in the centre of a scattered pack. Pulling the fish
from the rod on which he had them strung, he cast them away,
thinking the wolves would be detained to devour the fish. He soon
reached home, and subsequently visiting the place he found the
fish untouched. Wolves evidently are not fond of fish.

Bear stories are plentiful. While laid up with ague, O'Reilly
had a hired man, who proved a lazy fellow. He frequently ne-
glected to do work which should have been done. Some wheat
in the stack having become wet and sprouted was taken down
and set around to be given to the pigs. The man, one night after
dark, acknowledged that he had not fed the pigs, and was de-
spatched to do so. What was his horror on, as he supposed, seizing
a sheaf of wheat, to find that he had a live bear by the shaggy
coat. Bruin gave an angry growl and left.

An old Indian Chief, Penashie, with his two grandsons, started
out on a hunt in the woods. The old man proceeded to the flat
while the boys took the ridge. After advancing some time the
old Indian discovered a cub on a tree, and rashly fired. He only
wounded the young bear, whose cries brought the mother to its
assistance before the Indian could reload his gun. The beer im-
mediately "went" for the Indian, who, for his age, used his feet

378

THR IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

in a very lively manner. Knowing that he would be caught if he
moved in a straight line, he ran in cirnles roTind a large basswood,
closely followed by the bear. Such a race could have but one end.
But luckily the young men had been attracted by the report and
came running to see what their grandfather had shot. They found
him not the hunter but the hunted. They shot the bear and none
too soon, as the old man was completely exhausted.

Two whii;<^ hunters named Perry, with a horse and a small dog
were going through the woods, and seeing a cub in a tree, although
wholly unarmed, determined to take it home in a bag which they
happened to have with them. One of them climbed the tree whose
branches approached the ground. On the approach of the man
the cub began to cry, which brought the mother to the foot of the
tree. Here she proceeded to climb after the man but was seized
by the dog in the rear, which so exasperated her that she turned
to punish his temerity. Immediately letting go and keeping out
of her reach, he returned on her attempting to climb the tree, and
thus kept her employed until the man had bagged the cub and
handed it from the limbs to his comrade on horseback below. He
^nen dropped on to his horse and left the field.

Nearly all the early settlers were distinguished for their kind-
ness to each other during sickness and more especially the Irish
and Scotch settlers. In spite of religious and political prejudices
and in defiance of contagion, the sick were tended with the utmost
care.

There was another trait of charactei not so praiseworthy.
Many of the early settlers contracted a pernicious habit of " visi-
ting," or as it used to be called " cabin hunting." Thus the wife
with the " baby " would go to see some of her neighbours, and
have " tea," which would consist of all the " good things " that
their scanty means could afford, and very often at the expense of
their future necessities. The husband went in the evening to
carry home the baby.

There was another trait among Irish settlers, a curse entailed
by landlord oppression and by the system of " tenant-at-will."
They were very backward in making good permanent improve-
ments, usually putting up some temporary affair that " will do for
this year." Like the children of Israel they required one genera-

BUILDERS-UP OF BELLEVILLE AND HAMILTON,

879

tion of free life in the wildeixess to eradicate the cnnker of sir very.
These anecdotes and obtiervations I have leam^ from Mr.
O'Reilly's son, who also tolls me of kindnesses she^n hin during
disease and trouble by a Scotch Presbyterian fan^i'ly. Angus was
the name of these good Samaritans.

Among the builders up of Belleville and/Che neighbourhood

were : Wm. Alford, John Allan, Geo. Armj>wong, T. Atkins,

Buckley, Col. Wm. Bell, S. Briton, H/Bulgar, R. Bullen, -^--

Burke, ^. Beatty, Robt. Bird, ^/^rennan, Rev. ^l,.€!afnpbell,

S. Carroll, Jas. Coulter, R. Cummings, Rev. J. Cochrane,

Callaghen, D. Crombie, Deagan, Doherty, J. Donaghue,

A. Dunn, Dacey, P. Fahey, Francis Fargey, Robt. Francis,

J. English, R. German, Rev; Jno. Grier, John Graham, Charles

Hayes, Jas. Harrison, J. J. Haslett, Dr. Wm. Hope, Horam,

Hanley, M. Jellett, P. Johnson, Jones, J. Kerr, S. Nyle>

J. Kennedy, J-arkin, D. Le wler, P. Lynch, Wm. Morton, Jno

V. Murphy, A. Manahan, H. McGuire, Jas. McDonnell, J. Meag-
her, Jacob Moore, !^cCreary, Wm. McDavid, J. McConohey

Mormacy, W. McOowan, J. Garvey, W. Mclnnich, J. McMa-

niara, J, McAnnary, H. McGinnis, M. Nulty, C. O'Brien, Saml.

On', P. O'Reilly, O'Donnell, Jno. Patterson, W. Perkins, Jas.

Power, Prentice, M. Ryan, R. Tanderson, J. Shannon,

Shanks, P. Shehan, Sennett, Jas. Stead, Dr. R. Stewart, O.

Shaughnesey, Shea, D. Sullivan, Wm, Templeton, Gordon

Thompson, Tracy, Wm. Watt, White, Jas. Whiteford.

In Dundas and Brantford and Hamilton we have a large Irish
population. In Hamilton, Mr. John Barry, who came to this
country many years ago, is an eminent Irish barrister, who has
won the confidence of his fellow-cieizens as alderman. Mr Neill
O'Reilly is a child of Irish parents, and has brought to great per-
fection that gift of fl.uent utterance with which his countrymen
are credited. The Stinsons, the Bradleys, and the Murphys took
an active part in the first settlement of Hamilton.

Judge O'Reilly, now Master in Chancery, in Hamilton, is pro-
bably the oldest settler in that city. The old judge is still full
of activity. He did good service in early life as a volunteer sol-
dier in Canada, and as a leading lawyer and judge he performed
his part of our great work here.

mi^

380

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

In writing of the Talbot Settlement, what Irishmen did for
London has been indicated. It is not possible, without altering
the plan of the book, to do more than mention the names of the
prominent early settlera whose families fiourit-h 'n thu capital of
the West and the surrounding country. The Hodgins and O'Neals,
the Deacons and Shoebottoms, the Talbots and Fitsgeralds, the
Waldens, the Langfords, the Gowens, the Stanleys. Freeman
Talbot has done irore for this part of Canada in the matter of
roads than any other man. Then we have the Eadys and Jer-
myns from Cork, and the Weirs from the North of Ireland ; the
Westmans, the Ardills, the Guests, the Hobbs. All these have
done good work in clearing the wilderness and making comfort-
able homes for themselves. The Irish are pre-eminent as mer-
chants, lawyers, teachers, and preachers in London. I have not
mentioned the Densmores, the Willises, the Ryans, the Dickeys,
the Dickinsons. Old Mr. Dickenson boasts one hundred and seven
years. Forty years ago those men have carried a bag of wheat
on their backs forty miles to get it ground. Dr. Evans was on
the London circuit thirty-two years a^'o, and often slept in a log
shanty in which he could not stand upjlght.

The Fergusons settled in London about fifty-five years ago.
They came from the County Cavan. There were only two stores
in London at this time. One was owned by the late Honourable
G. J. Goodhue and L. Lawrason, the present Police Magistrate.
Mr. Tom Ferguson is a son to the eldest of the brothers. William
Glass should also be mentioned. His father is still living. The
family has been a long time in the country. Col. Shanley, one of
the finest old fellows in Canada, is Master in Chancery.

Judge Daniels, formerly of London, was born in the County of
Monaghan, and came to this country early. In 1845 he was called
to the bar. He was for fourteen years in the Council of London.
His father used to keep an inn at the comer of Queen and Yonge
Streets, Toronto, a man about four feet high and weighing near
400 pounds. Judge Daniels is full of stories concerning old times
in Canada.

The member for London, William Ralph Meredith, LL.B., one
of the most promising young men in the Ontario Assembly, is the
son of John Cook Meredith, a native of Dublin, who early came

LONDON AND QUELPH.

381

to Canada, Mr. William Ralph Meredith was bom at Westmins-
ter, Middlesex, Ontario, in 1840, and was educated at the London
Graniniar School and the Toronto University. He was called to
the bar in 1861, and ten years afterwards was elected a member of
the Law Society. He is a member of the Senate of Toronto Uni-
versity. He was first returned to Parliament in 1872. He is a
Liberal Conservative. His father, Mr. John Cook Meredith is
Clerk of the Division Court. Two of the brothei-s are lawyers.
The ittdies of the family are remarkable for their beauty.

Mr. Hugh Macmahon, of London, is one of the most enlightened
Irishmen in the Dominion and uses his voice and pen to promote
that cordial feeling between his countrymen which it is so desirable
should exist in their own interest and in the interest of Canada.
On the penultimate day of July he wrote to the London Free
Press a letter, which it would be well for many Irishmen if it
were graven on their hearts.

Nathaniel Currie was the first representative of West Middle-
sex in the local House. He came to Canada early. The Hon.
Marcus Talbot, sometime M. P. for East Middlesex was lost in the
" Hungarian." Strathroy was founded by an Irishman, Mr. Bu-
chanan, the son of the English Consul at New York. He called
the place after his father's farm in the County Tyrone, where
there is now a post village of the same name. The English's
settled in London and afterwards at Strathroy. James and John
English are well known men. John English is rapidly winning
the confidence of his fellow citizens, and may one day be called
on to play a public part.

The picturesque Town of Guelphwaslargelybuiltupby Irishmen.
In 1828 Mr. Timothy O'Connor settled on a farm in the Township
of Eramosa. At that time there were but few settlers in the
vicinity, and only five houses in what is now the town. Arch-
deacon Palmer shortly afterwards emigrated to Guelph, and the
town gradually advanced. Many Irishmen put do „ i their stakes,
amongst whom the Mitchells, the Heflernans, the Chadwicks,
the Carrolls and others were prominent, and one or more members
of their families took leading positions. Their children are now
engaged in various pursuits, and are doing their part towards
building up the country. In 1849 Mr. Timothy O'Connor moved

382

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

to Guelph Township. He had seven sons and two daughtere.
The eldest is the pioprlotor of the Qu en'fc Hotel ; the second a
prominent farmer; the third a n-anufacturer ; the fourth a law-
yer ; the fifth who distinguished hiii .sell at Fordham College,
New York, is the manager-in-chief of an extensive New York
manufacturing house. The oldest of the Mitchell family haH fillj j
the Mayor's chair in Guelph ; the second is a merchant ; the third
a minister ; the fourth a lawyer. Heffernan Brothers are suc-
cessful dry -goods mexhants. The Carrolls are fa»*»ncio, seven
fine men, all over six feet high. Mr. Carroll was an extensive
builder, and reputed the wealthiest man in Gue^iph. One of the
most prominent Irishmen in the town is Mr. James Hazelton,
one of the Hazletons of Cookstown, Ireland. This gentleman
was several times president of the St. Patrick's Society. By his
energy and industry he has amassed considerable wealth. There
are besides, uhe Dorans, the Grahams, the Sweetnams, the Mays,
the O'Donnells.

I had almost forgotten John Craven Chad wick, fourth son of
John Craven Chadwick, of Ballinard, Tipperary, who settled
at " Cravendale," near Ancaster, County Wentworth, in 1836,
and removed thence to Guelph in 1851, where he still resides.
He served on the Niagara frontier during the rebellion of
1837-8, as a volunteer, in Capt. Alexander Mill's troop of
cavalry. Subsequently he held a commission in 1st Regiment of
Gore Militia. He has been twice named in the Commission of the
Peace for the County of V^ellington. He served as a delegate to
the Diocesan Synod of Toronto, almost continuously, from 1853
until the separation of the Diocese of Niagara from that of To-
ronto, when he was appointed by the Bishop of Niagara as a mem-
ber of the Corporation of Trinity College, Toronto. He is a Vice-
President of Guelph St. Patrick's Society, ^^^e has four sons, viz.,
John Craven Chadwick, residing roar Guelph ; Frederick Jasper
Chadwick, of Guelph, who has taken an active part in political
and municipal afiairs for some years, and is Mayor of Guelph this
present year, 1877. He also has been President of Guelph St.
Patrick's Society, jildward Marion Chadwick, of Toronto, Bar-
rister-at-Law, Honorary Major and Captain in the Queen's Own

THE IRISH IMMIGRATION BEFORE 1887.

383

Rifles ; Austin Cooper Chadwiek, oi Ouelph, Junior Judge of the
County of Wellington.

An old resident o! Guelph is Col uel Higinbotham, the member
in the Dominion i'arlianient for North "W .^lington. Born in the
County Cavan, in 1830, he was educated at the National School
there, an 1 aftei'wards by the Rev. Wra. Little, of Cootehill. He
early came to Canada and settled at Guelph, where for twenty
years he caiTi^d on business as chemist and druggist. He is Pre-
sident of the Guelph St. Patrick's Society. He was a member of
the Tov/n Council of Guelpb for many years, and on several occa-
sions has hold the office of D :>puty Reeve and Mayor. He has been
long connected with the Volunteer movement. He joined the
active force in 1856, and was for four months ou the frontier on
the occasion of the first Fenian raid. He commanded the 30th
Battalion Rifles (ten companies) from its organization until 1872,
when he retired, retaining the rank of Capta.n. He was first re-
turned to Parliament in 1872, He is described in " Mackintosh "
as a Liberal, and a supporter of the Mackenzie Administration.
I have now put the reader in a position to judge of the charac-
ter of the Irish migration prior to the rebellion of 1837. I have
not scrupled to complete a subject by giving particulars which re-
late to the present tir.ie. While showing what kind of settlers
Ireland sent here, I hnve also shown wiiat were the difficulties
which had to be 8urmount(5d by all the settlers, whether Scotch,
or English, of those early d&yn. Founded as much of the informa-
tion is, on the experience of the pioneers, told by themselves either
in conversation or by letter, or else on the testimony of their chil-
dren, in this and the preceding chapters, we have historical ma-
terial of the highest value. These chapters will have enabled the
student of Canadian history to realize the early beginnings of our
national existence in the era anterior to politics ; he will have
been prepared for th j impending struggle into which we are about
to enter ; he will have been supplied with a part, and not the
least valuable part, of the data by which he must judge the charac-
ter, physical, mental, and ethnological of our present population ;
he will have been put in possession of not the least suggestive
facts by which he must appraise, if he will appraise justly, the
claims of a great people. Other facts remain to be told, more in-

:384

THE IRISHMAN I.N CANADA.

teresting, perhaps, but not more suggestive. I shall have, by-and-
bye, to describe the post-rebellion Irish immigration, with all the
cultivating and refining influences which came in its train. But
before doing that, the most stirring and instructive events in our
annals will have to be recounted more fully than has yet been
done by anybody, but not more fully than they deserve — the
heroic struggle against a tyrannical oligarchy, the birth amid bitter
throes of our constitutional life.

CHAPTER IX.

I proceed to pass in review an eventful period during which
many of the greatest men Canada has produced rose to their
full stature. If we have in us the spirit of our sires, if we
are made of the fibre of which ancestors should be made, if we
have such hearts as are the fit foundation stones of nations, these
men built for themselves an everlasting name.

In those years two j )ung men came into prominence who were
destined to play great parts, who are still amongst us, whose
hands have done much to mould this young country, but whose
career and character it will not fall to my lot to paint. I speak
of Sir John Macdonald and the Honourable George Brown. I

[Authorities for Chapter IX.— Gourlay's Works; Lord Durham's Report; News-
papers ; "Travel and Transportation," by Thomas C Keefer, C. E.,in " Eighty Years'
Progress from 1781 to 1861 ; " " Historical Sketch of Education in Upper and Lower
Canada," by J. George Hodgins, LL.D., F.R.G.S., in "Eighty Years' Progress from
1781 to 1861;" "Sch<x)i.. and Universities on the Continent," by Matthew Arnold;
" The Emigrant to North America ; " " McMuUen's History ; " Kaye's " Life of Lord
Metcalfe ; " " Our Portrait Gallery " in the Dublin University Magazine ; Willis's
" Sketches in Canada ; " Sir B. Bonnycastle's " Canada and the Canadians ; " " Bio-
graphy of the Hon. W. H. Merritt, M.P.;" Original sources : ''Salmon-Fishing in
Canada," by a Resident, edited by Colonel Sir James Edward Alexander, Knt.,
K.C.L.S.,14th Regiment, with illustrations; London: Green, Longman 8c Roberts,
1860. This is dedicated to an Irishman, Lieutenant-General Sir William Rowan,
K. C.B., Colonel 19th Regiment, lately commanding the forces and administrator of
the Gorsmment of Canada. Hansard.]

CHARACTER OF THIS HISTORY.

885

shall, however, have to allude briefly to the parts played by these

gentlemen in the great struggle ; briefly, because I am dealing

with Canadian history from a special standpoint, and yet that

special stand-point will not prevent me treating the period on

which we are now entering in the broad epic spirit of history.

Singularly happy for this work is it, that the two great periods of

C* ladian history were controlled by Irish genius. In other parts

of the book —

" We must tread a tamer measure
To a milder homelier lyre."

and this little essay, from first to last, is but a tributary to the great
river of history, and may one day be lost in its capacious stream.
But the rivulet can quench the thirst of the faint, and refresh
the weary limb ; in its depths gems serene of ray may rest ; the
precious ore be cast up on its shores ; beautiful lives gll ^e through
its crystal arcades ; and this little book may likewise refresh, and
inspire, and correct, and in the future even, speak fruitfully to
men, undeceive the deceived, recall the betrayed from the mazes
of betrayal, and help in that straightening, setting-up process,
which I think is going on, and which years of slavery and a prop-
aganda of passion and ignorance have made so necessary. It is
better to be useful than famous. If these humble pages do a good
day's work, others will take up the thread ; echo will answer echo ;
an influence unknown and unthought of will live in the lives of
Irishmen, nay, of all Canadians, when the hand that traces these
letters will be a clod of the valley. Beautiful results will bloom
around, because wounded feelings have been healed, drooping
hopes invigorated, noble ambitions kindled, charity diffused, jus-
tice vindicated, the truth told.

The rebellion of 1837-8, and the union of the two Canadas, were
but incidents in the gretj struggle for responsible government, of
which the foundation was laid in the closing years of the eigh-
teenth century. But the structure rose slowly amid difficulty and
strife. The building was a roofless shell until 1841, and the
coping stone was not placed until six years afterwards.

Early, in both Lower and Upper Canada, inevitable difficulties

arose out of the fact that popular government was allied with

personal government, qualified by the cupidity of a second chamber.
25

886

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

A tendency towards independence in Lower Canada, and a dispute
between the provinces respecting import duties, led the Imperial
Parliament to attempt a solution by a Union Bill, which, while
conceding the claims of Upper Caiiada in respect to import duties,
leant strongly in the direction of making the Executive indepen-
dent of the Assembly, a measur ? whicn caused much alarm among
the people of French origin in Lower Canada. At a time, when
the great question whether Frenchmen are fit for parliamentary
government, is still discussed, it would be instructive to study the
period now before us, in Lower Canada, and to note how much
better, men of French descent understood the genius of popular
institutions, than the English governcrs, or indeed English states-
men, alw'^ys excepting, to go back nearly a quarter of a century,
that t\traordinary raan Cliarles James Fox, whose genius made
the future present, and the distant near.

In Lower Canada, in 1825, the estimates were laid before the
Assembly without any distinction between the funds appropriated
by the Crown, and the supplementary vote required from the
House, The next vear. Lord Dalhousie having returned from his
short leave of absence in England, great indignation was created
by the estimates bein^^ laid before the Assembly in two classes,
and its fancied power over the Executive destroyed. With French
Canadians of talent excluded from office ; the mass of the people
speaking a language alien to the Imperial isles; favouritism; seig-
norial rights ; what could be expected but discontent on the part
of a Province, now numbering four hundred and twenty thousand
souls, and ojiposition and protest on the part of a chamber whose
functions were reduce 1 to the level of farce ?

In Upper Canada, the Crown and Clergy Reserves which inter-
fered with the settlement of the Province, as Mr. Talbot points
out very eloquently in his book, and other abuses, created discon-
tent. When in 1817, the Assembly wished to inquire into such
matters, it was prorogued by the Governor — contemptuous treat-
ment which could have Imt one result, to aggravate discontent.
Amid discontent and discussion, the root of existing evils was
seen, and responsible government, in one form or another, began
to take outline in thoughtful minds.

About this time a Scotchman named Gourlay, appc ared like a

GOURLAY AND MACKENZIE.

387

portentous comet on the horizon of "The Family Compact." He
was full of inquiries, and full of schemes, and therefore a visitor
most unpleasant to those who were farming this great Province
for themselves. The foolish Governor, Sir Peregrine Maitland,
instead of seeing that whatever tended to raise discussion, and
to foster interest in the country, was calculated to create a public
spirit, without which free institutions are a doubtful blessing,
levelled a paragraph of a speech from the throne at the head of a
persecuted man, who, whatever his eccentricities, had new ideas,
which are more valuable to a community than a thousand emi-
grants, being to it, indeed, what light and sunshine are to the phy-
sical world, bringing freshness, op(^ning r.p lanes of beauty and
avenues of wealth. In a population of one hundred and twenty
thousand, meetings of delegates were prohibited, in order to hit
poor Gourlay. This Act was a couple of years afterwards re-
pealed, under the influence of an impending election. Every year
the Reform Party was taking shape and consistency. The General
Election of the Autumn of 1825,resulte 1 in an Assembly in which
the Family Compact was in a minority, and outside the Assembly
the mantle of Gourlay had fallen on William Lyon Mackenzie.
Little need be said, especially in this work, of Mackenzie. His
story, surely, notwithstanding some faults not an unaffecting one,
has been told by an appreciative and able pen.* It would be un-
generous to deny either Mackenzie or Gourlay, some of the credit
for responsible government. But neither of them conceived the
idea of responsible government as we enjoy it. Mackenzie advo-
cated making the Legislative Council elective. This, he thought,
would remedv all existinr/ evils. Baldwin was the first to see
how the knot might be cut, and it is to him we owe our present
form of government, and that the country tided successfully over
a dangerous crisis.

That there were ample grounds for complaint and agitation in
those days may be easily shown. In 1825, a question arose re-
specting the reporting of the debates of the House of Assembly. A
vote was passed to meet the expense, but was dishonoured by the
governor. In 1826, a committee was appointed to inquire into

♦ Charles Lindsey.

388

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

the expediency of encouraging reporting, with power to send for
persons and papers. John Rolph was chairman, and he reported
on the 26th of December. It was submitted that in every free
country the public had encouraged the reporting of Legisla-
tive proceedings, that the English House of Commons had never
succeeded in embarrassing or suppressing their publication, that
valuable knowledge relating to parliamentary histoiy, the usages
and privileges of parliament, and ',he liberties of the people had
been derived from such publication, that in the then state of the
Province there was not suiScient patronage given to any one jour-
nal to reward a reporter for the time and labour which would be
consumed in reporting the debates, and that as the vote of the
previous years had been dishonoured by His Excellency, it was
the duty of the (Committee to recommend in the strongest manner
such measures for the security and independence of the press as
was in the power of the House, &nd free from the veto or control
of the present administration. It is evident from this what was
the arbitrary character of the Government in 1826.

Again, on February 14th, 1827, John Wilson, the speaker of the
Commons House of Asivjmbly, in the name of the House, addressed
His Excellencj% saying that they had learned that it was his de-
sign to prorogue parliament on the following Saturday. The
number and importance of the measures in progress before them
and which it would be impossible to despatch by that time in-
duced them to request that His Excellency would be p^ ised to
defer the prorogation to a more distant day. The request was
refused, and the House was prorogued on Saturday the 19th.

Sir P. Maitland, in his reply, said it was with reluctance he had
in the previous year acceded to a similar request from the Legisla-
tive Council. To avoid the occurrence of such a necessity he had
that session given an early intimation of the intended time of pro-
rogation. If any unforesoen objects of great moment had presented
themselves, he took it for granted that they would have referred
to them. If none such had occurred he would rather leave it to
the Legislature to resume at a future session any matter not of
extraordinary public moment which might be left unfinished, than
" produce uncertainty on all future occasions by departing from
the day I have named."

DOCTOR BALDWIN.

389

At this time we find W. W. Baldwin in parliament, he and Wm.
Lyon Mackenzie apparently working together. The Honourable
Henry John Bolton, Solicitor-General, was censured by the House
for his conduct in what was known as the Hamilton Outrage, and
for his bearing before a committee appointed by the House.
The reproof of the Speaker is on the journals. Dr. Baldwin was
active in bringing Bolton and Allan MacNab before the House.

Dr. Baldwin had a firm grasp of the principles of popular
liberty, and he bequeathed his principles as well as his integrity
to his son. Indeed his son expressly declares in a letter written
to a member of the House of Assembly, with reference to his
negotiations with Sir Francis Bond Head, that hid opinions were
not hastily formed, but were imbibed from his father. The student
of the journals of the Upper Canada House of Assembly, will
find Dr. Baldwin mooting constitutional questions in 1825. The
last most striking glimpse we get of him was at the great Reform
demonstration held in Yonge Street, and called the Durham meet-
ing. " The old Doctor," says an eye-witness, " was pulled off the
waggon, and they told him it was only his gray hairs saved him.
Hincks was there too, and he had . o run for his life."

He early removed to Toronto, where his son Robert was born,
in 1804. Here, if a Canadian colloquialism is permissible, he went
back on iEsculapius, and began to court the stern Muse of law.
Rather would it be more correct to say that he united medijal and
forensic practice. He had, so early as 1802, employed himself in
the even more useful character of pedagogue. Advertisements
appeared in the public prints of those days, saying that Dr. Bald-
win, understanding tliat some of the gentlemen of the Town of
York were anxions for the establishment of a classical school,
intended to open a school in which he would instruct twelve boys
in writing, reading, classics, and arithmetic, the terms for each boy
being eight guineas per annum, payable quarterly or half-yearly,
" one guinea entrance, and one cord of wood to be supplied by
each of the boys on opening the school." A note to the advertise-
ment said that the advertiser would meet his pupils at Mr, Will-
cocks's house m Duke Street. The date is York, Dec. 18th, 1802,
and the school was to commence on the 1st of January. One of
his pupils was the late Chief Justice McLean, who used to tell

390

THE IIUSHMAN IN CANADA.

how the pupils got a holiday on the biiih of tho future statesman,
in 1804. Dr. Baldwin was, with a number of others, called to the
bar without having received any previous training. In connexion
with his dual practice, some annising anecdotes are told. It was
not an uncommon thing for him to receive, vrhile engaged in an
intricate law suit, a peremptory call to be present at the advent
into the world of some who were destined to become well-known
citizens of Toronto. The judge would usually adjourn the court,
pending the interesting event.

Travelling on circuit in those days was not a pleasant matter.
The journey from York to Niagara, when navigation closed, had
to be performed on foot, there being no roads or paths for even
a single horse. On one such journey Dr. Baldwin lost his way,
and was compelled to sleep in the woods all night, and next day
swim the River Credit, which was swollen.

There is perhaps but one street in Toronto worthy of its pro-
gress and its future. All our streets are too narrow with one ex-
ception. But Spadina Avenue is worthy of any capital in the
world. This avenue which is one hundred and twenty feet wide
was laid out by Dr. Baldwin as an approach to his residence at
Spadina, where he fondly hoped a Baldwin would for ever dwell.
He wished to found a family, the head of which should draw a
princely revenue from an entailed estate. Oddly enough, it was
his son who csrried through the legislature the bill abolishing the
rights of primogeniture. He died in 1844, and another Irishman,
Sir Francis Hincks, placed a chaplet on the tomb of one so worthy,
so disinterested and so excellent, whose loss was of a magnitude
it was difficult to appreciate, and still more difficult to repair.

There had already long entered on the stage of public life one
well calculated to repair that loss, who was connected by the dear-
est ties with the versatile professional man and enlightened states-
man, who had thus passed away amid eulogy which was without
affectation, and a regret whose universality defied hyperbole. The

name of Robert Baldwin is a household word in Canada. But
perhaps his character is frequently misapprehended by all classes,

and to the rising generation his remarkable career is known only

in outline. To a man who was not without fairness and who had

a respectable amount of literary ability, the most spotless states-

BALDWINS COURAGE.

891

man Canada has produced seemed an unscrupulous agitator.*
To others his character lias appeared weak, because his views on
religious (questions were what would be called high church. A
great hand has, however, demonstrated that we cannot measure
the strength of a man's mind by his beliefs within that region
which admits of no tests, on which the accumidated expeiience of
mankind throws little or no light, which according to pecidiarity
of faculty and character assumes such different hues and vary-
ing importance, on which some tread as Ciirist did v.'r> the sea,
as though it was solid land, and on which others are explorers
without compass or chart, wandering voyagers of despair, for
whom no guiding stai' ever glitters and for whom no port is re-
served. Mr. Mackenzie, the present prime minister, once s})oke of
Baldwin as a pure-minded but timid statesman. But the truth
is he exemplified in the happiest manner the family motto, " iiee
ti/mide nee tertiere." He has been described as a man of one idea ;
one idead men are never timid. If he shrank from dealing in a
sweepingly radical manner with the Clergy Reserves, it was not
timidity held him back, but his scruples. " Alas ! " said the
Elector Prince Frederick, when the Bohemians would choose him
as their King. " If I accept the crown I shall be accused of ambi-
tion, if I reject it I shall be branded Avlth cowardice." When at
one time it seemed that Mr. Hiucks was flirting with the Govern-
ment, and the Inspector-General at the time called out, " Go it
Hincks, we'll take care of you," Baldwin dropped Mr. Hincks a
note, telling him to decide at once to which side he belonged.
Did this look like timidity ? The scathing tongue of Hincks was
not a lash a timid man would gratuitously provoke. For a long
time he had in the House onlj- a following of seven. Ho lived to
have too many supporters.^f* But did he shun the wilderness ?
On the last occasion of his election he was speaking at Sharon,
north of Newmarket, when an elector said to him,, that they would
elect him if he would pledge himself to do avfuy with the Cleigy

* Bonnji^castle's " Canada and the Canadians." Vol. 2, p. 157.

fWhen at the head of the Government and in the full tide of his success he used to
say : " When a government has too many supporters the members of the jiai-ty are
too exacting. Whereas, wh n there is a strong opposition, you can say — ' Oh we cannot
do that, we should lose our position-' "

392

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

Reserves. Baldwin's reply reminds us of Macaulay's and Mill's,
when each was asked about his religious beliefs " Have I ever,"
said Baldwin, " pledged myself on any question ? I go to the
House as a free man. I am here to declare to you my opinions.
If you approve of those opinions and elect me I will carry them
out in parliament. If I change those opinions I will come back
and surrender my trust and give you an opportunity of re-electing
me or choosing another candidate," He would go to parliament,
not as their delegate, but as their representative. He saw that
what Frjnch radicals have so often insisted on and their imita-
tors in other countries have preached, the "mandat imperatif"
degrades the member, and in degrading the member degrades
parliament. Not only so. It deprives the country of the best
fruits genius has to bestow. Did such language look like that of
cowardice ? He lost his seat on the next occasion, because he had
the courage of his opinions. There was a person in North York
named Pearson, a very strong local man. This important indivi-
dual called one day on Baldwin and urged his views about the
Clergy Reserves. Baldwin was firm respecting his view of the
way the question should be settled. His firmness was mistaken
for haughtiness. The local magnate was offended, went home,
made his ring and vowed Baldwin should be beaten iiext election.
If the constituency was in favour of sweeping away the abuse of
the Clergy Reserves and doing this in a way of which Baldwin
would disapprove, it was quite right, whatever Mr. Baldwin's
past services, to choose another candidate. I have been assured
however that but for the supposed offence to Pearson, he would
have been again elected. The moral for ambitious candidates is
clearly to cultivate local magnates. The moral for the people is
that they should think for themselves and rise above sectionalism.
The proposition that, in dealing with the character and capa-
city of a public man, you have nothing to do with his private life
unless his private conduct should interfere with the efficient dis-
charge of his public functions, is incontrovertible. There is a
danger even in dwelling or private virtues while the man's
career is yet unfinished, because attention is diverted from the
real issue of capacity and integrity. Nor has it been uncommon
to hear the private virtues of the man pleaded in extenuation of

BALDWINS COURAGE.

393

the inaptitude of the statesman. When it was pleaded for Mr.
Percival that he was a good father, Sydney Smith wittily said ho
had prefen'ed that that gentleman had whipped the little Perci-
vals if he had saved his country. When however a man has
passed from the scene, his private chanicter may for a double
reason be dwelt on ; he is no longer a candidate for public place,
and he is beyond hypocrisy. Then if the statesman, or soldier,
or poet, or orator has worn the white rose of a blameless private
life, it ought to be pointed out. Baldwin was not a man of genius
as that term is properly understood. But though he had not the
incommunicable gift he seems to have been made of the choicest
human clay ; no where does this show more beautifully than in hia
private life. A tenderly affectionate father, as a I'^ver and a
husband, this man of somewhat cold and stern manners, takes his
place side by side with the heroes of romantic attachments. His
wife was the sister of the Hon. Robert Baldwin Sullivan, and there-
fore his own first cousin. She was singularly beautiful. They were
married in 1827 ; she died in 1836, when he was only thirty-two
years of age, and for twenty-two years he cherished her memory,
as Petrarch that of Laura, as Dante that of Beatrice. He was
accustomed to retire to his room on the" anniversary of her death,
and meditate and recall in a happy melancholy, the 'touch of that
vanished hand, and hear in the stillness of his sorrow the silvery
note of that voice which was forever hushed. 1 have said he was
not a man of genius, but his speeches show })ower and breadth
of argument and sometimes not a little humour. It was he chris-
tened Lominick Daly, the permanent secretary, the Vicar of Bray
of Canadian politics, the lily of the valley.* He had that which
Cicero says is one of the greatest powers an orator can have,
authority. At a reform demonstration which took place in the
County of Hastings, on the 17th Feb., 1848, a speaker said he
had been asked how it was that Mr. Baldwin carried conviction
when he had so little of the orator about him. The reply was,
" I am not surprised Avhen I consider the patriotic and able course

"Coming to the character of the Hon. Dominick Daly, he fMr. Baldwin) stopped
and asked what he should say of him. That honourable gentleman said he is like the
lily of the valley— he toils not, neither does he spin. Really we can afford to make him
a present to the government (loud laughter)." Parliamentary report.

394

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

lie ha.s pursued in public life." His reading was not wide, but
his literary taste wns g()o<l. Moore was his favourite poet. The
same fervour which carried conviction to political audiences per-
suaded juries. They felt he was a nian who dared not lie. Mr.
James Stitt u.sed to travel with him on his electioneering tours, and
he has often heaid him say: — ' I would ratlier never be elected
at all than tell an untruth to one of these men." His life has
something of the completeness and beauty of a well-kept garden,
where tree, and hill, and streai'i balance each other, where if there
is no sublimity there is no deformity, where the air has no wild
stimulus of the mountain breeze, no smiting thrilling power of
ocean wave, but only the domestic i)urity of the well-kept
home. Milton was a disagreeable husband and a harsh fath n- ;
Howard could turn away from his philanthrophic labours to play
the tyrant in his own house, and to invent the dreadful system of
solitary confinement ; Marlborougn was a miser and a corruption-
ist ; the victor of Trafalgar was the slave of a childish vanity ;
Wolfe was at times a vain-glorious boaster ; Pitt was too fond of
the bottle ; the heroic William was unfaithful to his wife ; the
youth of Alfred was stained by dissipation. But though Bald-
win was neither a Milton, nor a Marlborough, nor a Pitt, but a
brave wise statesman who was equal to the demands made on
him by his country, if we cannot claim for him that his life was
as splendid as that of those great men, we can that it was more
balanced.

Baldwin was born on the 12th of May, 1804, on the north-
west corner of Frederick Street and Palace (now Front), at the
house of his grandfather, Mr. Willcocks. This gentleman was a
native of Cork, who in 1790 conceived the project of founding a
settlement in Canada. He was promised a township, n condition
that he should settle it with emigrants. When he arrived with
his emigrants as far as Osw^pgo, he found that the Government
had rescinded the Orders in Council. Of the emigrants he
had brought out he sent back at his own expense as many as
wished to return. Those who were so disposed dispersed themselves
throughout the United Stat.es, while he and his family came to
Canada and received allotments of land. Dr. Baldwin, shortly
after coming to Canada, married a dauj^terof Mr. Willcocks, by

POLITICS IN 1825.

395

whom lie had five sons, two of whom .survived liim, Robert nnd
William Augustus.

Robert was called to the bar in tlie Trinity Tenn of 1825, and
practised with his father under tlie name of Baldwin & Son. They
afterwards associated with them Robert Baldwin Sullivan.
Robert early became a member of the Osgoode Society, and at
his death lield the office of Treasurer. He knew the value of a
high chnractei- to the profession, and as a bencher was very strict
in enforcing ])rofessional rules. We have seen how he early mar-
ried his cousin. He had by her two sons and two daughters. One
of the daughters married the Honourable John Ross. One of the
sons chose the sea for a profession. The eldest son, W. Willcocks,
occui)ied for some time a large farm handed down from his great
grandfather, Mr. Willcocks.

In 1824 be ran for the County of York with James E. Small,
afterwards Judge of the County of Middlesex, but both were
defeated by Messrs. Ketchum and Mackenzie. In the
following year, Mr. John B Robinson, who then represented
York (Toronto), vacated his office of Attorney-General, and
his seat in Parliament, on becoming Chief Justice of the
Court of Queen's Bench. Baldwin came forw. rd, his opponent
now, being, oddly enough, Mr. James E. Small. Baldwin was
returned but lost his seat on petition, there being an informality
in the Writ which was issued by the Lieutenant-Governor, instead
of by the Speaker of the TTouse. This was one of the first pro-
tests against personal, and in favour of parliamentary, govern-
ment. Mr. Baldwin, on again presenting himself was again
elected. The next year, on the death of George IV., parliament
was dissolved, and Mr. Baldwin on seeking re-election was de-
feated by Mr. Jarvis* whom he had beaten twelve months before.
From that period until the Union he did not seek a seat in Parlia-
ment : but he continued to watch the progress of events and
never ceased to contend that so long as the executive officers
were independent of the people, no change in the character of
the Legislative Council would be other than illusory, or as he

* Mr. W. B, Jarvis, then, and for many years afterwards sheriff of the Home T>ia-
trict and afterwards ot the County of York.

306

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

somutiiiujH put it, that tho Executive Council to })o effective should
always l)e able to connnand tho support of the Legislative Assem-
bly. We have here the key note to his whole political career.
He laboured to make the Executive dependent on the will of the
people, when such a claim was denounced as revolutionary. It
was to secure this object as we shall see, that he tbuglit with
such unbending purpose, that generous, noble character, but re-
actionary governor. Lord Metcalfe, with his ideas of Government
borrowed from India and Jamaica.

In 1835, Baldwin visited England and the Continent. While
in England he carried on a correspondence with Lord Glenelg,
the Minister for the Colonies — for he was denied an interview
— urging the necessity of giving the Canadian people a real
constitution instead of the sham by which they were mocked.
On his return to Canada, he found Sir Francis Bond Head
at war with the Assembly and with popular opinion. Influ-
enced perhaps by instructions from home, and perhaps by a
sincere desire to serve the Province, Sir Francis Head determined
to have an Executive Council composed of the leaders of brfth parties.
He was confessedly no politician. We have had for many years in
our midst a distinguished man who is not only infinitely superior to
Sir Francis Head as a literary man, but is a veteran political
writer. He has contended for government without party, but has
never explained the manner in which such a government could be
worked under a constitutional system. W^hen Head made
-overtures to Baldwin, Baldwin said he would afford him
assistance on condition that he had his entire confidence, and that
responsible government should be established ; pointing out that
under responsible government His Excellency would have the full
power of a constitutional king, which was all that the Canadian
constitution, properly understood, gave him ; that he would
always have the right to accept or reject the advice of any of his
exe<^,utive councellors, they of course resigning on their advice be-
ing rejected. " His Excellency," says BaMwin in his letter to Mr.
Perry, "'very candidly declared his entire dissent from such views
and opinions. He, nevertheless, with the most gracious expres-
sion of satisfaction at the very full and candid manner in which I
had opened them to him, renewed his soliv > «,tion for my accept-

SIR FRANCIS BOND MEAD.

sor

ance of a soat in the Executive Council, suf^j^esting as an induce-
ment for such acceptance the increased facilities which my
place in the Executive Council would afford me towards the
more efficiently representing and urging my views." Baldwin told
him that no administration could give him much assistance that
had not the conhdonce of the majority of the Provincial Pai'Ha-
mont, and tliat he did not think this confidence could be obtained
without more help than his single name would, bring. In the
seconfl place he said he had no confidence, politically speaking, in
the existing councillors, all of them Tories. These were, Peter-
Robinson, Commissioner of Crown Land.i, O. H. Monkl.viul, In.spec-
tor General, and Joseph Wells, Bursar of King's College. After a
consultation with Dr. Baldwin and Dr. Rolph, Robert Baldwin
declined to enter the Government.

The Lieutenant-Governor again sent for him and requested him
to state more explicitly what the assistance was to which he harl
alluded. Baldwin replied that the assistance of Dr. Rolph, Mr.
Bidwell. his father, and Mr. Dunn was most desirable. After
further negotiations Baldwin, with his friends Rolph and Dunn,,
were sworn in. The new councillors, as we have seen, did not
conceal from the Lieutenant-Governor their views as to tiie pro-
priety of the Executive Council being consulted in all public
affairs. They patriotically gave Sir Francis Head a trial, especially
as he urged that in the Council thpy would have more opportunity
of advancing thoir views. Sir Francis began to make appoint-
ments on his own responsibility — appointments which were
censured by the Assembly. The duties of the Council were re-
stricted to land matters, and they were kept in ignorance of
administrative acts for which, nevertheless, public opinion held
them responsible. Contrary altogether to the expectations of the
Lieutenant-Governor, of the House of Assembly, and of uhe public,
the old members of the Council joined the new in sigaing a re-
monstrance against s. system of government under which the
sworn councillors ',vere kept studiously in the dark as to the pro-
ceedings of the Lieutenant-Governor. It can scarcely be doubted
that Sir Francis Head expected that he would have the support
of the three councillors who had been for years acting under the
old irresponsible system. He, however, did not hesitate as to his;

398

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

1 '

i I

course, which was to require hiw councillors either to abandon
their principles or to forfeit his confidence. The result was the
resignation of the entire Council, luid a breach between Sir Fran-
cis Head and the House of Assembly, which had been but recently
elected, and which contained a majority of Reformers.

At tiiis crisis an Irishman stept prominently forward on the
political stage, who was to play a brilliant and even distinguished
part, and till a great space in history, though his career unfor-
tunately leaves on the mind the impression that he was cynically
indifferent as to the side he espoused. This impression is in part
true, in part false. The weak side of his character comes out in
the reply he made to a friend who complimented him on a bril-
liant speech made on one side of a question. " Yes," he said " it
was a good sj 'ech, but not half so good as the one I made a year
ago from the other point of view." This, however, may have been
in part jest. The strong side of his character appears in his
large grasp of political issues. Robert Baldwin Sullivan was a
contrast to his cousin Robert Baldwin. Intellectually brilliant,
and morally weak, he yet did work for Canada which should
never be forgotten. He is indeed the most shining figure among
the Irishmen who took part in the political struggles which pre-
ceded the establishment of parliamentary or, as it has been gen-
erally termed in Canada, — Responsibk Government. A native
of Baudon, in the County of Cork, whence his fathe .• emigrated
to Upper Canada in the year 1819, when the future statesman was
a youth of about eighteen years of age,* his mother, as we have
seen, was a sister of Dr. William Warren Baldwin, and it was ow-
ing to the fact that many members of his wife's family had
made Canada their home, that Mr. Sullivan's father was led to
come here,

Robert S".llivan was for a short time employed in business, his
elder brother Daniel, who died soon after arriving at manhood
having been destined for the legal profession. Robert soon deter-
mined to follov/ the same career as his brother, and v/a.> articled
to his uncL Dr. Baldwin about the same time as his disti;iguished
cousin. Mr. ^"llivan speedily attained great eminence in his

* Morgan, with his usual accuracy, says Sullivan was born in Toronto.

1 ■^ *^T

ROBERT BALDWIN SULLIVAN.

391)

profession, to which he devoted himself most assiduously. At this
period of his career he had not taken any active part in politics,
although from his family connexions he was looked upon as belong-
ing to the liberal party, with which his uncle and brother-in law
had been identified. Both had, however, in a great measure with-
drawn from public life, when R. B. Sullivan entered on his pub-
lic career. About this time a letter was addressed by Mr. Joseph
Hume, M. P., to Mr, William Lyon Mackenzie in which he refer-
red in strong terms to the " baneful domination of the Moth jr
Country/' and expressed a hope that the subsisting connexion
would soon terminate. This language created intense excitement
throughout Upper Canada, and a public meeting was called, the
avowed object of which was to unite all classes of the people, who
were favourable to British connexion, without reference to home
views or questions of domestic policy. On this occasion Mr. Sul-
livan took a prominent part in opposition to Mr. Mackenzie, who
had recently returned from England, whither he had gone on a
political mission after his expulsion from the fourth Parliament of
Upper Canada.

About this time the City of Toronto was incorporated, and Mr.
Mackenzie became its first mayor in the year 1834, During this
year Mr. Sullivan took considerable interest in municipal affairs,
acting in concert with the minority of the corporation, who were
members of the Conservative party. At the next municipal elec-
tion he became a candidate for St. David's Ward, in opposition to
Mr. Mackenzie, and carried his election, after which he was chosen
mayor of the city. He was filling that office, and devoting him-
.self most energetically to the improvement of the city, and
more especially to its drainage, when Sir Francis Head at the
commencement of the year 1830, succeeded Sir John Colborne a.s
Lieutenant-Governor. The earliest acts of the new Lieutenant-
Governor, with their results have been recorded.

In the present crisis Sir Francis Head applied for assistance
to Mr. Sullivan, whose term, of office as mayor had recently ex-
pired. Sir Francis Head was evidently desirous to avoid identi-
fying himself with the ^Id official party, and Mr. Sullivan
occupied exactly the position that was likely to render him a
valuable ally. He had no sympathies with the old party, and yet

400

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

he had by a popular vote in the capital city defeated the most
active member of the Reform party, and had thus become for the
time being the leader of the Conservatives. Sullivan accepted the
offer made to him, in conjunction with the Honourable William
Allan, Captain (afterwards Admiral) Baldwin, uncle of Robert
Baldwin, John Elmsley, and Mr. Cross. Mr. (noAV Chief Justice)
Draper was soon after added. The House of Assembly passed a
resolution of want of confidence in the new councillors. The sequel
is like a burlesque. Sir Francis and the Assembly entered on a war
of words, in which the literary training of the former helped him
to extemporise an artillery of Billingsgt ., with which the old
worn metal of the latter could not compare. In agitation he beat
Mackenzie, who beaten at constitutional weapons placed himself
at Sir Francis Head's meicy. by leaning, however lightly at first,
to rebellion in a Province which was as loyal then as it is to-day.
This enabled Sir Francis to impress the people with the idea that
the constitution was in danger, and that the edge of the axe was
on the rope that bound us to British rule. Not only did the
demagogic talents of the Lieutenant-Governor weaken Mackenzie
7 and Bid well, — men like Baldwin stood completely aside from them.
Bidweil was foolish enough to lay before the House a seditious
letter of Papineau. The majority of the A.s»embly still playing
into the hands of the Governor stopped the supplies. Government
retorted by stopping theirs. Every money bill passed during the
session was blocked, including that for the allowances of members.
Sir Francis Head prorogued the House, and in doing so scolded
the members roundly. He was a vain man, and was delighted with
the excitement he had created. Nor was it the less gratifying
because an element of it was the shock of disappointment he
had given the Liberals. When he arrived some few weeks
earlier, the walls were placarded v/ith "Sir Francis Head, a tried
Reformer; " words which caused no nraall surprise to a man who,
up to that moment had, as he said himself, no more connection
with human politics than the horses which were drawing him.
Sir Francis Head's conduct contrasted very unfavourably with that
of Lord Gosford in Lower Canada ; and if anything could justify
Mackenzie it would have been the wild and ur-cerly unconstitu-
tional conduct of the representative of Majesty in Upper Canada.

AN EXCITING GENERAL ELECTION.

401

He dissolved the House, and put before the country, not the issue
as to the responsibility of the Executive, but that of the existence
of British connexion. " Sir F. Head," says Lord Durham's report,
" who appears to have thought that the maintenance of the connex-
ion with Great Britain depended upon his triumph over the
majority of the A ssembly, embarked in the contest with a deter-
mination to use every influence in his power in order to bring it
to a successful issue. He succeeded, in fact, in putting the issue
in such a light before the Province, that a great portion of the
people really imagined that they were called upon to decide the
question of separation by their votes."

A most exciting general election took place, at which Baldwin
was not a candidate, which resulted in the return of a House of
Assembly opposed to the introduction of responsible government.
Mr. Sullivan, shortly after his acceptance of office as an Executive
Councillor, wa;- created a Legislative Councillor and Commissioner
of Crown Lands, which latter office he continued to hold until the
Union.

The general election of 1836 was followed by a commercial
crisis, one incident of which was the suspension of specie payment
by nearly all the Canadian Banks. This involved an extra ses-
sion of the Legislature, which was speedily followed by the rebel-
lion.

We have already seen how Irishmen of every creed turned out
in defence of the British Canadian flag. " The great mass of the
emigrants," says Sir Richard Bonnycast'e writing in 1846, " may
however be said to come from Ireland, ar d to consist of mechanics
of tlie most inferior class, and of labourers. If they be Orange-
men, they defy the Pope and the devil as heartily in Canada, as
in Londonderry, and are loyal to the backbone. If they are Re-
pealers, they, come here sure of immediate wealth, to kick up a
deuce of a row, for two shillings and six pence is paid for a day's
labour, which two shillings and sixpence was a hopeless week's
fortune in Ireland ; yet the Catholic Irish who have been long
settled in the country are by no mear s the worst subjects in this
Transjitlantic realm, as I can personally testify, having had the com-
mand of large bodies of them during the border troubles of 1837-8.
They are all loyal and true. In the event of a war, the Catlioiic
26

402

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

Irish to a man will be on the side of England." The same writer
proceeds to pledge himself for the loyalty of the Catholic priesthood.

On the 18th of November, 1837, Mackenzie, Rolph, and Morrison,
with others, had decided at a secret meeting on a plan of opera-
tions, in unison with Fapineau. The rebellious bund were io be
marched by Yonge Street, on Toronto. The place of rendezvot s was
Montgomery's tavern; the time, between six o'clock and ten o'clock
at night on the 17th of December. Four thousand men were to
march on Toronto, seize the arms in the City Hall, and capture
the Lieutenant-Governor and his advisers. Rumours had reached
Sir Francis Head, of the intended rising, but he was incredulous.
On the 2nd of December, our old friend Captain Fitzgibbon learned
that quantities of pikes had been collected in the neighbourhood
of Markham. Still nothing was done, and one of the Judges
was heard to declare that the over zeal of the Captain had given
him a good deal of trouble.

How Rolph deranged Mackenzie's plans, who was, with his ac-
customed energy, hurrying about the country, preparing for the
rising ; how the insurgent leader learned \/ith dismay, on the 3rd
of December, that Rolph had altered the day of attack to the -ith ;
how with a small force he determined to advance on the city ; how
at last Sir Francis Head became alarmed, and asked Baldwin to sfo
and meet the rebels with a flag of truce, and ask them what they
wanted; all this is well known. Baldwin said he had no objec-
tion to go, but he wanted to have some one with him, and suggested
Bidwell. Bidwell refused to go, and suggested Dr, Rolph. Dr.
Rolph, the " secret traitor," as McMuUen callt> him, rode out with
Baldwin, and was guilty of an act of treachery, which left an
undying impression on the mind of the honourable man he had
betrayed. When the flag of truce was sent forward, Mackenzie
replied they wanted independence, and that the Governor would
have to put his message in writing within an hour. Rolph and
Baldwin returned with the answer that the Lieutenant-Governor
refused to comply with the demands of the insurgeuos. Dr. Rolph
now rode up to Mackenzie, and advised him to wait until six
o'clock, and enter the city under cover of night. Rolph had be-
trayed his Mend and his country, and Baldwin never spoke to him
again. How the insurgent mob fled before the fire of a picket of

AN ORATOR IN HUMBLE LIFE.

403

loyalists, need not be dwelt on, nor the further .stages of the miser-
able rebellion. The Irish throughout the country. Protestant and
Catholic, turned out from lonely shanty and city home. Fitzcrib-
bon, by his precautionary measures, saved many lives and much
money for the country. Thrice the Council generously voted Iiim
hve thousand acres of land, and thvice was the vote magnanimcusly
disallowed. The Provincial Parliament parsed a vote of thanks to
him, and presented him with a sword and some money. In 1850

M-v!'''^''r^'''.V^ ^'' "^'^'^^'y ''"^^^^«' Her Majesty created him a
Mihtary Knight of Windsor, and in England, therefore, he pas.sed
away the evening of his days. There can be no doubt of the nu.u-
bers of Irish who turned out, in 1837, for the flag; but it is only
fair to state that in the list of those arrested on weak or good
grounds, there occur a good many Irish names.

In Lower Canada an important part was played by a compara-
tively humble man. At the time of the outbreak there was in Que
bee something like the same proportion of Irishmen, or men of
Irish blood, to the mass of the French Canadians, as there is to-day
and the former were thought likely to join the rebels. Most of
them were Cathohcs who had fled from a land for whose tenants
no Gladstone had yet arisen, and when the voice of O'Connell was
thundering against England But though they had not had great
advantages in schooling, their mother wit told most of them that
there was no excuse for bringing to a new country the quarrels of
the old, that here they had aU the freedom man could covet, and
that It was imperative on them to play a patriotic part, and swell
the ranks of the volunteers. There were a few waverers in Quebec
and their numbers were exaggerated in reporiis to the Government'
It would be a serious thing if the Irish swelled the Gallic stream*
The moment was critical. In this crisis, distinguished and noble
service wa^ rendered to the country by a Catholic Irishman, John
Molloy, who, though belonging to humble life, had an influence
akm to that of a veritable leader with his countrj^men. Molloy was
born in Queen's County, and came to Canada in 1822. His charac-
ter was not unobserved, and when there appeared to be danger
that Papmeau's misguided ranks would be reinforced by that
va our which had won f . r itself the highest place on the battle-
helds of Europe, Sir James Stuart sent for Molloy and said he

404

THF IRISHMAN IN CANADA,

must address his countrymen, and urge them to strengthen the

volunteers.

It is a vulgar error to suppose that Irishmen are not modest,

but it is one v/hich it would, probably, be a waste of time to seek
to uproot. There is, however, a universe between clumsiness and
modesty, while a diffident character, clothed with versatility, and
instinct with nicety of perception, may act in a manner which
would prevent observers for ever from retlecting that beneath the
bright and strong armour, beats a heart too large not to think lowly
of itself. Be the truth about Irish modesty what it may, when
Sir James Stuart said : " Molloy, you address your countrymen
and urge them to strengthen the volunteers;" the reply he re-
reived was : " Sir James, this is no time for joking. You would
not ask a man of my humble rank of life to take a prominent
part at such an hour." Sir James replied : " Mi >lloy, you are the
man we want." Molloy accordingly attended a large meeting of
his countrymen, which was called for that evening, and when he
came forward to address them grew nervous as jven experienced
orators will, as indeed Cicero says, the true orator is sure to do
for the first few moments. The audience cheered, and Molloy
recovered his self-possession, and spoke as follows : " My fellow-
countrymen and fellow- citizens, you must not expect refined lan-
guage from me. Neither must you expect much dignity. But
what we want now is reality. It is, indeed, an unexpected thing
that a man such as I am should be called on to address" — and
here he looked around him — " such an assembly as this, at a time
when it is of the most vital importance I should counsel what is
right. But I have been called upon. I have obeyed that call,
and may the Providence wlio has found for us Irishmen a happy
home on this side of the Atlantic give me fit speech.

" When I arrived in Canada more than thirteen years ago, a
total stranger, before I was three days in Quebec, my ears became
familiar with expressions v^hich are insults to you. But notwith-
standing such expressions of the French Canadians, from English
and Scotch I met with the gi'eatest kindness. By George ! one
day I dined with an Englishman, and we had the roast beef of
Old England and French pudding, and the next day I dined with
a Scotchman, and we had equally good fare."

AN EFFECTIVE PERORATION.

4(y5

The reader %vill perceive how truly an crator was this compara-
tively untutored man. He plays on the sensitive pride of a peo-
ple, easily touched by kindness or moved to resentment by con-
tumely. He had been a good deal about the world and had used
his eyes and ears ; what he lacked in letters he made up by obser-
vation. He proceeds : —

" Sir James, if they would travel other countries as I did and
see constitutional principles, see the despotism of France and
Spain ; the contempt in which the poor man is held by the Ger-
man aristocrat, the tyranny of ' Roosha,' they would come back to
the British isles from whose escutcheon I hope the stains of tyr-
anny and the blots of penal enactment will soon be wiped away
and they would say ; ' Oh British isles, we love you with all j'^our
faults.' I now take upon myself to assert boldly that Pompey
never entered Jerusalem with greater hate and determination to
uproot the Jews thari the present Clique are to exterminat<^ us
from this country."

Now here with historical allusions which thd scholar would
not make, and which are in some respect at fault, how effective is
the rhetoric.

"But" he went on, "they never will do this. They would
drive Englishmen, Scotchmen, Iri.shmen out if they could.
Well, let me remind you that united we stand and divided we
fall, or as somebody before me" has expressed it in a nobler
manner, —

' United and happy at liberty's shrine,

May the rose and the thistle long flourish and twine,

Round the sprig of Shillalah

And shamrock so green.' "

Copies of the speech were struck off and circulated in thou-
sands over thj lower province and it had a great effect.

Molloy, who had had some military experience, soon joined the
volunteers as sergeant. He was then sent on a mission to Lon-
don where he had interviews with the Duke of Wellington, the
late Lord Derby and othe. leading men.

A very different class of man so far as birth and station go was
Colonel G. Hamilton, a native of Meath, who died in consequence
of a cold he took while reviewing the reserve company of the

406

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

Plantagenet township in the December of 1838. Another Irish
name connected in a distinguished manner with Canada at this
time is that of Sir W. Rowan, who was military secretary to Lord
Seaton, and who ultimately commanded the forces in this country
from 1849 to 1855, and administered the government during the
absence of Lord Elgin in England.

Sir Francis Head was succeeded by Sir George Arthur, during
whose government the American sympathisers kept the whole
population, but especially those who resided on the frontier, in
a constant state of excitement. The Earl of Durham's mission
which was suddenly terminated, the invasions at Windsor, Nia-
gara, Prescott, and in Lower Canada, and the numeroiis execu-
tions in both provinces were events which followed in rapid suc-
cession, and which caused great anxiety to the members of the
Executive Council

At this time the condition of the whole of British North
America was eminently unsatisfactory. The most serious discon-
tent had hardly yet been calmed in Prince Edward Island ; the
troubled waves had barely subsided in New Brunswick ; the
Government was in a minority in the Lower House in Nova
Scotia ; violent dissensions raged in Newfoundland ; in Canada,
the representative body was hostile to the Government. It would
have been no exaggeration to say that the natural state of govern-
ment in all these colonies was chronic collision between the Exe-
cutive and the elected of the people. In all of them the adminis-
tration of public affairs was habitually confided to those in whom
the Assembly would not confide. Constantly the Government
was proposing measures which the majority of the Assembly
forthwith rejected ; as constantly assent was refused to bills which
that body had passed.

Such collisions showed a deviation from sound constitutional
principles. The present century was bom and had learned to use its
legs before the people of Lower Canada began to understand the
representative system. In time constitutional principles were
grasped. But the moment the Assembly sought to put forth its
powers, it found how limited those powers were. Then the strug-
gle commenced. From that moment the Assembly was determined
to obtain that authority which reason and analogy proclaimed in-

r^s

EARLY STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY.

407

Tierent in representative bodies. The first incident in the struggle
was discouraging. The freedom of speech of the members offended
the Governor. The principal leaders were thrown into prison. As
in the history of England, so in Lower Canada, the purse was the
lever which the Parliament could wield with most effect. In the
course of time the Government was led by its necessities to accept
the Assembly's offer, to raise f*n additional revenue by fresh taxes,
an(i the Assembly thus acquired a certain control on the levying
and appropriation of the public revenue. From that time until
the final abandonment, in 1832, of every portion of the reserved
revenue, excepting the casual and territorial funds, the contest was
carried on. Every inch the Assembly gained it made use of to
gain an ell. Wave by wave it reached the high-water mark of
complete control over the revenue of the country,

A cause of contest still remained. The Assembly having ob-
tained entire control of the revenue still found itself deprived of
all voice in the choice or even designation of the persons entrupted
with the administration of affairs. Public functionaries were in-
dependent of it. A body of office-holders entirely independent
of the representatives of the people .must infallibly acquire a
power not short of despotic over a Province, and destroy the use-
fulness of a Governor and even limit his power. For what hap-
pens ? A Governor arrives who knows little of the colony, less
of the state of parties, nothing of the character of individuals.
He has no choice but to place himself in the hands of the officials
whom he finds in place and power. From that moment he is at
their mercy.

These remarks apply to Upper as v^ell as to Lower Canada,
with the difference that from the first the English-speaking settlers
in the Upper Province had clear constitutional ideas on the sub-
ject of government.

When Lord Durham came here, one of the most versatile men
Ireland has given to Canada — the Montague of Canadian Finance
— Mr. (now Sir Francis) Hincks commenced the publication of the
Examiner in Toronto, and by the ^^igour and incisive ness of his
style attracted so much attention that he was invited to stand at
the next general election as the Liberal candidate for the County
of Oxford. Thn Exa'ininer was the exponent of Responsible Gov-

408

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

emment, and Mr. Hincks had an easy task, especially with his
facility as a w riter, in proving that Responsible Governinent was
consistent with loyalty to the Crown. This distinguished man to
whom whatever he has attempted has seemed easy — journ;<list,
financier, orator, statesman — was born in the City of Cork, on the
14th of December, 1807. His father, the Reverend T. D. Hincks,
LL.D., was for many years Head Classical Master and Profes-
sor of Oriental Languages in the Royal Belfast Academical Insti-
tution, where Francis Hincks, who was the fifth son,* attended
the college classes during the session of 1823-4. Luckily for us
the bent of the future statesman was neither divinity, nor archeeo-
logy, nor natural history, but commerce. There is no school in
the world better than Belfa.st to make a shrewd business man, and
the five years he spent in the mercantile house of John Martin &
Co., exercised a beneficial influence on his career. When twenty-
two years of age he visited ^ho West Indies in a ship belonging
to the firm, which was bound for Barbadoes, Demerara and Trini-
dad. He was then a young, friendless, Irish adventurer. Nobody
threw away any notice on him as he stepped ashore at Barba<^^loes,
unless they were struck by his quick eye which

" Took in at once the landscape of the world ;"

yet twenty-five short years, and he was to land at Barbadoes
under the salute accorded to the Governor.

His voyage over, he returned to Barbadoes, and while there,
made the acquaintance of a Canadian gentleman named Ross, who
recommended him to return home by way of Canada. He accom-
panied Ross to Quebec in 1830, after a short stay at Montreal,
still having no intention of remaining in Canada. But the course
of our lives is determined by small circumstances ; a scrap ^f
poetry ; glance-seizing pearls shining from between two red lips ;

• The whole family was talented. The eldest son, the Rev. Dr. Edward Hincks,
once F. T. C. D., sometime rector of Killyleagh in the diocese of Down, obtained a re-
putation as wide as Christendom as a critic on Egyptian and Assyrian archieology. The
second son, the Rev. William Hincks, F. L. S., was for several years Professor of
Natural History in Queen's College, Cork, yome twenty-five years ago he removed to
Toronto to fill the same chair there. The third, the Venerable Thomas Hincks, Arch-
deacon of Conner ; the fourth the Rev. John Hincks who died at Liverpool at an early
age, having previously distinguished himself as a student in the Belfast Institution.

THE SWITCH OF A GREAT CAREER.

409

the HipVik of a bit of moss ; a verse of the Bible learned at a
mother's knee. Young Hincks met at Montreal a number of per-
sons settled in Upper Canada, and heard them talk of it in lan-
guage of praise. He also met some old Belfast friends about to
settle there. He was, it seems, an enthusiastic admirer of Moore's
poetry, but had never seen the "poems relating to America,"
until he found them on the table of his friends. Lines already
referred to in an earlier part of this work, which occur in the
letter addressed to Lady Catharine Rawdon, commencing —

" I dreamt not then that ere the rolling year
Had filled its circle, I should wander here,
In musing awe~"

seized on his imagination anl ruled his fancy. He determined
to spend the winter at York. Having attended the debates in
the Provincial Parliament, and seen something of the country,
he returned home in the spring of 1831. Can yo.i not follow
him across the Atlantic, musing over the possibilities of Canada,
and his c ^ future ? His quick eye had discerned that among
Canada's legislators and business men there was room for him.
In the July of 1832 he was again sailing for Canada. In
Walton's little directory, published in 1834, I find the entry,
among the H's, " Hincks, Frs., wholesale warehouse, 21 Yonge
Street," which I have learned was at the corner of Yonge and
Melinda Street, a wine cellar in the midst of orchards, and in
the neighbourhood of the Baldwins. At number 23, the occupants
were Dr. W. Baldwin, Robert Baldwin, Esq., Attorney, &c., and
Baldwin &l Sullivan, Attorney's Office. It would seem, from
letters written during the early years of his residence,
he was much disappointed with his business prospects, for
though he spoke of a wide field, he also dwelt on the fearful
credit system which was encouraged by the banks, the risk of
• bad debts, and he indicated that a deteii'iination was shaping
itself to look out for employment of a different kind. An oppor-
tunity soon presented itself. His financial genius had
not been unnoticed, and in 1835, he was entrusted with the
management of a new bank. Such, thus far, was the career of
the man whom we now find engaged in discussing political ques-

410

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

tions, as a journalist, and whom we shall soon meet in another
field.

In the latter end of 1830 Mr. Poulett Thonip.son, afterwards
Lord Sydenham, a.ssumed the Goveri'inent, as succcHsor to the Earl
of Durham. His main object was to effect the union of the Cana-
das, in accordr nee with the recommendation in the Earl of
Durham's Reimrt, and after obtaining the concurrence of the
S})ecial Council of Lower Canada, ho determined to proceed to
Toronto, to assume the Government of Upper Canada, which
was included in his commission. It wan at this time tliat Lord
John Russell's celebrated despatch on the subject of Responsible
Government was published for general information. Its language
was vague, but it distinctly gave tlie high officials to understand
that in future their offices were to be held on a different tenure,
and that they would be called on to vacate them whenever
public interest should require them to do so. Up to that time,
all the principal offices had been considered i)ermanent. They
were held during good behaviour, instead of pleasure. Mr. Poulett
Thompson found the political parties in a state of complete disor-
ganization. Those members who had been elected as Reformers,
and who were inclined to support the new Governor General, were
in a small minority, b' asiderable number of the Conserva-

tives were unwillin the consequences of opposition to the

Governor, and W( eover, not disinclined for political changes.

The leaders of the ^ory party had to choose between adhesion to
their principles and the st «;rific« of their offices. Mr. Hagerman,
the leader of that party^ was permitted to vote against the
GoveiAiment resolutions for the Union, with an understandi:ig
that he would resist all the amendments which a sf ction of the
unionists desired to impose as conditions. One of these was,
that the seat of government should be fixed in Upper Canada,
which, moreover, was to have a majority of the representatives.
Mr. Thompson was firm in adhering to the pi 'in to which he had
obtained the consent of the Special Council cf Lower Canada, and
in Mr. Sullivan he found his ablest sui)porter. The opposition in
the Legislative Council was even more formidable than in the As-
sembly, but Mr. Sullivan exertec' his oratorical powers with great
effect, and became one of Mr. Thompson's most trusted councillors.

A IIEMARKAIILE PAMPHLET BY OOWAN.

411

His collei,guo, the present Chi. if Ju:>tico Draper took the manage-
uient of tlie principal busin';.s.s in the House of Assembly.

In 1 839, an Irishman, Liout.-Colonel Oowan, M.P.P. for the
Coun y of Leeds, contributed to the discussion of the issue of the
houi, by a pamphlet in favour of Responsible Government. Oj^le
R. GDwan was a remarkable man, and we shall meet with him
agaia. A native of the County ^i Wexford, and a leading mem-
ber of the Grand Lodge of the Orange In.stitution. he emigrated
with his family to Canada in 1829, and settled at Escott ]*ark, in
the County of Leeds. Destined frefjuently to rej)re.sent his
county, to be Alderman of the City of Toronto, to serve as Captain,
in the Queen's Own llifles,at the cai)turc of Hickory Island, in 1838,
to rise to Lieutenant-Colonel, and distinguish iiimself, winning
honourable scars at the " Windmill," near Prescott, his best-known
distinction has been his power and prominence among the Orange-
men, of whom he has boon . jnsidored the founder and father.
When the history of the pamphlet is known, it indicates a great
deal of liberal insight oi ii.e part of Mr. Gowan. Republished
and modified in 1839, it had already appeared .so early as 1830,
and when republished. King was changed to Queen, and other
alterations made to suit the more modern date. No stronger ap-
peal could be made in favour of that forwliich Baldwin had con-
tended. Coming from a Tory and an Orangeman, such iinguage
as the following was well calculated to produce a deep impres-
sion : — " The Queen's deputy is allowed to do more in the capital of
Canada than the Queen herself in the capital of England and the
very heart of the empire. He may act as a powerf"i and colonially
irresponsible despot, while she must act as a constitutional and
limited monarch ! ♦ ♦ * Do we not read that, in England,
even his Grace the Duke of Wellington and Sir Robert Peel, the
highest ' Tory ' and ' prerogative ' statesmen of modem times,
actually declare that the Queen's confidential advisers are responsi-
ble to Parliament, even for the very household appointments, aye,
even down to Her Majesty's waiting-maids?" Again: " An ir-
responsibly administered Government, instead of b'^ ' - allied to
anything British in name, nature, or practice, is the most conspic-
uous feature of a democracy ; it is a democracy by birth. In princi-
ple it is fallacious ; in piactice it \: republican and Yankee. Since

^m^mmmmmm

ira

412

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

the glorious days of ' the great and good King William,' it never
formed any part of the open, manly, 'be just and fear not' conduct
of a true Briton, who, instead of evading direct, immediate, and
present accountability. '..5 prr 1 of it ; solicits a scrutiny into all
his actions ; and stands with clean hands, and an open heart, re-
sponsible to his God, to his sovereign, and to his country." Mr.
Gowan gives extracts from the press, some of which have an in-
terest for us, for he gives the namci and nationality of the editor.
The extracts are all in favour of Responsible Government ; the first
from the pen of an Irishman, being taken from the Toronto Mirror,
whose editor was Mr. Covey, the publisher of which v;as Charles
Dunlevy, another Irishman ; the next is from the Examiner ; the
third from the Peterborough Backwoodsman, whose editor was Mr.
Darcus, Justice of the Peace. The pamphlet we)- deserved re-
publication.

We shall not be suiprised at the ascendancy accjiuired by the
Governor General over the mind of Sullivan. Poulett Thompson
had the great advantage of parliamentary experience, and a firm
belief in the advantages which the Union would bring to all par-
ties. The official correspondence in the blue books shows how
much he was trusted by the Home Government, and how much
he ueserved to be trusted. He was no passive instrument in the
hands of Minister^}, but a guiding spirit. In the face of all sorts
of difficulties he bv^nt hi nself to his task. There was opposition
on both sides of the Atlantic. Mr. Thompson was indefatigable
in consulting with everybody who could give him infomiation as
to the state of feeling throughout the country. The best minds
of both Provinces were undoubtedly on the side of Union, but
there were important differences in regard to detail.

On the 12th June, 1839, the Marquis of Normanby sent a des-
patch to Sir John Colborne, containing copies of bills extending
the powers of the Special Council and the draft of a bill for the
reunion of the Provinces. Sir John Colborne replied, that it was
evidently the desire of the British portion of the population, that
the union should not be delayed ; that the French Canadians were
not averse to it, as they had been ; that while public opinion on
the question had been much divided in the Upper Province, most

POULETT THOMPSON'S STATESMANLIKE RESOLVE.

413

of the districts were now looking forward to Union as likely to
Improve their commercial position.

In November, 1839, Mr. Thompson sent Lord John Russell a re-
markable despatch. He was determined to proceed to Upper
Canada, having requested Sir George Arthur to summon the Legis-
lature of that Province. According to the information he had re-
cei>?ed, he was convinced that, in Lower Canada, a union with
Upper Canada on just and equitable principles was desired by the
vast majority of the intelligent of all parties. He debated for a
time whether he should call together the Assembly in Upper
Canada. He would have desired to ascertain by personal residence
the state of public opinion. The time necessary for that would
throw back the meeting of the Assembly if he decided to call it
together, or that of a new one, had he thought calling a new
Assembly expedient. There were but two courses — to dissolve at
once, or call together the existing Assembly. There was little in
the character of that Assembly to render it an improper tribunal
to adjudge on the^ question. It was always in his power to make
an appeal to the people. A body of men, who, in the natural
course of things, would soon be sent back to their constituents,
coul'". not be very deaf to popular feeling. Another consideration
had great weight with him. If the Legi.slature of Upper Canada
should decide in favour of the Union of the Provinces, and agree
to such terms as the Imperial Parliament would approve, the
measure might be brought into practical operation at a very early
date. It would have been very undesirable that the Upper Province
should be subjected to two general elections within a short space of
time, one for the Provincial, and another for the United Assembly.

Parliament met early in December. In the Governor's message,
he said that every British statesman desired that the Canadas,
which had for years occupied so much of the attention of Par-
liament, should be contented and pros]^. i3rous ; that the tie*
binding them to the parent state should be strengthened, and
even their administration should be conducted in accordance
with the wishes of the people. In Lower Canada, the consti-
tution was suspended, while the powers of the Government
were limited. In Upper Canada, the finances were deranged,
public improvements were stopped, private enterprise checked,

414

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

iilt

the tide of imroigration no longer lowing, many dissatisfied
with the system of government. By reunion alone, could the
difficulties be overcome, and he urged on them that the time
had arrived beyond which a settlement could not be postponed.

On the 14th, he wrote to the Colonial Office, saying that the
T gislative Council had sanctioned the Union. " I cannot" he says,
" but feel satisfied that this decided expression of opinion on the
part of gentlemen so well acquainted with the affairs of Canada,
and possessing so large a stake in the Province, will have •.. very
beneficial eflfect both on this continent and in the Mother Country.''
The following is a list of the Members of the Legislative Coun-
cil who voted on this occasion for the Union : — Adams^n. Home
District ; Baldwin, Toronto ; Crooks, Flamboro' ; Dunn, Toronto ;
De Blaquiere, Oxford ; Fraser, Glengarry ; Fergusson, Hamilton ;
Macaulay, John, Toronto ; Morris, Perth ; McDonald, Ganan> jue ;
M'Gillivray, Glengarry ; Radcliffe, Western District ; Sullivan,
Toronto ; Wells, Toronto, fourteen : Against the Union : — The
Bishop of Toronto ; Allan ; Crookshank ; Elmsley ; Macaulay, J.
S. ; M'Donnel, all of Toronto ; Wilson, Gore District, and Van-
koughnet, Cornwall, eight. Majority, six.

In the House of Assembly, which had already considered the
question favourabl}^ there was little difficulty. Four resolutions
were adopted. By a vote of forty- seven against six, the proposition
that it was the duty of the representatives of the people of the Pro-
vince to consider the provisions by which the measure might be
carried into eflfect was carried. A vote of thirty-three i^gainst twenty
carried equal representation of each Province. In the address to
Her Majesty, moved by Mr. Cartwright, it was recommended that
the use of the English language, in all judicial and legislative
records should be forthwith introduced, and that at the end of a
certain number of years, after the Union, all debates in the Legis-
lature should be in English ; that the seat of the Provincial
Government should be established in Upper Canada ; that a suffi-
cient qualification, in real estate, should be required from any
person holding a seat in the Legislature ; that immigration should
be promoted and encouraged ; and that a system of municipal
government and local taxation should be established in Lower
Canada, on the same principles as obtained in Upper Canada.
Tlie qualification of members, which was fixed at £600 value in

■Ml

DIVERSITY OF OPINION llEGARDING THE UNION.

415

land, led to much discussion. The importance of the recommen-
dation respectirg municipal government was great. If a road was
to be improved, a Bill in the Assembly had to be proposed. In
Upper Canada the power of taxation was limited to the imposi-
tion of one penny an acre on cultivated land, and one-fifth of a
penny an acre on wild land. Lord Durham had pointed out in
his report the need in Lower Canada of municipalities. When I
come to Lord John Russell's speech introducing the question to the
Imperial Parliament, this important matter of municipal reform
will be better understood.

In the debate which preceded the passing of the resolutions
there was much diversity of opinion. Ogle R. Gowan would never
vote for Union but on conditions. Equal representation seemed
to him to be a measure of " degradation, pains and penalties." He
was afraid a majority of loyal men would not be returned to the
United Legislature. He would not vote for the Union unless the
existing representation was continued to Upper Canada. He was
afraid of the spread of democratic principles. The seat of govern-
n)ent should be in Upper Canada. He contended for the abolition
of the French language in all public 'prcceedings. This, perhaps,
was a question which should have been grappled with earlier.
Some .spoke in a very narrow way, and in a tone of great illiberality
to Lower Canada.

Sullivan's speech was the best made in either House, and dealt
with all the arguments against the Union. He made the assurance,
that Her Majesty was determined to maintain the connexion be-
tween these colonies and the Mother Country, the foundation of
his remarks, and dwelt on the finances. The cry of discontent, .
he said, had come from loyal British subjects in Lower Canada.

The Honourable Mr. Willson here insisted that Union could
do no good. Discord and mischief would follow in the train of
evils and he called on honourable gentlemen to pause and consi-
der before they adopted a measure the result of ^ .'hich it was not
in the judgment of m,'.n to determine.

Sullivan laughed at such fears and pointed out the impolicy of
injustice to Lower Canadians. People had declared their willingnesB
to vote for a Union, but upon what terms? The disfranchisement
of the French Canadians. Such a plan of Union would be wholly

ff ^ ' • *

416

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

II!

ij I

unsupported in the British Parliament. England, which had been
pursuing steadily a course of emancipation from slavery, would
never consent to establish a nation of serfs without political
rights in any part of the British dominions. Honourable gentle-
men had seen a rebellion amongst a people complaining of imagin-
ary grievances ; but they would be rash to found their calculation
from this poor experience, of Avhat a rebellion would be amongst
a people struggling against r :1 and tangible oppression. It was
true that by the disfrancl.isement of Lower Canadians they might
banish sedition from the halls of legislation ; they might impose
silence upon the discontented, but would they make discontent less
dangerous ? Would there be a sword less to be drawn, or an arm
less to wield it? Would the American emissary be less active or
less successful amongst a nation of sla^'es ? Would the dislike of
Lower Canadians to British Institutions be less active, or would
not an effective and real regard to American liberators be added
to the natural prejudices with which they had to contend. He
put it to honourable gentlemen, would they consent to be dis-
franchised for the sake of a few ? Would they live in quiet in a
country, in which they and their race were branded with dis-
gi-ace and exclusion from common right? — or if they consented
to such exclusion, what man amongst them could so command
his children? Ask, he cried, the rising youth of the country
meekly to bow their necks to the chain, and be contented slaves
in the country of their forefathers! He had seen the experiment
tried; he had seen the energies of a noble and brave people ex-
hausted in struggles ; he had seen guilt and murder prevail in a
land, in which the attempt was made to exclude and disfranchise
a people upon the grounds of difference in religion, or of national
origin; and he could not but shudder at the prospect of introduc-
ing such a system into a British Province. He preferred to meet
the bold and open declamations of the demagogue; he preferred
contending with him under the protection of law and within the
walls of Parliament, to meeting his bitter, concealed, but uncx-
tinguishable hatred. On the one hand, truth, justice, intelligence,
British principles, would however severe the struggle, beat length
triumphant. 0^:. the other,

" The muffled rebel would steal forth in the ('ark,"

'■aikan

SULLIVAN S SPEECH CONTINUED.

417

and, night by night, add a brand to the pile which would consume
the country.

Again, it was said, keep Lower Canada in the present state for
ten or for twenty years. But he would ask, from whom had the
complaints of late proceeded against the present system ? Who
had stated that it was intolerable ? Not the French Canadian.
No; he had been for a time confounded and silenced by late
events. The ciy of disconter / came from loyal British

brethren in Lower Canada ; and ». aing from such a quarter, it
was not to be resisted. Hon. gcatleinen were also desirous to
attach, as a condition to tl * measure, the establishment of the
seat of the United Government in Upper Canada. He could not
but feel surprise at a proposition, to limit one of the undoubted
prerogatives of the Crown, coming from such a quarter. Even in
England no seat of Government was fixed by Legislative enact-
ment ; the Sovereign had the right of summoning Parliament in
any part of the British Isles. Where she was, there was the seat
of the Government ; and he trusted that hon. gentlemen would at
once see that such a proposition, as a condition to accompany the
assent of that House, tended to defeat the whole measure — that
it was unwise, unconstitutional, and impracticable.

The immediate abolition of the French language, in public pro-
ceedings and debates in Parliament, was also proposed as a condi-
tion. He hoped to see the day when such a plan might be adopted
without oppression or injustice to any party. At present, it would
work grievous wrong, without any corresponding benefit. This
was a matter which might be safely left to the United Legisla-
ture ; it was not of sufficient importance to form an obstacle to
this great measure, and there could be no good reason given why,
at all events, it might not form the subject of a recommendation,
on the part of this House, instead of a positive condition.

It was urged as a condition to the assent of that House to the

Union of the Provinces, that the Constitution of '91 should be

preserved. He apprehended that this condition had reference

principally to the constitution of the honourable body to which

he had the honour to belong. It had given him the most lively

satisfaction to be able to state, from authority, to that honourable

House, that it was not the intention of His Excellency the Gov-
27

f**^.

418

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

emor-General to recommend to Her Majesty any change which
could affect its stability, permanence, or constitutional authority ;
that, on the contrary, it was his desire to build up and establish it
as a strong bulwark of tho Constitution — to add to, and not to
take from its consequence ; and that the clause introduced into
the Bill laid before the Imperial Parliament, which might have
injuriously affected it, had been abandoned. The Government
being with them on the point, it would be exceedingly unwise
to introduce any conditions into the Bill, which would tend to
relieve the Government from an iota of responsibility. He
considered it was their measure : he wished to leave the conse-
^juences with them, and that could be done in no way so effec-
tually, as by accepting the measure precisely as it was proposed,
leaving the details of the plan to those who were responsible for
the consequences.

Honourable gentlemen, who sought to attach to it conditions
which would defeat and stultify the assent of the House, had
called themselves Tories, when they denounced the Lower
Canadians, and wished to leave them without the privileges of
British subjects. They still called themselves Tories, and gloried
in the name ; but he would like to inquire in what quarter they
looked f 01 support in the British Parliament ? The suspension of
the Constitution of Lower Canada was not a Tory measure ; it was
not carried by Conservatives in Parliament, and it was to the
opposition and objections of Conservative members, that the prac-
tical impossibility of continuing the suspension of the Constitution
in Lower Canada was mainly to be attributed. He would repeat
the question, whence could honourable gentlemen, so decid-
edly Tory, look for support in England ? Not from the extreme
Radical party, who showed themselves willing to sacrifice colonies
and institutions and connexions, upon which the greatness and
stability of the empire were founded, to impracticable theories of
popular right — not frora the Conservatives, who had reproached
the Government so bitterly for the suspension of Constitutional
Government in Canada — not surely from the Whig Government,
which had formally declared the impossibility of continuing the
present state of political affairs in Lower Canada. Honourable
gentlemen were to be complimented upon the moral courage which

SEPARATION FROM ENGLAND.

419

permitted them, upon their own responsibility, to lay down a plan
of Colonial Government, which they were to carry out with their
own influence, and sustain with their own power. But however
such projects might answer for declamation and debate, it was but
too plain that for any other purpose they were vain and useless.

He had read and heard speculations upon the separation of
these Colonies from England ; but he must acknowledge that he
did not possess the coolness and philosophy to consider the ques-
tion with a view to consequences ulterior to such an event. He was
certain the honourable gentlemen around him, so many of whom
had spent their early lives in the service of that great empire to
which it was their pride to belong, would not, for light causes, take
from their children's inheritance the pride of England's glory.
Those who had so often stood in the fast thinning ranks of British
battle, would not readily give up the trophies of the Peninsula or
the medal of Waterloo, for the cotton bags of New Orleans, or the
much vaunted heroism of Chippawa. To them and to him the sound
of the Bi'itish drum, which would beat the last retreat, would in-
deed be a funeral note ; and the lowering the " meteor flag of Eng-
land," in the country of their adoption, would be a sight which
would leave little behind worth seeing or living. for. The loss of
this rising and beautiful country would be a sad blow to England's
prosperity, a blot upon the age in which it would happen, a dis-
grace to the rulers under which it would be permitted to take place.
But he would turn from this distressing picture of the downfall
of England's Colonial Empire, acquired with so much toil, defended
with so much valour, and consecrated by so much British blood,
to the more cheering and inspiring prospects opening before
them. "We have," he exclaimed, " conquered our great enemies —
indifference on the part of the Mother Country, and distrust in
our attachment to her interests, and loyalty to our Sovereign. We
have convinced British statesmen of the value of our country ;
we have shown the true and loyal spirit of its inhabitants;
we have obtained from our Queen that invaluable declaration,
that she will maintain the connection between these Colonies and
the Empire. Let us then join heart and hand with Her Govern-
ment, let us cordially support measures intended for our safety
and our welfare ; let us not impair, by conditions implying dis-

420

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

I 11
'I

trust, the generous confidence we are invited to offer ; but bestow
it, readily and cheerfully, in the same spirit in which it is asked,
looking forward with confidence to a bright future of rapidly ad-
vancing i)rosperity, secure in the powerful protection of the Em-
pire.

Lord John Russell was highly gratified at the news Mr. Thomp-
son was able to send home. The charge was made in the local
papers that the Union had been carried in the Upper Province by
an unustial exertion of infiuence over the members, Fearinsr this
statement might be repeated in England, the Governor wrote,
pointing out that in two of the most important amendments
moved in the House, that of Mr. Robinson for negativing alto-
gether the Union, and that of Mr Cartwiight for negativing the
Union, except on certain specified conditions, the minority con-
sisted, in the former case, of ten, of whom five held places during
pleasure ; and in the latter of twenty-one, of whom nine held
places during pleasure.

Mr. Thompson was in favour of the Union taking place as soon
as possible, and of a Legislative Council, the members of which
should be elected for life. He determined to adhere as closely as
possible, for electoral pui-poses, to the territorial divisions, only
reducing the number of representatives from two for each district
to one. No new surveys would be required. The number of repre-
sentatives for districts would be diminished; but this was not only
necessary, but would prove highl}^ advantageous. Its propriety
was urged by all whose opinion was of most value. " In a county
like this," says Mr. Thompson, " where there are few, if any, per-
sons of independent fortune — where almost every man is occupied
upon pursuits which demand his whole time and attention — where
to be absent from home is attended, not only with expense which
can ill be afforded, but with a sacrifice of interests which few will
submit to — a numerous representation is a most serious evil.
There is great difficulty in finding fit representatives. They must
be paid, which entails heavy expense on the district vrhich sends
them ; and even with payment, many of those who would be best
qualified to serve will not submit to the loss of time and neglect of
their private affairs."

We have made some progress in public spirit since that time .

LOUD JOHN UUSSKLL ON THE UNION.

421

)\V

|ed,

icl-

liin-

Now the difficulty is not to get candidates, but to choose from the
number who are amb' ious of serving tlieir country. A despatch
from Lord John Russell, dated the 20th of March, thanks the
Governor-General in a very emphatic manner. The promj)titude
with which he had acted in ascertaining the sentiments of the
Special Council — the decision with which he had resorted in person
to the Upper Province — the conciliatory spirit in which he met
the Legislature of that Province — and the zeal for Her Majesty's
service and the good of her people, which he had on all occasiona
evinced, had been observed by the Queen with the gi-eatest satis-
faction, and had inspired Her Majesty with a confident hope
that he might successfully complete the work he had so ably
commenced.

The Bill had yet to run the gauntlet of opposition in the Imperial
Parliament. On the 23rd March, Lord John Russell made a very
able speech in its favour. Her Majesty's subjects in Upper and
Lower Canada, amounted to upwards of a million. Some Coti-
mated the number at one million one hundred thousand, residing
partly in one of the great valleys of the American continent, aH
partly on the " shores of that series of magnificent lakes, situated
on the borders of Upper Canada." To provide for the interests of
such a people, was a subject of very deep moment. He was anx-
ious to bring forward, at the earliest period, such measures as were
best calculated to put a stop to that interference on the part of
the Imperial Parliament, which, though necessary, had become too
frequent of late years. In 1828, Mr. Huskisson, who then presided
at the Colonial Office, stated in Parliament the grievances of the
Canadas, and especially of Lower Canada, and proposed a commit-
tee to inquire into the subject. Since that period every detail had
been enquired into. In two successive years, attempts had been
made to separate the Provinces from their allegiance to Her Ma-
jesty by open insurrection within, and by inroads of armed bandits
from without. Such circumstances must secure the attention of
the House to the subject.

He then proceeded to describe the measure which he readily
admitted would not be advisable, if those principally interested
entertained a repugnance to it. Such, however, was not the case,
as the Governor-General had ascertained. The first great evil to

Nil >

422

THE IIUSHMAN IN CANADA.

be grappled with, waa the existence of a system of feudal law in
Lower Canada; the second, the state of representation which gave
a preponderance to the French race. For these evils, a union of
the Provinces was the most appropriate remedy. The Earl of
Durham had sliown in a clearer manner than had ever been done
before, how little they ought to confound the conduct of the As-
sembly of Lower Canada with that of advocates of constitutional
freedom. The truth was, that the Assembly of Lower Canada while
"sing the weapons of freedom, and while resorting to constitu-
tional arguments to attain their objects, really employed those
means for the purpose of establishing a close monopoly of power
in the hands of the race to which they belonged, to the exclusion
of the British race from all participation in it. Lord Durham had
shown, that though all the appearance of constitutional freedom
was on the side of M. Papineau, and though the English party
was obliged to seek refuge and support in the Legislative Council
and consequently to use arguments in favour of prerogative, and
opposed to popular assemblies, yet that the English party was, in
fact, upholding those principles which they in England held in
reverence, while the opposite party supported with the weapons
of Hampden, the principles of Richelieu.

They were endeavouring to establish a species of government
extremely exclusive, and extremely hostile to all improvement.
The development of the resources of the country by the British
empire was not encouraged, but repressed. A break was placed
on the wheel of advancing civilization. For such evils, for this
narrow spirit, there was no better, no more efficient remedy than
reunion.

That Canada should have a free constitution was beyond dis-
cussion. But under a free constitution the spirit of monopoly
could not be allowed to run rampant, and the only way to crush
it, was to deprive the French race of "that preponderance of which
they made so ill an use." He thought the whole blame should
not be thrown on the leaders of the French party. The unhappy
events of the intervening years had naturally arisen out of the
singular position iu which the Provinces were placed by the Act
of 1791 — an Act against which the Englishman Fox> and the
Irishman, Dorchester, had protested in vain. There could be no

Pitt's mistakes. Baldwin's statesmanship.

423

ive

better proof of the greatness of the younger Pitt, than that his
fame as a statesman outlives his blunders. It is only fair to say,
however, that both Pitt and Grenvilie appear to have contemplated
a time when it would be expedient to reunite the sei)arated Pro-
vinces.

Lord John Russell proposed that the new Assembly should not
meet until 1842, a view of the situation of which he was disabused
by the wisdom aud firmness of Mr. Thompson In conformity with
English constitutional views and maxims, it was determined that
money votes should never be voted without u message from the
Governor, of course leaving the Assembly '.he power of addressing
the Governor on the subject. Lord John Russell thought this a
most important provision, deeply connected and interwoven with
the whole of the misfortunes which had occurred in the Loweri
and with some of the difficulties which had presented themselves
in the Upper Province. It would affect the whole future of the
country.

The following passage in regard to Responsible Government from
the lips of so great and so liberal a statesman as Lord John Russell,
(Earl Russell) surely attests the sagacity and capacity which lay
behind Baldwin's meditative eye. The English statesman could
not see his way to Responsible Government as clearly as our own
great reformer.

" He was not going to agitate what was called the question of
Responsible Government. He was not of opinion, e,s he had often
declared, that they could have the official servants of the Governor
subject to exactly the same responsibility as the Ministers of the
Crown here, because the Governor must receive his orders directb/
from the Crown,and therefore,it was impossible to listen altogether
to the representatives of the Assembly. But he thought the
division that had prevailed, of having one set of men employed
in the confidence of the Governor, forming, as it were a par-
ticularly small party, distributing according to their own
notions, with the skill and practice which long experience gave,
the property, and guiding the administration of the Colony, while
other ambitious and stirring men, perhaps of great public talents,
were entirely excluded from all share in the administration of
affairs, had been an unfortunate and vicious practice; and by some

424

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

i "i

i|?

I III

t :

rule of administration, a b(>tter practice ou;,dit to be introduced.
In conformity with this opinion Lord Normanby, when at the
Colonial office, informed ^^he Governor of Nova Scotia that when-
ever a vacancy occurred in the Executive Council, he should fill
it up l)y .selecting some one who Ams ]>ropeiIy (jualified, fi'om the
majority of the Assembly; and altl ou^fh the occasion did not arise
till after he (Lord John Russell) had succeeded to the oifice, when
the Governor of ^ova Scotia applied to know whether he should
give effect to the reconnnendation, he told him,'theio whs no better
way of giving confidence to the Colony, and at the same time of
making the members of the Assembly men of business, disposed to
look well to all the circumstances of the '^ountry, than to give
them official station and responsibility. He did not think as he
' had stated, that they could lay down any positive inffexible rule,
but as a general .system of policy tho.se who were among the
leaders of the majority of the Assembly should not be excluded
from all concern in the Executive Govci lunent,"

With regard to Municipal Reform, Lin-d John Ru.ssell said : —
" It had been the custom, in reference to the improvement of.
roads or any local establishment, and in reference to grants of
money for local courts of justice, to propose a Bill in the Assem-
bly, and to appropriate the required funds out of the public
taxes of the Province. Inst<3ad of this mode of proceeding, he
pxoposed that there should be brought into more regular and
uniform operation, municipal government in those Provinces. In
Uppfjr Canada there already existed the form of municipal gov-
ernment. There were townships and elective officers, and also
counties, but the latter vrera merely divisions for the choicse of
members for the xissembly. There were, however, local districts,
consisting of two or throe counties conjoined, in which taxes were
raised for the maintenance of Courts of Justice, for the exp.enses
of Sheriff's and Constables, and of the local a'Jministiation oi" the
district. But these powers were extremely limited. In Ui)per Can-
ada the power of taxation "was limited to the impo.sition of one
penny an acre on cultivated Lnd, and of one-fifth of a penny an acre
on wild land. The ol)vious effect of this limitation was to prevent
the carrying into effect many improvements oat of the pub'icfunds;
and the holdijrs of lands to a vast amount, being taxed extremely

MUNICIPAL RKFOUM,

425

ced.
the
en-
fill
the
rise
hen

)Ul(l

tter
e of
1 to
^•ive
s he
ule,
the
ided

lightly, (lid not feci iheinHclvcs oV)ligu<l to devote their capital to
the cultivation of their property He tlu'i'efore propose<l that
thiw pov'er of taxation should he inereased, and that pcrininHion
should be jjfiven to levy three-pence i)er acre on all landH. A report
by Lord hurhani on this sul)ject, in reforence particularly to Lower
Canada, .^liowed how extremely useful some municipal authority
wouldbe, by whicii local improvements mi^dit be effected. In Lower
Canada it <lid not aj>pear that any such powers as he hadnuintioned
existed for this purpose, but he proposed to exteii'l to that Pro-
vince the pov/ers now exercised in Upper Canada, giving the Gov-
ernor authority to form local districts, and to settle the boundaries
of such districts. In Upper Canada there weie fifteen districts,
and there might be formed, perhaps, twenty-five in Lower Canada.
Theye districts, as formed by the Governor, would not, of course,
be 80 large as to make it inconvenient for members to attend, nor
would they partake in any way of the character of political bodies.
They were simply intended to eflfect mere local objects, such as the
improvement of the roads and other connimnications, as well as to
attend to a variety of local purposes, which could not otherwise be
provided for. He thought it necessary that some arrangement of
thia kind should be adopted by Parliament, because it was (u-oposed
in other parts of the bill to take away, as he had before said, from
the Assembly ihe power of originating money votes ; and as this
was one of those subjects on which great dissension would proba-
bly arise among the different parties in Canada, he thought it desir-
able, on that account also, for Pailiament to lay down the basis on
which the local districts should be formed."

With the question of the Clergy Reserve.^, we shall have briefly
to deal at a future period. Lord John Russell concluded his
speech with words v.hich find an echo in our hearts to-day. He
had read thai; day a passage in an author, to whose woi'k on Ame-
rica much reference had been made. Speaking of the colonists,
M. do Tocquoville said: " The political education of the people has
long been complete; nay, rather it was complete when the people
first set foot on the soil." No doubt it was a proud feeling of the
grandeur and dignity of the country to which he belonged, that
led Cicero to dwell on the powerful declaration, Civis liomanus
sum. That, it was suflicient for a man to declare, in order to ob-

426

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

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tain pri\ ileges all over the globe ; but those privileges and immu-
nities were limited by the extent of the Roman Empire ; they
were temporary, they lasted only so long as the legions of Rome
could Hixpport the power of that Empire : but with regard to the
British colonies in America, it was their boast that they had
made them for such privileges an enduring heritage ; that they
had sent them there with feelings and maxims and principles im-
pressed on their minds, which fitted them to be the progenitors of
a great people ; that, mingled with all they had given them, was
the love of free institutions ; that they had taught theiu the " way,
and the manner, and the method " in which that love of free insti-
tutions could best be exercised. It was his belief, therefore, that
England might still maintain her connexion with the Colonies,
without imposing on them any terms which they would feel it
incumbent on them to resist. Where the bonds of union were of
that kind, he believed — it was also the opinion of Sir James Mac-
kintosh — thai colonies would see nothing to envy in those nations
ab'^ut them who might possess greater supremacy than themselves.
With . espect to the burdens of supreme government, to none of
all those which were entered into, in order to maintain the British
power by sea and by land, were they subject ; the reputation of
Great Britain protected thm, her mighty arm covered them,
while their own resources — not without aid from England — were
left available for the promotion of internal improvements, for the
education of the people, and for the advancement of the general
welfare of their own provinces. He was convinced that by passing
the Bill, as he proposed, with any alterations which mature con-
sideration might biggest — and thereby establishing free institu-
tions to which the British might resort, and under which the
British might reside, they would be adding strength to the British
Empire, by uniting under it a body of subjects as loyal as any in
the British isles ; that they would not be establishing there any
form of slavery, but that while the freedom and happiness of
Great Britain would be extended, the freedom and happiness of
the Canadas would be secured. The speech was loudly cheered.

Mr. Hume, the member for Kilkenny, referrinj;; to the despatches
of Lord John Russell on the subject of Responsible Government
and the tenure of office in the Colonies, said that, if such measures

DETAILS OF UNION BILL.

42r

nmu-
they
Rome
the
had
they

con-

had been recommended long ago, there never would Lave been
any troubles. Howtver, j!C disapproved of many of the details of
the Union Bill.

Lord John Russell explained, that in Upper Canada the
Governor and Judges would have a permanent appropriation, while
with regard to the civil establishment, the civil secretary, and other
civil expenses, the amount would be voted either for a period of
years, cr for the life of the Queen. The Governor-General was
not able to fix the precise amount; but the estimate for the
Governor and the Judges w&a £45,000, and the other expenses
of the civil government £30,000 more. It was therefore pro-
posed that £75,000 per annum, should be set apart, including
also a sum of from £5,000 to .26,000 "or pensions — permanent
appropriation being made for the Governor and Judges, and
the remainder, for a period of years or during the life of the
Queen. On the demise of the Crown, the whole of the territorial
revenues of the Crown would revert to Her Majesty's successor.
It was also proposed that the duties given by Lord Ripon's
Act te the Assembly, arising from the 14th of George III, should
be considered part of the Crown revenue. The Assembly not
having the power of originating money votes, and an ample
Civil List being given for carrying on the Government of the
Province, and defraying the necessary expenses of the Courts
of Justice, it was hoped that one great source of contention
between the Assembly and the Crown would be taken away.
It seemed to I ord John Russell that partly from defect of con-
stitutional law, and partly likew se from defect of administra-
tion, evils which could not occur under the regular form of the
Constitution in England had occurred, in several of the Colonies,,
and in none more than in ^ ' Canadas. It was not only the theory,
but, generally speaking, the practice of the Constitution, that to
the Executive Government belonged the appropriation of money;
they were responsible for asking the House of Commons for the
votes they considered necessary for the publ'c service, the House of
Commons exercising, at the same time, a due control on that head.
But in the Colonics, there had neither been this division nor this
control. !n the first place, it had too frequently been the case that
the persons entrusted with the confidence of the Governor were

!■

428

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADV.

I III

\t i

ill

I 1^ |) !

above all control of the Assembly, totally regardless of all votes
passed by the Assembly, and therefore they escaped from the due
responsibility to which persons holding important offices of great
public expenditure should be subject. On the other hand, the
Assembly not having the power of control, p.oper and essential
to the due performance of their functions, had assumed what
of right belonged to the Executive Government, and, according to
their own personal views and interests, or those of their immediate
constituents, proposed votes of money, which were not beneficial
to the public at large. Thus while there had been no real power
of control in the Assembly, and, on the other hand, an undue power
in regard to certain functions, the people at large lost the benefit
of that kind of government which they were told was established
among them, and neither had the power of preventing undue
expenditure by the advisers of the Governor, appointed by the
Governor, nor the security that their own popular Assembly had
no power to lay out the moneys and taxes of the people according
to special, interested, and local views.

Mr. Hume did not share all these views. What the Colonies
wanted was the control of their resources, and the power of grant-
ing a Civil List to what amount they thought proper. Unless
this power were given in the Canadas, the object of the Union of
the Provinces, which was to strengthen their connexion with En-
gland, would not be attained. He also objected to the qualifica-
tion of £500 for a member of the United Assembly. A long dis-
cussion took place on the second reading of the Bill, Mr. Hume
contending that the Bill would not satisfy the Canadas. He saw
no security in ic for resi)onsibility.

Want of responsibility had been pointed out by Lord Durham,
who had suggested a fit remedy. A great injustice was about
to be perpetrated against the French population of v.'anada.
The Bill violated the principle of equal justice promised by the
noble lord in his letter to the two Colonies. It was intended to
swamp the French population, by not giving them a fair share in
the representation. The same cause of complaint which existed
in Upper Canada existed in Lower Canada. Both desired free
institutions. Did the noble lord imagine, that when the two Pro-
vinces were united, they would abate one jot of their claim for

HUMES SPEECH. OPPOSITION.

42»

votes
|he due

great
id, the
MentJa]

what

[ding- to

lediate

leficial

popular institutions? The Executive Council was to be the same
as before ; the Governor was to choose the members as before.
What security, then, had the people of Canada that they should
have persons in whom they could confide ? There was no measure
to render the Judges more independent of the Crown, and they
had seen Judges removed by Sir Joim Colborne because they
would persevere in just administration of the law. Ifc was true
there was a civil list, and the Colonial Legislature might give
the Judges salaries as they pleased, but there ougho to be a
clause rendering the Judges independent. In the next place, the
revenues were put under the control of the Home Government,
But the people of Canada were determined that the revenues
should be placed under the absolute control of the Government
of the country. They wanted to have the management of their
own affairs. This was the source of all the disputes, and the
noble lord might depend upon it, that the Assembly of the
United Province would not let the revenues be administered by
Downing Street, a system the abuse of which had been pointed
out by Lord Durham.

Sir Robert Peel made a fine patriotic speech. When he said in
the midst of his criticisms, " I make these remarks in no party
spirit," he was cheered from both sides of the hou^e. If they were
to maintain the connexion with Canada, it was out of the ques-
tion that they could rule contrary to the wishes of the inhabitants.
He paid a high tribute to the loyalty of Canadians who had
afforded a noble example not only of valour, but of the feeling of
pride which they entertained for their British extraction.

The Order of the Day for going into Committee on the Bill was
moved by Lord John Russell on the 29th of May, whereupon Mr.
Goulborn presented petitions just received from Lower Canada
against it. This petition contained thirty-nine thousand signa-
tures, and stated that no steps had been taken to ascertain the
feeling of Lower Canadians, except by calling a Special Council, half
the members of which did not attend. Moreover, the Special
Council did not represent the sentiments of the people. After the
long separation of the Provinces, their union would only produce
discontent and suspicion. The petition further asserted that-
many of Lord Durham's statements were founded in error.

I i

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430

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

Sir J. Pakington moved, what we in Canada elegantly call the
six months' hoist. And who, amid cries of " divide," should
put on his armour, and strike a blow for Canada ? Mr. Gladstone,
whose face was not then ploughed with the wrinkles of care and
thought, and furrowed by labour, as it is to-day, who at that
time was one of the handsomest men in England, as he was
undoubtedly, even then, one of the greatest orators using the
English tongue, felt bound to explain the vote he was about to
give in supporting Her Majesty's Government, and he dwelt on
the fact that the measure before the House came backed by great
authorities on both sides of the Atlantic, and by the Special Coun-
cil in Lower Canada and the Legislative Council and Hoase of
Assembly of Upper Canada.

The Union Act received the royal assent on the 23rd of July,
1840, but in accordance with a suspensory clause did not take
effect until the 10th February, 1841. An Address had in the
previous year elicited from the Governor-General the important
message that he had been commanded by Her Majesty to ad-
minister the Government in accordance with the well under-
stood wishes of the people, and Mr. Baldwin had accepted the
office of Solicitor-General on the conviction, as he explained to a
Reform meeting held in Toronto, that the Government was to be
carried on in accordance with the principles of Responsible
Government.

There was at thid time the same divergence of opinion on the
part of newspapei writers which enlivens our own day, and
the character of tho machinery which brought about the Union
was bitterly assailed in certain quarters. Some even went so far
as to say that the legislation of the Special Council had been
conducted in a spirit of distrust of the people of Lower Canada
and hostility to their rights.* But the car rolled forward as day
dawns, whether rooks caw in the trees, or wolves howl on the
hill tops, over which the purple sun climbs with what seem to be
lingering paces and languid fires.

Lor J Sydenham (Thompson) was accused of despisingpublic sen-
timent, and of holding the Mephistophelian opinion that what is

*The Montreal Times, 1841.

DOMINICK DALY. DllAPER.

431

ill the
ihould
stone,
•e and
t that
le was

theoretically true is practically false. His Executive Council, in
which there were at least three Irishmen, Baldwin, Sullivan, and
Dominick Daly, was attacked. The two former we know. Do-
minick Daly we have already met, and shall meet again. He
belonged to a Roman Catholic family of Galway, and came
to this country in the first place as secretary to one of the
Governors. He afterwards became Provincial Secretary for
Lower Canada, and at the Union received a like position for
all Canada, with a seat in the Council. He was a good speci-
men of an Irish gentleman of good address and polished manners,
and seems to have had an extraordinary capacity for recommending
himself to those in pov/er, arising I fancy from th^ ''act that he
had little political passion. The verdict on him ought perhaps to
be that at a transition period he fulfilled a useful purpose, though
it is impossible to regard him with any warmer feeling than one
of criticism, which is baulked for want of a standard. After
leaving Canada he was appointed Governor of Tobago. He sub-
sequently became Lieutenant-Governor of Prince Edward Island.
While acting in this last capacity he was knighted.

After Baldwin, in the Council, the most remarkable man, and
after Sullivan the most brilliant, was Mr. Draper, the present
Chief Justice, a man who possessed and happily possesses powers
of mind which would have shone in any sphere. His speeches
are, as read now, instinct with power, which was enhanced by a
flowing and dignified elocution, and a voice whose silvery tones
explain the nick-name " Sweet William." I know not whether
I am obnoxious to Horace's graceful lash as a praisor of old
times, but it seems to me the debates in those days were far
better than at present.

The general elections took place in the spring of 1841. There
was much violence and corrupliu... Two valuable Hves were
lost. Baldwin was chosen for two ccnstituencies : the North
Hiding of York and Hastings. He elected to sit for the latter
place. J. W. Dunscombe, one of the Dunscombes of the County
Cork, contested Beauharnois against one De Witt, an American
by birth. He was proposed by Mr. John McDonald, and seconded
by M. W. Harrison, the only Irish magistrate in the county. He
was returned by two hundred and ninety-five against seventy-

\'i

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432

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

four. He was escorted to Baker's Point on the Chateauguay
by upwards of fifty sleighs filled with his supporters. These,
reinforced by some friends from Lachine, accompanied him to
Montreal. The procession was a large one. They entered the
city by Great St. James Street, passing through Notre Dame
Street, " cheered," says the report, " as if it was the Governor-
General." They went to Dunscombe's house, where having given
three hearty cheers, they separated. Dominick Daly, the Pro-
vincial Secretary, was returned for Megantic.

For the second Riding of York, George Duggan, jr., was re-
turned. Mr. Duggan was afterwards well known to the present
generation as an upi'ight judge, who leant perhaps a little to seve-
rity. If he was a Rhadamanthus, he knew the characters with
whom he had to deal, and he always listened patiently before
he punished.

The man whom the second Division of York chose to repre-
sent it was bom in the South of Ireland in 1812, and together
with his brother, the late John Duggan, Q. C, was brought by his
father to Canada early in this century. He was called to the bar
in 1837, and became a bencher in 1850. He was an officer in the
Volunteer Artillery, and took an active part in snuffing out the
farthing dip of rebellion in ] 837. While reconnoitering, with the
mayor of the city and several others, the whole party were made
prisoners. But why did they allow themselves to be made pri-
soners ? In 1838 he was elected to represent St. Davids Ward
in the Council. In 1841, as we have just seen, he was returned
to Parliament as a supporter of Mr. Draper. It is not correct to
speak of the " Draper Government " of 1 841. It was Lord Syden-
ham's government. In 1842, he went into opposition to the La-
fontaine -Baldwin Government. Again in 1844 he was elected to
Parliamtmt as a supporter of the Viger-Draper Ministry. Mr. Dug-
gan also sat from 1843 to 1850 in the Council as one of the alder-
men of St. Andrew's Ward. In 1850 he was chosen Recorder
of the City of Toronto, and in 1858 became Police Commissioner,
On the death of Judge Harrison, in 1868, he undertook the duties
both of Recorder and County Judge. In 1869 the former office
was abolished, and he was appointed Judge by the Dominion
Government. He married a daughter of Mr. J. R. Armstrong, by

KILLALY. SALMON FISHINO.

433

whom he had two sons, John and Frederick. Mr. John Duggan
is Clerk of the Division Court for the Western Division of Toronto,

John Moore was returned for Sherbrooke, and as we already
know, Francis Hincks for Oxford, who, as Chairman of the Select
Committee on Banking and Currency, was to do such good service
to the country during this the first Parliament of United Canada.
A. Monahan was returned for Kingston, and for London, H. H.
Killaly, one of Lord Sydenham's Executive Councillors. Of this
gentleman, who as a ministerial figure, a contractor, and a large-
hearted though somewhat eccentric man, gathers to himself con-
siderable interest, another Irishman, who was subsequently Chap-
lain to Lord Sydenham, has in his " Salmon Fishing in Canada,"
left us a striking piece of portraiture.

The sketch of Killaly or the " Commissioner," as Dr. Adamson
calls him, is not the less vivid because there seems to be about it
a soupgon of malice. In the month of July, 1846, a little cutter
yacht having on board the " Commissioner," the Baron, the Cap-
tain, Adamson, and a crew of three men, a boy and tA\o servants,
entered the Saguenay, In a nook among tho mighty mountains
near Tadousac was a settlement of Mr. Pace, who received the fisher-
men, and gave notice that there would be Divine service on board
the yacht the following day. In the evening they had some good
sea-trout fishing, their enjoyment being qualified only by mosqui-
toes and black flies. There being too many to fish together one
of the party struck out for himself. Sport went hand-in-haiid
with good cheer and pleasant converse, until the shades of evening
and the glooip of the overhanging cliffs having warned the party
to return home, they went in search of their friend. They came
suddenly on a dark-visaged gentleman who at the moment was
playing a fish. The Commissioner inquired whether he had seen
another fisherman during the evening, and was answered by a
laugh. The voice was the voice of the friend they were in search
of, but the face was the face of a " negro in convulsions." He had
been attacked by the black fly.* I hope a long sermon the next
day consoled the poor wretch.

* The assault of Lhe black fly is generally sudden and unexpected. The first indica-
tion you have of his presence is the running of a stream of blood over some part of your
face, which soon hardens there. These assaul*^-^ being renewed ad infinitum, under
favourable circumstances, soon render it difficult, even for his dearest and nearest

! 1

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434

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

In describing a Sunday on the Sagucnay Dr. Adamson's
literary touch at times falters. But he gives us a good picture of
himself. The morning bright and clear. All on board the cutter
cleanliness. At half -past ten o'clock Mr. Price accompanied by
half a dozen mechanics came on board, followed by several gentle-
men from the Hudson's Bay Company's post, and a few Indians.
Having been received by Mr. Commissioner (Killaly), they are
seated round the cabin at each side of the dinner table, where also
sat the servants and crew ; " the whole representing a fair num-
ber of the various religious denominations into which the inhabi-
tants of the Province are divided, together with a goodly number
of the Church of England. At the head of the table, clad in a
sober suit of black, with a decent white choker, stood the gaunt
and melancholy-looking parson — melancholy-looking I say, for the
man was not melancholy, but of a sanguine and cheerful disposi-
tion." Here follows a sermon which surely was out of place in
such a book. Sterne, indeed, put one of his sermons into " Tristram
Shandy," but he gets Corporal Trim — that unequalled master of
natural elocution — to read it. The text was certainly appropri-
ate — " I go a fishing."

With the portraiture of the Baron and the Captain we have no
concern. It is otherwise with the Commissioner, who was a
curiosity. The most expensively and the most ill-dressed man
on the continent of North A merica — one would almost have been
incli ned to think that he studied incongruities as the model after
which he arranged himself, only that his slovenliness forbade the
idea of his having ever bestowed a thought on the -subject. "I
have seen him at one time," says Adamson, " promenading a po-
pulous city in a dirty, powder-smeared, and blood-stained shoot-
ing coat, while his nether man was encased in black dress panta-
loons, silk stockings, and highly- varnished French leather dancing

relatives, to recognise the victim of the pest. The eflfect during a night following a
mastication of this sort is dreadful. Every bite swells to about the size of a filbert-
itches like a bum and agonizes like a scairt. If you scratch them you only add to the
anguish. The whole head swells, particularly the glandular and cellular parts, behind
and under the ears, the upper and lower eyelids, so as in many cases to produce utter
inability to see. The poison is imbibed and circulated through the whole frame, pro-
ducing fever, thirst, heat, restlessness and despondency. See "Salmon Fishing in
Canada," pp. 118, 119.

;

A PORTRAIT BY A FRIEND.

48!$

pumps. At another time I have met him with one of Gibb.«' most
recherchS dress coats, a ragged waistcoat, and worn-out trousers,
all looking as if he had slept in them for weeks, and lain inside
of the bed among the feathers. His shirts never had a button
on them, which constantly caused his brawny and hairy chest to
be exposed to view, while a fringe of ravelled threads from their
wrists usually hung dangling over his fat, freckled and dirty
hands."

Where he obtained all the old hats he wore puzzled his ac-
quaintances. That he changed his hats frequently was evident,
for the hat of one day was never the same shape the next. Their
general outline was that which might be expected in the hat of
an Irishman w)io had been beaten at a fair — who had encoun-
tered a rain-storm as he returned homewards, and who had
finally determined to sleep all night in a ditch. His head was
white and his face was purple — a red calibage in snow. A won-
derful specimen of winter green, he carried his years well. With
his brisk and vigorous step, and his hale and hearty laugh and
aspect, he looked a man with whom old age and infirmity had no
business. His laugh was defiant and jocund as the crow of a
cock — his voice was like the blast of a clarion.

Looked at merely as an animal, he was a very satisfactory
object, with his wholesome system, his unflagging capacity to
enjoy all or nearly all the pleasures which he had ever aimed at
or conceived. His careless security, in an official situation, on a
regular income, with but slight and infrequent apprehensions of
renewal, had contributed to make him proof against the assaults
of time. The original and more efficient causes, however, lay in
the rare perfection of his animal nature. " To hear him talk
about roast meat was as appetizing as a pickle or an oyster.
It made one's mouth water to listen to him expatiating on fish or
poultry, and the most eligible methods of preparing them for
table. His reminiscences of good cheer seemed to bring the
savour of turkey or lobster under one's very nostrils. It was
marvellous to observe how the ghosts of bygone meals were con-
tinually rising up before him, not in anger or retribution, but as
if grateful for his former appreciation, and seeking to renew an
endless series of enjoyments at once shadowy and sensual. A

ill!

Ill

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436

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

tender loin of beef, a spare rib of pork, a particular magnum of
claret, or a remarkably praiseworthy jorum of punch, which had
satisfied hia appetite or appeased his thirst in days long gone by,
would be remembered, while all the subsequent experience of our
race — all the ovents that had brightened or darkened his indivi-
dual career — all memory of the friends who had clung to him in
his misfortunes — had as little effect on him as the passing breeze.

" His temper was as uncertain as the wind towards his subor-
dinates ; sometimes familiar as a play-fellow, at others as impe-
rious, arbitraiy, and unreasoning as a lurk:. He was more cau-
tious, however, with his superiors, and with those whose opinions
might affect his interests. But — he was capable of a good-na-
tured act, was a persevering fisherman, could tie, roughly, a killing
fly, enjoyed a joke, made no objection to hard work or coarse
diet by * flood or field,' and altogether was not a bad sort of com-
panion for an expedition to the rivers in the Gulf of St. Law-
rence. One of his boasts was to travel with the smallest possible
quantity of luggage, indeed he seldom encumbered himself with
a change of linen."

Such was Killaly something less than two decades after the
time he is introduced to the reader amid the excitement of an
election. What the man in his prime was may easily be guessed.
The reader, however, must be reminded of the remark with
which we introduced this sketch. Killaly had many of the best
points of a fine old Irish country gentleman, and in his younger
days was a " swell." His picture will leave no unfavourable
impression on most minds.

•' Bear lightly on their foreheads, Time !
Strew roses on their way ;
The young in heart, however old,
That prize the present day."

From salmon fishing we are taken to whale fishing, in a very
readable volume which must have done no small service to Canada
in its day. Dr. Adamson has kept us too long from more important
matter.

In their election iresses, candidates pledged themselves to
support the Union, and to make United Canada the ' brightest
jewel in the crown of our youthful Sovereign.' "I am of opinion,"

THE FLECTION OF 1841.

437

sajTH one candidate, "that ' the responsibility to the United Legis-
lature of all public officers, should be secured by every means
known to the British Constitution,' and that the ' Governor should
carry on his government by Heads <)f Dopprtraents in whom the
United Legislature shall repose coniide . " \' I am decidedly in
favour of municipal institutions, and it is supposed that this sub-
ject will be brought before the Legislature at an early day. These
institutions wouli confer on you the power of local assessment,
for local purposes. Our election laws require to be materially
altered and amended, and I would advocate the introduction of
township elections, with suitable provisions to insure peace and
good order. Were such a law now in force, not more than two or
three days would be required to poll the votes in this county. As
your representative, I gave the measure of the re-union of the
Provinces my hearty oupport ; and I believe, that in doing so, I
have received your unqualified approbation. Of the defects of
the Union Bill, with regard to the representation and other
points, it is unnecessary now to speak, as these will engage the
attention of the Legislature. It is required of us to meet our
Lower Cfinadian brethren with the utmost cordiality."

This is a good sample of all, or nearly all, the addresses. The
advancement of education, and the extension and improvement of
internal (3ommunications were also among the subjects dwelt on
in those bids for confidence.

One of the most interesting of all the elections was that of Mon-
treal City, for which two memb^srs were returned — the Hon. George
Moffatt and Benjamin Holmes, an Irishman, who was destined to
do his country and his constituency good service whenever bank-
ing or commercial questions came before the House. In returning
thanks for his election, Mr. Holmes used language which would
not be without meaning to-day.

With the local distinctions of Whig, Tory, or Radical, they in
that section of the Empire had, or should have, nothing to do. All
had but one interest, and should have but one object — the pros-
perity of the Province. What was desirable, what was beneficial
to those of Bri jish blood, could not be disadvantageous to those
of Frenclti extraction. No partial legislation, therefore, should or

Iii

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438

THE miSHMAN IN CANADA.

could take place. The Uiiion, the long-wished-for union, of the
Piovince.s had at length been effected.

An Irishman by bii-th, he might, he hoped, bo excused if he ad-
dressed a few words specially to his own countrymen — not that
he had any desire to keep up distinctions, where all sectional dif-
ferences should cease to exist; for he believed thi time would
come when the children of Irishmen, Scotchmen, an 1 Englishmen
wou'd be^willing and proud to assume the appellation of Cana-
dians. He then urged Irishmen to avail themselves of the great
opportunities offered them by Canada. He would encourage emi-
gration. With good schools, public improvements, good roads, and
union, they would have nothing to envy when they looked across
the line, but rather see reason to rejoice that this Province stood
in opi)osition to a country where the laws were trampled under
foot, and wherp consi ■'mt ci''-*^ns prated abort liberty in the
slave market. Ho would gladly support any measure having for
its object the extinction of that "odious systei " the feudal tenure.
He would not, however, invade the rights of private property
without making adequate compensation where compen.sation
was due.

On the 15th of May we find the people oc Kingston eagerly
expecting Lord Sydenham.

The new Canadian Parliament was to meet in the General Hos-
pital, which was fitted up temporarily for the purpose. The room
for the Legislative Council was forty feet long, twenty-two feet
wide, and twelve feet high. The room for the Assembly was the
same size. A correspondent shrewdly remarked that members
might not have the same facilities for transacting their private
business as in Toronto, but they would have the necessary accom-
modation for transacting '^hat of the public. The space below the
bar was small, and there ^ as little accommodation for reporters.

Fifteen of Major Magrr.cii's dragoons went down from Toronto
for the purpose of cai yi-i^ despatches, and Kingston was all
alive ; the troops were arriving and departing; the assizes were
sitting. Attorney-General !^)raper was conducting cases for the
Crown. On the JJSth of May, at one o'clock P.M., the "Brockville"
accompanied by Her Majesty's steamer " Traveller " rounded iutO'
the harbour. His Excellency was on board. The greater number

LORD SYDENHAM'S ENTRANCE INTO KINGSTON.

439

If the

10 ad-
that

tl (lif-

7oulil
Ihinon
ICana-

greafc

of tho naval officers stxtioned hero wero in tlie "Traveller" on
whcse uppiir deck vms a j. ;"ty of royal marineH. The advance
battery of Fort Henry fired three .signal gun.s. A flotilhi of gun
boats stationed across Navy Bay fired a salute as the "Traveller"
passed. Every vessel in the harbour was hidden in bunting.
The day was kept as a general holiday. The sun shone in an
unclouded sky. A light breeze rippled where it struck the water,
and gave it a steel-like hue. AU the national societies were at
the chosen ground at the appointed hour ; the St. Andrews So-
ciety headed by tlie first Vice-President, Mr. (now Sir) John
A. Macdonald, who wore a kilt ; the St. Patrick's Society by Dr.
Sampson, the President ; the St. George's Society, the Mechanicr/
Institute, the Volunteei- Fire Company, which was marshalled by
a brave Irishman named Daley, were there. Capt. R. Jackson
led the whole pageant which included members of the bar in
robes, the Common Council, the Mayor and the members for tho
Town and Coimty. Between the dwelling which is still known
as Mr. Kirby's and the Bank of Upper Canada, a triumphal arcli
of evergreens was thrown across the street, adorned with parti-
coloured festoons and mottoes . '* God save the Queen," " Welcome
to Lord Sydoniiam," " United wo stand — divided we fall," " Bri-
tish Connexion." As the Governor landed, the Royal Artillery
fired a salute. A guard of honour of the 24th regiment received
him at the wharf. B[e then mounted his horse, and proceeded
under the arch to the head of the procession, the lines uncovering
as he passed. Each of the national societies had five or six flags.
The Scotchmen had a piper at their head. The Irishmen had a
large figure of St. Patrick.

It was said that at least one-eighth of the members had been
returned by violence or something worse. Bitter were the com-
plaints that the greater number of those who composed the Legis-
lative Councils of the late Provinces of Lower and Upper Canada,
were excluded from the Legislative Chamber of United Canada.
The Family Compact elected but seven men. The newspapers
expressed their indignation at the scenes which had taken place
in Lower Canada in connexion with the elections, and their sur-
prise at the course of the Governor-General, who, in Upper Canada,
was supposed to have thrown himself upon the " Liberal party" for

440

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

!■ I

Wll

■ I

(

8l^pport. Two lives had been lost, one in Durham, the other in
Toronto. It was feared that the accounts of the scenes in Lower
Canada would chock the t'de of emigration. In Upper Canada
the Reformers had secured a large majority. They were pledged
to sustain the Union, but desired that the measure establishing it
should be amended.*

The journal quoted below complained that, while Parliament
had undertaken to restore freedom to the people, and to extend to
them all the advantage'; of the representative form of government,
the Constitution of 1840 was a mockery and a delusion, con-
trasted with that which a Conservative Ministry bestowed on the
country iu 1791. It abridged the real liberty of the people, and
as intei'preted and carried out by Lord Sydenham, it would
only confirm the evils to which attention was drawn by Lord
Durham's Report. What was the picture presented by the coun-
try ? A regular army, which must be recruited from England —
a large body of he people at enmity with their Government — a
partisan population, courting a monopoly of power, animated by
the worst spirit of political intolerance, and hardly less to be
dreaded than their opponents — antipathies on one side, envy and
distrust on the other — and a Republic of seventeen millions of men,
stretching along a frontier of two thou.sand mileS; ready Lo take ad-
vantage of the weakness of Canadians, and to convert their distrac-
tions to its own profit. The destinies of the country should hence-
forth be confided to the discretion of its people. The fret.uent
recurrence to England, and aj)peals to the British Parliament in
all the struggles of party, or whenever the wishes of the popular
will were thwarted by the local administration, had been produc-
tive oi serious mischief. Such appeals had left on the minds of

*The Times and Commercial Advertiser (Montreal, April 7, 1841,) Hays: "Lord
Sydenham wauld have his majority. His doctrine will be received as convenient, if
not as favourable. He will find the integrity of many of the members of the new
House vO be of a very malleable character, and he and they will sing in chorus : —

' Man's ct.nscience, like a fey horse,
Will atnmble, 'f yoa checK his course ;
But rid(3 him with an easy rein,
And rub him down with worldly gain.
He'll carry you through thick and thin,
Safe, although dirty, to yo'irinn.' "

MEETING OF PARLIAMENT.

441

rer

ida

bed

tit

numbers an impression that the colonists possessed no rights but
what might be subverted at pleasure. Other journals held a dif-
ferent tone, and were confident that Lord Sydenham would adr-.in-
ister the Government in accordance with the wishes of the people,
as exj)ressed through their representatives.

On th<^ 14th June, 1841, the Legislative Assembly of the Pro-
vince of Canada mot. The situation was full of interest, and not
removed from anxiety. Men, such as the late Chief-Justice
Robinson, in Upper Canada, representing but a small and de-
clining party, were opposed to the Union. In Lower Canada
there was a far more formidable opposition. The members were
total strangers to each other ; there was no understanding as to
the policy to be pursued ; most of the French Canadian members
were extremely hostile to the Governor as the ostensible author
of the Union. That Union was brought about chiefly by the ne-
cessities of Lower Canadian politics, and the Lower Canadian
memrers were discontented with it. The most distinguished men
in the Province were present, and the Hon. Joseph Howe, then
Speaker of the Nova Scotia House of Assembly, had a seat within
the bar.

With the feeling such as existed in Lower Canada, it would
naturally suggest itself as a prudent thing to propose a Low^ir
Canadian for the Speakership. Accordingly, M. Morin, mem-,
ber for Nicolet (for which M. Gaudet now sits), proposed Austin
Cuvillier. The motion was .seconded by Mr. Men*itt, the member
for the North Riding of Lincoln. Colonel Prince, the member for
Essex, spoke in favour of it. When Prince sat down, up rose
Ml. Hincks, the member for Oxford, and infused a disturbing ele-
ment into the debfi,te. He supported M. Cuvillic*, but he felt it
his duty to his constituents and himself to state that he gave that
support because ^< nad satisfied himself that that gentleman was
opposed to the (. ernment. He was opposed to many details of
the Act of Union, particularly to that part which related to the Civil
List. He was strongly opposed to the Lower Canada policy of the
Government. He had no confidence whatever in the administra-
tion PS then constituted. This brought up Mr. Cart wright, who said
that after a aeclaration of the kind from such a qoarter he had no
choice but to move another^andidate. He accordingly moved that

442

THE imSllMAN IN CAN AD V,

li '!

the lato Spoakor of the dofunct Upper Canada AHscinbly, Sir Allan
MacNab, was a fit and proper person to preside over the proceed-
ings of the now House. Tliis l(id to a discu^-.-ion as to what was
meant by Mr. Hincks, who ultimately explained that his remarks
had referoLce solely to the Council of His Excellency. Demands
were made that M. CuvilJier should explain his views. Reformers
urged that the character of M. Cuvillier for al»ility, impartiality
and integrity was such that the House had no occasion to inquire
too scrupulously into his opinions. Several Conservatives having
spoken in the same strain, arxd the leaders being evidently desir-
cus of making a peace-offering at the opening of the session, Mr.
Cartwright withdrew his modon. M. Cuvillier, having been
unaniniously elected, was conducted to the throne by his mover
and seconder. Standing on the lower step, he modestly begged
the House to reconsider their choice, an appeal which was greeted
with loud cries of " no ! "

It caused great dissatisfaction in quarters favourable to th(3
Union that His Excellency did not open the session in person,
and that the Speaker did not present himself immediately for the
Govfjrnor's ajtprobation. The departure from the recognised
monarcliical practice, it was said, savoured of Republicanism and
Democracy, and i-elin([uished without higitimate grounds, a [)arlia"
mentary prerogative of the Crown. A great and unprecedented
innovation had been made.*

Sir Allan MacNab moved the adjournment of the Hou.se. The
n::>tion having been put, Mr. Aylwin, the member for Portneuf,
who liad voted for the Speaker because he believed him to be op-
posetl to the Government, declared that the H *use had no power
to ftdjouni, that not having met either the "great men" of the
country or the representative of che Queen, they could not
take a single step beyond the election of a Speaker. A dis-
cussion of three hours followed, in whicli the same view was taken
by Hincks and four or five others, including Price and Small.
Th<! right of th'L' House to adjourn was maintained by Attorney-
Geru rals Ogden and Draper, an<I Solicitor-General ]3ay. They
maintained that the Union Act having done away with the ne-

• See Montreal Oazette, June 17, 1841.

SPEECH FROM THE THRONE.

443

ilan
bcoed-
It was
barkH
[aands
)rmerB
-iality
[iquire
[laving
<leHir-
\n, Mr.

m(;ver

M-ggO(l

roeted

cesHity of obtaining the sanction of Royal authority to t}i(; choice
of Speaker, tlie House stood, after the election of that officer, in
the same position as the House of Commons after a Speaker had
been chosen. Baldwin, though frequently appealed to, remained
silent. Ultimately, Sir Allan MacNab withdrew iil,^ inotion, and a
resolution that the House should .stand adj<jurned until two
o'clock on tlui following day, was (tarried by forty-seven to twenty-
seven. Mr. Baldwin voted with the minority. It was evident
that the Reform party had no confidence in the Government, and
Baldwin soon resigned.

On the 15th of June, a' tA\ o oclock, the Governor went in
state to the chamber of the Legishitive Council. There was a full
attendance of the members of the Upper House. His Excellency
having commanded the attendance of the members of the Assen»bly,
there was a rush to the Lc'^islative Cham})er, and Austin Cuvillicr,
informed His Excellency that the choice of the Assembly had
fallen on him aw Speaker.

The customary privileges having been demanded and granted,
the First Session of the First Parliament of the Province of Canada
was opened with a speech from the Throne, which was received
with conflicting feeling throughout the country.

The first paragraph referred to the case of McLeod. A subject
of Her Majesty, an inhabitant of the Province, had been forcil)ly
detained in the neighbouring State, charged with a pretended
crime. No time was lost l)y the Executive of the Province in re-
monstrating against this proceeding, and provision was made for
insuring to the individual the means of defence, pending the
fuither action of Her Majesty's Oovtsmtneni. The Queen's repre-
sentative at Washington had since been instructed to demand his
relefise. The result of that demand the Governor liad not yet
learned, but he had the Queen's comnuinds to assure her faithful
S'lbjer^w in Canada of Her Majesty's fixed determination to protect
them with the whole weight of her power.

Arrangements had been completed durirg the summer, by which
the rates of postage l)etween all parts of the Colony and the United
Kingdom had been greatly reduced. A more s{)eedy and /c^ular
conveyance of letters between different parts of the Province ha<.l
Bince been established ))y arrangements made by the Heputy Post

444

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

I! 1

Master General. A commission had been appointed to enquirt;
into and report upon tlio whole Post OtHce system of North
Am(!rica, and it was confidently anticipated, that the result of its
labours would be the establishment of a plan securing improve-
ments in tlie internal communication (n\ua\ to those already
obtained with the Mother Countr}'.

AuKjng those subjects demanding consideration, first in impor-
tance was the adoption of measures for developing the resouices
of the Province by Public Works.

The !mi)roven)ent of the navigation from the shores of Lake
Erie and Lcke JIuron to the ocean — the f!sta))lishment of new
internal communications in the inland districts, ware works requir-
ing a great outlay, but which pi-omised connnensurate returns. I'o
undertake them successfully, large funds would be recjuired, and
the financial condition of the Province would seem to for])id the
attempt. But His Excellency had the satisfaction of informing
them that ho had received authority from Her Majesty's Govern-
ment to state, that they were prepared to assist these important
undertakings, l>y affording a guarantee for a loan to the extent of
no less than a inillion and a half sterling, to aid the Province, for
the double purpose of diminishing the pressure of the intevest on
the Public De}»t, and of enabling it to proceed with those great
pu})lic undertakings whose prcjgress during the last few years had
been arrested by the financial difficulties. A measure for this
purpose was in course of preparation.

In innnediate connexion with outlay ui)on public works was
the subject of inimigration, and the disposal and settlement of }>ub-
lic lands. The assistance for the Public Works would provide
employment for labour, and thus, in the surest manner, stimulate
omigration. Not only .so, Her Majesty's Govtrnment were pre-
pared to assist in facilitating the passage ol th(! immigrant from
the port at whicli he was landed to the place whore his labour
might be made available. A vote of money for this purpose
would be proposed to the Impeiial Parliaiii'iit.

It was highly desirable that the principles of local self-govern
raent, which already prevailed to some extent throughout that
part of the Provinc«i that was formerly Upper Canada, should
receive a more extensive 'aj>plication, and that the people should

i4.i i'

A PRECiNANT F'HOFUKCY.

445

[is

t>r-

5es

exerciHc a ^rcatcjr do^ioo of powoi" over tlieir own l()(':al affairs.
A measure upon tlii.s subject would b(; HuVjniitted to Parliament,
and provision would, he hoped, be made for eHtal)liHhiti^ local
self-government in districts unprovided with it. Lord Sydeidiam
knew the advantages of Municipal Councils, " tliose walks and
commons of a free people," as Walter Savage Landor called thein.

A due provision for the (iducation of the people was one of the
first duties <jf the State, and in this F^rovince especially the want
of it was grievously felt. The esta})lishment of an efficient sys-
tem by \vhich the blessings of instruction niight be placed within
the reach of all, was a work of difficulty — but its overwhcdming
importance demanded that it should be undertaken.

" The eyes of England," the speech concluded, " are anxiously
fixed upon the result of this great experiment. Should it suc-
ceed, the aid of Parliament in your undertakings — the confidence
of British capitalists in tin; credit you may require from them —
the aecuiity which the British people will feel in seeking your
shores and establishing themselves on your fertile soil — may carry
improvement to an unexampled height. The rapid advance of
trade and immigration within the last eighteen months afford am-
ple evidence of the effects of tranquillity in restoring c(jnildoncG
and promoting prosperity. May no dissensions mar the flattering
prospect which is open before us — may your efforts be steadily
directed to the great piactical improvements of which the Province
stands so much in need, and under the blessing of that Providence
which has hitherto preserved this portion of the British dominions,
may your councils be soguide<! as to ensure to the Queen attached
and loyal subjects, and to United Canada a prosperous and con-
tented pe()|>le."

With this speech the siipporters of the Government were well
pleased. But the Opposition press complained that it lai<i down
no princijdes i'ov the futuT(! guidance of tl.o Government.

The Government did not come down at once with an answer to
the Speech. Mr. Malcolm Cameron, when proposing a series of
resolutions echoing the speech, grew quite enthusiastic about the
first clause. He thought if hon. members had but "a s[);irk of
the patriotism of the ancient Romans," or " one particle of the lovo
of country manifested by the Highlander," they would advocate

t4f)

TlfE lUISnMAN TN CANADA.

Htrongor arul more (Iccisivo action. On the mocond c1iiuh(!, n-spoct-
infjj a now ariJiii^'oniont for the Post Office, Mr. ( 'ariioron Hpoko aH
follows, and hi.s words call up a vivid j)ictur(i of early timoH in
Canada, when isolated familii^s lonj^ing to hear from and to
conuniinicate with their fri(!ndH, were unahlo to do ho, owin^ to
tlie expense attending such conumniication. " To tin; Tnnn<!rous
families scattond over the rrovince who have severed riH the ties of
relationship with liome, tluj hi^d) rat(^s of j)osta;.,'e fornusriy charged
had effectually cut off every approacrh at corniapondence. He
could tell them tliat a change from /js. or .'{s. to the sum of Is. 2d.
was hailed with joy and gratitude. Ho had SiMii the tears roll
from the eyes of old setlltira, when they found they c<»uld renew
the correspondence with theii- I'riemls ahroad on such moderate
terms."

In the course of the discussion Mr. Hincks said he was sorry
that there should he a desire to seek any further delay. The cus-
tom of England was for the servaiits of the Crown to come down
with an answ(;r ready to suhndt to the House. Tlic gentlemen
■ opposite, on the Treasury benclHis, had failed in their duty. They
ought, ere this, to have j)ro|)08ed their address — and whe;) 't was
linderstood tliat this discussion was to he now proceeded with, the
r(^8olutions ought to have been submitted at the morning sitting
without ohliging a further delay until to morrow. However,
time should he given for consideration, in order that no one should
be taken by surprise.

A question of Mr. Buchanan, relating to Responsible Govern-
ment, brouglu up Mr. Attorney-General Draper, and his speech,
which is a valuable document in the liistory of our constitutional
progress, is the best apology for Baldwin's resignation. Mr.
Buchanan, well known to us to-day as Isaac Buchanan, ask(<l
whether the Members of the Executive acknowledged their re-
spcmsibility to Canadian public opinion, as expressed by the
majority of that House, for the advice tliey gave the Head of the
Government, to tlie extent that they would not remain connected
with an Administration against which a vote of want of confi-
dence was passed in the As.sembly, unless in case a dissolution of
Parliament was imminent ? Or did they intend to recognise the

MTl. DIIAI'KR ON UESPONSIBLE OOVEUNMKNT.

447

fct-

in
to
b to

[oUH

(h of

lie

2d.

roll

now

priiiciplo of Hitainin^' ofKco, aft(3r th(3y found thoy could not Hccuro
a majority in tlio AKHombly?

Mr. JJrapor'H ,spo(;ch was an admirable! pioco of niasonin^' and
oratory, and it bears not only on Loi'd Sydenliatri's conduct, but on
the j)()litic.s of the pr<;Heiit moment. Few j)oliticianH liave, pcu'liaps,
considered the did'ereiice Ixitwoen the (Jonstitution of the P^mpiro
and the (Jonstitution of ('anada.

Mr. Draper said that ordy so long as he felt that in sustaining
the (lolicy of the Hi^ad of the (jovernriKint lu; did not sacnfico
th .»8C opinions he conscientiously entertained would ho continue
to hold office. This very first declaration of Mr. Drapcir tallies
with the view of Lord Sydcjnham taken })y impartial critics. Ho
had come to introduce Responsible Government, but clearl}' not
R(iS})onsible G(jvernmcnt as understood by Baldwin. " Never for
a moment," said tlie London Colonial Gazette, when noting his
death, "did Lord Sydenham hit the reins out of his own hands."
But he had immense dilhculties to cont(jnd with. He de.serves
til is great praise that he was the man for the liour. Sagacious,
strong, of great in<luHtry and not overweightcid with scruples,
like all great men, his personal iniluence entered largely into his
success and this, which was perhaps advantageous at the moment,
was attended with evil fruits afterwanJs. His policy undoubtedly
was to deal with individuals rather than parties, and thus secure
"to himself the whole power of the Executive. He intendefl to be
his own chief secretary. He aspired to be for Canada what Louis
Philip} Mi was for Franco. It was ])robably fortunate for his
reputation that his career was prematurely cut short.

Mr. Draper said in the first place he would refer to the office
and duties of th(j Governor of the Province. The office was one
of a mixed character, the Governor being the representative of
Royalty and also a Minister responsible alike to his Sovereign and
to the Imperial Parliament for the faithful discharge of the duties
of his station, liable to be im])eachcd for misconduct before the
highest tribunal of the Empire, a tri})unal before which he could
not discharge himself by declaring that the course f.^r wliich he
was accused had been followed under the advice of any man or any
set of men, of the officers of hi,? Government, or of his Executive
Council. If this' vdew was con'ect, it followed as a necessary con-

Ill

;

h ^t h

. ....

448

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

sequence, that where the responsibility attached, there the power
must be vested. To give power without responsibility, was incon-
sistent with the pririciples of the constitution ; to enforce respon-
sibility where no power was given, was to violate the principles
of natural justice. The two were inseparable.

He then proceeded to justify his views, by quoting Lord
Gleneig's despatch, in which it was affirmed that experience proved
that the administriition of public affairs in Canada was by no
means exempt from the control of practical responsibility. To
His Majesty and to Parliament the Governor of Upper Canada
•w as at all times most fully responsible for his official acts. That
this responsibility was not merely nominal, for that His Majesty
felt the most lively interest in the welfare of his Canadian subjects,
and was ever anxious to devote a patient and laborious attention
to any representations which they might address to him, either
through their representatives, or as individuals, was shown by
the whole tenour of the correspondence of his predecessors in
office. That the Imperial Parliament were not disposed to receive
with inattention the representations of their Canadian fellow-
subjects, was attested by the labours of the Committees which
had been appointed by the House of Commons, uoring the last
few years, to enquire into matters relating to these Provinces. It
was the duty of the Lieutenant-Governor to vindicate to the King
and to Parliament every act of his administration. In the event
of an} 1 (presentations being addressed to His Majesty upon the
Lieutenant-Governor's official conduct, he would have the highest
possible claim to a favourable construction — but the presumptions
which might reasonably be formed in his behalf, w(»u!d never su-
persede a close examination, how far they coincided with the real
facts of each particular case which might be brought under dis-
cussion. This responsibility to His Majesty and to Parliament
was second to none which could be imposed on a public man, and
it was one which it was in the power of the House of Assembly,
at any tinvo by address or petition, to bring into active operation.*

Mr. Draper then passed from Lord Glenelg to what Lord Syden-
ham himself stated in answer to an addrjss presented to him at

* Lord Glciiolts'a despatch, 5th Deciiinber, 1835.

WHAT IS RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT ?

449

power
} incon-
respon-
nciplcB

l Lord

proved

by no

|ty. To

Canada

That

Majesty

ubjects,

tention

, either

lown by

Bsors in

receive

fellow-

which

the last

ices. It

lie King

le event

pon the

highest

mptions

ever sii-

the real

ider dis-

•1 lament

lan, and

jsembly,

sration.*

Syden-

him at

Halifax, in which he had in a few but well-considered expres-
sions embodied the substance of the foregoing remarks.

The second branch of the subject involved the office and duties
of Her Majowty 's servants in this colony, and particularly of those
who were members of that House; responsibility and power must
go hand in hand. He who was responsible for the exercise of
power could not and dare not (for he would be impeachable for the
act) transfer that power into other hands. Confusion of idea had
been not infrequently occasioned in this matter, by attaching the
same meaning to the use of the terms "Responsible Government"
and " Responsible Executive Councillor." It was one of the condi-
tions of free institutions, that Governments should not be irrespon-
sibly conducted ; but the character of that responsibility varied with
the character of the Constitution, whether it was of the Colony or
of the Mother Countr3^ So long as the latter in a greatei- or less
degree controlled the former, so long it was impossible that the
whole responsibility could devolve upon those conducting affairs
here, and if that control were put an end to, the connection would
exist but in name. In accepting office under the Government, he
had taken upon himself the duty of giving his honest advice, to
the best of his judgment, upon all subjects on which he should be
consulted, and of advocating and sustaining in his place in that
House, those measures which the Head of the Government might
think it his duty to recommend to the country, as calculated to
promote its prosperity and improvement. It was his duty, so long
as he held office, to follow this course, and when measures were
determined on by the Head of the Government, who in that
respect was to be regarded as the responsible Minister of the Crown ,
to which he could not give his support, honour and duty could
point out but one path, that of resignation. A man must be in-
deed hardened in sentiment and feeling, who did not feel his
responsibility to public opinion, not to that hasty expression of it
which excitement or feeling gave rise to, but that which resulted
from the conviction of a long course of time.

It is easy to see through this rhetoric chat what Mr. Draper really
meant was a negative to the first and an affirmative to the second
of Mr. Buchanan's questions. He then quoted from the same des-
patch of Lord Glenelg to the effect that the principle of effective
29

450

THK IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

responsihility should j)erva(lo ovcry «l(ipaitinu»t of (iovcininont,
and, thoroforc, thai every piihlic officer sliouhl deuond on HIh
Majesty 'h pleaHurc for the tenure of Ids office. If the liead of any
dcjiartineiitHliould place Idiiiself in <leeided opposition to the Lieu-
tenant-(jlovernor, whetlier that opposition were avowed or latent,
it would he his duty to resign Ids ollicc, because tlie sysieni of
gov .'rnnient could not proceed witli safety on any otlioi' principle
than that of the cordial co-operation of all its various niendters in
tfie same general plan of promoting tlie })uhlic good. Son)e of tlie
n»end)ers of the local Government would, also, occasion.''ly be
representatives of the people in tfie Assend>ly, or would hold seats
in the [.cgislative (Jouncil. As members of tlie local Legislature,
they, of course, must act with fidelity to the public, advocating and
fjupporting no measure which, upon a laige view of the general
interests, tlw>,y would not think it incuudtent on them to advance.
But if any such person should find himself compelled, })y his sense
of duty, to counteract the i)oIicy pursued by the Lieutenant-Oov-
ernor, as the Head of tfie (iovernment, it must be distinctly under-
stood that the immediate resignation of his office is expected of
him, and that, failing such a resignation, he must, as a general rule,
be sus[)ended from it. Unless tfiis course were pursued, it would
be impossible to rescue tlie Head of tfie Government from the
imputation of insincerity, or to conduct tfic administration of
pul)lic affairs with the necessary firmness and decision. Lord Jolin
Russell's «lespatch of the f 4tfi Oct(/oer, LS3J), was then quoted, and
tlie reasoning is w(jrth pondering to-day. Perhaps we have here
an illustration of Ijord Sydenham's apothegm that what is theoret-
ically true is often practically false.

Lord John Ru.^sell distinguishing botweei: the Imperial Cabinet
and its oijuivalent in a colony, says: "But if we seek to
apply such a practici' [the English constitutional practice] to a
colony, we shall at once find ourselves at fault. The power
for which a Minister is responsible in England is not his own power
but the power of the Crown, of which he is, for the time, the organ.
It is obvious that the executive councillor of a colony is in a situa-
tion totally different. The Governor under whom he serves receives
his orders from the Crown of England ? But can the Colonial Coun-
cillors be advisers of the Crown of England? Evidently not ; for the

LOUD JOHN HUHSKU/h VIKWS,

4-)!

inumt,
III His
r any
Lieu-
liitunt,
ion I of
nciplu
toi'M in
of the
'My be
I Heats
slature,
ingand
{general
dvance.
i.H Hen.se
iit-Oov-
' und er-
ected of
;ral rule,
it would
loia the
ation of
)rd John
ited, and
ave here
tlieorct-

Cahinet
seek to
ce] to a
e power
vn power
he organ.
L a situa-
j receives
ial Coun-
b ; for the

Crown has other adviscM'",, tor the same functions, and with
superior authority. It jmay happen, tlusrefore, tliat the (iovernor
roctiives, at one and tlic same time, innt'Mictions fn^m the Queen
and advice from liis Executive Counci,' totally at variance with
each other. If he is to obey Ins instructions from Knghmd, the
parallel of constitutional reHponnihility itntin^ly fails. If, on the
other hand, he is to follow the advice of his <;oijncil, he is no
longer a subordinate officer, hut an independent sovert^ign. It is
now sai<l that internal government is alone intcjnded. I^ut there
ure some cases of internal governnuint in wiiich the honour of tluj
Crown, or the faith of Parliamfsno. or fclu! salety of the State, are
s(j seriously involved that it would not be itossible for h(!r Majesty
to deh'gate her authority to a Ministry in a colony." Mr. l)!Uper
then called to the recollection of the connni^tee the r- 4olution
moved by Lord John Russell, an<l which was onflrmed by ' oth
Lords and Commons — " That while it is exj)edient to improve the
composition of the Executive Council, it is unadvisuble to suSjject
it to the rtisponnibility deman<led by the House (jf Asnembly." To
the foregoing principles, thus clearly laid down, Mr. Draf)er ga'/e
his unqualified assent. Upon them he ha<l accepted office — and
he would resign office whenever his ten\ire of it bicame incon-
sistent with their application. As to the maintenance of liaruiony
between the Executive and the Legislature : to preserve the har-
mony, His Excellency liad on a former occasion decla^id tliat he
had received Her Majesty's comiuands to administer the Govern-
ment in accordance with the well understood wishes anc] inten;sts
of the people. In carrying out this pledge, it was felt right, and
a part of the duty which the Oovernmcmt owed to the people, to
endeavour to anticipate the wants, and prepare such measunjs as
would promote the prosperity of the Province, in pursuing this
object, nhould discord arise, the restoration of harmony l)(!came
the duty of the Head of the Government. For this, he was respon-
.tible. The Council were not to dictate to him. If he found that he
was embarrassed by dishonest or incapable servants of the Crown,
he could at once relieve himself of them, and by the appointment
of more fitting officers endeavour to restore the harmony which
had been disturbed. 11 -s plan might be defeated — his efforts to
promote the public welfare thwarted by other j causes. It wa-s

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452

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

I '•(■.

impossible to foresee in what shape such difficulties might
arise.

But in whatever shape they arose an appeal might be made
to the people by dissolution. Circumstances might be in.agined
which would render it impossible for the Governor to continue
the administration of public affairs, with honour to himself, or
advantage to the people. In some one or other of these modes,
however, the effort to restore harmony, when interrupted, must
be made. If so improbable and lamentable a contingency should
arrive, that every effort should prove unsuccessful, then a state
of things would arise, on which, until it occurred, Mr. Draper felt
it out of place to offer any observations.

In a word, he was pleading for a state of things which was the
antipodes of Responsible Government. Nor can there be a doubt
that he was expressing Lord Sydenham's views. It will have
been observed that he always speaks of the Governor as the
" Head " of the Government.

Mr. Hincks, who, like Mr. Holmes, busied himaelf with ques-
tions relating to banking, commerce, school laws, &c., took a vig-
orous part on the great question of the hour. He opposed the
civil list, and said that no Reformers would admit the right to
take " our " money without " our " consent.

Mr. Baldwin was attacked with great virulence for resigning.
He was denounced with the vehemence of narrow intelligence
and violent j)assion, the congenial slander of the interested, the
natural oillingsgate of the insincere. On the 21st of June he
explained his motive for resigning.

He had accepted office after the Go\ emment began to be ad-
ministored by the present Governor-General. The views which
w^ere entertained upon the subject of Responsible Government by
the Governor-General — views already expressed in Lord Durham's
report — those views were in practical application from the time
of his taking office up to the commencement of the present session.
Having accepted office, he had formed no coalition with the gen-
tlemen who then composed the Council of his Excellency. He
had always acted with a party which was entirely opposed to
them. The Union of the Provinces having been declared, he was
called on to take his seat in the executive cabinet. He then rei-

wmm

BALDWINS EXPLANATION.

453

terated to those gentlemen his original opinions, and that he had
not changed the position which he held in respect to them. At
that time there was no parliament of Canada which might give
expression to the confidence of the people ; but when the result
of the election became known, when it was ascertained of what
materials the House of Assembly was composed, it then became
his duty to inform the Head of the Government that the adminis-
tration would not po'- 38S the confidence of the House of Assem-
bly, and to tender the lesignation of hi.s office, having first, as,
according to the duties of his office, he was bound to do, offered
his advice to his Excellency that the administration of the coun-
try should be re-constructed. This advice vms not adopted. His
resignation followed and was accepted. A speaker had been pro-
posed whose opinions with respect to the Government were de-
nounced, because he had no confidence iu the administration.
But the admini^ ' .-tion dared not propose another. Some might
look upon in's as a triflinoj matter, but he considered it very

grave.

Colonel Prince made an impertinent speech, in which he said
he did not think Baldwin's resignation of sufficient importance
to justify the explanation. Baldwin was at this time the darling
of the people, and therefore the object of the hatred of the hate-
ful, and the petty insults of envious mediocrity. Men like Prince
and the whole Family Compact saw him take a leading part with
the same feelings the Barons watched v'aveston carry the Con-
fessor's crown.

Solicitor-General Day followed Prince with a more able and
more elaborate attack on Baldwin. Like every man who is going
to transgretjs the courtesies of public discussio:^, he commenced
by saying he had no desire t do so. Baldwin, he declared, i^hould
have refused to accept office with men in whom he had no -jonfi-
dence. This would have been the manly and straightforward
course. Parliament was called together under extraordinary cir-
cumstances ; the gates of a new era were thrown open. Wiiat
did Baldwin do ?

Two days before the meeting of Parliament, a commilnicatioa
was made to the Governor-General that he would retire from
office. In consequence of what ? Not that he had discovered a

454

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

rlifforenee of opinion between himself and his colleagues, for he
had not tr^ken the trouble to ascertain their opinions — no, but
because he had found by secret inquiry, by attending secret
meetings, that he could form a party to overturn the Govern-
ment [-ninisterial cheei-s]. Instean of bringing his party to the
support of th.'i. Oovernniont, whose servant he w^as, he endeavour-
ed to make it the instrument of his own purposes. " And I,"
cried Mr. Day, " would put it to the heart and understanding of
every meml>er of this House, whether he has not placed liimself
in a i)redicament — upon the horns of a dilemma ? I would ask,
whether the mere facts then\selves would not justify the suppo-
sition, that he had entered the administration with the intantion
of coirnnitting a delil)erate act of perlldy ? " The cheering was
renewed as the Solicitor-General sat down.

Mr. Durand followed defending Baldwin. Nothing which had
been said or which could be said would have sufficient weight to
injure the character of that gentlemen. He was held in too high
estimation both in this couritry and in England [hear, hear].
He had long been known in this country as the champion of lib-
eral principles of government, and he could have been returned
for any county in the Province [no, r\o]. He d./ erved well of
the country for having made the attempt to heal dissension, and
for being a man who would not for the sake of office abandon his
princi})les [h jar, hear].

Mr. Merritt said the aimouncement of the resignation of
Baldwin, would be received throughout the Province with feelings
of deep regret. From his fixed and determined adherence to
principle, he had gained the confidence of the great body of
the Reformers. Was a proof of this needed ? It was at
hand. When his Excellency the Governor-General arrived in To-
ronto, although he was well known to have been the advocate of
liberal principles in England, great doubts existed as to his sin-
cerity in carrying into operation the new colonial system of gov-
ernment recommended by Lord Durham. But the appointment
of the learned gentleman was taken as an evidence of his sincer-
ity, and gave a confidence to his adminiMtration, which no other
man in Canada could at that moment have ensured.

After the speech of Day it was impossible for Baldwni to re-

BALDWINS EXPLANATION CONTINUED.

•too

iiself

main silent. He rose to explain more at length. On the
threshold of his remarks, there occurred one of those Pick-
wickian scenes which are so amusing and so insincere, Mr. Bald-
win said that after the disclaimer on lie part of the hon. and
learned gentleman from Ottawa (Day) of any desire to wound his
feelings, he was bound to believe that no such intention existed.
He would therefore treat those terms which that hon. and learned
member had thought proper to apply to him in their restricjed
and parliamentary sense and not as designed to be personally of-
fensive. Mr. Day, who had only accused him of perlidy, leaned
across the table and assured him that he had meant to speak of
him in no other terms than those of personal respect. He had
told him his conduct was an outrage. Mr. Baldwin w^as, however
satisfied, and ])roceeded with his explanation;

He admitted he was responsil»le to the bar of public opiniois.
The course which he had taken in accepting office on the procla-
mation of the Union had been condemned. It had, however, been
forgotten, that he was not, at ohe time, in the position of one out
of the Administration, and then, for the first time, invited to join
it;. The Head of the Government, the heads of departments in
both Provinces, and the country itself wore in a position almost
anomalous. That of the Head of the Go /ernment was one of great
difficulty and embarrassment. While he felt bound to protect
himself against misapprehensions as to his views and opinions, he
also felt bound to avoid, a^ far as possible, throwing any difficul-
ties in the way of the Governor-General. At the time he was
called to a seat in the L^xecutive Council, he was already one of
those public servants, the political character newly applifjd to
whose offices made it necessary for them to hold seats in that
council. Had he on being called to take that seat refused to
accept it, he must of course have left office altogether, or have
been open to the imputation of objecting to an arrangement for
til e conduct of public affairs, which had always met with his most
decided approbation.* In either case what a position he would
have been placed in. How triumphantly would those who con-

" By the Act of Union, ^as a principal officer of the Provincial Government, he was
giA'en a seat in the Council.

456

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

:4.

-■V

demued him for accepting that seat, have then dpinounced him as
one utterly impracticable, if not absolutely factious.

What doubts and fears would have be >r raised. No step, as
Baldwin did not hesitate to say — without assuming Bvy impor-
tance, other than siich as the connection of his humble name with
the great principle of Responsible Government had in the public
eye attributed to him — could have been taken which would have
been more calculated to produce distrust and alarm. It was under
a deep sense of the responsibility which he would in^ur in taking
such a step, that he had come to the conclusion that his course
was to accept the seat to which the Head of the Government had
called him. In the peculiar position in which he was placed,
coupled with his well-known jiolitical opinions, eitlier as to men
or measures, neither the Head of the Government nor the members
of the Council who now condemned him would have had any just
ground of complaint against him. He had taken office originally
with a full avowal of his principles and of liis want of political
confidence in certain gentlemen. He had not rested satisfied with
that, but had, in order to prevent any possible misconception,
explicitly declared those opinions, both to the Head of the Govern-
ment and to those honourable gentlemen, previous to his accept-
ance of a seat in the Executive Council.

On the 13th of February, 1841, Lord Sydenham had written to
him that he was called upon to name an Executive Council for
this Province without delay, which, for the present would be com-
posed exclusively of the chief officers of the Government, and that
he had therefore inserted his name in the list. Did not that note,
argued Baldwin, show that the Governor himself looked forward
to such changes as the calls of public opinion might afterwards
demand, " more particularly when attention to such cars formed
the very basis of the new priiiciple to which allusion had been so
often made?" A few days i«fterwards, on the 18th or 19th of the
same month, he had replied that he had to acknowledge the re-
ceipt of the Governor-General's note, informing him that His Excel-
lency had done him the honour of calling him to the Executive
Council of the United Province ; tha,t he was still ignorant, except
from rumour, who the other councillors were to be ; that assuming
that the gentlemen to whom rumour had assigned seats in the

BALDWIN AND LORD SYDENHAM.

457

1 as

urse

new Council were those who His Excellency felt it necessary
should " at present" compose it, rich an administration would not
counuand the support of Parliament ; that he had an entire want
of political confidence in all of them except Mr. Dunn, Mr. Harrison
and Mr. Daly, and that had he reason to suj^pose that the generally
understood political principles and views of the other gentlemen of
the Council As^ere those upon which the Oovernmeut was to be
administered, it would be his duty respectfully to decline continu-
ing to hold office under them.

At such a critical moment, however, he shrank from every thing
that would be in the least calculated to embarrass the Govern-
ment. He, therefore, would not feel justified in refusing the
place to which he had been appointed. His silent acceptance of
office might, however, be misinterpreted by the members of the
Council, in > houi he had no confidence, as an expression of his
confidence. He wouid take it for granted there could be no
objection to his making them acquainted with his sentiments.

He accordingly addressed letters tj those gentlemen informing
them of his utter want of political confidence in them. Could he
have done more to prevent raisooncuptioa ? True, he might have
retired from the Government at the time, but so might the gen-
tlemen to whom he objected, who were precisely in the same po-
sition as he was. If he did not take that course, it was because
he was impelled to a contrary one by a strong sense of duty. He
had felt, as he took it for granted they had done, that the verdict
of the country was to decide whether their political views or his
were most in accordance with the wishes and interests of the
people. The charge of not having interchanged with his tempo-
rary colleagues those communications which might have led to a
correct estimate of the respective political opinions of each, was
no charge at all, except upon the supposition that he had entered
into a coalition with them. Without that ground of complaint,
all the charge amounted to was, that he haci not acted inconsis-
tently with his already avowed opinion concerning them, and
misled them by a show of confidence into a belief that his pre-
viously expressed opinions had been modified ; or it resolved itself
into a repetition in a new shape of the first charge of accepting
the office of Executive Councillor at all, to which he had already

4.58

rUt: IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

,: i

given a sufficiently satisfactory answer. Those (gentlemen of the
Administration in whom he had felt and avowed political confi-
dence, knew that he had communicated with them in the fullest
and frankest mannei upon every topic connected with the state
of the country, and upon none more fully than that involved in
the subject of the ]>re.sent discussion. The third charge was, that
he had not at an earlier period tendered that advice upon the
rejection of which he had felt himself called ur;oij. to resign. It
was hard that he was on the one hand accused of precipitancy,
and on the other of dola^. But when the circumstances in which
he was {)]aced were fairly considered ; when it was remembered
that from the time of his aj)pointmont to the time of his proceed-
ing to Montreal, he had been actively engaged, first with the
Upper Canada elections, ond more particularly the contest for
Hastings and the City of Toronto, and afterwards with the duties
of his office of Solicitor-General as public prosecutor on the Home
Circuit ; that he had not only expressly communicated to the Head
of the Grovernment at the time of accepting the seat in the Execu-
tive Council his expectations of the result of the elections then
about to come off, but had never concealed his opinion that those
anticipations had been realized ; that he had, when in Lower
Canada the advantage of seeing only a portion of the reform
members who had been returned to the United Parliament, and
had not had an opportunity of ascertaining how far the Reformers
of both sections of the Province were prepared to act together — a
course on their parts which he had always deemed of the most
vital importance to the best interests of his country ; when these
circumstances were considered, he felt convinced tiiat every dis-
passionate man in the community would acquit him of unneces-
sary delay in tendering his advice to Lord Sydenham.

Mr Day had accused him of caballing, of course in an inoffen-
sive sense, as if there was any meaning in such an expression used
in an inoffensive sense. He had, it was said, caballed in secret
meeting to overthrow the Government of which he was a mem-
ber. Was he right in his opinion that those only who re-
tained the confidence of Parliament were to be retained in the
confidence of the C/own ? If so, how was he to ascertain the
estimation in which the Government was held, unless by commu-

■^'v

BALDWIN S LOYALTY TO HIS COLLEAGUES.

459

the
nfi-
lest
.ate

in
hat
the

nicating with the representatives of the House, and holding what
Day had clmracterized as midnight meetings and secret cabals ?
He had always been a j)arty man. Nor did he, any more than
anybody else see how popular government could be worked
without party — though neither to party, nor to the people, nor to
the Crown, nor to its representative, would he sacrifice one particle
of principle. In truth he had a ready answer to the charge of
want of loyalty. On the Ilth of Juu'^ he had written a letter to M.
Morin, saying that he could not attend a meeting of Reformers
where the (juestion ol' testing on the election of a Speaker the
strength of the administration of wliich he was a member, was
to be discussed.

He then read the passage from the letter of the 12th June,
1841, in which he tendered his advice to the Governor. In that
letter he informed him that the union of the Reformers of the
Eastern and those of the Western sections of the Province, into
one united party, had taken place ; that that party represented
the political views of the vast majoiity of the people of the
Province ; that its members had no confidence in the admi-
nistration, the want of confidence however not extending to
the Head of the Government ; that he was bound therefore to de-
clare to his Excellency, that the administration, as then con-
stituted, did not possess the confidence of Parliament or the
country ; that to place it upon a footing to obtain such confidence,
it would be expedient, that Mr. SuP: 'an (his own cousin and
brother-in-law), Mr. Odgen, Mr. Dr':„per, and Mr. Day should no
longer form a part of it ; and tliat some gentlemen from among
tlie reformers of Lower Canada should be introduced into the
administration, whose accession to office would bring with thera
the support of the Lower Canada section of reformers, and with
that the confidence of the whole reforin party of the United Pro-
vince. In the faithful discharge of the sacred duty imposed upon
him by his oath of office, he felt bound respectfully to tender to
His Excellency his humble advice that the reconstruction of the
administration upon the basis suggested was a measure essential
to the successful and happy conduct of public affairs.

Could anything be more reasonable ? Could anything be more
statesmanlike ? What course so calculated to conciliate Lower

'I', it

460

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

Canada an that suggested ? How true a statesman Baldwin was,
the history of the country since proves. His advice not being
taken he resigned. He couchided by throwing him.s^lf with con-
fidence on the judgment of the House and the country. He was
supported both by the House and the country. In the House,
Isaac Buchanan stated that, when the exact position of parties was
kept in view, the retirement from office of Mr. Baldwin would be
seen to be a much more important circumstance in the discussion
of the address than some honourable members seemed willing to
allow. It was not to be pretended that the address, or indeed any
future mettsure of government, could pass this House without the
assistance of the liberal members from Upper Canada. That large
porti(jn of the House, whatevei might be their individual views
as to the propriety, under the circumstances, of Mr. Baldwin's re-
signation, still reposed full confidence in his political integrity, and
still continued to hold that it was only on liberal principles that
the Colonial Government could hope to succeed. Outside the
House the feeling in Baldwin's favour was not less pronounced.
A meeting of the Reformers' of the City of Toronto, was convened
at Elliott's Temperance House, Yonge Street, on Saturday even-
ing, the 3rd July — Captain Eccles in the chair ; Mr. J. Lesslie
acting as secretary.

Captain Eccles was an old Peninsular officer, who entered the
61st regiment as ensign in 1802. He was a native of Wicklow,
and was educat-ad at Trinity College, where he took his degree of
B.A. the same year in which he joined his regiment. He served
with distinction throughout the entire Peninsular campaign. At
Corunna he was wounded in the side and leg. His arm was
shattered on a later field. He retired, in 1817, on his laurels,
and having married settled down in Wales. In 1830, he went
to Somersetshire, and in 1835 emigrated to Canada, resid-
ing at Niagara until 1841, in which year he removed to Toronto,
where he died in his eighty-second year in 1858.

Captain Eccles came to emigrate in this wise : During the
great reform movement in England he was chairman of the
^committee of the Liberal candidate for Somersetshire. After
.a hard contest the Liberal candidate was returned. This gave
•Captain Eccles some claims on the Government of Earl Grey,

CAPTAIN ECCLES.

461

and he was sent to Canada to receive a report on lands suitable
for emigrants from Admiral Vansittart and Captain Drew, R.N.
Having received their report, he returned to England and reported
unfavourably on their scheme, but most favourably on Upper
Canada as an agricultural country. He contended that no private
company should be permitted to control emigration, that«t should
be a matter entirely in the hands of the Government, and advised
the authorities to encoura»?e in every way the settlement of
British sul>jects in Upper Cannda.

From the time of his arrival in Canada to his departure he
evinced gi\iat interest in political affairs, and shortly after he
sent in hiw report on Admiral Vansittart and Captain Drew's
emigration scheme, he made a report on the political condition of
Canada, denouncing some of the most prominent political leaders
there as disloyal, and described the country as in much the same
disorganized condition as the New England colonies on the eve of
the lebellion. He urged the necessity of speedy action in regard to
Canada. As he was not sent to Canada to make a report on the
political condition of that colony, he was censured for exceeding
his instructions, and his report was not acted upon.

Having decided to come to Canada with his family, he pro-
ceeded to the Town of Niagara, near which he purchased some
farms and a house in the town. He brought out a few families
from Somersetshire, farm implements and several head of blooded
live ^cock. At the breaking out of the rebellion of 1837, he or-
ganized and commanded a regiment of volunteers on the Niagara
frontier, doing good service for the Government. He was always
intensely loyal, and could not forgive a man who raised his hand
against the British flag.

On the arrival of Lord Durham, who had with him the report of
Captain Eccles, he sent for the veteran, and consulted him as to
the most fitting measures of redress. Captain Eccles remained
with Lord Durham for several weeks assisting him. In return
for his services he was offered several Government positions, which
he declined.

In Toronto, he took an active part in public questions, and
actively supported charitable institutions. Though he had acted
as colonel of volunteers, he never allowed himself to be addressed

4(12

THK IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

by any rank but Captain. He was of tbe old school. In personal
appearance he was every incli the soldier — six feet high, with
iron grey hair and moustachios, and perfectly erect up to a year
or two before his death ; his helpless right arm in a sling, a last-
ing memento of " the Peninsula." He left behind him three sons
and three daughters. Among the sons was the late Henry Eccles,
the eminent Q. C, who was so pt 'erful as an advocate.

Such was the chairman of the mee- '»ig, which was the fore-
runner of the great meetings in the time of Metcalfe. In opening
the proceedings he stated that the object they had in view was to
giVe fciome public testimony to the noble conduct of the Hon.
Robert Baldwin, in retiring from the Executive Council, and re-
signing the office of Solicitor-General. A committee, composed of
Me.ssrs. Beaty, McLellan, O'Beirne, Dunleavy, and Lesslie, was
apfiointu 1 to prepare a series of resolutions. The first resolution
expressed the confidence of Reformers in Baldwin, as the uncom-
promising champion of the civil and religious liberties of the peo-
ple of United Canada. The second resolutitn declared his ex-
planations in Parliament entirely satisfactory. An honourable and
independent man had no course but to resign. The third resolution
declared the reorganization of the Cabinet a step imperatively
called for.

At this distance of time we can appreciate both Baldwin and
Sydenham. While the Tory press attacked Baldwin for his resig-
nation, and his name, though associated with inflexibility of prin-
ci))le, sterling integrity, and irreproachableness of character, be-
came an object of foul aspersion. Lord Sydenham was assailed by
his enemies with a corresponding vituperative exaggeration.
The journals of those days are not uninteresting reading. The
editors used to do some things which would create a smile
now. Thus a vigorous attack on Draper is ushered in with
a latin scene. The admirable manner in which Lord Syden-
ham kept his own counsel was peculiarly irritating. This was
in part policy, in part explicable on the same principle as the
apathy of Canning's needy knife-grinder. But it maddened the
brilliant editors, who thr \t they ought to know everything.
With a satire which seems strangely blunt to-day, it was pointed
out that in Pagan times there was a secret worship paid to divin-

A SKETCH OF DllAPER.

403

ities, to which none were admitted hut those who had heeii care-
fully initiated. Of the secret worship there were two mysteries,
the lesser and the greater. A knowledge of the greater mysteries
was generally reserved for the favoured few, whose understanding
scorned the i.i posture which their policy approved ; and both the
greater and the lesser mysteries were sedidously concealed from
the multitude lest their disclosure should c ^vert reverence into
contempt. The cln,ssical recollections of L*. i Sydenham taught
him to apply this practice to his system of politics; and, save him-
self, and perhaps the "gifted Draper," there was no man in the
country who could safely pronounce upon his Lordship's meas-
ures, or pierce the shroud which invested his intentions.

, At this time one of the newspapers of Kingston had a series of
sketches of prominent members of the House. The first arvi^le
was devoted to Mr. Draper and Mr. Hincks. Draper was described
as "the most plausible of mortals, bland, insinuating, persuasive,
and somewhat eloquent. When apeaking, one would su})pose he
was honesty ot intention personified. If you don't look out he will
make you belie e he is the most candid, open and frank of all
public men. While he is making earnest declarations of -all this,
he is squirming, twisting and moulding a delicate little loop-hole,
which few but himself see, out of which he will afterwards creep,
and no one can daie accuse him of inconsistency. His manner is
the most taking, and he gains a great deal by this. Himself the
nio.st prejudiced of mortals — the greatest stickler for pr^ scriptive
rights and usages — he takes good care not to •' j violence to the
prejudices of others. No, ho is not to be forced into any srdi
imprudence, any more than he is to be compelled to make open
confession of all he thinks. Wedded to notions of Church and
Statu, he is a century behinu the spirit of the age. Yet, to gain
his end, he will even ape liberality of sentiment." The writer goes
OK to say, that he had no political liberality, that he A/as a faint
imitator of Sir Robert Peel, that his enemies admitted he was the
most easy and most ready speaker in the House, and that he had
few competitors in debate ; that he was a thorough Tory ; that
though smooth and insinuating, he often involved a subject and
left it more misty thi n he found it, and that the polish of educa-
tiof' had done much for him.

tkM

t{l<llil

1 '■¥'[

464

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

The following '3 th sketch of Mr. Hincks : — " The first look at
this frentloman will be apt to deceive the common observer. There
is nothing of empressement about him, and it strikes one that there
cannot be anything 01 Intellectual dignity or power in such a head
as his. About Mr. Hincks, there is evidently considerable force
of character, clearness of perception, and shrewd concentration of
mind ; whatever powers he does possess, he has the ability to make
the most of them ; and this is no ordinary talent. "Without fancy,
indeed without a single spark of that celestial force of ideality,
which throws a charm even around matters of fact, he is a com-
mon sense person, who makes everything he ^vrites or speaks go
home at once to the understanding of the least enlightened. Want
of commanding weight is compensated for by great activity of
temperament and the power of concentrating his thoi^ghts. Shrewd,
concise, clear, he is not to be misled by plauaibilit}'- , v rronhlstry.
Viewing things through a practical medium — he has not the fore-
thought and grasp of conception to follow out his premises to their
conclusions. He has that organization which leads to popularity
with the people, and his power will emanate from and lie entirely
with them. Careless of the opinions of the great, he would court
that of the many. He wiU not owe his popularity to his power of
addressing himself to the passions of the people. If he reaches
them at all, it will be through an array of facts, applied in such a
way as to rouse indignation and excite anger. To speak at once
to the passions requires eloquence and high command of language
and he has not the remotest pretension to the one and saircely
any to the other. But he is matter of fact — clear. It is impos-
sible to misunderstand what he aims at. He has not the faculty of
comprehensively summing up the whole. Mr. Hincks' talents are
more useful than brilliant — more practical than poetical. He is
exactly such a man as is useful to the people. Such as he will be a
stumbling block in the path of any man or set of men who aim at
illegal power or the abridgement of their rights."

R. B. Sullivan, William B. Coffin and W. FuUam were appointed
to enquire into the disturbances which took place in Toronto^, a
day or two after the election, at which a man lost his life.

At this time Messra. Baldwin and Hincks sat on the extreme
left.

taam

look at
. There
at there
1 a head
le force
ation of
to make
t fancy,
deality,

a com-
Baks go
, Want
vity of
Shrewd,
ohistry,
he fore-
to their
Hilarity
mtirely
d court
ower of
reaches
I such a
at once
ngaage
icarcely

impos-

culfcyof

mts are

He is

rill be a

aim at

pointed
ronto, a

jxtierae

ATTACKS ON LORD SYDENHAM*!? GOVERNMENT.

465

On the 18th of June in the Legislative Council, M. Quesnel
spoke 11 opposition to one of the clauses of the address, and was
replied to by M \ Sullivan, who made a masterly speech in defence
of the Government and its policy.

Not many we^ks passed before the power of Baldwin in the
country was seen. Had he remained m the Council the attacks
on it of a reformtd House would have been robbed of their sting.

In July, Hinck? supported an enquiry into the riots at the elec-
tions in the Lov/er Province, an enquiry which the Government
opposed. Even at this time, the promises of the Government as
+0 Responsible Government, were regarded by many Reformers
and others as idle mockery. " The men, who only ten days since
so pompously pledged themselves to resign if unsupported by the
country in their policy actually array thsm^elves against the
Province, and are banded together not in defence of the sovereism's
prerogative — not in a patriotic resistance to n invasion of the
public liberty — but, they are found united, opposing the demands
of the people of Canada."* What demands ? The demands for
enquiry into the cc»ndition of things during the elections in Lower
Canada. But it had been decided that tho laws relating to
contested elections in Lower Canada were in force, and the neces-
sary recognizances not having been entered into, the petitions
fell through. Some thought that the House, notwithstanding,
would entertain them.

Lord Sydenham and his advisers were accused of having
" suckled corruption and famished freedom ;" of having obtained
from the people's representatives a dishonourable surra :i lerolthe
people's liberties ; of having eluded all that was really valuable
in the promised concessions to colonists. Hv'sr Majesty's advisers
had resisted Sir Allan MacNab's Bill to securt to the " defrauded
constituencies" of Lower Canada the power of efttablishing the facts.

The session of 1841, was a memorable one. In it was laid the
foundation of our municipal system, and the important questions
connecteJ. with educati' u, customs, and currency were placed in
right ch8,nnels. On the 6th of August, the House sat until long
after midnight debating the Municipal Council Bill for Upper

Tinus, Montreal, July 27th, 1841.
30

466

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

Canada. The debate turned entirely on the question of the ap-
pointment of the Warden, whether it should be in the hands of
the Executive, or should be elective. After everything had been
said that could be said for and against the point, in a two days' debate
a division was taken at a late hour, and the numbers stood 34 to
34. The vote of the Chairman, Mr. Caleb Hopkini., ^vas then given
in favour of the Governor having the appointment.

During the discussion, Mr. Hincks came out strongly in behalf
of the Ministry, and virged upon the House the necessity of
abandoning the contest as to the appointment of the Warden,
rather than lose all chance of the Province obtaining the other
benefits to be derived from the municipal system. His position
created some surprise in the minds of a greater audience than had
ever assembled within the walls of the House. The union of Sir
Allan McNab, Messrs. Moffatt, Cartwright, and others, with
Messrs. Viger, Baldwin, iylwin, and the rest of the Opposition,
was looked upon as equally strange. Sir Allan MacNab and his
friends opposed the Bill, as tending too much to democracy ; while
Messrs. Viger and Baldwin,not satisfied with the concessions already
made to popular influence, opposed the Ministerial measure, because
it was not democratic enough. " The effect of this coalition," wrote
a correspondent, " is truly to be regretted : the local Ministry must
be embarrassed, when they do not receive a fair share of that sup-
port to which they have proved themselves entitled."

The leading Conservative papers of Montreal denounced the atti-
tude of Sir Allan MacNab and Mr. Moffatt. Baldwin's great
objection to the Bill that the Wardenship was not made elective
was peculiarly offensive to the supporters of the Government.
" This objection has been stated in various forms, and advocated
in speeches of different degrees of merit and length, in the specious
and Joseph-Surface-like oration of Mr. Baldwin — the excited and
passionate phillipic of that violent admirer of British institutions,
Mr. Viger — and in the sparkling antitheses anc' well-rounded
periods, remarkable for so much neatness and so little matter, of
Mr. Ay 1 win. There has indeed been a great amount of talk
expended, but very little argument that will stand a moment's
examination. We contend that the appointment of the Wardens
by the Crown is in every view preferable to their election by the

THE VOTES ON THE MUNICIPAL BILL.

467

people. It is more consonant U) the spirit of the other insti-
tutions of the empire ; it secures to Government in each district
the services of an individual in whom they have complete confi-
dence — with whom V\ey can unreservedly communicate in all
matters relating eiuier to its improvement or ite security."*

On the 19th the Assembly was in session till after midnight,
the whole subject of discussion being the third reading of the
Municipal Bill. Mr. Baldwin moved that it be read a third
time that day six months. This produced a long and pro-
tracted debate — in which everything that^had been hitherto said
was repeated, and every member seemed anxious to have a word on
this " most important " measure ; there being a clear impossibility,
of his giving a " silent vote." At near midnight the vote was
taken. Yeas, 30 ; Nays, 42.

Several speakers having given their reasons for their votes, Mr.
Hincks said that when first called on to give a vote on the ques-
tion, he felt considerable embarrassment for he found himself com-
pelled to vote in opposition to Baldwin, with whom he was
accustomed to act. But he was convinced the course he took
was called for by his duty to his constituents and his country.
" Now, sir," said Mr. Hincks, with some acidity, " I confess that
it is a matter of some surprise to me to hear the very extraordin-
ary differences of opinion that have been expressed on this sub-
ject. In another part of this building, only a few minutes ago, I
heard it pronounced a measure ' liberal without a precedent.' The
honourable and gallant Knight from Hamilton, and the honour-
able the learned member for Lennox and Addington say that it is
republican and democratic in principle, and that if it be adopted,
the people will have Irncst uncontrolled power. At the same
time we are assured by the honourable and learned member for
Hastings that it is ' an abominable Bill,' ' a monstrous abortion,'
which he views with detestation. It is certainly not a little sur-
prising that two parties, so very opposite in their views on this
very question, should unite, and I cannot help observing that
charges of coalition are quite as applicable to one side of the
House as to the other."

Oazette. (Montreal), August, 1811.

468

TITE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

! Ii

Y. II

Thenewspaper of which Mr. Hincks was editor,hadcomeoutveiy
strongly on reform principles, and the power Reformers would have
in the House, and wlien he took the course he did on the Muni-
cipal Bill, it was natural that he should be denounced as a rene-
gade. He had regularly joined a party. The leader of that party
had a right to rely on him, and the detail of a municipal bill was
not a suffieiont ground for playing fast and loose with party alle-
giance. His defence was as follows : —

" I know, Mr. Speaker, the deep responsibility I have taken on
myself in adopting this course. I am well aware, sir, that already
every species of slander and calumny has been resorted to, in order
to destroy my public character. I have been held up in the pub-
lic prints as having sol! riyself to Government. From political
opponents I can expect nothing else but such attacks, but, sir, I
confess I have been pained at the insinuations which have pro-
ceeded from other quarters. The allusions to ' expectants of
office,' to ' government injfluence,' I cannot, I ought not affect to
misunderstand. I shall leave the Reformers of Upper Canada to
judge whether I have deceived them, and I have, 1 think, some
claims upon the sympathy of Reformers. My first connexion
with political life was at a very eventful period in the history of
this Colony, at a time, Sir, when hardly a journal in the Province
dared to stand forth in defence of the great principle which is now
recognised as the only one on which our government should be
administered. During a very dark period of our history, I
defended that principle and the party who supported it, and it
was a time when I hud nothing to expect but incarceration in a
dungeon as my re wart'-. The difficulties and embarrassments to
which a public journalist is exposed cannot readily be imagined
by those who have not encountered them, and not the least of
them is the oduim to which a faithful advocate of popular rights
is necessarily exposed. He is the mark for all the animosity of the
hostile party. I have, Sir, at least endeavoured to discharge my
arduous duty faithfully and conscientiously. I have never asked
a favour from any Governor since I took up my residence in this
Province, and no one knows better than the hon. and learned
member for Hastings (Baldwin), that when he was in i)lace, and
when there were prospects of <.>ur party having influence, I cnrev

HINCKS' EXPLANATION.

469

stipulated for any personal reward. 1 was willing uo give our
party an independent support to the utmost of my ability. With
regard to the people of Lower Canada, I feel that from them I
<;ertainly deserve better than that they should ascribe to me im-
proper motives, I have fought their battles through good report
and through evil report, and. Sir, it is with deep regret that I
ever give a vote in opposition to them. I am not desirous, Mr.
Speaker, of occupying the time of the House with remarks •;, hich
must be in some degree of a personal character. I wo; M not
however have done justice to myself, had I not availed myself of
the present opportunity to repel the insinuations which have been
made against my political integrity, and to assert that my vote in
favour of that bill is as conscientious and independent as that of
any hon. member on the floor of this House. It is dictated solely
by a deep sense of the duty which I owe to my constituents and
my country, and I know and feel that it will be appreciated by
them."

While Hincks was speaking, he was warmly cheered by Draper.
Mr. Price said, if he was always found voting with Ministers on
questions the loss of which would endanger the administration,
and against them on matters not of so serious a character, he must
not think it strange if he was accused of deserting his party. *' He
states " continued that gentleman " that on the Ballot he voted
against Ministers, Did he on that important question say a single
word ? No, not one word. Did he not know that if that question
had carried, the Ministers would not have cared ? They never
considered it a question to affect the Administration, one way or
the other. Only one question during the session came up, on
the loss of which the Ministry would have resigned ; and upon
that question the hon. member not only voted with the Ministers,
but canvassed and repeatedly spoke for them. I should like to
know from the hon. member, if he and others did not make some
compromise with the leader on the treasury benches, that upon
certain concessions being made by the Government, the Bill would
be supported by the Liberals ? Were not those coi^cessions acceded
to by the hon. leader, and was it not understood that many of the
appointments of officers provided for in the Bill were to be in the
hands of the people ? How then does it happen, that the most

470

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

i it:

""'"''ii

strenuous advocate of those concessions, should, on the very next
day, surrender them up to the Government, and quietly swallow
the bill, the whole bill, and nothing but the bill ?"

Baldwin then rose and said, that with respect to the doubts
which had insinv- i themselves in some quarters as to Hincks*
course, he had neitucr originated them, repeated them, nor sanc-
tioned them, and with the hon. member himself must neces-
sarily rest the means of demonstrating their utter grovmdless-
ness. Again, the hon. member had referred to the support which
he had afforded to the Reform cause. No one more highly appre-
ciated his talents than he did, and no jne was more ready to
acknowledge the important benefits which, as a journalist and an
orator, Mr. Hincks had conferred upon the country by his power-
ful advocacy of the great principle of Responsible Governr-ient.
These most valuable services of the hon. member he ever haa, now
did, and ever should acknowledge with cheerfulness and s'otisf ac-
tion, whatever the political relati ^ in which that hon. gentle-
man and himself might stand to ea^h other ; and he was equally
ready, and should be on all occasions, to acknowledge the per-
sonal support which he had received from that hon. gentleman.
But if, what he could not and did not believe, the charge of ingra-
titude, which had escaped the lips of the hon. member, was meant
to be applied to h'm, he would take leave to say, and no one knew
it better than the hon. member himself, that support had not been
all on one side ; that on all occasions and in all places, w^herever
he thought he could be useful to him, as well in the highest soci-
ety in the Province as in that of the honest yeomen who had done
the hon. member the honour of returning him to that House, he
had stood by his chaiaccer, private and political, and not unfre-
quently with the discomfort of knowing that he was listened
to with anything but satisfaction. He did this in those hours
of storm to which the hon. gentleman had so feelingly alluded,
as well as when, from altered circumstances, more cheering pros-
pects opened upon the cause. For himself, all who knew him
were aware, that though slow bo enter into connexions of any
kind, he ever clung with tenacity to such as he did once form, and
he assured the hon. member for Oxford, that if the time should
come when the political tie whi<!h bound them to each other was

10\

LORD SYDENHAM S DEATH.

471

to be severed for ever, it would be to him by far the most painful
which had occurred in the course of his political life.

When in September some members of the House were looking
impracticably at the loan which the Imperial Government was to
guarantee, Mr. Hincks brought them to their senses by a few
shrewd remarks. He had heard it said that the loan vv as all a
huiubug. He was, therefore, desirous of throwing it upon the
Adr^ini stration to carry out their own offer, and fulfil the pledge
they ha(i given. The plain and business-like view of th. .'ase
was this. Tliey had a rever.ue of £300,000. They owed a debt
of about £1,300,000. And the expenses of the Government, with
the interest of the debt, were about equal to the revenue. The
Gcvernment were willing to lend a million and a half to pay the
debt, or as much of it as could be demanded — provided that they
had the security that the interest of that debt would be the first
claim on the revenue, as provided by the Union Act ; but he
doubted whether the Imperial Parliament would be disposed to
guarantee so large a sum on the security of new taxes, the pro-
ductiveness of which had never been tested.

On the 3rd of September, Baldwin moved and passed a series
of resolutions emphatically affinning the principles of Responsible
Government. On the 7th of September, Lord Sydenham's horse
fell with him and the fall aggravated the gout from which his
lordship suffered. Pleasure and toil doing the work of years had
broken down his constitution, and he died on the 19th of Septem-
ber, 1841. His last act was to subscribe the instruments of the
first Legislature of United Canada, his last wish, to be buried at
Kingston. He must ever remain one of our great men.

He seems to have been a man of singular tact, easy of access,,
unaffected in manners. Affable and ready in conversation, he knew
how to introduce the topic he desired to discuss. He was a con-
summate man of business and a born statesman.

He evidently felt the cold hand stealing near him. In July
he had asked leave to resign, and immediately devolve the
Government on the officer next to him. He said Neilson, of
Quebec was stirring up the habitans, but he had no fear. Nover
was there a man in Canada who had more faith in itc future, and
when a column is raised to his memory, the words he wrote of

472

THE IRISHMAN iN CANADA.

the country, he adopted on his death bed, should be inscribed on
the well-deserved memorial.

" I should do injustice to my own feelings if I were not to state
to your Lordship the impression which has been left on my mind
by the inspection which I have made of the Upper Province. It
is really impossible to say too much of the advantages which
nature has bestowed upon it, especially that part of the country
Tv^hich lies between the three Lakes — Ontario, Erie, and Huron.
If these great advantages be properly used, I foresee in the course
of a very few years Upper Canada must become one of the most
valuable possessions of the British Empire. Its population may
be trobled, and its products increased in an immense ratio ;
whilst, if properly governed, its inhabitants will, I am satisfied,
become the most loyal, intelligent, and industrious subjects which
Her Majesty can number,"

It was a melancholy thing to read in the speech closing Parlia-
ment, — " Well, I cannot look back on the last two years without
feelings of the deepest emotion. My anticipations for the future
are full of hope and confidence" — and to know he was lying
dead. On the 24th September he was buried at Kingston with
becoming pomp.*

* The following epitaph ia engraven on his tomb :—

Near this Hpot lies the body of
The Right Honourable
Chaules Poulett Thompson,
Baron Sydenham,
Of Sydenham, County of Kent, and Toronto, in Canada.

Bom September 13th, 1799,
Bred a Merchant of London and St. Petersburgh,

He, from an early age,
Devoted himself to the service of his country.
He sat in Parliament for Dover and Manchester
From 1826 to 18:^9 :
Was Vice-President of the Board of Trade

From 1830 to 1834,
And President, with a Seat in the Cabinet,
From 1834 to August, 1839 ;
When he was appointed
Governor-Gee eral of British North America.
While in this High Office he accomplished
The Re-union of the Canadaa,
And laboured unceasingly

STATE OF EDUCATION.

473

The first Parliament of United Canada had ended well. A
foundation for valuable legislation had been prepared, and the
priucli»le of responsible government unmistakeably asserted.
Nevertheless the great fight was still to come oft!

(JHAPTER X.

Up to 1816 education in Canada was at a very low ebb. In that
year, the Legislature provided lot the establishment and mainten-
ance of Common Schools in Upper Canada, but, owing to jobbery
and the sii.opicion which was thus created, the grant wr..^ reduced
in 1820 from $24,000 to $10,000. This brought the grant to each
district down to $1,000, and to each teacher from $500 to $250
per annum.

In 1819, the Executive Council had recommended that 500,000
acics of land should be sold for the purpose of establishing a Uni-
versity in Upper Canada. In 1823, Sir Peregrine Maitland sub-
mitted to the Colonial Office a plan for a general system of edu-
cation, and obtained permission to establish a Board for the
management of the University and School lands. In 1827, he
obtained a charter for King's College, and the Imperial Govern-
ment granted $5,000 per annum for erecting the necessary build-
ings, the fund to be taken out of the moneys paid by the Canada
Company. The Governor was authorized on receipt of the des-

To found a system of institutions fitted to secure

The permanent peace and prosperity of this country.
A fatal accident occasioned his premature death
At this place, on the 19th September, 1841. ^tat. 42.
" He rests from his labours, and his works do follow him."

[Authorities for chapters X and XI.— Ori^nal sources. " A View of t njier Cana-
da," by Mr. Smith, Baltimore. "The Origin, History and Management -i *h'^ TJni-
versity of King's College, Toronto : " printed by George Brown, Yonge Streoi., 1844.
" Eighty Years' Progress, from 1781 to 1801." " Life of Lord Metcalfe," by J^lu
William Kaye. MacMuUeu's "History." Newspapers of the period. "Hansard."]

tl*>

474

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

'It

patch to exchange such Crown Reserves as had not been made
over to that Company for an equal portion of the lands set apart
for the purpose of education c'nd the foundation of a University
and to proceed to ondow King's Colkg .\ The charter of the new
college did not escape criticism. It w&h too exclusive. A Com-
uiittee of the House of Commons in 1828 recommended that the
Established Churches of England and Scotland should each be
represented by a professor. Even this mild suggestion in the di-
rection of liberality and justice was not acted on.

In 1829, Sir John Colborne (afterwards Lord Seaton) established
Upper Canada College on the ruins of the District School of York,
having obtained for it an endowment of 66,000 acres of school
lands together with some town lots. On the 4th of January, 1830,
the college was formally opened. At this time many of the
school teachers wcie from below the line, and children were
taught false history and inspired with passions hostile to the
parent state; nor was it until 1846, that a stop was pvt to this
abuse of confidence by men whom Dr. Rolph characterised a*
" anti-British adventurers." Meanwhile in the midst of ignorance
and impudent suggestions from men honoured with the confidence
of constituencies, but unfit to be anything in parliament but a
door-keeper or sergeant-at-arms, the best minds of the country
were actively engaged on the vital question of public instruction,
and in 1836 a Commission was appointed by the Legislature to
examine the system pursued in the United States. The three
Commissioners deputed Dr. Charles Duncombe to make the neces-
sary investigations. The result was a report and carefully draugh-
ted bill in which he proposed that $60,000 annually should bo
granted in aid of schools. He thought the system of eduoAtion
at that time prevailing in the States as bad as that which they
were seeking to remedy in Canada. Of eighty thousand teachers
in the Republic, hardly any had made preparations for the duties
they had to discharge.

The Legislature petitioned the King to amend the charter for
King's College University in a less excluaive direction. The peti-
tion was granted and the Provincial Legislature endowed with
the necessary powers. A biE amending the charter, and incor-
porating Upper Canada College with the University was passed

THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO.

475^

in the Spring of 1837. In April, 1842, the foundation stono of
King's College was laid by Sir Charles Bag<jt, Chancellor of the
University, and a library was formed. Tn 1843 the University
was opened with Bishop Strachan for President. Up to this time
the Council for the University used to meet in a frame house just
opposite the College Avenue. In 1849 as the result of agitation
and enlightened discussion, the faculty of divinity was abolished
in order fhat the University should be truly national.

These educational movements attracted more than one remark-
able Irishman to the Province. A young man, named Mack, was
studying for a fellowship at Trinity College, when he fell in love.
Falling in love would not prevent him being a Fellow of his col-
lege. Many a Fellow has fallen in love. But Mack went further
and married, and that put an t»nd to his dreams of a fellowship-
He determined to come to Canada. Armed with letters to Sir
John Colborne, from the Provincial Secretary, he expected, on
arriving in Canada, to be appointed the first classical master of Up-
per Canada College. He was disappointed, and was on his way back
to Ireland, when he was persuaded by Bishop Stuart to enter the
Church. He opened up the parish of Osna^?ruck, near Cornwall..
His son, Theophilus Mack, who was about four years' old when
he left Ireland, was in due time sent to Upper Canada College.
Young Mack was one of the first boys who entered under Dr.-
Hams, who preceded Dr. McCaul.

The Rev. Mr. Mack opened up another parish at Wellington
Sqnare. He was then removed to Amhertsburg, where he was
rector and garrison chaplain. He retired from active work about
five or six years ago.

Dr. McCaul came out here in 1839. He was educated at
Trinity College, Dublin, where, at an unusually early age, he ob-
tained the highest honours. Dr. Harley, Archbishop of Canter-
bury had heard of his reputation for scholarship, and, in 1838, of-
fered him the Pi .ncipalship of Upper Canada College. The offer
was accepted, and in the following year Mr. McCaul entered on
his duties, which he discharged with such credit, that, in 1842, he
was made Vice-President of King's College, and Professor in that
University, of the Council of which he, as Principal of Upper
Canada College, had been an ex-ofUdo member. Six years after-

476

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

wards ho was appointed President on the resignation of the office
by the Bishop of Toronto, •^nd thenceforward took a useful and
active part in all matters of | ublic interest. Ho used to bo particu-
larly happy as an after-dinne- speaker. His heart wns, however,
centered in the University. As we should expect one of the ob-
jects at which he aimed M'as a Consolidated University, whose
degrees wouhl bo respected, and whoso honours would be highly
prized. His hopes in this direction were blighted when the Legis-
lature gave University powers to other inst'^'V.lons. The way
the students speak of him is the best testimony to his character
as President. His reputation as an author is as wide as the
world of erudition.

The late Vice Chancellor Blake was Professor of Law in the
University, and of the five medical lecturers throe were Irish,
Doctors King, Herrick, and Gwynne. The ideas of Dr. Owynne
vlch regard to education were advanced, and he petitioned the
Legislature with regard to the constitution of the Council. This
was regarded by Bishop Strachan as " a contoomaashus sleight of
our authority," and he tried to have Dr. Gwynne and his friends
dismissed. But liberal ideas were then coming to the front, and
the efforts of Dr. Strachan failed. Dr. Gwynne next devoted
himself specially, and not without success, to reforming the
financial affairs of King's College. As to the general principles
•of foundation and management, he advocated every reform which
was ultimately made. He denounced class distinctions such as
can hardly be conceived at the present time. His skill in physi-
ology, comparative anatomy, and cognate subjects, combined with
happiness of expression, made him a lecturer to whom the student
listened with rapt attention.

In 1S41, the Tories came into power in England, with r, very
•strong Government; Sir Robert Peel, the Duke of Wellington, Lord
Lyndhurst, Sir James Graham, tie Earl of Aberdeen, Lord Stan-
ley (the late Lord Derby) and others. The Ministry was after-
wards reinforced by Sidney Herbert and Mr. Gladstone. Sir
Charles Bagot who was chosen to succeed Lord Lyndhurst was,
as we ir *ght expect, a Tory. There need be no surprise )ha« he
showed a strong grasp of constitutional questions, for no truer
friends of the Constitution existed at that time than Sir Robert

SIR CHARLES BAOOT's CHARACTER.

477

Peel and Sir Jarne-; Graham. On.at fears were expressed that he
would not find it e»sy to follow " ord Sydenham. Lord Syden-
ham had bet his own Execuf'^'^e Council and his own Chief Sec-
retary. He ! .^d done nothing to im )rove the defective adminis-
trations of the various executive departments, and blame would
fall -^n his successor alone if the wor'' which he had so well begun
was not earned to completeness.

The Conservatives of that day made a mistake which hi^i often
been made. They supposed that English Conservatives must
necessarily feel drawn to Canadian Conservatives, and English
Reformers to Canadian Reformers. They fell into further error
in thinking that the natures of all Governors are the same, and in
not perceiving the changes which were going forward. Wrapped
up in their own self-conceit, they thought Sir Charles Bagot
would act like a Governor of ten or fifteen years before, without
Sir Charles Bagot's constitutional views, in a Canada quite dif-
ferent from that in which he was about to commence his pro-con-
sular career, and having been educated in an England different
from that in which he had received his most-recent lessons on
political questions. The Governor threw himself into the hands
of neither party.

During the winter and the spring, he occupied himself in ac-
quiring a knowledge of the condition of the country. He deter-
mined from the first to act with that party which had the support
of the country and a majority in the House of Assembly. Unlike
Lord Sydenham, he would have had no objection to admit to his
Council, even those who had been connected with the rebellion,
if only they had the f'onfidence of the people and the requisite
ability, and this at a time when loyal men and men of culture
were driven from society by the " best " people as " rebels," be-
cause they had stopped a few days in the house of Mr. Francis
Hincks, or been guilty of some equally heinous act of treason.

In June, 1842, Mr. Hincks was induced to join the Government
as Inspector-General, a st-ep for which, in the press and parlia-
ment, he was severely criticised. Several appointments, calcu-
lated to conciliate the discontented, especially among the French,
had been made. An amusing discussion on this policy took
place, when the Solicitor-Generalship of Canada West was offered

'V:-^
,«(.. I

478

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

to Mr. Cartwright. This gentleman declined the position, and
the letter in which he informed the Governor of his deterrnina-
^ tion, shows him to have been a narrow-minded man, utterly unfit
to play any part requiring statesmanlike capacity. The Conser-
vatives of Upper Canada were disgusted with recent appoint-
ments, and considered them as evidence that the Government was
indifferent to the political principles of men, even though theii*
principles were unfriendly to British supremacy in the British
North American Colonies. The dangerous character of Responsi-
ble Government was dwelt on, and its incompatibility with the
position of Canada as a colony explained. He pushed
the people on one side with splendid disdain, and then " went
for " Mr. Hincks, the " apologist of the movement party," the de-
fender of Papineau and Mackenzie up to the very moment of the
outbreak. To go into a Government with " this individual '
would ruin his character as a public man. The " individual's "
talents were admitted, but it would be imp^-ssible for Mr. Cart-
wright to enter the same Government with such a character.

Sir Charles Bagot hastened to assure Mr. Cartwright that the
grounds on which he based his refusal showed the steadiness of
his principles and the elevation of his feelings. He was, indeed,
anxious to ' vail himself of Mr. Hincks' veiy superior talents in
the inspection of the public accounts, and he confessed he would
consider it a serious misfortune to the country if his employment
of such services as he felt best suited for any particular purpose,
should deprive him of the support and assistance of men for whom
he felt an unfeigned respect.

The House met on the 8th September. The change for the
better which had taken place in the revenue, the advancement of
the public works, the progress of education, the spirit of content
which pervaded all classes, such were the topics dwelt upon in
the speech from the throne. A debate took place, the upshot of
which was, that the Reformers came into power. Both Lafon-
taine and Baldwin had severally refused office, though accompa-
nied by offers respecting friends which were considered by the
Conservative press far too generous. The fact was, Baldwin, at
this time, had nearly the whole of Lower Cai-ada, a& well as all

EXPLANATION OF MINISTERS.

479

Lion, and
jterrnina-
erly unfit

Conser-
appoint-
nent was
igh thei)"
e British
lesponsi-
with the

pushed
jn " went
" the de-
nt of the
iividual '
vidual's "
Mr. Cart-
<cter.

; that the
idiness of
is, indeed,
:alents in
he would
ployment
' purpose,
for whom

;e for the
3ement of
P content
\, upon in
upshot of
jh Lafon-
accompa-
id by the
ildwin, at
rell as all

the Reformers of Upper Canada, vath him, and he did not waiit
to come into power unless as master of the situation.

On the 13th September the jTouse of Assembly was crowded to
suffocation in order to hear an exciting debate on the considera-
tion of the reply to His Excellency's speech. Nor were those
who crushed into the scant accommodation disappointed. Mr.
Forbes introduced the resolutions for the adoption of a reply, and
Mr. J. S. Macdonald * seconded them. In doing this he drew
a very gratifying picture of the prosperityof the country. He
called for a response, unanimous and cordial, to the address of the
Representative of Her Majesty.

Mr. Draper then spoke at great length and with his usual elo-
quence. He dwelt on the offers which had been made to Lafon-
taine, and explained the circumstances which led to the existing
state of things. In the course of his remarks, he declared he
could not sit in the same Government as Baldwin. About the
same time, Sullivan was making an explanation to the Legis-
lative Council. On the death of Lord Sydenham, there was but
one opinion amongst the advisers of the Crown, that instead of
carrying on the Government by bare majorities, and slavishly
courting a few leading men, the Administration should be formed
on a broader basis, and liberal oflers be made to all parties to
come in and work harmoniously together. In order to do this,
many of them were prepared to sacrifice their own private opi-
nions. This policy had been urged on His Excellency (Sir
Charles Bagot), and they were delighted to find that the advice
commended itself to him. Many of them forgetting old pre-
judices and animosities, had gone so far as, to recommend that
the very persons who had poured obloquy on the Government
should be invited to forget the past, and to come and give their
strength to the conduct of affairs. This was a wise and states
manlike resolve. If carried out it would have closed the mouths
of the people whom they represented. It would have given con-
fidence to that portion >f the people hitherto treated with con-

*The newspapers of the day spell the name Mncdonnell and sometimes McDonald.
There is in the case of many oth«>r nameu a like conflict. In all instances the spelling
adhered to haj9 been decided to be the better or the best after the fullest investigation
•at my command.

480

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

I (

tempt. " I never," said Sullivai:, " was so vain as to imagine that
the people of the other Province would consent to accept of jus-
tice at my hands ; I knew it must come from some of them-
selves." The object was frustrated, owing to the difficulty of
conferring favour. This had, in many instances, prevented the
progress of upef ul measures. At last this eventful session came.
" Now," cried Mr. Sullivan, with what the reporter describes as
much energy and emphasis, while his broad square forehead shone
over his dark brows — ' We wish tc know whether we are to
carry on the Government faidy and upon liberal principles, or by
dint of miserable majorities ; whether by the latter, or by the
united acclamations of the people (cries of ' hear, hear.') — whe-
ther, in fact, there is sufficient patriotism to allow us to work for
the good of the people ? " Kindly and fraternal affections might
have prevailed. But they iiad not ; and Sullivan proceeded to
tell how Lafontaine and Baldwin and their friends had met all
the overtures of the Government.

Now we leave the Legislative Council and go back to the
Assembly. Draper having made a speech not unlike that of Sul-
livan in the Upper House, Lafontaine got up and, speaking in
French, read the offer made to him of the Attorney-Generalship
east, told how he had refused the position, as well as the ap-
pointments for his friends placed at his disposal.

Then Baldwin rose. It was his hour of triumph. The advice
he had given twelve months before as to the necessity for con-
ciliating the French Canadians, and of conducting the affairs of
the country in accordance with constitutional principles, was
acknowledged to be not only sound but imperative by those very
persons who had bitterly opposed him then. He concluded by
moving an amendment to the address.

Lafontaine again spoke. How could he accept office while the
member who had stood forward in defeice of Lower Canada was
excluded from the Government? This v,^as Baldwin. The attempt
to draw away his Lower Canadian support had failed. Lafon-
taine complained that there was not a single Lower Canadian in
the Council.

Other Reformers followed, amongst them Mr. Aylwin, who
defended Baldwin, attacked Draper and Hincks, and character-

FIDELITY TO PARTY.

481

ized the late Governor as the greatest curse which had ever be-
fallen the country. Some barbs had entered between the joints
of Hincks' harness. He ^arted up made a vigorous defence of
his conduct, and denied that he had been a pupil of Baldwin. He
had fought by hh side for Union, which he had advocated for the
purpose of securing the interests of Lower Canada, and he pro-
ceeded to recount his f srvices as a journalist.

In the course of the debate a very effective weapon v/as
used against him. It was shewn that the Examiner had
attacked the character of the " gifted Draper " and of Mr. Harri-
son. His political apostacy was denounced. Baldwin said he had
never, prior to entering the Government, consulted him or the
party to which he belonged. Nor from the point of view of party
morality can Hincks' conduct be defended if we admit that the
machinery of party was then in full operation. It was twelve o'clock
when Draper closed the debate. Everybody left the House deter-
mined to return at three o'clock on the morrow, when a stormy
sitting was expected.

From an early hour what the reporter of the period calls the
" halls of legislation " were thronged. There was but one desire,
wrote a parliamentary correspondent, that the fight should go for-
ward. The reply to the address, and Baldwin's amendments
the*" ;C0, was the first order of the day. Much to the annoyance
of the impatient crowd, a large number of small topics were
brought on, causing an irritating delay.

At last the supreme morajnt arrived. What had happened ?
A change had come o v er tho spirit of somebody's dreams. M ember
who yesterday were full of excitement to-day chatted and joked
or sat listless and meditative. There was a stir among: the
audience and then a hush of expectancy when Mr. Hincks rose.
That incisive tongue would say something which would draw
blood. But the Inspector-General merely moved that the debate
on the amendment of Mr. Baldwin should be postponed until
Friday. Not a voice from the regular opposition was raised
against this motion.

One or two independent members, Mr. Johnston and Dr. Dun-
lop — "Tiger Dunlop," as he was called — opposed 'U'lay. But the

motion was carried, and the disappointed crowd dispersjd.
31

482

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

On Friday, the 16th, the galleries were again thronged. There
was, however, no sanguine hopes of a fight, for in the meantime
Mr. Draper had resigned, and Baldwin and Lafontaine had been
induced to enter the Government. On the 19th, Mr. Buncombe
moved a resolution congratulating the Governor on calling Baldwin
to his Councils, and inviting that large portion of Canadian citi-
zens who were of French origin to share in the government of the
country. The resolution was carried in an amended form. Hincks
expressed his gratification at the souice whence it came — a Bi itish
merchant connected with the British people, who had no con-
nexion and no probability of connexion with the Government.
The press throughout the Province had abused the change v.diich
had lately taken place in the Government. This abuse would
have gone to England as the oj)inion of the people, and the sooner
it was corrected by a vote of that House the better.

In re] )ly to Mr. Mofi'att, Mr. Hincks said he had never pledged
himself to support the Union as it was passed. He was strongly
opposed to the Civil List, unless voted by the Assembly and not
by the Imperial Parliament. Upon this Mr. Cartwright attacked
him. There had been he said " suspicions as to him." Mr.
Hincks started to his feet and called the Speaker'^ attention to
tli'j words. Though re(iuested by the Speaker to do so, Mr.
Cartwright would not withdraw them. Then followed a scene of
dreadful confusion, during which the galleries were cleared.

At this sitting the policy of giving a pension to Mr. Ogden and
others was mooted, and was strongly opposed by several mem-
bers. Mr. Ogden had been a member of the Executive Council.
This question was taken up a few weeks afterwards. On the
nth of October, Mr. Hincks moved an address to His Excellency,
praying that a pension should be granted to Messrs. Ogden and
Davidson. An amendment by i r. Neilson, that the consideration
of the address should be postponed until the following session,
was carried by thirty-five to fifteen. Adequate ground for Mr.
Hincks' proposal, there was ncme.

The House was prorogued on the 22nd of October. Little work
could have been done in a session of six weeks, during which a
change of government had taken place. Thirty Acts had been
passed, most of them of small importance. But the law respecting-

DEATH OF SIR CHAllLES BAGOT.

483

the vacating of seats by members of parliament on taking office,
had been made uniform, and authority was given to raise a loan
in England of $7,500,000, for public works.

As the winter of 1842 laid its benvimbing fingers on the life
of nature. Sir Charles Bagot, unfortunately for Canada, felt his
vital powers failing, and requested to be recalled. Like his pre-
decessor, he was destined never to leave our shores. The chestnut
trees of Canada excited his admiration on his arrival liere. When
he fell ill, the trees were bare. But life was in the frozen bough,
and ere he lay dead, the rapid vegetation had made all the world
green, and scattered white, tower-like blossoms amid the wealth
of foliage of the trees he loved so well. He died on the 19th of
May, 1843.

On the receipt of Sir Charles Bagot's resignation, Sir Charles
Metcalfe was api)ointed Governor-General. The new Governor
had arrived nearly two months before Sir Charles Bagot's decease.
Reentered Kingston on the 2J)th of March, 1843.* On the follow-
ing day he took charge of the government. It was a i)ity he ever
came t(^ Canada. He had been eminently successful. He had
climbed up the ladder of proraotio.i, from a writership in the ser-
vice of the East India Company, until, in 1834, he wielded the
government of that vast territory from which Her Majesty is
proud to take an additional title to-day. Neither his exp n*ience
in India, nor as Governor of Jamaica, was calculated to dispose
his mind to the study of constitutional government. Rather was
it calculated to unfit him for the part of a constitutional ruler. A
cancer in his face drove him from Jamaica. His health improved
in England. But it was not without hesitation, not without mis-
givings that he accepted Lord Stanley's offer of the Governorship

* Mao Mullen says he arrived at Kingston on the 2.5th of March, but this must be a
mistake, He writes on the 24th of March, from Albany, whence he ili'' not depart
until daylight of the 25th. He took that whole day to get to Utica. From Utica to
Kingston was 170 miles by sleighs. Owing to the bad winter, that journey took nearly
four da,y8. It must, therefore, have been the 29th when he arrived at ] ''-ngston, the
day on which his Wographer declares he arrived. On the 30th he took charge of the gov-
ernment. The Tiw • of Montreal, writing on the 27th, said Sir Charles Metcalfe had
arrived. In Sir Oharies Metcalfe's own letter he says he did not arriv until the 29th.
-Kaye's Life, VoL ii, p, 468.

484

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

of Canada. Such misgivings are the monitions of fi^te. When
our hearts fail us, we are bure to fail.*

What he says about his duties shows how unfit he M^as for the
responsible and weighty task he had before him. " My official
prospects are not better than they were when I accepted the
charge that I have undertaken. Party spirit is acrimonious in
the extreme. My chief object will be to bring all into harmony ;
but I do not expect success. I have not the same materials to
work with that I had in Jamaica." When we leave his political
int.elligence, and go to .his character, we can do nothing but
admire the man. " My establishment," he says, " will be larger and
more expensive than it was in Jamaica. My official income is
less. And as there it was not sufficient without aid from my
private fortune, I must, of course, expect the same will be the
case here to a large extent. This, however, is a matter of little
consequence, and I [wish that all others could be as easily
managed."

The whole male population of Kingston turned out to meet
him. The sleigh was met by a va^'t concourse of people, by a
military escort, composed of a detachment of the incorporated
lancers, and the guard of honour from the 23rd Regiment. There
had been many disappointments, as he was expected on the 25th,
but the enthusiasm was none the less. The St. Patrick Society,
the St. Andrew's, and the St. George's turned out with their
banners. The streets through which he should pass were lined
by the military. A newspaper correspondent describes him as
" a thorough-looking Englishman with a jolly visage, but old-
looking."

* He wrote to Captain Higginson : — " I have accepted the Government of Canada,
without being sure that I have done right. For I do not see mj' way so clearly as I
wish ; neither do I expect to do so, before I reach my destination." [Dated Mivart's
Hotel, January 19th, 1843.] On the same date he wrote to Mrs. Smythe : — " I have
just returned from Lord Stanley. I have accepted the Government of Canada. And
thus there is an end to the happiness that I was enjo3ring with you, and that I hoped
would last during my life. What is it that moves me to resign such a prospect for the
cares and uncertainties of public life and distant service ? Is it pure patiiotism, and a
sense of duty, or is it foolishness and lurking ambition ?"

On the 21st he writes to the same lady : — " When I wrote my first note this morning,
I had a gleam of hope that I might have a justifiable ground for declining to go to Can-
ada ; but I have since been at the Colonial Oflice, and the obstacle, which was of a
public nature, has been removed. So I must still go. " Kaye's Life, Vol. ii. p. 458.

PUBLIC SLANDEa. BAOOT S POLICY.

485

When

"or the
official
}d the
lous in
mony ;
•ials to
olitical
ig but
rer and
ome is
lorn my
be the
)f little
easily

,0 meet
»le, by a
'porated
There
he 25th,
Society,
th their
ire lined
; him as
but old-

of Canada,
clearly as I
ed Mivart's
: — " I have
aada. And
hat I hoped
spect for the
atism, and a

liis morning,
;o go to Can-
ch was of a
li. p. 458.

When he looked into the system of government now estab-
lished in Canada, the question he asked himself was, not what
course he should take, which would be the best for the country,
but what under such a state of things was to become of the
Governor-General ? W^e are perhaps bound to suppose he consi-
dered the question synonymous with, what was to become of the
Imperial authority ? There is a further excuse to be made for
Metcalfe. There are times when Canada presents one of the
most hateful spectacles that can be witnessed on earth — when
slander, fired by political passions, is rampant, and the impression
is conveyed that every man hates his fellow. It is bad enough
to have some real but small human defects having public bearings
made the foundation of invective. But when a tower of men-
dacity is built on a fact utterly unconnected with public affairs
— a pyramid of calumny, a mountain of abuse piled on some com-
paratively virtuous life, the country is easily misunderstood,
especially by a stranger.

The moment it became known that his term was drawing to a
close, the opposition press began to howl about the " downfall of
Sir Charles Bagot," and to proclaim that he had been recalled
because he had disregarded his duty to his sovereign. No vilifi-
cation was too vile to hurl at the head of the departing governor,
and it was said that Lord Stanley and the whole Imperial Cabinet
were dissatisfied with his policy and were determined to dismiss
him. Now British loyalty would raise i^A drooping head. Con-
stitutionalism had proved a failure. A faction, as weak as it
was wicked, had been forced on the people. The worst of such
diatribes is this — they have a tendency to give false impressions
and in the present instance had probably tr}eir designed efiect in
the capital of the Empire.

When the question was brought before the Imperial Parlia-
ment, Lord Stanley expressly declared that when Sir Charles
Bagot went out to Canada as Governor General, his ins*«ructions
were, if possible, to reconcile — to unite — all parties ; to bring
about a combination for the general good and prosperity of the
Province, and he had wisely acted under these orders. The acts
of Sir Charles Bagot were in unison with, and in conformity to,
the instructions he had received from Her Majesty's Government.

486

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

Without entering into abstract questions of policy, he would say
that it was the duty of Her Majesty's Government to act as far
as possible in unison with the wishes of the Legislative Assembly.
Sir Charles Metcalfe might well have thought that the method
of Sir Charles Bagot had not been the best means of fulfilling the
instructions he received. Yet, as the new Governor was leaving
English shoi.s, the utterances regarding Canada of two distin-
guished statesmen, occupying seats on different sides of the House
of Commons — utterances meant for his ears — were precisely what
Mr. Baldwin would have echoed. But one of the persons who sent
a sinister blessing after the new Governor was Sir Francis Bond
Head.*

It is impossible to defend Sir Charles Metcalfe save at the ex-
pense of his political intelligence. He seems to have looked with
scorn on power in the hands of the people. Contempt and
hatred are excited by the very idea of Responsible Government.
In his first confidential despatch to the Colonial Office, he wrote
that Lord Sydenham had no intention of surrendering the govern-
ment into the hands of the Executive Council. He was not aware
that any great change had taken place during the period of the
administration of Sir Charles Bagot, which preceded the meeting
of the Legislature. But, after this, were seen the consequences of
making the officers of the Government " virtually dependent for
the possession of their places on the pleasure of the Representa-
tive body.' He sneers at the habit of speaking of the "Ministry,"
as one might sneer at a person who stole a crest. He gives the
history of the fall of the Draper Government. The two extreme
parties in Upper Canada, most violently opposed to each other,
coalesced solely for the purpose of turning out the "office holders"
or, as it was termed, " the Ministry of that day," with no real bond
of union, and with a mutual understanding that having accom-
plished that purpose, they would take the chance of the conse-

* Previous to Siv Charles Metcalfe's departure from London, he was entertained
by the Colonial Assodatiou. Among thoie present was Sir Francis Bond Head, who
said what was undotibtedly and deservedly true, that Sir Charles Metcalfe went out
to Canada with the confidence of the whole empire. The hints and advice of a man
like Head must )iiive been anything but wholesome for a governor with such little
political knowledge as Sir Charles Metcalfe.

MEfCALFR ON THE SITUATION.

487

(juonces and shouM bo tit liberty to follow their respoctivo conrson.
The French party joined in this coalition, an<l compact and united
formed its greatest stren<^th. Those parties tof^ether accom-
plished their purpose. They had exi)ecoed to do so by a vot'! of
the Assembly, but, the Governor General, in apprehension o\' the
threatened vote of want of confidence in members of his Council,
opened negotiations with the leaders of the French party and
these neg(jtiations terminated in the resignation or removal from
the Council of " those members who belonged to what is called by
themselves the Conservative party." Five members of the united
French and Reform parties were introduced into the Council,
The remaining members of the Council were either of "tho so-
called Reform party, or if not formerly of that party, wure willing
to fight under its banners." All over the country, and l)y all
classes and parties, he admits that these events were considered as
bringing the system of Responsible Government into full lorce.
Henceforward the " tone of the members of Council, and the tone
of the public voice regarding Responsible Government " became
" greatly exalted." He adds with insolent contempt : " The
Council are now spoken of by themselves and others generally as
' the Ministers,' ' the Administration,' ' the Cabinet,' ' the Govern-
ment ' and so forth." And were they not ? Was the inquiry of
Lord Durham to be fruitless ? Was the inauguration of Responsi-
ble Government a sham ? To the horror of Sir Charles Metcalfe,
the pretensions of those poor Colonial St<.tc,imen were on a par with
their new nomenclature. They actually . '^garded themselves ^u; a
Responsible " Ministry," and expected that the policy and conduct
of the Governor should be subservient to their views and party
purposes."* And why not » That is just what Lord Melbourne
and Sir Robert Peel would have demanded of their Royal
Mistress. When Lord Stanley received this despatch he ought to
have recalled Sir Charles Metcalfe.

At this time the Ministry was a singularly capable one and must
have been free from any strong' desire to " shoot Niagara " or do
anything else that waf* reckless.f It contained, at least, three

' Lord Metcalfe's Conf.denti».l Despatch to Colonial Office, 24th April, 1843.
fThe following conatituted the Government :— Robert Baldwin, Attorney-General
West ; L. H. Lafontaine, Attorney-General East ; J. E. Small, Solicitor-General West ;

t. .

488

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

men superior in ability to the Oovemor-Goneral, and their only
fault evidently was that, with unblushing audacity, they insisted
on styling themselves a Ministry, and believed the Government
should stand or fall according as they had or had not the confi-
dence of Parliament.

It is quite evident Sir Charles Metcalfe hated Responsible
Govi ninient, and, studying his life, it is hard to escape from the
conviction that there was some ground for the charge that from
the first he acted secretly against his Ministers. In May he
again wrote to the Colonial Office, and complained that he was re-
quired to submit himself entirely to the Council ; to abandon
himself altogether to their discretion ; to have no opinion of his
own; to confer the patronage of the Government exclusively on
their partizans ; to proscribe their opponents, and make some pub-
lic and unequivocal declaration of his adhesion to such conditions
as would carry with them the complete nullification of her Ma-
jesty's Government. When the speech of Lord Stanley containing
these words, quoted from Sir Charles Metcalfe's despatch, appeared
in Canada, the Ministers were astonished, for up to the date of
the despatch, they never had the least diflference with HiS Ex-
cellency, and the foundation of the statement seemed to be an
after dinner conversation between M, Lafontaine and one of the
Secretaries of the Governor, Captain Higginson.

The biographer and apologist of Lord Metcalfe says he was
called on to govern, and to submit to the government of Canada, by
a party, and that party one with which he had no sympathy.
But as a Constitutional ruler, he had no business to have sympa-
thies, and if he had them, he had no right to act on thtm. How
had he seen the Queen, his Sovereign, act within the period of
his letnrn to England and his departure jr Canada ? Had he
not seen her transfer her confidence from Lord Melbourne, for
whom she had a filial attachment, to Sir Robert Peel, whom she
never leally liked ? And why ? Because she knew as a Con-
stitutional Sovereign, her business was to give her confidence to,

T. C. Ayhvin, Solicitor-Genera^ ht^t ; J. H. Dunn, Receiver-General ; Francis Hincks,
InBpectcr-iientral ; A. N. Morin, Commissioner of Crown Lands ; B. B. Sullivan,
Preeident of the C'ouncil ; D. Daly, Secretary of the Province ; H. H. Killaly, Presi-
dent of Board of V^ orks. Not of the Cabinet — Thomas Parke, Esq., Sun'eyor-General ;
Malcolm Cameron, Esq , Cummissiiiner of Customs,

-.A^timig-sjit-

METCALFE 8 COUNCIL.

489

}ir only
nHisted
mnient
e confi-

lonsible

om the

at from

May he

was re-

bandon

>n of his

ively on

me pub-

nditions

her Ma-

ntaining

appeared

! date of

His Ex-

to be an

le of the

he was
nada, by
mpathy.
5 sympa-
1. How
jeriod of

Had he
ume, for
horn she
s a Con-
ence to,

cis Hincks,
'. Sullivan,
laly, Preei-
T-General ;

and call to her councils those men who had the suppoib of the
Representatives of the people.

John William Kaye, who seems to have been one of those
wretches or whose mind the contemplation of human liberty acts
like a red rag on a bull, tells us that foremost among the great
difficulties which bes ;t Metcalfe's career in Canada, was the compo-
sition of his Council. There were indeed, ho admits, able and
honest men in the administration, but for the most part, they were
not moderate ; they held extreme opinions ; they were men of in-
tractable temper. "They were principally Irishmen, Frenchmen, or
men of American stock. The true British element in the Execu-
tive Council was comparatively small." There were five Irish-
men in the Cabinet, eveiy one of whom was as truly British in
the proper acceptation of that tei-m even then, as Sir Robert Peel
or the Duke of Wellington. There was at least one Scotchman
and two Frenchmen. The rest were probably English, certainly
Dunn was. Dunn was not a man of ability. Killaly, as we
might infer from Adamson's sketch, did not care much for politics.
But he was a good head of a department, and was never happier
than when engrossed with its practical duties. Small was a man
of honour and respectable talents, Aylwyn was the best debater
in the Assembly, adroit, pointed, eloquent. Hincks is admitted
by Kaye to be a remarkable man. " Even the mast strenuous of
his opponents admitted his fitness for the office he held." Lord
Metcalfe's apologist adds however that this able Minister was
vehement and unscrupulous, and had a tongue which cut like a
sword, and no discretion to keep it in order. The abilities of
Sullivan are admitted to have been such as would have made
him conspicuous in any part of the world. Mr. Daly was
peculiarly acceptable to Lord Metcalfe. He would have pro-
bably made himself acceptable to the devil, had that dark person-
age come to govern Canada. Lafontaine the leader of the French
party is also admitted to have been a man of ability, all whose
better qualities were natural to him, while his worse qualities
were the growth of circumstances, which cradling him and his
people in wrong had made him mistrustful and suspicious ; a just
and honourable man ; his motives above suspicion j warmly
attached to his country ; occupying a high position rather by the

490

THB IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

force of his moral than his intellectual qualities ; trusted and re-
spected rather than admired, occupying as a leader of n United
Party, a large space in the eyes of th<j public. A far ahler and
more energetic man in Kayes opinion, and therefore, in Metcalfe's,
was Robert Baldwin, on whoso mind the lessons he had learned
fromhis father were deeply impre.ssed by the atrocious raisgovern-
ment of his country,* the oppressive exclusiveness of a dominant
faction. " He was thoroughly in earnest, thoroughly conscientious,
but to the last degree uncompromising and intolerant."

The man who stinck those who knew him best as mildness itself,
who never lifted a hand to one of his children, to the prejudiced
mind of Kaye, seemed to delight in strife. The might sf mild-
ness he laughed to scorn. He was not satisfied to conquer unless
his victory was attended with violence. Concessions were value-
less unless wrenched from opponents by the strong hand of " un-
bounded arrogance and self-conceit;" he neither made nor sought
for allowances. " There was a sort of sublime egotism about him
— magnificent sel '-esteem, which caused him to look upon him-
self as a patriot, whilst he was serving his own ends by the
promotion of his ambition, the gratification of his vanity or spite.
His strong passions and his uncompi-omising spirit made him a
mischievous party leader and a dangerous opponent. His influ-
ence was very jt'reat ; he was above corruption ; and there were
many who acce^ ted his estimate of himself and believed him to
be the only true patriot in the country. The activity of Sir
Charles Metcalfs, who did everything himself and exerted himself
to keep every one in his proper place, were extremely distasteful
to him." In this dark photograph the impartial eye recognises
the statesman, the patriot, the great party leader who was
not to be turned away by fear or favour from the work before
him. Sir Charles Metcalfe wrote himself that the men c^m-
posing his Council were generally able men.-f*

Scarcely was Sir Charles Metcalfe six weeks in the country
^v^hen the clouds began to gather. When a just demand was made

* lie describes him as the son of a gentleman of Toronto, of American descent !
t Despatch, April 24th, 1843.

li"*

'^' ■■"■"^

FIOHTINO OLD WORLD GHOSTS.

4OT

respecting patronage he chose to consider it as an attack on
the prerogative of the Crown.

Sir Charles M^'tcalfe's conduct in certain conjunctures shewed
that had he, in youth or middle-age, been placed in favourable
circumstances he would have become an able constitutional ruler.
In the summer the Irish [)resented a sad spectacle in Kiiafston.
The streets were i)lacarded with bills invit'ng the people to
att(ind a meeting to strengthen the hands rf repealers in Ire-
land. On the same walls stood other bills calling together
another class of Irishmen to put down such a meeting — " peace-
ably if possible, forcibly if necessary." To see Irishmen at hfvme
flying at each other's throats is painful. To see them here in
Canada, .settled here, with all their interest here, removed from
the only fruitful standpoint of practical citizenship by which to
judge old country issues, fighting old country battles and squab-
bling over the ghosts of old country controvei*sies, is about the
most absurd thing which can well be imagined. The magistrates
wei<; alarmed. Metcalfe was appealed to. He should suppress
the meeting by force. The Governor-General, like a wise man, re-
commended that til powei' of persuasion should be tried. This
was done and the meeting was not held.

Suspicions of dislojia^^y were cast on the Irish Roman Catholics,
though they had fought in 1837 on the side of the British flag,
under which they enjoy an aggregation of advantages such as
they could not have in any of the great countries or empires of the
world. Sir Charles Metcalfe writing on this subject to the Colo-
nial Office adumbrates the miserable Fenian raids. If colliions
were to occur in Ireland between the Government and the disaffect-
ed, it was thought that the Roman Catholic Irish in the States
would pour into Canada, who would at once be reinforced by the
Roman Catholic Irish here. French officers weredrillingthe Irish in
New York, with a view to the invasion of Canada. " I cannot say,"
adds Sir Charles Metcalfe " that I give credit to this intelligence."
It is possible some fools in New York were being drilled when they
should have been attending a night school. But Sir Charles Met-
calfe had seen too much of the world not to know that alarming
gossip such as that dwelt on in his despatch furnishes no grounds
for alarm or even serious thought. U naccustomed, however, as ,

492

THK IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

he was to popular institutions, it naturally seemed to him that
Responsible Government was an impossibility, with, as he up'^d to
put it, war between Upper Canada and Lower Canada, between
the French and English settlers, between the Roman Catholic
and Protestant Irish, between the Radical and Conservative
English, and finally between himself and his Council, Not even
the grand receptions, loyal addresses and abundant display of
bunting when he went through the country, could afford him
comfort and assurance. He feared the whole concern was rot-
ten at the core.* Amid the deluge of addresses which
poured on him one from the Irish inhabitants of Brantford,
struck the noblest key. " We anxiously wish," said these Irish
people, who were doing so much to build up what to-day
is the City of Brantford, "to live in good-will with our
fellow inen of every creed and clime, and will hail with
delight reciprocal feelings, for we are pcfectly aware that noth-
ing conduces more to the happiness and prosperity of a town or
people than peace and good order." Sometimes, he received two
contradictory addresses from the same place, each claiming to be
the address of the people. At Pelham he was presented with an
address for, and another address against the Government. Some
of the addresses gave a deplorable picture of the condition of the
country. Thus, we find the inhabitants of the Township of
Compton mourning that agriculture was depressed, that they had
no market, that Americans shut them out of their market, and
then drove them from their natural market in Canada Their
municipal institutions were insufficient. The administration of
justice was not what it should be.

In July he seems to have had a long conversation on the con-
dition of the Province, with Mr. Ogle R. Gowan, M.P.P., who was
then Grand-Master of the Grand Orange Lodge of Canada, and
who wielded an enormous power. Mr. Gowan wrote a letter to
his partner Mr. William Harris, giving an account of his inter-
view with the Governor-General, a letter which that partner was
wretch enough to give to the public in the fallowing year.i"

• Sir Charles Metoalfe to Mrs. Smythe, Kaye's Life, Vol. II, pp, 504, 506.
t " I have been at Government House since you left ; beiriff specially sent for I After
a very long interview of a atzietly confidential nature, and dinifig there the same evening.

THE SPEECH FROM THE THRONE.

49S

1 that
■"^d to
tween
itholic
vative
t even

The tug of war, as Sir Charles Metcalfe phrased it, was now
fast approaching. The Assembly was summoned for the 28th of
September. Metcalfe, with a consciousness of coming strife in his
breast, hurried to Kingston. At two o'clock, p. m., he drove to
where Parliament met. The streets were gay with troops. A
large body of people followed the Governor and his suite. In the
chamber all the beauty and fashion of Kingston and of the
United Province was to be seen. The speech from the throne
was a satisfactory one, but was of a nature to call for no com-
ment, especially here, Harrison, the member for Kingston, differ-
ing with Metcalfe and his colleagues on the seat of Government
question, retired from the Provincial-Secretaryship. Among those
gazetted as members of V .e Legislative Council wan William
Warren Baldwin, the fdther of Robert Baldwin.

Tie Opposition in the Legislative Assembly failed to take up
immediately the gauge thrown down to them. The conseqn ^nce
was that the wind was taken out of their sails by a spirited de-
bate in the Legislative Coimcil. On the 30th September, the
debate was closed in the Legislative Council by ?i. masterly speech
from the rapid Sullivan, the Rupert of debate in Canada as Stan-
ley was the Rupert of debate in England. The Opposition, he
said, had pursued an unusual course. Instead of remarking on
subjects to which their attention had been called by the Speech,
they had gone into a review of the whole policy of the Govern-
ment ; instead of confining themselves to some part or expected
part of the policy of the Executive, they had waded through the
whole encyclopaedia of colonial government.

The resolutions having been passed a Committee was appointed
to draught an address and present it to His Excellency.

On Monday, the 2nd October, when the debate in the Assembly

I have given in my views maturely and in writing, next day. I have no doubt my plan
has been approved, as the first person named in it by mean the long list of shelving
and shifting (the Chief Justice) has ab-eady arrived at Head-Quarters— what the result
may be it will take some time to tell, as a great deal of negotiation, and many
removals are involved. Don't be surprised if Baldwin, Hincks, and Harrison 'walk,'
or that Cartwright succeeds the latter. This may all be done without ofendititf the
Radicals, and without losing the interest of either of the three who retire ! This, to you,
mu3t ,%pi>ear a paradox, but it is so neverthelesi. I have received in writing, marked
• Private,' His Excellency's thankp for my memorandum of plan."

494

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

was expected, Mr. Jamos Johnston and Dr. Dunlop made charac-
teristic speeches. M. Viger then proposed, and Mr. Merritt
seconded the resolution in answer to the Speech. On the follow-
ing day Mr. Hincks encountered Mr. Sherwood and gave a good
account of him. Everybody thought the matter of the address
was settled on the 2nd of October, but the Opposition, as it were
on second thought, raised a debate which had to be adjourned.
Sir Allan MacNab actually made it a matter of reproach to Bald-
win that he had, in 1837, gone with a flag of truce to the rebels.
At whose instance did he go ? Was it not at the personal desire,
and upon the urgent solicitation o:'' ^^ panic-stricken Government
of Upper Canada, which came to him in the person of the High
Sheriff, to request his interference to stop the deluded men who
were approaching the city ?

Mr. Lossing, the Warden of the District of Brock, had been
falsely accused of complicity in the rebellion. When Mr. Bald-
win dealt with Sir Allan MacNab's threats against tfiis person and
his unjustifiable insinuations against him after a verdict of a jury
had set him free, the galleries broke through all the restraints of
decorum.

In reply to the extraordinary charge that he gave patronage
to the members of his own party, he explained his position which
was that which every party leader must assume. If he found
capable men in his own party, he would alw.v'3 give them the
preference. This is the only course which can be taken by a party
leader, and the people may rejoice if, not finding competent men
in their own party, political leaders will go outside of it. He con-
cluded in a manner which displayed his powers of satire and in-
vective. " What had been said, and what had not been said fully
warranted the conclusion that there were in fact no substantial
objections to bring forward. Had it been otherwise, yesterday
probably they would have known it. That was the day appointed
by the gallant knight and his friends for that onslaught upon the
ministerial benches which was to prove their destruction. But
the day came and passed away. The gallant knight and his friends
came down in their panoply, and when the fearful hour arrived,
in which he (Mr. Baldwin) and his colleagues were to receive their
quietus from the formidable Opposition, not a blo\s' did they strike,

rmmssn

METCALFE AND HIS MINISTRY.

495

not a word had they to offer. The great business of the day was
allowed to pass almost sub ailentio. The honourable and gallant
knight, however, did not intend they should escape so easily. If
his spirits drooped yesterday, he was in full courage to-day ; and
after five days' deliberation, and then another day's postponement,
the great statesman upon whom the hopes of the Opposition were
fix<;d, actually got the length of an amendment upon the address to
the important effect, of its still further being postponed until ' to-
morrow.' (The manner in which he emphasized " to-morrow "
created much laughter and cheering). This really was the mis-
erable conclusion to which the gallant leader of the Opposition and
his friends had come, after detaining the House for the better
part of a week from the discharge of its constitutional duty of
making a suitable reply to the Speech with which his Excellency
had opened the session."

The Government had an easy triumph.

From a letter written on the 11th of October 1843, by Edward
Gibbon Wakefield, a member of Parliament, to R. D. Mangles,
Esq., a member of the British Parliamen , it is clear that those
who could read the signs knew that a breach between the Gov-
ernor and his Council was imminent.

On the 13th October, the seat of Government question was
discussed in the Legislative Council, and Sullivan made an able
speech in favour of Montreal. On the 2nd November, Baldwin
spoke in the same strain in the House of Assembly.

Towards the close of November, Metcalfe made an appointment
which was distasteful both to Baldwin and Lafontaino. Both
waited on the Governor and urged their views. During two long
sittintjs of the Council on the 24th and 2oth November, Baldwin
and Lafontaine pressed their demands, but they could not move
him. At last tho rupture came when Metcalfe told them that
since his arrival in the country he had observed an antagonism
between them and him on the subject of Responsible Govern-
n\ent. On the following day all the members of the Govern-
ment, excepting Mr. Dominick Daly, resigned their seats. On
the 29th the resignation was announced to the House, and
M. Viger and Mr. Wakefield, full of hope, gathered round Mr.
Daly. Both Baldwin and Lafontaine explained their reasons for

496

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

resigning, which have, perhaps, been sufficiently indicated above.
On the 30th of November, Mr. Daly read the Governor's account
of the ca^uses which led the Ministers to resign. About the same
time the Ministry of Nova Scotia resigned on the question of
appointments to office.

The resignation was not a happy thing for education, as on
the previous day Mr. Baldwin had moved the second reading of
his Univtrtiity Bill.

On the 2nd of December, the House of Assembly passed a vote of
confidence in the retired Ministers, for having stood by their right
to be consulted on appointments to office. This was in strict
accordance with the resolutions adopted in 1841, to which the
Governor-General said, in what sense he was himself best judge,
he subscribed.

During the week following the resignation of Ministers, His
Excellency sent for a large number of the members of the Legisla-
ture, but none of them were charged with the formation of an Ad-
ministration. On the 3rd of December, Mr. Barthewas sent for and
offered a seat in the Cabinet, which he refused. On the following
day M. Viger announced that the Governor was engaged in the
formation of a Ministry. On the 9th of December, Parliament
was prorogued without a Ministry having been formed. On the
10th, Edward Gibbon Wakefield published a letter saying that
the following day M. Viger would form an Administration the
strongest that had ever existed. On the 13th of December, the
Hon. W. H. Draper and the Hon. D. B. Viger were gazetted as
Executive Councillors.

The whole Colony was in a fever of excitement. Metcalfe was
on his trial. He was, of course, assailed by the press supporting
Baldwin and his friends. Those opposed to Baldwin held meet-
ings and sent addresses to the Governor endorsing his conduct.
The opposite party always accuse their opponents of '* getting
up " addresses. No doubt such addresses can be got up. Meet-
ings can be wt up. Demonstrations can be got up. But it is
easy to see whether there is any real base of popular feeling in
addresses and in meetings or demonstrations, and if there is not
they have no effect. An impartial student of those times will
vQome to the cc nclusion that there was something more than wire-

mutcalfe's self-ex alt. '.TION.

497

pulling in the addresses. Many of the people did not yet under-
stand the nature of Responsible Government.

The way Metcalfe writes to his private friends at this time, while
diplaying the pleasant side of his character, shows how utterly un-
fit he was to be Governor-General of Canada, especially at such
a period. At Eton he had been a studious boy and his boyish
journal makes us acquainted witn a fine young fellow, but some-
what self-opinionated and stubborn. The child was father to the
man. His stubborn will and studious habits followed him through
life. When he pens a letter to an old school-fellow, we find that
he has not forgotten his classics. His frequent citations indicate
more than the " overflowing memory " — that he was wanting in
originality. In the present crisis, he cites in a private letter that
splendid ode in which Horace not only celebrates integrity and
resolution, but the glories of Imperial Rome — an ode which natur-
ally occurred to a scholar who was, perhaps, too conscious of his
rectitude, and the greater part of whose life had passed away as
one of the servants of an Empire, in a portion of its dominions
governed as a dependency. " You will see," he writes, ' that I am
engaged in a contest with the 'civiurn. ardor prava juhentiurn'*
To the question at issue, which is, whether the Governor is to be
in some degree what h'^' title imports, or a mere tool in the hands
of the party that can obtain a majority in the representative body,
I am, I conceive, ' vir justius'f and I certainly mean to be 'tenax
propositi,"^ and hope, ' si fractus illabitur orbis, imimvidum
ferient ruinoe.' "§ The whole ode throws light on the unconsti-
tutional view of his position.

What was there in common between the constitutional remon-
strances of a Baldwin, a Hincks, and a Sullivan, and the " civium
ardor prava juhentiurn. ? " A man arguing against a college Don,
in respect to a disputed passage, might as well say he had entered
the shambles and was making headway against all billingsgate.

Again writing to one of his old Indian frieiids, he compares his
position to that of an Indian governor, who might have to rule

* The passion of citizens commanding wrongful acts.

t An upright man.

X Fixed in purpose,

§ If the shattered spheri fall the wreck will strike him undismayed.

ii;i"

ilil!^^

Tim

mil VI! If

498

THE IIllSHMAN IN CANADA.

i\f

through the agency of a Mahomedan Ministry and a Mahoniedan
Parliament !

If hia friends were busy getting up addresses, his opj)onents
wei'e not idle. They, too, sought to intlucnee the mind of the
country, and on the 28th of December, the ex-ministe;-H were en-
tertained in Toi'onto, at a public banquet. All the addresses he
received were not intended to encourage him. Not a few dis-
cusseil the question at issue, and decided against the Governor.
The most remarkable of these came from sixteen members of the
Municipal CouvicU of the Gore District. They assuied the Gov-
eri\or that public opinion in that district and throughout the
length and breadth of Canada would fully sustain the late exe-
cutive in the stand they had taken, and the views they had ex-
pressed in relation to colonial administration under the principle
of Responsible Government.

In the Governor's res2)onse, which is an exceedingly able docu-
ment in its way, his sincerity is palpable, as is his incapacity
to grasp the pos.sibility of a L'olonial Governor acting the part of
a constitutional luler. The analogy between a Governor of a
dependency and a constitutional King, does not run on all fours.
The King can do no wrong, but the Governor can. He is lespon-
.vi'ule to the Imperial Parliament, and may be impeached. Never-^
theless, it has now been abundantly proved, that what seemed to
Metcalfe's mind impossible is perfectly feasible.

He did not know, he said, the exact views of the Gore Council-
lors on Responsible Government. If they meant that the Governor
was to be a mei'e tool in the hands of the Council, he disagreed
with them ; if that his every word and deed was to be beforehand
submitted to the Council, they proposed an impossibility, if busi-
ness was to be duly detipatched ; if that the patronage of the
Crown was to be surrendered for exclusively party purposes, tliey
were at issue, for such a surrender of the prerogatives of the Crown
was, in his opinion, incom}mtible with the existence of a British
colony. K that the Governor was an irresponsible officer, who
<50uld, without responsibility, adopt the advice of the Council, then
he conceived they were again in error. The Governor was respon-
sible to the Crown, and the Parliament, and the people of the
mother country, for every act he performed or suffered to be done,

ii Biimmw^jA-

i.tpjjj^iuai^lMI

Metcalfe's fallacies.

499

whether it originated with himself or was adopted on the advice
of others; nor could he divest hiiiiaelf of that respon.siliility by
pleading the advice of the Council. He was also responsible to
the people of the colony.

Now all this, with the exception of the last proposition, is ti-ue ;
and it would be significant and pointed if Baldwin and his fellow
Councillors had asked him to do something which would have
injured the empire. But it is uttc ly wide of the wicket, when we
remember what it was his late Ministers demanded. That a Gov-
ernor is responsible to the colony over which he rules, is not true
in the same sense that he is responsible to the Imperial Parliament,
or that Ministers under a constitutional government are resi)onsi-
ble to the people, and the above statement is therefore fallacious.
No one is responsible to another unless that other has some power
over him, and the inhabitants of this country have no direct power
over a Governor.

He went on to say thrt he agreed with the Gore Councillors, if
they meant that it should be competent to the Council to offer
advice on all occasions, whether as to patronage or otherwise, which
should be received with due attention ; that there should be cor-
dial co-operation between Governor and Council ; that the Coun-
cil should be responsible to the T ovincial Parliament and people ;
and that when the acts of the Governor were such as they did
not choose to be responsible for, they should be at liberty to resign.

How could the Council be held responsible for acts over wliich
they had no control ? Here again, we have the idea of responsi-
bility trifled with. Suppose a mistress were to say to her cook : —
" Mary, I will cook the dinner, but if the veal is roasted to a cin-
der, you will be good enoi^gh to take tlie responsibility. If tiie fish
is sent up half cooked, if the soup is a mass of fat, if the turkey
is raw, the whole brunt of the master's storming must fall on you."

As the Tories attacked Sir Charles Bagot, the Reformers now
reviled Sir Charles Metcalfe. The Tories made a mistake in attack-
ing Sir Charles Bagot in the manner they did. The Reformers
weakened their position by reviling Sir Charles Metcalfe. The
constitutional position in ..hich they were entrenched was enfee-
bled by this folly. It should have been reniembered that he was
the representative of the Sovereign, and that if a mistaken, he was

500

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

a distinguished man, who had done good service for the Empire.
He was spoken of as " Charles the Simple," as " Old Square Toes ;"*
he was held up to execration as a designing and unscrupulous
despot. He was the great butt of after dinner speeches and ban-
quet orations.

On February the 2nd, 1844, Mr. S. Wortley asked, in the Im-
perial Parliament, whether the proceedings of Sir Charles Met-
calfe received t'^ie sanction and approbation of the Government.
Lord Stanley, who had sup| orted Sir Charles Bagot against the
Tories, now supported Sir Charles Metcalfe against the Reformers.
He answered in the affirmative. Yet when we remember the ut-
terances of Sir Robert Peel, we must place his approval to the
account of official loyalty rather than conviction. The Baldwin-
Lafontaine Ministry had resigned at the end of November. At
the end of February no Ministry had been formed, and the sta-
tutory period at which Parliament must meet approaching ! The
Governor had to continue to issue addresses. In some of these he
declared that there was an insuperable barrier between him and
his late Ministers. What ! Even supposing they were supported
by the people at a general election !

The utterly false position assumed by Sir Charles Metcalfe is
thrown into relief in a letter to Lord Stanley, in w^hich he states
that, on the resignation of his " dictatorial cabinet," the Conser-'
vative party came forward manfully and generously to his sup-
port, and if he could have thr-own himself into their arms, that
support would have been complete and enthusiastic. But under
Responsible Government this is what he should have done.
He attempted a task impossible to perform with success or
dignity. In a country in which constitutional government had
been established, and where there were two clearly -defined parties,
the one known as Reformers, the other as Tories ox Conservatives,
he wanted to administer public affairs independent of i)arty. The
desire may have been beautiful and amiable in theory. But was
it a practicable desire ? Would it ring clear on the flags of every
day life ? Did it belong to the currency of fact ? He did not

' This phrase has descended to our own time, and has been frequently applied to a
gentleman who has had his own share of civic honours.

GREAT REFORM MEETING.

501

«ven Rct strongly. He found the Reformers in power. We have
seen he had no sympathy with them. He was too weakly Idand,
too hesitatingly prudent to remove them. Nevertheless, he was
covertly hostile, and at last placed Mmself in o])en but indirect
antagonism to them by appointing to jilace men who were their
foes. The consequence was, of course, that he was wholly de-
serted by the Reformers, and against his will, there being no mid-
dle party, was at last driven to lean on the extremest wing of the
Conservative party. What Lord Bute unsuccessfully attempted
in England, Sir Charles Metcalfe in United Canada, and Lord
Falkland in Nova Scotia sought to accomplish, and with equal
glory. These men really aimed at establishing two ministries ;
one responsible and powerless ; the other secret, powerful, and
irresponsible. Agitation rose high.

On the 25th of March, the first of a series of great meetings of
the Reform Association took place. The Association which
was formed in December, 1843, had leased a suite of rooms at the
corner of Front and Scott Streets. The meeting was called at the
early hour of six o'clock. By half -past six the room was densely
crowded. Hundreds went away unable to gain admis.sion. The
Hon. Robert Baldwin who occupied the chair was greeted with
enthusiastic cheers when he rose. He was glad to be called on to
preside at such a meeting because it showed him that, in the opinion
of his fellow citizens, he had proved himself the firm and uncom-
promising friend of the great and vital principles of constitutional
liberty. He quoted largely from Lord Durha.ia's report in
support of the' proposition that it was not by weakening, but
strengthening the influence of the people, not by enlarging, but
by cooping within narrow limits the power of the Im})erial
authorities in colonial affairs, that harmony was to be res
tored, where dissension had long prevailed, and a vigour hither ,
to unknown introduced into the administration of these pro-
vinces. Al! that was necessary was to follow out the principles
of the British Constitution. But Sir Charles Metcalfe held thtit
it was only necessary for him to consult his Ministers on occasions
of " adequate importance," a doctrine v/hich would reduce them
to the merest tools. Upon the practical application of the princi-
ple of Responsible Government in all local affairs depended not

il*:

■t^

II'

502

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

only the happiness and prosperity of the colony hut its connexion
with che parent state. This was no new opinion of his. He had
communicated it to Lord Olenelg in 1836 and to Lord Durliam
in 1838, Born under tlie British Hag, under the protection of that
standard he wished to live and die and to leave that protection
as an inheritance to his children, not as a mark of degradation but
as the precious seal of honour and safetj . He opoke at length,
with great power and not without some gleanis of humour.

He was followed by the Honourable Henry John Boulton, who
proposed the first resolution. Mr. William Hume Blake proposed
the second resolution, that ministeiial responsibility to the people
of the country for every act of the Executive connected with local
affairs was an e.ssential ingredient of our constitution. Mr. Blake's
speech gives one the impression of a kind of untamed force. He
paid a magnificent tribute to Baldwin and argued the question
like a scholar and an orator. So vehement was he that his voice
broke down in the excitement of his delivery. After a brief
pause he went on to denounce the complaints uttered against men
asking their undoubted rights, not as the language of genuine
love to British greatness and British liberty, but as the foul off-
spring of flattery and slander. He was frequently interrupted by
bursts of applause.

Mr, William L. Perrin having spoken, Mr. James Henry Price
followed with a resolution which was seconded by Mr. Jesse
Ketchum, Then rose the Honourable R. B. Sullivan with a reso-
lution and a speech on which it is not necessary to dwell now. Mr.
William A. Baldwin, Mr. Cathcart, Mr. Skefiington Connor
followed. On this occasion Mr, (the Honourable) George Brown
made his first speech. That he would speak with force would at
once be inferred by everybody, but the present generation
would not perhaps expect him to speak with humour. In con-
cluding his speech he ridiculed the idea of carrying on the Gov-
ernment of the country by a Ministry selected from various parties,
and as his remarks bear on a question we have all discussed within
recent years and display the quality I have mentioned, I will give
them.

" Imagine, sir, for a moment, yourself seated at the Council table,
and Mr. Draper at the bottom — on your right hand we will place

HON. GEOROE BROWN's FIRST SPEECH.

SOJT

the Episcopal Biwhop of Toronto, and on your left, the Rev. E^er-
ton Ryonson — on tho rij^ht of Mr. Drap<5r sits Sir Allan M acNab,
and on his left Mr. Hincks. Wo will fill up the other chairs
by gentlemen admirably adapted for their situations, by the most
extreme imaginable differences of o[)inion. We will seat his Kx-
cellency at the middle of the table, on a chair raised above >'/ar-
ring elements below, prepar(3d to receive the a<lvice of his consti-
tutional conscience-keepers. We will suppose yoti, sir, to rise and
propose the opening of King's (Jollege to all Her Majesty's sub-
jects — and then, sir, we will have the happiness of seeing the dis-
cordant-producing-harmony-principle in the full vigour of peace-
ful operation. Oh, sir, i^ is an admirable Kvstem — there would
not be a single point on which you could be brought to agree, and
his Excellency might kindly interfere at any time to prevent the
possibility of your adopting the absurdity of a united principle
of action. * * His Excellency might let the Council fire off at
one another — he could not of course adopt the advice of all, and
80 to keep the peace among the belligerents, he would kindly
decide t" point for them, and cany out his own ideas. Where is
the man who would accept office under such an absurd and anti-
British principle ? "

Among the other speakers were Dr. Workman, Mr. M. O'Don-
oghue, Mr. Joseph C. Morrison (the judge), Mr. John Macara and
Mr. Boyd.

Metcalfe had raised a storm which was never to abate until
amid obloquy and the pangs of death, he had turned his back on
our — to him — unhappy shores.

CHAPTER XL

The spectacle presented by the country for nearly a year was
distressing. Nor need we be surprised that the Baldwin and inde-
pendent press are full of notes of exclamation; nor that everything

kam

604

THE lUlBUMAM IN CANAIU.

takos the hue of the party passionH which are flaming to
heaven.

Lord Metcalfe in his extremity sent for Dr. Ryerson, of Victoria
(Jolloi,'o, and the Brit'mh Whig of Kingston, announced that he
was to be Chief Superintendent of Education with a seat m the
Executive Council, an announcement which the Globe of March
8th, 184 , characterised as an "alarming feeler." The rumour was
vehemently denied at the time, but the Doctor defended Metcalfe
in pamphlets which dropped with oase from his facile pen dipped
in no pale ink. Party violence was never more pronounced. A.
meeting of the friends of the late Administration at Hamilton was
broken up, and Metcalfe's .secretary wrote a letter to the Sheriff
of the Gore District in regard to the unjustifiable rowdyism, in a
congratulatory tone, glad — notwithstanding the difference of opin-
ion as to the construction of the statute — that everything passed
in a manner so creditable to the inhabitants of the town and
township. One day you read that the " loose fish are veering
round." Another an article is headed " More Perverts." The
Hon. S. B. Harrison, afterwards County Judge for York, was
coquetting with the Government. Elmes Steele, of Simcoe, and
Boswell, of Cobourg, were feeling the " draw " of " vice-regal
blandishments." ^ *he 9th of April an article was headed " Ryer-
son traded f^^ .ter still we are told " Tommy Parke does
somethinf . *'ng-" ^r- Parke, though not a member of the
late Exec . Council was a member of the late Government and
had voted for Price's motion condemning the Governor. The
sneer had reference to a letter he wrote defending Sir Charles
Metcalfe.

On the 27th May Mr. Ryerson published a letter defending Sir
Charles Metcalfe. The newspapers put it that he had turned
"political slash -buckler." On the 8th of June, a meeting was
called in West GwJllimbury to organize a Reform Association,
Baldwin and Skefiington Connor went out to attend it. But Mr.
George Daggan, M.P.P., (the late Judge) and Mr. E. G. O'Brien,
with some of their friends paraded in a hostile manner, and the
meeting was postponed.

About this time a meeting was held at Kingston to establish a
United Empire Association which should resist all attempts —

UNCONSTITUTIONAL INTEltUEON UM.

505

come wliencesoover thoy miglit — to sever (' uada from Great Bri-
tain. Among the leading men who took part were Mr. John A.
Mucdonaid, Ogle R. Oowan and Mr. Henry Suiith.

Meanwhile Sir Charles Metcalfe left no stone unturned, no
expedient untried in order to win the support of the French
Canadian party. Viger believed that his countrymen would come
round to "reason and justic " But the astute Draper was not so
sanguine, though he advised Mutcalfo to put off trying to form the
Upper Canadian portion of his Council until the upshot of the
Lower Canadian negotiations was seen. At the end of June,
Drai)er — the Governor's "mainstay in Upper Canada" — went to
Montreal to satisfy himself as to the exact state of Lower Cana-
dian sentiment. After three weeks' investigation he wrote that
the aid of the French Canadian party was not to be obtained save
on the terms of the restoration of Lafontaine and Baldwin. Was
this a hint to the Governor to return to constitutional methods ?
The country had been i^ ven months without an executive govern-
ment, and one of the ablest and most experienced men in the
country told him he could have Lower Canadian support only on
conditions which he chose to consider impossible, liis mind being
unable to giasp the truth that a constitutional ruler should not
have the slightest preference for one party above another. What
was to be done? The country was suffering disastrously. Mr-
Draper, with I think, a patriotic and constitutional oboct, assured
the Govemo' that the tension of the situation was becoming un-
bearable, that every hour during which the offices of government
remained vacant was fraught with momentous consequences, that
the long iuterreguum of a suspended constitution had already in-
jured commercial credit, that the revenue would be seriously
affected, that the want of a responsible officer to represent the
Crown in the Courts of Justice was proving a great public incon-
venience, that men's minds were unsettled, that vague apprehen-
sions of evil were paralyzing industrial energies.

But how to form a Ministry ? The Governor had placed him-
self in a false position, by seeking to play the pa^t of governor
and prime minister ; by sett'ng himself in antagonism to one of
the parties of the country ; by holding language more lit for a
demagogue than a ruler of a state. The Nemesis of that false posi-

WIFI

; III

Ml;

■hH I

11 i

^ -i^

506

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

ii„ .1

tion now confronted him. He felt that the right step would be
to recall Baldwin and Lafontaine. Thev had the confidence of
tlie country. But to recall them would be to acknowledge a
defeat — Defeat ! a word of which as Governor he should have
known nothing. To f n a Ministry without them would be to
form a ministry without the confidence of Lower Canada and
with but partial support in Upper Oanada, a Ministry which, as
his apologist admits, would be incapable of carrying on the govern-
ment according to the principles of Responsible Government.

There was one means of possible osca[>e from his difficulties — to
dissolve. This was not favoured by Draper. The anf^^wer to
the appeal in Upi)er Canada might be favourable. In Lower
Canada it would be ceitainly the reverse. What then was ir
prospect ? A revolution ? " It might be," writes the subservient
Kaye, " an abandonment of Responsible Government," or " the
seveiance of the existing union between the two Canadas," or
" the establishment of a federal union of all the North American
colonies," or wb \t else might be " determined by or forced upon the
Imperial Government." " The difficulty," adds the biographer in
words which are the severest condemnation of Metcalfe's policy>
*' might be dealt w'.th by the Crown or by the people. It was
impossible to say how it was to be dealt with by the Governor-
General." Poor Sir Charles Metcalfe ! lie sometimes now sighed
for the ease he had left, the peaceful sanctuary of home, his learned
leisure, the society of his beloved sister, on which he had turned
his back to launch on a stormy sea for the navigation of which all
his pre\ ious training unfitted him. But he was a man with a strong
.ensfc of duty, a vir Justus undoubtedly, and he felt however mis-
takingly that he was on duty's pa'ih. He addressed himself to
one politician after another. The Attorney-Generalship of Lower
Canada he offered in succession to four leading men of the French
Canadian party only to receive four successive refusals. The
Lower Canadians had been made the victims of exclusiveness, and
like that portion of the Irish people who once suffered from the
same oppression, a popular leader opposed to the Government had
a hold on their affections which nothing could shake. O'Connell's
power would have crumbled to dust had he taken a seat in the
British Cabinet, and Lafontaine at feud with the Government

SifiSii

DISCUSSION IN THE IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

507"

was ten times as powerful, was a hundred fold more popular than
Lafontaine at the head of an Admistration would be, with all the
patronage of Lower Canada in his hands.

Sir Charles Metcalfe's conduct was brought before the Imperial
Parliament. In Committee of Supply Mr. Roebuck recalled the
Governors words that he intended to govern in aecor' lance with
the principles of Responsible Government. Unfortunately, said
Mr. Roebuck, what he meant by Responsible Government he never
attempted to explain. Were not the feelings of Canadians pro-
perly hurt when he made an offer of the speakership of the Upper
House to a man who was ore of the most bitter opponents of his
Ministers ? What would the noble lord (Stanley, secretary for the
Colonies) have thought if he had been told that the speakership of
the IIouso of lords had been offerered to Lord Cottenham ? Yet
that was the :;ind of policy Sir Charles Metcalfe told his advisers
he intended to pursue. They resigned, and ever since Canada
had been without an Administration.

Lord Stanley, though generously supporting Metcalfe, and dwell-
ing on his high character, indirectlj' condemned him. He de-
clared that he understood by Responsible Government an adminis-
tration carried on by the heads of depa^iiments enjoying the con-
fidence of the people of Canada, the confidence of the Legislature,
responsible to both ; the Governor guided by their advice ; they
taking the responsibility of conducting their measures through
Parliament. The principle of Responsible Government had been ■.
fully and frankly conceded, and it was upon that principle that
Sir Charles Metcalfe had avowed his determination to conduct
tht Government of Canada. Lord Stanley, however, proceeded
to point out that in a small community, patronage was better dis-
tributed by the Crown than by party. His speech was incon-
sistent with itself, as indeed was his conduct as Colonial Secre-
tary, so far as Canada was concerned. He lenied the analogy,
between a responsible Ministry in Canada and the Minister of the
Crown in England, a question which I have already sufficiently
discussed.

Lord John Russell was not more consistent. It was impossible
for the Governor to consent to say that, in aU cases, he would fol-
low the will of the Executive Council, and thus make himself a

.•508

TFE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

^cipher. He would have cond**mned Sir Charles Metcalfe if he
had said he would in no case take the opinion of his Executive
Council respecting appointments. This he had not done. With
regard to the charge that the Governor had reserved a bill with-
out letting his advisers know that he intended to reserve it, the
House had been told that on that point of dispute there
were differences of opinion as to the facts. The honourable
member for Montrose (Mr. Hume), said it was merely a question
whether or not a slight had been put on the Legislature by reserv-
ing the bill ; but if that were so, it could not be made a ground
for the resignation of the members of Council. If their opinion
was that Sir Charles Metcalfe should listen to them, and not obey
his instructions from England, they took an exaggerated view o^
their power, to which it was impossible for the Governor to give
way. Taking, then, the high authorifiy of Sir CTia/'es Metcalfe
for the fact — and there could be no higher authority — it ap-
peared to Lord John Russell that Sir Charles Metcalfe was right
in the disputes with his late Executive Council. He was sure
that they would not improve the situation by endeavouring to
deprive the Governor of that authority which was so necessary
for the maintenance of the connexion between England and the
'Colony.

It is clear that Lord John Russell, relying on Sir Charles Met-
calfe's version, wholly misunderstood the facts. There was no
desire to reduce the Governor to a cipher, none to interfere with
the legitimate power of the Government in London.

Sir Robert Peel also defended Metcalfe. The Governor would
act unworthily if he did not consult his Council in all local mat-
ters, but it might be for the interest of the governed that the
Governor should resist the appointments of persons recommended
by the Council. But surely the appointment of officers for local
purposes must be a local matter.

One of the ex-Ministers had removed to Montreal, and started
a newspaper, the Pilot. Montreal had been fixed on as the luturo
seat of Government, and Mr. Hincks thought that would be the
best place to advocate the cause he had espoused. He was vio-
lently attacked by the Government press. He was a Marat, a
Hobespierre, a Garnot. He conducted the paper with rare energy,

POPULAR AGITATION,

509»

and with the same ability he had displayed on his newsjiapcr in
Toronto.

An address to the people from the ex-Ministers, well-calculated
to stir up the popular mind was, in anticipation of an election,
scattered over the country. On the 16th of May, a general meet-
ing of the Reform Association was held, the Hon. Adam Fer-
gusson in the chair. When the Hon. Robert Baldwin spoke, he
commenced by congratulating the Province at large on the grati-
fying fact that a distinguished member of the Upper House of
Parliament presided over such a meeting. He recalled the time
which was not very distant in the history of Upper Canada, when
persons occupying elevated positions in the Council of the Pro-
vince were accustomed to hold themselves aloof from the srreat
body of the people, as if their struggle for liberty was a matter in
which they had neither part nor lot ; en-sconcing themselves with-
in an exclusive and narrow circle, inside whose bounds the profane
eyes of commoners were not permitted to peep. The chairman
had thanked Baldv/in and his colleagues for the truly British stand
they had made for constitutional principles.

In referring to this, Baldwin said that he " declaimed any other
merit than that of having simply done his duty." He added that
whether taking office, or abandoning it, he had never been
influenced but by one motive — a sincere desire to sacrifice every
personal consideration to what he believed to be his duty to his
country and his Sovereign.

He then brought up the draft of an address which was read by
Skeffington Connor, the Corresponding Secretary. The address
pointed out why the late Councillors resigned, showed that Sir
Charles Metcalfe and his " Rump " were transgressing the condi-
ditions of Representative Government, an^l warned the people
of the dangers to their freedom. Was it to be permitted that for
month after month the Government should be unconstitutionallv
administered ? Those who were always oppo? jd to Constitutional
Government supported the Governor and served under him. They
were right, and from them all might be hoped if only the consti-
tution was placed beneath their feet. But the people should be-
ware of those who talked in favour of Responsible Governmoijt,
and betrayed it in their acts. " We recommend you," said the

fSi

j-i

510

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

address in one of its concluding paragraphs, " to weigh and under-
stand well the question to be submitted to you ; to meet and to
discuss in every convenient manner the points of view in which
it has been placed ; to have no halting between two opinions ; to
allow of no indifference. This is not a mere party struggle. It is
Canada against her oppressors. The people of Canada claiming
the British constitution against those who withhold it ; the might
of public opinion against fashion and corruption."

The adoption of the address was moved by the Hon. Captain
Irving, and seconded by Peter Peny, of Whitby.

If able men on one hand were denouncing tlie Government as
a " rump," and as " Gowan's ministry," Dr. Kyerson wrote strongly
and eloquently on behalf of Sir Charles Metcalfe. " Sir Charles
Metcalfe," he said, " is not a fortune seeker, but a fortune spender
in the country from which it is ded to ostracise him — a for-

tune spender in public charity."* Not only did Dr. Ryerson de-
fend the Governor, Presbyteries proposed votes supporting him.

Mr. Baldwin during the summer made a tour in the Lower Pro-
vince, and was everywhere received with enthusiasm ; the Lower
Canadian newsf)apers described his visit as one triumphant pro-
cession. Addresses poured in on him, and his conduct and that
of his colleagues was everywhere endorsed.

On the 13th of August, the leading organ of the Baldwin party
had an article headed "The Vacant Ministry," and, from the
opening of Cicero's oration against Catiline, a motto which was
meant to carry a sting with it — Qiwusque tandem ahutere patien-
tia nostra 1 — How long, O, Catiline, wilt thou abuse our patience ?
The period of the ministerial interregnum was now running the
ninth month, and there was no sign of relief from the depressing
situation.

The Attorney-Generalship of Lower Canada, already declined
by four Lower Canadians, was now decline(^ by two Upper Cana-
dians. A seventh offer was more successful. Mr. Smith accepted
the position. Little by little progress was made towards the
formation of a Council, and Sir Charles Metcalfe, with feelings

* The Col<yn%»t which had mainly through Dr. Byeraon't influence, been turned into
-aa " organ" of the Governor's.

BALDWIN REVIEWS STANLEYS SPEECH.

611

intinitely relieved, was able on the 27th August, to write to the
Colonial Office that he expected in a few days to be able to an-
nounce the completion of the Executive Council of the Province,

In this Ministry the three leading figures were our old friends.
Viger, Draper, and Daly ; the first was president of the Council ;
the second Attorney-General for Upper Canada ; the third retained
his old post, Provincial Secretary for Upper Canada ; Mr. Morris
was Receiver General ; Mr, Papineau (brother of the rebel

leader), Commissioner of Crowi. ^ ands. Thus, with Mr. Smith,
Attorney-General for Lower Canada, the six most important offices
in the Executive Counc were tilled. Metcalfe believed he was
now in a position to meet his parliament. But in the Represen-
tative Assembly a vote of want of confidence would have been
carried by an overwhelming majority. The question of disso-
lution was therefore discussed in the Council. After much doubt
and debate, a disie'dution was resolv^ed on. It was determined
not to fill the minor offices until aft j.' the elections. There would
then probably be a larger field of choice.

The crisis was described by the Governor as important — it was
momentous. On the 24th of September, a banquet was given to
the Hon. Mr. Young, who had in Nova Scotia, fought the same
battle Baldwin had fought and was fighting here. Baldwin took
the opportunity of re'/iewing certain portions of the speech of
Lord Stanley. Was it a matter of imperial concern whether Mr.
A. or Mr, B. should be appointed to office ? Who, during.'; the
previous session, was attacked by Sir Allan MacNab, the Oovernor
or himself ? If he was to bear the brunt of attack, surely he
ought to have the power which was implied by responsibility ?
Was it a tiling to be tolerated that a Ministry should learn
for the first time of the appointments of the Government on thy
street ? How long would the noble lord have remained one of
Her Majesty's Ministers, if placed in such a situation ? He was
aware of the difference between the Ministry in London and the
Ministry in a colony, a difference which necessarily followed from
the fact that one was the paramount executive of the empire, the
other only the executive of a dependency of that empire. But
when this difference was pressed beyond its limits of Imperial
concerns, and made the pretence for the refusal of liberty — for

■ 'i il

!•' "'t

512

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

113

the denial of the right of the people to govern through their re-
presentatives — when it wa,s made an instrument of degradation,
the brand of an inferior race — a view was taken which would
never be acquiesced in by any colony where constitutional gov-
ernment obtained, and where there lingered a single spark of
British feeling to light British principles. In the course of a long
speech, Baldwin was frequently, cheered, and the speech well de-
served the applause.

The Hon. R. B. Sullivan spoke with great eloquence, and the
Hon. Geo. Brown replied for the Reform press of British North
America. As on the occasion of his first speech a few months
before, he spoke with considerable humour.

Parliament was dissolved on the 23rd of September. The
writs were issued on the 24th, and made returnable on the
10th of November. On the 1st of October the Globe contained
an appeal to the electors. Baldwin resigned his patent of Queen's
Counsel. A placard was circulated throughout the country,
stating that the late Ministry, in order to insult the Presbyterians
and Baptists, while passing a Bill through Parliament, giving
these bodies additional power with respect to the holding of land
had introduced a clause contemptuously associating them with
Tunkers, Barkers, Shavers, Shakers, Sharpers, and Gypsies. The
Globe subsequently characterized this placard as an " infamous "
fabrication, and declared that it had influenced several electors.
" It is questionable," wrote that paper, a few years afterwards,
" whether this lying trick did not exercise more influence than all
the letters of Buchanan and Ryerson." Now we have already
seen that before this placard was given to the world. Presbyte-
rians sided with Metcalfe, nor can there be a doubt that the
people were in some places unenlightened as to the real issue.
The placard, too, might be considered in the court of electioneer-
ing morality fair. However, there is no evidence that it was not
put forth in good faith. Of course the late Ministers never did
anything so absurd as associate Barkers and Presbyterians,
Shakers and Baptists. But a young clerk had scribbled the
words in fun in the printers' " copy," and forgot to cross them
out. How were those who saw the objectionable words in the
bill to divine the accident ?

EXCITING CONTEST.

5ia

While the elections were proceeding, Mr. Henry Sherwood be-
came Solicitor-General for Canada West.

The Conservative candidates went to the country on the Gov-
ernor's ticket. Mr. George P. Ridout, in his address, said : —
*' I have the honour to solicit your suffrages at the approaching
election, and take for my motto, ' The Governor-General and
British connection.' " The excitement was extreme. There was
on all sides apprehension of riot and bloodshed. All kinds of
violent handbills were circulated ; the walls glared with stimu-
lating posters. Large bodies of Irishmen turned out to support
Baldwin. His enemies said they were hired to keep freedom of
election in control by club law. Serious disturbances were expect-
ed. The troops were ordered to hold themselves in readiness.
" The contest," says Metcalfe's biographer, with audacious men-
dacity, " was between loyalty on one side and disaffection to Her
Majesty's Government on the other." Of Sir Charles Metcalfe,
we are told, perhaps with truth, that he felt that he was doing
battle for his Sovereign against a rebellious people. When, on the
5th of November, all the re^.arns were known, it was found that
the Government had a small majority. Of course, there were
charges of foul play. The returning officers were said to be bitter
Tory partizans, and to have abused their opportunities. Their
machinations, aided by an unscrupulous exercise of Government
authority, it was said, helped to secure a majority for the Conserva-
tives. We may be sure both parties did all they could to secure
a victory. It is possible that the country felt that Baidw^in and
Laf ontaine might have been less uncompromising, and that know-
ing Sir Charles Metcalfe's determination not to work with them,
fears of another interregnum influenced some votes. After the
fight is over, it is useless, however, to squabble over battles which
have been decided. Bazaine and Frederick Charles exchanging
recriminations over Gravelotte would be as edifying a spectacle
as a game of scolding over an election once it is past. For my
own part, I should think it more profitable to discuss the issue
between Thierry and the Abb6 LafFetay respecting the date of
the Bayeux tapestry. The Keformers contended that the Govern-
ment had only a majority of two. But when the House met, it

turned out to be a little larger.
33

'i iV

■■( . i

1 ,;v.

514

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

Viger was defeated in Richelieu by Dr. Nelson, an Irishman, who
had been transportc^d to Bermuda for the part he took in the re-
bellion. Hincks lost Oxford. In Lower Canada there was a large
majority against the Government. Morin was returned for two
constituencies.*

The new Parliament met at Montreal. The first fight came off
on the Speakership. The Government candidate was Sir Allan
MacNab, who had been knighted for his services in the rebellion ;
the Opposition, M. Morin. Though with two exceptions, all the
French Canadians supported M. Morin, the Ministerial candidate
was voted into the chair by a majority of three. On the day
Parliament met, seventy-seven members answered to their names.
Six members, Merritt, Haiiison, Cameron, Robinson, Watts and
Le Bouthillier, were absent. M. Morin's double return completed
the eighty-four. On the division, seventy -five voted, thirty-nine
for MacNab, and thirty-six for M. Morin. The Reformers were
furious at the election of MacNab — an " Ultra Tory," a " High
Churchman," the " dictator of the Family Compact." One of the
Government papers had called the Government a " liberal " one.
" A liberal Government indeed ! " exclaimed the correspondent
of the Olobe, " its leaders being Ogle R. Gowan, Geo. Duggan, Sir
Allan MacNab, Henry Sherwood and Edward Murney ! ! "

Mr. Hincks was asked to come forward for the seat for which
Morin elected not to sit, but he refused.

* According to the Globe, the result was — the Govemor-General-party in Upper
Canada had declared for them : — Counties, 20 ; Towns, 9. In Lower Canada : —
Counties, 10 ; Towns, 4. Total, 43. In Canada West, the Reformers bad declared in
their favour — Counties, 13. In Canada East : — Counties, 26 ; Quebec City, 2. To
tal, 41. The following are the names of the Ministerialists — the names of those pro
tested against having an asterisk :— Le Bouthillier ; Watts ; Sherwood, G. ; Stewart
W. ; 'McDonald, R. ; McDonell, G. ; Williams ; Smith ; Henry ; *Jes8up ; Chalmers
MacNab ; Murney ; Dunlop ; McDonald, J. A. ; Foster ; *Gowan ; Seymour ; *Cum
mings ; Ijawrason ; *Ermatinger ; Dickson ; Meyers ; Hall ; *Riddell ; Stewart, N.
Petrie ; Robinson ; Sherwood, H. ; Boulton ; Duggan ; "Webster ; Johnston ; Col
ville ; *Daly ; Smith, Jas. ; *Moflfatt ; *De Bleury ; Papineau : Hale ; Grieve ; Scott
Brooks ; McConnell. And the following were the Reformers : — Prince ; McDonald,
J. S. ; Thompson ; Harrison ; *Cameron ; •Merritt ; 'Powell ; Roblin ; *McDonell
D. ^. J •Smith, Dr.; *Small; "Baldwin; Chabot; Price; Lacoste; Guillet ; Tas
chereau ; Christie ; Lemoine ; Berthelot ; De Witt ; Tache ; Laurin ; Jobin ; Drum
mond ; Aylwin ; Methot ; Morin ; Chauveau ; Nelson ; Bertrand ; Franchere ; Morin
Desaulnier ; Lafontaine ; Lesslie ; "Rousseau ; Lantier ; Armstrong ; Cauchon ; *Bou-
tillier.

Sir

BALDWIN S ATTACK ON THE MINISTRY.

616

The speech expressed a hop - that some satisfactory arrange-
ment might be cor^e to respecting the University of King's Col-
lege, and that the communications throughout the Province might
be improved. All that wa»s said about the interregnum was, that
extraordinary ob.«t'.icles had prevented the filling up of vacancies
in the Ministiy.

Baldwin, in moving the amendment to the address, expressed
his disappointment at the extraordinary circumstance that the
House was left in doubt as to the intentions of the Government,
He attacked the Ministers for the way things had been conducted
since he had resigned, and ridiculed the piebald character of the
politics on the Treasury Bench. His scarcasm was withering
without being harsh or at war with good taste.* The whole
speech told on the House in a striking manner. At two o'clock
on the night of the seventh of December, he rose to wind up the
debate. He denounced the unparliamentary course pursued by
the Government during the debate. They had not announced a
single principle. He ridiculed their professions that they would
make no appointments to strengthen their position. The sj ih,
wrote a correspondent, was admitted to be the most powerful speech
ever heard within the walls of a Canadian Parliament. It was
four o'clock when Mr. Baldwin resumed his seat ; but there had
been no signs of impatience. On a division, the amendment was
lost, the Government having a majority of six.

In the Legislative Council, Mr. Draper defended Sir Charles
Metcalfe with great plausibility. The principles of Responsible
Government were founded on this, that there must be for ever "■
act of a government some person responsible to Parliament. The
Crown could not be made a party. A Minister could not plead
in justification of an obnoxious Act, that it was done by the King's
command. It was on the principle that the King could do no
wi'ong that the whole system of Responsible Government rested.
Let that principle be applied to recent acts, and the result would
be an ample vindication of the course pursued by the Head of the
" Government. The King being incapable of doing wrong, when in
the exercise of his constitutional right he dismissed a Ministry,

* Correspondence of Globe, 5th December, 1844,

;:'■ J

616

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

• ^"- ifi?*' '

those who accepted the vacant places took upon themselves the
responHibility of the act of dismisHal, and for that act became
amenable to the judgment of the country. If the country sus-
tained them they retained office ; if tlie contrary, they resigned.
But when a Ministry tendered their resignatitm as a voluntary
act, with them alone rested the responsibility. It would not be
pretended that the late Ministers did not resign theiroffices. There-
fore, with them alone, rested the responsibility of the act. Under
what circumstances did their resignation take place i Did they
resign in accordance with British parliamentary practice ? No ;
and he had a right to call on the leaders of the Opposition, to show
that the course they had thought fit to take was the acknowledg-
ed usage of the British Parliament. He was bold to assert that
nothing had been placed before the country which gave an issue
on which the people could come to a decision. The issue on
whie'i the people had to decide was not whether the principles
of Responsible Government had or had not been violated, but a
question of fact stated by Sir Charles Metcalfe and his late Minis-
ters — the issue was, which of the parties had told the truth.

Now all this was mere special pleading. It is true the Ministers
published one account of the rupture, Metcalfe another. But
nobody who understood the question then, nobody who has since
considered it, has had any doubt of the fact proved by the whole
tenor of Metcalfe's conduct, proved by his despatches to Lord
Stanley, proved by his private letters, proved by the view he took
of the nature of his functions, that he made an appointment with-
out consulting his Ministers, and to which they were opposed,.
To make appointments without consulting the responsible Minis-
ters is the most high-handed v.'.ay of refusing to act on their ad-
vice. Wliat was the value of Mr. Draper's bold assertion, that
there was no precedent ? Did not Pitt resign after the union, be-
cause George III would not take his advice ? Constitutional
Government as we understand it, and as explained by Mr. Draper
in his opening rjmarks, came into play in England only in the
reign of Queen Anne. She chose Ministers who enjoyed the con-
fidence of Parliament. The first two Georges were obliged to act
in the same way. William the Third, though he ultimately gave
his confidence to Whigs alone, began by selecting Ministers from

PROORESS OF CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT.

517

ves the
became
ry Hus-
•signed.
untary
not be
There-
under
id they
? No;
,0 show
)wledg-
3rt that
m issue
ssue on
inciples
I, but a
) Minis-
ih.

[inisters
sr. But
I as since
le whole
to Lord
he took
nt with-
opposed,,
le Minife-
their ad-
iion, that
nion, be-
iitutional
r. Draper
ily in the
. the con-
red to act
tely gave
ters from

all parties. But William tlio Third was an exceptional ruler in
exceptional times, and an analogy might be drawn between the
fashion in which he, the inaugurator of Modem Constitutional
Government England acted, and the mode of procedure adopted
by Lord Sydenham in inaugurating constitutional government
among ourselves. George the Third determined to do in
England, very much what Sir Charles Metcalfe determined
to do here, and both found themselves in conse(pience, at times,
in antagonism to parliament. When George the Third was forced
to entrust the Government to Whigs, he thwarted them and in-
trigued against them, just as Sir Charles Metcalfe thwarted and
intrigued against Lafontaine and Baldwin. The gi-eat doctrine
enunciated bj' the greatest men in the Engli.^h Parliament, was
that the King in choosing his advisers should defer to the wishes
of Parliament. If Sir Charles Metcalfe did this, he would have
sent agpin for his Ministers who had resigned as Mr. Draper
seemed once and again to hint he should have done. The Revolu-
tion of 1688, transferred the Sovereignty of England, not from
James the Second to William and Mary, but from Kings ruling
by divine right to the House of Commons. The King reigns,
Parliament governs. The King is the head of the Executive,
and remains, unsullied by faction, because he carries out the
wishes of Parliament. He selects servants, who for the time being,
have the confidence of Parliament, and who are responsible to it.
That they are so responsible is the real ground for the proposition,
the King can do no wrong, a proposition which is the impassable
bulwark to revolution, so long as correlative propositions are under-
stood, and acted on. If therefore, a King or Governor seeks to
act independently of Ministers, he assumes responsibility, and that
moment the proposition that he can do no wrong ceases to apply.
What then becomes of Mr. Draper's argument ? His remarks
regarding the responsibility of an incoming Ministry intended to
shield Sir Charles Metcalfe, will not cover the Governor's conduct
during nearly a year.

Mr. Draper went on to guard against its being understood that
when he laid down the principle that the King can do no wrong,
he meant to imply that the same was true of a Governor-General.
But the same it? and must be true of a Governor-General, so far

" fVi

518

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

>.i

as he ifl a constitutional ruler, and in relation to the people over
whom he plays that impoi-tant part. The Governor, Mr. Draper
pointed out, was a responsible servant of the Crown. It would
be absurd to hold that a man who was liable to impeachment
could do no wrong. Thi to establish a charge against the Head
of the Government his opponent had been thrown into a false
position.

It is hard to believe so acute a mind as that of Mr. Draper did
not see that he v/as here suggesting a false issue. Neither Bald-
win nor anybody eise ever asserted that the Governor-General
could do no wrong or was not a responsible servant, so far as Im-
perial matters were concerned, but they did assert that so far as
he was a constitutional ruler in legard to our local affairs, he was
bound to act in such a manner as would be consistent with a pro-
position which means no more than that he should not act like a
minister, inasmuch as he was not responsible to parliament and
could not by parliament be called to account for his acts. It is
however, barely possible Mr. Draper did not grasp all the bear-
ings of the controvers}''. But he has seemed to me to have been
much more than a mere successful lawyer. It has too often been
shewn that the most brillant successes at the bar are no guarantees
for statesmanship, and the warping effects of nisi prius advocacy
and Court of Chancery contentions round the points of needles,
and over the splitting of hairs, ought to be allowed due weight
in deciding respecting his sincerity.

The removal of Mr. Draper to the Legislative Council had left
a gap in the House of Assembly not unlike that which Chatham's
acceptance of an earldom left in the House of Commons. Neither
Attorney-General Smith nor Solicitor-General Sherwood were
competent to lead the House. Indeed their conduct at times was
scarcely up to th<. level of a discussion in a pot-house. Before
parliament was sitting l.wo weeks they gave a signal instance of
their shamelessness of political character. On the 1 2th of Decem-
ber, Mr. Small moved for leave to bring in a petition against the
return of Messrs, Sherwood and Boulton. The Ministry objected
to its being received, Petitions should be brought within fourteen
days after the; elections, and that period had expired. The Oppo-
sition appeakid to the Speaker who decided against them. Scarcely

INDFX'ENCY OF MINISTERS.

519

had the echo of the Speaker's words died away when Mr. Dickson
wished to present a petition against a Reformer, Mr. L. T. Drum-
mond. Both Smith and Sherwood had the eftrontery to stand up
and argue that the petition sliould be received. The Opposition
appealed to the Speaker, whereupon the Ministerialists, unable
even to stand the mildewed corn of their miserable majority,
shouted " No! No ! " — Mr. Sherwood being one of those who led
the cry. The Speaker however, was a man who could measure
such politicians as the Sherwoods and Smiths. He rose and
decided that the petition could not be received. And what did
the enlightened Ministers then do ? They acted like half-tipsy
rowdies. They appealed from the decision of the Speaker they
had themselves helped to elect, and demanded a division. They
were beaten by forty-seven to twenty -three. We need not be
surprised if, in the face of such conduct, the Governor thought of
urging Mr. Dmper to leave the Legislative Council and seek a seat
in the Assembly. Sir Charles Metcalfe wrote piteously that none
of the Executive Council could exercise much influence over the
party supporting the Government. If Mr. Draper was to get a
seat some member must resign. Mr. Robinson having accepted
the Inspector-Generalship had to go to his constituents. The
absence of two members would be a serious matter in a House in
which both partiesj were so evenly balanced. A long adjournment
was therefore deiermiiied on and a motion was made for the ad-
journment of the House from the 20th of December until the 1st
of February. There could be no reasonable excuse for so long an
adjournment which would cost the country some $60,000. Mr.
Gowan thereupon moved an amendment that the adjournment
should only extend to the 7th of January. The amendment was
lost. Mr. Cameron fearing the original motion might be passed
moved that the House stand adjourned from the 24th of December
to the 3rd of January. Now the question arose as to the passing
of Mr. Cameron's motion. During the debate the Ministers had
declared there was no collusion between them and the movers of
long adjournments. When Mr. Christie moved as an amendment
that the adjournment should extend only over the religious holi-
days, the Ministers said that was just what they wanted. When
however the vote was called their true sentiments were seen.

520

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

They did not want to vote for Christie's motion because Christie's
motion was the last thing they desired, and their declarations
during the debate would have made voting again. ^ it too indecent
even for their indecent sense of fitness. They therefore sneaked
out of the House. But the question was one too near their hearts
for their anxiety not to betray itself. They hovered about the
entrance, they peeped through the slit, they bobbed in their heads
through the half -opened door. A member saw them and moved
that the Sergeant-at-arms should tako them into custody and
bring them up to vote. They were brought in and told they must
vote. Every one of them voted for the long adjournment. Un-
fortunate men! The vote decided by a majority of one that there
should be no holidays but the three religious ones. However the
question was raised again, influence havinar meanwhile been
brought to bear on members. Gowan carried his motion by a
majority of ten.

On January 21st, 1845, Mr. Gowaii moved an address to hia
Excellency to grant an inquiry into the management of the
Board cl Works, in which there had been a groat deal of jobbing.
Men wlio came paupers a few weeks before, with tenders in their
hands, ■'A'-ere now worth twenty thousand pounds, The Inspector-
General opposed Mr, Gowan's motion, who withdrew it under
protest and expressions of regret that a member of the Adminis-
tration should be found to assist in stifling inquiry. A few days
afterwards, another supporter of the Government, Dr. Dunlop,
said the Board of Works had become a curse.

About this time the Government brought in a Bill forbidding
persons to "aiTy arms unless licensed. A search for arms was to
be autliorized, with all the tyranny of forcible entry. Certain
districts were to be placed under a ban, and one hundred mounted
police raised to carry out the Act. This measure seems to have
been directed at those of the Irish people who were building the
canals.

Mr. Hale, the Government member for Sherbrooke, said the
Bill had been described as one to put down Irishmen. No ; but
the Bill would have the effect of preventing quarrels among a
warnri-blooded people, and that w as sufficient reason for passing
it. It was a measure inspired by the contractors, some of whom,.

PROGRESS OF METCALFE's MALADY.

52T

in our own day, have sought to influence Governments to bring
in Bills which would siiable them to oppress their poor workmen.

The followers of Bald ,9 in defended the labourers, most or all
of whom came from the cradle of Baldwin's family. Mr. Drum-
raond (now Judge Drummond) reminded the House of the report
signed by himself and his brother commissioners appointed to
inquire into the canal riots. Men who had been branded as
" sivvage," were not savage by nature — were not wanton violators
of the peace, but had been goaded to error by the violence of
their task-masters.

At this time the condition of things, so far as Responsible Go-
vernment was concerned, was no better than when Metcalfe was
without an Executive Council. Ministers took no notice what-
ever of a defeat. The whole party or mob professing to support
them, presented a sickening picture of corruption, deceit, and seK-
seeking in all its multifarious forms.*

Sir Charles Metcalfe's malady was hastening that departure for
which his enemies longed. In January, he wrote home a pathetic
account of his position. He had lost the use of one eye,, and the
eye which was still useful sympathised with that which was de-
stroyed ; nor was there any hope of the eradication of the cancer.
He had now, to his great regret, to use the hand of another to write
his letters and despatches. He was racked by pains above the

* Dr. Barker, the editor of the British Whig, a Conservative journal, wrote, on the
14th Februar^'^, 1845 :—

** A defeat is now a matter of ordiuar; occurrence, happening whenever half a dozen
Conservative members want anything to be done which is unpalatable to the Ministry.
The last defeat wa» on the Reduction of Salaries' Bill -the one before was on the
Canada Company Tax Bill. Ou this subject the Upper Canada members were divided,
it being a matter of doubt whe<-1inr the wild lands of the Company, in the Huron tract,
should be liable to the ordink ., district Tax or not. The Ministry were of opinion
that an exception should be taken in the Company's favour, leoing which, the wholo
Opposition rose in one body and vot«d for the Bill. The numbers wt- re 52 to 12,

" I am heartily sick and disgusted with Montreal and thi ilcuse of Assembly, and
wish myself at home a thousand times. I go every day after dinner to pass the even-
ing in the reporter's box, and when I get there can't itay an hour. Some piece of chi-
canery or double-faced intrigue is sure to provoke me, and send me out with a flea in
my lug. Let the mattei' be ever so bare-faced or scandalous, you are sure to see lots
of honourable members advocate it and defend it imblushingly.

" The Tjower Canada members appear to much greater advantage than their upper
country brethren. All the quarrelling and fighting — all the fending :.nd;.proving — all
the special pleading and false colouring — are left to the ConservativeB,"

522

THE IRISHMAN IN C\NADA.

eye and down the right side of the face as far as the chin. The
cheek towards the nose and mouth was permanently swelled. He
could not open his mouth to its usual width, and it was with dif-
ficulty he inserted and masticated food. He no longer looked for-
ward to a cure. On this point he was hopeless. He world have
been glad to return home. But he could not, he wrote, reconcile
it to his sense of duty to quit his post in the existing state of affairs.
Among the dreams of his youth was to be a peer. The Imperial
Government knowing this, remembering his past services, and his
present difficulties, and it may be, that they would have added,
his mistakes, remembering also the state of his health, recom-
mended Her- Majesty to raise him to the peerage. A peerage it
was thought would add to his strength in his struggles with the
constitutional party which was represented in Metcalfe's des-
patches as tainted with rebellion. Both Sir Robert Peel and Lord
Stanley wrote him private letters of congratulation, full of that
generous spirit which characterizes English politics. Alas! the
honour came too late for Metcalfe to enjoy it. There was a time,
he wrote to his sister, when he would have rejoiced in a peerage.
He would have highly prized the privilege of devoting his life to
the service of his Queen and country in the House of Lords. But
he was now without any ground of confidence that he should ever
be able to undertake that duty with any efficiency. The only
gratification it could bring him now was this: it proved that his
services were not unapprciated ; he knew that kind hearts would
rejoice at his elevation. Now, as at all times, he was kindly, and
gentle, and affectionate in his private relations.
. On the 25th February, Mr. Prince, seconded by Mr. Roblin,
moved an address to His Excellency on his elevation to the peer-
age. The resolution expressed the gratitude of the House to the
Sovereign for rewarding the merit of the Governor. This address
was passed by a majority of twenty in a house of seventy mem-
bers. Baldwin made a speech which can only be excused by re-
membering the heated passions of the time. Aylwin said he could
congratulate neither Sir Charles Metcalfe nor the British House
of Peers. So far from deserving a peerage, he said Metcalfe should
have been taken home and tried for high crimes and misdemea-

DRAPER S UNIVERSITY BILL.

523

nours. Others spoke in a like strain. The proper thing was to
have given a silent vote.

On the 16th of March, Mr. Draper introduced his University
Bill, which proposed that the University of Upper Canada should
embrace three colleges : King's as the Episcopalian; Queen's, for
the established Presbyterians ; and Victoria for the Methodist*
On the 11th, the Bill was brought up for second reading, when,
after an able speech from Draper, urging his fellow Churchmen,
who objected even to attend & litei'aiy class with dissenters, to
beware, the debate was adjourned until the 18th instant. On that
day, Mr. Hagarty, now Chief Justice, was heard at the bar as
counsel for the university.

Boulton moved the rejection of the Bill. Mr. Robinson, who
had been appointed Solicitor-General for Lower Canada; resigned.
Metcalfe wrote despondingly to Lord Stanley. In the previous
year, during nine months, he had laboured in vain to complete his
Council. Now he had again to fish in troubled waters for a
Solicitor-General for Lower Canada. Draper assured the Gover-
nor that the Government could not possibly survive without an
infusion of new vigour. The Ministers wanted weight and influ-
ence. Several members declared that they only voted for the
second reading to keep the Ministers in, but that, if the Bill went
farther they would vote against it. This was the attitude of one of
the Ministers himself — Solicitor- General Sherwood. The second
reading was passed ; but the Bill had to be dropped. Mr. Draper
had declared, on the 4th of March, that he and his colleagues
would stand or fall with the measure. There was no sign of
one of them quitting his seat

The conduct o* Mr. Robinson appears amid the wretched politi-
cal morality of his colleagues like a lily iu a stagnant fen. Among
such reeds as Smith and such rushes as Sherwood, Robinson stood
like an elm. He might, he said, with a manliness which must
have cut like a sword the heart of Sherwood, under some private
understanding have voted for the second reading rnd yet retained
his office. " But, Mr, Speaker, though I am poor I can afford to
lose ray office, but I cannot afford to lose my character." At theso
wo.rdft Sherwood held a paper before his face.

A few days later one of those disagreeable and discreditable

'; .»» '

»1i\

ll\ i <

524

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA,

scenes which have so frequently disfigured Canadian politics
occurred. M. Papineau had introduced an Education Bill.
M. Morin, speaking on this measure, said the Government
had attempted by corruption to procure assistance tVom the
Liberal side of the House. Smith, the Attorney-General,
sprang to his feet ar.d challenged proof of the fact. Lafontaine

replied that he was j.jre[ -d at any moment to prove attempts to

corrupt the House on th'^, part of the Ministry. Many of the
Ficnch Canadian members on applying to the Government regard-
ing the business of their counties were met by the answer that they
did not support the Governni'^nt. Mr. Bertrand had had replies
of this kind from both Mr. Daly and M. Papineau. Daly declared
that in no conversation he ever had with any member of the
Opposition was there a word which was capable of such a con-
struction. Bertrand then rose and confirmed what Lafontaine
had stated. He said he was willing to believe that Mr. Daly was
joking. With M. Papineau, however, the case was quite different.
He was quite serious. He had said expressly that he regretted
he could do no more for his countrymen, but that they gave him
no support in Parliament. If they did this he might do something
for them. To this Bertrand said he replied : — " What ! must we
sell our conscience to procure justice in this House ? "

Parliament was prorogued on the 29th of March. The session
had lasted four months, and the legislative fruit was small. Every-
thing of any magnitude that was promised was where it was
when Parliament met. The University, the Administration of
Justice, the Militia, the Civil List, the Prisons and Lunatic Asy-
lums, on all of which measures had been promised, the close of
the session found untouched; and naturally, for a weak Ministry
can never do more than buttress up an ignoble tenure of office by
disreputable shifts.

And poor Metcalfe, whose nature shrank from intrigue, who was
quite unfit for the position of a party leader, which he had prac-
tically assumed, when he looked back over those four months, felt
heartily ashamed of himself. In seeking to strengthen himself,
he had leaned on broken reeds which had pierced his hand. In
clutching helplesslyat power he had had to touch pitch, and the sense
of defilement stung that upright soul. He abhorred tactics, and

METCALFE S INNER TRAGEDY.

525

had become the vilest of tacticians, — the tactician who does not
make but is made the victim. He loved what was straightforward^
and had become the meanest of tricksters, — the trickster that has
to carry out the machinations of meaner and baser hearts. He had
fallen from the Alpine height of his own proud self-esteem, and
it was in vain tliat he tried to persuade himself that he still stood
on the faultless and splendid pinnacle of Horace's magnificent
ode. He was working side by side with allies in whose company
it was no honour to fight. He had to sanction their acts. He had
to put himself on the plain of their depraved political morality.
And he had to do all this because he had determined to work
against a man whose character must, in his betier moments, have
commanded his admiration, whose character, indeed, had much in
it akin to his own ; a man who, like Turenne, always spoke the
truth ; who loved virtue for her own sake ; whom no one could
appreciate without being the b'^tter for it; whose society inspired
those who shared his confidence with a horror of duplicity ; whose
loyalty to his friends had in it some of the noble devotion with
which he cherished the beautiful memory of the dead.

In his speech closing Parliament, Metcalfe used language which
displayed a want of that imagination which can realize the feel-
ings of persons differently situated to ourselves. He told the mem-
bers of both houses that they were about to return to their homes,
to resume those occupations which, in most cases, were indispen-
sable for the support of their families, and which were inevitably
interrupted with some degree of injury to themselves, by attend-
ance on their parliamentary duties. This, which was perfectly
true, was not in good taste. The Baldwin press commented with
perhaps uncalled-for bitterness on his words. But the provo-
cation had been great.

The Governor's malady grew worse. In body and spirit he was
ill at ease. In June he gave a pitiLble account of his condition in
a private letter to his friend Mr. Martin. Yet he thought he could
not quit his post without mischie v^ous consequences following. In
his darkened room or sheltered carriage, he was, in the midst of
bodily and mental anguish, determined to be the Governor, as he
understood ihe^duties of the office. It is touching to see how he
tried to make light of his sufferings. A life of perpetual chloride

526

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

of zinc was far from easy. There were, however, greater pains and
afflictions in the world. He had experienced mercies for which
gratitude was due. He could not shut his right eye. After the
next application he feared he would be unable to open his mouth.
This was " very satisfactory."

He had impressed Lord Stanley with the idea that it was im-
portant that he should remain in Canada. His presence and his
administration were vital to preserving Canada to the Empire.
Lord Stanley — the kindness of whose chivalrous character comes
out strongly in his private despatches — urged him if possible to
hold on to the helm. The Colonial Secretary believed he was
guiding the ship into port when he was running her among the
breakers.

In the gloom of his da,rkened room he was cheered by rumours
that the ti<le was rising in his favour. There were some little
waves playing with the dry sand, and the sanguine expected that
the waters were at the turn. At the end of June old M. Viger
had been returned for the Three Hivers. But some of the sup-
porters of the Governor were his worst enemies. One paper
alarmed the moderate wing of the Conservatives by declaring that
the representative form of government was " the unceasing enemy
of the peace and prosperity of Canada East and West." Every
storm which had desolated the country owed its origin to the
unwholesome and poisonous atmosphere of the Halls of the Leg-
islature. The gr^i of representation had been to the young limbs
of the country like the poisoned garment of Nessus, the touch of
which was fatal to the destroyer of the Nemean lion.* Raving
of this kind could produce but one effect.

On the 8th of August Mr. Cayley was made Inspector-General
of the Province, and this was the signal for a chorus of discontent
from quarters where the Government might have expected sup-
port. Colonel Prince described the new Minister as the clerk of
a company of blacksmiths in the Town of Niagara. Boulton
declared war against his old friends, and a dozen Government
papers made fun of Cay ley's name, with the view of emphasizing
his obscurity. Was it Cayley or Kaley ? Mr. Gowan declared

♦See the Patriot July 4th, 1845.

THE END AT HAND.

527

that outside of Toronto there were not a dozen readers who knew
who Mr. Cay ley was.

Towards the end of September Mr. Crofton, the editor of a
Cobourg paper,* began over the signature of "Uncle Ben," to
shell the Government. The author was found out and given a
place. This did not stop the tendency to ratting. A stronger,
though not a more justifiable move, wa„s to take the Government
deposits and business from the Bank of Montreal, where Mr.
Holmes was cashier. Mr. Holmes was deprived of his position
whereupon the deposits and business were restored.

The end of Lord Metcalfe's troubles in Canada and in the world
was at hand. Disease was fighting his will with more suc(;ess
than hostile i)oliticians. He reflected with bitter mortification
that, however strong his resolution and however clear his intellect,
it would soon be physically impossible for him to administer with
credit and efliciency the aflfairs of the Government. In October
he wrote to Lord Stanley that disease had affected his articula-
tion and all the functions of the mouth. There was a hole through
the cheek into the interior of the mouth. His doctors warned
him that it would soon be out of hh power to perform his duties.
If the season were not so far advanced he would request his
recall. Sixteen days later he again described his sufferings. The
disease had made further progress. He was unable to entertain
company or to receive visitors. His official business had to be
conducted at his country house. The doctors thought it would
not be safe that he .should leave Canada in the winter, and the
question was, whether under the circumstances, he could not best
perform his duty to his country by working on at the head of the
Government to the best of his ability. He clung to the struggle
to the last.

At this time the public were aware that he would soon depart
from among them. The press, in a most dastardly manner, attacked
him. It was like hi^ Ji'g a man down. Whatever his faults, there
he was, a suffering, nay, a dying man. Lord Stanley wrote to him
in a tone of unfailirg sympathy. AmiJ disappointment, amid
sickness, in that darkened room, around which surged truculent

* The Star.

< V

528

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

Ht;

abuse and coarse invective, the letters of Lord Stanley must have
been read with no little emotion. On the 2nd of Novembpv
Lord Stanley wrote enclosing an official letter accepting his re-
-signation, but authorizing him to make use of it or not as he saw
iit. The Queen st-nt hira the kindest messages.

The navigation was now about to close. Metcalfe must at once
decide whether he would remain at Montreal or go to England.
The question presented itself to his mind in another form also :
whether he should go away from a scene where the safety and
the interests of the Empire seemed to be identified with his pre-
sence. His mind was no longer what it was «''hen he was the
ruler of Delhi, and perhaps at no time was his enormous self-con-
fidence wholly destitute of a tendency to lean on others. He had
written from the Delhi Residency to his aunt, approving of hor
giving up the idea of her son's appointment to India — Why should
she make herself and her son miserable by parting never to meet
again? '' Take my situation," he had written on September the
10th, 1811 — " I have been more than eleven years from England;
and it will be certainly moi'e than eleven years before I can re-
turn. In these twenty-two or twenty-four years the best part of
my life will have passed away — that part in which all my feelings
will have been most alive to the different sensations of happiness
and misery arising out of different circumstances. I left my father
and mother just as I became acquainted with them as a man. I
have not once had their cheering smile to encourage my labours
in my profession." He was always tantalized by visions of family
peace and encouragement irom beloved relatives. All his life he
was denied this, and now he had come to the end. With all his
stern sense of duty and capacity for labour there was a slight
touch of the lotus-eater in him. Nor does he ever seem to have
realized the persistent tragedy of life.

In the present crisis he would not trust his own judgment.
He invited the leading members of his Council to attend him
at Monklands. He told them how matters stood and left the
issue in their hands. The scene in that darkened room could
never be forgotten by those who assisted at it. It was not
merely the aged cheek of Viger that was bedewed with tears.
Tears rolled down the stern face of Draper, then in the prime of

DEPARTURE OF METCALFE.

529

life and intellect. There was something heroic at that moment
about Metcalfe. Wealthy, distinguished, a Job in suffering, he was
still willing to remain in an uncongenial clime, and (as he deemed
it) an ungrateful colony, to die at his post, provided he could serve
his country, and was necessary to the men whom he had with so
much difficulty got around him. If they desired hi,:^ continuance
at the head of the Government he would remain. If the cause
they had at heart, for which they had fought side by side required
it, he would still hold on. But he shook his head, and told them
of the Queen's willingness to relieve him. They knew what was
the opinion of the doctor. They saw what a wreck was before
them. They could come to but one decision. They had learned
to love him. They were to see him no more. He was not merely
an object of devotion but of pity. They advised him with sobs
to seek rest and restoration in his native land, away from the
cares and anxieties of a trying position. On the 25 th November,
he embarked for England without popular demonstration of any
sort. He stole away without a cheer.

He arrived in England on the 16th December, 1845. Death
was now merely a question of time. A private residence was
secured for him in Mansfield Street, where Sir Benjamin Brodie
visited him daily. He had hoped to take his seat in the House of
Lords. But this it seemed was not to be. Garter- King-of-
Arms wrote him inclosing a formula of the ceremony. Court
robe-makers wanted to wait on him. A sorrowful smile passed
over his distorted mouth when he thought of the dreaih of his
young ambition. Never for a second was he free from pain un-
less when drugged. He bore his sufferings with a touching for-
titude. His gracious tenderness of manner did not desert him.
Old friends wrote to him that, if they should ever be afflicted,
they had learned from him a grand heroic lesson, and beautiful
as it was great. He would not take to a sick-room. He fnoved
about the house ; received visits from intimate friends ; dictated
letters ; showed interest in what was read to him ; took his drive
in the Park ; his bandaged face hidden from vulgar gaze behind
the curtains of the closed carriage. He was deluged by letters
and receipts and prescriptions from every quack and amateur doc-
tor in the country. He was pestered with begging letters. These
34

580

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

he did not consign to the waste-paper haskct. He had inquiries
instituted into each case. His bountiful hand was as active as
ever. His nature sensitive as ever to approval and sympathy,
a kindly address from the Oriental Club, which proved to
have been a wreath cast on his bier, was specially grateful
to him. Still more welcome, if possible, was an ad<^ress from
the people of Calcutta. Though aware that his end was at
hand, he wished everything to go on as if he wfcs in the prime of
life. He had a number of cases of books unpacked, and book-
shelves run up to the very attic windows. He continued to con-
verse cheerfully. His sense of humour laughed like a faun in the
face of death. He was more uncomplaining than in his vigorous
youth. The most querulous word he uttered was a rei)ly to the
remark, " I hope your Lordship has enjoyed your drive ;" he
cast a look upward, and said, " Enjoyment is now no word for
me." He sent parting tokens to his friends. The carriage
now began to go away from the door as it came. In the month
of April he retired to a quiet country seat in the neighbourhood
of Basingstoke. The disease caused a vein in the neck to burst.
The hscmorrhage was alarming. Mr. Martin was summoned by
telegraph from London. He found Lord Metcalfe in his sitting-
room exhausted from loss of blood. His attendants and family
had failed to overcome his stubborn determination. He would
not suffer himself to be carried to his sleeping apartment. " I
am glad you are come," he said to Martin, " for I feel rather faint
from loss of blood. They wanted to carry me up stairs, but to
that I have strong objections — what do you say ? " Martin said
he might be able to walk up to his bedroom. " That i& right," he
said, " I would not allow them to carry me." He took a number
of walking sticks, the spoils of travel, and across his mind flash-
ed the scenes of the Mahrattas war ; the campaigns under Lake
and Wellesley ; that struggle with robbers on his way from Cal-
cutta to the camp, in which he lost the tops of two fingers, the
after faintness on the brink of the broad river, on the skirt of the
perilous jungJ" • the storming the fortress of Deeg, and himself a
mere youth ai. a civilian, ^he first to enter the breach, the praise
of a great soldier, the noble title of the " Little Stormer ; " the
mission to Lahore ; the Hyderabad^^Presidency ; his power in Cal-

DEATH OF METCALFE.

681

nqiiiries
ctivo as
mpathy,
oved to
grateful
HH from
was at
>rime of
1(1 book-
to con-
n in the
vigorous
y to the
Lve ;" he
word for
carriage
e month
)ourhood
to burst,
loned by
J sitting-
d family
[e would
lent. " I
;her faint
if but to
irtin said
'ight," he
I number
nd flash-
der Lake
Tom Cal-
igers, the
rt of the
liimself a
be praise
ler ; " the
jr in Cal-

cutta ; the landing at Fort-Henderson in Jamaica — cane piece &uC
blue mountain and tropical sea ; Canada with its Hashing snows^
the wampum dyes of its Indian summer, its mediterranean seas,
its c(ueenly rivers, its imperial cataracts ; all this with the labour
and glory and power and disappc intment of his life came before
the inner eye of the <lying man. Pie selected from the bundle of
sticks one he had cut on that steep bank on which Brock's monu-
ment stands sentinel, which looks down on the whirling foam of
the stream rising out of the hell of rushing, hissing waters. " You
keep that," he said to Martin. Then selecting a bamboo — called
in India a Penang Lawyer, which he had brought from the shores
of the Sacred River, he said, " Now with Martin on the one side,
and the Penang Lawyer on the other, I think we shall make it
out." Thus leaning on Martin and the Penang Lawyer he went to
his room.

The wasted ruin of himself, he still experienced a vivid interest
in Indian affairs. He regretted he could not take his seat in the
House of Lords, to N-^ote in favour of Peel's Corn Bill. He dictated
a letter on its bearings in regard to Canada. He thought Canada
would ultimately derive benefit from freedom of trade.

From the time his malady became acute, it had always affected
him most in the autumn of the year. With the close of the month
of August a fever set in. The presentiment of near death was in
his breast. All, or nearly all whom he loved were around him.
There was one absent, little Mary Higginson, the daughter of his
friend and companion, Captain Higginson. " I think, Higginson,"
he said, " the end is near. I desire to see Mary before it coiues.
Hitherto, on her account, I have denied myself the gratification of
her company. You go and fetch her to me." When she came,
two days afterwards, the meeting quite overcame him. When he
recovered,he derived much comfort from the society, the sympathy,
the innocence and beauty of the child. She spent most of her
timo in his room, reading to him the story of that life of infinite
power and gentleness and love, on the crown of whose glory and
mysterious pangs is written : — " Suffer little children to come unto
Me, and forbid them not, for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven."
At the end of a week he said to her father : " I cannot have many
more days to live. You had better take Mary away that the dear

f! m

532

THK miHHMAN IN CANADA,

child may not witness the event." His quick sympathy, his
consideration for othcirs, his exquisite urhaiiity accompanie.l liim
to the very ^^ate of death. When Captain Hi^/^inson returned,
Mbtcali'e was no more.

CHAPTER XII.

On Lord Metcalfe's departure, Lord Cathcart became administrator
of the Government. On the 20th of March, 184G, Parliament was
opened, and on the 23rd the answer to the address was carried by
fcrty-three to twenty -s_ i votes. On the motion of Mr. Solici-
tor-General Sherwood, that the Clergy Reserves should be handed
over to the Church of England, the Mii stry, though sustained by
the eloquence of Mr. Draper, was defeated. In ji House of fifty
one, the GoM^rnment could only get fourteen votes. It is unne-
cessary to say they did not resign. Again, on May the 2!)th, they
were beaten. They proposed that certain cattle should be brought
into Canada from the United States free of duty. Baldwin and
his friends made a vigorous opposition to the measure, for which
the farmers of Canada were called on to thank these gentlemen.*
The session closed, leaving the Ministry in a more damaged posi-
tion than ever. Of the conduct of Baldwin in the debate, papers
which had denounced him in unsparing terms were constrained to
speak in terms of eulogy ."f* Ministers had been frequently defeated ;
King's College, the Clergy Reserves, the (Jivil List, were all made
open question?, la ohe previous Session, provision had been made
for the payment in Upper Canada of losses consequent on the

[AuTHOKiTlEa :—" Letters of Lord Elgin;" "The Men of '48," by Col. James
McGee; O'Neil Daunt's '"Ireland and Her Agitators;" Lord Grey's "Colonial
Policy;" "The Great Gamo." republished in Canada, with an introduction by a
Canadian (Nicholas Flood Davin) ; Alison's "History ;" Morgan's " Celebrities ; " The
Newspapers.]

• The Globe.

t The O'hniat, Nov. 17th, 1846.

THE TORY OOVKRNMI-INT ASSAILED BY TOUIKH.

533

hy, his
1 him
turned,

listrator
lent was
rried by
. Solici-
handed
lined by
of fifty
is unne-
)th, they
brought
win and
)r which
tlernen*
^ed posi-
3, papers
'aiiied to
lef eated ;
ill made
sen made
it on the

jol. James

" Colonial

iction by a

Hies ; " The

reltellion. During Lord 'lotcaife's time, a Coinmission was issued
to inquire into the losses uf Her Majesty's loyal subjects in Lower
Canada, and the Commission was renewed by Lord Cathcart. On
an unsatisfactory report of the Couunission, the Ministry, with the
view of conciliating Lower Canadian support, introduced a Bill
dealing with the losse.^. This, and especially the eti'oits made by
Draper, to get the assistance of Papineau, l)y recoi»imendi»»g that
his application for ariears of salary as Speakt^r of the Low«!r (Can-
adian House of Assi!nd)ly should bo considcsred, combined with
his unconcealed dissatisfaction with some of his colleagues, made
him unpopular with a portion of his own party. No Minister can
satisfy the hunger of all his greedy supporters, and the Tories were
now showing Draper their tusks, because he had thrown a moi'sel
or two to the rrore modiirate members of the party. In July there
was a reconstruction of the Ministry, which resulted in Mr. Henry
Sherwood going out, and Mr. John Hillyard Cameron coming in
as Solicitor-General, and bringing with him Mr. W. B. Robinson.
The opinion entertained of Cameron mu^t have been very high,
for he was made a Ministtir before he had a seat in Parliament.
On the other hand, there must have been very little political
talent in Parliament. At this time it was not merely the Reform
papers which assailed the meiubers of the Government, especially
" Sweet William," the "Artful Dodger," the "Giftec' Draper," as he
was variously called, the ministerial press and le- ..ing ministeiial
supporters assailed them. Their conduct was described by their own
journals as calculated to shake the confidence of their friends.*
Measures had been so dealt with that the Ministry was no more
responsible for them than the Opposition.*!* Other men had been in
office, but Mr. Baldwin had been in power. The Ministry was an
anomaly, a thing of shreds and patches,^ to which it was barely
possible the introduction of fresh material would bring more
vigour and political wisdom.§ A momentary aid was purchased
at the cost of principle by a Government, which, unfortu' ately.

* Montreal Courier, July 2Srd.
t Montreal Gazette, July 21.
t Woodstock ffei-ald, July 24th.
§ Kingston Kew», July 24th.

534

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

W8.S not above suspicion nor free from intrigue,* and Mr. Draper
and hia friends, who had long ceased to care for reputation, held
their officos for the sake of their salaries.*!* Mr. Go wan, Mr. Mof-
f xtt, Mr. Henry Sherwood (the late Solicitor- General) and others,
were unsparing in their criticism. When the boys of Upper Can-
ada College gave Mr. John Hillyard Cameron a dinner, a bitter
article appeared in one of the cleverest papers of that day, saying
that the new Solicitor-General was evidently to contribute the
virtue of the reconstituted administration, which was to resemble
a parish pudding, having a little of everything. At one time, in-
deed, it was intended that all the cardinal and other virtues
. hould be repres«^nted, beginning with candour, in tiie person of
Mr. Dra,per, and ending with liberality, in the person of Mr. Robin-
son. Mr. Cayley was to personify humility, and Mr. Smith, hav-
ing neither virtues nor vices, was to be justified as the incarna-
tion of constitutional law.T

On November the 14th, the Reformers of West Halton enter-
tained the Hon. Robert Baldwin at a public dinner. Two days
afterwards the Reformers of Norfolk paid him a similar compli-
ment.

Sick of public life, Mr. Draper, it was well known, had deter-
mined to go on the bench. There was some uiscussion as to who
should lead the Conservative party in that event. There could
be no greater evidence of the ability and precocious statesmanship
of Mr. John A. Macdonald than that he should have been one of
the persons who?e claims were discussed.

A new hope came to the Baldwinites by the advent of a man
whose conduct in Canada, had he distinguished himself nowhere
else, would have entitled him to the praise of the historian.

* H.i" lilton Spectator,
t Brit's-h Whii/.

t The Times of Montreal, a Conservative i)aijer. The remarks of the Times were
suggested bj J. Hiiiyard Cameron, concluding his speech with the lines —

'* If I'm traduced by tongues, which neither know
My facilities or person, yet will be
The chroniclers of my doing—
'TIj but the fate of place, and the rough brake
That virt'ie must^o through."

■■•p7^'lf7K»r-

LORD ELGIN.

535

James, the eighth Earl of Elgin and twelfth Earl of Kincardine,
was born in London on the 20th July, 1811. His father was the
hero of the Elgin marbles. Lord Byron's satire puts a curse into
the mouth of Pallas which happily was not fulfilled, and the future
Governor-General of Canada gave promise at an early age of the
Urge gifts which illustrated his manhood. At Eton ho was the
contemporary of Lord Canning, Lord Dalhousie, the Duke of New-
castle, Sidney Herbert, and Mr. Gladstone. At Oxford he took a
first class in classics. He and Mr. Gladstone read Plato and the
prose works of Milton together. Having left the University, he
divided his time between disentangling the family property from
its embarrassments, commanding a troop of yeomanry, presiding
at farmers' dinners, speaking on the same platforms as Dr. Chal-
mers in favour of church extension. During this period he used
to take long solitary rides over field and fell, beating out his
thoughts into sonnets and dreaming of greatness.

In 1840 he became heir to the earldom, and the following year
married. A general election took place in July, 1841, and he
stood for Southampton. He was returned at the head of the poll.
At a banquet where he was entertained he gave an admirable ac-
count of his political views. " I am a Conservative," he said, " not
upon principles of exclusionism — not from narrowness of view, or
illiberality of st^ntiment — but because I believe that our admir-
able constitution, on principles more exalted and under sanctions
more holy than those which Owenism or Socialism can boast, pro-
claims between men of all classes in the body politic, a sacred
bond of brotherhood in the recognition of a common warfare here
and a common hope hereafter. I am a Conservative, not because
I am adverse to improvement, not because I am unwilling to re-
pair what is w .tea, or to supply what is defective in the political
fabric, but b cse I am satisfied that in order to improve effectu-
ally you must be resolved most religiously to preserve." Just as
he was giving pj omise of distinction in the House of Commons
the death of his father removed him to the House of Lords, where
the foundation of a great political career can niver be laid. When,
therefore, .n 1842, Lord Stanley ottered him the p'^stof Governor
of Jamaica he had no temptation to refuse it. He played a diffi-
cult part well and returned to England in 184C, on leave, to find

630

TIJE IIUSHMAN IN CANADA.

the Colonial Office ruled by his old schoolfellow, Mr, Gladstone,
into 'rt hose hands the seals passed on the break up of the Tory
party in the spring. Mr. Gladstone was soon succeeded l^y Lord
Gi'ey who having failed to induce I^oid Elgin to retain the govern-
ment of Jamaica, offered him that of Canada. His first wife died
in 1.843. He now married Lady Mary Louisa Lambton, daughter
of the first Eail of Durham, and in the early days of the year 1847
they sailed for the American continent. His second marriage to
a child of the man who had embodied Baldwin's views in an
elaborate report, would not diminish his desire to carry out con-
stitutional principles.

He arrived at Montreal on the 20th of January, 1847. He
agreed to make his entrance into Montreal on the following day.
Accordingly he got into a ona-horse sleigh and drove to the en-
trance of the town where a procession was formed, in which the
various societies took part. It was in his favour that — unlike his
predecessors — he was a man in the vigour of early middle age,
that he was the husband of Lord Durham's daughter, that he spoke
with fluency and grace. There was, however, iimeh to discpiiet an
observant Governor. The Ministry was as weak as a lot of spilled
peas, and when a change of Administration occurred to His Ex-
cellency as a probability, he reflected that there was no real political
life, only that pale and distorted reflection of it which is apt to
exist in a colony, before it has learned to look within itself for the
centre of power. Parties formed themselves, not on the base of
principle but with reference to petty local and personal interests.

Ho would have been willing to njeet the Asseud)ly at once. But
for this his Ministers were too weak. These Ministers were con-
vinced that the regular Opposition would resist whatever they pro-
posed, and that any fragments of their own side who hap))ened
not to be able to get what they wanted would join the Opposition.
When he advised them to go down to Parliament with good meas-
ures and the [)restige of a new Governor, when he bade them rely
on the support of public opinion, they smiled and shook their
heads. They were not credulous of the existence of such a con-
trolling power. Their faith in ai)peals to selfish and sordid motives
was unqualifie<l. Nevertluiless the Governor knew that as a states-
man he must take the world as he found it. There is no use in

RK-OONSTITUTION OF MINISTRY.

537

looking for five legs of mutton from ft Hhecp, If new olemcnts
of strength were rc(iuire<l to enable the Government to go on, he
thought the French .should have an opportunity <<f entering the
MiniHtry in the first in.stance. He showed his forei^ight by <leter-
mining to aim at splitting the French into a Liberal and a Con-
servative party. If this split took place tJie national element
would be merged in the political.

In the months of A})ril and May the tottering Ministry n)a<le
desperate efi^brts to strengthen itself, but all persuasion faile<l with
French leaders of the least influence. Mr. Draper and Mi-. Smith
slipped into judgeships, and Messrs. Daly and (Jayley sought to
re-constitute the Ministry. Mr. John Hillyard Cameron wa.s ottered
the post of Attorney-General forW<jstern(yanada.,and the leadership
in the House of Assembly. On going to Montreal, however, where
he found Henry Sherwood raging at what he considered the sliglit
placed on him, M.. Cameron detertuined to renmin Soiicitor-
Oeneral and let the position of leader be an open (question. Mr.
William Badgloy, a judge i*i one of the Bankiiipt Courts, was in-
duced to take the Attorn(!y-G(!ncralship, whereupon M. Taschereau,
the Solicitor-General, who felt that a slur had been cast upon him,
threw up his ottice and expressed his determination to go into Op-
position — a danger- which was avoided by giving the angry lawyer
a Circuit-Judg<!ship. IVIr. Morris, having vacated the Receiver-
Generalship to succeed M. Viger as President of tne Council, Mr.
Johr A. Macdonald, " a young Kingston lawyiir," became Receiver-
General. Against the new Minister m ere brought the danming
charges of youth : that during two scissions he had scarcely opened
his mouth — blessed example for the present day if men would only
follow it ! — and that he was a third-class lawyer, who knew nothing
about fiscal attkirs.

Lord Elgin's diagnosis of the diseased condition of things in
his tirne is worthy of .^(udy. Several cases co-operated to give to
personal and party interest an over-weening importance. I'hcre
were no real grievances to stir the depths of tlie popular mind.
The Canadian people were a Comfortable peo[)le with plenty to
eat and drink. Envy was not excited by a privileged class.
There were no taxes to irritate. It wouhl b(j an ungrateful fhing
to view with the least regret such blesHin!!;H, which neverthelcsR

538

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

accounted for the selfishness of public men and their indiiference
to the higher aims of statesmanship. The po})ular bodies consist-
ing of a small n umber of members were unfavourable to high
principle and feeling in statesmen. A majority of ten in an as-
sembly of seventy might be, according to Cocker, equivalent to a
majority of one hundred in an assembly of seven hundred. In
practice it was far other ivise. A defection of two or three put
the Administration in peril. Hence the perpetual patch-work and
trafficking to secure this vote and that, which so engrossed the
time and thoughts of Mrnistei-s that they had no leisure for mat-
ters of greater moment. His course was under the circumstances
clearly, frankly, and without reserve to give his Ministers all con-
stitutional support. In return he expected them to carry out his
views to the best of their ability for the maintenance of British con-
nexion. He never concealed from them that he intended to do
notjjng which would prevent him from, working cordially with
their opponents if they were forced on him. That Ministers and
opponents should occasionally change places was the very essence
of our constitutional svstem. Nor was it the least conservative
clement it contained. Subjecting all sections of politicians in their
tui'n to official responsibilities obliged heated partisans to place
feome restraint on passion, and to confine the patriotic zeal of the
cold shade within the bounds of decency. To secure these advan-
tages it was indispensable that the head of the government should
show that he had confidence in the loyalty of all the influential
parties with which he had to deal. What trouble and failure
Lord Metcalfe might liave saved himself had he only taken this
wise, logicoi, and constitutional view. All Lora Elgin's letters
are instinct with the conviction that the remedy for most of the
evils he regretted was to be found in the principles uf govern-
ment, first enunciated by Baldwin and put in an authoritative shape
bv Lord Durham.

Parliament was opene<l at Montreal on the 2nd of June by Lord
Elgin. In his Speech there was not much to provoke adverse
criticism. The Imperial Government was prepared t-o sui render
to colonial authorities the control of the Post-office Department.
The House was empowered by Imperial .statute to re})ual the
dilferent duties in favour of British manufactures. To provide

. !

DRAPER S FAREWELL.

539

increased warehouse facilities for inland ports had become a mat-
ter of immediate necessity. Reference was made to the survey
of the proposed rail-road from Quebec to Halifax, to the copy-
right question, and to the preparations for the immense immigra-
tion which was imminent. If the debate had been at once raised
and the division had been immediately taken there would have
been a tie and the casting vote of the Speaker would have caused
the fall of the Ministry. Sherwood, John A, Macdonald, and
Badgley were absent for re-election. There were two seats vacant,
Dorchester and London. The answer to the addre.ss was put otf
by the Government as long as possible. When at last it came
on the Opposition led by Baldwin made a vigorous attack on the
Ministry. Mr. Draper had been offered a judicial appointment,
but put off accepting it until after the division. The discussion
was kept up until Mr. Badgley was elected. When he entered
the iiouse on the eleventh night of the session the division was
taken. Mr. Badgley theoretically knew nothing of the discussion.
He voted however as a matter of course with his colleagues.

Mr. Draper closed the debate and made his farewell speech.
On the tirst day of the session he spoke from the independent
seats, but now he spoke from his old place on the ministerial
benches. In his speech he justified Baldwin's resignation, for he
pronounced Responsible Government to be the only system on
which Canada could be j/ovemed. He had the audacity to as-
severate that on that })rin(iple he held office under Lord Metcalfe.
He avowed his conviction that government patronage should be
used for strengthening tlie hands of the Adjiiinistratation of the
day, and that for all appointments including the militia appoint-
ments the Government wore responsible. Had the Governor
General appointed any gentleman to tl ■ Deputy Adjutant Gener-
alship without consulting him while he was his confidential
adviser he could not have thrown off his responsibility, he would
have instantly resigned his office. This statement was received
with cheers and cries of "hear! hear!" from the Opposition.
" Hear ! hear ! or not " he cried, " that was my position as to
militia and all other appointments. It is the first time 1 stated
it publicly, but I had no hesitation in doing it in the proper
place." The cheei '.ng again burst forth from the Opposition. Mr.

'i
i

,ij.

'<«!<

540

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

(» P'.

.j'

Draper's farewell was a satire on Lord Metcalfe and a eulogy by
implication on Mr. Baldwin.

On a division Baldwin's amendment was negatived by a major-
ity of two. Each clause of the answer of the Government was
voted on, and with the same result. On the yeas and nays being
called and the name of Draper appearing among the yeas, Mr.
Aylwin, amid great confusion, asked him whether he had not
accepted a judgeship. Dominick Daly said Mr. Draper had not
accepted a judgeship. Mr. Aylwin insisted on knowing whether
Mr. Draper had not publicly stated that he had accepted a Queen's
Bench Judgeship and would preside at the next assize. Mr. Draper
now rose and said he would not answer that question. He had
not accepted the vacant Queen's Bench Judgeship, V>ut he would
do so within twelve hours. This declaration was received with
uproar on the opposition benches.

Notwithstanding the weakness of the Ministry, a fair share of
business was got through, and when the session terminated on
the 28th of July, it was found that one hundrer and ten Acts had
been passed. But the Ministry had sustained serious defeats and
everything pointed to a dissolution and a general election. Both
parties made vigorous preparations for the coming stru, gle, and
throughout the country for four or five months nothing was done
but to hold convcmtions, nominate candidates, start newspapers,
agitate and organize. Mr. Hincks who had paid a visit to his
native countiy, was, in his absence, nominated for Oxford.

Parliament was dissolved on the lOth of Deceiuber, the writs
being made returnable for the 24"^! of January. The Baldwinites
swept everything before them. Hincks was returned for Oxford,
Baldwin ^br the fourth Riding of York ; Blake was returned for
the third Riding ; for Montreal, L. H. Lafontaino and Benjamin
Holmes. Among the Reformers we see Joseph Cauchon retuiTiea
for Montmorenci. The Reformers or Baldwinites Cf)unted on fifty-
seven votes, the Tories having only twenty-seven Of coui'se, our
old friend Dominick Daly made his appearance, for the faithful
Megantic had again returned him.

Meanwhile an immense emigration had poured into the coun-
try. The Irish famine drove the half dying peasant across the
Atlantic only to find a grave on Canadian soil. One pallid army

A FAMISHED IMMIGRATION.

541

after another Htopped at Grosse Isle, and there leaving' their dead
behind them jmshed on in overcrowded steaniei's to the western
towns and villages. A peasant, Mr. MeGraa, who is now a rich
farmer in Bentinck, who worked in Ireland for a miserable pit-
tance breaking stones, who worked afterwards on Grosse Isle,
writes to me in bad spelling, but vigorous language, that you
would have thought the poor people were the ghosts of Irish emi-
grants, not the emigrants themselves.

Lord Elgin wrote home to Lord Grey that the immigration
was a frightful scourge, that thousands upon thousands of poor
wretches were arriving, incapable of work, and scattering the seeds
of disease and death. Already five or six hundred or})hans had ac-
cumulated at Montreal. The Canadian people behaved well in
the face of this in-coming tide of want and misery. Irishmen
should always remember that, when the doors of the United States
were closed against the sick and miserable of their countrymen,
Canada's gates were open.*

Before the starving emigrants touched these shores, the heart
of the people of Canada went out in sympathy to Ireland, over
which the pall of famine was spread, where the coroners were
exhausted, their verdicts being in all cases, " Death from starva-
tion," and large sums were collected to relieve the distress in
Ireland and in the islands of Scotland.

In February, a meeting was held at the old City Hall at Toronto
to devise measures for the relief of Ireland. The Hall was tilled to
overflowing. Ladies were numerous, as they always are wlienever
there is any good to be done. The Hon. Robert Baldwin oceu-
pied the chair, and among the speakers who moved resolutions
and urged the claims of the suffering Irish on the benevolence of
their fellow-countrymen were the Rev. Dr. McCanl, Mr. John
Duggan, Mr. Skeffington Connor, Mr. George Duggan, Mr. (now
Chief Justice) Hagarty, wiio spoke Avith great feeling and elo-

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on the public. It is not wholly true, therefore, what one oi the United States poet*
says :—

" For her free latch-string never was drawn in
Against the poorest child of Adam's kin."

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542

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

quence, the Hon. R. B. Sullivan, Dr. Hayes, and Colonel Baldwin.
A large committee was appointed, in which the names of Bald-
win, Blake, Bradley, Beaty, Bernard, Bowes, Brown, Duggan,
Dunh'vy, Daly, Davis, Fr;.;nch, Fitzgerald, Fitzgiblwn, J. W.
Gwynue, Clarke Gamble, and George Homck, are found among
many others. A large subscription made up of donations of £26,
£15, and the like was taken on the spot.

It was from such distress as ( -onnor described that the crowded
shiploads of miserable emigrants sailed from the Loch of Belfast,
from Dublin Bay, from (^^ork Harbour, from the Shannon. The
Roman Catholic Archbishop Power fell a victim here to the emi-
grant fever.

To return to politics. The (question now was, what would the
Ministry do ? Would they resign before meeting Parliament ? Or
would they, as they seemed bound to do, meet Parliament, and
offer such explanations as the circumstances suggested.

Parliament Uict on the 25th February, 1848. The Hon. W.
Cay ley proposed Sir Allan MacNab as Chairman, and Colonel
Prince, the father of Captain Prince, and who was accustomed t •
describe himself as " an English gentleman, ij<-'conded the motion.
It was lost by a majority of thirty-live in a house of seventy-three.
The Reformers were elated. Morin was then chosen unanimously.
The " editorial " con-esponden ^ of a Toronto paper — no other, I
believe ,Jthan Mr. George Brown — proceeded to quiz the Ministers
in a humorous manner.*

The Ministry which had struggled so hard to keep in power,
fell at last. Immediately after the division on the address on
Saturday, the 4th day of March, they tendered their resignations
in a body, and Baldwin and Lafontainc were entrusted with the
work of forming a government. Mr. Blake was out of the coun-
try at this time, but on his return he was made Solicitor-General
(West) ; Baldwin being Attorney-General ; Lafontaine, Attorney-
General (East) ; Aylwin, Solicitor-General (East) ; Mr. Sullivan,

• Among the quizzed was .John A. Macdonald. He was told to go back to Kingston,
for his '* stories have lost the prestige with which the rollicking boys about town re-
ceived them, and when people ask you ten years hence how, in the name of commuu
sense, ^ou got ' Hon.' attached to your name, you can scratch your wig, and tell them
if you can."

NEW MINISTRY.

64»

became Secretary of the Province of Canada; Hincks, Insp(!ctor-
Oeneral of" Public Accounts ; James Lesslie, President of the Com-
mittee of the Executive Council ; Caron, Spcak&r of the Legislative
Council ; James Harvey Price, Commissioner of Crown Lands ;
Viger, Receiver-General ; Tache, Chief Commissioner of Public
Works; Mr. Cameron, Assistant-Commissioncn-. This was one of the
ablest Cabinets which has ever directed our affairs. The triumph
of the principle of Responsible GovernTucnt, after a gallant struggle
of more than ten years, conducted ahnost wholly by Irish leaders,
was now complete.

A few days after the change of Ministry, news reached Cannda
of the revolution of February, in Paris. Lord Elgin rejoiced that
he had committed the flag of Britain to the custody of those who
were supported by the large majority of the representatives of the
people. There were not wanting persons who might have sought
to turn that news to account, and make it an opportunity for
seditious harangues.

The repeal movement in Ireland threatened at one time to give
trouble to Canada. In June, the walls of Montreal were full of
placards calling an Irish Republican meeting. A Mr. O'Connor,
who represented himself to be editor of a New York paper, and a
member of the Irish Republican Union, was to speak. He was,
meanwhile, busy getting persons to give him their names to pro-
pose and second resolutions. He tried the tempers of Irish mem-
bers of the legislature, and asked a member of the Opposition
to give him assistance. Before September there would be a general
rising in Ireland. The body to which O'Connor belonged had
been instituted to abet the movement. The great mass of the
people of the States, according to O'Connor, supported it. Funds
were forthcoming in plenty. Arms were being sent across the
Atlantic. Soldiera were hastening to Ireland to act as drill sergeants
in the clubs. An American General just returned from Mexico,
was to take command at the proper time. From seven hundred
to eight hundred thousand men, a force with which Great Britain
could not cope, would be brought in the field. When the English
had been expelled, the Irish would be called on to determine whe-
ther the Queen was to be the bead of the polit'.cal system, or not.
O'Connor had 3ome to Canada to arrange for a diversion here, at

544

THE 1K18UMAN IN CANADA.

tho time of the outbreak in Iroluiid. Fifty thou.sarid Irish wore
ready to inarch into (/'anada at a moinont',' notice. There was no
HacriHce which O'CJonnor and thouHands who felt with him, were
not ready to make if they could only huml)le En;:jland and reduce
her to a tldrd-rate |)ower. Mark this, credulous Jrislimen and
Irishwomen, who trust sue!) wind-ha|,js and subscribe your money
to enable thism to play the travelling conspirator. Five minutes
after the discreet (/(jonnor had told all this to an M.P.P. (whoso
Hecret went down to the grave witli Lord Elgin), that M.l'.P. had
put Lord Elgin in possession of all the consj)irator's great schemes!

The place originally selected for this monster meeting was the
Bonsecours Markcit, a covered building under the control of the
Corporati(jn. Tlie Government sent for the Mayor, and told him
tliey considered it unbecoming tliat he sljould give tlie room for
such n pur"j)ose. 'I'he Mayor thereupon withdrew his permission,
Tlie leaders of the movement then fixed on an open space near tho
centre of the town for their gathering.

The meeting took place on the 17th of July, and proved a com-
plete failure. The Irish of Montreal liad more sen.se than Mr.
O'Cornior gave them credit for. Not a single man of importance
among the Repeal party attended. Some Imndreds of persons
went to hear the speeches, but were dispersed by a timely thun-
der shower, O'Connor was of c(mrse violent. Had he not taken
liimself off, lie would pr(jbaV)ly have boon arrested.

In the autumn, the (Jove^nment, the Legislative Council, the
country lost the great services of Sullivan as a politician. When
the BaMwin Government resigned office, Mr, Sullivan resumed
the practice of his profession in Toronto, and no stronger evidence
could be given of the public appreciation of his abilities than the
success which he attained He obtained almost inmiediately an
extensive practice in tho Up[)er Canada Courts, and wa.^ likewise
much occupied in the j)olitical contests which woio carried on dur-
ing that whole [)eriod of intense excitement with unabated zeal
by the Reformers. It was at this time that Mr. Sullivan wrote
the letter- under the nom de plume of " Legion," in reply to the
Rev. Mr. Ryerson, who undertook the defence of Sir Charles Met-
.calfe. Those letters, which produced a considerable effect at the
time, have been recalled to the memory of those living during

DKATrr OF SULLIVAN.

545

the Htorniy porio<i of Lord MotcalfoH (jlov«jrnriH;nt, by an articU)
on Canadian noniH tie plujne, in tlm " Canadian Journal of Science,
Literature and Histcjry," by tlio Rev. Dr. Scaddin;^ of Toronto,
Of the New Ministry of IH48, Mr. Sullivan became, aH a matter
of course, a member, as Secretary of State. In the autumn of
that year a vacancy occurred on the U[)per < Canada Bencli by the
death of Judge JorieH, and the vacant appointment, having been
offered to Mr. Sullivan, was accepted by him. Heliad only justmade
arrangements for his residence in Montreal, when lie was obliged
to return to Toronto, where he continued in the discharge of his
judicial duties until his death, in the year 1853, in the fifty-
second year of his age. Mr, Sullivan was never a strong party
politician, but no statesman of his time entertained larger ^/iews
on the great rneastires for the advancement of his af'op^ed country.
When President of the Council, he used to sit silent, making pen
and ink drawings, whih* his colleagues discussed measures and
projects. Sometimes iio would say : — "Fix on your policy. Take
what course you like, and I will find you good reasons for doing
so." He was witliout political passion, though a statesman. His
mind had too much of the a<lvocate in it. He inaugurated the free
grant system. Of all the great public improvements he was a
zealous advocate. He was, perhaps, too prone to undervalue those
questions to which the leaders of the rival parties attached great
weight. He was a persuasive orator, and wrote with great clear-
ness and rapidity. For several years all the minutes of Council
and other State papers were written by him. Mr. Sullivan was
twice married — first, in 1829, to Cecilia Eliza, daughter of Cap-
tain Jcjhn Matthews, R.A., and M.P.P,, of Lobo, County of Middle-
sex, by whom he had one daughter, who died in infancy; secondly,
in December, 1833, to Emily Louisa, daughter of Lieutenant-
Colonel Philip Delatre, by whom he had a numerous family. This
lady is now Lady Hincks,

Sullivan's place in the Legislative Council was filled by Mr.
John Ross, who was bom in the County of Antrim in 1818, and
was brought to Canafla a few months afterwards. He was called
to the bar in 1830. Ffe worked hanl for Baldwin in tlie (Jounty
of Hastings, He established a paper in the interest of the Re-
form pariy. In the year following his elevation to the Legislative
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THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

Council he was offered a seat in the Executive, but declined it.
When Mr. Hincks reconstituted the Government in 1851, how-
ever, he accepted the post of Solicitor-General. In 1852 he went
to England to complete the contracts for the construction of the
Grand Trunk Railway, of which he became president. He took
a prominent part in the construction of the Victoria Bridge. On
the elevation of Mr. Richards to the bench he became At tome v-
General. On the formation of MacNab's Coalition Government,
he became Speaker of the Legislative Council. In the Macdonald
Ministry of 1858, he became Receiver-General. Ee was Presi-
dent of the Council in Cartier's Administration.

Why Sullivan, in the prime of his powers, should hr^ve gone on
the bench is a puzzle. Perhaps he thought there was no further
ground for strife in Canadian politics. If so he was mistaken. As
the year drew to ity close the repeal of the Navigation Laws turned
msn's minds away from Irish and French affairs. The abolition
of those laws was accidentally connected with a question which was
not to be settled before violence had disgraced and injured the
country.

The opposition leaders were mostly drawn from the debris of
the Family Compact ; and the real Conservatives — those men who
only sought the good of the country, and believed that good
could best be produced by hastening slowly, were either thrust
out of sight by the busy noisy activity of the baffled, disappoiutf d,
angry minions of a dethroned oligarchy, which combined the
vices of a tyranny and a faction, the exclusive pride of an aristo-
cracy, with the meanness of bureaucratic paupers — men who
wanted to be Ministers, and did not understand the Constitution
they would administer. Fighting side by side with such men were
others like Mr. John A. Macdonald, who had had no connexion
witl" ♦^lie unholy Compact, wlio understood constitutional princi-
ples and knew the value to the country of an effective Opposition.
But the great wave of Conservative feeling went to swell the tide
which upbore Baldwin. It was easy to see which was the more
constitutional statesman, Baldwin or Sherwood.

There were even men witljout Sherwood's political dulness, who
would iiave loathed to imitate or endorse his brazen conduct, who
yet, from tiic fact that their families had been so long in power

EFFECT OF FREE TRADE.

547

had come to think reigning was theirs by prescription. All the
wrath with which the dying Family Compact was stirred on see-
ing " rebels," as the French leaders were considered by some, taken
into the confidence :^^ the Governor-General, was not unrighteous
though illogical, while the discontent and the sense of injury
from another cause were not unreasonable.

The Free Trade Act of 1846, which dealt the Irish farmer so
severe a blow, hit ver} hard the wealthy farmers and " aristo-
cracy " of Canada, who had gone largely into the flour trade.
By the Canada Corn Act of 1843 not only the wheat of Canada
but also its flour was admitted into England at a nominal duty.
To-day we see the Reformers holding by free trade and Con-
servatives arguing for a modified protection. Baldwin de-
feated an efibrt made by the leading men of the Tories, and
supported by rn<»mbers of the Draper Government to reduce
the duty on coxi imported by the States into Canada. The
millers w^ould, of course, have benefited while the farmers would
have f-iuffered. A great amount of capital had in fact been in-
vestea in mills to grind American wheat for the British market.
" But " says Lord Grey, " almost before these arrangements were
fully completed, and the newly built mills fairly at work, the Act
of 1846 swept away the advantage conferred upon Canada in
respect to the corn trade with this country, and thus brought
upon the Province a frightful amount of loss to individuals and a
great derangement of the colonial finances." Lord Elgin pressed
the haidships of Canada on the Colonial Office. He pointed out
how Stanley's Bill bad attracted all the produce of the west to
the St. Lawrence, and drew all the disposable capital of the Pro-
vince into grin ding-mills, warehouses, and forwarding establish-
ments. P< 31*8 Bill, on the othe. hand, drove the whole product
down the New York channels of communication, destroying the
revenue Canada had expected from cereal dues. Millowners, for-
warders, and merchants were ruined. Private property became
unsaleable. I'iot a shilling, Lord Elgin wrote, could be raised on
tbo credit of the Province. The country was reduced to the
necessity of paying every public officer, from the Governor-Gene-
ral to a landing waiter in debentures which were not exchange-
able at par. What made the matter more serious was this. The

■-^^

548

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

prosperity of which Canada was robbed was transferred below the
line, " as if," T»Tote His Excellency^ " to make Canadians feel
more bitterly how much kinder England is to the children who
desert her than to those who remain faithful. For," he added,
" I care not whether you be protectionist or free trader ib is the
inconsistency of Imperial legislation, and not the adoption of one
policy rather than another, which is the bane of the colonies. I
believe the conviction that they would be better if they were
' annexed ' is almost universal among the commercial classes at
present, and the peaceful condition of the Province under all the
circumstances of the times is, I must confess, often a matter of
great astonishment to myself." Lord Elgin held enlightened views
on free trade. He had just entered the Houp'^ of Commons in 1842,
and waschosen to second'the Address. In the course of a remarkable
first speech, he said he would always be prepared to vote for free
trade on " principles of reciprocity." In 1848, when almost the
whole of the Empire was being converted, not merely to Adam
Smith's views, but to a politico-economic fanaticism which was
being .superstructed on the clear, sound, and save in minor details,
irrefragable) treatise of the great Scotchman, it would have been
useless to advocate a return to a protective policy. Nor is there
any evidence to lead us to suppose that Lord Elgin, had it been
feasible, would have counselled such a course. He and Baldwin
seem, on the conti^ary, to have felt that the remedy for Canada's
distress was to be found in a further development of tlie free trade
prliiciple. The Navigation Laws cramped the commerce of Canada
by restricting it to British vessels. Trade with the V nited States
was hampe-ed, as it is to-day, by an unwise and, in the domain
of political economy, untenable system of duties. Baldwin and
Lord Elgin felt that the dawn of renewed prosperity would follow
the repeal of the Navigation Laws and the establishment of a
treaty arrangement with the United States, giving them the navi-
gation of the St. Lawrence on the adnussion to their markets of
Canadian produce free of duty. Elgin's cultivated, thoughtful mind
had felt the captivation of the idea of the British Empire one vast
ZoUverein, with free interchange of commodities and uniform
duties against the world without. He saw, however, that +his
7"^uld be impossible without Federal Legislation, such as m^ J.

TRADE WITH THE UNITED STATESS.

54^

late been frequently advocated in totally impracticable and doubt-
fully practical forms. Under such a system, the component parts
of the Empire would be united by the closest bo:ids, which could
not be supplied by the i)olicy on whicii the lixiperial Legislature
was then entering. The die was cast, and Canada should be
allowed to turn to th > best possible account her contiguity to the
States. The Canadian farmer got less for his wheat than the
American farmer — a state of things which, in its probable effect
on the loyalty of the farmers, filled the Governor's mind with the
gravest apprehensions. He saw the great advantage the admis-
sion of Americans to the St. Lawrence would be to them, and a
quid pro quo ought to be exacted. He was sanguine that the
necessary measures would have been at once brought to play on
the strained situation. When he found himself disappointed his
anxiety deepened. On the 10th of -n-Ugust, 1848, he wrote that
the news from Ireland, the determination of Government not
to repeal the Navigation Laws then, doubts whether the Ameri-
can Congress would pass Reciprocity, menaces of rebellious sym-
pathisers in the Republic, all flung alarming hues over the position
of the colony.

First, there was the Irish Repeal body. He need not describe
them. The Colonial Minister might look at home. They were
in Canada just what they were in Ireland, And what good it
may be asked here, in pabsiug, did this Irish Repeal party in Can-
ada do ? Agitating for re]5eal o/' +he Union in Canada was folly,
because the lever ox agitation on this side of the Atlantic could
never touch the object to be moved ; the fulcrum had no soli-
dity, and rested on a yielding base ; the agitators themselves, so
far as Ireland was concerned, were but the pale reflections of agita-
tors castfrom onesphere on to another. They were men in themoon
trying to plough the fields on our planet. They could disturb
Canada. They could not serve Ireland. But if they could not serve
Ireland, they could injure themselves and their fellow Irishmen.
They could impart to the community at large the impression that
Irishmen were impracticable ; they could tend to make the best
Irishmen in the land apathetic regarding Irish brotherly feeling ;
they could waste precious hours and priceless energies which
might have been devoted to elevating their own position, and

fOI

650

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

'i hn

-\-m

furthering the prosperity of their adopted country ; they could
squander time in rant which should have been given up to read-
ing. It has been the bane of Irishmen to be over-flattered by
their orators, and by those who have written about them with
any sympathy. But there are men who love and respect
Irishmen too much to flatter them, who believe that no other foun-
dation can be laid for individual or national gi'eatness, than truth,
who have not drunk of the maddening cup of distorting passion,
who have not bowed the knee to the foul idol of literary misre-
presentation, on whose ear — spanning the chasm where boil, and
rage, and struggle, and howl the conflicts of the hour — fall the
rythmic harmonies of the movements of God's purposes, sweeten-
ing the bitter heart, and giving to the distressed mind, notwith-
standing all disturbing memories, calm.

Among the other causes enumerated by Lord Elgin, as calcu-
lated to create uneasiness, was the French population. Their
attitude as regarded England and America, was that of an armed
neutrality. They did not exactly like the Americans, but they
were " the conquered, oppressed subjects of England," notwith-
standing such trifles as governing tlien> selves, and paying no taxes.
They were the victims of British egotism. Was not the union of
the Provinces carried without their consent, and with the object
of establishing British domination ? Did not Papineau, their press,
and other authorities tell them so ?

The mercantile classes were thoroughly disgusted and " luke-
warm in their allegiance." Like all colonists they charged their
misfortunes, let them come whence they might, on the Mother
Country. Lord Elgin admitted that, as matters stood, it was easy
to show that the faithful subject of Her Majestj'^ was placed on a
worse footing as regarded trade with the Mother country than
the rebels over the lines. The same man who met the candidate
for the English borough with : — '* Why sir, I voted red all my
life, and I never got anything by it ; this time I intend to vote
blue" — addressed you in Canada with " I have been all along one
of the steadiest supporters of the British Government, but really,
if claims such as mine are not more thought of, I shall begin to
consider whether other institutions are not preferable to ours."

Such were the difficulties with which Lord Elgin and BakI'vin

I -'1:11

iHii

COMMERCIAL DEPRESSION.

561

had to conte'i 1.. But the dangers were dispelled mainly by the
frank adoption and consistent maintenance of the principle of Re-
sponsible Government. The words of Lord Melbourne applied by
Mr. Walrond to Lord Elgin are quite as applicable to the origina-
tor of the idea of Responsible Government, Robert Baldwin: — "My
Lords, yov an never fully appreciate the merits of that great
man. You chJl appreciate the acts which he pul)licly performed,
but you cannot appreciate, for you cannot know, the great mis-
chiefs which he unostentatiously prevented." In addition to his
political functions Lord Elgin added the equally noble capacity
of being a social force, though his speeches smell slightly of
the lamp, and all he does smacks somewhat of the prig.

Canada has seen many a prosperous day since 1848. It is
always useful to recall the gloomy feelings of a time of depres-
sion. r>r. Johnson usc-l to tell his friends who were in trouble
or who suffered from loss, to consider how little they would think
of the matter twelve months after. This sound philosophy holds
for nations and parties as well as for indi /iduals. At the close
of the Franco-Germanic war, France seemed to many, in a condi-
tion of despair. Those who knew her wealth and the happy
elasticity of the human mind, looked forward with confidence to
what we see to-day. The winter of 1848 in Canada passed
quietly away through a tunnel of commercial gloom. Lord Elgin
found himself, when writing to the Colonial Office, using the
words, " downward progress of events." Property in most Cana-
dian towns, and especially in Montreal, bad fallen fifty per cent,
in value within three years. Three-foi<rth, of the conunercial
men had, owing to fiee trade, become bankrupt. A large pro-
portion of the exportable produce was obliged to neek a market
in the States, and paid twenty per cent, on the frontier. How
long could such a state of things last ? Commercial embarrass-
ment was the real difficulty. Political discontent, properly
speaking, there was none. There would be no difficulty in carry-
ing Ciiiiada through all the evil.s of transition if the level of ma-
terial prosperity was raised. The way to achieve this — Baldwin
and Elgin urged with equal zeal — was Vjy free navigation and
reciprocal trade with the Union. Without these the worst might
be fear(}d. Events of a more recent date show that Lord Elgin

.; t

652

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

Hit' .

took too strong a view of the necessity of reciprocity. It would
be impossible to exaggerate the advant,age to the country of
reciprocity, but it is not indispensable to us. The troubles which
were imminent had not their source in commercial depression,
but in the heated feelings of disappointed partisans, whose pas-
sions took from the hardness of the times a fiercer character.

Parliament met on the 18th of January. The Governor-
General, taking advantage of the abolition v.i' the law restricting
the use of the French language, delivered his spoach in French as
well as in English, a graceful and conciliatory act, which the
leaders and press of the Opposition made the ground of reproach.
The speech dwelt on the tranquillity of the country, the speedy
completion of the St. Lawrence Canals, the transfer of the Post
Office Department to the Provincial authorities. The Opposition
was angry with all the fury of anger, unreasonable and factious,
at seeing what thoy called " rebels " in the seat of power. But
when a Bill was introduced to provide for the indemnification of
parties in Lower Canada who had suflfered loss during the Rebel-
lion of 1837 and 1838, the waves of .^^ir fury rose above all
bounds. Baldwin's Administration had no choice but to bring in
such a measure — such a questionable measure, if you will. Who
were responsible { The very mcr guided by Dreper, who now
deprived of his counsel, were denouncing the Governor-General
and tli8 Baldwin Government. It was not Mr. Baldwin nor his
friends who, in Lord Metcalfe s time, had recommended the pay-
ment of the Rebellion losses in Lower Canada. It was not Mr.
Baldwin and his supporters, but Mr. Draper and his Ministry,
Avho, in Lord Cathcart's time, introduced a Bill founded on the
unsatisfactory report of their own commissioners. The Bill was
clearly inevitable, and its preamble declared that it was intro-
duced in order to redeem the pledges already given to persons
in Lower Canada. No one who had been convicted, or had
pleaded guilty to treason during the Rebellion was to be indem-
nified. The Bill authorised the appointment of commissioners
for carrying out its purposes, and the appropriation of £90,000
sterling for the payment of such claims as might be admitted.
Such was the measure, sr^ inevitable, so modest, which led to riot,
had like to cause a rebellion in Canada, and exposed the Governor-

REBELLION LOSSES BILL.

563

General and his advisers at the time to censure in England, from
quarters whence a very different judgment would have come, had
all the facts been known.

The second reading was moved on the 13th February. A stormy
debate extending over several sittings followed, a debate in which
Mr. Blake spoke with great power. The second reading was car-
ried by a large majoritv. The Governor-General was meanwhile
attacked in a most discourteous manner, not to use stronger and
perhaps more appropriate language. He was peremptorily re-
quired to dissolve a parliament elected a year before under the
auspices of the clamorous Oppositicjn who now screamed for its
dissolution. The measure, wrote Lord Elgin, on the 1st of March
to Earl Grey, might not be free from objection. But his advisers,
he believed, had no other course open to them but that which
they had followed. His predecessors had already gone a good
deal more than half-way in the same direction. If the Ministry
had failed to complete a work of justice to Lower Canada, which
had been commenced by their predecessors, M. Papineau would
have made strong government impossible.

When the letter embodying these views was placed on Earl
Grey's table, it was side by side with an issue of the TiTnes,
which newspaper was then well above the horizon on its way to
its present supremacy as the first journal in the world. In that
issue there \v^,.5 a remarkable article. Mr. Mackenzie, M. P.,
had given notice that on the 21st of Marc^. he would ask for
some explanations regarding the doings oiohe Canadian Legisla-
ture. The Times sympathized with the curiosity, not to say the
amazement, which had prompted the notice. If they had not
asked similar questions themselves, it was because the allusions
to the " objectionable measures " in the Canadian press, were so
mixed up with factions as scarcely to atford a safe basis even for
inquiry. The Montreal Gazette was positively dangerous on this
subject. Leaders, letters, parliamentary reports, paragraphs, calls
for public meetings, met one at every corner of the paper. The
remonstrants had every right to feel the greatest indignation. It
was not possible to conceive a more determined and unpardonable
insult to the loyal population, or a more suicidal act, than that a
tax should be levied on the whole people to compensate rebels

654

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

for their losses " and even," said the Times, with sublime
ignorance of the Bill " for their legal punishments." The writer
proceeds to say it was, however, impossible to form a sound
judgment without the Bill, and speaks of Mr. Baldwin and his
colleagues as the "rebel camp" and the "Opposition," as the
" loyal " party. After a style of wi'iting which students of
i' e Times to-day will not be wholly unfamiliar with, the article,
having boxed the whole compass and written in a strain which
woul 1 have delighted Mr. Henry Sherwood, concluded with

the chilling remark, that after all the excitement

might

put dowii to the fact that parties had changed places, and that the
Colonial clique which had fcr generations monopolized office and
power, and pay, and which had candalously abused its trust, was
now in opposition.* Other critics were not as ready to sit on the
fence, and, as we shall see, able statesmen denounced the salutary
measui os of the Government. The Governor-General's old friend,
Mr. Gladstone took a harsh view of his conduct, and the conduct
of his Government, at a time when he was showing that in the
face of any excitement he could hold his head. " The Tory party"
he says, " are doing what they can by menace, intimidation, and
appeals to passion to drive me to a Coup d'Etat." He pointed
out again with a bitter sense of men's unreasonableness and the
trying position of a constitutional ruler, that, the measure against
which there was so loud an outcry was the strict logical following
out of their own acts. He again refeiTed to the action of the
Draper Administratiop. He was able to put forth a fact still
more damaging to the Opposition. One of the rebels of 1837
who had been banished to Bermuda by Lord Durham, was Mr.
Masson. He had been, however, appointed to an office by the
predecessors of Lafontaine and Baldwin. He was of course ex-
cluded from compensation under the Bill of the Lafontaine-
Baldwin government. This gentleman wrote to the newspapers,
saying that Lord Metcalfe and some of his Ministry assured him
that he would be included in the list of those indemnified.

Petitions against the measure were got up all over the Province.
Instead of being sent to the Assembly, or to the Legislative Coun-

♦The Times, March 2lBt, 1849.

FIRMNESS OF LORD ELGIN.

65^

cil, or to the Home Oovernmonfc, they were always addreast^d to
Lord Elgin, the obvious purpose being to produce a collision be-
tween him and Parliament. The prayer of these petitions was dis-
junctive : that Parliament should be dissolved, or that the Bill
should be reserved for the royal sanction. Deputations of remon-
strants and malcontents waited on him, and he received them witli
the utmost civility. But he r v^i expressed an opinicm on a con-
troverted point. We have had other Governors in Canada who
shared the same power of maintaining a constitutional position.
He was carrying out in the spirit and to the letter Respo'isible
Government. How poor Lord Metcalfe's head would have gone
in such a ?torm.

To have dissolved the House would have been an act of unpar-
donable weakness and folly. The A.ssembiy had been elected un-
der a Tory administration only a year before. There was no evi-
dence that it did not represent the sentiment of the people at large,
as it most certainly did twelve months earlier. The measure was
no new one. It had been in contemplation by the preceding
Tory Administration. If Cayley and Sherwood and MacNab had
come into power they would have had to pass such a Bill, and
would have been glad to do it if they could only thereby k'^ep
their places. But if Parliament were dissolved on the question of
the rebellion losses, that step would be attended with the utmost
risk, while the sacred tribe of the Family Compact would not have
come into power. " If," wrote Lord Elgin, " I had dissolved Par-
liament, I might have produced a rebellion, but most assuredly I
should not have produced a change of Ministry. The leaders of
the party know that as well as I do, and were it possible to play
tricks in such grave concerns it would have been eas}'^ to throw
them into utter confusion by merely calling upon them to form a
Government. They were aware, however, that I could not for the
sake of discomfitting them hazard so desperate a policy : so they
have played out their game of faction and violence without fear
of consequence." To reserve the Bill for the consideration of the
Home Government appears at a glance to have been open to no
" such objections." It was the opinion of his friends in England
that this was his wisest course. But, on the mind of Lord Elgin,
Baldwin pressed objections against reserving the Bill, which

55G

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

seemed, with other objections that occurred to himself, insur-
mountable — wliatever " oblo(|uy " he might bring on hiniaelf for
a time, by refusing to lend himself to the machinations of a de-
moralized and desperate Opposition. The Bill for the relief of a
eorrespondii.g class of persons in Upper Canada was not reserved.
By reserving the Bill he would throw m Her Majesty a res[)on8i-
bility which should rest on his shoulders. If the Bill passed and
mischief ensued the evil could be repaired by sacrificing him.
If the case were referred to England, Her Majesty Tuight hav^e be-
fore her the alternative of provoking a rebellion in Lower Canada,
•or of wounding the suscejjtibilities of some of the best subjects
she had in the Province. Among the objectors to the Bill were
some of the best men in the country — men who.se honest minds
wore worked on bj'^ selfish and designing bureaucratic office-seekers
to whom the principles of constitutional government were un-
fathomable mysteries, and who regarded the representative of roy-
alty as the butt of an intense and relentless indignation, when po-
litical affairs were not administered in accordance with their views.
Lord Elgin trusted to time to tone down the violence of the Op-
position, to the reasonableness of the proposal under discussion,
to the growth of a patriotic spirit, to the many excellent measures
brought in by the Ministry — " the first really efficient and work-
ing government that Canada had had since the Union." Nor were
his holies without being pa rtially justified. One of the Tory papers
wrote that bad as the payment of the rebellion losses was it would
be better to submit to pay twenty rebellion losses than have whri,t
was nominally a free constitution, fettered and restrained each
time a measure distasteful to the minority was passed. On the 12th
April Lord Elgin wrote that a marked change had taken place
within a few weeks in the tone of the press and of the Opposition
leaders, some of whom had given him to understand that they re-
gretted things had gone so far. He was apprehensive, however,
that the gales from England would again raise the tempest, and it
must be confessed the " gales," in the shape of speeches and leaders
in newspapers, were not calcv ^d to repress the storm which was
now rising. There was abundance of denunciation of the suicidal
folly of rewarding rebels for rebellion. The British population
were able to take care of themselves. They would find some

LORI» LLGIN ASSAULTED BY THE MOB.

557

mea*^« of reaisting the heavy discouraging blow which was aimed
at them. Such hints and pas-sages were not calculated to lepress
violence. Lord Elgin's biographer, however, doubts whethei extra-
neous induences ^ "d much to do with the volcanic outbursts of
local passions v hicii followed the passing of the Bill.

The resolutions of M. Lafontaine, on whici legislation was
founded, were passed by a majority of fifty to tw nty-two. The
Bill was passed by n majority cf forty-seven to eighteen, a vote
which sliowed that no pressure could have been put on members
during the discussion. On investigating the vote, it appears that
out of thirty-one niembei.! from Upper Canada, seventeen, and of
ten members for Lower Canada of Bi'itish descent, six, suppcH-*"!
the measure. This showed conclusively that the issue was not
one on which the two races were arrayed against each other.
Had Lord Elgin, under the circumstances, reserved the Bill, he
would have cast doubts on the sincerity of his determination to
carry out consiituuonal government. Lord Elgin felt this, and
expressed his conviction in his letters to Earl Grey.

The Governor's assent, therefore, to the Rebellion Losses Bill
was no impulsive act. The assent was given sooner than he
intv-^.nded, owing to the following circumstance. On the 25th of
April, the Cusloms Bill had passed the Legislative Council.
Scarcely had it passed when a member of the Assembly rushed
into the House, and told the Ministers that a ship had just arri ved.
They at once waited on Lord Elgin, and asked hi' ^ to come down
to Parliament and give his assent to the Customs Bill. Lord
Elgin thought as he was giving his assent to one|Bill, he would
give his assent to all the others which were awaiting his decision.
Among these was the Bill which was viewed with such conflicting
feelings here and in England.

The news spread like wildfire. A crowd by no means large, and
led by persons of a respectable class in society, gathered outside
the House, who received Lord Elgin as he left the Parliament
Buildings with hootingsand groans, ohe "respectable" individuals
pelting the carriage vdth rotten eggs.* The fact that nobody

-t-m

// ;--, ■

* Lord Elgin shrank from giTing tne ofFensiye weapons their proper name. 'He de-
scribed tiivtia euphviistically m " misBileB which they must ha^e brought y,i.h them for'
the purpouc-." — Letters, p. 82.

Iis'-ir

558

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

could have known that the Governor was about to give his assent
to the obnoxious Bill relieves the real leaders of any party exist-
ing at the time, of responisibility for the blackguard behaviour of
the mob. While the violence was proceeding outside, the Assembly
continued in session. Sir Allan MacNab in vain warned the Gov-
ernment that a riot might be looked for. Unfortuuately the confi-
dence of the Government in the good sense of all sections of the
community was misplaced. Before there was time to cleanse the
Governor's carriage of the foul missiles hurled at it, a notice was
issued calling a meeting in the open air, at the Champ de Mars,
at eight o'cIock. Towards that hour the fire bells were rung to
call the populace together. A large number of persons assembled.
Inflammatory speeches were made. A person named Perry, a
very violent man, cried out, "To the Parliament Houi*"'" The
mob hurried to the Parliament Buildings. Their shouts and yells
interrupted the Assembly in the discussion of the Judicature
Bill for Lower Canada. In a few moments a shower of stones
crashed in through the ^(vindows. The strangers fled from the
gallery. Some members made their escape by this gallery. Others
crouched behind the chairs, while stones continued to hail into the
chamber. The mob then ibrced their way into the building. Men
appeared in the chamber armed with sticks. The few lingering
members and clerks made their escape, the Qergeant-at-arim alone
remaining. One of the rioters placed himself in the Speaker's
chair and cried out, " I dis&olve the House." The benches were
pulled to pieces and piled in the middle of the lioor. Chandeliers
were broken ; the Speaker's mace, notwithstanding the heroic
exertions of the courageous Sergeanc-at-arms, was seized. A cry
was soon heard — " The Parliament House is on fire." The broken
chandeliers were flaming, and some boys sought, foolishly, to put
them out by throwing cushions at them. This only made matters
worse. The evidence is conflicting, and some have held that
the mob did not intend to burn down Uie buildings. Attempts
were made to save the more valuable books in the library but the
flames spread too rapidly. Sir Allan MacNab succeeded in bear-
ing ofi* the picture of the Queen. Having destroyed valuable pub-
lic property, and two libraries ^^/hich a scholar pronounced to be
excellent, the crowd dispersed. The men who thus dispersed

VIOLENCE OF THE MOB.

559

themselves could not have been French, nor were they Irish. A
large body of Catholic Irish were drawn up between the Parlia-
ment Buildings and the Nunnery, with the view of protecting
this last structure. The mob in dispersing visited the office of
Francis Hincks' newspaper,* the windows of which they demolish-
ed. The military had meanwhile been called out.

Great excitement prevailed during the two following days, and
further acts of incendiarism were perpetrated. The next day in-
citers to riot were arrested and the mob threatened to rescue them.
Some of the supporters of Baldwin were insulted and beaten. The
mob had to be forced back by the bayonets of the military from
the old Guard House where the Ministry had assembled in coun-
cil. When night fell the mob swelled in numbers and proceeded
to the house of Laiiontaine which they wrecked. They broke the
windows of the houses of Dr. Wolf red Nelson,-f- F neks. Holmes,
and Charles Wilson. They would in this same way have wreaked
their vengeance on the boarding-house of Mr. Baldwin and that
of Mr. Cameron. The military did police duty ; but objections
being made to this, a body of French and Irish constables were
sworn in. The military force was also further increased. The
leading men of the Opposition seeing what their violent, unpatri-
otic and false agitation had culminated in, sought to restrain their
followers from violence, and urged a, petition to the Queen to
recall the Governor and to disallow the Bill.J But when the p^is-
sions of men are roused it is not so easy to calm them. On this
occasion there was no great leader or none willing to use his
power. There was only half of Virgil's splendid picture. There
was sedition ; the vile rage of the vile ; flying stones, rotten eggs,
perhaps the torch of the incendiary ; but where wss the venerable
man of weight and merit, and eloquence of whom it could be said
Ille regit dictis animos, et pectora mulcet ?

» The PUot.

f Alison speaks of him as a " brave " man. He behaved like a brave, good man,
" rebel though he was." He was a fine looking man. As Mayor of Montreal he called
to men's minds the idea of a Roman Senator.

J "The leaders of the disaffected party hav^; shown a disposition to restrain their
follov^ers, and to direct their energies towards the more constitutional object of pt ; "-ion
ing the Queen for my recall and the disallowance of the obnoxious BilL"— Lord ^Igin
to Earl Grey, April 28th, 1849.

■m

560

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

Were such a man found, he would have earned a noble place in
our history.

The House of Assembly, by a majority of thirty -six to sixteen,
had voted an address to the Governor, expressing their abhorrence
at the outrages which had been heaped on the Queen's Representa-
tive, and approving of his just and impartial administration of
the Govei-nment with his late as well as his present advisers.
This address he was to receive at Government House, not at
Monklands. He drove into the city, escorted by a troop of volun-
teer dragoons and accompanied by several of his suite. Showers
of stones greeted his progress, and one, at least, fell into his
carriage. The Riot Act was read, but the crowd had no ill fuel-
ing towards the military, and showed at that time no desire to
give £».! excuse for their interference. The sole object of their
hatred was the Governor-General. They waited his reappearance
to renew the assault. But he went back by a different route.
Discovering what he had done, every vehicle they could press into
their service was launched in pursuit, and when the} came up
with the Vice-regal carriage they assailed it murderously. When
the carriage cleared the mob, the head of the Governor's brother
was found to be cut, the chief of the police and the captain of the
escort injured. Every panel of the carriage had been driven in.
It was now no longer safe for members to appear in the street.
Monklands was threatened with a hostile visit. For some weeks
Lord Elgin did not enter Montreal, but kept within the bounds of
his country seat.

It would be easy to reproach Lord Elgin, as wanting in pluck,
even as persons were found ready to condemn the Ministry for
want of prevision in not making preparations against those un-
happy and disgraceful events. Lord Elgin behaved with the truest
manliness. No one could doubt the courage of the Duke of Wel-
lington, yet he shrank from going into the City of London in the
excited days of 1830. Did the victor of Assaye and Waterloo
fear ? He would not have been an Irishman had he known what
it was to fear, and the Scotch blood in Elgin is a guarantee that
uo cowardly consideration could have weight with him. The Duke
of Wellington said he would have gone into the city had the law
been equal to his protection. Fifty dragoons would have done it.

;

LORD ELGIN BURNED IN EFFIGY.

661

But suppose firing became necessary, who could say where it would
stop ? Ten innocent peiyons would fall for one guilty. '* Would
this," asked the Duke, " have been wise or humane, for a little
bravado, or that thr. uountry might not be alarmed for a day or
two ?' liord Elgin reasoned in the same spirit. He knew that
the French of Lower Canada were ready to rise as one man in
support of the Government. What would have been his self-re-
proach had he, for the sake of a " little bravado," been the cause
of a collision between the two races ? Major Campbell, his Secre-
tary, who was with him during the whole time, bears evidence to
his coolness and manliness of bearing. Though no taunt and no
advice could make him risk shedding blood, he was, when the fury
of the populace was at its height, determined to yield nothing to
mob clamour.* At the same time, he thought it his duty to tender
his resignation, to which offer Lord Grey replied as we might
expect.

The insults to Lord Elgin and the Baldwin Government were
not confined to Montreal. Effigy burning, that sensible practice,
took place in Toronto, while portions of the Tory press talked
di8lo3''alty. One journal asked, " whether our loyalty was to be
contemned or not ?"-|" Another was in favour of separation. J The
correspondent of another wrote from Montreal that it was better
to become a State of the Union, where British laws and precedents
were respected, than be governed by bigoted, unenterprising, dom-
ineering Frenchmen.§ Of course most of this sort of trash was
mere peevishness, and what the Americans in their way would call
" cussedness,'' in men raging at their dethronement from power, and
their banishment from the sweets of oppression and monopoly.

The Legislature, vhach had sat since the riots in a temporary
building, was prorogued on the 80th of May, Early in June the
Rebellion Losses Bill was brought under the notice of the Impe-
rial Parliament. Mr Gladstone, with cliaracteristic vehemence,
denounced it as ajotieasure for rewarding rebels. The debate was
sustained for two nights, the Act being defended by Lord Russell

* See Letter to Lord Grey, dated 30th April, 1849.
t Patriot, t Tke Provincialist, of Hamilton.
t Correspondeat of the Hamilton Spectator.

562

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA,

and Sir Robert Peel. A majority of 141 supported common jus-
tice and constitutionalism. A few nights later, in the House of
Lords, Lord Brougham moved a resolution similar to that of Mr.
Herries in the Commons, calling on Her Majesty to disallow the
Act. Unfortunately the motion was negatived only by three votes,
and this was not done without the aid of proxies. But the atti-
tude of the House of Commons was the important matter. This,
combined with the firmness of the Government and the patriotic
speech of Sir Robert Peel, did much to quiet the angry feelings of
the misguiding and misguided among the Opposition. The con-
duct of the Ministry worked in the same direction. The Commis-
sioners of the Conservative Government were re-appointed. They
were furnished w'th instructions which placed upon the Act the
most restricted and loyalist construction. A marked change took
place in the Tory papers. On one point all were agreed. The habit
of abusing the French must be discontinued. We must, they said,
live with them on terms of amity and affection. Such was the first
fruit of Baldwin's policy, which heated partisans had declared
would bring about a war of races.

Two months later, unfortunately, the fires were again rekin-
dled. Some persons implicated in the destruction of the parlia-
mentary buildings were arrested. All except one who was committed
for arson were bailed by the magistiates. They would not have
been taken before the magistrates if a suflicient number of grand
jurors to form a court could have been got together. This was
impossible owing to the cholera, and the Government thought
they could not with p;'Opriety put off action agai: ist these persons
until November. The man committed for trial was bailed the
next day by one of the judges of the Supreme Court. All this
surely showed no vindictive spirit on the part of the Government;
but it seemed otherwise to the mob. On the night of the 18th of
August, a crowd attacked M. Lafontaine's house. Unfortunately,
some of the persons within fired, and one of the assailants fell.
The more riotous now cried out that Anglo-Saxon blood had been
spilled by a Frenchman. Violent attacks were made on Lafon-
taine in the papers. A vast number of men wearing red scarves
and ribands, attended the funeral of the poor misguided young

SEAT OF GOVERNMENT REMOVED.

563

fellow. Incendiaries were busy in several pai-ts of the city. A
coroner's jury, however, after a searching investigation, unani-
mously agreed to a verdict acquitting M. Lafontaine of all blame i
" This verviict," says Lord Elgin's biographer, " was important, for
two of the jury were Orangemen who had marched in the proces-
sion at the funeral of the young man who was shot." The Orange-
men might march at a young fellow's funeral, and yet have no
hand in the riots. If they liad any hand in the riots they must
have forgotten the principles of 1G88, and the teaching of William
III. However, the verdict had a good effect. Two of the most
violent papers published articles apologising to Lafontaine for
having unfavourably judged him before hand. But weeks passed
on, and there was nothing to warrant confidence that in future
the Parliament could with safety meet at Montreal. On the 3rd
September, Lord Elgin wrote : " The existence of a perfect under-
standing between the more outrageous and the more respectable
factionsof the Tory party in the town, is rendered even more manifest
by the readiness with which the former, through their organs, have
yielded to the latter when they preached moderation in good ear-
nest." Lord Elgin clung to the idea of continuing the meeting of
parliament in Montreal. Not until November did he acknowledge
that there was no other course to be taken but that pressed on
him by his Ministers, that the Legislature should sit alternately
at Toronto and Quebec. He determined to summon parliament
for the next two sessions at Toronto. The perambulating system
lasted until 1858, when Ottawa was chosen as the capital. Mean-
while, it did much good by removing the feeling of alienation
which existed between the Canadians of French and the Canadians
of British descent, acting just as mixed schools act on the senti-
ments of Protestants and Roman Catholics. Closer communi-
cation begat mutual esteem and respect.*

While these arrangements were being discussed, the feeling of
Western Canada as to Baldwin and Baldwin's policy was tested
by Lord Elgin making a tour in the stronghold of Britisii feeling,
accompanied only by an aide-de-camp and a servant. Everywhere
he was received with cordiality, and in most places with enthu-

■'Lord Grey's Colonial Policy, i. 235. See also " Letters of Lord Elgin," p, 94.

564

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

siasm. But a long time elapsed before the " Family Compact" sec-
tion of the Tories forgave the Governor. Thoy made him a subject
©f ceaseless detraction. They were the dominant class still in
society,and their disr*^ S^^S ^^^^^ ^^s echoed by travellers in Eng-
land, with the result oi giving the impression that Lord Elgin was
deficient in nerve and vigour, i^nybody who has observed to
what perfection the use of mendacious slander is carried here in
Canada, will sympathise with the calm, generous-hearted, great
man, who afterwards displayed so nmoh energy and boldness in
China. But time, the friend of truth and genius, the baffler of
those foul things of twilight, the spy, and the slanderer, brought
his vindication.

We have seen something of an annexation feeliiig, the fruit of
the ignoble tendency of minorities, to look abroad for aid against
the power of the majority. We have .<een also that the word
" rebil " had actually been applied Baldwin and his friends.
What did those rebels do, when a manifesto, in favour of annexa-
tion, was j)ut forward, bearing the signatures of magistrates, Queen's
counsul, militia officers, and others holding conunissions of one
kind <tr other at the pleasure of the Crown { 'J'hey advised Lord
Elgin to remove from such offices as were held during the pleasure
of the Crowu, the gentlemen who admitted the genuineness of
their signatures, and those who refused to disavow them.

In June, 1>S40, an Act, dear to Baldwin's heart, was passed by
the Impi'i-ial Parliament, which, by lowering freights, inci-eased
the profits of the Canadian trade in wheat and timber, and greatly
advanced the prosperity of Canada. Reciprocity did not come so
quickly. As the year closed, disloyal utterances grew fainter, but
did not wholly subside.

CHAPTER XIII.

The Ministry now applied themselves wnth energy to developing
the resources of the country. Reciprocity was pressed on the

[Authorities. — The same a'^ the previous Chapter ; the Clergy Reserves, by Char "3
Liudsey ; Dublin University Magazine, November, 1876.]

Rffii

OPrOIN OF THE CLEAR GRITS.

565

authorities at Washington. Hincks raised Canadian credit on the
London Stock Exchange, and Canadian securities began to be
quoted in the English market.

The first week of 1850, Hincks hekl several succosi-iful meetings
in Oxford. The " demonstration," at Woodstock was very large,
and a vote of confidence in Mr. Hincks and tlie Administration
was passed unanimously. The leading organ of the Administra-
tion declared that the reception given to the Inspector-Geiioral
afic^rded a p< ).sitive proof that the insidious effbrts of the Examiner
(edited by Mr. Charles Lindsey) and other newspapers, to divide
the Reform party, had been without effect.* Malcolm Cameron
had left the Ministry, and had now, with Rol[)h, Caleb Hopkins^
James Leslie, and Peter Perry, formed a " clear grit " party, on
which the Olohe poured down scom and invective, calling them,
among other things, '■ a little miserable clique of office-seeking
buncombe-talking cormorants, who met in a certain lawyer's office
in King Street, and announced their intention to form a new partj/
on ' Clear Grit ' principles." As the spring wore on, the Examiner
went openly into opposition. On the 23rd of March, a meeting was
held in the Township of Markham, where Mr. Peter Perry was
made the mouth-piece of the " Clear Grits," or " Calebites," as they
were variousl}'^ called. Their platform was universal suffrage,
vote by ballot, no qualification foi" candidates for Parliament,
fixed elections — that is to say, the day and time of the general
election should be fixed, the time of the meeting of Parliament
to be fixed by law — retrenchment, the doing away with pensions
to judges, lowering law costs, the abolition of the Court of Chancery
and the Court of Common Pleas — leaving only the Queen's Bench,
County Courts and Township Courts — free trade and direct taxa-
tion, the application of the clergy reserves to general public pur-
poses, the abolition of primogeniture, juries to be taken by ballot,
not from one locality, but from the several townships of a county,
the abolition of the usury laws which were no protection against
high interest, and which prevented money coining into the coun-
try. The Reform party, of which Baldwin was the head, agreed
with some of these principles. Baldwin had expressed himself in

» Globe, January 8th, 1850.

(!1

i-wss

506

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

favour of the ballot so early aa 1846. The Olobe said there was
no use blinking the fact that what the Clear Grits wanted wsis the
republican form of government. The Huron Sujnal asked what
had the Administration done or not done to render it unpopular ?
On what principle.s of human policy did the Opposition found
their hopes of office ? The one error, if it was an error, was the
" Chancery affair." That journal was not disposed to regard the
new party as "Clear Grits " or " Calebites," or as "Young Canada,"
but as a portion of the Reform party, a little more enthusiastic
and sanguine in the cause. On the other hand, the Globe, which
deserves great credit for the unqualified and able manner in which
it fought the battle of loyalty and common sense at this period,
said it was best to recognise all avowed republicans as a distinct
and separate party, and to distinguish them by some understood
title. The country then as now was loyal, and on the 17th April
the annexationist organ in Toronto — the Independent — died.

In March, in the Imperial Parliament, liord John Russell made
a speech on the colonies, of which Lord Elgin and Baldwin and
the whole Government approved, but for one sentence, the 3ting
in the tail. Lord Elgin communicated to Earl Grey his fears
that when the liberal and enlightened sentiments of the body of
the speech, calculated, as they were, to make the colonists sensi-
ble of the advantages they derived from their connexion with
Great Britain and Ireland, had passed fi"om men's memories
there would not be wanting those who would remind them that
the Prime Minister of England, amid the plaudits of a full senate,
declared that he looked forward to the day when the ties which
he was endeavouring to render so easy and mutually advan-
tageous, would be severed. Wherefore this foreboding ? asked
Lord Elgin. Was not " foreboding," however, too strong a word ?
Judging by the comments of the press on Lord John's declara-
tion, one would imagine that the prospect of these sucking demo-
cracies leaving their old mother in the lurch and setting up as
rivals, after they had drained her life-blood, and this just at a
time when their increasing strength might render them a support
instead of a burden, was one of the most cheering which could at
that time have presentod itself to the English imagination. But
why was this foreboding or anticipation entertained ? Because

INDEPENDENCE AND ANNEXATfON.

567

Lor<l John and the pooplo of England persisted in assuming that
the colonial relation was incoinpatible with maturity and full
development. Was this so incont.?stable a truth that it was a
duty not only to hold, but to maint;!in it ?

While Lord Elgin was in the mitbt of a letter urging the op-
posite view, two newspapers wore placed in his hand, the Herald,
of Montreal, which he characterized as " annexationist," and the
Mirror, of Toronto, which was " quasi-annexationist," both of
whicli made use of Lord John Russell's speech to further their
peculiar views. He was still more annoyed, he wrote, by what
had occurred the previous day in council. They had to deter-
mine whether or not to dismiss from his offices a gentleman who
was both M.P.P., Q.C., and J.P., and who had issued a flaming
manifesto in favoui", not of annexation, but of an immediate
declaration of independence as a step to it. The Beard generally
contended that it would be impossible to maintain that persons
who had declared their intention to throve off their allegiance to
the Queen, with a view to annexation, were unfit to retain offices
granted during pleasure, if pei'sons who made a similar declara-
tion with a view to independence, were to be diiferently dealt
with. Baldwin had Lord John's speech in his hand. " He is,"
said Lord Elgin, " a man of singularly placid demeanour." But
on this occasion he was greatly moved. He asked the Governor-
General whether he had read the latter part of Lord John Rus-
sell's speech. The Governor nodded. " For myself," said Baldwin,
" if the anticipations therein expressed prove to be well-founded,
my interest in public affairs is gone for ever. But is it not hard
upon us, while we are labouring tlirough good and evil report to
thwart the designs of those who would dismember the Empire,
that our adversaries should be informed that the difference
between them and the Prime Minister of England is only one of
time ? If the British Government has really come to the conclu-
sion that we are a burden to be cast off whenever a favourable
opportunity offers, surely we ought to be warned."

Lord Elgin assured Baldwin tjiat he thought the theory that
British colonies could not attain maturity without separation un-
sound and dangerous, and that his interest in labouring with them
to bring into full play the principles of Constitutional Govern-

668

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

ment in Canada would coase the moment he adopted such a theory.
He said this with misgiving. But it was possible he exaggerated
the theri probablo effects of Lord John Russell's declaration.
" Politicitns of the Baldwin stamp," he wi'ote with a just appre-
ciation of that "great and good statesman,"* the "noble Baldwin,"*!*
" with distinct views and aims, who having struggled to obtain
a government on British principles desire to preserve it, are not I
fear very numerous in Canada ; the great mass move on Avith
very indefinite purposes, and not much inquiring whither they
are going." Of one thing he was certain there could not be any
peace, contentment, progress or credit in the colony, while the idea
obtained that the connexion with England was a millstone about
its neck which should be cast off as soon as it could be conven-
iently managed.

A distinction was drawn at the Colonial Office between separa-
tion with a view to annexation, and separation with a view to
independence. The former was i onsidered an act of treason, the
^ iter a natural and legitimate step m progress. This was plausi-
ble ; but its plausibility vanished the moment it was known that
no one advocated independence in Canada but as a means to the
end, annexation. Nor was it apart from this, tenable. If tlie
colonial existence was one with which colonists ought not to rest
satisfied, how could those who desired for any purpose to substi-
tute the Stars and Stripes for the Union Jack be denounced with-
out reserve and measure ? If a father told his great lubberly boy
that he was too big for the nursery, and that he had no room for
him in his own house, how could he decline to let him lodge with
his elder brother ?

Late in the year he again addressed Earl Grey, saying that Sir
Henry Bulwer:{: and Sir Edmund Head had spent a few days with
him, and that he thought he had sent them away reassured on many
points of Canadian domestic policy. With one important truth, he
had always labouied to impress everybody with whom he came in
contact that the faithful carrying out of the principles of Consti-

• Sir John A. Macdonald's speech at Brampton, June, 1877.

t Mr. Mackenzie's speech at Kingston, June, 1877.

t Afterwards Sir Henry Bulwer-Lytton, and subsequently Lord Lytton.

BHI

ADVANTAGES OF THE CANADIAN CONSTITUTION.

569

tutional Government was a depaituro from not an approximation
to the American model, and was, therefore, a departure from Re-
publicanism in its only workable ^hape. The American system
was the old colonial system, with the principle of popular election
substituted for that of nomination by the Crown. Mr. Fillmore
stood to his Congress as Lord Elgin stood to his Assembly in
Juiiiaica. There was the same absence of effective responsibility
in the conduct of legislation, the same want of concurrent action
between the parts of the political machine. The whole business
of legislation in the American Congress, as well as in the State
Legislatures, Lord Elgin contended, was conducted in the manner
in which railway business was conducted in the House of Com-
mons, at a time when it was to be feared that notwithstanding
the high standard of honour in the British Parliament, jobbing
was rife. " For instance," he said, " our reciprocity measure was
passed by us at Washington last session. He is writing in No-
vember, 1860 — "just as a R{iilway Bill in 1845 or 1846 would
have beea passed in Parliament. There wi.s no Government to
deal with. The interests of the Union, as a whole, and distinct
from local and sectional interests, had no organ in the representa-
tive bodies ; it was all a question of canvassing this member of
Congress or the other. It is easy to perceive that, under such a
system, jobbery must become, not the exception, but the rule."
This great statesman went on to express his strong conviction
that when a people have been once accustomed to the working of
such a Parliamentary system as ours in Canada, they would never
consent to revert to the clumsy, irresponsible mechanism of the
United States.

Later still he again wrote to Earl Grey. Earl Grey had written
that, when there was so much pressing business in hand, it seemed
idle to correspond c i what might be termed speculative ques-
tions. Lord Elgin knew, however, that he had something to teach
Ministers at home, and not a few of my readers to-day may also
learn nmch from him. He had a practical object in view in calling
Earl Grey's attention to the contrasts which present themselves
in the working of Canadian Institutions, and those of our neigh-
bours in the States. What was that object ? When Ministers in
London conceded to the colonists Constitutional Government in

• 10

111*'

570

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

its int«'grity, thoy were roproachi 1 with leading thcin to Rtspub-
licani.sm and tlio Aniorican Union, Lord Stanley ^tho late Lord
Derby) had declared in 1849, amid the clieera of the House of
CoininonH, that, if the Colonial Secretary was in the habit of con-
sulting Ministers of the Crown in the Colony before placing
persons on the colonial pension list, he had no luisitation ir saying
they had already established a r»?pal)lic in Canp 1;.. " Now I
believe on the contrary," wrote Lord Elgin, an English Tory, be it
remembered, but one who had more statesmanship than most
of the first men in England of either party at that time, "that it
may bo demonstrated that the concession of constitutional govern-
ment has a tendency to draw the colonists the other way ; firstly,
because it slakes the thirst for self-government which seizes on
all Bri<^lsh communities when thay approach maturity, and second-
ly, because it habituates the colonists to the working of a political
mechanism which is both intrinsically superior to that of the
Americans, and more unlike it than our o) \ colonial system."

Earl Grey, admitting the superiority of the Canadian political
system to that of the United States, argued that the people of the
Union had the remedy in their hands ; that, without abandoning
their republicanism, they and their brethren in Franco had no-
thing to do but to dismiss their Presidents and to substitute the
British or Canadian constitution without a King or a Governor —
the body without the head — in order to get rid of the inconvenien-
ces they experienced ; and the Colonial Secretary quoted with ap-
probation the project submitted by M. Gr^vy and the Red Republi-
cans to the French Constituent Assen-.bly. The usurpation of
Napoleon III. was a cynical commentary on the statesmanship
and foresight of Earl Grey.

Earl Grey did not see that the monarch or a constitutional
governor is an indispensable element in our constitutional mecha-
nism. The advantages of that sys<"em are not to be had without
him. Earl Grey had said that the system the Red Republicans
would have establis]ied in France would have been the near\st
possible approach to that of England. " It is possible," wrote
Lord Elgin, " perhaps [ robable, that as the House of Commons
becomes more democratic in its composition, and consequently
more arrogant in its bearing, it may cast ojff the shackles which

THE BRITISH CON TITUTION.

571

tho other powc j of the Stato i pose on its solf-will, and even
utterly aboli.sli I'.i^ni, but I venture to 1 oHeve that those wlio last
till that <lay comes will find they are living under a vorydifterent
constitution from that wliich we no.v enjoy; that they have
traversed tho interval which separates a temperate and cautioua
administraMon of public att'airs resting on the balance <»f powers
and interest^, from a reckless and overbearing tyranny, based on
the caprices and pas-sions of an absolute irresponsible body. You
talk somewhat lightly of tho check of the (Jrown, althoiigh you
acknowledge its utility. But is it indeed so light a matter even as
our constitution now works ? Is it a light matter that the Crown
should have the power of tlissolving Parliament, in other words, of
deposing tho tyrant at will ? Is it a light matter that for several
months in each year tho House of Commons should be in abey-
ance, during which period tho nation looks to Ministers not as
slaves of Parliament, but as servants of the Crown ? Is it a light
matter that there should ))e bo such respect for the monarchical
principle, that servants of that visible unity, yclept the Crown,
are enabled to carry on much of the details of internal and
foreign administration without consulting Parliament, and even
without its cognisance ? Or do you sa\)pose that the Red Repub-
licans, when they advocated the nomination of a revocable man-
dat, intended to create a Frankenstein,* endowed with powers in
some cases paramount to, and in others running parallel with, tho
authority of this omnipotent body to which it owed its existence ?
My own impression is, that they meant a set of delegates to be
appointed, who should exercise certain functions of legislative
initiation and executive patronage so long as they reflected clearly

• Lord Elgin fell into not an uncommon error of busy people who make allusions to
books they have not read, and put the creator for the monster he created. In 1810,
Lord Byron and Mr. and Mrs. Shelley having amused themselves with reading Ger-
man ghost stories, agreed to write something in imitation of them. Byron began the
"Vampire" but never finished it. Mrs. Shelley conceived and wrote her powerful
romance of " Frankenstein. " It was published in 1817. Frankenstein discovers that,
by his study of natural philosophy, he can create a living sentient being, and he con-
structs and animates a gigantic figure eight feet in height. The monster becomes a
terror to his creator, demands that a help mate shall be made for him. Frankenstein
failing to comply with his demands, he murders the friend of his creator, strangles his
bride on his wedding night, and ultimatelyjrightens Frankenstein into a condition which
leads to his death.

i ''.

672

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

i^m

in the former, the passions, and in the latter, the interests of the
majority for the time being and no longer." To have a Republican
form of government in a great country, the executive and legis-
lative departments must be separated, as in the United States,
and the people must submit to the tyranny of the majority, not
the more tolerable because capricious, and wielded by a tyrant with
many heads. How much more violent would be the proceedings
of the majorities in the American Legislatures, how much more
reckless would be their appeals to popular passion, how much
oftener would the interests of the nation and individual rights be
sacrificed to making political capital, if debates or discussions af-
fected the tenure of office. Only under a monarchy can the exe-
cutive and the legislative departments of the State be made to
w^rk together with that degree of harmony which shall give the
Kiaximum of strengh and of mutual independence by which free-
dom and the rights of minorities are secured. Nor can the moral
power of a monarch, oi- a governor be measured by his recog-
nised power, so long as the people are monarchical in sentiment.
When it was urged that Lord Elgin, in maintaining and carrying
out these views, committed official suicide, and degi aded him-
iself into a roi faineant, he used to say that he had tried both
.systems. " In Jamaica there was no Responsible Government, but
I had not half the power I have here with my Constitutional and
Changing Cabinet." Under the Vice-regal Throne of India, he
missed something of the authority and influence he enjoyed as
constitutional Governor in Canada.* The honour of bringing about
this wise system of Government, belongs, more than to any other
man, to Robert Baldv/in, who so early as 1825, had taken in the
whole situation with its imperative needs.

Parliament met at Toronto on the 14th of May, and a vigorous
debate took place on the address, the attack being led by " Clear

* Letters of Lord Elgin, pp. 115-124. Compare the views respectingr the Americftn
and English constitutions with the remarks of Mr. Caleb Cashing on the same sub-
ject. " The Treaty of Washington," by Caleb Cushing, p. 44-46. Mr. Cuiliing's re-
marks are more suggestive than instructive. But they emphasize ihe opinions pro-
pounded by Lord Elgin, and they show how paramount the necessity of lifting tho
people here and in England, by education, out of the ignorance which makes them the
sport of unprincipled demagogues.

Baldwin's scrupulousness.

573

IB pro-
iuK the
em the

Grits," and sore heads. In division after division, the Govern-
ment w«^ sustained, though it was evident they were not pre-
pared to move as fast as the requirements of the country needed.
When disloyalty raised its head, Baldwin showed entire sympathy
with the country by moving that the petition in favour of inde-
pendence, presented by Colonel Prince, the self-styled "English
gentleman," should not be received — a motion which was carried
by fifty-seven to seventeen.

He was not, however, abreast of the time in maintaining, as he
did, with all his influence and force of argument, that the setting
apart the Clergy Reserves for the supportof the Protestant clergy,
was a just and a proper measure, and that it did not establish a
particular body as a dominant church. When u, Reform leader
hangs behind his party, his time is up. Mr. Drammond, an Irish-
man of consideiable power, spoke strongly in favour of the secu-
larization of the Clergy Reserves.

Baldwin's scrupulousness struck many as weakness. A con-
scientious man often appears feeble to the unscrupulous. About
this time an instance of his r»re tenderness of political conscience
occurred. When n, ^'^acancy took place on the bench, Mr, Boulton,
a Conservative, who had aided in the sti-uggle for Responsible
Government, claimed the reward of a party man. He wished to
get the appointment. There can be no doubt he shouM have
had it. He was, in all respects, a man to make an efficient judge.
Baldwin desired to give him the position. But letters poured
in on him from all sides deja-ecating that course. The conflict
between his desire to do right, and his desire not to injure the
party, made him ill. Leave the thing to us, Mr. • Francis Hincks
said, and we will settie it. They settled it by appointing Mr
Robert E. Bums.

In the first days of January, the nmnicipal elections were going
forward. Piatt was one of the common council men, elected for
St. Lawrence Ward. Bowes, who has been mentioned in an
earlier chapter was elected Alderman for St. James' Ward.

On Twelfth Night, Lord Elgin had a large party at Elmsley
House, on King Street — originally the private residence of Chief-
Justice Elmsley, which had been purchased after the war of 1812-
14, for the use of the Lieutenant-Governor. Among the company,

574

THR IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

were, Chancellor and Mrs. Blake, J udge and Mrs. Sullivan, Messrs,
Baldwin, Hincks and others. The attendance at his receptions
showed, it was contended, that he had the confidence of the coun-
try. The argument supported a true proposition, though the
rei.',soning was far from cogent. It was not, however, so much
the case then, as it is now, that the doors of society open to the
golden key, no matter by whose hand applied.

*Notwithstanding the split in the Reform Party, Ministers went

* McMuUen conveys the impression that the Olobe had ceased to support IJaldwin's
Administration in 1850. The Olobe, on the contrary, supported Baldwin to the last,
and denounced the Examiner and the "Clear Grits" for dividing the party. The
Globe begtn to take a moi o critical stand in 1850. In an article in the autumn of
that year, it reviewed the struggle since lU'i&, »nd concluded as follows ;

"We have thus on the political carpet of Cpper Canada :— Ultra Tories — represented
by Mr. W. B. Robinsor. and others in the House, and a numerous party out of it,
whose promii\ent characteristic is High Churchism. Moderate Tories— represented by
John A. Mat'donald, and Henry Sherwood and others in the House, and a large sec-
tion out of it — who have no principles in particular but their opposition to the Minis-
try. MinisteiLvlists— comprising two-thirds of the people of Upper Canada. Leaguers
— comprising se 'eral active leadei-s, but few followers. Their strength, at an election
would lie in diviiing the enemy and receiving tribute from aU. Their principles are
very diversified according to the locality and the man to be run. Clear Grits — com«
prising disappointed Ministerialists, ultra English Radicals, Republicans, Annexa-
tionists. Their ultra principles find little sympathy, and their formal proposal for a
Convention has been a ridiculous botch. They have made the most of the slips of
the Ministry, and discontent among their supporters — but as a party on their own
footing they are powerless, except to do mischief. All these parties are now contend-
ing for the dominancy in Upper Canada, but ^vith a feebleness quite new in our politi-
cal history. Were tie Ministerialists united, and the constituencies fairly adjusted,
there could be no doubt that, at a trial of strength, they would sweep all before them.
But they are far from Seing united, and we propose to take another oppoitunity of
showing the causes of the existing division. Party landmarks have in a great measure
been swept away by th»i legislation of the last few years ; and the straggling parties
are fonning anew. .Thi' eKtablishment of Responsible Government removed the
main wall of separation ; and the successful establishment of the Municipal Coun-
cil and National Commoi. School systems did almost as much. Then the settlement
of the King's College question, and the probable settlement of Clergy Reserves will
take away fertile elements of bitter contention in past years. We are glad that so
many grounds of strife are .-emoved ; but as believers in party government we wish
the lines separating parties were more clearly drawn on great questions of public
policy. We se-> constant allufcions to a coming Coalition Ministry, which, in the opi-
nion of many, the position of pirties naturally points to. We sincerely trust that as
far as the Ministerial Party is concerned, no such movement is in any way contem-
plated. The constitutional Reftrm Party of Upper Canada needs no assistance, and
we are sure that any attetnpt at coalition with Toryism wonld be fatal to all who
touchc it. That a re-organizatiou of the Liberal Party is necessary few will deny;
but that a more progressive policy, a firmer step, and more sjrmpathy within the

FllUITFUL LEGISLATION. CONFEDERATION.

675

triumphantly through tlie session, and were enabled to pass a large
number of useful moa.ures, amongst them an admirable Jury Bill,
a just Assessment Bill, a Division Court Bill, an Election Law.
They dealt with the extension of Municipal Institutions, Univer-
sity Reform, Post Office Reform, the Court of Chancery. They
passed resolutions respecting the Clergy Reserves, a Public Road
Act, a Railways' Assistance Act, a School Fund Act. Banking
and Medical incorporation, the promotion of the exchange of
products between the Provinces of British North America, and
fifty other important matters had received fruitful attention.

Something like Confederation had early hovered before men's
minds, r-nd an Irishman, Mr. Stephens had advocated it in a letter
to Lord Durham in 1839. A league was formed called the British
AmQrican Lea^oriie, jy the Hon. George MofFatt, Thomas Wilson^
the Hon. Georgp Crawford (Irish), the Hon. Asa A. Burnham,
John W. Gamble (Irish), Mr. Aikman, Ogh R. Gowan (Irish), John
Duggan (Irish), the Hon. Col. Frazer, George Benjamin, the Hon..
P. M. Vankoughnet, and to use the words of the Hon. George
Brown,* " last, though not least," the Hon. John A. Macdonald,.
for the purpose of framing a constitution which should embrace
a union of the British North American Provinces on mutually
advantageous and fairly arranged terms, with the concession from
the Mother Country of enlarged powers of self-government. The
question was kept before the public in 1850, and its promoters
were stigmatized by the Baldv/in press as constitution mongers.

Bowes was elected mayor i'or 1^51. Parliament met in May, and
the debate on the address was concluded in one evening. The
most notable thing, during the session, was the retiriement of Bald-
win from the Ministry. W. Lyon Mackenzie had been re-
turned for Haldimand, and he proposed a resolution to do away
with the Court of Chancery. On this resolution being carried,
by a majority of the Upper Canada members, Baldwin, true to
the principle of a double majority, resigned. Nor could anything

partj' than heretofore, would reunite the constitutional portion of the party more
heartily than ever and carry it triumphantly through the election of 1851, we
feel perfectly confident."
* Debates on Confederation, p. 111.

'.f^'

!!?

576

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

move him from his resolve, not though members who had voted
with Mackenzie assured him that they would have voted with
him if they had known beforehand the result of their action
would be so serious, not though they protested if the question
was brought up again they would be guided by him. He was
Attorney -General when Mr. Blake's Chancery Bill was passed.
Scarcely two years had since elapsed, and nearly all the mem-
bers of the profession were prepared to do away with the Court.
Baldwin said he had no othei course but to resign. He bade
farewell to his colleagues. He was deeply affected, and at one
time was overcome with emotion. Hincks wished to resign with
him, but he urged him not to do so.

In July, 1851, the defection of the Olohe from the Reform party,
as it now existed, was complete. Hincks was accused of having
thrown Baldwin over, whereupon Baldwin wrote him a letter
saying such was not a fact, and that he had remained in office at
his suggestion.*

With the retirement of Baldwin from the Ministry, what may,
in a work of this kind be called the Irish period began to decline.
He found the country agitated, ill at ease, uncertain as to its
future ; he left it prosperous, contented, and ready to apply its
energies to the development of material prosperity. He was
beaten in North York at the ensuing election. There was no
ground for supposing that a man who voted for Pri. j resolution
would have objected to & settlement of the Clergy Reserves, and
though he might have preferred to have the Reserves devoted to
their original purpose, it is evident from his speeches and votes in
1S50 and 1851, that he would have been prepared to apply them
to educational purposes.^ There can be no doubt, however, that he
was too Conservative for the Reform party at this time. New
(questions were coming up in which he took no interest. But a
reform constituency should have hesitated long before they turned
away the faithful servant who had done so much for them and the
country. His defeat combined with subsequent ingratitude, prob-

* See the Letter of Baldwin, 20tQ Dec, 1851.

t Both in 18.50 and 1851, Baldwin voted for Price's resolutions. MacMullen therefore
-oonveys a false impression in his " History," page 614.

RAILWAY MANIA.

677

ably hastened Ms death, which took place in 1858. He stands
boldly out in our history, the purest of our statesmen, the father
of our Constitution.

The session closed on the 30th August. Lord Elgin was able
to congratulate the House and the country on tiie work which
had been done, the grants which had been made for the erection
of lighthouses, and for improving the navigation of the St. Law-
rence. The reduction of the immigrant tax, the favourable state of
the revenue, the encouragement of railway enterprise, the credit-
able appearance made by Canada at the Crystal Palace Exhibi-
tion, the quieter condition of the public mind, were proper sub-
jects for thankfulness, as was Canada's increased prosperity which
began to attract the attention of the outside world. Several
countries expressed their desire to add to the volurae of their
commerce on the St. Lawrence. A large traffic had sprung up
with the United States.

The " Clear Grit" element began t< make itself felt. Lafontaine
retired, whereupon, Lord Elgin sent for Hincks, who was entirely
successful in forming a new Government. Dr. Rolph and Malcolm
Cameron were both taken into the Cabinet. Malcolm Cameron
became President of the Council. He had proposed to abolish this
office. His inconsistency was dwelt on in every key from ridicule
to invective.

The general election, which followed the reconstruction of the
Cabinet, introduced some new blood into Parliament, and gave a
majority to the Government. Mr. Joseph Hartman replaced
Robert Baldwin, and William Lyon Mackenzie, who had, in 1859,
returned to Canada, and had early found a seat, beat Mr. George
Brown in Haldimand.

A passion for developing the country now seized on the public
mind, and this was aided by the influx of emigrants from Ireland
and elsewhere. Emigration and famine had reduced the popu-
lation of Ireland from 8,176,124 in 1841. to 6,675,793 in 1851.
Nevertheless, in t^ is year 275,000 Irishmen turned their backs on
Ireland, and a large proportion of these found their way to Canada.

Early in the summer, an Irishman, Mr. J. W. Gwynne, pressed
his railway scheme, the Toronto and Goderich Railway, on the
attention of the public. In 1847, a dozen gentlemen, at the instance
37

i!i;!f

578

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

of Mr. G Wynne, had formed themselves into a company to make a
railroad from Toronto to Goderich. Mr. Gwynne had also taken
an interest in other railway schemes, and he deserves to be placed
in the foremost ranks of our railway pioneers, though his sugges-
tions ultimately helped the builders of the Grand Trunk more than
himself. Among those who supported him was George Herrick.
A» any one turning over the files of those days will see, he spent
much time and money in seeking to supply the needed railways
for the Province ; but he was not in Parliament, and he was too
upright to resort to the arts of lobbying. While such mateiial
issues were under discussion, the public mind was arrested, as it
has been lately, by a great conflagration. A large part of Mon-
treal was laid waste by fire.

The seat of Government had been removed to Quebec, where
Parliament met on the l(3th August. The late Sandfield Mac-
donald was chosen Speaker of the Legislative Assembly. The
Governor -General in his opening speecli struck the knell of the
system of Seignorial tenure, though that question was not imme-
diately settled. The speech dwelt on the expediency of having a
line of steamer,! from Canada to England, the alteration of the
currency on a decimal basis, and the propriety of increasing the
Parliamentary representation.

Mr. Hincks introduced and passed a series of resolutions res-
pecting the Clergy Reserves, pledging the Assembly to a settle-
ment of the question in a liberal direction. He informed the
House that he had reason to believe that the Imperial Parliament
would soon pass a measure giving the Canadian Legislature power
to deal finally with the Reserves. An address was passed, pray-
ing the Home Government to make no concessions to the Ameri-
cans in the fishery dispute unless they conceded reciprocity. Mr.
Hincks was inclined to retaliate on the narrow policy of the
United States, by adopting differential duties in favour of British
commerce, and by closing the canals to the American marine.
Free Trade was at this time near its complete sway over English
opinion, and the proposal of the Ministry was so unpopular in
Canada, that it had to be abandoned. Nevertheless, it is hard to
see why Canada should not have retaliated, especially at a time
when all that was to be considered was the interest of the two

LEGISLATIVE ENERGY OF HINOKS' GOVERNMENT.

579

Provinces. The remarkable feattrre of the Sespion was its rail-
way legislation. Fifteen bills were placed on the Statute Book,
which included the Act relating to the Grand Trunk Railway. Mr.
Hincks also passed an Act enabling municipalities to borrow
money on the credit of the Province lor local improvements, rail-
ways, bridges, and macadamized roads, and the like : an Act which
had an incalculable influence in developing the country, but which
undoubtedly led to much extravagance. The legislation of 1852,
greatly increased the liabilities of the two Provinces, and led to
the annual deficit of succeeding years. The whole debt of Canada
at the close of 1852, was $22,355, 413 ; the revenne, $3,976,706 ;
the expenditure, $3,059,081. This prosperous state of things
raised the credit of the country, and Canadian six per cents began
to be quoted at sixteen per cent premium on the London Stock
Exchange. On the 10th of November, the Legislature adjourned
until the 14th of February, 1853. The sleepless energy of Mr.
Francis Hincks' Government is attested by the fact that ere the
Parliament adjourned, the Governor assented to one hundred and
ninety-three Bills, of which twenty-eight reflected the railway
mania of the hour. The Parliamentary Representation Act raised
the number of members in the Assembly to a figure more in ac-
cordance with the progress the country had made since Lord Sy-
denham's time. The constituencies were redistributed, and the
representation increased from eighty-four to one hundred and
thirty — sixty-five for Upper and sixty-five for Lower Canada.
After the termination of the sitting Parliament, Toronto would
return two members instead of one ; Montreal and Quebec three
members each ; some of the smaller towns had townships attached
to them for the purpose of representation; nor was Parliament
less busy in the spring. When the House rose in June, Lord Elgin
was able to dwell on a Municipal Act ; a School Act ; an Act to
regulate the practice of the Superior Courts ; with many other
useful measiires. Meanwhile, the Imperial Parliament had em-
powered the Canadian Legislature to deal with the Clergy Re-
serves as they might think fit, saving only existing interests and
annual stipends of clergy during the lives of the incumbents.

The last days of the session passed away amid the excitement
caused by Father Gavazzi's lectures in Quebec. There was a riot.

It*

580

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

The mob went in search of Mr. Brown, on whom thsy wished to
wreak their vengeance. The riot led to an informal discussion in
the House of Assembly. Gavazzi now proceeded to Montreal,
where his lectures gave rise to still greater rioting than disgraced
Quebec. On the 9th of June he was lecturing in Zion Congrega-
tional Church, when a vast crowd attacked the building, notwith-
standing the presence of a strong force of military and police.
Stones flew, pistols were fired ; the audience broke up. But while
they went homewards, the military, acting, it was alleged under
the orders of Mr. Charles Wilson, the Mayor of the City, fired into
them, killing five persons and wounding many more.

The Mayor v/as a Roman Catholic. The Protestant public re-
ceived the impression that the Government did not make a sufii-
ciently thorough inquest into his conduct, and their indignation
kne w no bounds. The Protestant sense of injustice tended to swell
the stream of Mr. George Brown's rising popularity in Upper
Canada. He and Lyon Mackenzie were now shelling the Ministe-
rial breast-works with much skill and energy. Hincks had made
the mistake of not surrounding himself with ability. Sullivan,
Blake, Baldwin, Lafontaine, had dropped away, and the only first-
class man in the Government was Hincks himself. When, in
July, on the death of Sullivan, Richards, the Attorney-General,
appointed himself to the vacant judgeship, the Ministry became
still further attenuated. The people never like to see weak men
ruling them. Rumours got abroad that there was no intention of
dealing immediately with the Clergy Reserves. These rumours
received colour from letters of Hincks and Rolph, and from a
speech of Malcolm Cameron. Worse rumours still gathered round
the declining Administration. Charges of corruption were insinu-
ated and sometimes openly made. People talked about stories of
investments made by men who a few months before were not
worth a cent or a sou. One Cabinet Minister had invested
$100,000 in real estate. He had purchased, it was said, Castleford
on the Ottawa, above By town, for $27,500; a private residence
near Quebec for $30,000. He had a large interest in a purchase of
$40,000 made near Montreal. One thing was certain. The mem-
bers of the AdTuinistration were known to have been individually
poor men ; some of them embarrassed : yet though living in a style

M«

DISCONTENT AMONG THE REFORMERS.

681

commensurate with their position, they could afford to make
investments ! All this was very extraordinary. A similar pheno-
menon was ])resented by their subordinates, who, from being
pinched and starved, as the Apothecary in Romeo and Juliet, now
appeared in all the sublime magnificence of small capitalists. Such
was the tone held by correspondents of hostile journals.

In Canada, opposition papers do not spare ministerial character,
and the moment a man takes a portfolio, he is assailed as if he had
picked a pocket.

The people might, therefore, have paid little attention to these
charges of corruption had not damaging facta betn brought out in
the chancery suit in which Mr. Bowes, the Mayor of Toronto, was
the defendant. It was proved that Mr. Hincks and Mr. Bowes
had purchiised $250,000 worth of the debentures of the Ontario
capital at a discount of 20 per cent, and that the Premier had a
Bill afterwards passed which raised the debentures to par. Other
charges followed. Public lands at Point Levi and elsewhere had
been bought by Ministers with the view of being re-sold to rail-
way corporations. The public had taken alarm and nothing was
too bad to be believed. Nor unhappily did the Parliamentary
inquiry which took place in 1853 rehabilitate the Hincks i.dmin-
istration in the mind of the people. It must be said, however,
that Hincks, when his Government fell, was still a poor man.
Some o^ his colleagues, perhaps — certainly Malcolm Cameron —
had amassed money.

Dissatisfaction was created among the Reformers by the ap-
pointment of Tory magistrates. Mr. James Harvy Price m'&s so
indignant on the subject that he wrote a letter to the papers
complaining that he had been included in the list of new magis-
trates, while so many of those whose names were in a dnift he
had prepared when in the Government, were left out. The excite-
ment about the Gavazzi riots was kept up. The relations of some
of those killed in c< >ndequence of the supposed order of the Mayor,
served him with notices of action laying damages at five and ten
thousand dollars. Mr. Drumraond, the Attorney-General East and
the Premier Mr. Hincks were seen publicly in company with him.
The popular sentiment of a large portion of the community may
be gathered from the fact, that he was hissed at the St. Hyacinthe

W I'!

582

TliE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

races. The enemies of the Qovernmert accounted for the conduct
of Ministers by saying thai there was a good deal of Ministerial
paper at one of the banks with Wilson's endorsement. Mr. Drum-
mond, a Catholic Irishman, made an excellent speech immediately
followinf^ the Gavazzi riots ; but he displayed little energy as
Attorney-General in bringing the offenders to justice. The Solici-
tor-General for Lower Canada, M. Chauveau, was as apathetic as
his chief, and was described by the Opposition press as a young
gentleman who wrote novels himself and trusted to others for his
law.

The Irish period, that period during which the foundation of
our present constitution was laid, during which nearly all the
great reforms were passed, was about to pass away, to give place
to what may be not inappropriately termed the Scotch period,
during which the leading forces have been the Hon. George Brown
and Sir John A. Macdonald. The former was now swelling the
ranks of opposition and with sleepless activity leading a charge
a.gainst the Government, in which Hincks alone represented the
genius and "energy which had within a few y.ars achieved so
much.

Mr. Brown has from the first been a remarkable man. He has
not in recent years done justice to himself as a politician, but per-
haps he has not been therefore less useful to the country. Indeed
he insists that he has retired from politics. The rising generation
can hardly realize the restless fiery ambition of Mr. Brown twenty
years ago. Then he was full of hope, and his sanguine mind laid the
future under all sorts of tribute. At that time he was still a rising
man. There were heights yet to climb. By reason of his energy
and ability, and as yet undivided heart, the George Brown of
twenty years ago was, apart from any paper, a formidable man,
and calculated to do great harm to whatever Ministry he opposed,
but more especi'»,lly to a Reform Ministry. A Reform Ministry he
could attack L^ flank with giiiis on which they were in the earlier
hours of battle accustomed to rely. When indignant — and he was
often indignant — ^he wrote and spoke like a man who had been
from youth up in one long towering passion. This gave him great
force. His style was that of rapids rather than rivers, and seemed
to break and bear all before it with resistless fury. Of late years.

MH. imoWNS HOSTIIilTV TO THE QOVERNMKNT.

583

Mr. Brown has been and might well be content with the influeneo
given him by his paper, and the real though not nominal headship
of a great party. When in the Rape of the Lock, the guardian
Sylph of the heroine explains to her the transition of fine ladies
on their deatli into Sylphs, she says : —

" Think not when woman's transient bi-eath is fled
That all her vanities at once are dead :
Succeeding vanities she still regards,
And tho' she plays no more, o'eriooks the cards."

This might be parodied in the case of party leaders, and where
a party leader owns the leading organ of his party, I don't see how
his abdication is possible.

It was of course necessary, if possible, to account for Mr.
Brown's hostility to the Gcverament, on grounds which would
blunt the point of his attack. The Ministers and their leading
supporters were feasted in Upper Canada during the months suc-
ceeding the rising of Parliament. At a dinner at Berlin, Mr.
David Christie, the present Speaker of thie Senate, said that Mr.
Brown's hostility to the Hincks' administration arose from the fact
that the Government would not take him in, or even recognise
his newspaper as the Ministerial organ.*

Mr. George Brown, in his newspaper, characterised this as an
infamous falsehood, whereupon Mr. Christie appealed to Mr. Wm^
MacDougall, then editor of theNorth Ainerican. Mr. MacDougall
wrote that what Mr. Christie said was strictly true. Mr. Brown
denounced both as in the same boat, and stigmatized the Govern*
ment organ as the " Pope's brass band." In modern time,^, when
we no longer have the duel, over the decline of which Mr. Goldwia
Smith sometimes utters a pensive sigh, though of course he would

• " I wish to say a word or two about the union of Reformers, which led to the forma-
tion of the present Government, in reply to what has been said by Mr. Brown. He has.
stated that he dropped the matter because he had no confidence in the arrangements^
The reverse is the case — he was dropped because confidence could not be placed in him.
(Loud laughter and applause.) Even then he would have gone with us had he been
continued as the organ. On being informed that a union of parties had been effected,,
the first question he put was, ' What about newspapers ? ' From the reply made to
this query, he argued that the Globe would not be th-^ organ ; he then said, ' I'll knock
the bottom out of it — I'll smash it up.' As yet he has not been able to do this, but het
has tried htu-d toeff ct his object. "—SpeecA of Mr. David Ohristie. M.P. at Berlin.

584

THE IRISHMAN I\ CANADA.

not defend the moiality of duelUng, it* a man gives another the
lie, the only thing is to retort with " you're another." It is very
wrong to take another's life, even when you give him a chance of
taking yours. But, in striking a balance of advantages and dis-
advantages between the old and present practices, a Devil's advo-
cate might be able to say something for the duel.

At a dinner at Port Sarnia, Mr. Drummond styled Mr. Brown
a disappointed office-seeker. Without answering the charge, and
without defending Mr. Brown, I have no hesitation in saying Mr.
Hincks ought to have had Mr. Brown in his Ministry. He had,
by word and pen, in a paper conducted even then, with extra-
ordinary spirit, supported the Governmert. He was, next to Mr.
Hincks him.self, at this time the able.l, mail ii' the Reform party.
Why, then, was he left out in the c^'ld ? It would have been much
better fcv the country had Mr. Br <v n been taken into the Minis-
try, while it would have strengthened Mr. Hincks' hands. Mr.
Brown's after career would havj been, perhaps, one of enhanced
usefulness had Mr. Hincks adopted the constitutional course. It
is always a narrow personal motive which prevents a Premier
taking the strong man of his pady into his Cabinet.

In 185 i, Lord Elgin went to England to take part in negotia-
tions respecting a question dear to his own heart and that of the
blameless Baldwin, who now lived in retirement at Spadina, read-
ing his favourite authors, cultivating his garden, and cherishing
the memory of his dead wife with the beautiful devotion of a
Petrarch or a Mill. All preliminaries to a Reciprocity Treaty be-
tween Canada and the United States having been agreed to. Lord
Elgin was appointed on a special embassy to Washington. He
invited Mr. Hincks, who was in England at the time, to accom-
pany him. A convention having been agreed to. Lord Elgin and
Mr. Hincks returned to Canada. Parliament was opened on the
13th of June. The speech, among other things, alluded to the
Reciprocity Treaty which had been concluded; to the propriety of
carrying into early operation the Act of the previous session, for
the extension of the elective franchise ; to the prosperous condition
of the revenue ; the credit of Canada abroad, end the interest taken
in England in its affairs. But, notwithsti«iidi7>g the Governor's
speech of 1852, there was nothing now said about the settlement

Tim

A COALITION OPPOSITION.

685

of the Heignorial tenure. Notwithstanding the action of the
Imperial Parliament, not a word was uttered respeetinr; the Clergy
Reserves.

The Hincks Administration was at that time, and has been fre-
quently since, condemned for these omissions. Pv'ting off meet-
ing Parliament until June has also been commented on adversely.
This, ho wever, must be said, that with Lord Elgin and Mr. Hincks
out of the country. Parliament could not very well have met.
Am to the omissions, it might be pleaded that measures of a politi-
cal character should not be dealt with by an expiring Parliament,
and at a time when an addition to the list of the enfranchised, and
an extended representation were imminent.*

A Parliamentary Opposition have one thing in common with
the wicked — their tender mercies are cruel ; and neither Sir Allan
MacNab r or John A. Macdonald, nor George Brown, took this
view of tlte case. The two former drew their Conservative allies
up in order of battle, while Mr. Brown with his band of Brownites,
brought their aid to the Conservatives, and the Government fell
just as Lord Russell's Government had fallen in England two years
earlier, before the assaults of the Conservatives, aided by discon-
tented Liberals. The division of the Reform ranks in England put
Lord Derby and Mr. Disraeli in office for some three hundred
days ; the split in the Reform ranks in Canada put Sir. John A.
Macdonald in power for twenty years.

Mr. Cauchon moved an amendment to the address, condemning
the Government for not being prepared to legislate on the seignor-
ial tenure. A short debate followed, after which an amendment
of Sicotte's regarding the Clergy Reserves was added to Cauchon's.
Ministers were beaten on the iLllst June by a majority of thirteen,
in a house of seventy one. Mr. Hincks did not resign. He got
Lord Elgin to come down next day and prorogue Parliament,
though at the eleventh hour Sir Allan MacNab on I ehalf of the
Opposition had offered to 'return a respectful ansv/er to the ad-

* " Mr. HinclcB and his colleagues were of opinion that a material change in the Par-
liamentary Representation as well as an alteration in the franchise, having been already
K sanctioned by Parliament, it was inexpedient that any measures of a political character
should be dealt with by an expiring Parliament." "Our Portrait 'r.- ;'ery" — Dublin
University Magazine, Nov., 1876, p., .539.

Wk'i

i'H ^

*"iis

586

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

dress. " But," says MacMullen, " it was evidently pai-t of Mr. Hincks'
policy to force an adverse vote with a view to a dissolution," and
his vantage ground once secured he refused to recede from it.

In July the country waf deep in the excitement of r. general
election. Mr. Hincks was returned for two ridings. His colleague,
Malcolm Cameron, was beaten by Mr. Brown in Lambton. Among
the new members was Robert Spence, an Irishman of an enthu-
siastic turn of mind, who had some years before made a speech in
a somewhat exalted strain on the function of newspapers. He
was bom in Dublin. He came to Canada early in life and fought
his way in several vocations : now an auctioneer ; now a school-
master ; row a newspaper editor and proprietor; without extrane-
ous advantages he won for himself honourable distinction. For
many years he rail a paper in Dundas in which he advocated
effectively the political principles of Mr. Baldwin and Mr. Hincks.

Another new meraber was Irish, and was destined to win dis-
tinction and display brilliant talent, Michael Hamilton Foley.
He was the son of Mr. Joley of Port Colbome, and brother of
Bernard Foley, Judge of ire County of Haldimand.. He was a
native of Sligo, whei'e he was bom in 1820. He was brought by
his father to Canada in 1822. Having become a barrister, he turned
his attention to newspaper work, and from 1845 to 1853 divided
his time between thei Simcoe Advocate, the Norfolk Messenger, and
the Brantford Herald. He was now returned for the North Riding;
of Waterloo. As we shall see he was returned for two constitu-
encies at the general election of 1861, namely, Waterloo and Pertl:i,
but he elected to sit for his old seat.

Mr. Spence moved George E. Cartier, the Ministerial candidate
for the Speakership, to the Chair. The motion was seconded by
Frangois Lemieux. The influence of the Opposition newspapers —
all the Conservative, and some of the most rigorous of the Reform
— had been felt at the polls.* Antoine A. Dorion proposec/ Louis
Victor Sicotte as Speaker, his seconder being Joseph Hartman.
Cartier was defeated by a majority of three. The Ministerial

• The Toronto I,fader, a new but able jounial, supported the Ministry. But the
Olobe, the North American, the JExaminer, Maokemie'a Messenger, and other Reform
journals, wer«; against, them.

RESIGNATION OF HINCKS.

587

candidate had, from Lower Canada, a majority of nine, but he was
in a minority of twelve as regarded the Ontario vote. The hos-
tile character of the House could hardly be more clearly shown.
But the Government thought that the liberal measures they were
able to promise would carry them triumphantly through the ses-
sion. On the 6th of September, the Governor-General opened the
Legislature with a Speech, in which he informed Parliament that
the Home Government had empowered them to make the Upper
House elective. It was desirable that the Reserves and Seignorial
tenure should be dealt with, and that the tariff should be re-
modelled in accordance with the provisions of the Reciprocity
Treaty.*

But it soon became evident that Mr. Hincks misjudged the
unbending temper of Mr. Brown, and the discipline of his fol-
lowers. This time the whale was not to be diverted from upsetting
the boat hj a paltry tub. Dr. Rolph began to " squirm," aiid to
think of resi^^ning. On a question of privilege he voted with the
Opposition, and the Government was again beaten. The Hincks
Administration had now no course left but to step down and out.
The Premier at once tendered his resignation to Lord Elgin.

Sir Allan MacNab was sent for. But though Mr. Hincks was
beaten, he was a power in the Assembly. His followers were still
larger than either those of MacNab or Brown. Against George
Brown they felt the resentment, we feel against friends who
have deserted us. The first step, therefore, which Sir Allan
MacNab took was to open negotiations with Morin, the leader of
the Lower Canadian Conservative Party, which had supported
Hincks. '* Morin and his friends " says MacMuUen, " disliked the
section of the Reform Party led by Mr. Brown infinitely more
than they did the Conservative Party of Upper Canada, and
readily entered into the proposed alliance." Hincks' support was
secured on the ground that two, gentlemen having his confi-
dence and that of his friend-^ should be taken into the new ad-
ministration. One of those so taken in was Robert Spence, who
became Postn^aster General. The Premier, Sir Allan MacNab, vrasl
President of the Council and Minister of Agriculture; John A.

.;588

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

Macdonald, Attorney-General West ; William Cayley, Finance
Minister. The Coalition was displeasing to several Hinckites,
who joined Mr. Brown. But notwithstanding, the new Reform
Opposition stood in a helpless minority. Here we witness the
decease of one Reform party and the birth of another. The new
Reform party was not a lineal descendant, of the old Reform party.*
Baldwin was the founder of the first Jttef orm party ; George Brown
of the second ; and as the founders were unlike, so were the
parties they founded. MacMullen, writing in 1867, says the new
party had never won for itself the prestige of the old one. It
made great strides after 1867, and, taking advantage of the faults
and follies of the Conservatives, who had been longer in power
than was good for them, attained a position of overwhelming
strength.

When the ot .v Ministers came back to Parliament, after re-
election, they found themselves in the presence of a well-organized
Opposition. It was composed of the Rouges led by M. Dorion ;
of the Extreme Reformers, or, as they were termed "Clear Grit8,"-|*
-under the leadership of Mr. Brown ; of several Moderate Reform-
•ers, who regarded John Sandtield Macdonald as their Chief, who
aiming to be consistent with party traditions, now refused to aid
a Coalition Government in passing most important Reform mea-
sures. This was clearly a mistake, even from the point of view
of tactics. It gave a factious character to their opposition, and
prevented them from reaping the benefit in popularity of these
Reform measures. How difierently the Liberals in England led
by Mr. Gladstone and Mr. Bright acted in 1867.

The Government passed a Bill handing over the Clergy Re-
serves to certain corporations for secular purposes. The life inter-
tests of the clergy were commuted with the consent of the clergy,

•"Mr. Brown had been completely outwitted by the coup d'etat of Sir Allan
MacNab, and found himself utterly unable to reap any benefit from the important
Wctory he had, after so much exertion achieved, and at the same time the destruction
■of the Hincks' Cabinet [which hav-i the support of the Lower Canadian Cc^nveution],
and the consequent union of the Conservative parties of Upper and Lower Canada,
may be regarded as the death-knell of the old Reform party of this country, so long
cohesive hitherto, and so formidable under the leadership of Robert Baldwin," — Mac-
Mullen, p. 526.

f It Will have been seen this name did not originally belong to the Brownites.

^■B

CLOSE OF THE IRISH TEAIOD.

589

and the foundation of a small permanent endowment made in a
manner to which nobody could reasonably object, but which, nev-
ertheless, found objectors among the Opposition. The Seignorial
Tenure was abolished ; the Grand Trunk Railway Act amended ;
the Canada Ocean Steamship Company incorporated ; and a new
Customs Tariff adopted in accordance with the Reciprocity Treaty ..
On the 11th of December, Parliament was adjourned to the 23rd
of February, 1855,

Lord Elgin had experienced the difficulty a Governor finds in
times of crisis in carrying out the idea of a constitutional ruler, and
contrary to his own principles had identified himself too entirely
with one party. Notwithstanding the calm he displayed during
the unhappy events which destroyed the hopes of Montreal of
being the seat of Government, the indignities he had met with, at
as he believed the hands of the Conservative Party, had created
prejudice and inspired resentment. He was glad to resign, though
fickle popular favour was becoming warmer towards him. His
career in Japan and China is well known, and how he fell a victim
to the climate of India amid the greatness and splendour of a ruler
of its dusky millions.

The curtain has fallen on the Irish period. Mr. Hincks soon
followed Lord Elgin to the eld country, and sought to forget his
disappointments and loss of popularity amid the enchanting beau-
ties of his native land. While thus employed. Sir William Moles-
worth who knew his great abilities, offered him the appointn.ent
of Governor-in-Chief in Barbadoes and the Windward Islands..
Having accepted the offer, he came back to Canada, whence he
proceeded with his family to the scene of his new duties. He
remained at Barbadoes for the full term of six years, with the
exception of a brief visit to Canada and England in 1859. In 1861,
the Duke of Newcastle promoted him to the Government of Brit-
ish Guinea, where he remained until 1869, when he was created
a K. C. M. G. He had previously been created a C. B. Early
in 1869, he returned to England. He waa then sixty-one years of
age, and in his two cfovernorships had well earned the Colonial
Governor's pension, which he received on retiring from the Impe-
rial service. But his career as a statesman was not yet over.

'jH V iii

)K'i

ifin^ ' '''

11' H J 1

I:'

690

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

CHAPTER XIV.

After the rebellion, the stream of Irish emigration continued to
flow, and the tide rose to its highest during those years of famine,
which though attended with so much misery, form an epoch in
Irish history, when the country began to separate itself from its
past, from the days of Donnybrook Fair and Harry Lorrequer.

The immigration, since 1837, has brought us from Ireland men
of as much enterprise and success as the earlier immigration, but
for obvious reasons I cannot dwell on their careers at the same
length.

The late James Shanly, of " The Abbey," Queen's County, a
member of the Irish bar, emigrated to Canada about the time
of the rebellion and settled in the County of Middlesex, Ontario.
The sons of this gentleman are men of whom the Irish people
may be very proud ; their integrity and fine sense of honour
would marV them out in a community where sharpness had not
begun to take hold. I have never met these gentlemen, but I
have heard much of their singularly high standpoint in regard to
whatever they busy themselves with ; a great deal, which implies
not merely that sense of honour which would feel a stain like a
wound, but a goodness of heart which at the present day is only
too rare. The Shanly family is an old Celtic one which has been
known for centuries in the County Leitrim, and the family cha-
racterirtics are traceable to the proud, kindly Celtic blood.

Walter Shanly, who for some time represented South Grenville,
the third living son of the late James Shanly, was born at the
family seat, " The Abbey," in Stradbally, County Leitrim. Having
been educated by a private tutor, he became a civil engineer. He

[AuTHOBiTiES— Original Souroes ; "Ireland in 1872," By James Macaulay. M.A.,
M.D., Edinburgh ; " The Queen vs. Thomas Kirkpatrick and others," reported for the
JBrititk Whig by Alexander Duncan, 1847 ; the newspapers ; " Wanderings of an artist
among the Indians of North America," by Paul Kane. " Paul Kane the Canadiar
.sjixist," by D. W. (Professor Daniel Wilson) in the Canadian Journal. Canada Law
.Jnurval.^

■

IMMIGRATION SINCE 1837.

591

has executed many public works of great magnitude. He was
resident engineer under the Board of Works, on Beauhamois and
Welland Canals, from 1843 to 1848 ; engineer of the Ottawa and
Prescott Railway, from 1851 to 1853; engineer of the Western
Division of the Grand Trunk Railway — from Toronto to Sarnia
— from 1851 to 1857 ; engineer of the Ottawa and French River
Navigation Surveys, from 1856 to 1858 ; General Manager of the
Grand Trunk Railway from 1858 to 18G2. He is connected with
many large institutions, in presidential and directorial capacities.
The greatest undertaking in which he has engaged was the con-
tract for making the Hoosac Tunnel, a stupendous work, which
was accomplished successfully from an engineering point of view.
Mr, Frank Shanly has been engaged with his brother in engineer-
ing. Mr. James Shanly has been a successful barrister, and re-
sides in London, where he is Master in Chancery.

In Ottawa, we have John Henry — " Honest John" as he is
called — who came here in 1842, from Cavan, and who has long
been a consistent tempera, ie advocate ; Mr. William Davis, who
left Tipperary in 1842, who has completed some important works
in Ottawa, and made wealth out of his brains and hands ; Mr.
Martin O'Gara, from Galway, the first and only Stipendiary Magis-
trate Ottawa has had ; the Friels, who have been prominent in
politics and journalism ; Mr. Richard Nagle who came from
Mitchell's Town to Canada in 1840, and now us a great lumberer
gives employment to hundreds ; another great lumberer, Mr. Chris-
topher 0'Keefe,who came here from Dublin; Mr. W. H.Waller, who
came hither from Tipperary in 1853, and settled in ToroiitO; whence
after serving h\a years in the Globe office, he removed to Ottawa to
take a position on the Union newspaper, and ultimately climb to
be President of the St. Patrick's Society, and Mayor of the Capital
of the Dominion ; the Baskerville family, who came in 1848, and
are now wealthy ; Mr. Thomas Langrell, a successful contractor,
who came here from Wicklow in 1837, and who has been followed
by a large number of his family ; Mr Edward Allen Meredith, of
Trinity College, Dublin, Deputy Minister of the Interior, who came
from the County Tyrone, and has done good service as a literary
man and a centre of culture ; Mr. Daniel John O'Donoghue,
M.P.P., a descendant ol the O'Donoghues of " the Glen," who came

592

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

here with his father in 1852 ; Mr. James Goodwiui, who arrived
here in 1844, and has succeeded as a contractor ; Captain Stewart,
whose advent took place in the year 1857, and who in twenty
years has made himself one of the most prominent citizens of
Ottawa ; Mr. James Keays a native o'f Castlecomer, Oounty Kil-
kenny, who steered his course here in 1842, and settling in the
wilderness twenty miles from Bytown, drew a settlement around
him of which he became the leading spirit.

In Renfrew, the career of James Bonlield, M.P.P., is as striking
as that of Mr. Egan.

In Montreal, we find similar results from the post-rebellion im-
migration. Both before and since that period the O'Murphys, of
Wexford, the ancient land of the O'Murphys, sent good specimens
of a great stock here. The Murrows, of the County Wexford, and
the Morrows, of the County Cork, the McMurrays of Ireland, and
the McMurrichs of Scotland, the Murroghs of old Irish history,
and the Murphys of modem times, are all the same. Mr. Edward
Murphy, merchant, son of the late Daniel Murphy, Mr. P. S. Mur-
phy, brother of Edward, the first man who introduced india-rubber
manufacture into Montreal, belongs originally to the Murrows of
Wexford. Mr. Alderman William Clendinning, who came here
in 1847, would deserve a little pamphlet to himself. He has been
singularly successful and public spirited. Leslie Gault, Matthew
Hamilton Gault, Mr. Frederick Gault, and Mr. Robert Gault, all
shed lustre alike on the land of their birth and the land of their
adoption. Energetic and intelligent, liberal in his opinions and
charitable in his gifts, Michael MuUarky deserves the high posi-
tion he has at,tained, as does William Kingston, M.D., allied to the
Cotters of Cork, the Latouches and Hales, as well as to the ancient
family of the Careys, a man honoured as a citizen and as a doc-
tor, and who has written much that is valuable, I regret to have
to dismiss with too scant a notice representative men like Mr.
Francis Cassidy, Mr. Michael Patrick Ryan, Mr. Thomas Macfar-
lane Bryson, manufacturer, and others of note and influence. Quito
a remarkable man is Mr. John Lovell, the founder of the publish-
ing business in the Province of Quebec. He prosecuted his design
of issuing a Dominion Directory, under circumstances that would
have deten'ed a man of less courage and energy. He established

BEDFORD, KINGSTON, BRANTFORD.

593

a business at Rouse's Point some years ago, and is also a leading
partner in the firm of Lovell, Adam Wesson & Co. Mr. Lovell
published for years the leading magazine of Canada — the Literary
Garland — to which Mrs. Moodie and Mrs. Traill, the sister of Mrs.
Moodie, were regular contributors. Mr. James Lovell, whose sons
carry on business in Toronto, conducted the Upper Canada branch
of the business.

In Bedford, Quebec, there are a good many Irish settlers, who
all deserve a place in this work if there was room. Mr. Oough
ought to be mentioned. In 1823, Henry Gough, of Cavan, emi-
grated to America, and died soon afterwards in the Southern
States. In 1836, his wife and her son emigrated, first going to
New York, and a few years afterwards settling in Canada, near
tlieir relatives in Bedford, of whom John Smyth died in 1858,
holding the commission of Captain in the Militia, and Michael
O'Flaherty, who left behind him a good property. Mr. J. J.
Murphy is in the City of Quebec, a well known man among his
countrymen. Then there is ]\Tr. Owen Murphy, Mayor of Quebec.
There is a good Irish settlement in Missisquoi.

I have, in earlier pages, spoken of Kingston. It would be hard
to do full justice to the Irish in that city. It is not possible to
deal at sufficient length with the late Judge Macarow and the pre-
sent Judge Burrows; Mr. Jamea Agnew, City Solicitor ; Dr. Sulli-
van, the first Roman Catholic Mayor of Kingston ; Mr. Flanagan,
City Clerk ; Mr. James Sharman, proprietor of the Daily Neim ;
Mr. John Creighton, Warden of the Penitentiary, and many others.
Mr. George A. Kirkpatrick, M.P., belongs to a family which has
long been connected with Kingston. His father fought a noble
battle for the poor Irish emigrants in 1847.

In Brantford there are W. J. Scarfe, who was seven years in the

Council and Reeve for th ee years ; J. W. Digby, M.D., Mayor for

three years ; J. J. Hawkins, Reeve for two years; W. Mathews, who

died last January, and who was forty years in the country and

had been mayor for five years ; W. Thompson, of Oakland, in the

Council for twenty years, late Warden of the County ; Dr. Kelly,

Inspector of Schools, who has written much in the Hamilton

Times ; and many other Irishmen of ability and enterprise. Mr.

Scarfe is a representative man, whose energy, talents for public
38

594,

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

business and generosity make him a force in his city. Kis repu-
tation is that he can " put through" anything he takes in hand.
He has a fine presence, sound judgment, and command of an
audience and, should he go into Parliament, cannot fail to play
an important part. Mr. Scarfe is a Reformer.

The member in the local House for Dundas, Mr. Andrew Broder,
is an Irishman. In this connection we might mention the Griers,
the Hyndmans, the Robertsons, the Molloys, the Clarks, the Red-
dicks, the Stuarts, the McConnells, the Wallaces, and many others.

The Rev. Samuel B. Ardagh was a remarkable man. His eldest
son, John Anderson Ardagh, who was born at Waterford, in 1835,
was only seven years old when he came to this country with his
father. He attended the first district school of Barrie, and after-
wards was a private pupil of the Rev. Arthur Hill. Having been
educated at Trinity College, where he took a scholarship, he was
called to the Bar in 1861. In 1869 he was appointed Deputy-
Judge of the County of Simcoe, and in 1872 Junior Judge both
of Law and Equity.

Among the many Irishmen in and near Barrie, Mr. Richard
Power, of Woodlands, stands out as a representative man of a type
largely supplied to this country by Ireland — the gentleman who
brings his culture and his money to increase our wealth and make
Canada morally and socially more attractive. Mr. Power was
born in 1827, at Glen Mills, Couni.y Cork. His father was John
Power, of the County Tipperary. In 1853 Mr. Richard Power
married Ellen, the eldest daughter of the late Michael Ardagh,
High Sheriff of the County of Waterford. From 1853 until 1869
he canied on extensive milling operations in the County Water-
ford. He came to Canada on a visit in 1868, and being much
pleased with the country, left Ireland in July, 1869, and settled
on a picturesque spot beautifully situated on Kempenfeldt Bay,
where he built his present fine residence, whence he and his ac-
complished family diffuse a happy and graceful influence.

In Toronto, the Census speaks for itself, and the instances of
success are very numerous. A man like John Woods, of West
Toronto, who came here from Ireland thirty years ago, and who
has become a successful merchant, is typical of the energy and
power of his countrymcEi.

AN IRISH FAIR.

595

Amongst the builders Ireland has sent here, Mr. Kivas Tally,
Architect and Civil Engineer, Department of Public Works, and
Mr. John Tully, his brother, and of the same profession, deserve to
be mentioned. Mr. John Harrington was a successful business
man in Toronto, who came here in 1841, made money, took an
interest in public affairs, and was killed by a fall from his horse.
His ample fortune descended in the main to his sister, the wife of
Mr. David Blain, M.P., for West York. A characteri.'^tic Irish emi-
grant was. or rather is, Richard Reynolds, of Yonge street, Toronto.
In his eighteenth year he came fi.,m Ballybrood where it was "the
regulation thing " to have a fight- on the 12th of JuTio, This was
the day Mr. Reynolds left home, and he regretted that he would
not be " in with rhe fight" — a fight which had this bjautiful at-
traction, it was never known to pass off without a man or tvi^o
being killed. The military used to be brought from Limcnck.
Sticks were going and so were drinks — punch and porter, and the
women arms akimbo dancing in the tents. I have always been
reminded of those Irish jigs when reading the scene in Faust —
^a«ettt mitt Att ^in&t :— the dance and song would suit admirably
an Irish fair where there is or used to be nothing but flirting and
dancing before the fighting began. A school-boy version of this
song — a callow and crude attempt to hibernise it may perhaps
here be given.

Now Paddy to the dancing flew,

His shirt was clean, his necktie new,

And Peggy's gown and face were beaming ;

Beneath the canvas ,every spark

Was gay as dewy morning's lark.

Juchhe ! Juchhe !

Juchheisa ! Heisa ! He I

The fiddlesticks were screaming.

And Phelim sidled up to Proo,
And round her waist his arm he drew
The spalpeen sure was raving ;
The pretty colleen jumped aside,
Half crimson with offended pride ;
Juchhe ! Juchhe !
Juchheisa 1 Heisa ! He 1
Now don't be misbehaving.

596

THE lEISHMAN IN CANADA.

But at his Binile offence takes flight ;

They dance to left, they dance to right :

Their hands their hips are clutching ;

They gfrow quite red, they -row quite warm,

Then proudly walk off arm in arm ;

Juchhe 1 Juchhe !

Juchheisa ! Heisa ! He 1

'Neath .the trees their lips are touching.

Come, come Sir, be not quite so bold,

Or you shall find that I can scold,

This is the way of men's betraying ;

He comes the blarney, utters vows,

And on they roam 'neath blossom'd boughs ;

Juchhe ! Juchhe !

Juchheisa ! Heisa ! He !

And far from crowds the two are straying.

In Thornhill, Mr Reynolds met many of his countrymen — the
Howards, the Holmes, and others. He came here without a trade.
He always had a desire for the Church — for a controversial eccle-
siastic his experience at Ballybrood would have, perhaps, been
useful. He went to Trinity College, and for two years, being a
man of fine abilities, got along well. But, when the controversy
broke out between the Bishop of Huron — Bishop Cronyn, a bro-
ther Irishman — and the Bishop of Toronto, he took sides with the
former, who declared that Trinity College was teaching semi-
Roman Catholic doctrines. Owing to the stand taken by Mr. Rey-
nolds, the college became too hot for him, and he had to leave.

Mr. Reynolds went to the University, where he passed in every
subject except chemistry. Ho took honours in the Oriental lan-
guages. It was urged by Professor Wilson aud others, that his
honours should stand against his backwardness in chemistry. This
was not allowed, and he gave up the idea of entering the Church.
He then went into the boot and shoe business in which he has
succeeded. In connexion with his trade he published a paper for
five years, and he .still keeps up a correspondence with the mem-
bers of the craft throughout the country. Altogether, Mr. Rey-
nolds is quite a remarkable man. He would have made a very
efiective, perhR,ps a great minister. But he has been in his calling a
useful man, and by reason of his intelligence and capacity, a tonic
force amongst his fellow citizens.

One of the most successful men who have come here for many

tmmm

IRISHMEN OF PROMISE.

597

a day, is Mr. P. O. Close, the head of the firm of P. G. Close k Co.,
Toronto, who is Alderman, and connected with several larj^e rail-
way and financial undertakings. He is a man of great executive
power, of sound judgment and large, liberal views, and should he
determine to enter Parliament would be calculated to do good
work for his party and the country. Similar instances of rapid
success and great business capacity, are Mr. Christopher Bunting,
Mr. Warring Kennedy, Mr. Dan. Hayes, Captain Larkin, of St.
Catharines ; the Hennesseys, of Hamilton ; the Johnsons, of Belle-
ville. Mr. Bunting is a man of reading and reflection. He has a fine
presence, and is a good speaker. I hope ere long to see him in the
House of Commons. Mr. Warring Kennedy is a man who also
has public talents, which will, no doubt, be one day pressed into
the serv. of his adopted country. In official life Mr. Thomas
Devine, F. R. G. S. is a man whose services to Canada, it would be
hard to overestimate. An engineer who has graduated in the best
schools, his maps and plans, made and published since he became
Assistant Commissioner of Crown Lands, display the highest
topographic skill. His field book is one of the best known to sur-
veyors. He is a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, a cor-
responding member of the Berlin Geographical Society, and of the
American Geographical and Statistical Society.

In the Township of Pickering, there is a settlement of the
Society of Friends, which includes members of the family of Rich-
ardson from Queen's County ; of the Taylors, from Tipperary ; of
the CoUiny's, and the Wrights ; and of others who came there
when that country was primeval forest. At Whitby, Mr. W. H.
Higgins, editor of the Whitby Chronicle, is in the midst of the
two sections of his countrymen, and popular with both. In 1856,
when he established the Chronicle, there was no Roman Catholic
Church in Whitby. Mr. Higgins and the priest of the mission,
Father Shea, went out and got in one evenitig, mainly from Pro-
testants, $600, and so the church was commenced.

Little has been said, and perhaps little need be said of the
Irishman as a social force, or of his activity in the learned profes-
sions. Such men as Mr. A. Thornton Todd fulfil an important
function in society. Mr. Todd is the youngest son of William
Thornton Todd, of Buncrana Castle, County Donegal, grand

698

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

nephew and representative in Canada of Isaac Todd, whoso letters
I have «iuo( \ when endeavouring to paint the local feeling during
the war of 1812-14. Mr. Todd founded the old Toronto Cluh, of
which he was long honorary Secretary and Treasurer. He fdso
built the Racket Court, racket being a game of which he used to
be passionately fond, and in which he excelled.

A very famous person was the late Dr. George Herrick, M.D.,
who was born in Cork, in 1789, and having graduated at Trinity
College, Dublin, studied medicine there and at Edinburgh. For
a short time prior to his coming to this country in 1844, he was
resident physician of the Rotunda Lying-in Hospital. He never
married, but kept bachelor's quarters until a short time before his
death. Most hospitable, he seldom sat down to dinner without half
a dozen friends. There waa no ostentation. Every one was glad
to dine with him, for you were sure to meet a i)leasant party and
have a pleasant evening. The private friends who had paitaken of
his hospitality, and ' " n^cers of several regiments quartered in
Toronto, presente' dth many pieces of plate.

Besides the ..mers. Dr. Herrick had two special dinners,

one was onol .stmasDay,thel2thof January, the other on his

father's biithday. He selected the young for his companions
and his invitation was very peculiar. It was ne^'^er expresised in
writing or words. He would catch a glimpse of a desirable
guest, perhaps on the other side of the way and put his hand over
his shoulder with the thumb reaching out — hence ho was called
" Old Thumby "—and would say, " Roast Beef" or ' Leg of Mut-
ton.*' On the special occasions, however, he wrote a formal invi-
tation. '^

The fare he gave his guests consisted of three courses with
sherry and ale, and plenty of punch afterwards. At the table
you would hear discussions and anecdotes relating to all the horse
races and all the leading families in Great Britain and Ireland.
He believed in blood both in men and horses. He must have had a
little private means. He was systematic in his habits. He always
got up at a certain hour. In the afternoon he would come home
about 4 o'clock and take a sleep nntil six. Then he got up for
dinner, his dress for that meal being a loose coat. He retired at
nine o'clock, generally telling hifi guests to move off. If strangei-s

DR. HERRICK. DH. KING. DR. MACK.

699

not knowing his habits tarried, ho would say : " Did you see those
puppies go out there?" "Yes. 'Then you had better follow them."

He was lecturer on diseases of womon at Kinrj'a College and af-
terwards at the [Jniversity of Toronto. His lectures were concise
and brief and thoroughly practical. " You must not " ho would
say, pointing with his thumb over his shoulder, " take the advice
of those people over there," meaning the medical men of the
United States, " because if you do, you may as well leave the
place at once." At the hospital it was necessary to know his dif-
ferent sign.s, as he would only say, — "Give them that powder,"
as he put the right hand over the left shoulder. He never said,
" Put out your tongue " to a patient. He simply put out his own.
He was a good accoucheur. From Dr. Thorburn, who studied
with him, and who learned from him much of his skill in lucinice
luhores, I have gleaned many particulars respecting this eccentric
man.

He belonged to the old school of Irish gentlemen. In personal
appearance he was tall and stout. He wore a big colh ,r and side-
whiskers. He preferred walking to riding. He had neither car-
pets nor gas iii his house.

Dr. John King, his contemporary and colleague was a great
friend of his. Henick always called him " Rex." Dr. King was
like himself, a representative Irishman of a now vanished type.

Another contemporary and brother medical man was James
John Hayes, sometime member of the Senate, and of the Endow-
ment Board of the University in which capacity he did good ser-
vice, and saved the University much money. All his sons fill
honourable positions.

Dr. Mack's name has been already mentioned in connexion
with his father's. During the troubles of '37 hf " Tied a small
band of youthful British residents, to repel an expected invasion
of the so-called batteries of Amherstburg. They were surrounded
by a hostile population. For fourteen nights those boys, not one
of them more than seventeen years old, stood sentry, without any
place to sleep, an he enemy firing boiler cuttings on the own.
The young lads, all of whom, with ope exception, are rlead, per-
formed the duties of soldiers with rare pluck.

After this, Mack was appointed a lieutenant to an armed

600

THE

.SHMAN IN CANADA.

schooner. He was practically captain, for the man who should
have discharged the duties was nearly always drunk. In the
spring and summer following he served under Captain the Hon.
John Elmsley.

After eighteen months' service in connexion with the temporary
navy, he commenced the study of medicine in the office of Dr.
George Grasett, and at the Military Hospital, which he was
permitted to attend as a special favour to the son of the Garri-
son chaplain. He graduated in the United States, in 184<3,
soon after which he obtained his Provincial h" 3ense. In 1844,
he commenced the practice of his profession at St. Catharines,
as there •i/s.a a large field for surgery among the vast body of
Irishmen then engaged in the enlargement of the Welland Canal.

Dr. Maok was ihe first man in this country who commenced the
treatment of female ailments surgically. As has so often happened,
two minds were pursuing the same studies with the same results.
/.t the time Dr. Mack was working out important medico-surgical
problems, Dr. Simpson, of Edinburgh, was similarly employed,
and both arrived at the same conclusions. Like every man of
original views, Dr, Mack had to face the storm which the ignorant,
the envious, and the interested raise up against those who seek to
iorve mankind in a better way than by going in the old rut.

Very soon after going to St. Catharines, he saw the benefit
thial- might be derived from t-'.e saline waters of the place,
which were then in the hands of a mere quack, one Dr. Chase, a
distiller and store-keeper. The well was first excavated, for the
purpose of supplying the soldiers and the inhabitants with salt,
when an embargo was placed on that article by the Americans in
1812. Witness the needs of the times in the " salt-licks " along
the Twelve-mile Creek. Two wells were dug, that at the Ste-
phenson Hotel, now in the hands of the Hon. W. P. Howland,
and the well connected with Springbank. When the property,
on which the Stephenson House now stands, came into the hands
of A. W. Stephenson, he went to Dr. Mack, begging him to intro-
duce his water, and promising him that there should be no quack-
ery if he would take the matter up. It is the only mineral water
with which quackery has not been associated. Dr. Mack commu-
nicated with his fiiends in the United States, and wrote upon the

SALINE SPRINGS AT ST. CATHARINES.

601

subject in the leading medical journals, placing the muiits of the-
waters fairly and scientifically before the public. The result was
unexampled success. The Town of St. Catharines was so crowded
that private houses had to be thrown open, and some of the pil-
grims of health slept in cartis. The profession endorsed the work,,
and everything went as the sanguine and honest could desire, until
the cupidity of the hotel-keepers almost ruined the beneficent
interprise.

Seeing the way things were going, Dr. Mack determined ta
build an hotel and sanitarium, where he could carry out his own
plans, and bring the administration of the waters to perfection.
But the business has been so damaged that it will take half a cen-
tury to bring it up to what it was. Dr. Mack has, from the first,,
been faithful to those waters on which, directly, but indirectly on
humanity, his generous heart and noble professional enthusiasm
have led him to sacrifice wealth and alluring prospects, fourteen
years ago, he was offered a large and lucrative practice in Boston,
where he would have been backed ^lp by the leading members of
the profession, particularly in his surgical specialty. But instead
of accepting that offer, he built Springbank, in which he has
sunk over $140,000.

Al that time a great honour was conferred on him. He wa»
asked to fill the chair of Materia Medica, at the University of
Buffalo, which he did for three years. Buffalo University has
turned out such men as Dalton, the two Flints, and others. Dr.
Mack was offered the permanent charge, but, feeling unable to go
over there twice a week, declined the appointment.

Prior to this offer being made to him, he spent eight months in
Europe, where he had the pleasure of meeting all the leading
men of the profession in England, in I'rance, and in Italy, to whom
Sir James Simpson gave him letters of introduction. All showed,
him the gi-eatest kindness.

In 18t>0, he commenced a work which he has recently brought
into a more complete state, a work for which he desei-ves to be ever
held in honour. He raised a six penny contribution among the
lake mariners for the establishment of a marine hospital in some
central place on the lakes. Five years he struggled in this truly
humane cause. Here, too, he received opposition. The opposi-

602

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

tion, however, in this case, came ftiainly from Lower Canada. The
Lower Canada medical men thought his project would interfere
with the Marine Hospital of Lower Canada. St. Catharines,
a point by which all the vessels passed, was specially suited for
an hospital ; here they could be treated and senl on their way
healed, up or ('own ^he lakes. Dr. Mack pressed the case on the
Government. But :^.nding that he could get no aid from them,
he fell brtck on his own efforts, and on those of the ladies. He
determined to unite with the marine hospital a general department
for the benefit of St. Catharines. By his activi;>y, and the
assistance of the ladies, many of them belonging to the United
States, he kept the hospital going for two years, after which
time the Government came to his aid, in 1862. We need not
wonder that the party to which he belonged desired to bring
him into public life, or that he was nominated as a candidate-
But he, doubtless, remembered Paul's great words, " This one thing
I do," and chose the better part of exclusive dsvotion to his pro-
fession. The Dominion Government made him a grant of $500
for the marine department, while Mr. Charles Rykert obtained a
larger grant from the Ontario Government. The hospital has now
become an institution of which, according m Mr. La) gmuir, the
place has just reason to be proud. I went over the hospital, and
can endorse what Mr. Langrauir says. The maternity wing, which
is now being added, will make it still more complete.

In 1874, Dr. Mack established the first training school for
nurses ever established in British America. It has been a decided
success, and a blessing to the neighbourhood. Mack has always
identified himself with the rise and progress of the place. During
the last twenty years there must have been from $80,000 to $100,-
000, a year, spent in St. Catharines through his instrumentality.
His own professional income w£is for a long time from ten to
twelve thousand dollars a year. For many years all his energy
has been devoted to making Springbank an institution for the
successful treatment of chronic disease, and all the ailments pre-
valent in the country ; rheumatism, gout, and diseases of mala-
rious origin.

Dr. Mack was the first man in Canada to use Dr. Chapman's
icG bags applied to the spine for nervous and other diseases, and

hel
le(

wi
in I

pi|

VLSi

bal

IRTSH JOURNALISTS.

603

he has found them as efficacious here as they have, to my know-
ledge, been found in London. A great cure has been effected
within the last few months by means of spinal ice bags. A lady
in a very bad condition has been brought from the confines of that
pitiful world, where reason is not. " I have found them highly
useful" says Dr. Mack, in reply to a question concerning those ice
bags, " in the treatment of diseases of a nervous origin."

Some of the most brilliant, able, and best educated journalists
in every city of Canada are Irishmen, or of Irish extraction. Mr. M.
J. Griffin, of Halifax, is not only a journalist of first-class power,
but a literary man, who bids fair to carve out for himself a great
reputation. In Kingston, we have Mr. J . Johnston, an able writer-
Mr. Fahey, formerly of the Hamilton Spectator, and known as
" Rupert" to the readers of the Mail, edits the Stratford Herald
with great ability. Mr. Tyner, of the Hamilton Times, is known
for his brilliancy as a journalist throughout the whole Dominion.
In Toronto, Mr. Edward Farrer's humour, invective, eloquence, all
bear the stamp of native ability. In Montreal, there are at least
four men of great literary power, Mr. Meany, Captain Kirwin, Mr.
^Vhite, the proprietor and editor of the Gazette, and Mr. Reade,
one of the editors of that paper. It is only the other day that
the Rev. Father Murphy's beautiful English, redolent of Tenny-
sonian studies, was delighting and elevating the readers of the lead-
ing Roman Catholic newspaper of Montreal.

Mr. John Reade, who was born at Ballyshannon, County Done-
gal, and educated partly there and partly at Enniskillen, and Bel-
fast, is a poet of which the country of Moore and Goldsmith may
be proud. A critic speaking with the responsibility of a first class
magazine, says of "The Prophecy of Merlin and Other Poems," that
it is a volume in every way worthy of the land of the Lakes, well
written, well printed and well bound. " The author in his verses
unites power with sweetness. He is a disciple of Tennyson, whose
writings he has studied with earnestness and -arc. The longest
poem, ' The Prophecy of Merliii,' is thoroughly readable, and though
modelled on the ' IdyllR.' is in no degree an imitation. That Mr.
Reade is capable of selecting a subject and treating it eflfecti\ ely,
his poem on 'Vashti' is ample evidence. The local colouring of
some of the poems gives the book an especial interest for colonial

ii ,
h

604

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

readers. Every page in it is worth perusal."* " The translations
in the volume are good. In 'Andre Chenier's Death -Song,' Mr-
Reade has attained a success which reminds the reader of the
spirited translations of Beranger, by Father Prout."f

Mr. C. H. Mackintosh, the publisher and editor of the Ottawa
Citizen, is Canadian-Irish, He was born in London, Ontario.
Having studied law for some time he entered on a journalistic
career in 1862. His father William Mackintosh, was the son of
Captain Duncan Mackintosh, of the British army, whose wife was
a niece of the Earl of Dysart. Captain Duncan Mackintosh settled
in the County of Wicklow, where he bought landed property, and
where his son William was born. This gentleman having been
educated at Dublin, and having married, came to Canada, where
he was connected with the Ordnance Department, at London and
Kingston. Subsequently he was engaged in the survey of the
Great Western Railway, from Hamilton to Chatham. He was
afterwards for many years county engineer for Middlesex. His
widow is still living, together with several sons and daughters.

The able editor of the Irish Canadian, Mr .Patrick Boyle, is so
well known that it would be superfluous to seek to give my
readers any idea of his personality or abilities. Mr. Bailey, the
editor of the Orange Sentinel, is an enterprising North of Ireland
man, of whom I can say that he entertains liberal desires respect-
ing the friendly relations which should exist between all classes
of his countrymen.

A passing reference has been made to the Honourable Mr.
Justice Gwynne. He is the son of the Rev. Dr. Gwynne, of
Castle Knock, Dublin. Mr. Gwynne was educated at Trinity
College, which he left without taking a degree. He came to
Canada in 1832, and commenced to study law with Thcmas Kirk-
patrick. In the same year, his brother, Dr. Gwynre, came to
Canada, and established himself in Toronto as a medical man. In
the following year, his eldest brother, the Rev. Georgj Gwynne,
and his second eldest brother, Mr. Hugh Nelson Gwynne, both scho-
lars of Trinity College, came out. But the Rev. George Gwynne
soon returned to Ireland. Hugh Nelson Gwynne remained here
and became a master in Upper Canada College. His connexion

wit

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whj

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he
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* Dublin University Magazine.

t New York ITorW.

CULTURE AND LITERATURE,

605

with the college was severed owing to the influence of Dr. Strachan.
He went and lived in the coun^ '' c life of a hermit until 1840,
when he became Secretary ana . /easurer of the Law Society,
which office he filled until he retirea in December, 1872, in which
month he died suddenly.

In 1837, Mr. John W. Gwynne was called to the Bar. In 1844,
he went to EngittuJ, and studied for fifteen months in Mr. Rolfs
chambers. While there he conceived his railway plans. In 1849,
he was made a Q.C., and his career at the Bar and as a Judge is
well known.

A brother judge emigrated somewhat earlier. The Honourable
Christopher Salmon Patterson, the youngest surviving son of Mr.
John Patterson, well known in London and Belfast as a mer-
chant, came to Canada when quite a youth, in 1845. He was
called to the B&r in 1851, and after a successful professional career
was appointed Judge of the new Court of Appeal in 1874.

Two years later than Mr. Justice Gwynne, Chief Justice Hagarty
emigrated — a man whose usefulness to Canada is .ot to be mea-
sured by his ability as a lawyer and as a judge ; his literary
acquirements and taste, his social qualities, his wit, his high cha-
racter — all have been, from 1834 until the present hour, a valuable
part of the best wealth of the community. He was bom, on the
I7th of December 1816, in Dublin, and his father, Matthew
Hagarty, Examiner of His Majesty's Court of Prerogative for
Ireland, sent him early to the school of the Rev. Mr. Haddai*t.
He entered Trinity College in his sixteenth year, and emigrated
in 1824, having left his University without a degree. He settled
in Toronto in 1835, and was called to the Bar in 1840. He was ap-
pointed a Q.C. by the Baldwin Administration in 1850, and raised
to the Bench in 1856. He became Chief Justice in 1868. His
firm, Crawford and Hagarty, enjoyed a great reputation for sound
law and fearless integrity.

Mr. Hagarty was no mean element in that literary and social
influence which has done so much for the cultivation of Canada.
Scotland supplied a Gait; but the main stream of literary in-
fluence has been swelled by Irishmen from Moore down. Mrs,
Jameson was the daughter of Murphy, the painter to H.R.H. the
Princess Charlotte. She was, in Toronto, a gi-eat cultivating

606

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

power, and her " Winter Studies and Summer Rambles in Can-
ada," seemed to bring the charm of the country home to the
imagination alike of the Old World and tht. New, and to-day is
a living book.

She opens with a description of Toronto as it appeared to her
nearly half a century ago. She mingles her German studies with
descriptions of Canadian scenes and Canadian society, and Schil-
ler, sculpture, and Upper Canada newspapers, are all dealt with
in a charming manner. Her sketches of Indians and Indian
scenes are models in their kind.

In 1847, Dr. McCaul started a Canadian annual called the
" Maple Leaf," beautifully bound, and illustrated with steel
engravings. To this Annual, Mr. Hagarty contributed poems
which Shelley would not have blushed to acknowledge. The
poem on the cry of the Ten Thousand — " The Sea,, The Sea " — is
instinct with the genuine fiie of poetry. Not inferior in quality is
" The funeral of Napoleon I. " No one could read either poem with-
out being stirred. The music and power of the " Funeral of Na-
poleon I." fasten it on ear and imagination. The nervous lines are
so numerous in this fine poem that selection would be difficult.*

* The reader ^ill thank me for [jdving this poem here.

THE FUNERAL OF NAPOLEON L

{loth December 1840.)

Cold and brilliant streams tlie sunlight on the wintry banks of Seine,
Gloriously the imperial city rears her pride of tower and fane —
Solemnly with deep voice pealeth, Notre Dame, thine ancient chime,
Minute guns the death-bell answer in the same deep measured time.

On the unwonted stillness gather sounds of an advancing host,
As the rising tempest chafeth on St. Helen's far-off coast ;
Nearer rolls a mighty pageant — clearer swells the funeral strain.
From the barrier arch of Neuilly i)ours the giant burial train.

Dark with eagles is the sunlight — darkly on the golden air
Flap the folds of faded standards, eloquently mourning there —
O'er the pomp of glittering thousands, like a battle-phantom flits
Tiittor'd flag of Jena, Friedland, Areola, and Austerlitz.

Eagle-crown'd and garland-circled, slowly moves the stately car,
'Mid a sea of plumes and hor.?emen — all the burial pomp of war —
Riderless, a war-worn charger follows his dead master's bier —
Long since battle-trumpet roused him— he but lived to follow here.

CHIEF JUSTICE HAGABTY A POET.

6or

The dramatic fire and enthusiasm of battle will surprise those
whose knowledge of the Chief Justice does not go deeper than
his demeanour in court or in a drawing room. A good poet was
sacrificed to the lawyer and the judge.

The senior judge of the County of Simcoe emigrated the same
year as Mr. Justice Gwynne. Mr. Gowan is now one of the most
venerable and learned figures on the bench. When, in 1842, Mr.
Baldwin made him judge of the District of Simcoe, he was the
youngest judge of the Province. Many a time in those days he
had to ride seventy miles a day to meet his court engagements,.

From his grave 'mid ocean's dirges, moaning surge and sparkling foam,
Lo, the Imperial Dead retumeth ! lo, the Hero-dust comes home !
He hath left the Atlantic island, lonely vale and willow tree,
'Neath the Invalides to slumber, 'mid the Gallic chivalry.

Glorious tomb o'er glorious sleepers ! gallant fellowship to share —
Paladin and Peer and Marshal — France, thy noblest dust is there !
Names that light thy battle annals— names that shook the heart of earth !
Stars in crimson War's horizon— synonymes for martial worth !

Room within that shrine of heroes ! place, pale spectres of the past !
Homage yield, ye battle phantoms ! Lo, your mightiest comes at last !
Was hin course the Woe out-thunder'd from prophetic trumpet's lips ?
Was his type the ghostly horseman shadow'd in the Apocalypse ?

Gray-haired soldiers gather round him, relics of an age of war.

Followers of the Victor-Eagle, when his flight was wild and far :

Men who panted in the death-stife on Rodrigo's bloody ridge.

Hearts that sicken'd at the death-shriek from the Russian's shatter'd bridge ;

Men who heard the immortal war-cry of the wild Egyptian fight —
" Forty centuries o'erlook us from yon Pyramid's gray height ! "
They who heard the moans of Jaffa, and the breach of Acre knew —
They who rushed their foaming war-steeds on the squares of WaterJoo —

They who loved him — they who fear'd him — they who in his dark hour fled —
Round the mighty burial gather, spell-bound by the awful Dead !
Churchmen— Princes— Statesmen — Warriors — all a kingdom's chief array,
And the Fox stands — crownSd Mourner — by the Eagle's hero-clay !

But the last high rite is paid him, and the last deep knell is rung —
And the cannons' iron voices have their thunder-requiem sung —
And, 'mid banners idly drooping, silent gloom and mouldering state,
Shall the Trampler of the world upon the Judgment-trumpet wait.

Yet his ancient foes had given him nobler monumental pile,
Whei-e the everlasting dirges moan'd around the burial Isle —
Pyramid upheaved by Ocean in his loneliest wilds afar,
For the War-King thunder-stricken from his fiery battle-cry !

608

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

and his adventures by flood and field would make a little volume.
Yet he was scarcely ever absent from his duties. A pioneer judge,
he is yet an erudite lawyer, and he has been a leading mind in all
the great legal reforms. He has more than once been tempted in
vain with offers of a seat on the bench of the Superior Courts.

Another example of early elevation to judicial office, is the
second son of the late Chancellor Blake, the Hon. Samuel Hume
Blake, who was born in 1835. Educated at Upper Canada Col-
lege he left it to embark in commercial life, with which growing
dissatisfied after a few years, he entered as a student the law office
of his uncle, the late Dr. Connor, who was subsequently raised
to the bench. He began to read at the same time for a degree,
which he took in 1858, and was called to the bar two years after.

He had already, as an attorney, entered into partnership with
his brother, the Hon. Edward Blake, a partnership which was
severed only when Sir John Macdonald offered him the Vice-
Chancellorship — an offer from a political opponent equally credi-
table to the Prime Minister and Mr. Blake. The attention of both
brothers was confined almost entirely to equity, and the Hon.
Edward Blake was without an equal in that arena. Mr. Blake
made considerable pecuniary sacrifice in abandoning practice ; but
the position of Vice-Chancellor is honourable, and he is now the
senior Vice-Chancellor. He is an accomplished elocutionist, an
earnest member of the Church of England, of the evangelical
party,and the President of the Irish Protestant Benevolent Society.
He haB acted as one of the Commissioners of the Crooks License
Law, and in many ways proves that his public spirit is not asleep.
He has achieved a reputation for acuteness, fairness, and despatch
as a judge.

Another very young and brilliant judge is Mr. Justice Moss,
the eldest son of the late John Moss, of Toronto. Born at Cobourg,
in 1836, his early education was at Knox's College, then called
Gale's Institute. In 1850, he entered Upper Canada College, and
there carried all before him as he did subsequently at the University. .
In 1858, he graduated with triple first-class honours. In 1859,
he took his Master's degree and the prize thesis for the year.

It might be thought that all this brilliancy and solid attainment,
the capacity and industry implied by a career of such unvarying

■«

MR. JUSTICE MOSS.

609

8ucr?ss, implied an ambition more eagle-like in its instincts than
one which could content itself with a prosperous professional
career and an early elevation to the bench — a most honourable
position, but one nevertheless in which men of strong political
instincts and large capacities put on and are properly bound to
put on ermine manacles, and bury one of the choicest privileges of
free citizenship in the marble tomb of dignity ; or perhaps the
case might be more justly stated by saying that the judges have
to make great sacrifices on the altar of public usefulness. How-
ever, what was the loss of politics was the gain of the Law Courts.
Called to the bar in 1861, he commenced practice in partnership
with Mr. Hector Cameron. He afterwards associated himself with
the Hon. James Patton and Mr. Osier. When commencing prac-
tice in the Court of Chancery he had to contend against men wY)
would have distinguished themselves at any bar in the world.
Nor could aught but industry and shining parts, have enabled him
so rapidly as he did, to come into public notice and win public
confidence.

Early appointed Equity Lecturer, and one of the examiners to
the Law Society ; examiner to the University of Toronto ; a Q.C.,
in 1872 ; a bencher of his inn about the same time ; one of the
Commissioners to report on the fusion of law and equity; Vice -
Chancellor of his University ; ultimately judge of the highest
court in the Province; he was a strong swimmer who had never
to battle with heavy seas, whose teeth never proved the toughness
of the vache enrag^e, whose iron fibre has nourished so much hu-
man greatness of that Alpine sort — thunder-scarred, solitary, sub-
lime — ^which flings its vast shadow over the future, and to which
generations as they spread their <='ails and skim lightly along, turn
ere they pass away, once and again from love and laughter, from
hoaxing and huxtering, to contemplate with admiration and awe,
the slowly piled up monument of Titanic energy, and mournful
immortal longings begotten of some divine despair.

At the same time, with Mr. Justice Moss, was raised to the

bench as Chief Justice of Ontario, a man whose name has already

been mentioned, as the first fruit to Canada of an Irish family just

come to our shores. Bom at Montreal on the 3rd of August, 1833,

and educated at Upper Canada College, Chief Justice Harrison
39

^Hi

610

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

early gave promise of his future success. He was in 1855 called
to the bar witli honours. He then commenced one of the most pros-
perous professional careers M'hich has been known in Canada, dur-
ing which he was counsel for the Crown in several important
cases. He was one of those chosen to defend Ministers when they
were accused of violating the Independence of Parliament Act.
" In fact," writes an authority, " since 1859, when he entered into
partnership with the late James Paterson and Mr. Thomas Hod-
gins and commenced his practice at the bar, there has been scarce-
ly a case of public impoi tance in which he has not been retained,
and tlie number of briefs he yearly held must have entailed an
immense amount of labour, anxiety and thought. We believe no
member of the profession in this country has held so many briefs
a,s Mr. Harrison during tlie time he has been at the Bar. At
many of the Assizes for York and the City of Toronto, Mr. Har-
rison has been retained in three-fourths of the criminal, and as
large a proportion of the defended cases on the docket." During
some terms he has moved no less than eighty rules. That with
such an amount of work he should also have accomplished uiuch
in legal literature implies extraordinary system and capacity for
labour.

He was made a Q. C. in 1867, and elected a bencher of the Law
Society, in 1871. His last act as bencher will, I hope, bear fruit.
He moved a resolution appointing a committee to consult with
the Attorney-General and the Municipal Councils of York and
Toronto, on the subject of building a new Court Hou!~ j for Assize
and County business, on Osgoode Hall grounds. In 1865, he was
elected Alderman, and as a Conservative represented West Tor-
onto from 1867 to 1872.

Mr. Harrison atcributes his success to perseverance, industry,
and down right toil. These will take any man far; but there is
a limit, beyond which certain minds aided by all the industry in
the world cannot go. The power of hard work is a great gift — one
indeed of the greatest, as it is one of the rarest — one without
which, the highest genius can accomplish lucle, and which is seldom
found unless in conjunction with higi» intellectual power^ The
legal history of two years proves that the Chief Justiceship was
placed in no idle hands. When Mr. Harrison became Chief Justice,

DAWN OF CANADIAN ART.

611

there were large arrears in his Court. To-day, there is no such
evidence of supineness.

The Honourable Mr. Justice Doherty was born in the County
Derry, in 1830. He came to this country with his father. He
was educated at St. Hyacinthe and in Vermont, wLsre having
graduated, he went to the Lower Canadian Bar, and commenced
a lucrative practice in Montreal.

Judge Drummond's name has already been mentioned in con-
nexion with politics. Judge McCord, of Montreal ; Judge McCord,
of the Three Rivers ; Judge Maguire, of Quebec ; George Dunbar,
Q.C., of Quebec, an eloquent pleader — all illustrate the forensic
talents of Irishmen.

Art began early to attract some attention. Ireland which had
done so much in other walks for the infant nation was destined to
give it the first impulse towards art. Michael Kane, and his
Dublin wife, accompanied Lieutenant-Governor Simcoe to Western
Canada. Having left the army, Michael settled in York, where
his son was bom in 1810. The little arrival was christened
Paul. The child's growing mind could not fail to be influenced
by the picturesque Indian figures still to be seen haunting the
Don. Indian trails ran wliere King and Yonge streets are to-day.
In the preface to his travels, Kane, in 1844, accounts for his resolve
to devote himself jo painting a series of studies of North
American scenery and Indian life, by sayini^ " the subject was
one in which I felt a deep interest in my boyhood. I had been
accustomed to see hundreds of Indians about my native village,
then Little York, muddy and dirty, just struggling into existence y
now the City of Toronto, bursting forth in all its energy and
commercial strength."

Yet Little York was not a fa\'ourable place for a youth of
genius to grow up. The District Grammar School was the only
introduction into the world of knowledge, and thought, and art.
Here there was Mr. Drury, an eccentric draw In j master, who
taught the future artist the elements of what was to be his
ill-paid craft. His artistic bias was regarded in the light of
want of application and distaste for steady industry. " The
circumstances of the community" says Professor Wilson,
" were indeed too frequently inimical to the fostering of settled

matr..

612

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

habits among its youth. Dr. Scadding has remarked, when
describing the first years of the District Grammar School that
' during the time of the early settlements in this country, the sons
of even the most respectable families were brought in contact
with semi-barbarors characters. A sporting ramble through the
woods, a fishing excursion on the waters, could not be undertaken
without communication with Indians and half-breeds, and bad
specimens of the French voyagours. It was from such sources
that a certain idea was derived which, as we remember was in great
vogue among the more fractious of the lads at the school at York.
The proposition circulated about, when anything ever went counter
to their notions, always was to runaway to the Nor'- West! What
that process really involved, or what the Nor'- West precisely was,
were things vaguely realized. A. sort of savage land of Cocagne,
a region of perfect freedom, among the Indians, was imagined, and
to reach it, Lakes Huron and Superior were to be traversed.' In
this way young Kane's mind was early familiarized with the idea
of that expedition across the continent to green shores beyond
the Rocky Mountains of which he has left so many memorials by
means of his facile pencil and pen."

The " totems " which formed the sign manual of the Indian
chiefs and their graphic picture writing on birch bark might by
some be considered the dawn of Canadian art. A good deal of
this art is still to be found emblazoned on the skin lodges of the
prairies ; while remains of pottery, copper, arms, and the like, show
traces of a still higher culture, and no inconsiderable development
of technical t lill in a previous age. All this was, however, perhaps,
rather the end of a phase of art in a decaying race, than the be-
ginning of it in Canada.

We see from portraits and paintings which remain, executed in
early days of European settlements, that art and artists, to some
small extent, overflowed from other countries into Canada.
The firat notable cases where it took local colour, and men were
inspirited to portray scenes and characters distinctively Canadian,
are Krioghoff, in Lower and Paul Kane, in Upper Canada. Krieg-
hoff devoted himself, especially, to winter scenes and the habitans,
ant'i it is due, in no small degree, to the profusion of the spirited
sketches ajid paintings of this character which he threw off^

■il

PAUL KANE.

613

that Canada is looked upon, in England, as a land of perpetual
snow ; the inhabitants uiufHod up the year round in blanket-coats,
hunting moose on Rnow-shoes, or tearing about in carioles.

Paul Kane had a truer feeling for art, and ])ainted less for popu-
larity and for the market. Conseq'iently, while Krieghoff caught the
fancy of his customers and made . a fortune, Kane sold few
pictures.

At an early ago, Kane entered the employment of Mr Conger,
who afterwards became Sheriff of Peterborough, but who was at
this time engaged in the manufacture of household furniture. In
ornamenting the furniture, scope was given to the boy's artistic
genius, and some small recognition followed. But, we may be sure,
no patron was found at that day. Our times are more advanced,
yet no rich man has sought for himself the honour of securing an
artistic training for Mr. Bengough, whose versatile genius is capa-
ble of the very highest things if he had only the requisite culture.*
Still Kane obtained remuneration fur his early efforts as an artist.

A prophet has no honour in the place where he is born or set-
tles. When pearls are scattered at peoples' doors, they don't be-
lieve them to be pearls, unless the pearls are puffed by an organ
of somebody interested in them. Kane, therefore, left Toronto for
Cobourg, where he made enough of money to pay his way, and to
start for the States, where he hoped to make sufficient to enable
him to visit Europe, with the view of studying the works of the
great masters.

Ah ! who can tell how hard it is to climb

The steep where Fame's proud temple shines afar ?

His father promised to assist him. ^he young fellow was full
of hope. Wandering along the margin of the broad Detroit river
he felt the passion for beauty strong upon him. He would be
no artist did he not dream along the lines of the great infirmity
of noble minds, if his spirit did not glow at once at the thought
of giving form to the ideal shapes which rounded all his life with
ecstacy, and at the vision of renown, the child of splendid de-
sire. He was in his twenty-sixth year, and all the future was

III

* Mr. Bengough is well known as the cartoonist of Grip, and a leoturtir of power
and humour.

614

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

I I

bpthed in hues of promise. He would roam through the halls of
immortal work in the Louvre ; he would stand in Imperial Rome
amid all the glories of art. While he thus muses, a letter arrives
from his father, telling him that difficulties would prevent his
Italian excursion.

But he did not give up his purpose. He wandered from city to
city, like the great Italian painters, when a Leo was on the throne
of the Vatican, and another Medici ruled at Florence, and in the June
of 1841, he sailed from Orleans for Marseilles. He spent four years
in Europe, studying and copying the works of the great men of
old, in Paris, at Geneva, at Mil-^n, Verona, Venice, Bologna,
Florence, Naples, Rome ; the galk 'ies of all he studied, in order
that he might come back to be a true father to Canadian art.
While in Naples, he was offered a passage in a Levantine cruiser,
f' id thu8 he was enabled to visit the shores of Asia and Africa.
He v»'as on his way to J erusalem with a party of Syrian explorers,
when he and his friends were obliged to make for the coast in
conseqiience of being deserted by their Arah guides. On his re-
turn he endured great hardships, but he landed on the African
coast, and this consoled him, as he was able to boast he had been
in every quarter of the globe.

He brought back Avith him a mind enlarged by observation, by
communion with great artists, and well stored with pictures of
famous scenes. He also brought copies of the most renowned pic-
tures in the galleries of Venice, Florence, and Rome. An Irish artist
whose friendship he had acquired while in the Imperial city, gave
him an introduction to the Rev. Dr. Purcell, Bishop of Cincinnati.
In this introduction, the artist urged the Bishop on nc account to
miss seeing Kane's admirable copy of Rafaelle's portrait of Pope
Paul II. An:ong the paintings he copied, and of which he bore
across the Atlant-ic copies, were Rafaelle's Madonna in the Pitti
Palace, and his portrait of Pope Julius II , the portraits of
Leonardo da Yinci, and of Rembrandt, painted by themselves,
and whicli are among the glories of the Florentine gallery; of
Murillo's Madonna, and Busato's portrait of Pope Gregory XVI.

One of his special friends, while he was in Italy, was Stewart
Watson, a Scottisn artist. They fraternized '.irith that readiness with
which Irishrjon and Scotchmen proverbially fraternize when thoy

shil

hel

rei

AN ARTIST EXPLORER.

615

meet abroad. They travelled together from Italy to London. They
shared the same lodgings at " Mr. Martin's, Russell Street." Mr.
Hope James Stewart was another Scotch artist, whose friendship
he enjoyed while in Italy. This gentleman wrote to him from
Edinburgh : — "After London this place looks like a dead city, and
reminds me much of the way you and I felt the quietness of Rome,
after our trip to that noisy and favourite place, Naples."

*' In 1844," says Professor Wilson, " Mr Kane returned to Can-
ada with all the prestige of a skilled artist, who, by his own
unaided energy had overcome every obstacle, and achieved for
himself opportunities of studying the works of the great masters
in the most famous galleries of Europe. He was now to dis-
play the same indomitable energy and self-reliance in widely
different scenes. In the preface to his ' Wanderings of an Artist
among the Indians of North America,' he remarks — ' On my
return to Canada from the continent of Europe, I determined to
devote whatever talents and proficiency I possessed, to the paint-
ing of a series of pictures illustrative of the North American
Indians and scenery.' " Sir George Simpson, the Governor of the
Hudson's Bay Company, entered cordially into his plans. His
romantic experiences and ad v^er ' ures are related with graphic
power and the fidelity of an artist, in his " Wanderings," published
by Longman in 1859. He crossed the continent, travelling weary
miles a-foot, or paddlinp- over lake or river in a canoe. He
visited the Saskatchewan, traversed the vast prairie, crossed the
Rocky Mountains, navigated the Columbia River to Oregon,
explored Puget's Sound, visited Vancouver Island and other wild
scenes, amongst which he describes himself as strajdng almost
alone, scarcely meeting a white man, or hearing the sound of his
own language. His pencil was ever busy. Chiefs, women,
medicine men, hunting scenes, Indian games and dances, rites and
costumes, all were transferred to his canvas

He returned to Toronto in 1848, with a well-stocked portfolio.
Sir George Simpson had given hini a commit;jioa for a dozen
paintings of savage life : — buflfalo hunts, Indian tumps, councils,
feasts, conjuring matches, dances, warlike exhibitions, or what-
ever he might consider most attractive and interesting. In 1852,
the Legislature of the Province of Canada passed a vote authoriz-

ifia

616

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

]■•

ing him to execute a series of Indian pictures, before which the
visitor to the Parliamentary Library at Ottawa, never fails to
linger long. His most liberal patron was the Hon. G. W. Allan*
to Tfrhom he dedicated the narrative of his wanderings.

He married, in 1853, Miss Harriet Clench, of Cobourg, herself
an artist of no mean skill. He now devoted himself to his art
with great zeal, and painted a hundred pictures ; Indian scenes,
landscapes, portraits, Indian groups coiriing into vivid portraiture
beneath his forming hand. These paintings are in the posses-
sion of the Hon. G. W. Allan, of whose collection, at Moss Park>
they form the principal attraction.

He visited Europe in 1857, to superintend th§ execution of the
chromo-lithographic illustrations of his " Wanderings." On his re-
turn he resumed his pencil. He was about to follow up that volume
with another, when his eye-sight failed. Unfortunately his art was
not one he could prosecute without the eye. He died on the 20th
of February, 1871, from an abscess of the liver. His portrait of
Queen Victoria, after the picture by Chalons, is amongst his best
works.

Living so much with the Indians, he acquired something of their
quiet unimpressible manner. His memory was strong. When he
gave them scope, his descriptive powers were of a high order. His
gifts, however, in this respect would remain wholly hid from those
who did not sympathize with his pursuits. " But," says Professor
Wilson, who knew him, " he was a man of acute observation, and
when questioned by an intelligent inquirer, abounded with curious
information in reference to the native tribes among whom he had
sojourned." His career is one of the most creditable in our annals.
Irishmen and Canadians may well be proud of a man who taught
himself a divine art, though he had to face poverty's all but " un-
conquerable bai'." Though he studied our sconeiy and Indian
customs at first hand, he did not wholly give himself up to nature.
The Indian horses are Greek horses ; the hills have much of the
colour and form of those of Ruysdael, and the early European
landscape painters ; the foregrounds have more of the character-
istics of old pictures than of our out-of-doors. All this is more
particularly true of his later work, when, instead of going to

a{
re

n<^

CANADIAN LANDSCAPE AND ART.

617

nature, he remained in his studio, and painted and repainted his
early sketches.

The glory and beauty of Canadian landscape is not yet fully
appreciated. The mission of Canadian Art is stili before it, — to
record and impress upon the people the peculiar ;:.eauties in atmos-
phere, colour, water, trees, rocks, all that makes our out-of-doors
(if Canadians would only believe it !) second, in its own way, to
nothing else in the world. It is important that this should be
realized, since our art, for the present, must be landscape art. We
have, and for some time can have, no other. We are in a transition
state. The ingredients of a great people are being brought toge-
ther. There can be no local coloifr where all is changing. The
human element here must crystallize before it is picturesque or
artistically attractive. At present it is bustling, noisy, pretentious?
vulgar and ugly. The Indian has passed away, and his ghost is
dirty, and wears the cast-off clothes of his white brother. The
Acadian is gone. All that remains of him is Longfellow's " Evan-
geline." Railroads are reforming and mixing up the most conser-
vative habitans. The artist must find subjects and inspiration in
atill solitudes, as yet undefiled by the foot of man. The human
pot is boiling ; the scum sometimes comes to the top ; but let us
wait in hope for the result of the enormous brew.

It would be invidious if it was sought here to designate any
of our artists on wnom Kane's mantle has fallen. Mr. Fraser, Mr.
Martin, Mr. Verner, and others, all have studied our Canadian
scenes ; but none of them with the same love for Canada as Mr.
Lucius O'Brien. This is not said because the blood in his veins is
Irish. He has the true artistic spirit, and his oil paintings and
water colours have an exquisite finish, a delicacy of feeling and a
truthfulness of instinct combined with technical strength, which
would give him a foremost place as an artist in any part of the
world.

Photography is a useful if humblo handmaiden to art, and the
honour of introducing it to Western Canada belongs to Mr. Wil-
liam Armstrong, who came tO Canada the year Baldwin retired
from the Ministry, Mr. Armstrong, who belongs to a good family,
was bom in Dublin in 1822. His father, a general in the Royal
Irish Artillery — which was merged in the regular service during

618

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

I .

the rebellion of 1798 — sent young Armstrong to the celebrated
engineer Thoma-s Jackson Woodhouse to learn engineering. Hav-
ing served as engineer in various important undertakings in Eng-
land, he bethought him of emigrating to Canada where he was
immediately employed under Mi-. H. C. Seymour on the Northe;!!
Ra'lwayi He also served under Messrs. Shanly and Gzowski on
the Gip.nd Trunk Railway. li seems Colonel Gzowski gave him
facilities for the introduction of photography. Mr. Armstrong's
sketches of Lake Superior scenery — which he was the first to
delineate — have been highly appreciated at exhibitions in the old
country.

A far greater honour the Irishman in Canada may claim than
the initiatory step to the introduction of photography. A Scotch-
man, himself a poet of considerable merit, the Rev. William Wye
Smith, pointed out in a lecture upon the poets of Canada, that
" Hamilton," a poem by W. A. Stephens, the Collector of Customs,
Owen Sound, was the first volume of poems published in Upper
Canada. Mr. Stephens, who was born in Belfast in 1809, came
early to this country with his father. Prior to his acceptance of
his offlce, now nearly thirty years ago, he did much both by word
and pen to influence opinion in a Reform direction.

Mr. Stephens' poem deserved better treatment than it received
at the time of publication. It is very unequal. But it has con-
siderable merit in places. The conception is exceedingly good, and
had the execution throughout been what it occasionally rises to,
" Hamilton " might have won an enduring place in literature.

I have already referred to Mr. Reade's poetry. We have in our
midst a genuine child of song, and a literary man who is engaged
in the useful task of writing the Constitutional History of Canada
— Samuel James Watson, the Librarian of the Ontario Legislative
Library. Mr. Watson — an Irishman pur sang — ^liad, before accept-
ing his present position, done good service as a writer on the Olobe,
and other leading papers. Amid the wearying and wasting labours
of journalism, he found time to cultivate the divine art of song,
and he has lately produced a volume which will cause his name to
be syllabled after he himself has passed away. That which the
literary man especially hungers for, he will find in Mr. Watson's
poetry. Tired of the blaze of Homer or Byron, the mind of the

M«

A TRUE POET.

619

student will turn away to a more tolerable light, and will not miss
in Mr. Watson, the serene and silvery radiance she longs for, the
sweet and simple solace she craves. The cry of the heart in its
more tender and pensive moments will be satisfied.

" Bead from some humbler poet,

Whose songs gush from the heart j
As ram from the clouds of summer,

Or tears from the eyelids start ;
Who, through long days of labour,

And nights devoid of ease,
Still hewd in his soul the music

Of wonderful melodies."

" The Legend of the Roses, a Poem, and Ravlan, a Drama,"
both show that Mr. Watson has not merely the inspiration, but
what Wordsworth calls " the accomplishment of verse," though
there may be here and there signs that he has not been permitted
to court the Muse with undivided attention.

In the Legend of the Roses, how the most beautiful of flowers
sprang up on a scene meant to be one of destruction and ghastly
death is described. In music and beauty the whole poem running
over sixty pages is worthy of the close.

Then lo ! as if the more to swell
The wonder of the miracle.
And splendour out of Death to bring,
And cause from ashes life to spring.
The burning embers, hissing warm,

Obejing his almighty power.
Change in a moment, to a form

Of beauty only seen that hour ;
And as the shape of flowers they take,
'Tis as Red Roses, they awake ;
And next, the unkindled brands arise

And a fresh miracle disclose.
Opening, the first time to the skies.

The bosoms of the iair White Rose.

Mr. Watson is at times most happily sententious, thus :

Again:

Danger that warns is never dangerous ;
But danger, when it comet unheralded.
Is but another naTnefor destiny.

'Tis often found
That a lie and hot haste are fervent friends.

620

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

I I'

A witch scene in weirdne-ss and lyrical power will bear compari-
son with the most famous scenes of the kind, aud we know that
this brings Faust and Macbeth into the field.

Here is a fine piece of painting. A babe is cast upon the

Chill and oozy sand
From which the white tutks of the howling sea,
Were tearing ravenotu mouthfula every second.

A founder in his own line was Colonel Henry Goodwin, who was
a few months ago borne to his last resting place with military
honours, followed by gallant men who felt that the remains of
their military father were about to be committed to the hospit-
able, blessedly-transforming bosom of the '■ bountiful mother."
When he died, the clubs rang with his praises from the lips of
volunteer officers. No man ever came &wa,y from him without
being inspired with military ardour. He was endeared to a wide^
circle, young and old, whom he had educated. He had great
force of character, and raised himself to the position he held by
his perseverance, his military genius, and his integrity.

Bom in the County Tyrone, on the 2nd June, 1795, of Catholic"
parents, he lived with his family as a farmer's boy until 1812. He
was then seventeen years of age, and must have been a splendid
looking young fellow, for a° South says — he who in his old age
is comely, must in his youth have been very fair. On the 4th of
July, a recruiting party of the Royal Horse Artillery peissed
through the town land where his father's farm stood. Gunpow-
der was in the air in those days, and it must have been hard for a
gallant young fellow to keep out of the fray. He took the shil-
ling ; joined the expedition to Flanders ; was present at Waterloo
where he was twice wounded; joined, on recovery, the Grand
Army at the Paris Camp ; remained with the army of occupation
until 1818 ; returned to Woolwich ; received his discharge on the
reduction of the army ; remained at his home in the County
Tyrone a little over a year ; married and enlisted in the King's
Light Infantry. He was soon made head drill instructor. In
1837 he was discharged with a pension which he drew to the
hour of his death.

During the three years he was in France he acquired great pro-

THE FATHER OF VOLUNTEERING.

621

ficiency in fencing, gymnastics, and sword exercise. He was
awarded the highest prize for aword aLd gymnastic exercise in
every country he had visited : France, Spain, Italy, England
and Ireland. In the two last countries he kept schools for
instruction in gymnastics and the use of the sword.

In 1850 he determined to emigrate to Canada. He arrived at
Quebec on the 1st of April. Here he opened a school, and at once
attracted the attention of Lady Elgin, who employed him to give
instruction to her children in calisthenics, general deportment,
and riding. So much satisfaction did he give, that Lord Elgin
urged Dr. Ryerson to engage him as a teacher of gynmastics, fenc-
ing, and general deportment. From 1853 until 1877, he taught
in the Normal and Model Schools. He wrote on the 27th
of last January : " I will continue to teach as long as I can give
satisfaction to the establishments with which I am engaged,
namely, Normal and Model Schools, Upper Canada College,
Bishop Strachan's Ladies School, Mrs. Neville's Ladies School,
Mrs. Nixon's Ladies School, and private families."

He proved a valuable man to the military department. He
drilled all the independent corps organized before the embody-
ment of the permanent militia, officers and men, artillery, cavalry
and infantry. He assisted Colonel G. Denison to organize the
Toronto Field Battery and remained with it as adjutant and drill-
instructor five years, when the 2nd or Queen's Own and 10th
Royals had to be formed. Colonel Denison, then commandan<<
would not form them unless Goodwin became adjutant and drill
instructor. The duties of this position he discharged with so
much okill and courtesy, that the officers would not allow him to
leave the battalion, but passed a uuanincus vot^ that he was
still to remain a member. " I still belong to the 10th Battalion,"
said the brave old fellow two months before he died, " and will do
so as long as God gives me health to serve them."

Colonel Goodwin was also store-keeper for the Militia Store
Department, and from 1856 until 1877 not a cent's worth of the
stores under his charge had been lost or mislaid.

The Colonel was twice married and had two families. By
his first wife who died in 1835 he had five children. He married
his second wife in 1837. By he?: he had eleven children. From

622

THE IIIISHMAN IN CANADA.

accidents and other causes only two of his children were alive in
January last.

He was a thorough soldier, one of the noble military characters
which make the army so popular. He retained his military
bearing to the last and died in harness.

Another veteran was Colonel Kingsmill, who passed away some
twelve months ago in his eighty-third year, at the residence of his
son, Mr. Nicol Kingsmill. The son of Major Kingsmill, of Ist
(Royal) Regiment, who served in the American War, he was bom
in Kilkenny in 1794. He was educated at Kilkenny College. He
joined the 66th Regiment when quite a lad. This regiment
served in Spain during the Peninsular War. Young Kingsmill
was present at Busaco, Torres Vedras, Badajoz, the Pyrenees.

When Napoleon was sent to St. Helena, the 66th Regiment was
ordered thither to guard him. Kingsmill was then a lieutenant.
Early in the second quarter of the present century, he came to
Canada with his regiment and soon retired from the service as
senior Captain. When the rebellion of 1837 broke out he raised
two regiments of volunteers. He afterwards commanded the
3rd Incorporated Militia, until his appointment to the office of
Sheriff of the District of Niagara. After twenty years' service he
resigned the shrievalty in consequence of failing health. He was
afterwards appointed postmaster of Guelpb, which office he held
until his death.

He was in compliance with his wishes buried at Niagara. To
his burial was accorded full military honours. He had four sons
of whom two survive, Judge Kingsmill, of the County of Bruce,
and Mr. Nicol Kingsmill, of the firm of Crooks, Kingsmill & Cat-
tanach.

Colonel Charles Todd Gillmor was an apt pupil of Colonel
Goodwin. He was bom at Sligo, and came to Canada in 1858. He
joined the Volunteers in 1862, and commanded the Queen's Own
Rifles from 1866 to 1874. He was in command of this Regiment
at Ridgeway, June 2nd, 1866. He was appointed Clerk of the
Legislative Assembly of Ontario by the Sandfield Macdonaild
Government on December 27th, 1867. Colonel Gillmor was a
great acquisition to Toronto Society.

Lieutenant-Colonel the Honourable James Shaw has long been

c
1
i
i
i

RELIGION AND EDUCATION.

623

connected with the Volunteer Militia Service, and was on active
service during the rebellion of 1887-8. He was bom in the County
of Wexford, and emigrated to Canada in 1820. From 1851 to
1854, he sat for Lanark and Renfrew in the Canadian Assembly,
and was in 1867, called to the Senate by Royal Proclamation.

As I close this chapter, my attention is t.i,Lrarted by a letter in
the Olohe, bearing date the 12th June, 1877, which recounts the
capacity and promptness displayed by Major Walsh in the North-
West.

CHAPTER XV.

it
le
d
a

Not less important, certainly, than military, legal, literary, or
artistic forces, are those which train the youthful intellect, and
direct the soul. The character of the soldier, the lawyer, and the
literary man ; a nation's courage, foresight, jurisprudence, litera-
ture, all depend on the schoolmaster and the divine. Ignorance
and superstition are the parents of degrading literature, of cruel
and unrighteous laws, of cowardice, or at best of a mere fitful
bravery. To have a false idea of the Deity may, according to the
extent of the misconception, be worse than atheism. Before we
can form just views on the subject of the supernatural, the intel-
lect must be cultivated. We talk of the battle of life, but parents
and guardians too often forget where it is lost or won. It was not
on the field, Gravelotte and Sedan, and the other great German
victories were assured, but in the school-room and the drill ground.
The fate of most men is determined in the years between eight
and sixteen.

[Authorities : — Newspapers, religioue and secular. Original sources. Official Re-
ports. Journal of Education. " Memoir of the Rev. S. B. Ardagh," Edited by the
Rev, S. J. Boddy, M. A," " The Clerical Guide and Churchman's Directory," Edited
by 0, V, Fordice Bliss. " Dred," by Mrs. Beecher Stowe. " Sketch of the Buxton
Mission and Elgin Settlement." *' Religious Endowmenta in Canada," by Sir Francis
Hincks,]

624

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

r*r

I have already glanced at Ireland's contrioutiona to the various
forms of religious force in Canada. It will no\\ be ray duty
to write of the representative men not already mentioned, who,
according to their light, have laboured amongst us in the moat
important of all causes. The same impartiality which has ob-
tained, I hope, throughout, must prevail here. My task is to chro-
nicle, not criticise ; to give facts, not to discuss tenets ; still less to
hai-monize discordant voices to which there may yet be a master
note whereof we know nothing.

"Were the wax
Moulded with nice exactness, and the heav'n
In its disposing influence supreme,
The lustre of the seal should be complet« :
But nature renders It imperfect ever.
Resembling thus the artist in her work.
Whose f aultering hand is faithless to his skill. '"*

One of the latest elevations to the Episcopal Bench in the Church
of England will not be thought to be improperly brought within
the scope of this book. Brevet Major Fuller, of the 41st Foot,
was a scion of a well-known and highly respectable family in the
County Cork. He came to Canada with his regiment, some years
previous to the war of 1812. He died at Adolphustown, in 1814.
His son, Thomas Brock Fuller, the future bishop of Niagara, was
born in the garrison of Kingston, on the 16th of July, 1810.

He lost both parents while yet a mere child, and was left depend-
ent on a widowed aunt, a sister of his mother, who was a daugh-
ter of Captain Poole England, and cousin of Sir Richard England,
who commanded the third division in the Crimean war. He re-
ceived his early education at Kingston and at York, at Lundy's
Lane, at Niagara, and again at York. He studied divinity at
Chambly, Lower Canada, and was ordained on the 8th of Decem-
ber, 1833. He wi mmediately sent to Adolphustown, as the
locum tenens for the missionary of that mission, who had gone
for eight months to Ireland, his native country. The following
year he was sent as Second Assistant Minister of Christ Church,
Montreal, and missionary at Lachine. While in Montreal, he, in
1836, married Cynthia, eldest daughter of the late Samuel Street,

' Gary's Dant'. : Paradise, Canto liii. 67-73.

iil

THE BISHOP OF NIAGARA.

C25

of Niagara Falls. In 1836 he was sent as missionary to Chatham,
Upper Canada, where he remained for five years, the only cltirgy-
man within a radius of forty miles. Whilst here he published a
tract entitled, " Thoughts on the Present State and Future Pros-
pects of the Church of England in Canada, with Hints for some
Improvements in her Ecclesicistical Arrangements." At the time
there was no Synod of the Church of England anywhere. In this
tract he suggested the formation of a Synod. He said : " We re-
quire some change ; a change which, under God, will meet our
wants and narrow our difficulties. No change will eti'ect this, less
than one, by which we may be enabled, together with lay delegates
from our parishes, frequently to meet in General Council." There
being no printing press west of Toronto, he had this little treatise
printed at Detroit, and a copy sent to the Bishop and each clergy-
man of the Diocese. The result was, that in 1853 the first Synod
was constituted in Toronto, and now there is not a colony of the
British Empire which has not followed the example of the Diocese
of Toronto.

In 1840 he was appointed Rector of Thorold, and in 1849 Rural
Dean. Here he was mainly instrumental in building a very fine
stone church. Most if not all the money was supplied by him.
When he was nominated Rector of St. George's Church, Toronto,
he presented the fine edifice at Thorold to his congregation, by
whom he was much beloved. In 1867 he was appointed Arch-
deacon of Niagara, and on St. Patrick's Day, 1875, he was almost
unanimously elected Bishop of the new Diocese of Niagara. The
Right Reverend Prelate has published trac bs on " Religious Excite-
ment," " Systematic Beneficence," *' Forms of Prayer," and on
other subjects connected with his profession.

The Right Reverend John Travers Lewis, LL.D., the Bishop of

Ontario, is from the County Cork, where he was born in 1826.

His father, the late Rev. John Lewis, M.A., was formerly Rector of

St. Anne's, Shandon, in the City of Cork. Bishop Lewis graduated

at Trinity College, Dublin, as senior moderator in ethics and logic.

He was gold medallist and obtained the degrees of LL.D., B.D.

and D.D. He was ordained in 1847, and soon after came to

Canada. For four years he laboured in the I*arish of Hawkesbury.

At the end of that time he was appointed Rector of Brockville,
40

626

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

14 i

where he worked for seven years. In 1862 he was elected Bishop
of the new Diocese of Ontario, and took up his episcopal resi-
dence at Kingston. After some time he removed to Ottawa.
When elected Bi.sliop he was, perhaps, the youngest Prelate on this
continent. He has written " The Church of the New Testament,"
" Does the Bible require Retranslation ? " " The Primitive Mode
of Ordaining Bishops," and several other works. He in considered
" high," but his sermons are said to bo evangelical.

The Rev. William McMurray was born in the parish of Seagoe,
near Portadown, on the lOtli September, 1810, and was brought
to Tanadn. >iy his parent.. the following year. The family .'set-
tled in York. When eight years of age he entered the school of
Dr. Strachon, with whom he afterward,-, read as student of Di-
vinity and under whose care he remained until he was ordained.
In 1832, when he was yet a year under the canonical age, he
was appointed missionary by the Society for Converting and
Civilizing the Indians, as well as by Sir John Colborne, Lieuten-
ant-Governor of Upper Canada, to Sault Ste. Marie, then almost
an unknown land, for the purpose of establishing missions among
the Chippev/a Indians, on the north shores of Lakes Superior and
Huron. If it is asked why Sir John Colborne should have inter-
fered with the choice of a young missionary, the answer is that
the Government at thai, time had the appointment of clergymen
to the Indian missions. In the August of 1833, Mr. McMurray
was ordained, and in the following month he married Charlotte
Agenebugoqua, the third daughter of the late John Johnston, Esq.,
of whose family an interesting account is given by Mrs. Jameson.
This marriage must have greatly aided the influence of Mr. M.c-
Murray with the Indians, and he succeeded in establishing a
flourishing mission. In 1838 in consequence of the illness of his
wife he had to leave. In the five years he baptized one himdred
and sixty Indians, and admitted forty devout members of the
church to the Holy Communion. In 1840 he succeeded the Rev.
John Millar, as Rector of Ancaster. In February, 1867, he was
appointed Rural Dean of Lincoln and Welland by the late Bishop
of Toronto, and on the setting apart of the Diocese of Niagara,
Archdeacon of the new Diocese by the Bishop of Niagara.

During his ministerial life. Dr. McMurray has filled three most

IMltf

ARCHDEACON MoMUllllAY.

627

was
hop
ara,

lost

important missions. In 1853, he was delegated to the Episcopal
Church of the United States, to ask assistance for Trinity College.
While on this mission, Trinity College, Hartford, conferred on him
the degree of M.A., and Columbia College, that of D.D. In 1854,
he wa.s recjuested by Dr. Strachan to go to Quob(5c to look after
the interests of the Church, by watching the Clergy Reserves Bill.
He did good service, as may be gathered from Sir ITrancis Hincks'
pamphlet. When he returned to Toronto, Trinity College con-
ferred on him the honorary degree of D.C.L., and appointed him
a member of its Council. In 1864, he went to England, to ask
assistance for the " infant University" from the Church in the
mother country. He was received with open arms by the lato
Ai'chbishop of Canterbury, and by the bishops, clergy and laity,
as well as by the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. Soon
after his arrival in London, a very high honour was conferred on
him. The present Archbishop of Canterbury, then Bishop of
London, appointed him special preacher at the service i under the
Dome of St. Paul's, on which occasions over seven t*" ^usand per-
sons were present. He was also admitted as an honorary member
of the Athenaeum Club. His mission to England was most suc-
cessful. Mr. Gladstone, notwithstanding the pressure on his time,
as Chancellor of the Exchequer, behaved, as from his interest in the
Church and his noble self-abnegation we might eapect him to have
done. He gave Mr. McMurray introductions to persons of the
highest position in the kingdom. Mrs. Gladston(j was equally in-
terested in the mission, and of her kindness and attention, Dr.
McMurray speaks to-day with a gralvitude which he can never
forget. Were Dr. McMurray not amongst us, at} he happily is, I
might dwell on the qualities, moral, intellectual and social, which
recommended him to so shrewd a man as Dr. Stnichan, and whicii
rendered his missions so successful.

The venerable John Strutt 'jauder. Archdeacon of Otf^wa,
was bom in Westmeath, in 1829. He came to Canada m 1849.
Having graduated at Trinity College, he was ordained in 1853.
He has been mainly instrumental in all the improvements in the
way of buildings and extensions of the Church of England in
Ottawa, where he has worked for twenty years.

Among the Church of England clergymen who have passed away,

. .•!'

628

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

I
ill

' t ■
Li*

no nobler specinion of the devoted divine could be foun<l, than tlie
Rev. Samuel B. Ardagh, the late Rector of Barrie, the graceful
memoir of whom, published for private circulation, miglit with
advantage, alike to literature and tlie church, be addressed to a
larger audience.

In 1871, Bishop Oronyn, the first Bishop of Huron, died. He

;as born in Kilkenny, and educated at Trinity College. He was

for sometime Rector of St. Paul's, London, Ontario, and on the

division of the Diocese and the erection of that of Huron, he was

nominated as first Bishop and consecrated in 1857.

The number of Church of England ministers all over the Domi-
nion, who have come from Ireland is surprisingly large, and any
attempt to lay all the facts before the reader would be impossible
here. How dwell at ])roper length on the career and work of the
Rev. F. H. Clayton, the Incumljent of Bolton; the Rev. J. C.
Davidson, the Incumbent of St. Luke's, Hemmingford ; the Rev.
William Henderson, of Pembroke; the Rev. Jonn Ker, missionary
at Uleu Sutt<m; the Archdeacon of Hochelaga, the vc icrable Rich-
ard Lonsdeli, M.A. ; the Rev. Joseph Merrick, Incumbent of St
John's Church, Kildare; the Rev. Thomas Motherwell, B.A., In-
cumbent of St, George's, Portage du Fort; the Rev. John Seaman,
Incumbent of North Waketipld ; the Dean of Ontario, James Lys-
ter, LL. D.,T. 0. D., Rector of Kingston; the Rev. W. Daunt, M.A.,
Incumbent of Thamesford; the Rev. Thomas Davis, B.A., Aylmer;
the Rev. Wm. B. Davis, of Wingham ; the Rev. John Downie, of
Morpeth; the venerable Edward Lindsay El wood, M.A. ?

In the list of the clergy of Njova Scotia, we have such names as
lA)wning, Brine, Cochran, Bell, Gray, Manning, Uniacke, White.
The Rev. John Paine Sargent, B.A., and the Rev Mr. Starnes,
should also be mentioned.

In Prince Edward Island and in the Diocese of Quebec, we have
a large number of Irishmen in orders.

In the DiocessofToronto, the Rev. S. Lett, D.D., LL.D., the

Rev. T. W. Alleii and but the task of enumeration is out of

the question.

One name which should be mentionef' m connexion with the
Diocese of Huron, must, however, not be suffered to lie unno-
ticed. Scne thirty-seven years ago, a family arrived here,

m^m

THE METHODIST CHURCH.

620

well known at St. Catharines, and one of whoia is in Toronto, a
barrister — the family of Boomer. In the same year the Very
Rev. Michael Boomer, M.A. LL.D , came out as a missonary sent
by the Gospel Propagation Society. He was among the first
batch " John Toronto " ordained. Born at Hill Hall, near Lis •
burn, County Antrim, he was educated at the Belfast f -oyal Acade-
mical Institution of which he was for five years Foun(iation Scho-
lar. He graduated at Trinity College, Dublin, in 1838, was ordain-
ed deacon in 1840, and priest in 1841, and immediately appointed
to the Missiion of Gait which he retained for thirty-two years. In
1872 he was removed by the present Biphoj) of Huron to London,
and appointed Lean of Huron and Principal of Huron College.

The Rev. Arthur Henry Baldwin, though born in Toronto, claims,
in virtue of his name and blood, a place here. Educated at Upper
Canada College, he is a graduate of Queen's College, Oxford. He
was, in 1806, ordained a deacon in Yorkminster by the Archbishop
of York, and a priest in 1867 by the Bishop of Ely. Having
been curate at Luton in Bedfordshire and at Belleville in Ontario,
he became Hector of All Saints' Church, Toronto, and as such has
for some few years worked with energy. How he has drawn around
him a congregation ; built a church ; given a powerful impulse to
])iety among the young ; and with what beautiful simplicity and
convincing earnestness he preaches, is known to hundreds outside
his own communion.

Mr. Rainsiord, )* oed not be said, is an Irishman, and he may
probably yet sett. .ere. As it is, he. in a certain sense belongs
to Canada.

In the Methodist Church, Irisli ministers are so numerous that
one is tempted to doubt whether that body has any other. The
most prominent are the Rev. Wellington Jeffers, E.D. ; the Rev.
William Briggp. , the Rev. John Bred in ; the Rev. J oim Carroll,
D.D. ; the Rev. Ephraim B. H irper, M.A. ; the Rev. W. H. Poole ;
the Rev. S. J. Hunter ; the Rev. W. J. Hunter ; the Rev. Mathew
Richey, D.D. ; the Rev. James Elliott, D.D. The Rev. E. H.
Dewart is a man of extraordinary energy ; a journalist, a preacher,
an orator, a leader in the teniperance movement, a real man in
all respect}' who has shown he can act on principle in defiance of
prejudice. He is a Reformer in politics and voted in accordance

III

630

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

with his principles, when sectarian passions were calculated to
bear him in another direction.

The Rev. John Potts is widely known. Bom in 1838, at Magui-
re's Bridge, County Fermanagh, he early determined to push his
fortunes in the New World. A boy of seventeen, he started for the
Southern States. Happily for Canada, happily for the Methodist
Church, happily for social progress, on his way to " down South," he
stopped with some relatives living at Kingston. He could have
sojourned nowhere in Canada where he would gain happier im-
pressions. He went south. But so pleasant were the impres-
sions made on him in Kingston that he resolved to make Canada
his home, a purpose which he fulfilled, and to which, unlike so
many others who seem to think the white tie emancipates them
from all the feelings and claims of citizenship and country, he has,
notwithsl-anding tempting offers (may they not merit the name
of bribes ?) from the States, per istently clung. On coming here
from the South he spent some time in mercantile pursuits. Ori-
ginally an Episcopalian, the accident that his Kingston friends
were Wesleyans, led him, under the spiritual guidance of the
Rev. George Douglas to take the step which was to secure
for the Methodist Church its brightest ornament. His talents,
his power of expression, his seriousness, all seemed to point to a
sphere where such gifts would have more play than in mercantile
pursuits. His own desiree leaned in the direction in which his
talents pointed, and he proceeded to the University of Victoria
College, Cobourg. Yielding to pressure from outside, before he
had completed his arts' course, he entered the ministry.

At the early age of nineteen — surely far too early — we find him
making the Markham circuit; then on the Aurora and New-
market circuit ; then at ThoroW, where he remained for three
years. Meanwhile during those years of probation he applied
himself assiduously to his theological studies. Four years after he
had been all too early taken away from College, we find him
at the age of twenty -three received into full connexion with the
Conference.

Having been ordained Mr. Potts was entrusted with the charge
of North Street Church, London, whence, after the full term of
three years, he was appointed to labour in connexion with the

^mmmm

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REV. JOHN POTTS.

631

Rev. E. H. Dewart, then pastor of the Elm Street Church, Toronto.
By this time he was a man of acknowledged talent. Eighteen
hundred and sixty-six was the centennial year of American Me-
thodism. It was resolved to erect in Hamilton a commemoratory
church. In anticipation of the o|)ening of the church, Mr. Potts
was invited by the trustees of the new church to become its first
pastor. The church being projected on a large scale the Stationing
Committee of the Conference hesitated to agree to his taking so
important a position ; but such was the pressure placed upon them
they ratified his acceptance of the offer. Many thought the Cen-
tennary Church would be too large, but within a month after the
opening — on which occasion Dr. Punsbo'> preached — it was com-
pletely filled. The prescribed three ; ears having passed, the
congregation Mr. Potts had gathered round him sought to keep
him for another three years. But the Conference was inexorable.
The Metropolitan Church project was now on foot. Dr. Punshon
was the life of the movement. He knew the advantage of elo-
quence and of having a pulpit filled by an able man. He and the
'congregation about to change their shell were both anxious to se-
cure Mr. Potts' cooperation. But shrinking from work which was
not exactly that to which he had devoted his life, he decided to
go to Montreal, where, at St. James Church,he succeeded Dr.
Douglas. In Montreal he made a great reputation as a preacher.
The three years having expired, again, but equally in vain, was an
attempt made by his church and congregation to keep him for
three years more. The invitation from the Metropolitan Church
was renewed. This ti'iie it was accepted, and in the course of his
ministry he more than doubled the membership, and each service
crowded the church. His success has everywhere been unquali-
fied, partly because of his pulpit power, but also because — like so
many of his countrymen — he knows how to oil jarring wheels, and
has pondered the philosophy of O'Connell, that you will catch
more flies with a spoonful of honey than with a bucket of vinegar.
His old Hamilton charge wanted to got him back. He himself
would not have been unwilling to go, But there was an impedi-
ment in the way. Owing to arrangements as to dintricts, which
had meanwhile taken place, he would have, were he to go to
Hamilton, to sever his connexion with the Toronto and join the

632

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

'1 '

l! i!

London Conference — a step to which he had an objection. He
therefore elected to " build up " for this year his old congregation
of Elm Street.

Mr. Potts is a man of liberal views, more a pulpit than a plat-
form orator, more a pastor than a manager or a shining light at
Congress.

Just as one of the ablest Presbyterian ministers of to-day is a
native of Belfast, so some of the noblest figures among pioneers
of the Presbyterians was born in the County of Antrim. Here
the Pvev. Dr. Boyd wtis born in 1791. In 1820, he came to
Canada and commenced his work at Prescott, where he had to
teach school to eke out a living. The Rev. William Smart, who
preached his funeral sermon, tells how laboriously he cultivated ,
his large field of labour. Dr. Boyd died in 1872, leaving behind
him considerable property ; a stone dwelling-house and several
valuable town lots ; all of which he willed, after the death of Mrs.
Boyd, to the Church, and when Mrs. Boyd died in 1876, the pro-
perty was duly conveyed.

The first settled Presbyterian minister in Toronto was an
Irishman, the Rev. James Harris, who came to Canada in
1820. He was also the first secretary to the Bible Society.
Since he commenced to labour here, Presbyterian ism has, like
everything else made great progress. He lived to see fields
wilderness when he first saw them, green with rich pastures, and
gold with yellowing harvests. When a young man of tliirty, in
1823, he administered the Communion on the second Sabbath of
September, Toronto was " muddy York," Knox's Church was a
humble building. The congregation, which is now one of the
largest an<l wealthiest in Ontario, numbered only twenty-eight
After long years of usefulness, he passed away amid universal
respect. Not without sincere sighs, and a starting tear, wa , the
"good gray head " missed from our sti ts.

Among the Irish Presb} terian missionaries the Rev. Thomas
McPherson and the Re\ David Evans, D.D., should be mentioned;
while in the field of i>enevolence, the Rev. William King, who
founded in 1849 the Buxton Mission and Elgin Settlement,
Canada West, takes an enunent position. Wei-e then' space I
should dwell on the Rev. William Moore, of Ottawa. Mr,

»wpi

DR. JOHN GARDNER ROBB.

G.33

Moore's influence in Ottawa, his manly gentleness, the church ho
has built, the Ladies' College, — I can only give a dim glimpse of
it all and pass away.

If it should be said : — " Yes you have given us the gentle beauty
of Harris' piety, you have given us the pioneer zeal of Dr. Boyd ;
but the Presbyterian Church has to go out of Ireland for solid
attainments and strong embracement of the severe symmetry of
the Calvinistic theology." Not at all. The strongest man, the
most thoroughly Presbyterian man at the present moment in
Canada is an Irishman. "O yes," says some one, "narrow in
culture, he without difficulty looks on the frowning lineaments of
a dark theology." By no means. He is perhaps the most highly
cultivated man in the Canadian Presbyterian Church. And who
is the man for whom Canada is thus indebted to Ireland ?

Dr. John Gardner Robb was born in Binfast, on the 27th of June,
1S33, and was educated at the Puoyal Belfast Academical Institution
and at th(! Queen's (college. Ho graduated in 18/54, with honours
in English, having during his academical career swept the college
of some of its most coveted prizes.

He took the science scholarship of the first year and won a
general prize, and in mathematics a class prize. In his second
year he also took the science scholarship, the general prize, and in
logic the class prize and first place; in his third year the science
scholarship, general prize and first place, cIphs prize in metaphysics
and first place and a class prize in natural philosojtliy. At this
time Dr. McCosh was Professor of Logic and Mxstaphysics at the
Queen's College, Belfast, and we may feel certain he would
be thorough in all his teac^hing and standards. The following
list of honours in the year succeeding that in which he took
his degree is therefore of no mere formal significance : — Sen-
ior scholarship In metaphysical and economical sciences; class
prize and first place in higher logic; class prize and first place
in jurispi'udonce ; class prize and first place in common and
criminal law ; class prize and first place in Constitutional, Colonial
and International Law. I venture to say Dr. Robb knows more
about th^> science of law than many a barrister who is making
twice his income.

Dr. Robb pursued his theological studies in the General Assem-

•034

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

If Si'

I f T

bly's College, each year taking the highest prizes open to compe-
tition, inchiding tliat for sacred rhetoric. He was licensed to
preach the Gospel by the Pn; d)ytery of Belfast, at its meeting in
May, 1857. After considering the invitations of several congre-
gations, he accepted a call to Clogher, County Tyrone, wher** he
was ordained on the 24th June, 1858.

During his ministry at Clogher, Dr. Rohb rapidly rose to
popularity, not only among the congregations of tlie Presbyterian
Church in Ireland, but in the courts of the Church. He was on its
most important committees, and more perhaps than any minister
of his standing, wielded an influence in the General Assembly.
His course in public matters was always character'zed by an
honest but firiri maintenance of what he en phatically calls "Scrip-
tural Christianity." He took a very prominent part in several
discussions — notably those on Education, the Irish Church Act,
and Instrumental Music in the worship of God. His speeches on
all these questions were able, logical, and so far at. the policy of the
Assembly was concerned — successful. In 1863, he married Martha,
third daughter of the Rev. John Hanna, his predecessor in the
pastorate of Clogher.

Resisting frecjuent solicitations to charges in different sections of
the Church, Dr. Robb, in 1874, accepted a call from the congrega-
tion of Cookv's Church, Toronto, and was installed as minister of
that chu7ch in the month of May in that year. Since his settlement
in Canada, he has become widely known tis an able champion of
Evangelical Protestantism.

His speeches and addresses from time to time will be familiar
to some of our readers He received his doctor's degree in 187G.
It co'ild add nothing to the weight of a man whose career as p
pastor and in the pulpit has borne out the promise of the charac-
ter and indiistry displayed, and the solid scholarship accpiired in
his college days.

At the Pan-Piesbyterian Synod, the honours of oratory seem
to have been borne away lt)y an Irishman and a Switzer. The
following remarks are from an English papej : — " It is not the
Englishman, Scotchman, nor Irishman who has walked off with
the honours of oratory at the j^reat Pan-Presbyterian Council at
Edinburgh, but the American and the Frenchman, Out of the

IMtt

THE PALM OF ELOQUENCE.

635

three hundred men who composed that remarkable body, the one
who quickest commanded attention is said to be Dr. Stuart Rob-
inson, of Louisville, Kentucky. Whenever he rose to speak, you
could hear a pin fall ; then presently there was such an ebullition
of applause or such a roar of lau^^fhter that you could hardly lioar
what the speaker said. Dr. Hall, Dr. Adams, and Dr. Paxton of
New York had their admirers, who pronounced them the most
eloquent men living. But the professors and teachers, whether
Scotch or American were rather ini^lined to admire the passionate
eloquence of the French, and the finest impression was made by
Dr. Godet, of Ncuchatel, long known for his commentaries on St.
Luke and St. Joiin." Now Dr. Stuart Robinson is not an Amer-
ican, but an Irishman, from Strabanc, County Tyrone. He is
well known in Toronto, for he was among the refugees in (]!anada
during the American war. He preached at Knox Church, but
some of his remarks were interpreted as advocating slavery, and
the Olobe attacked him. For some months he was silent in con-
sequence. Ultimately, a room in the Mechanics' Institute was
taken for him, and there he preached until he, at the close of the
war, returned to his old charge at Louisville. He held on to his
property, and is now a wealthy man, the minister of the largest
an<l most influ(!ntial church in the South.

We Jiave already seen what Ireland has done in supplying
priests to the Catholic Church. In fact, all the; energy of that
church in Upper Canada is due to Irishmen of a type already
given, and many more examples of which might be supplied.

In Ontario the mo^3t prominent Roman Catholic Divine is Arch
bishop Lynch, who was born near (Clones, Coun^v Monaghan, in
the Diocese of Clogher. Having been educated lor the Church
end ordained, he manifested a predilection for missionary labour,
and having worked in Texas among Spaniards, 0«;i inans.and Irish-
men living in a semi- civilized condition, having visited Pans and
Rome on special missions, having, moreover, founded a House of
his Order in Niagara, he, in 1859, was appointed Bishop in parti-
bus and coadjutor to Monseigneur de (Jharbonol, Bishop of Toronto,
whom h», succeeded in the following year, In 1862 he again visited
Rome to be present at the ( Janonization of the Martyrs. He now
became " Prelate Assistant of the Pontifical Throne." He assisted

686

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

III

It!

Iji

at the Vatican Council, was appointed one of the Consultcirs of
Foreign Missions, and made a speech in support of Papal Infalli-
bility. In 1870, when the ecclesiastical Province of Quebec was
divided, and Toronto erected into the Metropolitan See of ITpper
Canada, he was made Archbishop, in which capacity he took his
seat in the (Ecumenical Council. Great progress has been made
in churches, schools, and convents under his rule. He pays sjjecial
attention to the young, and seeks, by pledging them to total ab-
stinence until their majority, to guard them from the warping
temptations which assail green humanity.

The Archbisho}) deserves the greatest credit for his letters,
which necessarily appeal to public reason and stimulate reflection.
" In politics," he wrote, in June, 1873. " we must read the jour-
nals in favour of both parties to judge fairly of the true state of
questions. In courts of law the same course is followed ; shall
not a similar fairness be manifested in religious matters ? "

When we think of the Roman Catholic prelates outside of On-
tario, the first man whose name rises to the lips is Archlnshop
Connn]]y, who placed Fenianism in its true light of sinister folly
and mad criminahty, and who had no small share in the
political work which led to Confederation. He belonged to that
great class of prelates who have been not merely churchmen*
but also sagacious, far-seeing politicians and large-hearted men,
with admiration for all that is good, and a divine superiority to
the littleness which thinks everybody else wrong, not reflecting
that the best and brightest of us can see only in part, and must,
therefore, be imperfect in all we do, and think, and aim at. There
have been amongst us other prelates who might claim the preced-
en'^e which death gives — such as Bishop Hogan, of Kingstoii, but
none so great as Connolly.

Born, in 1814, in that cradle of great men, Coik, he was edu-
cated at Rome, where he became a member of the Capuchin Order •
EA'^en in his novitiate his powers attracted attention. He was
very meditative . In the midst of old olive and laurel trees be
used for hours to pace a terrace at Frescati. Frescati is situated
on the declivity of a hill about twelve miles from Rome, which,
with the looming dome of St. Peter's, is seen below in the far dis-
tance in all its magniticence of mystery, and might and mt)um-

ARCHBISHOP CONNOLLY.

637

ing ; the Eternal City ; the Niobe of Nations ; a wilderness of
churches, vaults, catacombs ; the theatre of the gayest carnival ;
the grave of so tragic and splendid a past. Can you not imagine
how the young novice dreamed and mused as he paced the
terrace amid the olive trees, and in the bright morning and deep-
glowing evening cast his eye towards the City, over which the
breath of time has swept like her own tramontana ?

His studies finished, he went to Lyons, where he w^as or-
dained priest. His first ministry was in Dublin, where he remained
four years. In 1842, he, in the capacity of secretary, accompanied
the late Archbishop Walsh, to Halifax. In 1845, he was appointed
Administrator of Catholic affairs in Halifax, and Vicar-General of
the Diocese. So ably did he acquit himself; with such untiring la-
bours ; with so much of spiritual andtemp»oral service to the poor ;
with so much loving care for immigrants — even when suffering from
malignant disease — that inl852the Pope constituted him Bishop of
St. John, New Brunswick, in succession to Bishop Dollard. When
leaving Halifax for New Brunswick, he was presented with a
service of plate, and an address in which a well-earned tribute was
paid to his fearless zeal. In replying to this address, the young
prelate, for he was only thirty-eight, spoke in the true spirit of
self-sacrifice : "The right of self-preservation, under such circum-
stances, was," he said, "foresworn in the very act of a£suming the
ministry of that first High Priest who laid down His liir for His
flock, and who, by example as by word, had proclaimed the uni-
versal law that every good shepherd must do the same."

He spent seven years as Bishop of St. John, where he was univer-
sally popular, beloved alike by priest and people. In 1859, on the
death of Archbishop Walsh, Connolly was appointed his successor.
In Halifax, he rendered service which will never be forgotten.
He entered with zeal and energy into every work designed to
promote the spiritual or temporal welfare of the people under his
care. But such qualities as his excite admiration, and inspire
esteem in all breasts. Firmly attached to his faith, he was liberal-
minded and tolerant towards those who difl^ered from him. The
ill-feeling and bitterness, so often produced by unwise zeal, had no
counterpart in Halifax. Protestants as well as Catholics were
welcome to his liome and hospitality. " His^ aim," apparently,

M
W

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638

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

wrote one of the papers* iiniiiodiatoly after his death, " was to
promote the most friendly feeling between the Catholics and Pro-
testants of the city, and to his example and efforts, no doubt, i»
largcily due the Iiarmony tliat exists between tht; two bodies in
Halifax." How true this was, was made more abundantly plain
by a letter addressed on July 28th, 187G, to one of the papers, by
a Presbyterian minister .•!"

Among his (earliest cares, as Archbishop of Halifax, was the edu-
cation of his people. Schools, convents and academies rose around.
He had the eye of an architect, and the Academy at Mount St.
Vincent ; the Orphanage, at St. Joseph's, in Nova Scotia ; the Ca-
thedral, Academies, and Orphanage, at St. John, are enduring
monuments of his energy and aims. But the greatest monument
of all is his Cathedral at Halifax, one of the most stupendous
works of the present day. The grand front is magnificent beyond
description ; the amount of money raised, large beyond precedent.
Archbishop Connolly worked at this with an energy which filled
on-lookers with amazement. If any regrets troubled his last
moments, they must have had reference to the fact that ho was
leaving this structure unfinished.

A born leader of men he did not conceal his predilections, and
was the great means of getting the (Jatholics to work with Dr.
Tupper. The champion of Confederation, he wrote and spoke in
its favour. What just views he took on Fenianism in its relation
to the Catholics of this country is embodied in a letter written to
one of the ablest Lieutenant-Governors who have distinguished
themselves in British North America. In his friendship for
D'Arcy McUee, there was as much of political sympathy as of
the kindred impulse of genius. Fond of humour, he was himself
humorous, and part of his character was written in his full habit,
his florid complexion, his round thoroughly Irish face. He had
the ready sympathy which can rise to new exigencies. " I feel,"
said the most distinguished Presbyterian clergyman in the Lower
Provinces, on the morrow of his death, " as if I had not only lost
a friend, but, as if Canada had lost a patriot : for in all his big-

* Morning Chronicle, July 29th, 187o.

t The Rev. Geo. M, Grant, well known in literature as the author of " Ocean to
Ocean."

DEATH OF AHOHBISHOP CONNOLLY.

C3»

hoartcd Irish fa.shion ho was ever at hop.rt and in mind and deed
a true (yanadian."

At the Vatican Council he won a worhl-wide fame, and put on
record his independence of thought, and it may or may not prove
hiH soundnesH of judj^ment. Ho was opposed to the declaration
of the Dogma. But after the Council had defined it lie accepted
it with a logical consistency which was true to his intellect, and a
frankness which was in keeping with his geniality.

Intellectually robust, his talents for theology and for public
affairs, for the politics of religion and the politics of the world
were very great. He had been a wide reader. Literature, Patristic
learning, Biblical criticisms, nothing came amiss to him. He was
an orator of the most effective of all types, the conversational
and familiar, and his homely illustrations went right to men's
business and bosoms. Fluent, clear and earnest, sometimes even
vehement, he en rried with him conviction with the ease and force of
stream or wind. He was what is known in the Catholic Church as
a " favourite confessor." He was kind to his priests. He wa'. kind
to all, though sometimes he lapsed into impulsive severities. A phy-
sician, a consoler, an attendant even, to those who were sick and
under his charge, it was to him a keen pleasure to delight and sur-
prise an invalid with delicacies, to smooth the pillow of a dying
religious, to devote an evening to amusing those whose duties
were relieved by few amusements. He died in the midst of his priests
and the sisters he had educated, while round the glebe the people
gathered in thousands in awful suspense and under the fascination
of death for the Celtic imagination, Just as the city clock told the
hour of midnight the spirit of the great prelate passed away in
that spacious apartment whither he had been removed for air^
where for nigh on twenty years his palatial hospitality had been
extended to all that was brightest and best in colonial society,,
where he welcomed the eldest son of his sovereign, where the
young wifimbers of his congregation were wont to feast in the light
of his bfaevolent smiles, which — now pallid with gloom and
overshadowed by death — a scene of prostrate auns and praying
priests — was associated with gladdening wine, the easy, well-bred
conversation of the Duke of Newcastle, the stories of Sir John
Macdonald, and the wit of McGee.

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He bad for his health, during the previous winter, visited Ber-
muda and the West Indies. He returned to Halifax in March.
His friends noticed he was not as vigorous as he used to be. On
Sunday the 23rd he complained of chills and called in medical aid.
On the following Monday he remained in the Glebe House. On
Tuesday, believing he was again himself, he drove to his country
residence. That night he was restless and had an attack of vomit-
ing. On Wednesday morning, so early as 5 o'clock, he drove to
town and again sent for the doctor. By two in the afternoon
symptoms of delirium appeared and his case was pronounced to
be congestion of the brain. At 4 o'clock he was unconscious and
unconscious he remained until death.

The bell of St. Mary's tolled over the midnight city and apprised
his weeping people round the Glebe and his friends throughout
Halifax, that the end had come. The body having lain in state,
suitable obsequies attended his burial on the last day of July,
1876.

Early in the summer of this year his successor was (sonsecrated
amid imposing ceremonies. In 1840, when a vary young man,
Archbishop Hannan arrived in Halifax from Ireland and was ap-
pointed teacher in St. Mary's College, recently established by Dean
O'Brien. In 1845 he was ordained to the priesthood. For over
thirty years his course in the diocese of Halifax has been one
of untiring labour. His work was hard and faithful, but not
calculated to attract the attention of the outside world. T wenty-
three years ago he founded a Society of St. Vincent do Paul in
Halifax, and has ever since superintended it with vigilance and
judgment. As Vicar-General, he took an active and intelligent
interest in the cause of education. Though an advocate of de-
nomin-^.tional education, he made the most of the general system.
As a school commissioner he was universally esteemed. When he
retired both Protestants and Catholics united in presenting him
with an address expressing their regret at his resignation and grati-
tud.y for his invariable kindness and readiness to oblige all, irre-
spective of religion and nationality. It will be seen he has those
qualities which fit him for great place. " Dr. Hannan's mind,"
says one who can speak authority " is of a different stamp and
character from that of his illustrious predecessor — not different in

amsix-nm '■■«•;.(.-

BISHOP WALSH.

degree but in mould. Archbishop Connolly was emotional and
impetuous, fervid and eloquent to a degree, with clear head and
a warm Irish heart, which sometimes carried him away. Dr.
Hannan, on the other hancl, is calm and equable, with a judgment
that is naturally sound and solid, a temper not easily ruffled, and
a sagacity but seldom at fault."

All the bishops ox the Ecclesiastical Province joined in signing
the recommendation to the Pope for his appointment. He is still
in the fresh autumn of life.

The Bishop of Sandwich, the Right Reverend John Walsh, D.D.,
was born in the parish of Mountcoin, Kilkenny, on the 24th May
1830. From his earliest years he felt drawn towards the ministry.
After a preliminary course of science and classics he entered St.
John's College, Waterford, where he studied philosophy and a
portion of his theology with great success. In 1852, carrying out
his intention of serving God on a foreign mission, he came to
Canada where he entered the Seminary of St. Sulpice, and here,
together with the late Father Synnott, Father Hobin, and several
other ecclesiastics of Irish birth, finished his divinity course with
great credit. On the Ist of November, 1854, he was ordained
priest by Bishop de Charbonnel. Brock was his first mission.
In 1857 he was appointed to the pastoral charge of St. Mary's,
Toronto. After the consecration of Bishop Lynch, he was ap-
pointed Rector of the Cathedral. Bishop Walsh, as pastor of St.
Mary's, was greatly esteemed. He has the reputation among the
clergy of being a sound and deeply read theologian, well veised
in the Scripture and canon law. He is, it is said, an eloquent
preacher, and well read in general literature. Amiable, charitable,
polished in manners he possesses much fone and decision of
character. When he became bishop the diocese was encumbered
with an v^normous debt, ""very cent has been paid. Twenty-
eight churches and seventeen presbyteries have been built ; three
convents ; an orphanage ; an episcopal palace; and no debt ineur-
.od. Something less than a year ago he visited Rome. In March
he returned and continues his energetic labours amongst a people
by whom they are thoroughly appreciated. The Right Reverend
prelate resic'es in London, Canada West.

Bishop Crinnon, of Hamilton, is an able and liberal-minded man.

642

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

tiff

One of the most remarkable men in the Roman Catholic Church
in Canada is the Reverend Father Stafford, of Lindsay, who in
the best spot in the country has erected a convent which is a
splendid piece of architecture. He was bom on the Ist of March,
1832, in Perth. He went to school at Drummond until the age
of thirteen ; at Perth for the next three years ; then to Chambly
whence he was removed to Ste. Th^rese College where he spent
six years and wher^^ he finished his arts course. He afterwards
studied theology at Regiopolis for four years under the late Vicar-
General McDonell. During these four years he attended the Pe-
nitentiary, where his attention was first called to the evils result-
ing from the use of intoxicants. He was ordained in the summer of
1858, and in the autumn was appointed Director of Regiopolis and
Teacher of Logic and Philosophy.

His health failing he was sent to Cuba, but finding Cuba too
hot, he spent the winter in South Carolina where he was arrested
for speaking against the indecencies practised at an auction of
slaves. He was, however, — Civis Momanvasum — immediately re-
leased, on telling the authorities he was a British subject. He visited
Ireland in 1859. The relations between the different classes in Ire-
land he found it hard to understand. The airs of the "squireens"
he could not easily tolerate. Two men assured him that they
thought he was a gentleman when they saw him speaking, with
his hat on, to Mr. Derby. He came back to this country well
pleased with its social condition. " The equality," he says, ' in this
country is better than the quality in Ireland. We are more as God
made us." But the Irish squire would think the equality in this
country the very child of hell. Such is the power of education.
The English squire's ai 3 would be equally offensive to a man ac-
customed to our free and easy manners. There may be a little more
iniperiousness in the Irish gentleman's manner, arising from the
fact that there is not a family of Irish gentry one or more of
whose members have not done something great. At their doors
there are numerous sins. But they have not been drones. They
have not been careful of their lives. The most dreadful oppres-
sions of the Irish tenant have not come from them. Even some
of their worst faults, as for instance, their love of duelling, were
virtues run to seed.

FATHER STAFFORD. ROBERTSON. HODGINS.

G4a

From Ireland Mr. Stafford went to England, and thence to
France. On his return to Canada he resumed his position in
Regiopolis College. He afterwards spent seven years on Wolf
Island where he succeeded Father Folej vv^ho had established a
Total Abstinence Society there. In May, 18G8, he went to Lind-
say. Amongst the people of Victoria he has done a great work as
a temperance or rather teetotal propagandist, and as a social force
is probably without an equal on this continent.

There are at least six or seven hundred clergymen of all denomi-
nations who are entitled by their talent and devotion to a place
here. But happily they belong to a class who look for apprecia-
tion and reward not to the types of time or the perishable trum-
pet of fame, but

" To where beyond these ToiceB there is peace."

How much the late Thomas J. Robertson, M.A., T.C.D., did for
the Model and Normal Schools and education generally, should
not soon be forgotten. Dr. Hodgius has been pronounced by a
competent authority the most " thoroughly trained man in all
Canada for the Education Department," and his energetic action
his publications for schools, his reports, show that he has been one
of the greatest educational forces in the country.

It would be invidious to select any of the teachers, as we could
not mention all who might claim to be mentioned. But Mr, John
A. MacCabe, who in Nova S*" jtia and elsewhere had already given
satisfaction, has a right to a ache here as an able educator.

No work commends itself so much to the heart and the head
alike, as that which seeks to mitigate affliction in any form. The
instruction of the deaf and dumb has now happily been brought
to the highest perfection, and armies of teachers are employed to
supply the defects with which, owing, no doubt, to vice and ignor-
ance, so many are bom. Among these Professor McGann stands
pre-eminent. He is connected with the Ontario Institute.

If I could have found space for elaborate, full inquiry into the
labours of Irish educators it would be seen how much Canada
owes to them and their brethren, the English and Scotch. The
Scotch show a strong predilection for the work of education — a
pregnant hint for those who think mainly of making money, for

644

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

it explains Srotch success. The Scotcliman, more than any man
in modern times, has mastered the truth that knowledge is power.
More than our indebtedness to the schoolmaster would have been
shown, had the cramping exigencies of one volume not barred my
way. It would have b«. t,?i seen then that old world ingratitude
to the men who stand at the fountain head of the mighty stream
we others

"lightly nkim,
And gently sip the dimply river's brim,"

exists here. Burke said he would have the mitred front of the
Church raise itself in the Parliament of the Empire. I would
have the pillars of our educational system to illustrate and en-
lighten our Senate. We do not realize how trying is their work,
how much they sacrifice. " A great school," says Dr. Arnold " is
very trying ; it never can present images of rest and peace ; and
when the spring and activity of youth are altogether unsanctified
by anything pure and elevated in its desiv38, it becomes a spec-
tacle that is dizzying and almost more morally distressing, than
the shouts and gambols of a set of lunatics." Everything should
be done to encourage the best men, therefore, not only to enter,
but to remain iu this field where the future nation is moulded
" There is," says Fuller, '* scarce any profession in the common-
wealth more necessary." He might have made the proposition
unqualified. When the schoolmaster knows his work and does
his duty, there is, as Guizot eloquently insists, no more glorious
figure in a free community ; and when we remember that neither
fortune nor fame waits on his laborious toil ; toil not only laborious
but monotonous ; often requited by ingratitude ; nearly always
badly paid ; the unnumbered sacrifices the poor pedagogue makes
for those who profit by him ; his patience ; it will perhaps be
forced on the dullest mind that the v. )rld which neglects so many
of its benefactors has no where, than here, displayed thanklessness
more dire.

'?w^^pi!PP|iiPli(PiWli

CT*r./;'H^

EVKNTS LEADING TO CONFEDERATION.

G4:

CHAPTER XVI.

From the departure of Mr. Hincks, until the present time, is
contemporary history. In 1856, the Premiership of Sir Allan
MacNab g • /e place to that of M. Tach^, who was ostensibly first
in an Administration of which Mr. John A. Macdonald waa the
real head. Mr. Macdonald rehabilitated the shattered popularity
of the Govornm^'ni, and in the face of Mr. George Brown's
vigorous opposition, carried it safely through a stormy session.
Towards the close of the ensuing year, Mr. Macdonald became
titular Premier, and his virtual power was stamped A^ith the seal
of official recognii;]on, i wholesome change, since tyranny and
corruption are naturally incident to rais faindants and secret
poAvors. The existing Parliament had been chosen under the aus-
pices of Mr. Hincks, and it might well have been thought by the
new Premier and his friends that their position and prospects
would be improved by a general election. Parliament wa» ac-
cordingly dissolved, and in a general election, fought with more
tlian ommon energy and bitterness, the Reformers, from whose
ranks the Hincksites disappeared, won a majority in Upper
Canada, while the Conservatives were equally fortunate in Lower
Canada — a state of things which, leading to the abandonment of
the double majority, raised an embarrassing agitation for repre-
sentation by population, produced a dead-lock, and thus precipi-
tated the natural and national event of Confederation.

A large number of new membero wero chosen. Among them
were two Irishmen of genius, John Sheridan Hogan, and Thomas
D'Arcy McGee.

John Sheridan Hogan was born in Ireland, in 1815, of a good
but impoverished family. He emigrated to Canada when he was

[AUTH0EITIE8 :— MacMuUen's " History ; " Hogan'a " Eesay on Canada ; " " Poems
of T. D. McGee, with Copious Notes, »l80 an Introduction and Biographical Sketch,"
by Mrs. J. Sadlier ; "Thomas D'Arcy McGee: Sketch of his Life and Death " by
Fennings Taylor ; " Speeches and Addreises on British American Union," by T. D.
McGee.

■1

646

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

only eleven years of age, and was received into the house of his
uncle, who resided in Toronto. The poor boy did not find this
home congenial to him, and one morning he left the house with
a little bundle of clothos, all his worldly goods, to carve out for
himself his ovv u independence. The young adventurer soon ob-
tained employment in the office of a newspaper at Hamilton. He
afterwards became foreman, and ultimately gained a pla,ce on the
, editorial staft*. He then entered the office of Sir Allan MacNab to
study law, for which, however, he never seems to have had any
strong taste. He had a fine literary faculty, and a paper he con-
tributed to Blackwood's Magazine, on the political afiairs of Ca-
nada, at once established his reputation. His name was even
more prominently brought before the public, by his arrest in the
United States for being concerned in the burning of the " Caro-
line," while his Essay on Canada, which was awarded by the
Paris Exhibition Committee the first prize, gave consistency to
his public character, and bound him more closely to the hearts of
the generous Canadian people who, feeling that he appreciated the
country and its inhabitants, readily acknowledged the claims
of his brilliant talents. He became the editor in chief of the
Oolonist Now, when we introdiire him to the reader, he has just
been elected for the County of Grey — a county into which he
went without money or friends, ilis parliamentary career was cut
Hhort in December, 1859. His real murderers remained undis-
covered until 1861. The accused, however, were successful in
proving an alibi.

On the Don Bridge there was a gang, called the Brook's Bush
Gang, and Hogan, who was in the habit of visiting some old
friends on the Kingston Road, was also accustomed, as he passed
this bridge, to give the gang something for whiskey. On this
fatal night he had about him the unusual sum of £80. He put
his hand into his pocket and drew out the roll of notes. This
sealed his doom. One of the gang put a stone in a handkerchief
and brained him. Having taken the roll of notes, they thrust him
through a hole in the bridge.

But the most remarkable man introduced into Parliament at
this period was one whose death was to be as tragic as that of Ho-
gan, though the m- rderous motive equally ignoble subjectively,

'"'"""iiiiMiiiii't

mtgi

It:

THOMAS d'aRCV MCQEE.

was of a character to drav over the event an Imperial light, and
mingle with his precious gore the tears of nations ; to give him in
addition to his many claims on universal interest — enthusiast,
poet, orator, litterateur, journalist, historian, wit — that which in
the case of eminent persons seems to appeal more powerfully than
all others to the human heart — the charm of a fatal doom in an
unselfish generous cause ; to give him moreover, in the eye and
heart of all Canada, the character of a proto-martyr for her na-
tional life.

Thomas D'Arcy McGee was born at Carlingford, County Louth,
on the 13th of April, 1825. His father, Mr. James McGee, was in
the Coast Guard service. His mother, Dorcas Catherine, who was
the daughter of Mr. Morgan, a Dublin bookseller, was an educated
woman. His father excepted, all the men of his family on both
sides had belonged to the United Irishmen, and McGee in hia
childhood not only drank in poetry from the grand and lovely
scenery of the Rosstrevor coast, but imbibed national aspirations
which, at that time, were only too natural for those of his class
and creed. When he was eight years old the family removed to
Wexford, where the elder McGee had received a more lucrative
appointment from that Government, his son was to seek to over-
turn. His mother, a good musician and singer, loved the sweet
old Gaelic melodies which, in the writings of Moore and Burns,
have added so much imperishable wealth to English literature ;
she was also of a devout spirit ; and her lo-. e for Gaelic song, her
enthusiasm for Ireland, her religious ser.ciment, she transmitted to
her favourite child ; even as Lord J ytton's mother gave her son
his passion for literature; Moorf^'^ mother, her diminutive prodigy,
his social grace and wit ; John Ramsay's mother, her fearless Scotch
lad, his racy character and pregnant tongue; Napoleon's mother —
the old lioness — her little Buonaparte, his restless nature and Im-
perial will; Macaulay's mother, her at first unwilling schclir, his all
but unrivalled yearning towards books; Goethe's mother,her mighty
boy, his free nature and lyric heart. The mother makes us most.
She holds all the planet in her palm. Her shaping love, her tire-
less cares are ever around her offspring. The father engaged in
business or study is comparatively seldom seen, but the mother is
ever and " all there." The circle of her influence is around her

K-fl

648

THE IHISHMAN IN CANADA.

children, an abiding protection, a ceaseless spell. She either dres-
ses or superintends their dressing. It is with her they take their
earliest walk It is her voice soothes them in pain, her lips which
kiss their ready tears away. She teaches them their manners,
their lessons, their prayers. She tucks them in their little cot
and sings them to sleep ; she is their guide, their refuge, their
play-fellow

" Low bended to their tiny level,"

Ul'

and as their minds px[»and, she becomes their ideal of whatever is
tender, and beautiful, and good. Thackeray may well say there is
no woman like a mother. Her love is not earth-born ; its noon is
calm as heaven, and warm and bright, but with no sultry splen-
dour ; its impulses are no winged wavelets of fleeting seas ; its
flowers are not heatt-stricken in their bloom ; and when life's red
leaves are blown in later Autumn's blast, they shed abroad on the
else wholly wintry scene, unfading beauty and immortal fra-
grance. To McGee, though he lost his mother early, her memory
was throughout a chequered life, a star of guidance and inspira-
tion.

When only seventeen, he determined to emigrate to America,
and made his way to his aunt in Providence, R. I., whence he
went to Boston, just at the time the " Repeal Movement " was at
its height amongst the Irish population of that city. He arrived
in the Athens of America in June, \1842. When the 4th of July
came round, hio imagination was fired by the general jubilation,
and he addressed thepeople, enchaining their attention and stirring
their hearts with the skill of a born orator. A day or two after-
ward, the young exile was offered a situation on the Boston Pilot,
of which, some two yearn later, he became editor. His speeches,
his lectures, his writing, attracted the attention of O'Connell, and
he was invited to take a leading position on the editorial staff of
the Dublin Freeman's Journal. Three years after he had left his
home, an unknown adventurous boy, he returned, having won re-
putation and fame, to be a colleague of O'Connell. He was acting
as Parliamentary correspondent — an office in which so many
statesmen have learned their craft — when the split occurred in the
Repeal party, and he cancelled his engagement, and hurried over

■

',1

MOQEE ESCAPES TO AMERICA.

649

to Dublin to assist Charles Gavan Duffy in editing the Nation.
The " rising " in Ireland having signally failed, McGJee crossed
over to Derry from Scotland, whore he had been enlisting active
sympathy for the " cause." At Derry he found his young wife —
" my Molly," as he used in after years to call her — and after an
affecting parting, disguised as a priest, he sailed for the United
States. He immediately started the New York Nation, a journal
which was a great success, until he attacked the Irish Roman
Catholic clergy for the part they had played in the '48 business.
This led to a controversy with Bishop Hughes, from which the
Nation never recovered, and McOee, therefore, determined to stop
the paper, and removed to Boston where he commenced the pub-
lication of the American Celt, which, during the first two yc .-rs,
breathed "revolutionary ardour." But about the year 1852, a re-
volution took, place in tl e mind of the editor, and in that year he
addressed a letter to a friend — Thomas Francis Meagher — in
which he de- ounced " the recent conspiracy against the peace and
exi itence of Christendom." Rarely has such a summersault been
made. He declared that he had discovered hip ignorar e ; that
in Ireland they had not studied principles; that he had found oi't
his superficialiuy ; that he could really do no more than sti ing
sentences together ; that he had to look to it — he had a soul ! The
production is a irost singular one, in which in trarscendental
lan^jage, he registers the fact that he had cast the slough of re-
bellion; that he had passed from a Republican to a Monarchist,
from an ardent Liberal to a quietist Conservative, from holding
that politic? are independent of the Caurch, to subjecting to it
the whole conduct of life, public and privato. Such a wholesale
and almost instantaneous revo]utio'> was as op'in to cynical com-
ment as the conduct of a mourning bride, who suddenly throws
off her crape a-nd looks of woe, to become the gayest of 3'^oung
widov 8 ; and his old friends of revolutionary days assailed him
with traditional vehemence find congenial bitterness. This ulti-
mately led to his gladly accepting an invitation from leading Ro-
man Catholic I Isbmen to come to Canada.

A man of extraordinary versatility and great power of fitfid,
hardly of sustained labour — tht one gift wnich is indispensable
to a man determined not to be the i>ool of others — he found time

'■ ;

i I I

650

THE IRISHMAN IN C\NADA.

while editing the Gelt to lecture and compose poems. All his life
ho was writinijf poetry. He was a pleasing, but not a gi-eat poet ;
he had mastered the accomplishment of verse ; the energy and
faculty divine was not around him like storm, was not in his
heart like fire ; and his song is interesting mainly because in other
8i)heres he proved himself a groat nan. They display an intense
love of country, and occasionally g eat felicity, as when he says :

" All Europe shakes from shore to shore ;
The Jews bid for her crowns ;
Democraci/ with sulUn roar,
Affriyhti her feudal town$. "

Mr. Disraeli had probably read McQee's poems before he de-
scribed Ireland as surrounded by a melancholy ocean. In the
first of the " Three sonnets of St. Patrick's Day," Ireland, before
the introduction of Christianity, is beautifully described as

" Like Sinful Eve
Hidden amid the thickest Eden grove,
Our island -mother knew not of her hope!
Unfolded by the melanclwly main,
A sea of foliage fiU'd the eagle's eye —
A sea within e sea — one wave-wash'd wood.
Save when some breezy mountain, bare and brown,
Rose 'mid the verdant desert to the skies ! "

The following verse in "The Heart's Resting Place" is not
unworthy of Tennyson, while it shows his love of country : —

" Where'er I tum'd, some emblem ntill

Roused consciousness upon my track ;
Some hill was like an Irish hill,

S< one wild bird's whistle call'd me back ;
A sea-bound ship bore off my peace

Between its white, cold wings of woe ;
Oh ! if I had but wings like these.

Where my peace went I too would go."

He had great plans and great ideas. He contemplated an epic,
to be styled " The Emigrants." But people who have to earn their
bread from day to day cannot write epics, and in one poem he
seems to express disappointment at the reception he met with in
the United States.

In Montreal he started the New Era, and ranging himself in
opposition, he was returned, as we have seen, to Parliament for

FOLEY. HOaAN. MO(JEE.

G51

one of the Divisions of Montreal at the General Election in
1858. He was, from the moment he entered the Houa^,
stamped as the ablest speaker in it, though he did not at
first catch \te f»ar, and he brought to discussion a wit oi rare readi-
ness and brill . ncy, and language rich with the flavour of wide
reading and literary feeling,

Foley opposed the Government with an 'ective which was
described by favourable critics as withering. Hogan, who had
devoted his great literary talents to placing Mr. John A. Macdon-
ald, when he was a young politician, above the other Conservative
leaders, a position to which his talents entitled him, also swelled
the volume of attack ; but undoubtedly the .sharpest and most
imperial wit now confronting Ministers was D'Arcy McGf^V In
those days, if we may believe Mr. Taylor — writing, however, as it
seems to me, not from a purely literary standpoint, but from one
adopted as much with an eye to passing party considerations as to
that of abiding historical truth — D'Arcy McGee at first gave the
impression that he would sacrifice everything to a laugh, and that
ho could speak but not reason. In his first speech his witty points
were calculated to do as much harm to his adveisaries as the
fitexner artillery of reason. One of his darts has been attributed to
Hogan. Mr. Cayley, the Inspector-General, had bewa defeated in'
the Counties of Huron and Bruce. One of the electioneering
cards he had played was of doubtful taste. He presented to several
Orange Lodges beautifully bound copies of the Sacred Scriptures.
McGee, alluding to this, said he perceived with that degree of
gratification a mere worldling might be expected to feel in such
subjects, that the Inspector-General had presented to several as-
sociations in the Counties of Huron and Bruce copies of the
Sacred Scriptures. The electors appeared to have learned thence
the lesson of retributive justice, for although they accepted the
Gospel they lejected the missionary.

Though the Opposition was so strong in Upper Canada, Minis-
ters held their seats. The question of representation by popula-
tion, without regard to the dividing line between Upper and Lower
Canada, was argued, but only to be negatived.

Parliament had voted f 900,000 for the erection of public build-
ings at such place as Her Majesty might select for the capital. She

652

THE IRISHMAN IN CAJIADA.

had fixed on Ol iwa, where there was, owing to the prudence of
Colonel By, a bold lieadland reserved by the Crown, which offered
an advantageous site. On the 28th July, a motion regretting that
Ottawa had been selected as the capital, was carried by fourteen.
This was a cf ^ch vote ; Conservatives from Upper and Lower
Canada voted for it ; but it gave no ground for hoping for a ma-
jority, as the moment an alternative to Ottawa was proposed, it
would alienate either Upper or Lower Canada. Besides, the de-
feated Ministers were strengthene;d by the subtle forces of chival-
rous sympathy, loyalty, and the undoubted wisdom of the advice
on which p young Queen had acted.

Mr. Brown was written to by the Governor, asking him to form
a new Administration. Mr. Brown seems to have required a
pledge respecting the dissolution of Parliament. This the Gov-
ernor refused. He would, however, consent to ct prolongation,
provided a few bills of importance were passed and suppliea
voted. Mr. Brown accepted these conditions. His Cabinet con-
tained within it three Irishmen.* A vote of want of confidence
was passed by both houses. Mr. Brown demanded a dissolution.
This demand was refused by Sir Edmund Head. Mr. Brown re-
signed. The Cartier-Macdonald Ministry was formed, in which
Mr. John Ross, President of the Council, represented the Irish
element. It was on this occasion the famous " double shuffle '*
took place, of which the Governor and the coup cry afterwards
heard so much.

On the 9th, Mr. Baldwin died. It woulJ be hard to justify tV-e
constituency that rejected him, and still harder to excuse the re-
fe'istance to his re-entrance into public life. Mr. John A.Macdonald
and John Sandfield Macdonald and their friends met, with all of
worth and learning in the Province, at Osgoode Hall, to do honour
to his remains. In him the words of the great Hebrew bard and
prophet are exemplified : " The memory of the just is blessed."

In the Governor's speech, opening the Session of 1859, it was
stated tbat the union of all British ISorth America had formed a

* The Irish have an asterisk. Upper Canada :— Georjr : Brown ; James Morris ;
•M. H. Foley, (Postmaster-General) ; J. Sandfield Macdoi.. Id ; Oliver Mowat ; *Dr.
Connor, Lower Canada : — *L. T. Drummond ; A, A. Dotiou ; M. Thibodeau ; M»
Lemieux ; L H. Holton ; M. Laberge.

CONFEDEBATION. LORD MONCK.

653

8ubje;'.t of correspondence with the Home Government, and that
it was necessary to carry out the Statute and the Queen's deci-
sion in respect of a permanent seat of Government. The question
of Confederation had already enlisted Mr. McGee's enthusiastic
advocacy.

Early in the Session of 1860, Foley moved a direct vote of want
of confidence in Ministers. McGee bitterly assailed them on the
ground that they had trifled with the Separate Sciiool question in
regard to which a vote of want of confidence was moved. Mr.
Brown moved on the 8th of May, resolutions affirming the failure
of the Union. These resolutions were voted down, but the ques-
tion was not set at rest, and his "joint authority" scheme was ul-
timately vindicated. Parliament was soon prorogued, to assemble
again to greet the Prince of Wales. The Session of 1861 passed
without anything calling for comment here, and in the autumn
Sir Edmund Head was succeeded by Lord Mouck.

The man who had now been appointed Captain-General and
Gk)venior-in-Chief of Canada, and Governor-General of British
America, was born at Templemore, Tipperary, in 1810, being a
son of the third Viscount, by the youngest daughter of the late
John Wellington, Esq., of Killoskehan, in the same county. Edu-
cated at Trinity College, he was called to the Irish Bar in 1841 .
He was chosen one of the members for Portsmouth, in the Liberal
interest, in 1852, and re-elected in 1855, but was defeated in 1857,
In the spring of 1861, he unsuccessfully contested Dudley. He
was, however, bound to get an appointment, as he had been a lord
of the Treasury from 1855 till 1858. Jn 1866, he was made a
peer of the United Kingdom.

He was, like other Irish governors, singularly 'successful in win-
ning golden opinions. His rule extended ov^er the critical period
of the American Civil War. The Government having been de-
feated on the Militia Bill, resigned, and John Sandfield Macdonald
was entnisted with t':e formation of a Cabinet. In his Cabinet
were Mr. Foley from Upper and Mr. McGee from Lower Canada.
The new Ministry announced the restoration of the double ma-
jority in all matters locally affecting either sections of the Pro-
vince as part of their programme. As the Upper Canada section
of the Cabinet, John Sandfield Macdonald, Adam Wilson, James

i„.

m ■

J54

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

Morris, W, P. Howland, Williajii McJ)ougalJ, anil Foley had not
iiisisteil on reprosontation by population boin^j^ made a Governniont
question, they weie attacked in the cohunns of the leading- Reform
organ, the Globe.

Lord Palmerston had eomimentod adversely on the defeat of the
Militia Bill of the Macdonald-Oartier Governiaent. England had
done nv, nuich to defend the Canadians as it intended to do. Lord
Monck echoed the warning. Theine warnings stimulated that
military enthusiaBUi, in the direction of which Irishmen played
an important part.

In the autumn, a visit of the Governor to Upper Canada to open
the Provincial Exhibition at Toronto added to his growing popu-
larity.

In 1863 the Ministry were defeated on a vote of want of confi-
de iCe, proposed by Mr. John A. Macdonald. The Prime Minister
determined to appeal to the country, and preparatory to doing so
reconstructed his Cabinet. From the new Cabinet, McGee, Sicotte,
and Foley wei'e excluded. These voted and acted with the Opi)o-
sition, and the onslaught on Ministers for the changes in the
Cabinet and for abandoning the double majority, was rendered
more formidable by Foley's invective and McGee's various artil-
lery.

The Government lived through the session of 1863 only to be
forced to resign early in the following year, when Sir E. P. Tache
formed a Government which included McGee and Foley. A lead-
ing feature in the policy of the new Government was to place the
^lilitia on a sound footing. Foley, on going back to his constitu-
ency was rejected, and the Cabinet, weakened by the defection of
two of its members, was beaten on an important division. There
was a dead lock ; the wisdom of Mr. Brown's policy was acknow-
ledged ; communications were opened with that gentleman, the
result being the formation of a Government in which Mr. Brown
was to have three seats placed at his disposal, in a Coalition Gov-
ernment, pledged to carry Confederation.

Mr. McGee had already in and out of the house advocated Con-
federation, and to him is due the chief credit of having all over
British North America, in the Maritime Provinces as well as in
Ontario, popularized the idea. Among those Irishmen, who, with

FENIANISM. PARLIAMENT BUILDINGS.

655

McQoe, pleaded in P:»,rliament, for that for which every eminent
poHtician, with one exception, pleaded, weio the Hon. J. C. Aikens,
the Hon Wm. McMaster, the Hon. John lloas, in the Upper House,
and in the Lower Houae, Mr. James O'Halloran and many others.
Col. McOivern, well-known as a succesi-f;ii merchant, as a railway
man, as a military marl, also sw(^,lh',d the volume of eloquence
advocating Confederation.

While some Irishmen were playing useful, and others useful
and distinguished parts in the foundation of the Dominion, mis-
guided men of the same nationality, acting on motives it i.s im-
possible to understand, adopting a course which no wrongs in Ire-
land could justify, aimed what was meant as a deadly blow at a
young and unoffending nation.

The miserable attempt of Fenians to disturb this country led
McQee, as it led Archbishop Coimolly, to write and speak elo-
quently in the praise of our free institutions and in denunciation
of a conspiracy, which, by no single feature of sanity or generosity
could appeal either to the judgment or the heart.

On the 8th of June, the very day the Hochelaga Volunteers
were repelling one of the last waves of a rowdy invasion on the
eastern frontier, the new parliament buildings at Ottawa were
opened to receive the Legislature of the country. Thtse build-
ings have not been incorrectly described as the finest buildings of
the kind on this continent, and a correct taste would prefer them
to the parliament buildings, which rise amid the smoke of London
by the darkened Thames. This imposing structure was built by
an Irishman, the Hon. Thomas McQreevy, M.P. for Quebec West,
who ig connected with several great enterprises. He was for
several years a member of the City Council, Quebec, and sat for
Stadacona in the Legislative Council, Quebec, from November,
1867, until January, 1874. He describes himself as a Conserva-
tive, but perfectly independent of any Government, his policy
being what it has ever been, to do what he believes is most for
the good of the Dominion.

During the course of the Session, the resolutions necessary to
the Scheme of Confederation were passed, and in August, the last
parliament of United Canada rose, the Ministry having lost during
the year, Mr. Brown in January, and Mr. Gait early in August.

iii

ill',

1!^

.-,.

»«■

«56

THF IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

The jealousy of the Americans at seuin^ a strong and united nation
established on their frontier need not be dwelt on. Nor need we
speak of the Fenian trials at Toronto, further than to say that
the law was fearlessly and justly administered, and that justice
was tempered with clemency.

Early in 1867, the British North America Act passed the
Imperial Parliament, while McQee was busy as one of the Cana-
dian Commissioners to the Paris Exhibition. From Paris he ad-
dressed a remarkable letter to his constituents, and through them
to the whole Dominion, counselling all how a place might be W3n
in the family of States, which few European nations had
attained.

The arrangements for the New Dominion did e )t include a port-
folio for D'Arcy McGee, who waived his claim in order ti- make
room for another Catholic Irishman, whose entrance into the
Cabinet would be welcome to Nova Scotia — the Hon. Mr. Kenny. Mr.
Kenny was the only Irishman in the Cabinet. It is a noteworthy
fact that the first Cabinet of the New Dominion did not contain
a single man from Ontario or Quebec, of the blood of Baldwin.

The election of 1 867 took place during the summer, immediately
after the Privy Councillors were sworn in. McGee's seat was
fiercely contested. He represented a part of Montreal which was
the seat of the " local head centre " of Fenianism. Another Irish
Catholic, Mr. Devlin, contested the seat, and eveiy vile epithet
calculated to rouse ignorant Irish Catholics was hurled at McGee,
He had, as his manner was, gone right round from denying the
existence o^ Fenianism in Montreal, to exag^i-erating the extent of
it, and denouncing it not in andeserved terms, but in terms which
seemed violent from a mnn of his past history. He won his elec-
tion, but by a majority which convin^.ed him Ms power had great-
ly waned. He had, however, the consolation that if he had lost
popularity, he had lost it sincerely active in enlightening his coun-
trymen. There is reason to believe he had prior to the election
been aware of how much influence he had sacrificed to right and
truth, for he had determined to take an office of some value at
Ottawa, to retire from politics, and in the Capital of the Domin-
ion where his voice had been so often heard, near and in the
magnificent Library of Parliament Buildings, to do good literary

icc-
3at-
ost
un-
lion
and
} at
lin-

LONGING FOR FAME.

667

work, and take an additional bond of fame. Some yeais before
he had written :—

I dreamed a dreair when the woods were green,

And my April heart made an April scene,

In the fdr, far distant land ;

That even I might something do

That should keep my memory for the true.

And my name in, m the spoiler's hand.

His mind too, always religious as that of a man of poc tic tnm can-
not fail to prove, though in the darkness of unbelief and the fury
and storm of passion, he be unable to see the mountains which
climb to heaven, and the orphaned heart dares not assert its Divine
filiation. McGee had, of late too, become decidedly " serious " ; the
shadow of impending doom was on him ; and the future froi
which his heart- took a steady glow was bounded by no earthly
horizon. Politics and public life, he now said had not been his
choice. He drifted into those troubled waters by force of circum-
stances. He longed for the calm pursuits of literature. Perhap>=.
sometimes he longed for quieter halls than even those in which
in silence unbroken by the vulgar voice of man, we commune with
the mighty dead. There was a day when he yearned for the
long sleep and the unenvied home, when he found no sympathy
in the States, and the iron went into his soul. The import of
the little poe?u, " Ad Misericordiam " is unmistakable."*

He had conquered a habit which was for a long time a spot (ju
the bright sun of his genius and character, and completely ignored
" the swaet poison of misused wine ;" a thing very hard to do, —
almost heroic for a man wno possesses great social gifts. Perhaps
he felt that wedded in youth to the chaste beauty of literature, lie
had squandered hours due to her on less serene attractions. His
health wab not what it was in those days of } outh, when men can
outwatch the stars and shake themselves free from all associations,
like the sun breaking from the witholding arms of night — those
wasted irrevocable hours in which men draw on the future, and
project into life,even bef^ re its evening, the long persistent shadows
of remorse. If the object of his retiring from politics was to give

* See '* Poems " p. 805.
42

l^:i

658

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

more scope to religious feeling, who shall use the word "premature"
in regard to the tragic close at hand ? But if it was that he might
return with an atoning love to the bosom of literature, if that
with passionate repentant devotion he migh*^, undistracted by all
cares, heap costlier offerings on her shrine, then his resolve, like
most human i ^olves, came " too late." Yet if he could have
chosen a fate which would be most in accordance with his dearest
aspirations it was that which befell him. The base flash of i\i
assassin's fire did as much for his fame as the blaze of his glorious
wit.

On the St. Patrick's Day of 1868, he was entertained at a ban-
quet in Ottawa city, and in his speech, he dwelt on the necessity
of satisfying the just demands of the Irish people. That speech
was copied and commented on throughout the empire. He
remarked in the course of it that even a " silent " Irish-
man might do something to serv^e his country. On the very night
of his murder he had on a quo *'on of tampering with the Union
between Nova Scoti'i andCanai^ ., eulogised Confederation, speak-
ing, as he said, not as a representative of any race, in any Pro-
vince, but as emphatically a Cu,nadiaii. Before these words had
ceased to echo along the corridors of the Parliament buildings,
while smoking a cigar and enjoying the moonlight, just as he had
reached the door of his temporary home he fell dead, shot by
a fellow-countryman from behind. We Irish are a chivalrous
people — by what fatality is it that we have occasionally produced
such dastards ? D'Arcy McGee fell a martjrr to the interests of
Canada, and the magnificent pomp of his funeral expressed the
sorrow and admiration of the country, a sorrow and admiration
which was felt by Scotchmen and Englishmen, by Frenchmen
and Germans — deeply felt by those of all races bom on our soil.
The morning which rose on the murderous act was one of those
in our history in which the country has appeared at its best. The
press groanod with sorrow. From all sides came testimonies
to the merits . of the dead. In the House of Commons
there was a full attendance of members, and the galleries were
crowded. When the Speaker had taken the chair, Sir John A»
Macdonald rose amid breathless silence, and, manifesting an emo-
tion which stopped his utterance for some time, proceeded to pay

MURDER OF MCQEF.

659

his tribut to McOec, preparatory to moving the adjournment of
the House. " He who last night, nay this morning, was with us,
whose voice is still ringing in our ears, who charmed us with his
marvellous eloquence, elevated us by his large .statesmanship and
instructed us by his wisdom, his patriotism, is no more — is foully
murdered. If ever a soldier who fell on the field of battle deserved
well of his country, Thomas D'Arcy McGee deserved well of
Canada and its people." Sir John A. Macdonald proceeded to de-
lineate the beautiful character of " our departed friend," a man of
the kindest and most generous impulse, who " might have lived a
long and respected life had he chosen the easy path of popularity
rather than the stem one of duty." Mr. Mackenzie, in seconding
the motion dwelt on Mr. McGee's generous disposition, " character-
istic of the man and his country," nor could there in his opinion
be a doubt that he had fallen a victim to the noble and patriotic
course he had pursued, Mr. Cartier, Mr. Chamberlain.Mr. Anglin,
Mr. Chauveau, Mr. E. M. Macdonald, Mr. Stuart Campbell, each
laid his garland on the corpse of the murdered statesman.

The history of Canada since 1867 belongs to contemporary
politics.

In 1869, Irish Catholics, under the impression that they were
not fairly dealt with in regard to political 'position and pa-
tronage, formed what is known as the " Catholic League," with
Mr. John O'Donohoe as president. Of this League Mr. John
McKeown, now of St. Catharines, Captain Larkin, of St. Catharines,
Mr. Jeremiah Merrick, of Toronto, Mr. O'Hanly, of Ottawa, the
Hon. Mr. Fraser, were leading spirits. Mr. O'Donohoe who sat
for some time for East Toronto, is a barrister, whose career
shows energy and ambition. Mr. McCrosson was also a member of
the League, and he has of late started a paper which is ably
written and ably edited — I allude to the Tribune of Toronto — a
Catholic journal pur sang. Mr. McCrosson comes from Strabane,
County Tyrone, and is one of those men whose business avocations
cannot dull their love of reading and political speculation. In the
summer of 1869, Sir. Francis Hincka returned to Canada and was
soon after offered by Sir. John Macdonald his old office of Finance
Minister which he accepted on the 9th Oct. and which he resigned
on the 22nd Feb. 1873, eight months before the Cabinet resigned.

I 111

i.i?

r'vwu'i

mmm^ —

660

TH?: IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

Having joined the Governine.it he engaged both in departmental
and political work during; the ensuing three years. "But," says
the writer in the Dublin University Magazine " when the Parlia-
ment was about to ex})ire in 1872, he intimated to the leader of
the Government his fixed determination to retire from public life.
He was induced so far to modify this determination as to post-
pone its execution until after the election, and it was not until
Feb. 7th, 1873, that he carried it into effect. Having been elected
without his knowledge for Vancouver in British Columbia, he
retained his seat during the ensuing session, giving an indepen-
dent support to his old colleagues and explaining that his retire-
ment from the Government was not caused by any difference on
public questions. A change of Government having taken place
some months later in the autumn of 1873, Sir Francis Hincks
did not seek re-election and has now entirely withdrawn from
public life." On leaving the Government he accepted the office of
President of the Montreal City Bank, which, having been since
amalgamated with the Royal (Canadian, is now the Consolidated
Bank of Canada.

How the Reform party was reinforced in 1867, by the Hon.
Edward Blake's entrance into public life ; the fall of the Sandlield
Macdonald Ministry ; the formation of an Ontario Government,
with Mr. Blake at its head ; how Mr. Blake was elected to the
House of Commons for West Durham in 1867, the same year he
WHS elected to the Local House for South Bruce ; how in 1872, he
was elected to the Commons both for West Durham and South
Bruce, and decided to sit for South Bruce ; how he was sworn a
member of the Privy Council in November, 1873; how he resigned
in February, 1874; how he was meanwhile returned for South
Bruce ; Ik^w he was re-elected by acclamation on his acceptance
of the portfolio of Minister of Justice in the summer of 1875 ; his
exchange of this laborious office for that of President of the
Council, for reasons that every respectable man of every party
heard with sympathy and reipfvefi — all this is familiar. Not less
familiar are the leading events in his more private life ; his birth
in the Township of Adelaide in 1833 ; how he was educated at
Upper Canada College, and at the University, where he was sil-
ver medallist in classics, and took the degree of M.A., in 1858 ;

!ai

HON. EDWARD BLAKE.

601

his almost unparalleled success at the bar ; how ho refused the
Chief Justiceship of the Supreme Court, having previously de-
clined a position on the Ontario Bench. His great ability as a
lawyer and orator, it is unnece.s.sary to dwell on for it is univei'sally
acknowledged. His career and character would furnish an inter-
esting theme for dis(j[uisition, were this a suitable place for such
comment, for the position his countrymen gave him, on his en-
trance into public life, is without an analogue in history. Ail
that was young and generous in the country went out to him with
feelings of admiration, and pride, and confidence, and hope.

A large number of Irishmen and men oi Irish descent, entered
public life during the period with which we are now concerned ;
Mr. Cyril Archibald, M.P., for Stormont ; the Hon. Arthur Bunster,
M.P., for Vancouver, who was born in Queen's County in 1833 ;
George Elliot Casey, B.A., M.P., for West Elgin, a son of the late
Mr. William Casey, who, with his wife settled in the Talbot
Settlement in 1817 ; Mr. James Cunningham, J. P., M. P., for
Westminster, born at Anyevny, County Monaghan ; Mr. William
Donahue, M.P., for Missisquoi ; Mr. William Kerr, M.A., M.P., for
West Northumberland ; Mr. Andrew Monteith, M. P., for North
Perth, born in the North of Ireland ; Mr. William Murray, M.P.,for
North Renfrew ; Mr. Samuel Piatt, M.P., for East Toronto, born in
Armagh, in 1812 ; Mr. Joseph Ryan, M.P., for Marquette ; Mr. John
White, M.P., for East Hastings, born in the Town of Donegal, he
is Grand' Master of the Orange Assembly of Ontario East, and
Deputy Grand Master of the Grand Black Chapter of Orangemen
in the Dominion ; Mr. Robert Wilkes, late M.P., for Centre Toronto,
wholesale merchant of great energy, who from the position of a
clerk has raised himself to wealth ; Mr. Andrew Trew Wood, M.P.,
for Hamilton ; Mr. James Marshall Ferris, J.P., M.P.P., for East
Northumberland ; the Hon. Christopher Finlay Fraser, M.P.P., for
South Grenville, one ofwho.se parents is Irish. He was one of the
origii',atoi3 of the Catholic League. He entered the Local House
in 1867, and in 1873, became Provincial Secretary and Regis-
trar, an office he held until 1874, when he was appointed Com-
missioner of Public Works. He is an able man, and no doubt owes
some of hio ability to each of his parents. There still remain to be
mentioned. Mr. William Hargraft, J.P., M.P.P., for West North-

602

THK lUISHMAN IN CANADA.

mubeilana; Mr. Williaiii Harkin, M.D.C.M., M.PP,, for Pi» .scott ;
Mr. John Kean, J.P., M.J'.P., for East Simcoe ; Mr. John Lane, J. P.,
M.P.P., for East York, born in Tipperary, in 1818 ; Mr. Thomas
Long, M.P.P., for Nortli Simcoe ; Mr. William Rolph Meredith,
L.L.B., M.P.P,, for London, who has already been mentioned ; Mr
William Mostyn, M.D., M.P.P, for North Lanark; Mr. John
O'Sullivan, M.D., M.P.P., for East Peterborough ; Mr. John Oole-
brooke Patterson, M.P.P., North Essex; Mr. Peter Patterson,
M.PP., for West York ; Mi-. William Robinson, M.P.P., for King-
ston ; Mr. James Cowan, M. L)., M.P.P., for High Bluli', Manitoba.
Among the men called to the Senate in this period, was a man,
who is the foremost cattle importer and breeder in the Province
of Quebec — the Hon. Mathew Henry Cochrane, whose family came
here from the North of Ireland. While I write, a large number of
the shorthorns of this gentleman have realized an immense sum
in England, the average being higher than was ever realized any-
where excepting Australia. Two heifers between them, fetched
eight thousand four hundred guineas. The sale it is hoped will
direct attention to Canada's capabilities, not only to supply
butchers meat, but for raising shorthorns. It also proves that
Canadian breeders can rely on a market in England. In 1876
Mr. Dalton McCarthy was elected for Cardwell. Mr. McCarthy
was born in Dublin, where he received part of his early education.
He is a Bencher of the Law Society, a successful lawyer, and gives
the greatest promise as a politician. His first speech in parlia-
ment marked him as a man for whom all things may be hoped.
He is a strong supporter of Sir John A. Macdonald.

In November, 1868, Lord Monck, having presided over the early
days of our life as a Dominion, was succeeded by Sir John Young
(Lord Lisgar) vho was in 1872, succeeded by the Earl of Dufferin,
the greatest Governor we have had since Carleton.

Lord Dufferin was born in 1826. In 1591, John Blackwood
was born in Scotland. He early settled in County Down. His
son and grandson bore the same name as the original settler. The
third John Blackwood's son, Sir Robert Blackwood, married the
only daughter of Isaac Macartney. Their son, Sir John Black-
wood had several children. The second son, James, inherited in
1808, the peerage, which had meanwhile come into the family,

WHAT CONSTITl'TES NATIONALITY.

603

and was siicccr-cled \>y his Itother HariH, who rnairiod Mehotal»ul-
liester, second daughter of Ro^Kirt Toniple. Hans waH succeeded
by Price, wlio had been a Cai>tain in the Royal Navy. He
married on the 4tb of July, 1825, Helen S<dina, daughter of the
late Thoma.s Sheridan Es(i., sou of the Right Honourable Richard
I^rinsley Sheridan.

A fool'nh ([UchJ ion a.s to Lord Dufferin's nationality was raised
isonie time ago, and therefore the general question of nationality
may be dealt with here. A man belongs to that country in which
he was born. His connexion with it, is of course, strong in pio-
portion to the length of time his family has been there. But if
any other test of natioriality be adopted, all kinds of confusion are
introduced into the discu.ssion. There was a time when the
forefather of the Irish Celt was not Irish, because his people had
never been so far westward. The two most powerful inifluences
in determining character, are climate and association, which last
might be called moral climate.* Race, of course, counts for some-
thing. But most of the typical Irish gentlemen of the last century
had but little Celtic blood in their veins. Yet their vivacity,
fun, frolic, and wit, have passed into a proverb. The mercurial
character of the Irishman must be accounted for in great part by
atmospheric conditions. The moral conditions must also be allowed
due weight. When the Englishman or the Dane settled among
the lively Celts, hischildren growing up among Celtic friends, allies,
servants, became in manner as Celtic as their associates, though there
would remain certain elements of heart and mind tracable to the
German or Scandinavian tribe whence they drew their blood.
The physical atmosphere however, as Monsieur Davy shows, is a
powerful shaper of our characters and destinies ; it is one of those
circumstances which decide beforehand our place in the intellec-
tual, moral, and spiritual scale ; which class us before we are in
the cradle, which before we have learned to lisp, draw the draft of
the epitaph which if truth prevailed should be placed upon ourtomb-

*" Atmospheric cc editions work on the individual, and powerfully on the offspring,
Affecting the character, mental and moral ; deciding the physical temperament ;" see
^' Lea mouvements de 1' Atmosphere et des Mers, consid^rfis au Point de Vue de la
Provision du Temps" par H. Marie Davy. Paris, Victor Masson et Fill, Place de
I'Ecole-de-Medioine, 1866.

6G4

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

It makes a great differenco whether that atnioHphero has or has
not been breathed V)y our fo: ^fathers for many generations, and
whether or not it has been associated with a moral atmosphere
belonging to an established national type. I have treated Robert
Baldwin as an Irishman, because both his parents were Irish, be-
cause his associations throughout life from boyhood up were Irish,
because his own children to-day are in typo Irish gentlemen
of a not remote period, because, moreover, when he was growing
up, no Canadian type had develope»l, as indeed ri^ distinctive type
has yet developed. Yet of coarse, the'-e is a true sense in which
Robert Baldwin was more a Canadian than an Irishman, and he
was always proud to dwell on his claim to, so to speak, a two-fold
nationality. In Lord DufFerin's case, we have his ancestors for
six generations, and for over two hundred years in Ireland. Of
fourteen factors of his life within that period, twelve are Ir'sh,
one English, one Scotch. We need not be surprised that if wo
wei'e to look the world over for a typical Irishman, we could not
find a more characteristic specimen than the man who with so
much judgment, so much ease, so much statesmanlike capacity, so
much good humour, so much wit, with such marvellous power of
expression, and such unequalled social grace, has ruhd this country
for five years. So great is the eflfect of moral and physical sur-
roundings, that an Irishman, an Englishman, a Scotchman, or a
German of a high type of intellect, of sympathetic character and
vivid imagination, will, after living six years in Canada, be more
a Canadian than anything else. Wd sometimes meet people from
all countries who after having lived here twice or three tiines that
period are still what they were when they came here ; they have
contracted no love for the country, their sympathies have put
forth 110 new roots, and borne no fresh and various fruit. But
what sort of people are these ? Misera>ble egotists who have found
a subtle mendacious self-grat'dation in constant reference to a
figment of better things across the Atlantic. I once met a man at
the house of a gentleman who was then, and is now a Minister of
the Crown, and he said : " This sort of thing is poor enough.
Nothing like the society we have in the old country " I - 'as
tempted to turn round on him and say : " Sir, in the old country,
you could never have laoved, and hardly dared to hope to move

LORD DUFFERIN.

605

in the society I see you movi* :r in hero." A great deal of the
impertinent ^-eference to the superiority of things in the old
country, is meant not to do iionour to the old country, but to the
speaker. " 1 was born in Castle Bunkum," says a lady as she uses
her fan nnd expands with vanity at the thought of a fictitious
ai'stocratic ancestry. What would her hearers think if told that
Castle Bunkum is a paltry village ?

Lord Dufferin was educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford.
He succeeded to his father's title in 1841, when he was only
fifteen years of age. It was, from more than one point of \\ow,
unfortunate for Lord DufFcrin that he succeeded so early to a peer-
age. He was thus deprived of an opportunity of entering the
House of Commons, where alone a gi-eat parliamentary reputation
can be made in England. What an extinguisher the House of
Lords is may be gathered from the fact that until Lord Dufferin
came to Canada, scarcely anybody in the Briti.sh Isles gave him
credit for the great capacity he is now universally acknowledged
to pos.sess — ]5eople had scarcely a hint of his extraordinary and
various powers. They were known to his intimates, and the
public were .sometimes puzzled to know why it was that, in autho-
oritative quartern, he wa^ rated so high. The speech which Lord
Duflferin made f.t the Toronto Club in 1874 set some of the En-
glish journalists almost wild. In an article in the London Spec-
tator — one of the ablest papers in the world, which is edited by
an Englishman — a writer — evidently the editor — grew c.ithy-
rambic over the speech and the orator, and, with that curious
ignorance of this country which so often startles us in English
publicists, it was asked why Mr, Gladstone had not sent Lord
Dufferin to Ireland instead of Canada ? Lord Dufferin, it was
said, while still at home, breathed forth nc such notes of tri-
umphant confidence in the future of the Empire ra characterised
this famous speech, which was like a breath from the mountains
on the fevered brow of the editor in the close office near Waterloo
Bridge, under the refreshing influence of which he seems to break
away from the dungeon of dulled ambition, contracted hopes and
ignoble fears, from the suffocating atmosphere which in recent
years, and up to a very late period, a mean statesmanship cast
over the country of Raleigh, and he gasps out to inhale great

C66

THE IRISHMAN IN CANADA.

draughts of Lord Dufferin's stimulating thought, like Marie
Stuart, in Schiller's play, when she is allowed to ramble from her
confinement into the grounds surrounding her castellated prison.
Lord Dufterin had for two years lived among us, had made him-
self master of every notable feature of Canada, social, political and
physieal; had s))oken at banquetss ; had replied to deputations; had
given useful lectures in a pleasing way to ladies' schools, and, when
he spoke at the dinner of the Toronto Club, he had just returned
from the North-West. He had seen the vigorous settler, with
axe in hand, hope in his heart and a happy brood around him ;
proud cities rising as if by magic ; he had stood on the mar-
gins of lakes glimmering amid the primeval forest, and saw the
vision of the future. Everywhere he found Canada like a youth
that means to be of note at work betimes, and the Sheridan blood
would have strangely degenerated if his imagination had not taken
fire. The same writer wrote in an equally enthusiastic strain of
Ijord Dufferin's speeches in the early part of the present year.
When at such a distance Lord Dufferin can, when he has an op-
portunity make his popular genius felt, what might he not have
done had he had an opportunity of bringing his large and various
talents to bear on the real source of power in England.

Lord Dufferxi. was for many years a Lord in waiting to the
Queen. He is a successful author. H3 published an account
of the famine of 1846-7. Having in 1859 made a yacht- voyage
to Iceland, he published in 1860 a narrative of the voyage under
the title "Letters from High Latitudes," 'which are brimful of
humour. He was in the same year sent as a British Commissioner
to Syria to inquire into the massacre of the Christians there. He
acted with great capacity and firmness and on his return to Eng-
land was mj,de a K.C.B. From 1864 to 1866 he was Under
Secretary of State for India, and for War from 1866 to the follow-
ing year. He was from 1868 until he was appointed Governor-
General of Canada, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and
Paymaster-General. Lord Dufferin contributed much both by
voice and pen to the discussion of the Jr sh land question and Irish
questions^generally, and helped materially to precipitate Mr. Glad-
stone's reforms.

How he has discharged the duties of his great office in Canada

CONCLUSION.

667

does nc xieed to be told here to-day. His conduct during the
excitement of 1873 was characterized by firmness, by grasp of
constitutional principles, and by consummate tact, and when he
leaves our shores, he will take with him the respect and admi-
ration — nay, almost the affection of every man and woman in
Canada, for his noble bearing and sympathetic genius have given
him a warm place in the hearts of thousands who never saw him.

I now conclude. The history of the Irishman in Canada closes
as it opened with the name of an Irish Governor-General on my
pen. I have shown what part the Irishman has played in clearing
the forest, in building up the structure of our civic life, in defend-
ing the country, in battling for our liberiict;, in developing our
resources, in spreading enlightenment, in the culture of literature
and art, in tending the sacred fires of religion, in sweetening the
cares of life, and I trust I have done this without giving offence
in any quarter, or forgetting for a single instant that my para-
mount duty, as the paramount duty of us all, belongs to Canada-

FINIS

INDEX.

Aberdeen, Earl of, 476
Abraham, his faith, 1
Acadian. His poetical account, 206,
208, 222
his contempt for General Smyth.
211 ^ '

on Winder and Chandler, 214
on Newark avenged, 233
his sketch of American manners
fifty years ago, 235
Adamson, Dr., 433
Adelaide, Irish settlers in, 303

Typhus fever breaks out in, 304
Age and piety, 179
Agitation, 609
Ague and fever, 358-9, 375
Alfred the Great, 394
Alison, William Henry, 157
Allan, Hon. William, 400
AUn, Arnold, with 300 men crosses

Lake Champlain, 75
Alien, Colonel, sent by Montgomery

to surprise Montreal, 78
Aikens, Hon. James, birth and poli-
tical career, 275.
Airey, Mr. Julius, 124

Colonel, ib.
America, Discovery oi, by Saynt
Brandon, 51
Irishmen met there on all sides, in

the eighteenth century, 52
civil war of, part played in by Irish-
men, 65, 60
Americans retreat from before Que-
bec, 86
cruelty of, 89

plan Uie conquest of Canada, 207
Anderson, William, 95
Anglic»nism, Father of, in Canada,

99
Anglin, T. W. 164

Annexation and Independence, 252.
667 r , ,

Archibalds, the, 158

Archibald, Donald, 158

Mr. Cyril, M.P, C61
ArdRigh, the, 17
Art in Canada, 611
father of, bom, ib.
progress of, 612
not encouraged, 613
glory and beauty of Canadian land-
scape not yet appreciated, 617
Artists, Canadian, 617
Artistic Genius of Irishmen, 35
Ardagh, Rev. Samuel B., 594, 628
Arcadia, dreamed of by Talbot and

Lord Dacre, 108
Armed revolution condemned by Col.

James E. McGee, 44
Arnold's march from Boston to Que-
bec, 81—83
Arthur, Sir George, succeeds Sir F.
Head, 406
requested to summon the Legisla-
ture, 413
Assembly, promised to Quebec, 7 1
delay in granting, a cause of disBatis

faction, 72
of Upper Canada meets, quarrel
between, and Metcalfe, 493
Aylwyn, 489

Attachments, romantic, 393
Australia, the Irishman in, 66

Baoot, Sir Charles, sent out as Gov-
ernor of Canada, 476

character of, 477

Hincks induced to join his Govern-
ment, ib.

vilely assailed, 486

death of, 483
Bailey, John, 363
Bailey, F. G., 604
Baldwin, Admiral, 173, 400
Baldwin, Rev. A. H., 629
Baldwin, Capt. Henry, 173
Baldwin, Robert, the Emigrant, 172

670

INDEX.

Baldwin, Robert — continued.
Robert, Hon., 173, 431
the author of Confederation, 387
birth of, 394
imbibed his principles from his

father, 389
character, 391
oratory — private life — love for his

wife and children, 393
completeness of his character, 394
called to the bar, 395
contests York and returned, ib.
remains out of Parliament, ib.
key to his political character, 396
visits England in 1835, ib.
correspondence with Lord Glenelg,

ib.
returns to Canada, ib.
his resignation, 443, 446
explains resignation. Col. Prince's

impertinence regarding, attacked

by Day, 463
defended by Durand, 454
further explains resignation, 455,

459
how he was called to Executive

Council by Lord Sydenham, 455
motives for joining Executive, 456
no confidence in colleagues, 457
accused of caballing, 458
informs the Governor that union

has been effected between the

Reformers of Lower and Upper

Canada, 459
tells him that the Administration

had not the confidence of the

people, 459
supported by the Assembly and the

coimtry, 460
his power in the country seen, 465
coalesces with MacNab and other

Tories to defeat Municipal Bill,

466
on Hincks' support of Municipal

Bill, 470
moves resolutions affirming prin-
ciples of responsible government,

471
his hour of triumph, 480
and Lafuntaine enter the Govern-
ment, 482
liberal ministrj' under Lord Met-
calfe, singularly capable, 487, 489
and colleagues, resignation, 495
attack oa Government, 501

Baldwin, Robert — coiUiniced.
his friends issue an address to the

people, 509
makes a tour through the Lower

Province, 510
reviews Stanley's speech, 511
attacks the Ministry, his speech

described, Globe, 515
entertained in West Halton, 534
in power, 542, 543
deals with treason with a firm

hand, 564
distressed by Lord John Russell's

views, 567, 568
his scrupulousness, 573
true to the principle of double ma-
jority, 576
with his retirement the Irish period

begins to decline, 576
too conservative for hia party, ib.
defeated in North York by Hart-
man, 576, 577
death of, 652
Baldwin, Dr. William Warren settles
in Toronto, 172
practises law, 173
marries ; his five sons, ib.
moots constit^itional questions, 389
last appearance of, in public, ib.
loses his way, ambitious of found-
ing a family, 390
gazetted to the Legislative Council,
493
Bards, Irish, 10
Barrd, Colonel, 73
Barry and the navpl wars, 58
meets Washingt, ., father of Amer-
can Navy, 58
Barry, Sir Redmond, 66
Bangs, Dr., 98
Bangs, Nathan, 178, 181
Banking, early, 278
Baerstler entrapped, 215, 216
Bastonnais, the, 81-85
Beaconsfield. Ixjrd, had probably read

McGee's poetry, 650
Beaty, James, 278, 279
BeattyB settlements, 276
Bears, stories of, 355, 377
Bedford, Quebec, Irish settlers in, 693
Belford Bros. , Publishers, 279
Belford, Charles, ib.
Bell, WUliam, 89, 347
Bell, first, in a church in Canada, 100
Bell, family, the, 353

INDEX.

671

Belleville, builders of, 379

Bellingham, Sidney Robert, 331

Bengough, {Grip) 613

Bennot, Rev. James, D.D., 166

Berkeley, conceives the idea of found-
ing college in Summer Islands, 55
arrives at Newport, ib.
writes his Minute Philosopher, ib.
" " famous verse, " West-
ward the Star of Empire," ib.

Berlin Decree and the United States,
196

Bexley, Township of, 363

BidweU, 397, 402

Bigotry, the loss it entails on the
bigot, 27

Bisshopp, Colonel, descent on Black
Rock, 223

Blake, the family of, 302—306
ChaKcellor, 476
Hon. Edward, 660, 661
Vice-chancellor, 608

Blenheim, 69

Bliss, Hon. Daniel, 160

Board of Works, management of, in
Metcalfe's time, 520

Bonfield, James, M. P.P., 592

Boomer, Dean, 629

Bonnycastle, Sir Richard, on the Irish
emigrants, 401
on the Irish in Newfoundland, 143

Boulton, Hon. Henry John, censured
by the House, 389

Bowes, John George, 283
elected mayor, 575

Boyle, Patrick, editor Irish Canadian,
604

Boys of Canada in early days, 612

Boyne, Battle of, 27

Boyd, General, 229
John, 162
Rev. Dr. 632
Mossom, 353

Brant, Captain, 100

Brantford, City of, 379, 593
sensible address of Irish inhabitants
to Metcalfe, 492

Breach of Promise, good story of, and
O'Reilly, 371

Bredin, Rev. John, 629

Breeders of cattle, 336

Brehon Laws, 10, 15

Brennan, I aiel, 170

Brewer, a pioneer, 316

Briggs, Rev. William, 629

Brisay, Rev. Theophilus des, 169
British connexion, value of, 419
British North America, i< nsatisfactory

condition of, 406
British evacuate Boston, 87

repulsed at Charleston, ib.

victorious at Long Island, ib.

take possession of New York, ib.

beaten at Trenton, ib.
Brown Hon. George, 384

his first sx^eech, 602

replies for press, 61 1

quizzes ex-ministers, 542

character, 582

as leader of party, 583

hostility to Hinck's Government,
ib.

controversy with Mr. Christie and
the Hon. Wm. McDougall, 583

joins the Conservatives in Opposi-
tion, 686

leader of Opposition, 688

called on to form a Government, 652

leaves the Ministry, 666
Brock, General, 201-207

hands tied by Prevost, 207

death and resting place, 208
Bryson, Alexander, 349
Buchanan, Isaac, 446
Builders, Irish, in Toronto, 274
Bunker Hill, 78

Bunster, Hon. Arthur, M.P. 061
Bunting, Christopher, 6J 7
Burchell, Benjamin, 363
Burgoyne, General, supersedes Carle-
ton, 87
Burke, Edmund, 34, 73

his humour, 73

denounces Quebec Act, ib.

Dr. Edmund, a great missionary
and statesman, 148, 149

Father, 34
Burk, John, settled in Clarke, 171
Busate, 614
Butler, Lieut. -Colonel, 207

Lieutenant Thomas, 208

Cabin Huntiwg, 378

Cabot, 167

Califomia, a fourth of the farms in,

in the hands of Ii ishmen, 64
C&meron, J. Hillyard, 634

Sherwood's, jealousy of, 637

Malcolm, 445
Camp Meeting iirat, 180, 181

672

INDEX.

Campaign, resulta of, in favour of the

revolted ColonistB, 87
Canada's future, faith in, 1
Canada, our duty to, 2

future historian of, should have to

his hand all the facts relating to

its settlement, 3
free from the grounds of Old

Country factions, 4
her resources, 6
Irishmen in, should rise to a high

level, 6 ,
invaded, 75
gateways of, in the hande of the

enemy, 75
invaded by Montreal by a force

under Schuyler, 78
the saviour of, 126
patriotism to, must be paramount,

1?9, 667
Lower, Irish settlements in, 170
her true laureate, 187
projected conquest of, 199
conquering no easy task, 200
fifty years ago, 246
women of fifty years ago, 247
what she has done for settler-j,

309
parties in, before Lord Sydenham's

time, 321
Lower, rebellion in, 403
important part played by a humble

Irishman, ib.
Lower, alow to grasp constitutional

priuciples, 406
Lower, and Union, 417
value of, to Great Britain and Ire-
land, 419
Lower, using the weapons of Hamp-
den to support the principles of

Richelieu, 422
duty in, of all nationalities, 438
state of, as described by Montreal

Times, 440
developing resources of, 444, 664,

577, 679
education in, up to and after 1816,

473
progress of, from 1816, 473-470
united first parliament of, ends well,

473
and trade with United States, 649
credit of, raised by Hincks, 566
constitution of, superior to that of

the United States, 669, 670

English ignorance of its importance,

666
landscape of, glory^ of, 617
life and manners m, ib.
Canning disavows Erskine's conduct,

198
Canniff, Dr., 91-93
Cannifls, the, 91-93
Capitulation, articles of, signed, 69
Carden, township of, 354
Carscallian, Luke, son of, 89
Carson, 34

Carleton {see Dorchester), and the
taking of Quebec, birth of, enters
guards, aide-de-camp to Cumber-
land, serves in America, wound-
ed, 69
became Lieutenant-Governor, hifi
humanity, his sagacity, his pol-
icy, 71, 73.
determines to recover the lost forts,

75
seeks to raise a militia, il
liis power of attraction, 76
determines to enro^ militia, 77
seeks to raise volunteers, 78
appeals to Indians, ib
not 8ui*nri8ed, 79

disguised, steals on to Quebec, 81
arrives at Quebec, 84
kindness of, 86
superseded by Burgoyne, 87
master of I^ake Cham^lain, ib.
becomes Lord Dorchester and Gover-
nor- General, and Commander-in-
Chief, 101
Colonel Thomas, Governor cf M ew

E '\nswick, 158
county of, 310
Carolina, South, Irish settlers in, 53

North, liish settlers in, ib.
Cati'dl, Dennis, 96

Dr. John, 96, 629 ^|^

Cartier, Jacques, 68 ^MK

Georg:. E., Ministerial candidate
for Speakership, 586, 659
Cartwright, Judge, 95

Mr., his conditions regarding union,
414
Cattle \^eeding, 053, 662
Oathoart, Lord, administrator, 532
Cathedral, EngUah, in Quebec, 101
Case, William, 178-18D
Catholic Emt!''Cipatifm, its ett'ect on
the progress of the world, 28

INDEX.

673

>e.

!t,

rg
r-

Ca'holic — continued.

Catholic Iriahmen on the Continent,

Catholic and Protestant, 254
Irish, loyalty of, 401
Roman, Church, 035-643
League, GSif
Casey, Willet, 89

George EUi.-t, M.r., 661
Cayley, Win., becomes Inspector-
General, 526
storm raised thereby amor; ./ govern-
mental " sore heads," ib.
Ooughlan, Lawrence, 183
Cauchon, Joseph, 540
moves an amendment to address,
585
Celt, the, has played a great part iii
the history of the v orld, 8, 9
blood of, mixed with Danish, Nor-
man and Saxon, 18
Centennarian, a, 95
Chambly given up to Montgomery, 79
Champlain foimds French Colony, 68
Chancery Bill, Blake's, 576
Character, Irish, 38
Charles I., result of espousing his

cause, 24
Chesapeake br»ught to, by the Leo-
pard, 197
Christendom, Pagan English Con-
quest of Britain divides into two
unequal parts, 13
Chrysler's Farm, 229
Cholera in 1832, at Peterborough. 363
Church, the, 299

Church of England Clergymen, Irish.
622-629

Circuit, travelling on, in early days.
390 J J >

Clark, Col, descent on Black Rock,
223 '

Clarke, an Irish settler, 364

General Alured, arrives in Lower
Canada, 104
Clark, Township of, 170
Claudius describes the defeat of the

Picts and Scots, 12
Clontarf, Battle of, 16
dissensions after, 17
Clear Grits, seak to divide Reform
Party, 565
hold a meeting at Markham, ib.
their platform, ib.
Clinton, Charles, 53

Close, P. G., Mr., 322, 597
Clergjr Resorves, 104, 532, 573, 678,
579, 585 > , , uio,

and Baldwin, .'91-2

question settled, 588
Cochran, late Hon. James, 166
Cochrane, Sir Thomas, 145

Hon. Matthew, great cattle breeder,

Colborne, Sir John, on reunion of pro-
••incos, 412

Commercial crisis, 1836, 401
involves an extra session of Legis-
lature, ib.

Commerce, a mistake to supc >se
Irishmen not successful in, 64

Commercial depression in 1848, 6P1

Conclusion, 667

Confederation, league to bring about,
5, 5

mentioned in speech from Throne
1859, 652 '

Confiscation, from which Normans

suffered a^ much as Celts, 23
Connolly, Archbishop, 636-640
John, 348
Owen, 170
Connor^ Dr., 95

Consersrative, meaning of the word
<>J1
party disorganized, 621, note
Cone_ervatisui, true, an exposition of.
535 *

Conspiracy of soldiers, 204

Conspirators, Irish, on this continent,

643
Constitutional Act of 1791, 103
Constitution of divided provinces, ib.

present, due to Irishmen, 128
Constitutional questions mooted in
1825, 389

principles slowly grasped by Lower
Canada, 406

principles advocated by Ogle B.
Gowan, 411

and the press, 412

government, progress of. 617
Constitution, the British, 571
Continent, Irishmen on, 30, 31
Contractors, sinister and oppressive

pohcy of, 520
Cooke, Dr., of Belfast, 34
Cork, City of, 297

harbour, 355-6
Costigan, Judge, 163

674

INDEX.

Cottinghams, the, 350-1

Cotton manufacture in New Bruns-
wick, ICl

Country, denying one's, 64
passion for developing the, 577
its resources developed by the
Ministry, 564

Cowan, James, M.P.P., 662

Cramah6, 83

Craw^ords, the, 276, 277, 352

Creelmans, the, 153

Crinnon, Bishop, 641

Cromwell's sword, 24

Crown lands, 104
point surrendered, 75

Cunningham, James, M.P. , 661

Cuvillier, Austin, 441

Dacrb, Lord, and Talbot, 108

Divlhousie, Lord, 386

Daly, Captain Peter, 90

Captain, spirited advance of, 230

Dominick, 431, 489, 540

Go vera or of Prince Edward Island,

168.
christened "the Lily of the Valley,"
393

Danes, towns founded by, 17

Daniel, John, 353

Daniels, Judge, 380

Day, Solicitor-General, speech of, at-
tacking Baldwin, 453

Davidsons, the, 353

Deacon, Col., 346

Dearborn, 207, 225

Debate, exciting, 480-2

Debtor, fasting on, in Hindostan and
in Ulster, 10

Declaration of Independence written
out by Charles Thomson from
Jefferson's draft, 59

Declaration of the Representatives of
the United Colonies, 78

Delegates, public meetings of, prohi-
bited, 387

Democrats, Irish, 60

Derby, Lord, 476

Derry Siege of, one of the most glori-
ous things in the history of the
world, 27

De Salaberry, Colonel 230

Detlor, old Mrs. 180

Devine, Mr. Thomas, 597

Dewart, Rev. E. H. 629

Dickie, J. B. 158

Disraeli, his remarks on the condition
of Ireland in 1843, 45

read McGee's poetry, 650
Dobson, John, 346
Doherty. Mr. Justice 611
Donahue, William, M.P., 661
Dorchester (see Carleton) leaves for
England, 104

leaves Canada, 126

his death, 126

his policy, 102
Double Shuffle, The, 652
Downers, The, 353
Donnell, Cavanagh, treachery of, 20

Draper, William, 411, 459, 532, 534

sketch of, 463

joins Sir F. Head's council, 400

nicknamed " sweet William," 431

on Responsible Government, 449-
452

explains conduct of his ministry,
479

resigns, 482

urges on Metcalfe the evils of the
situation, 505

defends Metcalfe, 515

on Constitutional Government, his
special pleading, 516

distinguishes between the position
of a King and Governor-General,
517

gap left in Assembly by his removal
to Legislative Council, 518

his University bill, 523

sick of public life, 534

his farewell, a satire on Metcalfe.
and a eulogy on Baldwin, 539-540

speaks and votes though he has ac-
cepted a judgeship, 540
Drummond, Mr. (Judge,) 521, 611.

General, 238-239
Dublin, 17

siege of — Irish army around, sur-
prised, 20
Dufferin, Lord

becomes Governor-General of Can-
ada, 662

his family, ib.

his nationality, 663-4

his great talents not appreciated in
England, 665

his career, 666
Duffy, SirC. G, (note) 30-31
Duggan, George, 432
Dunbar, George, 611

INDEX.

675

Dundas, 379

Stephen, 363

Joseph, R., 347
Dunlop, Dr, 520

Dunn, Mr., sworn an executive coun-
cillor, 397
Dunscombe, J. W, 431
Durham meeting, The ,389

Earl of, his mission, 406

Early Settlers, difficulties of, 307,
o73, 374
hardships of, 338, 339

Eccles, Captain, 460-462

Education, Secular, 103
a class distinction, 121
in Canada up to 1816, 473
progress of from 1816, &c., 173-

importance of, 623, 643
Educator, the position to which h^
is entitled, 644
Egan, John, 311

1812, war of, character of strueele
193, 194 ^^ '

1S41, session of, memorable, 465
1848, j commercial depression in
551 '

Election, violent, 175
general, 1825, 387
exciting general, under Sir P. Head,

1867, 401
general, of 1841, 431, 437
of 1867, 656

exciting general, under Lord Met-
calfe, 513
Electioneering tactics, 512
Electee principle and Legislative

Council, 417
Eliot, James, 353

Elgin Lord, arrives in Canada, 535,
536

birth, education, character, 535
Governor of Jamaica, ib.
marries, 536

parties in Canada at time of his ar-
rival, lb.

Ministry, re-constituted under. 537
his policy, 538
opens paxliament, ib.
his opinions on Irish immigration.
541

resignation of his Ministry, 542
glad that Baldwin came into power
543 '

Elgin, Lord- continued.
presses the hardships of Canada on

Colonial Office, 547, 548.
opens Parliament, 552
/^aceful act of, ib.
firmness of, 555
refuses to dissolve Parliament or

reserve Rebellion Losses Bill, 655
assaulted by mob, 667
his carriage smashed, 660
keeps within bounds of his country

Boat, ib.

Assembly vote him a condolatory

address, ib.
burned in effigy, 561
makes a tour through Upper Can-
ada, 663
received with enthusiasm, 664
on the colonial existence, annexa-
tion and independence, 567—669
on responsible government, 672
his social parties, 673
congratulates Parliament en Legis-
lative progress, 677
sonds for Hincks, ib.
goes to England, respecting Reci-
procity Treaty, 634
returns to Canada, ib
departure of, 689
Elliott, Rev. James, D. D. , 629
EUis, John v., 166
Elrasley, John, 400
Eloquence, palm of 635
Evans, Rev. David, 632
Emancipation, Catholic, in Nova

Scotia, 149
Embury, 97

Emigrants, class of sent from Ireland.
62 '

diary of one, 256-261
of Robinson defended by jb\izttih.

b(m, 360. *

industry of, 369
assailed by Wm. Lyon Mackenzie,

ouU

visited by (rovern >r-general Sir P
Maitland, 362

ship from Cork, 265

suii..^ transmitted by, 65
Emigration, (see Immigration,) 640

heart-rending partings, 356

farewell of an emigrant, 367

Irish, after the Rebellion, 590-608

Singular episode in, 288
Emily, Town&hip of, 360

676

INDEX.

England, Church of, 024-629
jealoujy, of Irish Manufactures, 27

English in Ontario, preface, iii

Pagan, Conquest of Britain by,
thrust a wedge of heathendom
into the heart of Christendom, 13
patriotism, 45

people not responsible for the wrong
done by their rulers in the past,
130

Envy, 123

Evans, Sir De Lacy, 33

Eric of Auxerre on Ireland, as the
school of Europe, 14

Erskine, Mr., his unsuccessful mis-
sion, 198

Examiner, The, 407

Executive Council, weakness of Met-
calfe's, 519

Executive, Irresponsible, 173

Factions, Irish, exist in Canada but

in shadow, 4
Fair, Irish, 595
I^'amily Compnct rise of, 174
startled by Gourlay, 387
decUne of, 4^9, 546, 564
Famine, Irish, peoi>lc starving and
plenty of food in the conntry, 46
chief duty of troops in assize towns
to guard the floui in its trar iit
from the mills to the port, ib.
against this nionstroii" state of
things the men of '48 protested, 54
meetings in Canada to relieve, 541,
542
Farmers, fifty years ago, 251
Farrell, E., Ivi.D., 158
Farrer, Mr. Edward, 603
Fathers, natural to wish to know who

and what they were, 2
Faust, translation from, 595
Fecundity, Ir^sh, 314
Female purity, Irish, 65
Fenian Inva.sion, 656
Connolly on, ib.
McGee on, ib.
Trials 656
Ferris, James Marshall, M.P.P., 661
Feudal tenure, 103
Fever and Ague, 358, 369, 375
typhus breaks out among settlers
in Adelaide, 304
Financial genius, 409
Fitzgerald, James, 364

Fitzgerald — conthmed.
J()hn, 95

Field Marshal, note 127
Fitzgibbon, Colonel, 194
Brock's right hand, 205
brilliant feat of, 216
niade captain, 217
effect on him of a lark's song, 219
and Mrs. Jameson, 220
taken prisoner, 221
his views on pillage, ib.
filial piety of, 222
gallantry of, at Black Rock, 223
defends Peter Robinson's Irish Emi-
grants, 3G0-361
his conduct during rebellion of 1837,
402
Flood and Grattan, under their spell
the modern nation of Ireland was
bom, 27
Flood, Rev. Wm. 306
Foley, Michael Hamilton, 586, 661 ,
653
Mrs. 354
'48, two of the leaders of, have been
servants of the Crown, 44
had an influence in precipitating the
legislation of 1868 and 1869— it
inspindthe muse of Davis, and
the life of McGee, ib.
events of judged by the actors, ib.
Scoto Presbyterian, on, 45
Fort Erie, fall of, leads to a gallant

struggle, 237
Forensic talent, Irish, 609-611
Foscer, Captain, ^6
William, 353

W. A., his testimony to McGee's
influence in teaching Canadians
self-resp'c^, 4
Fox, Charges James, opposed to the
Act Ox ^,'91, 104
his genius, 386
France relied on in time of James II. ,
24
peace with, 239
Franklin and the Stamp Act, 56
and Charles Thcnpson, ib.
visits Dublin, 59
Eraser, Brigadier, 86
Eraser, Hon. Christopher, 68, 659
Fraaer's Magazine on the Ulster men's

success in the States, 54 note
Free and common socage, 103
Free trade, effect of, 547

INDEX.

077

French Canadians tempted by the
Amoricans to disloyalty, 75
apathy of, 76

the hftlit of abusing, to be discon-
tinued, 5G2
French colony founded by Cham-
plain, 08
interference in Ireland, early com-
menced, 22
language, policy of abolishing in

public proceedings, 417
population, attitude of, 560
r6gime characteriso.^l by distin-
guished men, 08
falls with Montcahii, ib.
Frenchmen, their capacity for self-
government, 380
Froude's testimony to the Irish, 40
Fuller, Bishop, 024-6

G.MT, Mr. (Sir Alexander) leaves
ministry, 065

Gamble, Dr. Jolin, 95

Gaudet, M., 441

Gavazzi, Father, 579
riots, 679, 680

General election, 1841, 431

Genius, artistic, of Irishmen, 35

Gentlemen settlers, 121

George IV., death of, 395

Ghent, conference at, 240

Gillmor, Col., 022,023

Ginty, John, 284, 294

Gladstone, Right Hon. W. E., Irish
Land Bill of, will lead to a like
measure in England, 28
in favour of Union Bill, 430
on Rebellion Lo8.ses Bill, 554
a schoolfellow of Lord Elgin, 536

Glenelg, Lord, despatch of, 448, 449,
450 ' ' »

Glengarries, Highland, 211

Glenny, John, 353

Olobe, on parties in 1850, 574
defection of, from the Reform
Party, 576

Goodwin, Colonel Henry, 020-022

Gore Councillors, address of, 498

Gormfiaith, King Brian's wife, 10

Gough, Viscount, 33

Goulbom, William, 429

Gourlay, 386, 387

Governor-General, distinction be-
tween his position fuid that of
king, 517

Governor, high-handed conduct of, in

Upper Canada, 380
Govemmoat, defeat of, 532
Government of Upper Canada

ai bitrary character of, in 1862, 388
of Lord Aletcalfe sustained, 515
responsible, {see responsible gov-
ernment. )
attacked by Mr. Crofton, 527
Tory assailed by Tories, 533
seat of, question, 414
Gowan, Judge, 607
OgleR., 614,634
birth .jf, 411

leading member of Orange institu-
tion, ib.
emigrates in 1820, ib.
remarkable pamphlet of, ib.
advocates constitutional principle? ,

ib.
objects to union save on certain

conditions, 415
is consulted by Sir Charles Met-
calfe, 492
letter to his partner, 492, note.
moves for a long adjournment,

519
for inquiry into management of
Board of Works, 520
Grace, William, 346
Graham, Sir James, 476
Grattan, great triumph short lived.

27
Greeks and Irishmen, 39
Greatness, secret of, 183
Grey, Lord, on Imperial policy, 547

on Republics, 570
Griffin, M. J., 603

Gnts, Clear make themselves felt, 577.
588 '

(,'uelph, fifty years ago, 240

town of, 381, 383
Gwynne, Mr. Justice, preface vi. . n.
004, 605 ^

railway schemes of, 577, 578
Doctor, 476

Habeas Corpus, 101
Habitans, apathy of, 77
Hagarty, Chief Justice, 605

a poet, 606
Haldimand, Major-General, bad cha-
racter of, 88

recalled, 101
Halifax, 146

678

INDEX

Hamilton, Henry, Qovemor, 101
Bishop of, 021
City of, 379
outrage, 389
Col. O. 405, 406
Hampton, '228,230
Hannan, Archbishop, 640, 641
Hargraft, William, MP. P., 661
Harkin, William, M. P.P., 662
Harker, Rev. E. B., 629
Harrison, with his Kentucky Forest-
rangers, 209
Chief Justice, his family, 285, 287
his career, 609, 611
Harris, Rev. J. , 632
Hatton, Joseph, misapprehension re-
garding Canada — Preface, iii
Havelock, 97
Hawkins, J. J., 593
Haydens, the, 288-294
Head, Sir Francis, Governor-General,
396
makes overtures to Baldwin, ib,
dissents from Baldwin's views, ib.
induces Baldwin to accept a seat in

his Council, 397
makes appointments on his own

responsibility, ib.
Council remonstrates with, ib.
Council resign, ib.
breach between, and the House of

Assembly, ib.
seeks the assistance of Robert B.

Sullivan, 399
shuns identifying himself with the

old official party, ib.
quarrel with Assembly, 400
his demagogic talents, ib.
disBolyes the House, 401
the issue he put befoi j the country,

ib.
exciting general election, ib.
alarm of, at the rebellion, 402
succeeded by Sir George Arthur,
406
Heck, Barbara, 1-7
Henry the Seconr!, Irish noi^les and

kings submit -■< him, 2.1
Herbert, Sidney, 47t)
Heroine, a, 354
Heroism, Irish, 89
Herrick, Dr., 598, 599
Higgins's, The, 55

Higgins, W. H., Editor o' the Whitby
Chronicle, 597

Hill, P. C, 168
Hills, the, of Cork, ib,
Hincks, Sir Francis, Preface vi
cashier in a bank, 278
the debentures scandal, 282
the Montague of finance, 407
starts the Exanmier, ib.
birth and career, 408, 409
financial ({uestions, 452
sketch of, 464
sits on extreme left, ib.
supports inquiry into riots at the

elections in the Lower Province,

465
supports Ministry, 466 •
explains his support of Municipal

Bill, 467, 468
attacked by Prince, 469
enlightens House on Imperial Loan,

471
attacks Government, 442
jc'n;> Sir Charles Bagot's Govem-

ii>ent as Inspector-General, 477
amiising correspondence relative to

the appointment of, between the

Governor and Mr. Cartwright,

478
his admitted ability, 489
starts Pilot, 508
violently attacked, ib.
defeated in Oxford, 514
refuses to stand, ib.
house threatened by mob, 559
raises Canadian credit, 565
holds successful meetings in Oxford,

ib.
introduces resolutions respecting

clergy reserves, 578
legislative energy of his govern-
ment, 579
his government loses popularity,

580, 581
goes to England, 584
lukewani. respecting clergy reserves

question, 585
appeals to the country, 586
r-^signs, 587

becomes a Colonial Governor, 589
departure of, 645
returns to Canada, 659
becomes Finance Minister, ib.
retires from public life, 660
History, Irish, divided into periods

7
Histc' 1, future, of Canada, shorild

INDEX.

07^

H istorian — contimied.

have to hia hand all the facta re-
lating to its aettloment, 3
ignorant and uncritical, the victim
of idle legend, 2
Hodgins, Dr. J. O., 643
Hogan, John Sheridan, hia career,
645, 646
attaoka Government, 651
Hohnea, Benjamin, returned for
Montreal, 4JJ7
his viewa on nationality in Canada,

437, 438
financial queationa, 452
meanly oppreaaed by Government,

627
Callaghan, 288 290
Honour, Triah, 274
Hospital, Marine, at St. Oatharine'a,

602
Hotela fifty yeara ago, 252, 253
Houae of Assembly, 1826, Reporta of,

diapute regarding, 387
H( *fard, Allan McLean, Preface, vi.

/ames Scott, 267
Huguenot Iriah emigran';8, ib.
Hull, General, 205, 206
Hume, Mr., diasatiafied with the

Union Bill, 426-428
Hunter, Rev. S. J., 629

Rev. W. J., ib.
Huskiason, Mr., 421

Immigration, American. Preface, v.
Irish, after '98, 172

after 1815, 245

after Rebellion, 384

immense, 40-542
Imperial Parliament diacuaaes Union

Bill, 421
Incumbered Eatatea Act, valuable

propoaitiona affirmed by, 28
Independence, declaration of, 87

and annexation, 567
Indians appealed to by Carle ton, 78

effect of aaaociafclun with, 616
Indian frontier war, jtory of Irish

heroiam in, 56
India, Iriahmen in, 33
Ingratitude, 123
Intellect, character of Iriah, 38
Invective, political, 513
Ireland, the land, cause of quarrel in,

from ago to age, 4
early inhabitants. Celts, 8

Ireland — continueil.
civilization in, 9
Ohriatianity introduced, 13
the Pharos of Europe, ib
conquest of, 19
conquest of, explained, 20
arrival of Henry II. in, ib
adminiaterad aa a Norman provinoe

21
under Henry VIII., 22
number of great men produced by,

28
the great liberalizing force of the

empire, lb
in the eighteenth century, 47
a land of limitless paature, ib
Proteatant energy in, lulled into

lethargy by diaqualification of

Catholica, 47, 48
had not food enough for popula-
tion, 48
paaturea broken up, ib.
acreage of, under wheat in 1847

and 1875, 48, 49
effect on, of absentees, 49
contrast between, and Canada, 50
cattle and sheep, 49
distress in, 540 — 542
meetings in Canada to relieve dia-

treaa in, 542
Iriah agitation in Montreal, 543, 544
attempt to exclude them, by the

colony of Massachusetts Bay, 53
attraction, Froude, 41
and Scotch, mixture of, 309
blood the main tide in the United

States, 62
Canadian, moderate articles in, on

the men of action, 41, 604
character, kindnesa of, 65
church, fall of, heralds the doom of

the English Church, 28
disunion compared with Grecian, 17
intellect, character of, 38-
character, ib.

emigrant, character of, 401
farmers, 245
conduct of, in the rebellion of 1837,

401
emigration prior to rebellion of

1837, 383
in Oiitario, pref. iii.
goodness of heart, 39, 41
invasion of south-west Britain, 1 2
learning and hospitality of the, 14

680

INDEX.

Irish — continued.

occupation of South Wales and
Cornwall a:-* d tales of King Arthur,
13
oppression of, compared with Nor-
man oppression of the English,
21-22
oppression, Lord Burleigh's opinion

of, 44
Disraeli's opinion of, 45
papers, moderation of some, 44
period in Canada passing away, 582
priest followed his people into the

wildemesSj'lOl
settlers in Newfoundland, 143
settlers, qualities of, 131, 133, 134
struggle for free trade, and for
emancipation from English dic-
tation, 27
gave thoi world a period of great

eloquence, ib.
success, 245

the, in the rebellion of 1837, 403
valour at Limerick, at the Boyne,

on the Continent, 27
want of loyalty to each other among,

** Irishman in Canada," character of
the work, 385, 684, need of, pre-
face iii.
Irishmen, artistic genius of, 35

as journalists, 37

as lawyers, 35

as preachers, 34

as statesmen and orators, ib

and repeal in Metcalfe's time, 491

danger of riot, Metcalfe's conduct
respecting, ib

and Greeks compared, 39.

and the New Dominion Cabinet, 656

and Scotchmen, kiaship of, 10, 11

bill to put down, 520

have had too much of the inspira-
tion of hatred, 129

in humble life, important part in
Lower Canadian rebellion, 403

in Canada should rise to a high
level, 6

in Canada, number of, 135-143

in literature, 36

and the war of 1812, 61

loyalty of, in Canada, Preface iv

their dislike of each other ex-
plained, ib.
duty of, iv, V.

Irishmen — continued.

of Brantford, The sensible address,

to Metcalfe, 492
met everywhere in America in the

18th century, 52
modern, not a Celt, 8
" smart," opinion of, in the United

States, 63
number of, in Dominion, preface,

iii., 136-143
their achievements in the world, 127
what they have done as pioneers

and citizens in Canada, 4

Jackson, the victor of New Orleans,
the son of poor Irish emigrants,
61
James II., 24, 29

a coward, 27
Jameson, Mrs., 626
Jeffers, D.D., Rev. Wellington, 629
Jefferson, President, 196, 197
Johnson, James, 91
Johnston, J., 603
Jordan Family, the, 353
Journalists, Irish, 603

Irishmen as, 37, 329, 331
Judicial talent, Irish, 604-611
Junkin Family, the, 353
Justice, corruption of, 88

love of, 95

administration of, 102

Kane, Paul, birth of, 611

education, ib.

compared with Krieghoff, 612-13

leaves Toronto, 613

difficulties, ib,

visits Italy, 614

results of visit, 614, 615

determines to paint Indian sub-
jects, 615

marries, 616

his art not wholly inspired by na-
ture, ib.

death, ib.
Kaye, John William, biograpner of

Lord Metcalfe, 489
Kean, John, M.P.P., 662
Keeler, 181
Keenan, Thomas, 346
Kelly, Doctor, 593

Edward, 364
Kennedy, John, 347

Warring, 697

INDEX.

681

Kerr, William, M.P,, 661
Kilkenny, Statute of, 22
Killaly, H. H., 433, 436, 489.
King Arthur, Tales of, and the Irish
occupation of South Britain, 13
King Brian's wife, the Irish Helen,

16
Kingsmill, Colonel, 622
Kindness and politeness of Irish 39

of Irish character, 65 '

King, Dr., 476

Eev. William, 632
Kingston, a force of 2,000 thrown
into, 228
in early days, 365
worthies of, 366-372
Lord Sydenham's (Thompson's) en

trance into in 1841 , 439
settlers in, 593
Kirkpatrick, George A., M.P., ib.

Lacolie Mills, Wilkinson fails to

take, 236
Lafontaine, 480, 489
his house attacked, 562
those inside fire, ib.
Lake Ontario, command of, passes

out cf British hands, 76
Land property is like no other pro-
perty, 46
Language, uniformity of, in parlia-
ment and public documents, 414
417 '

Landscape, Canadian, g'ory of, 617
Lane, John, M.P.P., 662
Lawrence, John, 97
Lauder, Venerable John Strutt, 627
Lawyers, Irishmen as, 35
Law, Courts of, established, 71
Leader, 278

Legends, Irish historians have delight-
ed too much in them, 51
Legislative Council, First, 88

and the elective principle, 417
Legislation, fruitful, 575
Lemoiue, J. M., his opinion of the

conduct of Carle ton, HT
Leonardo da Vinci, 614
Leopard, the, brings Chesapeake to,

Lexington, battle of, 75
Lewis, Bishop. 625-6
Lewiston fired, 233
Liberty, early struggle for, 407
Library at Ottawa, 656

Limerick founded on this continent,

55
Limerick founded by the Danes, 17
siege of, one of the most glorious
things in the history of the world.
27
fruits of the siege denied the be-
sieged, ib.
Lindsay, 246

leading men of, 346, 347
Lindsey, Mr. Charles, preface vi., 68,

oo7
Lisgar, LorO, 062.
Literary Garland, 593
Literature, Irishmen and, Mr. Wil-
liam McDonnell's works, 346
Irishmen in, 36
Livingston, John, 165
Local self-government, importance of,

444, 445
Logging Bees, 134, 348
London (Ontario) early Irish settlers

in, 380, 381
Londonderry, settlement of, 54
Long, Thomas, M.P. P., 662
Lovekin, Richard, settles in Clarke,
170 '

Love in the wilderness, 362
Love of country, a virtue in Ireland
as elsewhere, 45
nobis in the Irishman, 63
Lower Canada divided into counties,
cities, and boroughs, 105
discontent in, 386
Loyalty in Lord Elgin's time, 550
Lynch, Archbishop, 635
Lumberers, 311, 353
Lundy's Lane, 238
Lyndhurst, Lord, 476

Macdonald, Rt. Hon. Sir John A.,

384
part of pageant welcoming Lord

Sydenham in 1841, 439
precocious statesmanship of, 634
qitizzed by George Brown, 542
joins Brown in opposition toHincks.

586
Premier, 645
at Baldwin's funeral, 652
on D'Arcy McGee's death, 668
Sandfield, government beaten, on

a vote of want of confidence pro

posed by Mr. J. A. Macdonald,

653-654

682

INDEX,

Macdonald, Sandfield— conimited.
appeals to country, ib.
omits McGee and Foley from the
Cabinet, 654
Macdonell, Rev. D. J., or nationality,

129, and not
Mack, Rev. Mr., 475
Mack, Dr. Theophilus, 475, 699-603
Mackinaw, taken and retaken, 206
Machar, Miss, her opinion of Fitzgib-

bon's feat, 216
Mackenzie, William Lyon, his life,
387
working with Baldwin, 389
first Mayor of Toronto, 399
rebellious plans deranged, 402
returned for Haldimand, 575
defeats George Brown, 577
Hon. Alex, on MoGee's death,
659
MscVintosh, C. H. 604
MacMullen. the historian, 402
MacNab, Six- Allen, 442, 511

coalesces with the opposition against

Municipal Bill, 466
Government candidate for Speaker,

514
joins Brown in opposition to

Hincks, 585
forms Government, 587
as Premier, 645
Madden, 181
Madison, President 96-97
Mselmurra, Bong of Leinster, vassal
of the Danes, 16
taunted by his sister, Brian's wife,

ib.
result of his anger, ib.
general strife and destruction, ib.
Magee, Dr. , 34
Magrath, Major, and his dragoons,

438
Maguire, Judge, 611

Larry, 347
Maitland, Sir P., high-handed con-
duct of, 388
Manuhesber fired, 233
Mandat imperatif, injurious to the

country, 392
Maine, Irish settlement in, 55
Manning, Alexander, 281, 283
Mariposa, 353 -
Marlborough, 69, 394
Marriage in 1823, 249
Martin, Mr., 617

Matchett, Thomas, 347

McBeth, George, 124

McCarthy, Dalton, 662

M'Carty, James, persecuted, trtigic

death, 98
McConkey, the family of, 300
McCaul, Dr., preface vi. ; 475, 476,

60G
McCord, A. T., 269

JudT:e, 611
K^^iore, Genl., 230, 231
McDonald, Cclonel, 208
McDonell, Bishop, 181, 182

William, 346
McGees, the, 353
McGee, D'Arcy, 645-646

his birth, 647

his mother, ih.

emigrates to America, 648

returns to Ireland, ib.

joins Gavan Duffy on Nation, 649

escapes to America, ib.

controversy with Archibishop
Hughes, ib.

revolution in his views, ib.

a poet, 65 )

comes xo Canada, ib.

New Era, ib.

power as a speaker, 661

wit of, ib.

influence in creating a national
spirit, 4

taunted in the Canadian Parlia-
ment with having been a rebel- -
his reply, 45

popularizes confederation, 653, 654

assails Government, 653

on Fenianism, 655

not included in Dominion Govern-
ment, 656

elected after a great struggle, ib.

his power gone, ib,

his longing for fame, 657

becomes religious, ib.

determines to retire from politics,

ib.

patriotism to Canada, 656

assassinated, ib.

sorrow for, 669
McGivem, Col. , 655
McGreevjr, Hon. T., M.P., buUds

Farhament buildings, ib.
McGi-ady, Major Hugh, valour of, 53
McHughs, the, 349
McLean, CoL, 79, 83

INDEX.

68^

McLean, Chief Justice, pupil of Dr

Baldwin, 389
McLeod case, the, 443
McMaster, Hon. William, 270-272,

McMurray, Kev. William, 626, 627
McMurrough, Dennot, 18
McPherson, Rev. Thomas, 632
McQuade, Arthur, M.P., 350
Meadowrale, early settlers in, 275
Medicine unlicensed, practice of, 102
Meeting of Lord Metcalfe's Council,

aflfecting, 629
Membership of the Assembly, qaali-

fication for, 414
Merchants, successful Irish, 64, 271
Meredith, W. R, M.P.P., 380, 662
Merritt, W. H., on the resignation of

Baldwin, 464
Metcalfe, Sir Charles ; see Lord
Metcalfe, Lord, 396
his arbitrary and autocratic temper.
340 '

his incapacity to carry out respon-
sible government, ib.
appointed Governor-General of

Canada, 483
unfitted for the position by his past

experience, ib.
arrives at Kingston, 484
impossible to defend save at the ex-
pense of his intelligence, 486
his despatches, 487
on his ministry, ib.
his scorn of responsible government.
487, 488, 489 '

his council, 489
his capacity in certain coniunc-

tions, 491 ■•

consults Ogle R. Gowan, 492
opens parliament, 493
reply to address, ib.
quarrels with his ministry, 495
on his trial in consequence of the

resignation of his ministry, 496
seeks in vain to form a ministry,

ib.
self-exaltation, 497
false view of his duties, ib.
governs without a ministry, 603-

507 '

sends for Dr. Ryer^on, 604
conduct brought before Imperial

Parliament, 507
forms a ministry, 510, 511

Metcalfe, Lord— con^innerf.
the Conservatives go to the country

on the governor's ticket, 513
weakness of his executive council.

519 '

his malady becomes worse, 521-526
raised to the Peerage, 522
congratulatory address, ib.
his inner tragedy, 525
end of his Government and life at

hand, 527
his character, 528
affecting meeting of his council.

629 '

arrives in England, ib.

generosity— stubbomess, 530
death of, 631, 532
Methodism, early, 97
prospects of, ib.
its achievements, 178, 179
i»i Newfoundland, Nova Scotia,
New Brunswick, Prince Edward
Island, 182, 183
in York, early, 274
Methodist Church, 629-632
Mexico, irishmen in, 62
Millars, the, 152
Miles de Cogan, 20
Military spirit, 331
Military affairs, Irishmen and, 620-

623
Military enthusiasm, 664
Militia Act nassed, 88
Milton, 394

Ministerial explanation, 479
Ministry, resignation of, 495

new, 543
Misgovemment, inquiry into, 101
Missionaries, early, 376
Missionary, a true, 99

life, 624-626
Mitchel, John — his diary, 44
his manner of viewing the '48 fiasco
lb. '

elected because of the Irish love of
country, 45
Moffat, James, 353
MoUoy, John, 403-405
Monahan, A,, 433.
Monck, Lord, 663, 654

departure of, 662
Monk, Barbara, 94
Monkland, G. H,, 397
Montcalm, fall of, 68
Monteith, Andrew, M.P., 661

684

INDEX.

Montgomery, General, 57

succeeds Schuyler in command of

the American invaders, 78
at Pointe-Aux-Trembles, 84
fall of, 85
Montreal, impossible to defend, 79
first impression of, 260, 261
Irishmen in, o28
riots in, 557-560
post rebellion settlement in, 592
Moodio, Mrs, , 593

and the Irish settler, 135
Moore, 37

the true laureate of Canada, 187
his boat song, 188
his letter to Lady Charlotte Raw-
don, ib.
his night picture of the St. Law-
rence, 189
James, 353
John, 433
Rev. William, 632
Morin, M., 44]

Morning in the old country, 218
Morphy family, the, 284
Morrison, Colonel, 229
Moss, Mr. Justice, 608

his career, 609
Mostyn, William, M.P.P., 662
Mothers, influence of, on their off-

sprmg, 647, 648
Municipal syptem, foundation o, , laid,
465
bill resisted by extreme Tories and
Reformers, 466
Murillo, 614
Murray, General, 231
appointed Governor of Quebec, 71
Colonel John, 159
William, M.P., 661

N;*MBS, Celtic given Saxon form, 286

Napoleon and Count O'Reilly, 31
and the Berlin decree, 195

Nationality, what, 663,

National fancy, deposit of, easily mis-
taken for the gold of truth, 7
spirit inspired by McGee, 4

Naval capture by an American vessel
made by Irishmen, 52

Navy, American, part played by Irish-
men in, 58

Neal, George, soldier and preacher.

Nelson, 394

Newspapers, early, 261, 262

of 1841 , 430
Newark, see Niagara, first parliament
opened at, 104
old capital of Upper Canada, 173
New Brunswick, set apart, 158
Irish in, ib.
first Governor, Colonel Thomaa

Carleton, ib.
exiled loyalists in, 159
dead-lock in, 176
the first cotton mill in, founded by

an Irishman, 161
press in, 164

leading clergymen in, 365, 167
Newfoundland, Irish settlements in,
142-145
Transatlantic Ireland, 143
politics in, 144
governors of, 145
Irish newspapers in, ib.
oldest benevolent society in, Irish,
ib.
Niagara, Bishop of, 624-625
fort taken, 232

officers playing cards at the time, ih.
Niblock, Thavers, 346
Nor'-west, the dream-land of boys in

the early days, 612
Normanby, Marquis of, his despatch
to Sir John Colborne relative to
reunion of Provinces, 412
Normans, deeds of, attributed to Eng-
lishmen, 21
Nova Scotia, Baron de Lery lands on
Sable Island in 1578, 51
settlement of, 145
its capital, 146

largely settled by Irishmen, ih.
St. Patrick's day in, 147
Catholic Emancipation, question of

in, 149
Irish Presbyterian colony in, 150
Colonization of, 150, 151
Millars of, 152
Creelmans of, 153
Archibalds of, ih.
settlers in, 149—156
Bishop of (see Newark), 625

O'Bribn, Col. 394-299
Henry, 296

Lucius, the first of Canadian artists,
617

INDEX.

685

O'Connor, Hon. John, 338
O'Connell, 34

O'Donnell, Baldearg, sells himself
and his clan for a pension of
£500, 17
conspiracy against, 23
Father, 143
Officials, 325, 326, 337
Ogden, Mr,, 459
OHJrady, Father, 278
O'Halloran, Mr. James, M. P., 655
O'Hara, Edward, returned for Gasp^,
105
"Jimmy," 205
heroism of, 212
Olaf, the son of Sitric, taken prisoner

by O'Regan, ransom of, 17
O'Neill revolts, and invites the
Spaniards to Ireland, 23
conspiracy against, ib.
Ontario ; see Upper Canada

population of , preface iii, 135-142
a wilderness in 1763, 70
Lake, Wordsworth's description of,

212, (note).
Bishop of, 625, 626
Opposition in Lord Elofin's time, 546
Oppression, loss to oppressor, 27, 174
Order in Council, 197
Orangeism, founder of, in Canada,

323, 324
Oramge Sentinel, 604
Orator, greatest gift of the, 393
O'Reilly, Peter, 366
Judge, 379
James, Q.C., 367
his forensic skill, 368
prosecutes McGee's murderer, 369
in the Kingston Town Council,

ib.
M.P. for South Renfrew, 370
an admirer of Sir John A. Macdon-

ald, ib.
ambition for the bench, ib.
liberality of mind, ib.
his wi\t. 370, 371
O'SuUivan, John, M.P. P., 662
Ottawa, owner of its most popular and
wealthy portio-», 323
post rebellion settlement in, 691
Archdeacon of, 627

Pakinoton, Sii- J., and the Union

Bill, 430
Palatines, Irish, 97

Palmeraton, Lord, 31
remarks on defeat of Militia Bill,,
654
Paper Manufacturers, leading in On-
tario, 341-344
Papineau, 403

his opinion of British rule, 70
Park, Toronto, 392
Parks, William, founder of the New
Brunswick Cotton Manufacture,
161
Parliament, need of talent to elevate,
329
of 1841 meets, 438, 441
first of united, ended well, 473
of 1842 meets, 478
opening of, 493
new, meets at Montreal, 514
members of, note, 514
gap left in assembly by the removal
of Draper to Legislative Council,
518
meets, 542
new, 646

Buildings burned, 668
arrest of the incendiaries, 562
Buildings built by Hon. T. Mc-

Greevy, 655
opened, ib.
Parties in Canada before Lord Syden-
ham's time, 321
disorganisation of, 410
state of, in 1850, 514
Party feeling, violence of, 504

Mr. Justice, 605
Patriotism, 193

Irish, as worthy of homage as other

patriotism, 45
should co-exist with sweet human
charities for other people, 128
Patriot, the, 279
Patterson, John Colbrooke, M.P. P.,

662
Patterson, Captain Walter, one of the
first Governors of Prince Edward
Island, 167
Peter, M.P. P., 662
Peace, 241

Peasant oppressed, French Canadian,
becomes a free British citizen, 70
Peel, Sir R., on Union BiU, 429
defends Sir Charles Metcalfe, 508
County of. Irishmen in, 301.
Pembroke, founder of, 313
Pennsylvania, Irish settlement in, 50

686

INDEX.

liberality of the government of ;
James Logan of Lurgan, 62-59
Penal laws, effect of, to swell the
French armien with Irish valour
27
Perdue, Henry, 363
Peterborough, 246
sixty years ago, 356
town of, begins to rise, 361
Prince of Wales visits, 364
Photography introduced by an Irish-
man into Upper Canada, 617
Pickering, Townsnip of, 697
Piety and age, 179
Pike, General, death of, 212
Pitt, 394

and the Oonstitutional Act, 104
Plantation, Ulster, character of, 23,

24
Piatt, Saml., M.P., 661
Playfair, WilUam, 363
Poetry and Irish genius, 618, 619
Poet, an Ottawa, 327
Political invective, 613
Poole, Thomas W., 347

Revd. W. H., 629
Poor the, unsatisfactory condition of,

242
Popular government, qualified by per-
sonal, leads to difficulties, 386
Population of Canada in 1763, 70
at present, analysis of, 136-143
Postage, improvement in, 443
Potato, failure of the, 46
Poverty and artistic genius, 613
Power, Patrick, M.P, 168
Mr. Richard, 694
behind the throne, danger of, 645
Potts, Rev. John, 630-2
Preachers, Irishmen as, 34
Press, conducted by Irishmen, 412,
603, 604
liberty of, 174, 175
in Upper Canaida^ 176
Presbyterian emigration, 54

Church, 632-6
Presbyterianism, influence on charac-
ter, 24
Preston, 79

Prevobt, Sir George, 226
ties Brock's hands, 207
gives orders to abandon Upper
Province, 227
Priesthood of Lower Canada secured
their tithes and dues, 69

Prince Edward Island, 406

receives an Ass'^Tbly in 1772, 72
first Governor of, x67
discovery oi, v '
New Ireland, 168
Des Brisay, 169
Hon. Edw. Whelan, ib.
Danl. Brennan, 170
Connolly Owen, ifc.
Prince, Colonel, 463
Prince of Wales' visit to Canada,

364
Private Life, sacredness of, 392, 393
Proctor, 211

retreats, 226
Profanity in 1823, 260
Progress, all, slow, 46
Protestantism, defects of the efforts
made to introduce it into Ireland,
23
Protestant and Catholic, 264

effect of interconnmunioation of,
663
Provinces of Canada divided, 103
PubUc men, priv^ate life of, should be
sacred, 392, 393
meetings of delegates, prohibited iv

Upper Canada, 387
Purse, struggle for control of, in

Lower Canada, 386
Works, 444

Imperial assistance for, ib.
Publishing business, Irishmen and,

330
Puritans, persecution of, 332
settlers from among, in Ireland,
333

Qualification of members, 416
Quebec, rock of, consecrated by three
deaths, 67

taken by Wolfe, 68

boundaries of, 69

erected into a government, 70

promised an assembly, ib.

Act, the, 73

denounced by Burke, Fox, and

Chatham, 74

Bishop of, his charge no effect on
habitans, 77

determination to defend to the last,
83

siege of, 84

first imprcecion of, 259
Queenston, 202

INDEX.

C87

da,
93

trts

of,

be
in
in

d,
d,

Quinte, Bay of, methodist circuit, 180

Races, mixture of, commenced early,

22
Rafaelle, 614
Railway mania, 577
Rainsford, Mr., 629
Raizins, The, 352
Ramilies, 69
Reade, John, poet, 603
Rebellion of 1798 more national than
all the ichellions which preceded
it, 27
ushered in by and followed by

horrors, ib.
American, 56

part played by Irishmen in, 56, 59
antidote to, 416
of 1837, 278
but an incident in the struggle for

responsible government, 385
and Irishmen, 331
Rebels meet at Montgomery's tav-

ern, 402

warns the government
deranged by

Fitzgibbon

of danger, ib.
Mackenzie's plans

Rolph, ib.
alarra of Sir Francis Head, ib.
Baldwin sent with flag of truce, ib.
Rolph's treason, ib.
flight of the insurgents, ib.
losses biU, 552, 553
Times on, 553
Gladstone on, 554
in the Imperial Parliament, 661
Gladstone on, ib.
in the House of Lords, 562
the old commissioners appointed,

ib.
riots respecting a man killed, ib
Reed, W. B. 354
Reform demonstration, 389
Reformers unwise in the manner they
assailed Metcalfe, 499, 500
secure a majority in Upper Canada,

440
meeting of, 460
great meetings of, 501, 609
discontent among, 581
Religion greatest factor in civiliza-
tion, 96
of Ireland, 10

early settlers without teachers of,
363

Religion — continued.

and early settlers, 375

importance of, 623

differences of, 624
Rembrandt, 614
Repeal, 643, 544, 649

contributions for, raised in the
Ignited States, 61
Report of procoedings House of Assem-
bly, 1826, difficulties regarding,

887
1826, committee to inquire into en-
couragement ot, 388
Representatives, difficulty in flnding,

420
Representation by Popidation, 663,

664
Responsible Government
the struggle for, an eventful period,

384
those who struggled for, ib .
struggle for, the rebellion of 1837,

but an incident of, 385
collisions between government and
assemblies in British North Amer-
ican Provinces, 406
early struggles for liberty, 407
and Mr. Draper, 447, 450
what, 449, 450

Lord John Russell distinguishes be-
tween Imperial and Colonial cab-
inets, 451, 462
promises of Government regarding,

doubted, 465
principles of, emphatically affirmed

by Baldwin, 471
and the Gore Councillors, 498
foolish Tories consider a curse, 526
real power of Governor under, 572
Revolution in Paris, 543
Reynolds, Mr., 596
Richey, Rev. Mathew, 629.
Robb, Dr. John Gardner, 633, 634
Robinson, Dr. Stuart, 635
Peter, his emigration, 355, 361
Mr. , dignified conduct of," 523
William, M. P. P., 662
Robertson, Thomas J. , 643
Roderic portions out Meath between
O'Rourke and himself, 18
King of Ireland, ib.
founds lectorships at Armagh, ib.
summonses a hosting of the men
of Ireland, ib.
jR )ebuck and Metcalfe, 507

^^K.

688

INDEX.

Rolph, John, Dr., 1)88-397

treason of, 402
Roman Catholic Religion, free exer-
cise of, in French Canada guaran-
teed, 69
Church in Upper Canada, 181
Catholics can be loyal to a Protestant
Government, 254
Ross, Honourable John, 395, 655
establishes a paper, 546
becomes Solicitor-Gfeneral, 546
Grand Trunk Railway, 546
Russell, Hon. Peter, 173
Lord John, 413
gratified at the news from Canada,

420, 421
on the Union Bill, 421-428
he points out the difference be-
tween Imperial and Colonial
cabinets, 451
defends Metcalfe, 507
on the Colonies and the Independ-
ence of Canada, 566
distresses Baldwin, 507
WUliam L., 347
Ryan, Henry, 178, 180

Joseph, M.P.,661
Ryall, Colonel, 237, 238
Ryerson, Dr., 510
sent for by Metcalfe, 504

Sackett's Harbouk, descent on, 225
St. Gall, his work in Switi;erland.

14
Saint Jean Falls, 75
Sandwich, Bishop of, 641
St. Lawrence, niglil, picture of, 189
St. Patrick a statesman, as well as a

Christian missionary, 15
St. Patrick's Day in Nova Scotia in

1796 and in 1811, 147
1868, 658
Salmon Fishing in Canada, 433, 436
Sarsfield, death of, 29
Scarfe, W. J., Mr., 593
Scene, discreditable, 524
Schools, free, 103
Schuyler, General, a considerable

force under, ordered to invade

Canada ; takes ill, 78
School opened by Rev. John Stuart in

1788, 100
Science and Irishmen, 328
Scotch in Ontario, preface iii
Scotch-Irish, 64

Scotchmen and Irishmen, kinship of.

10, 11
Scullys, the, 352
Seat of Government, 414
removed from Montreal, 6G3
question, 651, 652
Secord, Mary, J 94

Seigneurs, alarm of, at the prospect
of abolition of feudal tenure, 103
Sectionalism, the pe oj)le should rise

above, 392
Seigniorial Tenure, 585
Service, honoura'jle in all kinds, 133
Settlement, a remarkable, 317
Settlers, perform a noble work in
subduing the wilderness, 63
early, some bad habits of, 378
early, the true fathers of a country,

131
Irish, kindliness of, 134
Irish, some vices of, 373
Shanlys, the, 590
Sheaffe, general, 207, 209
Sheepbreeding, 321
Sherwood, Henry, 534
(ihameless conduct of, 523
incompetence of, 518
indecency of, 519, 520
becomes Solicitor-General, 513
Solicitor-General, 532
Shij) starved, 155
Sicotte, 585

proposed as speaker, 586
Simcoe, J. G., Lieutenant-Governor,
opens the first Parliament of
Upper Canada, 104
County of, 294-300
Simpnon, John, 353
Stanloy, Lord, and Metcalfe, 507
Skillens, the, their public spirit, 160
Slavei'y in Upper Canada, 173
Sland(3r, 564
public, 485
Small, James E.,395
Smart, Rev. William, 632
Smith, Attorney-General, incompe-
tence of, 518
indeoent conduct of, 519, 520
Hon. Frank, 283
Goldwin, his testimony to Irish
learning and character, 16, 41, 583
Smyth, Senator of Nova Scotia, 157
Brig&dier-General, succeeds Van

Raasallaer in command, 209
his proclamation, 210

!■

INDEX

689

of,

»ct
13

ise

Society, digor^anized .state of, in the
10th, nth, and I2th centuries,
16-18 '

in 1823, 247-9
Canadian, 617
Soldiers, Scotch, Irish, English, Gor-
man, intermarriage of, witli
French Canadians, 70
untrained, cannot meet trained

hosts, 27
and preachers, 97
Somerville, Township of, 353
South America, Irishman in, 67
South-west Britain invaded by Irisli-

men, 12
Spaniards invited to Ireland, 2'^
Speaker, election of, 441
Special Council of Lower Canada con-
sents to union, 410
Spencer's grandson, though aPrctest-
ant, and pleading his father's
name, ordered to transplant, 24
Spence, Hon. Robert, 686
Springs, Saline, at St. Catharines

600, 601
Stanley, Lord, (Derby), 476-485
thmks Metcalfe's Government im-
portant for Canada 626
Stark, General, his courage, 56
wins on the Indians, ib.
becomes their young chief, ib.
Stafford, Rev. Father, 642, 643
Staples, the, 353
Stewart, Guy & Co., 162
Stephenson, Thos., 352
Stephens, W. A., a poet, 618
Stock raisers, 319, 337
Strathroy, 304
Strongbow, arrival of, 19
abandoned by the Irish follo^ving
of Dermot MacMuiTough, 20
besieged in Dublin, ib.
Stuart, Rev. John opens an aca-
demy, 100
Sir James, 403
Success, Irish, 365
Sullivan, General, 86
Daniel and his wife come to Canada
with a large family, including
Robert Baldwin Sullivan, 173
Hon. Robert Baldwin, 395,431, 459
464 '

comes to Canada, 173
his character, 398
native of Bandon, ib.

Siillivan — continued.

dotonnines to follow law, ih.

opposes Mackenzie and " Hume
399 '

elected mayor, ib.

applied to by Sir Friincis Head for
assistance, ib.

enters Sir F. Head's Council, 400

Legislative Councillor and Commis-
sioner of Crown Lands, 401

Lord Sydenham's most trusted
Councillor, 410

the influence of Lord Sydenham
over, 412

speech of, on union, 415-420

masterly speech of, 465

explains position of ministers, 479,

goes on the bench, 544

death of, .545

his character, ib.

his wives, ib.
Superior, Lake scenery of, 618
"^"PPorting supjf.rterp," policy of,

" Surprise," Frigate, arrival of, 85
Sydenham, Lord (see Thompson), 410
object of his mission, ib.
union of Canada, ib.
finds parties disorganized, ib.
firmness of, ib.

Sullivan his most trusted Coun-
cillor, ib.
Draper one of his Councillors, 411
his ascendancy over the mind of

Sullivan, 412
his Parliamentary experience, lb
trusted by the Home Government.
lb. *

a guiding mind, ib.
consulted everbody, ib.
sends a remarkable despatch to Lord

Jolm Russell, 413
resolves to caU Legislature of Upper

Canada to decide on Union, ib
hia message to Parliament of Upper
Canada relative to union 413
414 '

despatch to Colonial office, relative
to the consent of Legislative
Council, %b.

Assembly agrees to, ib.

in favour of immediate union. 420

attacks on, 431 '

entrance into Kingston, 438

690

INDEX.

diffuronco of opinion rogardinL' 441
speech from the throne in 1841

443 '

keeps his own counsel, 462
accused of corruption, 465
death of, 471,472
Synod, Church of England, founded

by an Irishman, 625

Talbot, Colonel, his birth, 105
his family, ib.
his education, ih.
Aide-de-Camp to Lord-Lieutenant

of Ireland, ib.
at Apsley House, 106
influence on his mind of Charle-
voix's History, ib.

Secretary to Lieutenant-Governor

Simcoe, ib.
Simcoo's opinion of, 107
his eagerness, 108
and Lord Dacre, ih.
a benefactor and palrii.rch, 1 10
his mode of transferring land, ib.
nis character, 111
becomes straitened in means 112
liis power, ib. '

his anniversary, 113
his residence, ib.
Mrs, Jameson's description of, 114-

and a snob, 115

and heraldry, ib.

and Charlevoix, 116

dislike of female society, 117, 118

indifference to all the events of

thirty years, 120, 121
gratitude towards him, 122
his anniversary, 122, 123
his habits, 124
death of, 125
Edward Allen; his book on Canada

in 1823, 247
Port, a charming place, 109
settlement, hardships in, 110
extent of, 111
Tecumseh, death of, 227
Temperance, 152, 300, 630
Theodosius defeats Saxon, Pict, and
Scot, with a large number of
Scots from Ireland, account of,
12
Thompson, Mr. Poulett, assumes gov-
ernment in 1839 (aee Sydenham),
410

Thorpe, Judgo, 177
Thurston, Jabez, 353
Ticondoroga, capture of, 75
Tvmes of Montroa], on Lord Syden-
ham and his colleagues, 440
Montreal, 405

London, on Rebellion Losses Bill
553 '

Tipperary become a model county of
peace and quietness, 45

I o'i^^o?; ^^^' 210, 214, 234, 236,

^4U, 241

Thoniton, 597
Tories, the, and the Union Bill, 418
m England, come into power with

a strong Government, 476
folly of Ihejj press, 526
A marked change in the newspa-
pers of Canadian, 562
Toronto (see York), capital of Upper
Canada, 172
fifty years ago, 246
Town Council of, 204-206
credit of the city of, 268
Park of, 322
Trade, Canadian, advanced by an Im-

penal Act passed in 1849, 564
Treaty of Paris, 69

cedes Canada to England, ib.
Troops, arrival of, from England, 86
Trotter, Thomas, 356
Tucker, Colonel, 238
Tully, Kivas, 595
Twelfth Night in 1850, 573
Tyrconnel, Irish fall a victim to liis
schemes, 24
Earl of (O'Donnell),
conspiracy against, 23
flies to Continent, ib.
Tyrone, Earl of (O'Neill)
conspiracy against, 23
flies to the continent, ib.

U. E. Loyalists, 88, 89.
Ulster, plantation of, 23
Ulstermen, success of, in United
otates, 54

^»io» Jill alarms Lower Canadians,
o86

of Canadas, measures to bring
about, 410, 430

and Lower Canada, 417

and Legislative Council, ib.

Bill described by Lord John Rus-
sell, 421

INDEX.

691

Union — conivtwed.
in Tinporial Parliament, ih.
and Lord John Iliisscll, 421, 4?8
and Sir Robert Pool, 429
receives Royal Assent, 430
and Mr, Gladstone, ih.
petitions against, ib,
United States, fall of Montcalm made
the, possible, 51
Irishmen in, after the war, 60
contributions raised in, for repeal

and Irish famine, 61
Irish blood, main tide in, 62
" smart " Irishman in, 63
independence of, acknowledged, 88
and the Berlin decree, 197
and England, rejoicings over causes
of quarrels between, being re-
moved, 198
determines to conquer Canada, 199
trade --^th, 549
Univer first mooted, 102
The Toronto, 473, 476
Bill, 523
Upper Canada, (see Ontario,) called
into being, 103
divided, 105

very thinly populated, ib.
settlers in, 170
discontent in, 386
Lord Elgin makes a tour through.
563 ^ ^ '

Gazette, 176
College, 474

Van- Renssblaeu at Niagara River.
207

resigns, 209
Vaudreuil, 69
Veitch, Edward, 347
Vemer, Mr., the painter, 617
Verulam, Township of, 353
Veterans of 1812, 1!J1

sum voted to, by Parliament, ib.

glad to be recognised, 192
Vicars, Hedley, 97, 185

his father, 185
Victoria, county of, 344

capital of, 345

leading men of, 345, 353
Vincent, defends Fort George, 213

retreats in good order, ib.

at Beaver Dam, ib.

raJBee blockade of Fort George, 237
Volunteering, father of, 620

Waoes fifty years ago, 251
Walker, John and family, 348. 349
Walsh, Bishop, 641

Major, 623
War, great European, 106
War of 1812, 191-241
curtain rises on, 205
two prominent heroes, 200
Brock, Fitzgibbon, 201
Mackinaw taken and retaken, 206
General Hull crosses the Detroit

river, his proclamation, ib.
Hull's retreat, 206
Acadian's account of war, ib.
Sir George Provost ties Brock's

hands, 207
American plan, ib.
Battle of Queenston Heights, ib
Brock falls, ib.
Brock's monument, 208
death of Colonol Macdonald, ib,
armistice, 209
SheaflFe's generalship, ib.
winter quarters, ib.
opening hostilities spring of 1813, ib
feehng in Lower Canada, ib.
Smyth's proclamation, 210
army goes into winter quarters,

Canada's spirit up, ib,
recruiting responded to, ib.
assault on York, 212

Jimmy O'Hara refuses to surren-
der, ib.

York abandoned, 213

Sheaffe retreats to Kingston, ib.

York evacuated by Americans, t6.

Niagara frontier, ib

preparations for invading, ib.

Fort St. George falls after a gallant
struggle, 213

Vincent entrenches himself at
Stony Creek, 214

critical condition of the country, ib.

Vincent's brilliant victory, ib.

Vincent takes the offensive, Mav
2nd, 215 ^

Fitzgibbon's brilliant feat, 216
romantic love, 217
character, ib.

successful attack on Black Rock, 233
the "green 'uns," 224
descent on Sackett's Harbour, 225
Proctor's retreat, 227
Tecumseth's death, t6.

G92

INDEX.

Wnr— -continued.

Vincent misos blockade of Fort
Ueorgo, lb.

Chrysler's Farm, 229

flight c" Ainerioans, 230

Hampton repulsed, ib.

failure of the invasion, ib.

McClure sets fire to iVewark, 23J

Fort Niagara taken, 232

Newark avenged, 233

Black Rock taken, ib.

triumphant feelingof the colony,230 i

fall of Fort Erie, tfe. I

Ryall's gallant attack, 237-8

Lundy's Lane, 238

enemy retreats to Chippawa, 239

Urummond determines to take Fort

Erie by storm, ib.
Peace with France, 240
the British fleet blockades Ameri-
can ports, ib.
effocts of, 241

the great eflect of, in Ireland, 241
243, 244

prices, 243
Ward George, 109
Warden, how to be rnpointed, 4GG
Warrens, the, 290

Washington, his ,« aide-de-

camp, 59
Waterford, '

Waterloo, I ., at, 33

Watters, Hon. shades, 163

!?i^' ^*^"^"®^ Jameo, a true poet,
ol8, 619

Wellington, Duke of, 100, 476

Wells, Joseph, 397

Wesley, John, 180, 183, 184

Wexford, 17

Wholan, Hon. Edward, 1(59
Whitby, the first settlors in, 289
Whito, Tom, 328-3; 10
Wilcox, Joseph, 177
Wilderness, weariness of life in 289
„,?,"^'l""»fe' the, a noble work, 63
Wilkinson, 228
Wilkes, Robert, 661
Willcocks, William, 173
brings emigrants to Canada, 394
imprisoned because he makes use
of strong language regarding a
brother member of pariiament.
178 '

Wilson, Dr. Daniel, on Moore's boat
song, 187
on Paul Kane, 615

Wit an Irish— Maurice Scollard, 273
Wolfe, 394 '

and the taking of Quebec, 68
Wolves, 171, 376

Women, Canadian, fifty years ago,
unprepossessing, 247
Irish, 285

purity of, 65
noble, 118-120
haters, 118
Wood, Andrew Trew, M.P., 661
Woods, Mr. John, 594
Workman family, le, 331-336

Yachting, 296
Yeo, Sir James Lucas, 226
York (see Toronto) becomes capital of
Upper Canada; 172
taken; and the fort blown up, 212
213 ^' '

first impression of, 261
township of, early settlers in, 277

MAOLEAR & GO'S NATIONAL SERIES.
IN ACTIVE PREPARATION.

THE SCCT IN CANADA :

BY WILLIAM J. RATTRAY.

It Will be the object of this work to show the potent influence the
Scottish element has exerted in the settlement of the Domin-
ion, and Its prosperity and progress in every branch of human activity
In order to estimate at its just value the strength and stabiUty of
this national influence not only in Canada, but in every community with
which Scotsmen have to do. it will be necessary, by way of introduction
to attempt the dissection, as it were, of the national character. First
by tracing out the various influences, physical and historical, which have'
moulded It. and made it what it is; and secondly, by considering the
various features which distinguish it from that of other peoples The
characteristics of any nation are the result of complex antecedents, each
playing a more or less important part, and all combining to form the
peculiar bent of the national genius. It will be necessary, therefore, in the
first place to notice the physical features Of Scotland, the land of
mountain, and flood, river, loch and tarn, brae and strath and heathered
moor; the land of deep cut bays and inlets innumerable. Secondly, a
sketch of the various races, with some account of their successes
and defeats in mutual conflict. Thirdly, a concise yet comprehen-
sive Sketch of the romantic history of Scotia, her constant

struggle for existence against foes on every side from the invasion of
Agncola to the battle of CuUoden. Finally an account of Scottish
religion, perhaps the most important single factor of them all, and in
connection with it, the tendencies of Scottish thought as indicated in
science, philosophy and literature.

The second part will contain an analysis of k .oi^Dish charac-
ter, as It has been indelibly fixed in certain broad and unmistakable
features, this will involve a survey of the national characteristics as dis-
played m active working upon the broad stage of the world ; on land
and sea, industrial, exploratory, colonizsing, inventive in
fact m every sphere wliere the active brain, the strong arm, and the
brave heart avail. e > c

Lover

The body of the work will contain in the first part a general sur-
vey of the Scot's ^,osition among the various nationaU-
ties of the Dominion, including an account of settlements peculiar-
ly Scottish from Halifax to Victoria. It will be made clear that the
heroic virtues, the dogged perseverance, and above all the sterling and
inflexible morality of the Scot, which have been burned into the national
character, by passing, during many generations, through the purifying
fires of suffering and adversity have had the most important influence in
promoting the growth and prosperity of Canada.

Succeeding chapters will be devoteJ to the Scot as an explorer,
a pioneer, an emigrant and a settler, whether engaged in
agriculture, stock-raising, fur-bunting, or mining, as a
toiler of the sea, steam and railway navigation, fishing,
&c., as a dweller in cities; the artizan, the merchant, the
banker, the manufacturer, the engineer and promoter of
railway enterprise. The Scot in domestic life, with his
social characteristics as a citizen and representative of
the people, his work in the interests of education, Uterature
and the press ; finally the learned professions, the Law,
Medicine, civil Engineering, and the Ohurch (including
Missionary effort).

The concluding part will be devoted first, to the deeds of valour
performed by the Scot, in 1759, 1812, 1837, and 1866. This will be
followed by reflections on the probable bearing of Scottish influence
upon the future of the Dominion.

It is the intention of the publishers to make "the Scot in
Oanada," a work of real merit and literary value, and they are making
every exertion to collect records, facts, statistics, &0., to enable
the author to present before the public a work interesting as well as
instructive.

SOLD EZCLUSZVEL7 BY OUB AUTHOBIZED AaENTS.

Demy octavo, about 600 pages ; price, cloth extra, $3. 50 ;
Half calf, $5.00.

MACLEAR & CO., Publishers, Toronto,

12 Melinda Street,

TORONTO.

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It -will he seen by the J-oregoing OiToular that the
soope of our proposed p.oblioation — '^The Soot in
Canada " — is suoh as to require a large amount of
information not othertuise obtainable ; and as no effort
will be sparred to mahethe ujorh complete in all depart-
ments and in every respect, the publishers respect-
fully solicit the aid of those who possess any usefiil
information either in the [shape of mem,ories, records,
and, facts or statistics, ji list of desiderata is ap-
pended, to which they call special attention, jy^ those
xuho feel a/n interest ujill only lend their aid the
publishers will be exceedingly obliged ; and they
trust that the rp^agnitude of the subject, and the large
amount of material required ujill not deter those
u)ho think well of the enterprise from ftornishing suoh
facts, Sfc, as are most convevjient to them, no matter
how apparently unirroportant they may appear, if
they can be utilized in shoujing what the Soot or his
descendants have done, tuhatever their calling is or
may have been, in making Canada ujhat it is. They
would also request that such data be furnished at as
early a date as possible.

For their own part they can only promise that
their publication shall be popular, graphic and inter-
esting, as vjell as instructive ; that they will make it,
in short, a record of national achievement of tuhioh
every Scotchman or his desoendants may have reason
to be proud.

[over

INFORMATION REQUIRED.

(1). Pacts regarding early settlers (Scottish) in any part
of the Dominion ; if known, the lodalities from which
the pioneers emigrated, and where settled; early
struggles in the bush, with illustrative anecdotes of
leading settlers, &c., &c.

(2). Pacts regarding the early growth of cities, towns
and villages, and the part played by Scotchmen in
their foundation and progress ; also inforiiation re-
garding the early or existing Scottisii merchants,
bankers, manufacturers. &c.

(3). Pacts touching the history of Canadian merchant
shipping and steam navigation, so far as they are
connected with Scotchmen.

(4). Pacts regarding public men (Scottish ) who have taken
a prominent part in pa.rliamentary, municipal or
social life.

(5). Pacts regarding the clergy and leading men of ALL
the Afferent Christian denominations, the early
Scottish missionaries, clergyaien. Sue

(6) Literary men, professors, teachers, poets, editors,^&c.,
from the earhest period of settlement to the present
time.

(7). Specimens of Scottish humour in Canada, and general
anecdotes illustrating national character in all its
phases.

(8). Any information not generally known, whether pub-
lished or xmpubhshed, which may prove interesting
in an account of the " Scot in Canada."

Please address all information ijou haue auailab/e as soon as
possible to

MAC LEAR & CO.

Publishers. Toronto.

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