X IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I 11.25 LilM 125 ■u liii 12.2 2f 144 *« 1^ 12.0 us Hi U I 'Am % '^^* PhotQgra{te Sciences Corporation 23 WIS? MAIN STREET WEBSTER, n.Y. 14SM ■C.\>) •/2-4S03 4^ .(, • , (meanins "CON- TINUED"), or the symbol ▼ (meaning "END"), whichever applies. Les imagea sulvantas ont AtA reproduites avac la plus grand soin, compta tenu de la condition at da la nettetA de rexemplaire filmA, et en conformitA avac les conditions du contrat de filmage. Les exemplaires originaux dont la couverture en papier est ImprimAe sont filmAs en commen^ant par la premier plet et en terminant toit par la darnlAre page qui comporte une empreinte d'impreaaion ou d'illustration. soit par la second plat, salon ie cas. Tous les autres exemplaires originaux Si>nt filmAs en uommen^ant par la pramlAre page qui comporte une empreinte d'impression ou d'illustration et er, term^iant par la darnlAre page qui comporte une telle empreinte. Un des symboles suivants apparaftra cur la darnlAre image de cheque microfiche, seion Ie cas: la symbols — ► signifie "A SUIVRE", Ie symbols ▼ signifie "FIN". IVIaps, plates, charts, etc., may be filmed at different reduction retioa. Those too large to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: Les cartas, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent Atre filmAs A des taux de rAduction diff Arents. Lorsque Ie document est trop grand pour Atre reproduit en un seul clichA, 11 est filmA A partir de I'engle supArieur gauche, de gauche A droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant la nombre d'images nAceosaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mAthode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 ■♦ Public Archrves Archives publiques Canada Canada EIGHT YEARS IN CANADA; EMDRACINO A REVIEW OF THE ADMINISTRATIONS or lOEDS DUEHAM AND SYDENHAM, SIR CEAS. BAGOT, AND LOED METCALFE ; AND IMCLVDINO NUMEROUS INTERESTING LETTERS FROM LORD DURHAM, MR. CHAS. DULLER, AND OTHER WELL-KNOWN PUBLIC CHARACTERSs BY MAJOR RICHARDSON, Knight of the Military Older of St. Ferdinand, Author of "Ecarte," "VVacousta," "The Canadian Brothers," &c. &c.fcc. DE OMNIBUS REBUS ET QUIBUSDAM ALUS. MONTREAL, CANADA : PUBLISHED BY H. H, CUNNTNGHAM, bi, NOTRE DAME STREET. 1847. / ^o7 f *' When we transplant the inititutions of England into oui Colonies, wo ougiit at least to take care beforehand that the social state of the Colony should possess those peculiar materials on which alone the excellence of those inititutions depends in the Mother Country."— Xiorrf Durham's Report, Page 47, {Entered aeeoritng to Mi of the Provincial Legislature, in the year IHt, hy Major JoHH BicHAUDsoN, irt the Oj/lcc of tht Registrar of the Province of Canada ; ani at Stationers' Hall, London.] DONOOHVB AND MANTZ, PBIKTERS, MONTREAL. INTllOI>UCTIO:>f. fe This book, as will be seen on reference to a letter from Lord Durham to myself, written after his dejiarture from Canada, and given in the Appendix, was intended to have been inscribed exclusively to his Lordship. Had he still existed, that intention would have been carried out ; but as he is no more, and as subsequent events have, in some degree, released me from what, had his Lordship lived, I should have regarded as an obligation, I hesitate not to satisfy my own strong in- clination, by coupling with his name that of one, who, alas ! is also no more, and whose principles of govern- ment, and nobleness of character, have, in the highest degree, claimed the warmest attachment of the Cana- dian people. It is far purer, moreover, to render the meed of homage to the dead, than to seek by adula- tion to win the favor of the living ; and, therefore, to the memory of LORD DURHAM, the fo mder of a great system, and to that of LORD METCALFE, the true reader of the application of that system to a colony, do I inscribe this volume. It is far from being an offering adequate to the worth of these cele- brated dead, but its pages will at least be found to embrace much that will redeem their memories from whatever aspersions the malevolent may seek to cast upon them. J. RICHARDSON. Montreal, March 1st, 1847. ^ f : t t k^ I EIGHT YEARS IN CANADA, &C. I. [1 CHAPTER I. The Canadian events of the years 1836-7, — taklnj; by surprise, as they dill, not only the British Government, who were ill prepared to expect the misguided violence of the disafTected party, but of the people of England generally, who had ever looked upon Canada as most ultra in its loyalty and attachment to the Crown, — must be too familiar to the reader to require any thing beyond an incidental notice in a work which professes to treat chiefly, where political episodes are introduced, of the measures of amelioration subsequent- ly adopted. Aware of the vast importance of the Colony, even while startled by the tidings of a disaffection which was much exaggerated at the time, not only as to the numbers, but the intelligence and influence of those implicated in it, the British Government, with that promptitude of action which, in cases of emergency, is so peculiarly its own, made every disposition for the occupation of the Colony by a strong force, the moment that the opening of the communication, by water, with Canada would permit. Sir George Arthur was mea; while sent out to relieve Sir Francis Bond Head, whose removal, it was assumed by the Whig ministry, would prove a means of softening down much of that asperity of feeling his stringent policy had created in the minds of those wlio made no effort to disguise their restlessness of Imperial domination, yet who, by the 'ntroduction of a more soothing and temporizing course, might be brought to view in its true light, the desperate extreme- into which they had been betrayed, and to retrace their steps. Nor this alone. With a forethought, — a prevoyance, suited ta the occasion, they applied themselves, not only to the removal ©f the immediate and pressing evil, but they wisely resolved to institute the most searching inquiry into the origin of a disease which had continued so long to prey upon the Canadian political system, and to apply an instant remedy. For this duty they selected one who, from his enlarged apprehension and profound and liberal views of Government, was in every sense, and at that particular epoch of Colonial history, the person most competent to the task he was called upon to undertake, — namely, that of regenerating Canada, and bestowing upon her a healthy, active, and enduring Constitution. Canada being the land of my birth, which, while a mere youth,, I had left with my regiment in 1815, I naturally felt some solicitude for its welfare, and as the news, which reached England by every packet, was of a nature to induce the belief that my services might •B r,l(;iIT VKAIIS l.N (,A.\.\I)A. he iiiiulf uv.iilal)!c in licv (Icfcnco, I rt'Siilvcil lo ('hibark ftntliuilh. I liiul iccciitly hocu lii^litiiii? in S[iuiii, in iiiil of a liltcrly wliicli, it \\\l\ 1(0 rciii('iiil)(M(!(l, it wiis slidwii, ill tin' coins;' of Sir Ifciiiy lliir- diiigc's (Icl'i'iice (if my condiicl, in tlio I loiiso of ('(unmoiis, against tlin iiiif(»iii\(lf(l allnoks of O'Comioll, aclliii,' at tlid iiislaiict- nl' his fiicnd the woiilil-lx? N|iaiiish Duke,— Sir Dc Lacy Kvans, — I had not much (Mijoycd iriysdf; hut dlscoiira^^Inic as liad jirovcd my c.v- peiieiico of tlio recently jiast, I was Mij>|)(irlt'd hy the conviction that shouhl circumstances ljrin;jf me a;^aln iiiuh'r liie wand of lintiio- rity, I should at least, in meeting Sir John (Jolhonie, come in con- tact with a ujontleman. Furnished with a letter to Sir Francis Tfoad, from the then Se- crelary of the Colonies, — Lord (ilenel^, — who had previously, and notwithstanding the iicrco manner in which I had hceii assailed by his ])arty in the Ifouse of Commons, he(;n good eiiongh to exjiress u desire that I should devote my time and what talent i possessed to the promotion of llie cause of y^oml government in (.'iMia;la, and having been furthermore advised by Sir Henry llardiiige* lluit he liad already sent to Sir John Colborne a letter of int'oduction in my iavor, I embirked at the Loudon Docks on the IStli of February 1838, and as the ice, of which the river had been full lluit wint(;r, was not yet melted, had the great delight of being '• tugged " through it for some miles down tlie Thames. Notwitli.standing a good deal of dulay had occurred in the ov.f- «et, my final do])arturo from London proved u very abru|)t one, an»l was moreov».'r marked by u strong Instance of that singular nnd unaccountable iusight into the future which we usually term })resentiment. The winter had been, as 1 have just remarked, exceedingly severe for an English season ; so much so, that, in- stead of being enabled to leave on the Lst of January, which was I he regular day of sailing of th(^ packet, the latter had been de- tained in the docks for upwards of six weeks. The intermediate time had been passed by a beloved one, now uo more, and my- Bolf under the hospitable roof of the beautiful, amiable, and ta- lented Countess M , in Montagu Scjuare ; our heavy baggage being deposited in a snmll lodghip Jieav the Docks, lobe in readi- ness for embarkation at a moment's warning. On the night of the 17th, and wliile conhdent that many days must yet elapse before the ship could be got down the i»ver, we attended a fancy ball at the Hanover-Square Kooms. It was a very brilliant and crowded affair, and the day had dawned before we all returned home, and separated for the moment to meet again at breakfast. Alas ! to one it was the last separation on this side of the grave. It was not without dilliculty that I could keep my eyes open, and sleep was to me then the sweetest boon upon earth ; but 1 did not enjoy it long. I had not been half an hour in beil, s\lien I felt myself gently shaken, and u well-known voice urging me to rise and leave for the East End of the town inunediately, for nothing could induce the speaker to believe the vessel in which we were to embark would not leave the dock that morning. I endeavored to persuade my wife that the thing was impossible, and that if such were the intention some intimation would have been sent to U.S. Her reply was, that slie had been awakened by tha powerful *Tliis f (illaiit offipcr, whose name must ever bo nssociatcd wil.li Indian, qs well at P.iiri>|ic;u), military history, conuiienccil his career in the same regiment with my fulhcr. KtGJIT YEAllS IN CANADA. "nnprortsioii InrcinQr itstUf iipmi lier mind, that nlin liiul ris(Miin con- t'tM|ii('ii(M', jiiid tliiit ii(illiiiii.ir cniild L'oiiviiicc luT slic; was wrorifjf in iittiu'liiim llic I'liilli sIk! did to the coitimMiicss of luir pnwtMitiiiifiil. 'I'licro was no resisting licr iiriri'iit inaiiiK'r. I was mooh drt!s,s(*il ; .1 coacli was sent tor, and witlioiil an oj)|xiitindty ol' takini,' Icuvo of our kind lri('nds, wo linally p:aitu,>d llio lodirinu; noar tlio dock. I ('ininircd, on alinlitinir, il any niossa-jjc had Ix'cn scnit to announfo tJio sailing of till! vossol that day. 'I'ho answin- was in tin* noya- tivc, and I coniincnccd rallying,' tho dislurburoC lier own and my tx'st on the lallacy 'd her tondiodiiiir^. Hut, even whih; in tlie act ol'doini;- so, a loud rap at thi; slrocl door ainioinicod a visitor, unil one of ih(( cabin l>o> s entered statiiifj; tliat a sudihsn tliaw liavini» occnrnNi (hniii'i; th(( niirht, ihe Ontario was yetting out of dock, and we nuist, if w« wished to avoiil a jonrney to Portsinonth, em- hark inimediiittdy, as tlio " tnirs " Jiad their stjnun up, and wrno only wailing for tin; vessel to ch'ar tlio (h)ck to he hished to her sides. Then came tht>trinmph of the proplietess, for my pleasantry siuUhMilv ceased, and the only object that now on^a^tKl my ferious attention was the i|allu!rinc!; toLrethor of our scattered \u<^- page, and its introduction into a hackney coach as a medium of transport to the (h>ck of tho Ontario; and even so hurried was I in this, tliat I afterwards found ( had left several articles behind. \]y eif^ht o'clock we had cnt our way through the rottini; ice as far as Greenwich, and by tho time our friends had entered the break- fast room, where they of conrso fully expected to see those from whom they had so inlormally parted so shortly before, we must have been half way down the river. Although this anecdote may not bo of mucli moment to the many, they, for whom the narration is principally designed, will fully understand tho melancholy satisfaction with which the past is thus a(lvert(>d to, and a lifeness given to a memory which must glide before e^'ery familiar eye as long as the record which sum- mons it shall endure. A voyage across the Atlantic is, not to all persons, the most desirable 'passetcmps in the world. Fanny Kemble was in such rapture with every thing, during her first trip across the ocean, that she absolutely (so says her book) rolled about the floor of her cabin in all the w41d delirium of a new-born joy. Sky, sea, sun, moon, stars, rainbows, Mother Carey's chickens — grampuses, dolphins, sharks, masts, rigging, hen-coops — all delighted — she saw poetry in them all — she cxtasied on them all. 1 confess I found no beauty whatever either in tho heavens above, or in the waters beneath, or in anything around me. The ship was a prison — its nausea intolerable. It pitcheil, it rolled, it creaked, calling up as many melancholy ideas as would the gibbet of a highwayman, swinging on a windy night, on Bagshot heath. The passage was, to crown my misery, a most tempestuous one. Every second day, at the most moderate computation, produced a gale, and there was no rest for the aching, throbbing head that would have given all the champagne " to ■^vhich it was heir," for one week of uninterrupted repose. Nor indeed would this have been any very serious sacrifice, inasmuch as for three weeks, I never sat down to the dinner table ; and when eventually I did summon courage to approach it, there was no enjoyment for me of the really excellent repasts which had been prepared ; for if one eye KIc;iIT YEARS IN CAN A DA. VTM upon tlio lablo, tho othnr tikwI iiiJuslrioiiHly monfiiirod tli© (lintanco from tlio cabin (l(W)r, wliilo tho uliolo Hvslcm whm pro- (iispoHinl much mon) to on(» di'scription of holt than lh(t other. In fino, this putiiHhmcnt (I proNuin(3 tor my sIum) waH iitt'rally awlow and lin>,'i'rin«; doath, involving th(! utter prostratioti of overy tMiorgy, physical and moral. The only couHoiation 1 liad \\nn, that my iufinito misery could bo iudulj^cd in without my beiui; «ub- jocted to the uufoidirii^ Hcrutiuy— the provokiuyj remarks of thoso who have nover known tho liorrors of that most iuc()mi)rehensibIo of all physical weakiussses — soa-Hickness. There wore otdy four paHsenj^ors on board, and tlie (!a]>taiu, as jr^Ihuit and cotisiderato a follow as ever had tho misfortune to bustle uIkmU in a tarpaulin hat and pea jacket, bavin;; f,nven us up tho ladies cabin, i couh! there be as miserable as I pleased, without boinjjf teazed by tho alFectation of a sympatljy wliich professed to pity what it could not, by any possibility, comprehend. However, as there is a limit to human happiness, so is there a term to human misery. On the morn in t? of tho fortv-fifth day from our departure, and after forty-eight hours of the only calm we liad experienced during the voyage, we made Sandy Hook, and I confess that I could scarcely have felt more pleasure than I did wlien this first mot my view, had tho veritable Theodore himself, of that name, stood before me. Ana apropos, or mal-apropos if the reader chooses, to the intro- duction of this distinnfuishecl writer, who has, since my departure from England, paid the great debt exacted alike from kings and beggars — from wits and fools. Iliad been engaged, during the few months which intervened between my return from Spain and departure for Canada, in tho continuation of the adventures of his celebrated hero "Jack Brag," who, it will be recollected, was transferred by him at the close of his third volume to a fitting theatre for his future action — the Commissariat Staff of Sir DeLacy Evans, in Spain. Mr. Brag, as the readers of that humorous yet justly severe production, which is meant to decry and put down vulgar assumption, must be aware, is made by the witty author, to join the British Legion in the important capacity of Acting Assisttint Deputy-Deputy Assistant Commissary General, but one so eminently versed in the nicer proprieties of life, could not long be expected to continue in that somewhat inactive station. His worth and peculiar talents having attracted the notice of the great Hero of Arlaban, Mr. Brag is made to figure on the per- sonal Staff of the immortal Evans, and under circumstances which well sustain his former character. Hook was delighted with this continuation of his own satire, and after an attentive pemsal, de- clared it ought to secure to me, at least, five hundred pounds. He promised to use all his influence with Colburn (or, failing with him, with Bentley) to cause that sum to be paid to me for the copy- right. Now for some reason or other, which I never could com- prehend, neither of these " crack " publishers had, since their publication of my " Ecart6,"* evinced much inclination to en- * Them it aourioua anecdote connected with this work which, showing as it does, that the humor or caprice of a critic should be consulted quite as religiously os the ancients were wont to consult 'Me stars before ofTering their oblations, may bo here odvantageously inserted for the bei t of young authors. A few days before " Ecart^ " niade its ap- pearance before the London public, Jerdan, the Leviattian of the Literary Oaiette. had time disagreement with •Colburn, and wrote to him to say that whatever he next pub- isbed he would cut up in his Hnitw, " Ecnrti " was the fated next book, and no sooner T IllUirr VRAKS IN CANADA. courn^n my literiiry cd'ortH, ho tli;it I Iwivo liad lilfli* hopo nt' nny (ilhiir MictTSM tlimi M at llio pnmiirHcd iiilliiriicc, wliirli 1 kiu>w Jo ho ffrcJit, iiii;;lit coDunniul. Hook !• ok Homo tioiihio in tlio miit- t(?r, l)iit was ultimately uiiKUCft'MNriil. IJolli piiltlislicrK, ho waiti, conMiilcrod iho diamaiis pcTHoiia' in tlio hook to Ito too liiiMitnlly Hkotc'licd to l)(! inistakoii, ami tlm Ntricliiii's oti tho nulicalM of VVt'slmiiiistor t
icturesquc shores of Staten Island on the olner, was exceedingly beautiful. The day was fine, the atmos|)here serene and clear. The sun shone brightly, even warmly for the season of the year, and the numbers of small boats that glided about in the ofling, spreading their white lateen sails to the breeze, atlbrded a percejjtible and pleasing contrast to the arrival of the stranger near the gloomy English metropolis, where nothing meets the eye and ear bat dense and seemingly in- terminable rows of filthy colliers, a lowering and misty atmosphere, the ho-heave-ho of fellows naked to the waist, and dark with soot as their own coal, discharging their cargo from the lighters, the uin of noisy fish women, slang dogs'-meat-men, and all the thousand-and- one vulgarities to which the Eastern portion of the city of London is heir, and which renders any a]iprouoh to it by water, and in ihis di- rection, a matter of melancholy, and certainly not of pleasure. As soon as we were moored at the quai, a well-dressed and civil custom-house officer came on board, requested us to point out what baggage we wished to have set apart lor our immediate use, and without any other demand than our simple assurance that there was nothing liable to duty in what was selected, suffered it to be con- veyed to the neatl.dckney coaches taken from the number of those waiting to receive us. We alighted at the Carleton, a large new hotel in a central part of the Broadway, and found it, what an American gentleman in Lon- don assured me I should, abounding in comfort and accommodation. There was a very large ordinary, or table d'hote, at which nearly two hundred persons sat down every day at five o'clock. The table was exceedingly well supplied with every description of viands, and I certainly could not observe any cf that indecent haste in the despatch of the meal, which had been ascribed to the Americans of a better condition, by Captain Hamilton and subsequent writers. At an earlier hour of the day, there was a dinner served at the same table, principally for young men, clerks in the different shops of the city, who " boarded," that is to say, ate their meals there ; and as there was a limit to the time when they could be spared from their several avocations, there was necessarily a corresponding celerity of despatch in the process of mastication. This rule applies to every hotel in every town of America ; but it must be confessed the same practice prevails in Canada. The moment the last morsel of food has been swallowed, a clerk in a Canadian store (of course there are a few exceptions) draws back his chair, and rushes out of the room as rapidly .is he entered it. This eternal shuffling, rising, and hurrying off, often before the last course is placed upon the table, (operations not of course performed simultaneously, but by the feed- ers in succession,) produces a discord and inconvenience which con- stitute any thing but the agreeable either in sound oi appearance to those who lemain behind. Nay, there is something even offensive in the practice. While an Englishman, accustomed to anything • like decent society, would as soon think of getting into la} vith his boots on as of rising from a table before ihe cloth has bnen '■emoved, EUaiT VKAUS IN CA-VADA. 11 most business |)eo|)lo, both in the States and in Canadii, seem (o make it a matter of rivalry to swallow tlieir food in the h;ast possible space of titne. In both oouiitiies it seems to be a fruit of that " go-aiiead" system whicli lays so emphatic a value upon time, and in all probability will not be discontinued until ease and luxury and independence of ]al)or, which attach to the Iiigh t orders of society in England, shall have been introduced amouii; them. During the voyage I had devoted such poi lions of my time as the horrid nausea which pervaded my system would permit, to a re- perusal ol the works of Hall, Hamilton, and Miss Martineau, en- deavouring to impress upon my memory the peculiarities attributed by each of those writers to the people I was about to mix with for a short season, and to judge from my own unbiassed observation how far they were borne out in their general application. One remark of Captain Hamilton had always sliuck me not only as being a very great absurdity, but as exhibiting a querulousness of disposition which seemed to aim at the detection of fault in whatsoever quarter it could be found, and this with the view to the gratification of per- sonal pique. The remark I moan is that which refers to the practice, followed by the American ladies, of eating their eggs out of a wine glass, instead of the natural shell. That George Brummell — the king's fool — might, had he visited America, have criticized this peculiarity I can ])erfectly understand, but how a man of sense and a soldier like Captain Hamilton, who has often, I doubt not, in the course of his service peeled a hard egg with his fingers, and *' stuck a mutton light " into the socket of a bayonet made to sup- ply the absence of a candlestick, could have ever thought of bring- ing this forward as a matter of grave accusation against the Ame- rican ladies, unless indeed from the motive I have hinted, has ever appeared to me most extraordinary. The remark having been made, however, I was anxious to observe what there was of singu- larity in a process calling for so much ill-natured comment, and accordingly sought the oupoitunity of witnessing the commission of the unpardonable act. This was not long dei\ied to me. On the morning following my arrival at the Carleton, I had the good fortune to be seated at the breakfast table nearly opposite to two or three very pretty and fashionably attired women, who severally went through the whole of the mysterious operation. I confess that I was so dull as not to notice anything so very oulrc in this ; for whe- ther it was from the agreeable manners of those who thus set the Hamiltonian code at defiance, or from whatever unknown cause, I was rather disposed to like than to disapprove of this mode of convey- ing an egg to one's lips from a purer covering than was evinced in some of tiie unbroken shells within the stand. Heartily responding, therefore, to the i-U Poma, ova, atqne nuces, ^ ' Si det tibi sordiJa, &c. I even ventured to f(dlow the example set me by the fair Americans and emptying a couple of eggs into my own glass, and adding thereto a due quantum of Cayenne and salt, found that there are woixe things to bo dreamt of in one's philosophy than eating the contents of an egg, with a silver spoon, from the pure and ]iolished crystal. While on the subject of Captain Hamilton's " Men and Manners in America," I cannot refrain from a second commentary on what struck me as somewhat sing lar and anomalous in his remarks. It ! 12 EIGHT VEAIIS IN CANADA. appears, according to his own admission, that he had been voiy sjtrongly and favorably impressed with the activity of the various New York Fire Companies, and had been anxiously vvaiting for an opportunity cf witnessing their exertions. He slates, if 1 recollect right, that he had commissioned a person to apprize him at whatever moment a fire should break out ; and that when on finally receiving the intimation, and repairing to the scene, he discovered, to his great disappointment, that it had been got under with little efTort. Now it might be easily comprehended that Captain Hamilton might have felt some little regret that he had not been present, when a fire had actually taken place, but it is rather difficult to understand how it should have proved a subject of disappointment to him that a conflagration had been prevented, and hundreds of families, perhaps without other means of subsistence afforded them beyond the cover of their roofs, thereby saved from penury, and mayhap froi" death. To say nothing worse of the observation, it was a very inconsiderate and unguarded one. Whatever the manners of the Americans within doors, I must confess that, as far as New York can afford an illustration, the lower classes of their citizens! lose nothing by a comparison with those in the larger cities of England. I think I never saw so few badly dressed persons, even in the most frequented and business thorough- fares ; nor even among these could I detect any of that brusquerie which is so common to the same class at home. No swaggering drayman or sooty coal-heaver disputed the wall with the better dressed lounger on the Broadway, as if he experienced a deep satis- faction in the attempt to make the garments of the latter as filthy as his own ; but, on the contrary, I particularly remarked that when- ever laboring men or porters carrying loads were necessarily driven to the footway, they always made it a point of yielding to the right or J the left, as circumstances might require. In short, the street demeanor of the lower orders of people in New York strongply re- minded me of the Parisians. One more remark on a practice, or rather neglect of a practice, attributed to the New-Yorkers by a celebrated tourist, already named by me, and I have done. Fanny Kemble, in the course of her Journal, loudly inveighs against the incivility of the tradespeople of this city, whose undue independence, according to her statement, was productive of much inconvenience. Now I can, from my own experience, safely affirm that this is not by any means a general cause of complaint. In the course of the three or four days that I remained in New York, I made at least a dozen purchases, at nearly as many diffe'-ent shops, and on all occasions the parcel was invariably sent, or offered to be sent, to my hotel, and this precisely in the same matter -of-course way that is usual in London. Miss Kemble must have been singu- larly unfortunate in her selection of tradesmen. One very serious inconvenience I was spared. I had a good deal of luggage, among which were some rather heavy cases difficult to be opened. To have these exempted from the usual Custom-House scrutiny was of course an object, but I scarcely hoped to escape the ordeal. Much to my satisfaction, however, the information was conveyed to me that Mr. Buchanan, the then British Consul, would procure an order from the head of the Custom-House for the landing of m^- baggage without the usual visitation. This was done ac- EIGHT YEAIIS IN CANADA. 18 cordingly, and a mark of kindness thereby shown me, which to the traveller is far more important than the hospitality of a dozen dinners. I had been two days in New York when Sir Francis Bond Head arrived from Canada, on his return to England. He stopped at the Carlton, and, it must be confessed, in a garb which did not much liken him to the Governor of a British province. Owing to the very bad state of the roads (it was that worst of all seasons in America, the close of winter and dawning of spring), he had that morning left the conveyance in which he had performed his previous journey, and walked into the city. He wore, at his arrival, a rough winter dress, surmounted by a common raccoon-skin soldier's cap, and nearly up to the knees his high travelling boots, which othervv'se seemed not to have made acquaintance with a polishing brush since his departure from Toronto, were a perfect incrustation of mud. The dress itself was admirably adapted for the execrable roads through which he had journeyed, and which I was fated so imme- diately afterwards to flounder along, but the singularity was that so plain a costume should have decked the person of an English ex- Govemor, at the moment of his entrance into a chief city of a people who had been watching all his movements with an anxious intercfjt Later in the day his baggage arrived, and after having given him some hours for his toilet, 1 sent in my card and was admitted. The manner of Sir Francis Head seemed to me to be agitated, even un- easy. Whether this arose from the trials he had already undergone in Toronto, or from the knowledge he possessed that there were Ca- nadian patriots prowling about in search of him, (he had travelled strictly incog.,) it was difficult to comprehend. He was, however, in the course ofhis conversation with me on the subject of the recent troubles, both nervous and absent, so much so indeed that he would have allowed me to take my leave without the slightest allusion in reply to Lord Glenelg's letter, which I had handed to him on my en- trance, and which he, seemingly in pure abstraction and unconsci- ousness of the act, had opened and closed half a dozen times at least. Nay, I had risen to depart, and had actually made my bow, when finding that he made no allusion to the subject, I remarked ihat I had reason to believe Lord Glenelg's communication to him con- veyed some desire that an appointment should be given to me in Canada, which was my native country. He replied that such in- deed was the tenor of the letter, but that as he was leaving Canada it was of course out of his power to carry out his Lordship's wishes, and that the only course he could pursue would be to foi-ward it to Sir George Arthur, who had just relieved him. This was obvious enough, and I fully expected that he would enclose the communica- tion to Sir'George with a line or two from himself, but he simply handed it to me with the seal unrestored, and requested that I would Clace it, accompanied by his compliments, in Sir George Arthur's ands. Yet in all this there was no unkindness, no desire that I could detect to frustrate or discourage my views, and when I with- drew he shook we warmly by the hand. That the letter was not enclosed, as certainly, in common courtesy it ought to have been, I have always attributed to that nervous indecision and absence of fixed purpose to which I have already alluded. I saw Sir Francis on several subsequent occasions prior to my departure from New York, but the subject of Lord Glenelg's letter was never resumed. G ■- ■^'^e^^'^y^jr - j ..'tv-'- 14 FIGHT YEARS IN CANADA. A day or two alter the arrival of the ex-Governor of Upper Ca- nada, Lord Gosford, who had quitted the Lower Province under nearly similar circumstances, reached the same hotel (the Carleton) also. As I had ao letter of introduction to his Lordship, and could not satisfy myself that his principles of government, as exemplified in the course of his rule in Canada, were of a nature to call from me any particular mark of respect, I denied myself the honor of calling upon him, although a particular mission with which I was charged would have rendered this course imperative on me had his Lordship not been actually returning home. As it was, I did not desire that my mind should be subjected to the risk of incurring a bias from re- presentitions which it might be difficult to remove afterwards, and which might prejudice the interests I had undertaken to serve. CHAPTER II. On the 29th of March we took our leave of New York, and em- barking on the Rochester, which, by reason of its being one of the earliest steamers of the season, was excessively crowded, ascend- ed the beautiful Hudson as far as Albany, where, on the following morning, we took the cars for Utica. I'he scenery along the village of the Mohawk,througb which we passed, was not at that early season of the year, when the air is bleak and the tree leafless, sufficiently developed to give it much claim to that character for loveliness which has been ascribed to it by the gifted pen of the first among American authors, Cooper ; hut from the graceful windings of the valley, the undulating hills, or rather hillocks, which enclose it on either hand, and the picturesque and prominent frame in which the whole is set, it was evident that it wanted but the glowing and fertilizing influence of a summer sun to render the landscape one of extreme beauty. Thus much for its character between Albany and Schenectady. From this latter place to Utica the scenery assumes a bolder character, and in the vicuiity of a hamlet called, most ap- propriately, Canajoharrie, are exhibited features which, although far inferior in grandeur, in some degree remind one of the mountain passes in Spain. Utica was the point of termination of the luxurious rail-road tra- velling, and here I found that ihe real difficulties of an American spring journey were to commence. I had, as I have elsewhere re- marked, a good deal of baggage, and the coach which was to pro- ceed to Syracuse — a distance of fifty miles through (it was stated for our comfort) the most execrable of roads-— was the only means by which I could have it transported. Now, as only p limited quantity of <* plunder " was allowed to each passenger, there was no alter- native than to take as many places in the coach as would pay for the extra baggage. This I did, still leaving one large case behind, to follow on the opening of the canal. To my dismay and surprise, however, I found that, while my tninks and packages had been stowed away in every available part of the coacb, the full comple- ment of passengers — most of them fat and heavy men — were prepar- EIGHT YEARS IN CANADA. 15 ina; to take their places with me. I remonstrated with the agent — pointed out to him the injustice of tilling the coach in this manner, after charging me for extra seats, and requested that, if he persisted in forcing lliese people upon me, he would at least return my money, when I might avail myself of some other conveyance. But I might as well have talked to the winds. The money was in his pocket, and my expostulation was unheeded. He said he had overloaded his coach with my additional " baggage," and that was his « look out." Jhem gentlemen wanted to go un, and they must go '< any how," as well as me, while as for returning the money, he "guessed" he would do no such thing. Finding it useless to remonstrate, I resigned myself to my fate, and ensconcing myself in a corner of the vehicle, with almost every hope of air taken from me by three of the stout men who sat on the centre bench, supported by a broad straj), that thumped ever and anon against my breast, I resolved to preserve a sullen silence, unJil released from my purgatory. But this was not to be the penance of a few hours. The roads, as had been truly enough stated, were exe- crable, even from the commencement of the journey, and as night approached, they grew worse. About midnight, the misery of our position was at its climax. The driver, a fellow who by the way preserved the most extraordinary good humour in the midst of so much difficulty, was frequently, alter the most untiring exertions of guidance, compelled to stop in the middle ot the road, and exclaim with an oath that he had got into an « almighty fix," for that amid the mass of mud which surrounded him, he could not tell where the track lay. Then declaring that he would go " slick " through at all hazards, leaving his horses to find their own way, he would drag us over inequalities that threatened at every instant to overturn the coach, and what was worse than the mere act of overturning, to bury my unfovtunate baggage in the sea of mire through which we moved. Finally, about two o'clock, we stuck fast, and no exertion of the horses could extricate us. The driver dismounted, and opening the door of the vehicle, courteously intimated that, unless the passengers would get out and walk through the mud, there was no chance of reaching Syracuse until the roads should begin to dry, for that his horses were completely done up. Cheerfully obeying his wish, the whole of the men, with the exception of myself, instantly alighted. 1 was in no mood, after having paid for my own and several extra places, to wade through deep and seemingly interminable mire, in a night so dark that the driver could not, without straining his vision, see his leaders' heads from his seat, and therefore determined not to move. Moreover, I had no inclination to abandon my baggage to th" tender mercies of one who might, for ought I knew, take it into nis Mead to lighten the outside of the coach even as he had done the inside. Relieved of this mass of human flesh, the jaded yet spirited horses succeeded m extricating the wheels of the vehicle ; and the driver resuming bis seat, went on floundering as before, yet with the same almost undisturbed good humor, and rather leaving the animals to pick their road, than seeking to guide them, until again wo sank in a deep rut, from which no coaxiug or whipping could prevail upon them to extricate their burden. Our case was now one of seeming hopelessness, and the only chance of relief we had was that the approaching dawn would shew us to be in the vicinity It EIOHT YEARS IN CANADA. •i of some habitation, where assistance might be obtained. With bitter annoyance at my heart, and much the same sort of feelinff with which a mr . takes a forced cold bath in December, I opened the door of the coach, and, plunging into the mud below, began to grope my way in the direction of tne dark line before me, which I correctly assumed to be the whole breadth of the trackless road. I had not proceeded many yards, before, from increasing cold and dampness in one foot, I detected that I had lost one of my India- rubber shoes. This was a grievous deprivation at such a season, and in such a road ; and satisfied, by feeling^ of my loss, I retrac- ed my steps as well as I could, making an meffectual attempt to recover the lost treasure. But it was vain. The ill-fated shoe was buried far beneath the surface of the mud ; and even if there had been light enough to have admitted of an examination, no track could nave been found of the foot which had deposited its outward covering far beneath. My hands were much soiled in the fruitless search ; and at I thought of Sir Francis Head and his mud-covered high boots, I now fully comprehended the sen- sible style of dress in which he had travelled, and the difficulties to which he must have been exposed. Giving up the shoe as ir- recoverable, I again turned my back upon tlie horses, with the in- tention of " going a-head " ; and had walked, as I thought, much more than a mile, when the dawning day revealed to me a rude inn on the right of the road, and the shivering passengers grouped around its front, evidently waiting for the appearance of the ve- hicle they had so recently lightened. As the grey morning in- creased in strength, we looked backed in the direction from which it was expected, and, much to my satisfaction, I beheld the coach and horses (albeit still stationary) not more than a quarter of a mile from the house. On the driver coming up, I inquired if this was his third stoppage, and whether he liaa succeeded in ex- tricating the coach after I had left it. He good humoredly it guessed " not ; this had only been his second " fix," and he "rayther " expected it would be his last before he reached Syra- cuse, as he knew where he now was, and the rest of the road was a little better than what we had passed through the preceding night. It was therefore obvious that I must have been flounder- ing about nearly in a circle since leaving the coach, for I had as- suredly walked the distance three or four times over, althoiY'^ I had not in reality made more than a quarter of a mile of actual progress. On reaching the spot where we stood, the driver immediately, and as matter of course, put the services of the passengers under contribution, and they all repaired to the coach once more. Rails were taken from the fences near, and with those they raised and propped the wheels and body of the carriage, until the horses were enabled to do their'part of the duty, and extricate the coach, which was now driven up to the house, where a rude breakfast had in the meantime been prepared. This was voraciously eaten by those who had no particular repugnance to it. The remainder of the journey, performed as it was by daylight, was unmarked by similar disaster, or even by risk, although our hones continued to ache from the violent joltings of the preceding night. Some idea may be formed of the infamous state of the roads from the fact, that, during one portion of the journey, we made l£i EIUHT YEARS IN CANADA. 17 ^1 •4 only 11 miles in 12 hours, and were altopether 25 hours in reach- ing our destination, a distance of 50 miles. It has often since been my fate to encounter difficulties of this kind in Canada, and occasionally in the States ; but nothing I have ever since experi- enced, has at all approached this memorable journey between Utica and Syracuse. Whoever wishes to satisfy himself| must try it at the season of the year I have named ; and should he com- plain of the vileness of the road, he will in all probability have the consolation to lea: , as I did, that had he deferred his journey for a month or two, he would have found it belter. Our first entrance into Syracuse had nothing to tempt us to re- main there longer than a change of conveyance would require, for on desiring an Irish porter to unstrap a trunk from behind the coach, as it stood before the principal hotel, he replied that " He would be d — d if he did. If I wanted the trunk on, I might un- ptrap it myself." As soon, therefore, as I could get the baggage re- moved, we proceeded by the horse cars which run between Syra- use and Auburn, a distance of twenty-five miles, and reached the latter place about nine o'clock the same evening. As a "set off" to the insolence of the Irishman, I feel plea- sure in here recording the very obliging conduct of an Ame- rican, one of my fellow-passengers, from Utica. From the first moment of our being thrown together in American stage-coach misery, this amiable man, who was a substantial farmer on his way to visit a rich daughter at Seneca Falls, perceiving that I was a stranger, and even suspecting me to be on my way to Ca- nada to fight against the Patriots and Sympathizers, was most for- ward in tendering that r.ssistance which he conceived my igno- rance of the customs of tne country so much demanded. Ollen, when I sought in vain for the aid of the driver, would this good Samaritan tender his services, frequently lifting my luggage with his own hands whenever it might be necessary, and always ascertaining, not only that it was properly secured, but that no parcel was deficient. This certainly was disinterested kindness, and induced wholly by a benevolent disposition. As such I felt it, and my sense of the service was heightened by the very fact that he did not seem to think himself privileged to force his con- versation upon me farther than I was disposed to invite it. On parting with him, I gave him my card, took his name, which I now forget, and promised, if ever I should visit the neighbor- hood in which he resided, to make it an especial j^oint to call upon him. The evening of our arrival at the beautiful and neat cottage- studded village of Auburn was Saturday ; and as we were not in- clined again to run the risk of being cooped up with eight fat " insides," after paying for one third of the places they occupied, we determined on passing the night and part of the following day in Auburn, for the double purpose of resting from the fatigue and jolting we had so recently endured, and (if possible) visiting its celebrated Penitentiary. On the next day, therefore, after having despatched a somewhat late breakfast, we bent our course to- wards that imposing pile of building. The governor was already gone to church ; and on my stating to the porter the object of my visit, he inforned me that the Penitentiary was never open on the Sabbath to others than the ollicers connected with the establish- 10 EIGHT YEARS IN CANADA. •', W f If . ment. I however loft my card, requeatins; that he would ncquauit the governor, on his return, that the gentleman whose name it bore was a stranger travelling through the country, and intending to depart from Auburn on the following morning. I added that I would call again between one and two o'clock, when I trusted I should find an exception to the rule had been made in my favor. At the hour named, we returned, and met the governor near the principal entrance. Ho received us very kindly, and expressed his ready assent 'to my request. He then, after some little con- versation of a desultory kind, led the way, attended by the chap- lain of the establislnnent, into the body ol the building, and showed us whatever was to be seen. In consequence of its being Sunday, the whole of the convicts were in their cells, (these latter some six hundred in number, and filling corridors of stone, which rose, tier after tier, above each other,) and as we passed along, the ex- pression of the countenances of those, who, attracted by the unu- sual sound of a footfall on that day, had instinctively moved to the front or open grating of their cells, was profoundly melancholy to behold. The sympathies of the human mind appeared to have been withered up in each breast, for almost every face bore the stern impress of a fixed and stubborn despair, which no ray of light or hope could ever again penetrate. One man only, of the number of those whose faces I beheld, suffered the rigi(iity of hia features to relax even for a moment, and he was a Negro. This man absolutely seemed pleased when he saw me with a counte- nance not many shades lighter than his own ; but it was evident that his was the idle and vacant grin of a mere animal and gia- tified curiosity. From the cells, which (necessarily fetid from the close confine- ment of so great a mass of human beings, notwithstanding the at- tention that is paid to the enforcement of a system of cleanliness among them), I was not sorry to leave, we were conducted to the large, commodious, and airy apartments of the women, and thence to the spacious chapel. Our mspection being finished, the go- vernor led us again to the lower basement, where the dining rooms and kitchens are situated. The latter were well furnished with meat, of which the best quality is given to the convicts, and the bread had so tempting an appearance that I expressed a desire to be permitted to cany away a small piece of it as a sample. There were two of the convicts (cooks) in the kitchen at the time preparing the next meal for their companions, and the governor addressing one of them, desired him to cut a small square off a loaf. The man did so without replying; but, a moment after- wards, seemingly at a loss how to dispose of it, he turned to the governor, and said briefly, and in an enquiring tone, " Paper ?" " Yes, put it in paper, and tie it up." This was the only sound of the human voice we had heard from that mass of living matter, during the period of our visit. It vibrated harshly on the ear, as though the man had, in infringing the regulations, done violence to himself; and for days afterwards, that peculiarly uttered word ** Paper ?" came, at intervals, inharmoniously to my recollection* '"' From the building itself, and after having pointed out the very excellent arrangements of the keepers' department, which are ne- cessarily on an extensive but simplified scale, our polite conduc- tors led the way across the court to the difiereiit work-rooms, EIGHT YEARS IN CANADA. 19 CI, as where almost every description of trade was in tlie course of being carried on ; but wnat most excited my curiosity and attention was the extreme beauty of many of the carpets that are made in this establishment. From tiie whole, a handsome revenue is derived, and this, after deducting the expenses of all connected with the S risen, is paid into the State Treasury. From Captain Basil Hall's escription of them, I had some curiosity to see the narrow passages in which the keepers, or overseers, have the power o< oeing ever near the workmen, and are thus enabled to detect un- seen any violation of the prescribed rules of the place. They were carefully pointed out to me by the obliging governor, and I found them exactly as described. Tne narrow corridor, enclosed on either side, and running along the outer extremity of the work- rooms, is provided with an estrade elevated some feet above the floor of the apartments, and is lined in such a manner that the footfall cannot be heard by the acutest ear. The inner side of the corridors, which are of wood, are perforated, at certain distances, much after the manner of loop-holes for musketry, so that the dis- tance of the eye from the surface of the partition which is visible from the work-room, is so great as to prevent it, applied as it is to so narrow an aperture, from being seen by those within, while it, on the other hand, commands a view of the actions of the convicts. Our examination of the work-rooms having been concluded, the worthy governor introduced us to a very neat garden — also the fruit of the labor of the convicts— which adjoined the building, and on which much pains and horticultural taste had been ex- pended. Soon afterwards, we took our leave, deeply impressed with the urbanity of those who had cheerfully sacrificed to strangers so much of a day devoted, not more to religious exer- cises, than to their own necessary leisure ; and returned, with gra- tified curiosity, but oppressed spirits, to the hotel. Having agreed with the coach agent to be conveyed on to Ro- chester, a distance of sixty-four miles, in an « extra," for which I was to pay the moderate charge of thirty dollars, we left Auburn on the afternoon of the same day, and under a much more decided feeling of independence, it will be presumed, than when we saw the fat men get into the coach at Utica. The driver was in good spirits, the horses seemingly delighted that they had not a greater weight to drag ; and away we darted from the crowded front of the hotel, amid the flourishing of the whip, which was a bad imitation, both in sound and execution, of that of a French postillion. The day had been ushered in with a genial warmth, not usual in America at that peason of the year, and it was this consideration chiefly which had induced us to avail ourselves of the afternoon to get on as far as Geneva, between which pretty village and Auburn there was, we had been informed, some pic- turesque views to be obtained. Nor were we disappointed. The undulating nature of the country presented so many features to be admired, so many attractive coup d^mls, that it was impossible to restrain a desire to revisit them when the season should be more advanced, and the foliage, that great adorner of the works of Him who clothes the hill and the valley in all the gorgeousness of nature's beauty, more fully developed. One remarkable feature in this day's journey was the enormous length of a disproportionately narrow bridge traversing the Lake of 20 RIGHT YEAHS IN CANADA. Caytiga (one mile aivi eight rods in extent), over which we passed at the close of the day, of course at a walk. This, to a nervous per- son, m\ist be exciting in a high degree. The starting of one of the horses, the meeting of another team, the throwing off of a wheel, all are accidents that might be apprehended from one who, looking fronr. either window of the coach, could see only a few feet of bridge on either side, and beyond this a vast and deep sheet of water, which, in a season of tempest, must lash with no ordinary fury against the road that barely overtops its surface. No railing of any kind affords even the appearance of a safeguard to the passenger, so that one's only trust is in Providence, on the one hand, and the skill of the driver, and the proverbial tractability of the American horses, on the other. The sun was just rising when we left Geneva, picturesquely si- tuated at the head of Lake Seneca, where we had slept, and the view, as we rose to the eminence which overhangs the village, was for several miles around exceedingly beautiful ; nor indeed did the scenery lose much of its attractive power during the whole of our route to Rochester. This latter place we reached about four o'clock, and as 1 had taken my "extra" only thus far, I was compelled here to hire another to Youngstown, on the Niagara Frontier, which was the termination of our land journey, before crossing, at that i)oint, into Canada. For this — the distance being eighty miles — '. paid an additional forty dollars. In the evening, we resumed our journey, and as we passed through the streets of Rochester, I could not but admire the vast improvement, both in the size and respect- able appearance of the place, which had been effected in the short ]>eriod that had elapsed since Captain Hall had described it as a "city of stumps." The Americans are unquestionably a "go-a- head " people, and although it frequently happens that they who build almost irretrievably ruin themselves, their successors are certain to reap a lasting benefit from their labors. The Genessee Falls I had not an opportunity of seeing to advan- tage, although I caught, as I passed near them, occasional glimpses of their spray, and heard them dashing and hissing against whatever impeded their headlong course. Late at night, we reached the mise- rable hamlet of Clarkson, where, as if to make amends for bad ac- commodation, there was a heavy fall of snow during the night, that offered some hopes of our wheels being exchanged for runners for the remainder of the route. But this was too desirable to be true. The following morning brought with it a heavy thaw, and the only result was, that the roads, which had hitherto been tolerably good from Auburn, were again rendered heavy and unequal. Fortunately, our journey this day was, as far as Lockport, along what is called the ridge road, sandy in its nature, and from its regularity, and the almost unbroken evenness of the bottom between the ridge itself and the distant body of water, bearing the most indisputable evidence of having once formed a portion of the boundary of Lake Ontario. During this drive, an amusing and characteristic incident oc- curred. At one of the inns where we stopped to change horses, a small knot, consisting of the occupants of some half dozen dwell- ings, that rose stragglingly around the public house, were assem- bled, and looking with much apparent interest and curiosity at the " extra," in which, having felt no inclination to alight, I was indo- lently reclining. Presently, a tall personage— evidently one in au- '"■■I'i^ EIUHT TEARS IN CANADA. 81 thority above his follows- detached himself front his party, and, ap- proaching the coach, cast his ffianc:; upon the baggage that wm piled on the outside of the vehicle. He then deliberately placed his arms across the open window, and thrusting his head in, proceefled to examine the interior in a spirit of great curiosity. I bore this for some time with becoming patience, but perceiving that he was not inclined to discontinue his insncotion, I abruptly demanded to know if he wanted anj-lhing? " No, Mr. Durham, no," he very quietly rejoined, <^ I am the stage agent here, and I was merely louking to see if vour bag:gage was all right. That's all, Mr. Durham," and he looked signiticantly at me, as though he meant to convey that ha had detected an English Governor travelling for security under a feigned name. This was too good a jest to be lost or nipped in the bud. To be taken for John George, Earlof Durham, without retinue or even a servant, travelling along the shores of Lake Ontario in a crazy " extra," was rich beyond measure, and on no account could I have undeceived the simple agent. « I thank you," I simply said, with a very condescending bow, that might have satisfied him I was the person he supposed, <'I think, however, that everything is secure." By this time the driver had remounted his box, and the coach began to move, " Good bye, Mr. Durham," saluted my friend, touching his hat slightly, << I wish you a jpleasant journey." Again I bowed very gravely, and, as the wheels rolled on, I could observe him returning to the group, evidently for the purpose of assuring them that he had made the sapient discovery that I was actually the Governor General of Canada travelling incog, to his destination. From Lockport to Youngstown I was forcibly impressed with the wildness of the scenery, which is everywhere peculiar to the newly-settled parts of America, but which, after so long an absence from the country, had nearly faded from my recollection. The tall, seared and blackened pine, which rises at intervals between myriads of burnt stumps in their several stages of decay — the rude and zig- zag fence — the moss-covered log — the screaming blue-jay, and the scarlet-headed woodpecker, whose measured hammerings against the trunk of the blasted pine, ring loudly in the melancholy stillness that otherwise reigns around — all these, with an occasional warble from the more merry meadow-lark, just stirring into activity and song, constitute a picture so essentially American, that its similitude is not to be found in my other part of the world. In the early Spring, and before any symptom of vegetation has made its appearance, these features are so marked that they /ail not to communicate a dulness to the spirit of the disappointed: traveller, who sighs in vain for the green hedges and grassy fields of smiling England, peopled as these are by bleating herds, and the thousand sweet-tongued birds, whose every note is melody. During the whole of the route from New York to Rochester there had occurred isolated instances of this semi- barbarous cultivation, but principally was it remarkable on ap- proaching and after leaving Rochester. We reached Lewiston, a few miles below the Falls of Niagara, about six o'clock ; and from that point beheld, for the first time since my return to the country, and in its most interesting aspect, the Canadian shore. Opposite to Lewiston is the small village of Queens- ton, and overhanging the latter, the heights on which my early friend and military patron — the warrior beneath whose bright example my young heart had been trained to a love of heroism, and who hud D 22 EIGHT YEARS IN CANADA. I II \i procured mc my first commission in the nervice — had peririlied in iioblfi hut unequal conflict with a foe invading almofit from tho snot on which I stood. More than five-and-twenty ^eaix had gone oy, but the memory of the departed lirock lived as vividly in the hearts of a grafpfiil rioopleas it had in the early days of his tail ; and in the monument wliicli crowned the height, and which no ruffian hand had yet attempted to desecrate, was evidenced the strong and firaisewor- thy (Ifsire to perpetuate a memory as honored as it was loved. This moment was to me particularly exciting, for it f>rou!;ht with it the stirring reminiscences of tlie camp, and caused me to revert to many a trying scone in which my younger days had been passed. Since that period I liail numbered a good many years, and had expe- rienced, in other dimes, a more than ordinary portion of the vicissi- tudes of liuman life; but not one of themo had the freshness and warmth of the recollection of my earlier services in America, In which (independently of the fact of my having been present at the capture of Detroit, under the gallant soldier whose oones reposed beneath the monument on which my gaze was rivctted,as if through the influence of an irresistible fascination) I had been i)rcsent in five general engagements, and twelve months a prisoner of war with the enemy before attaining my seventeenth year. These were certainly not <* piping times of peace," and I must be pardoned the egotism of incidenlally alluding to them. Puisuin"^ our course from Lewlston, along the high banks of the Niagara River, we reached Youngd awu and aihnirutioU) would iiavo been nxcMtod on my first view of tlio mighty torront. — I confe«H I wa« disappointtnl. 1 felt admiration, but acknowledged no awe. I had t'ViKfcttMJ to turn the mass of water tumbling;, foaming, from Bomuthnijjf like a hei;iht, and thrralenin;,', at ev«!ry moment, t«) enshroud the wnectator in one huy;e sheet of prismatic spray, and to plunge liim nito tho vortex which forme«l its bed ; whereas, on paminjj the table rook I remarked, a few feet below mo, a largo flat sheet of water, that ^nr<^led, and hissed, and lashed itself into fury at its immediate (Kiint of descent, but which, as fur as tho eye could reach above, presented an almost unbroken uniformity of surface. It is this want of intignlarity, added to tlie absenco of correspond iny; scenery, that robs the Falls, in my estimation, of much of the imi^sinj; j^raiuhiur that otherwise attaches tothetn. — What would not be the eifect upon the mind and tho imagina- tion, if the vast volume of water that incessantly lashes tho gi'»anti(3 rock, were to come bounding and leaning down amid the chain of Pyrenean mountains, tho caps of which are so often lost in tho dense clouds which overhang them. Then, indeed, might tho never-sated eye acknowledge that nothing of grandeur or sub- limity could bo found in nature to surpass them. But, although my first approach to the Falls was not marked by theso astounding sensations declared to be inseparable from u sudden proximity to so vast and so magnificent a sheet of water, I confess that the longer I lingered near them, tho more was I filled with astonishment at iheir immensity. From the first crea- tion of tho world this vast tide of fresh and impetuous water had, in all probability, continued to pour forth its mighty strength into the boiling cauldon below, and yet the predomhiant feeling of tho spectator is a desire to comprehend whence are derived the ab- solute seas which in endless succession leap, hiss, reel, dance, and then as it were recovering themselves from tho dizziness pro- duced by their fall, raovo rapidly on to tho whirlpool, where being subject to the samo rapid and rotatory motion, they at length issuo purified and calm and after minglin'; with tho waters of the great Lake Ontario, pursue thei. onwaru course througli the St. Law rence, and finally empty themselves into tho Ocean. — And whence indeed, and where the source of that incomprehonsiblo volume of fresh water, unimpregnated with one saline particle ? True it comes immediately from Lake Erie — from Lakes St. Clair, and Huron beyond that, and originally from the majestic Superior itself; but how, again, aro ;hesefed? Unsupplied fiom other sources of commensurate magnitude, a few short years would suf- fice to drain offthe whole of the waters of those lakes, and yet so mys- teriously renewed are they that, instead of any declination of tho rivers of the West J, after an absence of nearly twenty-five years. ii ZIOHT TEAliS m C^yitiA. : ,' il found that they had every where overstepped their former bown- daries, and, in some instances, even had swept away dwelling- houses once familiar to my infancy, and whicn I looked for in vain. Whence, then, I repeat, does this ^reat and incomprehen- sible mass of living water derive its bemg ? A tri»i"ipnant an- swer is to be found in the following extract from a jraall work, entitled " Dick's Christian Philosophy " : — •' Water has been ascertained to be a compound body, formed by the union of two different kinds of air, oxgen and hydrogen. It has the property of becoming, in certain cases, much lighter than aii' ; though in its natural liquid state it is eight hundred times heavier than that Huid, and has also the property of afterwards resuming its natural weight. Were it not for this property, evaporation could not be produced ; and, consequently, no clouds, rain, or dew, could be formed, to water and fertilize the different regions uf the earth. But, in consequence of this wonderful property, the ocean . jcomes an inexhaustible cistern to our world. From its expansive surface a:e extracted those vapors which sup- ply the rivers, and nourish the vegetable productions of every land. ' The air and the sun,' says an elegant writer, ' constitute the mighty engine, which works without intermission to raise the liquid treasure ; while the clouds serve as so many aqueducts to convey them along the atmosphere, and distribute them at seasonable periods, and in regular nroportions, through all the regions of the globe.' " Notwithstanding the properties now stated, motion was still required, to secure all the advantages we now derive from the liquid element. Had the whole mass of waters been in a stagnant state, a thoiwand inconveni- ences and disastrous consequences would have ensued. But the All-wisa Creator has impressed upon its various masses a circulating motion which preserves its purity, and widely extends its beneficial influence. The rills pour their liquid stores into the rivers, the rivers roll their watery trea- sures into the ocean ; the waters of the ocean, by a vibratory motion, roH backwards and forwards every twelve hours, and by means of currents and the force of rivers, are kept in constant agitation. By the solar heat, a portion of these waters is carried up into the atmosphere, and, in the form of cloud?^, is conveyed by the winds over various regions, till it descends in rain and dew to supply the springs which run among the hills ; so that there is a constant motion and circulation of the watery element, that it may serve as our agent for carrying on ihe various processes ot nature, and for ministering to the wants of man and beast. " In fine, were the waters in a perpetual state of stagnation, the filth of populous cities would be accumulated to a most unwholesor la degree ; the air would be filled with, putrid exhalations, and the ve'^etable tribes would languish and die. Were they deprived of the property of being evapo- rated (in which state they occupy a space sixteen hundred times greater than in their liquid state) rain and dew could never be produced, and the earth would be turned into a ' dry and parched wilderness' ; neither for nse : our clothes, when washed, could not be dried ; and a voriety of com- mon operations, which now conduce to our convenience ond comfort, eould never be carried on. But the infinite wisdom of the Creator, fore^ seeing all the effects which could probably arise from these principles ot nature, has effectually provided against such disasters, by arranging all things in number, weight, and measure, to subserve the beneficial ai^ for which they were ordained." la accordance with the system above propounded, it is pro- bable that, by reason of the exemption of the waters of America from that brackishness which is ol'ten to be discovered in rivulets and rivers which empty themselves into the sea, the lakes per- form, for their own tributary streams, what ocean itself does for Vi EIGHT TBATIS IN CAVA^A, as other parts of the world. The evaporation which rolls hack- wards and re-suppliea their sources, comes from the vast lakes themselves, the currents of which are even less powerful than those of the Atlantic, and are consequently more predisposed to the evaporating process. That the lakes themselves ar^ voluminous enough to purvey, in the manner above shown, to their own sus- tenance, will be evident to the European reader from the follow- ing statistics: — ... " Lake Superior is 400 miles long, 80 wide, 900 feet deep, and con- tains 23,000 square miles. It ia 594 feet above the level of tide water. "Lake Michigan ia 220 miles long, 60 miles wide, J, 000 feet deep and 578 feet above the tide water. It contains 22,000 square miies. " Lake Huron is 240 miles long, 86 miles wide, 1,000 feet deep, and contains 20,000 square miles. It is 270 feet above the tide water. *' Green Bay is 105 miles long, 20 miles wide, and contains 2,000 square miles. •• Lake Erie is 240 miles long, 40 miles wide, ^ '' feet deep, and con- tains 9,000 square miles. It is 595 feet above tide ./ater. " Lake Ontario m 108 miles long, 25 miles wide, 500 feet deep, and contains 600 square miles, it is 232 feet above tide water. •' Lake St. Clair is 20 miles long, 14 miles wide, 20 feet deep, and contains 600 square miles. It is 570 feet above tide water. " The American Lakes are computed to contain 1,700 cubic miles of water — more than half the fresh water on the globe." From the above, for which I am indebted to a recent American compilation, it will be seen that the whole of the vast bodies of water here described, are, with the exception of Lake Ontario, situated beyond the Falls of Niagara, and consequently form the enormous tide — renewed without cessation — ^which has continued to leap for time immemorial down the stupendous precipice. There are many other Canadian, or rather American, lakes, which are not included in the above statistics, and these, although not composing any part of the mass which feeds the torrent, con- tribute, by their evaporating power, to afford nourishment to the whole. There is, to thoso who are fond of looking over albums and scrap-books, and tracing the characters of men through their writings, plenty of food for this amusement in the host of manu- scripts which are " strewed thick as leaves in Vallembrosa " on the tables of the visitors' room, which overlooks the Fall. Here the sensible and the silly, the witty and the witless, the grave, the gay, the refined, the vulgar, tae daring, the timid, the saint, the infidel, the young, the old, the black, the white — in fine, every description, age, and shade of the human family — are wont to pour forth their effusions, and to " hyeroglyphic " tneir names, until in the end such a galamatias of absurdity is offered to the eye that it is difficiilt for the educated stranger not to fancy that he has at length stumbled upon the written language of Babel. Among the most distingues of the names inserted in this " pot jh\.rri," were those of Hamilton, Hall, the KemI les, Miss Marti- neau ; and these will naturally tend, inteixnixed as mey are with those of the ignobler mass, to the preservation of records which else might, for the credit of those who chiefly contribute to their formation, be as well committed to the flames, or tumbled into the Fall itself. ,. ... ; . . 20 EIOHT TEARS IN CANADA. At the period of my arrival in Canada, the people were in a state of feverish excitement. The conduct of those, who, for a long series of years, had been aiming at the overthrow of British connexion, making certain assumed local grievances a pretext for the accomplishment of their guilty object, had created a most powerful and resolute feeling in the minds of the loyal portion of the inhabitants ; while, on llie other hand, the utter discomfiture of their plans, in the di3i)ersion of the rebels and the flight of their principal leaders, led the vancjuished party to cherish in silence a stubborn viudictivenessoffeehng against their conquerors, which, although not openly avowed, was manifested in the ulterior policy pursued by their party. Sir Allan M'Nab — the gallant, gay, and generous leader who had headed the flower of Canadian loyalty against the brigands at Navy Island — had, since the dispersion of that force, and the signal destruction of the Caroline steamer over the Falls of Niagara, returned home ; and several of the leaders, taken in arms, were at that moment in the course of being tried at To- ronto, where the Assizes were sitting. Among these were Lount, Mathews, and Theller : the former, an ex-Member of the Upper Canadian Parliament ; the latter, a generalissimo of the Sympa- thizers, who had been taken on board the scliooner Anne while in the act of bombarding the small and defenceless town of Am- herstbuigh, in the Western District. Theller condKCted his de- fence in such a manner as to show that, not being a Canadian subject, he could not with propriety be charged with treasonable practices against the state, and therefore his life was spareil ; but Doth Lount and Mathews were sentenced to perish on the scaf- fold. I was present at this execution, which was conducted with- out any of that excitement which might naturally have been looked for at such a crisis, and it occurred to me that I had never seen two men more mean, or less qualified, in personal appear- ance at least, either to take the initiative in party, or to be made the objects of selection for a politically crimiral procedure. While in Toronto, I of course made an especial point of waiting upon Sir George Arthur, for the purpose of delivering into his hands the letter of introduction from Lord Glenelg, and explain- ing to him the circumstances under which the seal had been broken. Sir George received me, as he always subsequently did, with much courtesy, and after a good deal of conversation on the subject of the disturbed state of the country, promised, on my de- parture, that he would not fail to comply with his Lordship's wishes the moment that a favorable opportunity should offer. I dined with him that day, and, there being only a small party as- sembled, I confess that I have seldom been more agreeably im- pressed than I was with the utter unpretendingness that pervaded his famii^ circle. Lady Arthur, the mother of a fine youth (Aid-de-Canr • to Sir George, and now a Captain in the 4th or King's Own) and several handsome and accomplished daughters, was still a remarkably good looking woman, and withal so seem- ingly exempt from that unhealthy vanity and pretension which is common to the wives of men clothed with authority, and so tho- roughly and winningly amiable in her manner, that it was impos- flible not to feel regret when the hour for departure came. Of Sir Gaorge, I had, of course, previously heard much connected li EIGHT YEARS IN CANADA. 8t with his government of New South Wales ; and although no one who understands anything of human society, and the paltry ma- chinery by which it is regulated, can be ignorant that men of merit are sought to be abased in proportion to their worth, I was nevertheless desirous to observe if I could trace any evidence of that hauteur and unamiability of character, which they, \ ho made so great an outcry against his tyranny, had ascribed to him. but, even while thoroughly persuaded that Sir George Arthur played the complete courtier in regard to myself, and had given a pro- raise he never subsequently cared to trouble himself to perform, I must confess that, not only in his outward manner he was po- lished and urbane, but in the course of our several conversations he ever gave indication of much sensitiveness and feeling, and always manifested a desire to extend every humanity, consistent with the exigencies of the times, and the high responsibility of his office, towarads the numerous soi-disant Patriots and Sympa- thizers, with whom most of the chief prisons of the province were at that time filled. But let me be just : while I attribute to Sir George Arthur in dif- ferenco in regaid to the fulfilment of the favorable views of Lord Glenelg, I must admit that an appointment in Upper CaAda was. at that moment, a matter of equal indifference to myself. I dia not court it, I did not even wi.sh it then ; and it was principally with a view to pecure his ulterioi favour, in the event of my tak- ing up my residence in Upper Canada, that I had submitted to him what, it was but natural to suppose, could not have been without fctrong influence and weight. Moreover, when later car- rying that design into execution, and "pilching my tent" for a season in Upper Canada, I seriously renewed the application, Sir George assured me that had I, in the first instance, decided on remaining in the Western Province, he would have found less dif- ficulty in giving me an appointment ; but as I had been absent for so gieat a length of time, it had now become almost a matter of impossibility, there being then a most extensive list of ap- plicants to be provided for. This excuse I received without re- monstrance or further aliasici: to the subject ; yet I could not but feel sensible, that had the inclination to appoint me not been wanting, a means might, .sooner or latter, have been fo'i"^- On the day following my first interview with Sir George, I had the pleasure of dining with Mr. Robinson, the Chief Justice of •the Upper Province — a man of high professional attainments and cultivated taste in literature — of great gentleness and urbanity of manner — of sound and penetrating judgment, and, last, but not least, of an unswerving loyalty to the Crown and a love for British institutions, which are nowhere, in Canada, to be surpassed. In the earlier days of the present century this had been honorably tested. Mr. Robinson, then a student at law, was one of the small and gallant band of volunleers who, on the departure of General Brook for the theatre of war at the commencement of hostilities in 1812, had followed that daring leader in an enterprize which ter- minated in the capture of the American General Hull and his arniy, at Detroit. Our first acquaintance was formed on that oc- casion, when we both formed part of the guard of honor that took Sossession of the surrendered fort. But, ceduent arma toga. Time ad changed the youthful soldier into the grave and courteous 28 EIGHT Y£ARS IN CANADA. judge, while I on the other hand, had aUered in nothing but in years. The Chief Justice, who has a fine and accomplished family, is one of the few people in Canada who entertain liberally. With him may be classed the ji^allant Knight of Dundurn (Sir Allan MacNab), ColonelJarvis, Superintondant of Indian Affairs, also a resident of Toronto, and J. B. Marks, Esquire, of Barriefield, near Kingston, whose house may be truly affirmed to be the home of hospitality. The weather, throughout Ihe whole of the month of April, had continued very cold, and the vegetation was indicated only in email thin patches, and at intervals. Travelling at such a season, oven in a steamboat, was not the most luxurious amusement in the world ; however as Lord Durham was almost daily expected at Quebec, and as I was anxious to be at the Seat of Government at the moment of his arrival, I left Niagara towards the close of April, and, after a short but necessary detention in Montreal, soon found myself once more, beneath the formidable walls of this second Gibraltar, or San Sebastian — Quebec. I have elsewhere intimated that I had, on leaving England, been chaff^ed with a particular and confidential mission. It was that of furnishing political information to the "Times" newspaper. A short time previous to my departure from London, I had entered into arrJingements with th^t influential journal, the proprietors of which had, through their professional agent, made me a most liberal offer. And this, even while apologizing for its smalhiess, both by reason of the fact that I was not commg to Canada ex- pressely in their service, and because a correspondent was not of absolute moment to them in a country, furnishing intelligence through the medium of its own press. The "Times" will scarcely quarrel with me, particularly as the disclosure is made in no spirit of impugnment of its liberality, when I state that offer to have been three hundred sterling per annum, exclusive of passage money and travelling expenses, which made the whole amount in Canada to exceed four hundred pounds currency, and this for merely sending home some fifty letters in the year. Well may a paper so liberally conducted, command as it deservedly does, the support and respect of the whole world. In consequence of my detention in Montreal, I did not reach Quebec until Lord Durham had been a day or two arrived. He had landed in great state — a state befitting the vice-regal charac- ter in which he came to govern the country, and his numerous and handsome equipages, and almost interminable baggage it required some days to put on shore and dispose of. Had my friend the Yankee agent who, on a recent occasion, did me the honor io mistake me for his Lordship, been present at the disembarkation of this "plunder," he would indeed have been considerably amazed. His Excellency's first levee was held on the day that I reached Quebec, and as I could not get my baggage conveyed to the hotel to which I had been recommended in sufficient time, I had the mortification to find my costume complete only when the last of the departing visitors announced its termination. The next day, Hnwever, I called, left my card and wrote my name in the visitors' book. An invitation to dinner quickly succeeded, and on the EIGHT YEARS IN CANADA. 29 following Sunday I had the honor of dining at the Castle of Saint Lewis. There was a large party assembled, consisting chiefly of the Senior Officers of the Garrison, and of the Admiral and Captrina of the squadron (some seven or eight sail in number), then lying before Quebec. The conversation in the drawing-room was of a mixed and general nature ; His Excellency, who wore the Order of the Bath on a plain dress coat, doing the agreeable to most of his guests in turn ; but when, after dinner (and this was always given d lu Fran^aise, and without any prolonged sitting over the dessert,) we again adjourned to the drawing room. Lord Durham was so good to make me the especial object of his notice, by in- viting me to take a seat on the sofa between himself and[ his beautiful sister-in-law, Mrs. Grey. Here dining two hours of un- broken conversation, he was pleased to make known tome . his projected plans of government, and sought, it was evident y.^ me, to seek my approval. So much marked attention on the part of the first Governor- General of British North America, and a nobleman so reputedly haughty as the Earl of Durham, I certainly had not the vanity to attribute to any particular merit of my own. I was well assured that in thus singling me (then a stranger to him) from the dis- tinguished company with which the drawing-room was filled. His Excellency was anxious to acknowledge the power of that mighty engine I was in Canada to represent, and which, Earl as he was, and invested with a dignity inferior only to that of the Sovereign, he felt could make or mar his diplomatic career. I had not, in the course of any previous conversation with his Lordship, made the slightest allusion to the political position in which I was placed, but I had reason to believe that this had been made known to him by others. I am particular in stating this, because I conceive it reileds credit on the character of the distinguished statesman, whose services have been so insufficiently acknow- ledged by his country, that in his views of the government of Ca- nada he was desirous of securing the approbation even of those who were opposed to him in political principle. Had Lord Dur- ham really been the unduly haughty man he has been repre- sented, that consideration never would have weighed vvith him. He would have followed his own course, as circumstances might have directed, and, satisfied of the integrity of his purpose, have yielded up the trust which had been reposed in him by his So- vereign, in the full consciousness of having done his duty, and therefore in a spirit of disregard oi all party censure. But although Lord Durham was naturally desirous that the *' Times " should think favorably of his measures, and, on all suitable occasions, put me in possession of such views of policy as he conceived to be most calculated to ensure the support of that journal, there was nothing in his language or manner to induce the slightest suspicion that he was actuated by othe r than the most straight-forward motives. He desired th^* 'lis actions should be judged solely in accordance with their own merits, and in a spirit of impartiality. He had no tortuous policy to sustain ; no selfish views to accomplish. Neither wealth nor title was to be his reward for successfully acquitting himself of the high trust confided to him. Both of these he possessed, and therefore to 90 BIOHT TEARS IN CANADA. not bo of endurinfif efR- he would at least have at the same time liave Never was there a man obtain them there could be no need of sacrifice of his integrity. Ambition, the Uudable ambition of healing? the wounds of a dis- tracted and an important colony, to which the attention of all Europe was then directed, was the chief, indeed his only aim ; and as no pkill, no strJitagy of the mere political empiric could render the curinj:? of the (lisease a creditable one, he was too proud to apply remedies which should cacy. Had he condescended to these been better thanked, while he would saved himself much unrequited trouble, whose warm honesty of purpose, as attested during hia many con- versations with me on the subject, was less understood or acknow- ledged, than that of Lord Durham, during his brief administration of the affairs of Canada. And here let me revert to his general policy. In undertaking the mission confided to him by his Sovereign, Lord Durliam never could have anticipated the restraints that were intended to be imposed upon a course of political conduct, which, to be really valuable or eflicient, required to be unre- stricted both in spirit and in letter. Had it beer otherwise, His Lordship never would have placed himself at the mercy of those, who, with the will, seem to have liad the power, to coerce liis Eublic conduct in a manner the most injurious to the interests of is new government. Even had the slightest intimation been given prior, to his departure from England, that it was the inten- tion of the Imperial Parliament to watch his career with a close and jealous eye, and to disavow whatever acts were not recog- nized by the acknowledged law of the land he was about to go- vern, it is probable that his Lordship would have stipulated, as a leading condition of his acceptance of the highly responsible of- fice, that something more should be left to the judgment (which a personal acquaintance with the country should enable him to form) than was comprehended in the mere technical reading of the act constituting the High-Commissionership. But no such limitation of power was at that time either prescribed or hinted at. Both the open and the secret enemies of Lord Durham waited until the mission had departed, and then, and not until then, they carefully conned over the act, paragraph by paragraph, manifest- ing an unworthy anxiety to seize on the slightest pretext for cast- ing censure upon M'hatover stroke of policy — no matter how indis- pensable to the peace and prosperity of the colony — should not prove to be in strict accordance with the letter of the act. Like so many Shylocks, they were resolved to insist upon the pound of flesh, and the pound of flesh only, in liquidation of the bond. Meanwhile u.s arrival of Lord Durham, at Quebec, was hailed by the united population of Canada, who had looked forward to his ad- vent with a full assurance that he came armed with extraordinary powers, suited to the emergency, and necessarily possessed of the appliances necessary to soothe the differences which had so long agitated the country. This indeed was an almost hercidean task, but I shall presently refer to the grand and comprehensive measure enteiiained by his Lordship with this object immediately in view : first, however, taking a brief survey of his general policy. The early efforts of Lord Durham were directed, in the first in- stance, to the punishment of those state prisoners whom the highly '? lM!»w." IIQHT TIARS IN CANADA. 81 culpable indecision of his predecessor (Lord Gosford) had siiflurcd to remain so long undisposed of; and in the second, to the establish- ment of such relations with the President of the United Stales as would guarantee to the Canadas the observance of a strict neutrality, in the event of any future disturbance in the country. As the act of amnesty is too much a matter of history — and of eventful history botli in itself and in its consequences — to be passed over without comment, it may be well to call the attention of the reader to the particular circumstances under which it was promulgated. Had Lord Durham's mission to Canada taken place during the progress of the rebellion, the exigency might have called for, and of course would have commanded, the stringent anplication of the power conferred by the authority (supposed extraordinary, butnot so in fact, if we are to believe the House of Lords) vested in the com- mission. In such case Lord Durham would have done what his )redecessor in the government had failed to do, and the summary )rocess of martial law, which ought to have been resorted to long )cfore his Lordship's arrival in the country, would have purged Ca- nada of the traitors whom an injudicious party spirit at home had fostered into uncompromising enemies of British rule. But Lord Durham's mission, undertaken as it was at a moment when these disturbances had apparently ceased, was not that of an avenger but of a pacificator. It was less an object with him to punish with rigor the guilty leaders of the rebellion, than to pour the oil of conciliation into the wounds of two distinct parties, mutually injured and in- juring; and with a view to this end, he, like a skilful physician, prepared a remedy for a disease which being without parallel, and of a new and extraordinary character, required some unusual ap- plication to remove it. A correct appreciation of the condition of the country, and of the almost mockery of the trial by jury, where the party accused of lolitical crimes had the power of challenging his judges, until he lad succeeded in obtaining those by whom he felt confident of jeing acquitted, at once suggpsted to the mind of his Lordship the futility and ridicule, nay, the encouragement to future acts of re- bellion, which must be consequent on the submittal, to the civil tribunal of the traitors then in confinement. Even admitting that he could have anticipated the condemnation of the rebel chiefs, the very act of referring them to an ordeal that might have entailed the punishment of death, would have been completely to have de- feated the principal object of his mission, namely, the pacification of all existing feuds between the British and French populations. It was not likely that the French Canadians would regard, with- out mistrust, the after policy of a Governor who, although profes- eedly a messenger of peace, and a reconciler of national ditfer- ences, should have commenced his career by adopting a course of severity towards their favorite leaders, which preceding adminis- trators of the Government had lacked energy to pursue, during a period of open anarchy and actual warfare. Lord Durham saw this, but he, at the same time, perceived the necessity, not only for appeasing the wounded spirit of the British portion of the Canadian family, by the infliction of punishment of some kind on the authors of tlie violence which had occurred, but for placing the uireiidiiig parties in a position which should disable 39 EIGHT YCAUS IN CANADA. them from future attempts to disturb the colony. Hence the Act of Amnesty whicli, however party may rail at, or personal enmity malign it, posterity will admit to have been one of the most elHci- ent measures for restorinj; peace to the distracted Canadas that could, at that particular moment, have been devised. Had the rebel chiefs who were exempted from a participation in this amnesty, been misled in regard to the alternative that was sub- mitted to them, there might have appeared reason for complaint that the British Government had compromised its dignity and acted un- worthily, but what was done was without disguise. They pleaded guilty to the charge of treason — vehemently even as they subse- quently denied this — and threw themselves wholly on the mercy of the High Commissioner. Nor was that mercy withheld from them. Although exiled from a country where their presence would have presented an insurmountable obstacle to the restoration of order, they were simply removed to a sister province,* the near proximity of which to their own afforded every facility for communication with their friends, whom a few years of good conduct on their own parts would have enabled them to join, nnder circumstances of ad- vantage equal to any they had previously enjoyed. No objection was olTered, no remonstrance made by themselves at the time, and the only complaint of the British population was, that Lord Durham had manifested too much lenity and forbearance. Little was it then imagined that this act of amnesty, which was undeniably the mea- sure most likely to soothe the rankling spirit of party in the Cana- dian provinces, was to be made matter of serious accusation against his Lordship at home. And wherefore ? Because, as it was assert- ed, the proceeding he had adopted was not in accordance with the strict letter of the constitution. And where was that constitution ? In abeyance. It existed not in practice. Circumstances had oc- curred which had deprived (and justly deprived) the people of it. Lord Durham had accepted his office with the express object in view of creating a new constitution, suitable o the emergencies ot the country, therefore the passing of an act founded at once upon the broad basis of justice and mercy, by the very man whom the task, not only of alleviating the present ills of the province, but of collecting materials on which to frame a new system of government, had been confided, could not be properly said to be an infringement of that which was virtually dead from the moment martial law had been proclaimed. The violation of the constitution, by Lord Durham, was, with his enemies, both public and private, a mere pretence. They well knew that circumstances had fully warranted the mea- sure of expediency ' u had adopted, and that in fact there had been no such violation oi the constitution as they affected to believe had taken place. But what though they did not so understand it ? It afforded them an irresistible opportunity to indulge in vitupera- tive censure, and, in the eyes of the world, then directing its atten- tion to the disturbed state of Canada with an interest proportioned to the magnitude of the objects at stake, to stamp the political con- duct of the man they at once envied and hated, with the seal of a *lf any legitimnte ground of complaint existml, it could only linve benn with tlw people of Bermuda, for liavinecn assured by ono of the mott influeutiul among them, that on the putso^e out they drank Lord Dcrham'i bMlth. EIGHT YEARS IN CANADA. 33 disapprobation as injudicious as it was undeserved. Tiio jealousy of Lord Brougham was especially remarkable in the course of the debates which took place on the subject in the House of Lords. Meanwhile, after the passing of what he conceived to be, and what certainly was, his equitable act of amnesty, and little antici- pating the storm which had commenced in England in the shape of pri- vate and purely personal attacks on his character, and which was so soon to rail,.' into a tornado U])on his public life, Lord Durham ])ro- ceeded with the great objects lie had in view. The outrage com- mitted by the celebrated Bill Johnson on the Sir Robert Peel steamer, afforded His Lordship an opportuftity for carrying into ex- ecution his second leading design — namely, the attainment of a full and satisfactory understanding with the American Government. His brother-in-law. Colonel Grey, was despatched on an especial mission to Washington, and in reply to the warm remonstrances of which he was the bearer, received every assurance from Mr. Van Buren not only that the strictest neutrality should be preserved, but that competent and experiencd officers should be despatched to the frontier with a view to its enforcement. These two essential objects gained — namely the disposal of the State nrisoners,and a satisfactory pledge of exertion and activity from the Government of the United States, Lord Durham next turn- ed his attention to the abuses and deficiencies of the existing laws of the country. A number of most useful bills were in the course of crea- tion ; among the principal of which were the Education Bill, the Re- gistry Bill, a Bankrupt Bill, and, what was of paramount importance in the Lower Province, a Feudal Tenure Bill. The preparation of the latter required some tact and judgment, for it was necessary so to mould the act as to reconcile prejudice and strong addiction to an- cient usages on the one hand, and a desire of undue innovation on the other. This Bill had been submitted to the Seminary at Mont- real, and had been by them favorably received. At the period of Lord Durham's subsequent most unexpected departure, when his public acts had been declared nugatory and invalid by the timid Ministry whose duty it was boldly and generously to have supported him, it was rapidly advancing to completion. The Registry Bill, more- over, was actually in type, and drafts of the same were even then on their way to England. In addition to these projected benefits, his Lordship had carried into effect one which was of the highest value to the country. The necessity for the introduction of a system of police, modelled after that of Sir Robert Peel, in a country where every facility was, in the absence of all immediate controlling power, afforded to the com- mission of crime, haa impressed itself at an early peiiod upon his sa- gacious mind. The brothels and other infamous places of resort in the city of Quebec were the theatres of unblushing guilt, to which people of all classes, and especially the numerous seamen frequent- ing the port, were in the habit of repairing. Great injury was, moreover, sustained in a commercial point of view in consequence of the latter deserting their ships and engagements. Appeals to the magistracy were vain, for either the magistracy would not redress the wrong, or, if they felt the inclination, knowing not the secret haunts of the offenders, they could not successfully interfere. A vigilant police could alone destroy the evil at its source, and purge the city of the gross stain upon its character. This was forthwith 34 BIGHT TEARS IN CANADA. • I Instituted ; and within two months iVom its formation, the moral con- dition of all classes of the people had uiuhfrgoiie a strikini^ chania;^ for the better. Armed with authority to penetrate into suspected dwellings, and to take into custody those who could not render a sa- tisfactory account of themselves, the police were not long in eradi- cating the evil. The lower orders of the people abstained through fear from frequenting the haunts of vice, while those of a better class acknowledged the more powerful influence of shame ; inso- much that insensibly the licentiousness and disorder which had at- tained a most alarming growth under preceding administrations, was sticceeded by a quiet and decorum as favorable to public and private morals as it was to public and private interests. True it is that these imj)ortant objects were not effected without a strong mani- festation of indignant clamor against Lord Durham ; nor indeed without occasional collisions between the police and the towns- people, but these ebullitions finally gave way before the general good sense which admitted the ii.iportance of the improvements introduced. The Police system, as originated in Canada by Lord Durham, is spreading itself gradually over the country. It still continues in Quebec, although on a much more limited scale than when His Lordship was there, and had at one time attained an almost equal efficiency in Montreal, where such a force is absolutely in»[ispen- sable, and has been adopted with advantage both in Kingston and Toronto. In the course of time the Police oi Canada will become a highly useful body. But these improvements, essential even as they were to the pros- perity of the country, were lesser considerations in the gigantic plan which had been formed by Lord Durham. It at once suggested it- self to the comprehensive mind of the High Commissioner that whatever advantages might be designed for Canada, they must be valueless as long as the chasm which sej)arated the British from the French Canadian population, as well in interest as in feeling, should remain open. How was this chasm to be filled up? In devising the scheme of a Federal Union of the Provinces of British North America, Lord Durham not only evinced the most thorough and statesmanlike knowledge of the difficulties with which he had to grapple, but the most ready and suitable resource in meet- ing and overcoming them. The great complaint of the British po- fiulation in Lower Canada had been the numerical superiority of the eading French Canadians in the House of Assembly, by whom all measures of improvement were overthrown, and the advancement of the province consequently retarded. To remedy this state of things, and to give a preponderating power to British interests, with- out openly aiming at the subversion of that enjoyed, nay, almost wholly monopolized by the French-Canadian population, required all the skill of the diplomatist. Lord Durham at once saw that a Federal Union of the provinces was, independently of the higher ob- jects embraced in the plan, the only measure likely to secure this, for, as Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, and Prince Edward Island, would return subjects of British origin to the infe- rior Legislature, the French ascendancy would necessarily be swamped, and thus a vast change in the political condition of the country be effected. And this without giving serious ground for complaint to the party most injured by it, or even in the slightest degree wounding their national pride. BIOHT TIARS IN CANADA. 80 That Lord Dti-^iam's nian, veiy imperfectly undprstood by them, ahoiild have encountfrud oppnNition on the part of a certain influen- tial class of the citi/ons of Montreal, is no evidence of its inetti- ciency. Unfortunately for Canada, any scheme having for its ob- ject the general good of the country is made too much the subject, notof mere party, but of individual criticism, and is measured too much by the standard of individual interest, to meet the support that is necessary to fruition. With a very few honorable exceptions, the British inliabitants of Montreal acted, during the period of Lord Durham's government of Canada, not in parties or in accordance with certain acknowledged and defined principles, bearing on the general prosperity ; but each, influenced by personal interests, ap- peared to have a political code of his own, which, whenever an op- portunity offered, he was sure to intrude upon the High Commis- sioner. This was a cause of bitter complaint with Lord Durham, who could not tolerate the vulgar assumption of those who pestered him with proposals and schemes of the most absurd, and obviously the most selflsh description, and who consequently impressed him very unfavorably with the British population as a body. There was one individual in Montreal whose pertinacity on this subject in- duced a strong feeling of aversion in the mind of Lord Durham ; and this man, wealthy but of obscure origin, and indi/Ierently educated, was in the habit of expressing his views and wishes in so confident and arrogant a manner, that his Lordship had, more than once, ac- cording to his own avowal to me, experienced difHculty in suppres- sing the inclination he felt to desire him never to intrude himself upon him again. The utter impossibility of any measure, however groat or im- portant, giving satisfaction to a people so divided in feeling — so disunited in purpose — and yet so devoted to minor interests, was obvious, and they were necessarily, from the reasons just named, the least comjiotont to pronounce a correct or impartial judgment on measures undertaken and followetl up for the general gt)od. The objection raised to the plan of a federal union of the Pro- vinces, by a portion of the Montreal Pr(;ss, was asserted to be that it would eventually place the country at large in a position to throw off all allegiance to England. This is a view difficult to be sustained. It is impossible to assume any such result could pro- ceed from the combination of measures proposed to bo adopted by Lord Durham in furtherance of this object, and there is but too much reason to infer that the objections of the people of Montreal arose, not from any well founded apprehension in regard to the working of a measure, the details of which had been made known to them, but on the contrary, from their very ignorance of those details. It was a part of the system contemplated by Lord Durham, that the Legislature of the country should embrace within its sphere of operation, all such measures and improvements as should bear on the general prosperity, while those of a purely local character should be administered as heretofore. Indeed, this was to some extent known to be the case, and they who, as I have before re- marked, either from personal or selfish motives, opposed them- selves to the measure, attempted to shew that in framing a con- stitution in some degree assimilated to that of the United States, it necessarily would result that the tie which bound Canada to tho RIGHT YKARS IN CANADA. Kmpiro mn«t bo w«nkonocl, and tho evuntuol indopendenco of the coiititry OMtaltliHlu'd. Now, oil this lu'fid, thorn nrn two cssontial oh«ervntion» to bo made. FiiHtly, tliin possihlo dirtHovoniicut of tho BritiNh North Ain»»ri('an Coloiiios t'ri'tn lMi;,diiiid had Ixx'n aiitieipntod, and wouhl havo b(Min piovciiti'd hy llm crnwiiin-j; f»!atiirH in f.ord Diirhurn'n \vnll-di:,'jjMtt'd iihiii, whit-li was, thai nnch I'rovitico hIiouM bo ro- prt-Ht'iitcd l»y two rnoinberK in the Imperial I'arhi.rnpnt. This, «Hsurodly, whih« 'rivina: to llritish North America an importanco commcnHurato with lior jj;rowin',' wcuhh, and alforlin(or bond of attachment to the Kinpire than any which has liitherto oxistctl. Secondly, it is lint natural to piesume, that in the course of time and prosperily, when these fine j)rovinces shall have risen into a position to enahlc; tlicm to take their stand ann)ng the nations of the earth, tlie chain of nominal dependence which now hinds them to Enj^lund will he cast loose. Nor need this be done violently, or without a continuance of the same maternal and fdial relations which at present unite them. 'J'hat the (^reat body of tho colonial peoi»le, who enjny an almost utter exemption from taxa- tion, while the treasures ol the mother country are lavished upon them with an unsporinji; hand, pnrveyin}>; to all their necessities, should feel it to he then interest to continue dependent on Kngland, may be readily understood ; hot it is, on the other hand, diflicult to comprehend how they should not desire to sec their country elevat- ed — after the lapse of much time it is true — in the progressive scale of nations. Contimiin^ as they now aie, the Hiitish North Ame- rican provinces can never attain this position ; while, on the con- trary, had the plan of a Federal Union, as i)roposed by Lord Dur ham, been carried into effect, not oidy would they have risen, through that union, into rapid consideration, but a means would have been supplied to the mother country of ridding herself gradually of the incubus of expense consequent on their jmssession. Nations are like families. A colony bears to an empire the same relative posi- tion that a child does to its parent : in early infancy it is nurtured with care ; in youth, trained m the way that it is necessary to en- sure its own means of subsistence ; and when it arrives at a stage of manhood, it is left to the exercise of those innate rosources which it has been taught to develope. It is quite as preposterous to assume that Canada can continue another century dependent on the gener- ous aid of England, as it would bo to exjjcct thut a man in the vigor of life and exertion should continue to drain tUo paternal substance to the dregs. But while givinj; all credit to Lord Dur! am for that vast and comprehensive scheme which was to havo united the British Nortn American Provinces to the Mother Country in a bond which distant time alone could sever, I cannot but remark on one seeming contradiction in his Report. To myself, personally, he never, in the course of his numerous conversations with me on tho subject, appeared in the slightest degree to countenance the pro- ject of a Union of the Canadas, and yet we find him, at page 110 of the Report, recommending that measure as a preparatory step to the attainment of the great and ultimate object he had in view — namely, the Federal Union. My own belief is, that Lord Durham never entertained the question of Union of the two Cana- ElUHT YliiAllb l.N CANADA. 6r das until iilUM liis Kitiirn homi-, iilihouah it would scotii fuMii what lit) NtatoN in tim very liiNt j)a;.'i) ol thu lin(ik to wiiicli I hav(« junt rofornul, that tho Fiuluiul vuHm was conrtidonid iinpiaflicalilo by him only on \m liiMt arrival in the country. Now, liord Durham was altoi^othor about six rnoMtliM in tho country, and yot, not ono month Imforo his dopartino tor En^iaiul, htf appears to havo on- tortainod th«» Mamo avorsion from tho htssor union MubHoqnontly rocommondud. WitnuHs tho fcdlowing luttur addrcN8ud tu mu in Montreal.* In this communication,writton not a month before his departure from the country, no evidcuice can be traced of his Lordship's uhscnco of hostility to the project of uniting the Canadas, but decidedly a con- trary view Is mamfcHt. There is the more reason to believe that, whatever the obstacles opposed to his own plan, Lord Durham did not, while in this country, approve or adopt that to which his suc- cessor had recourse, but that his assent thereto, as evidenced in his report, was obtaineu after his return home, t Annoxod are hia Lord.ship's communications to me after his arrival in London : tho one on tho Hubject of the ReiH)rt itMoIf — a copy of which ho sent to mo — tho other on the policy thon being pursued by Mr. Poulotl Thomson. t CHAPTER IV. In tracing the foregoing synopsis of the plans and general poliry of Lord Durham, I embrace not only what he did me tho honor to communicate lo mo on the day whon 1 first dined at the Castle of St. Lewis, but the substance of all that was elicited during thu many interviews to which I was subsequently admitted. His nttonti(m to myself personally, founded princinally, no doubt, on his desire to stand well in the estimation of ine " Times," was extremely marked indeed. The Aids-de-Camp, his Lordship assured me, were instructed to admit me at all hours, and 1 found that when, on my arrival, other visitors were in waiting, I had but to give my card to the gentleman charged with the duty of pre- sentation to ensure an immediate introduction into the audience chamber. It was during one of those interviews that Lord Durham asked me if there was any appointment in the country that I desired, and which it was in his power to bestow upon me ; adding that there was, in the mei.n time, a particular mission intended to be sent to the Indians which, if worthy of my acceptance, he would feel great pleasure in entrusting to me. I thanked his Lordship, but declined the offer, stating that circumstanced as I was, it might be inexpedient to accept any office or appointment under * Poo Appendix No. 1. t Sinco tliis voluino hn» boon compiloil, I have been informed by the Hon. Peter M'fJill of Miintrniil, who had been much in communication with Lord Dnrhum, durini; his nilininiiitration of thi> ali'iiirsof Ciinada, tiiiit Mr. rharies nullerhnd, on hi» way from the I'ppor Province to Enehmd, whitl)or, it will ho recollected, he had followed Lord Dnr- hnm some time aftor tho departure or that nobleman, rallod upon him and flated that be (I.orilDnrliiim) had abandoned bin plan of ii Ftidnral IJaioii of the Provinces, in fdvor of that to which hohiid hitherto been so 9ttunuou9ly opposed- t Sec Appendix Nos. Sand 3. as SIGHT JRAUS IM C ^AOA. h' his (i<»vernmonl, and moreover that I could bettor sorve hia policy at a distance, that ia to say, untrummeled and in a .spirit of inde- peiidence, adding that I felt assured that should I ever reuuiro iiis good offices, they would not be withheld from me. Lord Dur- ham replied with much feeling, 'you may rely " ion it that I shall never lose sight of your inieiests, whether in Ci. ..ida or in Encr- land." The mission to the Indians was, I believe, subsequently entrusted to Mr. Simpsoa of Cotvau-du-Lac — the l:\to member for Vandreuii. This grate' ul feeling on the part of his Lcidship, for I can term it no other, arose from the suppou I had given to hia policy in my communications to England. Most of these failing to meet the approval of the proprietors of tho " Times," were suppressed, but the few that were published were, as conveying a dispassionate re- view of the affairs of the province, considerecl of so much impor- tance by the "Examiner" and other lerdiut* London journals on the liberal side, that they were gladly quoted by them, and held up to the consideration of the British public. Nor were these letters the result cf any iaere whim or unworthy desire to uphold Lord Durham's policy at the sacridc^ of my own principles. I certainl • had re-visited Canada with rather a ^'o- judice against Lord Durham, and u vague impresfiion that ho would seek to rule the country with a high-handedness wholly inapplicable to ita wants and to its condition ; but his Lordship had been at such pains to ^onvey to me an accurate estimate of his designs, and had so clearly pointed out the bearings and ten- dencies of the nieasuros he proposed to adopt, that I was com- pelled to admit the injustice of the prejudice I had origin-' lly cjnceived, and to give him credit for a sincerity of motive, and an anxious desire for successful execution, which reflected the highest lustre upon his character. I moreover felt assured that the whole tenor of his policy was such as, in the disturbed state of the country, 'vould most rapidly secure its return to tranquillity. Under these circumstances, and with this conviction strongly im- pressed on my mlad, 1 should have been wanting not only iu iustice to myself, but in duty to those who sought truth at my nands, had I suffered any particular or party interests to have influencjd my commentaries on a policy I conceived to be the best adapter to a land which (another powerful consideration) was thai of my birth. In the course of the month of June, Sir John Colborne, who had just returned from a tour of inspection of Upper Canada reached Quebec. I had not yet seen this officer, but calling on him a day or two after his return, I was informed by him th it he had recei\ed Sir Henry Hardinge's letter introducing me to him. Sir John waa, what ?11 the vorld know him to be, a frank and courteous old soldier, with an erect and military carriage, and an unpretendingness that is by no means common to men conscious of being high in the public favor. I was particidarly struck with the general expression of his stiongly marked countenance, which greatly resembles that of his Grace the Duko of Wellington. In figure, however, he is much taller. The first day of my dining with Sir John Colborne was mnrk.d by a circumstance not unworthy to be recorded here. Up tc this moment gvery thing had been tranquil in the country since th« i BIOHT TBARS Uf CAttADA. 90 m affairs of St. Denis and St. Charles in the Lower Province, nnd the attack by Theller upon Amherstburg, in the Upper. Kir John had expiessed his belief that the n'uoilion was now wholly put down, ant' that no future attempt would be -nade to disturb the province, either by Patriots or Sympathizers. 0" the morning of the day m question, my wife had rejoined me from Niaajara, brmg- ing the intelligence of r sharp affair which had taken place at the *' Short Hilhi," in that District, only four days previously. I of course mentioned the cirCv'mstance to Sir John at table, adding that there were minute details connected with the account which scarcely left a doubt of its accuracy. There were several oiTicera of the Garrison present — among whom the Quarter Master General, Col. Gore, who commanded the troops at St. Denis, — and I could easily perceive, by their incredulous look, as well as that of the Staff generally, that they wholly disbelieved the report. Sir Joha himself seemed inclined to smile, and declared the thing was impossible, since had such been the case, ha would assuredly have received a despatch apprizing him of the new and threatened danger. I could not but feel that I was half ridiculed, although in p iOst courteous way, and began to suspect that there might have been a mistake in the matter ; nevertheless, I maintained my position. There are few things more absurd, in my estimation, than the narration of minute particvlars of that which is supposed to have been, but which, in fact, has never occurred. Still my conviction was strong the other way, and I remarked to Sir John that, however incref'ible it mi^ht seem, I had not the slighest doub , from the very circumstantial manner in which the inform- ation had been communicated to me, that he would later receive a despatch on the subject. Tour days afterwards I called upon him, and in the course of conversatici allusion was made vo the Short Hills affair. Sir John said that he had received no com- m' nication relative to the attack, and therefore, from the lapse of ti.ne since I had first made mention of the matter, must infer that the whole story was a hoax. I bit my lip, yet was fully satisfied that what I had communicated to him was, in substance, correct. On the fifth day, an express arrived conveying the whole of the Earticulars I had related- The difference in time was occasioned y the express travelling by land, instead of taking the steamers, and this delay did not at all seem to please Sir John. His smile was now exchanged f<^r a very serious look, for although the affair was of little importance in itself, it was impossible to divine, at that crisis, to what it mi»ht be the prelude, and in his position as Commander of the Forces, there could not but attach to him the heaviest responsibility. As this is a book in which, to suit all parties, the serious and the gay, the important and the trivial, the stern political stricture and the lively social commentary, are intended to be placed in juxta- position, I must not pass over another anecdote, which tells in some degree against myself, and which occurred at the dinner to which J have just alluded. I was seated at the centre of the table, opposite to Sir John, on whcse left was Lady Colborne, and on wiio&e right a very fine wo- . man whom I had not seen before, and whose name I had not heard announced. Colonel sat immediately on my right, and with him I had entered into that casual aid general conversation which 41) EIGHT YEARS IW CANADA. I ) results from the near proximity of comparative strangers at a dinner- talle. VVhen the dessert had been niaced, and a glass or two of claret, added to ths previously imbibea champaigne, had increased the exhilaration of all, I ventured to sav in a low tone to my neighbor, " Pray, who is that remarkably nne woman opposite to me ? ^ " That is Mrs. ," replied the Colonel, naming his wife* .. ; The well known story of « Pray, Sir, can you inform me who that ver;^ ugly woman is ?" « Yes, Sir : that is my sister." "No, no ; not her : I mean the person to whom she is talking." « That, Sir, is my wife." — at once occurred to me ; but as the question, although at best an awkward one, involved nothing that was not complimentary, I felt the more at my ease. I merely bowed as a matter of course, and Colonel , who, like every sensible husband, did not seem to be at ail displeased with this tri- bute of admiration to his wife, had the good sense to come to my aid by introducing some other casual remark. While giving tnese two anecdotes, I must not, although it is somewhat misplaced here, lose sight of another which shows, in its true colors, the generous and gaUant spirit if the old soldier, the idol of the 52nd of former years. Shortly after the arrival of Sir John Colbome in Quebec, and be- fore the departure ot Lord Durham for (Jpper Canada, a review of the troops in garrison, consisting chiefly of the Guards, then recently arrived in the country, took place on the plains of Abraham. Sir John, with a very brilliant staff, was present on the ground when I rode up, and it occurred to me that he was viewing with deep ad- miration the line body of men, drawn up in line, whom it had never before boen his fortune to have submitted to his inspection. Soon after' *rd8, Lord Durham, accompanied by his no less showy staff, at the head of whom was his Military Secretary, Colonel Couper, made his appearance, and both corteges having united under a salute of artillery, they passed slow'y along the line. The troops then broke into open column, right in front, marched past in slow and quick time, and, after a few evolutions, which they performed in their usual masterly style, were moved off the ground. Lord Dur- ham, with his staff, first left the field, and Sir John followed, at some little distance in advance of the troops, then retiring in sec- tions. 1 had taken up a position where I could, at my leisure, see them defile into the high road, through the wide gate which com- municates with the enclosed plains, and as Sir John pas-^ed me I of course touched my hat. He immediately left the main oody of his staff, and trotting his horse up to me, asked, with an exultation in his manner I had never previousli' remarked, whether 1 had ever seen a more splendid body of men, or troops who went through their evolutions in a more steady and masterly manner. I, truly enough, re^iiied that I never had, among the troops of any continental ser- vice, seen an infantry force that could, either in appearance or discipline, be compared with them. I confess I was at the time somewhat surprised that so old and distinguished an officer as Sir John Colborne should have asked the opinion of one who it was a food deal the fashion at that period to affect to slight, as having een, even though with the sanction of the Horse Guards, in the service of Spain ; but when I subsequently reflected that they were only the « feather-bed " soldiers of the present British army who EIGH'l TiUnS. IN CAMADA. 41 afTectcd lo contemn what they could not understand, and by no means those to whom active service of any kind was familiar, I was at no Iocs to comprehend the delicate compliment which had been paid to me, or the warm and soMier-like feeling which had drawn it forth. Although the delivery of Sir John Colborne was at all times quick and impetuous, his manner, while kind, was re- served ; and therefore the departure on this occasion from his wonted habit conveyed to the troops, whose eulo^^ium he, with the generous spirit of the old soldier was anxious to pronounce, one of the high- est tributes of praise that could have been rendered. The arrival of Sir John Colborne in Quebec, where he wls subse- Suently sworn in as Administrator of the Affairs of the Province uring the absence of the Governor General, enabled the latter to put in execution his project of a visit of inspection to the Upper Province. A very nne steamer — the John Bull — was chartered and fitted up in such a manner as to afford accommodation to the whole of '-is Lordship's familjr and sait^ as far as Montreal. Here he remained some days, and in one Ox" the principal cabins, which had been fitted up as a library, he received the deputations which were conveyed to him by various public bodies in the city. It was on this occasion that he was so pestered witl. the plans and advice of the person to whom 1 have already alluded. A great many stories are recounted in Canada of Lord Durham's haughtiness of character and irritability of temper, as manifested dur- ing this excursion, but the parties relating them seem to have lost sight of the fact that haughtiness and irritability would have 'been exhibited by any man filling, for the first time, the high station he did in a country where as little respect appeared to be paid to rank as would hp.ve been evinced oy the veriest democrats on earth. His Lovdship had not, certainly, left England under the impression that he should find in Canada manners and habits so seemingly repub- lican, that the only wonder to him was how its inhabitants could entertain the slighest dislike for American institutions. If, there- fore, he experienced disappointment, and even restlessness, on find- ing that he had undertaken to legislate for those who seemed to be wholly ignorant of the essentials of a proper and decorous courtesy, the fault was with themselves, and not with him. . 1 have had some hesitation before determining to give these anec- dotes "<. pi ace in this work ; but as in all probability they may find the' n "^ into the world through some other channel less favorably disp : V- t> judge of Lord Durham's motives, and as everything Wi.A: .a^ s to this distinguished, yet unfortunate statesman, can- not fail ;^ le read with deep interest by his numerous friends, ac- quaintances, and dependents, as well as by the British pubjl.^ gen- erally. I have thought it advisable to record them as I have heard the several stories relaied by parties more or less interested. As the sea had the hardihood to set bounds to the ambition of Canute, so did the rapids of the St. Lawrence to the luxurious com- fort with which Lord Durham had surrounded himself on board of the John Bull. Although a very large sura of money had been expended on this steamboat, she could not, of course, get higher v\t than Montreal, and thus His Excellency's family and suite vvT "^ compelled to have recourse to the alternate land and M'ater trfiv.ijlirig then incidental to the route to the Upper Lakes. The Cobourg steamer had also been chartered for him, and in this ho m SIGHT TBABS tlf CANADA. pmbarked at the last landing-place communicating vritli Kingnton ; but the accommodations were ho immeasurably inferior to those of the John Bull, that his Lordship felt no inchnation to make it his home. At Kingston he disembarked, and took up his abode Bt the British North American Hotel, requiring that the landlord should clear the house of all lodgers, while he (Lord Durham) remained m it. This was accordingly done, and, of course, the summary dispossession gave great umbrage to many of the persons residing in the house, whence, in all pr^' ability, the bitter acri- mony with which they ever allude to his Lordship's visit to Upper Canada. Only one gentleman — whom I know personally, and who, indeed, related to me the fact — positively refused to leave the house, and, independently of his own apartments, frequented the room near the entrance-hall, which is universally known in America as the " bar-room." Men who have been any time in Canada become inveterate cigar-smokers. Before breakfast, after breakfast^ at noon, before dinner, after dinner, and to a late hour at night, the cigar is in perpetual demand, and one who wishes to refer to a newspaper, or to examine the address- book for the name of a fr; C must thread his way — half- choked, half-blinded — through ? i. osphere of smoke nearly as dense as a London fog. Nor is i: mmoderate passion for the cigar confined to any particular ciass. Merchants, shop-boys, government-clerks, officers of the regiments and detacnments quartered in the several cities and towns, members of the provin- cial parliament — all seem devoted to the fascinating "weed." But most of all the Father of smokers, as he reputedly is of the Ca- nadian press- — the Hon. John Neilson, long a member of the House of Assembly, and recently called to the Legislative Council, This gentleman, who is, or was until very recently, editor of the " Quebec Gazette," I do not recollect ever to have seen, during those sessions of parliament in which he bore a part, without a cigar in his mouth, unless when actually in his place in the house. Indeed, I am half-inclined to think that the honorable and universally-respected Nestor is indebted to his copious use of the " weed " for much, if not all, of the bitterness and quaintness which are so remarkable in his speeches and writings. The gentleman to whom I have alluded, as having absolutely refused to leave the hotel at Lord Durham's desire, formed no exception to the class of smokers I have described. One morning he was indulging in the bar-room, in the customary luxury, when his Lordship, who was passing from the vestibule into the hall which led to his drawing-rooms, immediately detected the smell of tobacco, and sniffing the air with that eagerness which a man sometimes evinces even when he does not expect to be regaled with the most odoriferous perfume, called out that there was somebody smoking in the house, and forthwith summoned the landlord. Mr. Macdonald, a t^mid and retiring man, heard the charge made by his Lordship — well knew who was the offender — -but being satisfied that were it discovered he had, contrary to his Lordship's desire, suffered any stranger to remain in the house, he should encounter his severe displeasure, suggested that he might have been deceived. He promised, nevertheless, to make instant inquiry, and if he should find that the crime of smoking had actually been perpetrated, to take such measures as would liaHT TSABS IN CANADA. 49 Srevont a repetition of the offence. Lord Durham^ itill sulfiing le polluted air, and giving every indication of the nausea he ex- perienced, then ascended, much disconcerted, to his own imme- uiate apartments. Another anecdote is narrated as having occurred while he wag at the British North American. Being extremely fastidious about the eggs that were set before him at breakfast, his Lordship com- plained that they were not sufficiently fresh, and sent his valet to the landlady with a desire that an egg warm from the nest should be p;ocured for him. The eggs, according to the good hostess, were the freshest that could be had, and always " laid " within a few hours of the time when they were eaten. To obtain one absolutely warm from the nest was not, however, so easy of ac- complishment, but she hit upon an expedient. She descended to the kitchen — took up one of the recently-laid eggs, and dipped it for a second or two in hot water, then reappearing before the ser- vant, placed the plate which contained the egg in his hand, stating that, as he might perceive from the warmth, it was one just laid, which she would immediately boil for his Lordship. This was done, and the egg eaten under the impression that it had been fresh from the hen wlien boiled. The charge of haughtiness is brought against his Lordship in the two following brief anecdotes : While seated or walking on the deck of the Cobourg, the mate approached, with the view of doing someiiiing to the jolly-boat, which was lashed to the quarter. His Lordship flew into a vio- lent passion, and, demandnig to know how he dared come near that part of the vessel while he was there, ordered him away immediately. On another occasion, one of the waiters of the Cobourg either carried something to the Earl, or was met by him without a jacket, and with his short sleeves tucked up. His Lordship was highly indignant at this mark of disrespect, and directed that the mau should be sent off the boat forthwith. Now, these several anecdotes I have given precisely as they obtain currency in the country, and, admitting that they are cor- rect, I really cannot discover anything so very extraordinary in the conduct of Lord Durham. It w.is very natural that, it he paid liberally for the exclusive use of an hotel, he should desire to have it wholly reserved to himself and his numerous family and suite ; nor is there anything so very remarkable in the fact, of his being nauseated with the smell of tobacco. To those who are unaccustom.ed to it, nothing can be more offensive, and as he had no suspicion that there were any others than his own party in the hotel, he could only assume that some of the servants of the establishment had been thus perfuming the house. To summon the landlord, and question him, was, therefore, the obvious course. True, that might nave been done by one of the aids-de-camp, but as his Lordship chose to perform himself that to which it was the duty of an aid-de-camp to attend, the condescension at least relieves him from the imputation of undue haughtiness. Than, for the egg. What is more natural than a desire for a fresh egg at breakfast ? The Kingston market had credit for an abundant supply of all things, and Lord Durham paid money enough at the British North American to have made it an object 44 £1UHT VR^lRS IN < ANADA. with ihe proprietor to have bought, if necessary, every laying hen in the district, and kept them on his own ^^rounds. The whole g'st of the anecdote consists in the landlady's ruse, and yet Lord urham must have huen a poor judge of an egg, indeed, if he could not detect the difference between one newly laid and one thai had been simply immersed it hot water to make it appear so. The repulse of the mate of the Cobourg can easily be accounted for, by the strong probability that the man was drunk, or insolent, or unnecessarily noisy, for no one, not imbued with the strongest prejudice against Lord Durham, can fail to perceive the absur- dity of imputing to him, who had so frequently crossed the At- lantic, and who must, therefore, have been fully aware of his privileges, the act of undue interference with a ship's officer, however humble his rank. As for the dismissal of the waiter, his Lordship was perfectly right in desiring that this should take place. It was for a gross mark of disrespect, and one which must have been f insularly novel to him. Wore a waiter to make his appearance in his shirt sleeves before a gentleman at Long's, or any other fashionable hotel in London, he would be ordered out of the establishment without ceremony. How much more disreputable and offensive, therefore, was such conduct in reference to the Governor-General of British North America. The Captain of the boat, however, was as much to blame as the waiter, for he onght to have had the good taste and the good sense to have given the necessary orders for the conduct of nis people. Another anecdote is related of a nearly similar kind during the return trip. The steamers in which Lord Durham and his suite embarked were well known to have been chartwred for the sole use of the mission, and the several Captains had been instructed to refuse admission to all applicants not of His Lordship's im- x' jdiate party. No one, therefore, of any delicacy would have presumed to enter without having previously obtained the con- sent of His Lordship. Notwithstanding which, some obscure and not very polished preacher was allowed by the Captain to embark at Cornwall, under a promise o^' concealment on his part, until he should arrive at the place of his destination. — Soon after the boat was under way, however, this individual, whose sCiG object in selecting the steamer appears to have been to gratify an lU-timed curiosity, and to be brought immediately under the notice of the Grovemor-General, emerged from his hiding-place, approached His Excellency, and indulged in some familiar remarks. Lord Durham had too much penetration not to perceive the whole truth connected with the presence of the stranger, and promptly summoning the Captain, who disclaimed all knowledge of his being on board, desired him to pass Lancas- ter, which was the place of his destination, and disembark the intruder at the Coteau du Lac, the utmost point to which the steamer could go. This was done, and His Lordship and suite there took the land carriage, leaving the disappointed reverend to bestow his benediction on the haughty peer, and wend his way back to Lancaster as best he might. The papers oppo- sod to Lord Durham's policy made a great outcry about tiiis asserted outiage; but, in my opinion, the unworthy and petty cunning of the radii found its merited reward. Had he openly EIGHT YEARS IN CANAPA^ 45 solicited a pasaa^e from Lord Durham, it would, in all probabitily, have been accorded to him, but the very trick to which he had re- coure to efTect his object, had in it something so ofTensive, eo much of low manoeuvring, that a marked disapproval was called for. That Lord Durham was of a lively temper, extremely susceptible of slight, and disposed to resent it, I can perfectly understand ; but that he was unduly haughty is a libel not only on his good sense, but on his own unquestioned position in society, which they alone who are ignorant of the secret sp 'Mgs of human action, and lorming their iudgment from superficial observation, can be unjust enough to entertain. I once myself saw him under circumstances of slight, very slight, irritation. During the period when the John Bull was lymg before Montreal, I had frequent interviews with his Lordship. On one occasion, young Lord Lambton — the present Earl — chanced to come Into the room when his father was communicating something which he evidently did not wish him to hear, lest perhaps, in the thought, lessness of his extreme youth (he could not then have been more ten years of age), he might repeat it. He very mildly said to his son, who, under the pretence of turning over the leaves of some books, was slily airecting his fine eyes towards me, " George, my boy, leave the cabin: go and play." B\it the handsome young Lord still lingered, and after the lapse of a few minutes the Earl re- peated his desire in a more decided manner. That extraordinary writer, and deep reader of the human heart, Eugene Sue, has somewhere alluded (I think in his *' Arthur ") to the sympathetic power of attraction and fascination possessed by the eye of nis hero over the young sensibilities of a beautiful child — Irene de Fersan — who pines in his absence, and enjoys health and happiness only in his presence. Now, although I do not exactly think that the power of fascination was centered in my eye, there was certainly something in my ample and black moustache which seemed to claim all the interest of the young Lord, who, like the King with the apple dumplings, appeared to marvel how it had got where he beheld it. Moreover, I had frequently chatted with him, as one would converse with a youth of his tender years, and although an extremely modest and somewhat diffident boy, I thought he evinced a preference for the aforesaid moustache at least, if not for myself. But this as it may, he again neglected to obey the Earl's command ; not from any wilfulness or disrespect, but simply because he seemed to think there was no such immediate hurry, either necessary or enjoined, in the execution of the recommenda- tion to play. Again Lord Durham sharply repeated the order, and the- youth moved slowly and lingeringly — ^still regarding me — to the door. His Lordship, slightly irritated at his inattention, rose from his seat, put his hand on the shoulder of his son, and, opening the door, passed him into the inner cabin, appropriated to the use of the familv. fn this action there was nothing more of temper dis- played than any father would have exhibited at a seeming disobe. dience of his commands by his child. But the anecdote which is related with most bitterness in regard to Lord Durham's " pride and presumption " is one which fortunately can be disproved (if susceptible of denial) by the in- dividual who is said to have suffered from them, and who is now, I presume, in England. 46 EKillT r£A.K^ m (jIArrADA. t r The story runs thus. At tlio Montmal rticos in 1838, when the famous cup, (farnouH at loast in C'anatia,) <^ivcin YlwVRS IN CANADA. 40 I yot on this occasion, hn hositntus not to cominniiicatt) to mn tho secret wotkinf(s of his mind, cfoiti!^ so fur uvun as to aeknowludge the position of political humiliation to which ho hail buen reduced. No mun of an unduly haughty or arrogant spirit would have made the adrnisHton even to himself, much less to one who Itad 80 recently been a total Mtranger to him. While the storm was thus brewing at home, over the devoted held of the High Commissioner, I, liis warm and zealous but impartial supporter, was made the subject of animadversion also — not indeed oefore the same tribunal, but before one whose de- crees when issued, exorcised an intluonce over the public mind scarcely inferior to anything that emanated either from Lords or Commons — the groat liead of the Fourth Estate — the editorial nrena of the gijojantio "Times." Before this tribunal I was tried by a stern political court — pronounced guilty, and sentenced. Without taking up more time than is necessary to shew that t waa conscious of no wrong towards that ubiqu tous and influential journal, beyond a desire to be permitted to express my own honest convictions of the nature of the policy which was bemg pursued in my native land, and had violated nothing that I could loolc upon as an agreement between myself and the ])roprietor8, I here insert a copy of a letter which, on the announcement to me of my fault, I addressed to the gentleman by whom the Private Correspondence Department was managed, and which embiaces tho whole of the matter at issue : — " Montreal, October 14, 1838. " I am sorry for the Rrst time to learn that it is not the desire or inten- tion of the proprietors of the Times that I should be continued in the correspondence of the poper, after the term of my present engagement shall have expired. It is quite evident that, in failing to censure the administration of Lord Durham, I have incurred the displeasure of the ' powers that be ; ' but had I failed to accord my approbation of the course his Lordship has pursued, I should have be«n wanting, not only in proper regard for my own country, which is Canada, but also in common honesty to myself, and duty to those to whom I should have conceived accuracy of information was an essential consideration. I was fully apprised that the line of policy pursued by the journal for which I furnished information was op- posed to the Ministry at home, and I am not aware that there is a single letter of mine in which even the shadow of approbation of their measures has found admission. I did not, however, conceive it to be imperative on me to condemn Lord Durham purely in a spirit of party, when I enter- tained the fullest conviction (hat he was doing for the country what no other Governor had attempted in furtherance of its permanent interests. 1 moreover concluded that, although a mistaken impression of the real state of Canada, and the measures in operation for its benefit might, for the moment be entertained in England, still that a time might and would arrive when it should be proved that that impression (such as has recently found its way into the House of Lords), was in every sense an erroneous one ; when the paper would have had the satisfaction of know- ing that, whatever its own politics, the information of its correspondent in Canada had at once been the best and the most impartial. Furthermore, I did not feel myself called upon to confine myself merely to facts, without coupling them with the effects produced upon the country by those facts. In one of your letters to nie, prior to my departure from England, you thus write — ' With the opportunities you will have, and your experience in ooniposilion, it will be hard if you do not enable us to oulslripour con- »• KlfUT YKAKS IN CANADA. tpinpornrii'ii. I nIiuuIiI mlil, however, ilint it will rc(|iiire extmne cnution and iliiiKt'iH'f*) on your piirt, lo HiitiHry the tribunal luwiiifli your prudiic- tiiuiH will be Hubiiiittcd. You will, ol' couriie. make yourwlf ac({uninteil with our pulkticH in reunrd to Cauadn, and keen your views, to n certain t'x;eiit, ill hnrinoiiy with iheiii, not meaning tiierrhy that vou ahould ho utluM than airictly iinimrlial.' Mow far this agrees with what I now ox- tract from your letter I leave youmelf to judno — ' It wan oIho itnpomlble for him (the chief editor) to admit mieh utrictureti aa thono you have Mat rcgardliiB the policy of uniting the two pmvincea, and your approbation of Lord Durham'H adminiHtration, HcciuK the couiho the paper had taken, would have made it look perfectly ridiculous. He remarked it was quite inconceivable how you could have taken such u couroe, if yuu had seen a single copy of the paper hiiico you left Kngland. To have seen the " Chronicle," even, would have been enough, since that paper was con* Htantly referring to the attacks made by uh un Lord Uurham's policy.' However, he this bh it may, it will huvc been known to you, before this can reach England, whether J have correctly dcscrilied Lord Durham's administration to have been Hutisfiictory to such of the people of this country as are not openly hostile to the British Oovernment — confirmed and irreclaimable rebels. Kroiu every part of Canada, it will be seen, ad- dresses of approbation of his policy, and in condemnation of want of proper Bupnort by the Ministry who had sent him to this government, have been passed. Of the burning in efligy of Lords Brougham, Glenelg, and Melbourne, amid the deep execrations of a numerous body — nay, almost the whole community of Montreal — I hove already actiainted you. These are unusual manifestations of the popular indignation, and it cer- tianly proves no slight excitement in the popular mind when they are resorted to." It was to me, I confess, a source of great regret that my opinions (which, by the way, that j(. "lal has since adopted), should so fur have clashed with those of the •' Times " as lo have led to a dis- ruption, oil the score of dissatisfaction with my public commenta- ries. I wouUt far rather have continued in favor with it, and been entrusted with its private correspondence, than have accepted any situation in Canada which Lord Durham, or any other Governor, could have bestowed upon me. The salary was saflicient, with my half pay for all purposes of necessary expense, and even of com- fort, in the country, and, had my services been trans) erred to another theatre, would doubtless have been doubled, whUe the influence the position gave me far surpassed anything that could have been offered by any provincial political situation whatever. 1, of course, acquainted Lord Durham with the manner in which my defence of his policv had been visited, and received both from himself and Mr. Charles Buller the strongest assurances of their cense of the sacrifices I had made." Being anxious to take a personal leave of his Lordship, whose departure for England it was reported would very speedily take j)lace, I wrote to Mr. Buller to know what precise day had been fixed upon. His answer stated the 1st of November, and I accord- ingly left Montreal for Quebec in such time as to arrive early on the morning of the day of embarkation. Everything was bustle and confusion when I called at the Parliament Buildings, which had been fitted up and used as a private residence during the continu- ance of the Governor-General at Quebec, and carts, and drays, and waggons filled the court, and were being used for the transport to * See Appendix \m 8 & 9. BrOHT YK-VRS IN PANADA. r.l tlio Lower Town of nil Norts of fiiriiitiir«> and rHiuth. I llirnatiftl my wiiy through tliiM liiltvrintii, and noom found myself in (In; lower apiirtmenlN, where nitls-de-rnnip and xervnnlH were alike actively ciignL.K) in packing up whatever wun to he removed. 'J'hin internal demolition (if I may no term it) of the hiiilding where I had heeii accustomed to see everythinj^ in the most careful order of urran^n- ment, had in it, associated an it was with the eternal leave-takinir of His Kvccllency, something exreedin^ly dispiritinu^, and I could not hut ho Rcnsihie, indepenclently of the political conNequcnces it involved, that in the departure of Lord Durham I was personally and deeply Interested. There was not much time, however, for these discouraging retiections, and, handing my card to the ai(l-de- camp in waiting, I requested him to take it up to his liordship. He replied that he believe' I thought I could trace a certain nervousness in the working of ins lip, and in the general expression of his countenance, which betrayed the deep mortification he could not but experience. We conversed for some time on this topic, and, during liis remarks, his Lordship manifested a bitterness and contempt for the ii.decision and want of energy and character of the Ministry, which I thought was well deserved by them, and asked me if I still entertained the same opinions in regard to his resignation which I had express- ed in my last letter to him, addinijeach time that he would have compromised his own self-esteem had he consented to remain, after so glaring an indignity had been oflWred to him, as that of the dis- vowal of measures which all parties in the country were agreed in pronouncing to be the most calculated to insure its tranquillity. As any arguments I might urge to the contrary, could necessarily weigh but little on the mind of one who had already pronounced his unalterable decision, I did not feel disposed to be in the slightest degree the cause of his being ill at ease with himself, and I replied that his Lordship's frank and condescending explanation, in answer to the advice which, presuming on the confidence reposed in me, I had ventured to oflTer to him, had been of a nature to remove some of my dc 'bts regarding the propriety and even justifiableness of the resignatiou, but that 4 still feared the course, which had in a great degree been forced upon His Excellency, would prove a source of infinite triumph to his enemies at home. Wo had been standing all this time near a window of the study which overlooked the beautiful harbour of Quebec, Point Levi, and the country beyond ; and as I cast my eyes on the stately frigate which was to convey his Lordship to the noble laud for 52 EKJHT YEATIS IN CANADA. which I myself sighed, I was reminded of the lapse of time, and motioned io withdraw. As I did so, I could not refrain from ad- verting to the altered position in my circumstances, occasioned by my rupture with the "Times," and the additional force with which this would press upon me by reason of his Lordship's de- Sarture from the country. ! added that I trusted 1 should be par- oned for expressing a nope that he would bear me in mind on hia arrival in England. Delicately as this hint was conveyed, (and it seemed to me to be a duty which I OM'ed to myself and mhie to say something on ?he subject which would lead to a final and determined pledge,) I could perceive that Lord Durham was slightly nettled, for he answered rather impatiently, "Depend upon it, as I have already said, everything thai I can do for you shall be done ; but I do not like to be remmded of my promises : I am like Mr. Canning, — ]l never forget my friends.'* I confess I was somewhat hurt. I remarked io his Lordship that t was fully convinced this was the case, and that had he conti- nued in the countiy I would not have alluded to the subject ; but as ho was about to return to England, where i.i the multiplicity of other demands upon his attention, the recollection of his trans- Ailantic friends might escape him, I had tliought it advisable to allude incidentally to the pecuniary embariassments which my support of Iiis government would entail upon me. Again His Lordship warmly expressed his sense of what I had done for him, admitted the undeniable clainrxs I had upon his consideration and good offices, and avowed his intention to lose no opportunity, wherever he might be, of ad¥:dncing ray interests, repeating that, " like Mr. Canning, he never forgot his friends.*' A few remarks in relation to his approaching departure changed the subject of conversation, and I soon afterwards took my leave, His Lordship conducting me to the door, and once more cordially shaking me by the hand^as he bade me what 1 little then deemed> would prove to be an eternal farewelK The embavkation took place that afternoon. The several Socie-. ties of St. Greorge, St. Andrew, and St. Patrick, had turned out on the occasion, and, with the battalions of Guards tUcu in Quebec,, gave something of liveliness to a departure which was in itself a source of solemn and painful recollection. I was in no mood of mind to join in the apparently gay procession, bui stood aloof, waiting lor the appearance of the E»,rl, whose carriage was drawn up near the grand entrance hall ready to receive him. At length he came, followed by the Countesp, the amiable and unaffected Ladies Lambton, and the remainder of his family and immediate suite. As His Lordship's carriage issued from the court -yard and entered the avenue formed by the extended ranks of the Guards who lined the streets leading to the Lower Town, loud acclama- tions burst from the throng of people who doubled that line on the outside of the troops, whicli the Earl acknowledged by taking otf his hat and bowing repeatedly from the open windows-.. But how differently, it occurred 'iO me, must those cheers have vi- brated on hi:> heart, to those which, scarcely six months previous- ly, had, in the very same streets, greeted his passage. JTien he was arriving in the country, charged with a mission that f^ave him almost princely authoritj in it^ and in tiie iust pride of auti-^ TS,iaiij TBAAs m ca:(ada. 53 cipation of tho fullest success. The cheers that were 'Jien pealeJ forth seomed to be of right liis own, and he received them as evi- dence of the homage of a people whose destinies were in his h»>nd8, and whose weal and tranquillity he was about permanently to establish. Nbw he was departing with the objects of that mission unaccompishod, his hands fettered, his energies paralyzed, his au- thority mocked, and the almost regal attributes of his high office shorn of their lustre ! True, the same cheers accompanied his departure that had hailed his arrival, but they were no longer preferred or received as a right. They were tendered as the ebullitions of a generous sympathy — evidencef. of a com-mioera- tion for one who, instead of standing high in the favor of his Go- vernment, had (however undeservedly and unjustly) incurred its censure, and whose mode of administering the affairs of a coun- try which he came, armed with unprecedented powers, and in the full and flattering confidence of his Sovereign, to govern, had been such as to \cz.Jl to his resignation of the importani trust. The contrast of these positions could not fail to occur, in all their force, to a mind so sensitive as that of Lord Durh^.m, and to im.press him, at his departure, with feelings of deep pain and dis- appointment. Such at least were the reflections which the more than usual paleness and seriousness of manner I fancied I had detected on his Lordship's countenancej as ha issued from tho court, led me n ascribe to him; nor was the chain of thought into which I had unconsciously fallen interrupted until some time after the procession had disappeared in its descent to the Lower Town, where a salute of artillery from Cape Diamond, in announc- ing the embarkation of His Lordship, caused me to wend my "teps to that part of the rampart which immediately overlooked the Queen's Wharf. When I reached this point, the boats of the fri- gate (that containing His Excellency being distinguished by a Union Jack) were nearly alongside. The ladder ropes, at which stood ♦vf officers in full uniform, were extended as His Lordship drew near ; and then, amid the thunder of the gur^s of the Incon- stant, whose smoke soon enveloped the whole party, embarked the first Governor-General of British North America, to all out- ward seeming gratifixjd w:ith the pomp and circumstance which surrounded him, but inwardly nursing that corroding gangrane which, terminated in his premfiture death, — the bitter consciousr. ness that he was returning to England, not in triumph as he had anticipated, but as he had so feelingly expressed himself in his letter to me, a degraded and disavowed Governor. And here I cannot, even at the risk of being charged with pro- lixity and repetition, avoid again referring to the unjust and in- famous manner in which this distinguished Nobleman, the founder of a system which has, through the wise interpr nations of its provisions by a Statesman not lesf- eminent in diplomacy than himself, at length restored harmony and quiet to Canada. Of all the sinister strokes of policy which had marked the con- duct of the opposition in England, bent upon the condemnation of every measure, right or wrong, which should emanate from the envied possessors of office^ none could be more contemptible than that which aimed at the destruction of Lord Durham's power in Canada. Not ten men, 1 will venture to affirm, were to have been found among those factious Lor»ls, who, if conscientiously H 6^ EIOHT V'GARS IN CANADA. an. .Bering the quostion, won'i 1 have ventured to deny that tlie course pursued by the noble Eo.rl in this country was precisj^ly that which wouk have been adoptad by thenipelves, had they possessed the power they were so anxious to overthrow in others. True, the Bill which was adopted, in direct censure on Lord Durham's conduct, had its origin, not with the Tory pnrty, but with Lord Brougham, a character somewhere happdy described as an "unprincipled political gladiator." They (the Tories) would never have detected the illegality — a more quibble — of the act of banishment ; and as a proof of this, not one word was ut- tered on the subject, until Lord Brougham, with the sly malig- nity of a Metistopheles, came forward backed by musty statutes of William and Edward — statutes passed in the days of barbarism — to shew that Lord Durham had exceeded his powers, and vio- lated the rights of men whose acts of rebellion had deprived them of all right. And why did Lord Brougham state this ? Was it be- cause he really sympathized with the parties whom he declared to have serious cause for complaint on the subject? Not at ail. He was anxious only for a display of the two dominant passions of his nature, — his unamiaMe love of sarcasm, and his proud as- sumption of superior legal knowledge. No matter, however, what the cause may have been, the horn was sounded, and up rose a host of opposition Peers, who had never previously dreamt of this flaw in Lord Durham's act, and these, hallooing and cheer- ing like huntsmen after a newly-sta'1ed stag, determined, at all hazards, to run the noble animal down. Had they any personal animosity ajrainst Lprd Durham ? Had they even a well-founded objection to his mode of administering of the affairs of the colony ? None in the world. But they were hostile to the then Ministry, and provided they could weaken the influence of that Ministry, they cared not who or what was saciificed to their clamor. The again, what was the conduct of the Ministry itself? The first iuL ance of their neglect of support arose from certain appoint- ments made by Lord Durham, soon after his arrival in Canada — appointments the most professedly obnoxious of which, I have no hesitation in affirming, on the authority of that nobleman, had been recommended hy Ministers tJiemselvcs. When the question relative to Mr. Turton's appointment was put to Lord Melbourne, by the Earl of Winchelsea, His Lordship expressed the most decided conviction '.hat such appointment would not take place ? What necessity was there for Lord Melbourne to reply to the question ? or, if replying at all, why not have prudently disavowed all inter- ference with appointments which had been left to the discretion of tile Governor-General of British North America ? And later, when positive information had been received of the appointment of Mr. Turton to a situation of responsibility under the Government, Lord Melbourne thought proper, with a view to the preservation of his own character for consistency, to express regret that such ap- pointment had taken place ! If this be not political treason and tergiversation, what is? Was such a declaration made as ear- nest of a desire to support Lord Durham ? But let the public judge, from the following, whether the surprise and regret expressed by the First Lord of the Treasury was real or afi'ected : — " Mr. Turton (snid the '* GlQ.be," Ijord Melbourne's paper), who ae- eompanies His Lordship (Lord Durham) in the Hostinga as legal ad- EIGHT YEARS IN CANADA. 55 ki viae.', is the son of Sir Tlionins Turton, Bart., and lately arrived from Calcutta, where he was a practising barrister ia the Supreme Court." It might have been presumed that Lord Melbourne, profiting by the experience of the past, would havo felt the necessity for a little more caution and reserve on the subject of Canadian a, :p'>intments. How was this manifested ? When a report reached England that the well-known Edward Gibbon Wakefield, who has since rendered himself even more notorious by pocketing some fifteen thousands obtained through his jobbings on the Beauhornois Canal, had been appointed to some situation of trust, the Earl of W'nchelsea put the same question to Lord Melbourne that he had propounded in respect to Mr. Turton. Again the First Lord, with the most Lamh-lilie naivete, replied that ** he did not believe that such an appointment had taken place." Well indeed might Lord Durham exclaim *• Heaven save me from such friends." Nor were those the only instances in which a want of proper support of Lord Durham, by Her Majesty's Ministers, had been evinced. The very Act of Amnesty passed by the Governor-Gen- e'al, and which at the time gave so* much offence, from its lenity, tC' the British population in Canada, was in a great degree the fruit of the temporizmg policy of those Ministers. If any one should entertain a doubt on this subject, let him peruse the instiuctions which were sent out, first to Sir John Colborne, and subsequently to Sir Geoige Arthur, Couched in a spirit of indecision and weakness as they were, jet carrying with them an imperative mandate of fulfilment, what Governor or Governors could, in following them up, fail to be visited by the marked dissatisfaction and discontent of that ])ortion of the loyal population of the country which had most suf- fered, and necessarily deprecated a course of clemency as ill-timed as it was undeserved. And if such instructions had been given to the noble Earl's predecessors, have we not reason to assume that the same advice, if not absolute commands, were conveyed to him, and that the result had been that Act of Amnesty which in the out- set was impugned by the loyal population, not because of its s* verity and injustice, but by reason of its seemingly undue mpicy, yet which in itself, coupled with the Act of the banishn * of certain traitors who, if tried, would assuredly have been acqum I, was the only step likely to restore tranquillity to the Province ? Considering the vast importance attached to the mission of Lord Durham, and all the sanguine results that were anticipated from his acceptance of the office, it might have been expected that a Minis- try,, really desirous of essentially benefitting a country distracted by the c-vils of rebellion, would have conferred on their envoy an ad libitum power, to amend or rescind old laws, and to frame new, as the exigencies of so pressing a period (with the true nature of which they could not, by reason of distance, be properly acquaint- ed) might require. Instead of this, however, an act was passed which narrowed the Governor-General's sphere of action, even more than would have been the case had it never existed ; for one of its leading provisions was, that it should not contravene the established law of the land. I repeat that, had no such restrictive act been passed, Lord Durham might, and woujd, have felt himself authorized, under the general tenor of his special instructions, to have deviated from the usual observances in a country where, in jioinl of fact, and by the very circumstance of a rebellion and civil ii« EI8HT TEAR.-i 1?< CA.tADA. war, all established laws had for the moment ceased to be in healthy operation. The very impossibility of judging of the measures ne- '•essary to be adopted in the country, should nave rendered all par- ties Miterested in its preservation, and particularly the Ministry, not only cautious that the power conferred on their delegate shonld be both ample and discretionary, but of a character of construction j»ot to be misunderstood either in th^ province or at home. To go- vern a country, while in a state of profound peace, by established laws and usages, is simple and proper enough, but in one that is subject to all manner of anarchy and confusion, a ruler would be highly culpable in not travelling beyond the strict interpretation of these laws, if satisfied that his neglecting to do so, would entail upon society all those evils which it is the province of the law to avert. When Lord Durham visited Canada, the country was precisely in the condition I hav? just described. The law, or rather that which was done under the name of law, was so utterly a pe vers'on of justice, that his Lordship was induced, in his anxiety tc restore peace to the province, to depart from the observance of mere forms, and to adopt such measures as under the discretiotiary power vestea in him, he conceived himself authorised to use. True, the trial by jury was law — strict, orthodox, sound law — but Lord Durham had penetration enough to perceive — and a very remarkable trial had shortly afterwards borne out the correctness of his impression — that the rebel leaders would, if subjected to the ordeal, be acquitted, even through the vioLtion of that which is most sacred in law — an oath — by a jury composed of their own immediate countryjnen ; in which event there was every reason to apprehend that impunity and immunity from punishmsnt would again prove a means of plunging the country into discontent and civil war. Hence the amnesty, with its provisions and exceptions, than which a more efficacious, and, at tne same time, a more humane measure, could not have been framed. And how was the intelligence of this measure received by the Imperial Ministry ? Did they condemn Lord ^>urham for what he had done ? Did they pretend that he had exceeded his instructions, and did they state boldly in their several places in Parliament that, having thus acted, Lord Durham was not a man whom they could safely entrust with their confiidence, or with discretionary powers, and that they therefore should immediately send out letters of recal? Did they fearlessly 5»nd conscientiously state this? No! They were glad enough to concur in the wisdom and evpediency of these measures, as long as they were unassailcd, but ihe moment Lord Brougham began to wield his sledge-hammer — io open the torrent of his vituperative eloquence, backed aj he was by a host of place-hunters. Lord Melbourne and his colleagues, unable to stem tlie tide of their clamor, and trembling for their seats, which no- *hing short of an abandonment of Lord Durham's interests could enable thein to retain, basely joined in the unmerited condemnation. Had they been men of high feeling and unbending integrity, they would have gone at once to Her Majesty, and pointing out the in- convenience to which they were subjected by the vote in the Hous» of Lords, have justified the act of their absent delegate on the ground of iron necessity, and avowed their readiness to stand or fall with him. Had this been done, a roya' proclamation, or a bill in parlia- ElUHl YKAKS m CANAIIA. 57 meat, ini)?lit have buccessfully met and overcome all the difficulties of the quei!tiuu. CH/VPTER VI. « On the day following that of the departure of Lord Durham from Quebec — November 2nd - 1 embarked in the steamer Charlevoix, ou my return to Montreal. A very heavy snow-storm succeeding the almo.3t glass-like calm of the preceding day, had fallen during the night, and the aspect of the country was fully in keeping vvitli the gloom thrown over the minds of those who seemed to look upon Lord Durham's departure as the signal for some new and threatening disaster. Towards the close of the afternoon, however, the weather again cleared up, and, on the following day, the sun once more shone in all the softened splendor of an Indian-summer ; while the waters, except where ploughed up by the paddles of a steamboat — the oars of a batteau — or the paddle of a canoe, were smooth as tb^ unbroken surface of a dazzling mirror. The Charlevoix being a small boat, took, what is called, the narrow channel, and I remarked that wherever she stopped the Captain, who had been for some time sus- pected of secreting rebels and transporting them from one point to another, always conversed in a low tone, and with seeming mystery, with the groups that surrounded him as he stepped on shore. This was the case, particularly at Berthier,the inhabitants of which were avowedly disaffected, and at the village of Pf'^cherville, which we reached about seven o'clock in the evening. Here the Captain (Chenier) held a very animated conversation on his own deck with several persons who (it being then dark) had come on board to visit him. Although this was conducted in so low a tone that I could not overhear what was said, my suspicion was strongly ex- cited by the circumstance of their hurriedly retiring, when on my making some slight noise with my feet, they discovered that they were not alone. Subsequently, and as the boat was under way, one of the proprietors, who had embarked at Bou'-herville, entered into conversation in French with me on the subject of the late dis- turbances, justifying, in the course o^his argument, which he rather hotly maintained, the murder of Chartrand. He affirmed, in the name of the French population, that the acquittal of Nicolas, and the brothers Pinsonnault,* (which had recently taken place,) was only a matter of duty with the jury, inasmuch as, on two previous occasions, French Canadians had been killed almost without provo- cation by Englishmen, who, on trial, were acquitted ; and, in fine, ihe whole tenor of his language went to shew that such had been the exasperation created in the minds of his countrymen by these and similar acts of injustice, that they had been driven into rebellion. He, himself, I subsequently understood, had been confined in the gaol of Montreal, and, as will be seen presently, was deeply impli- cated in i nother outbreak which, even at the moment of his con- versation with me, was on the brink of explosion, if not actually commenced. * These men hud been tried !<;.• the murder of Chartrand. r)8 El(iHT YEARS IN CANADA. On our arrival at Montreal, about nine o'clock, everything was confusion and alarm, in consequence of intelligence whicii had been received that an immediate rising, not only in the country, but in that city, was to be appichended. The active chief police mc<e who had been captured in the Sir Robert Peel. The Charlevoix was instantly seized and detained. • , Notwithstanding the inten^ npjciety which naturally prevailed in Montreal, where the depositions stated the chief rising was to take I dace, the night of Saturday passed away without tumult ; possibly cnowing that the authorities and military were on the alert, the rebel leaders were afraid to move, or because they had intended to make their attack on the following .lay, when the troops should be in church, and only in their side-arms. The next morning (Sunday,) was one of the most dull and som- bre that I remember ever to have witnessed. The atmosphere was low, thick, and obscured ; and yet it could scarcely be said to be fog that prevailed, for it was unlike anything of the kind I had ever witnessed. There was no curling vapor rising from the ground, and wreathing itself in fantastic folds around whatever it embraced, but the chill atmosphere was, up to a certain altitude, clear, though dark, and that sort of light was emitted which is usual on a starry night in the absence of the moon. It seemed as if a heavy black curtain, excluding the sun's rays, had extended over the city, and there hung stationary in middle air. Fatigued from the want of proper accommodation in the Charle- voix, I had felt no very great inclination to allow the prevailing alarm of an insurrection during the night to curtail my slumbers. It was late when I awoke, and then the shrill blast of bugles, the clanging of arms, the hoarse sound of voices, the ringing of bells, and the occasional galloping past of a horseman, led me to imagine, amid the darkness I have described, that that which had been ap- prehended was actually in the course of execution. A reference to my watch, preceded by an announcement that breakfast had been sometime waiting for me, satisfied me that, according to the calen- dar, it was no longer night, but ought to have been broad day. I rnade a hasty toilette, swallowed a cup of coffee, and then sallied forth, marvelling as I walked at the strange and unusual darkness, to that part of the city whence the chief sounds of commotion seem- ed to proceed. It was nearly twelve o'clock, when, following the Rue Bonsecours from the neighbourhood of the B'shop's Church, I reached a corner of the Rue Notre Dame, and yet there was no change in the deep gloom of the atmosphere. Bodies of dark forms, which were soon discovered to be regular troops, were to be seen posted at various distances along the main streets, which, moreover, vfere filled with small knots of the inhabitants conversing eaiiu'stly in a low tone. Parlies of Volunteers were also busied in cntcrin'ar i .ij ErOHT YKAnS IN CANADA. 51) the houses of such of l.ie Frcncli Canadians as were suspected, and securing what arms and ammunition were to he found in them. AM seemed intent on the fulfilment of some assigned duty. But the most imposing part of this lugubrious spectacle was in the Place d'Armes, which seemed to be the principal theatre of interest. Here (he Artillery were drawn up with lighted matches, the muzzles of their gu'^s facing the Catholic Cathedral, the })ourdonnement of the bells of which had summoned the people to mass as usual, and among these a number of individuals of influence and high standing in the city, whom having been included in the list of those denounc- ed to the Chief Magistrate, it was intended to seize as they issued from the sacred edifice. The guns were on the ground to awe down any attempt at rescue on the part of the people. It was impossible to witness this part of the military demonstra- tion without being forcibly impressed with a sense of the anomolies that spring from circumstances. The scrupulous respect that is, at all timed, exacted from British soldiers towards the ceremonies of the Catholic Church, and particularly to that of the procession of the Host, is too well known to need comment. The uncovering of the head, if not absolutely the bending of the knee, to that which not only they look upon as a species of idol, but those who compel them to the act regard in the same light, has ever been most rigorously enforced from officers serving in whatever country, subject to the dominion of England, the Roman Catholic religion prevails. In Malta, Sicily, Jersey, Guernsey, and Canada, the observance of this respect has ever been most emphatically enjoined, and there has been an instance, nay, if I mistake not there have been in- stances, where officers have been dismissed the service for refusing to pay an homage A\hich their conscience denied and rejected. How far this is just or politic or necessary, it is not my intention here to inquire ; but, I repeat, it was impossible to behold those troops, who had been tutored to look with awe and veneration upon the ceremonies of the Romish Church — that Church in many individual cases their own — now obeying the order which had been given them, and pointing the muzzles of their loaded guns towards the very temple which contained the symbols they had been taught to regard with veneration, without feeling how completely a soldier is the creature of the circumstances which surround him, the play- thing of Fate, and the changeling of the hour. When the service was concluded, the arrests were made, much, it will be presumed, to the dismay of those who preceived that their designs were discovered ; and by one o'clock numerous persons, in- cluding those who had been taken from their own residences, were lodged, on that and the following day, in the gaol of Montreal.* Confidence had in the meantime been, in a great degree, restored, for Sir .John Colborne, under whose orders the troops were thus sum- marily acting, had reached Montreal about nine o'clock that morn- ing. He had left Quebec some hours after myself, in the John Bull •The principal among those were Mossrs. Denis D. Vigor, now, or very recently. Pre- «i(leiit of the ICxocntlve Conncil; his brother, Lonis Rl, Vigor; Louis H. I.afnritaine ; Fruncis H. ncsreviorcs; .Inhn Donepani; &.c. vc. &c. . ami tiie whole number of pri- Boiiers hi(l<;e(l for high treason in the gaol of Montreal, between the 4th of November, lH38,and the 25th of .lanunrv. 1330, amoniiti'd to not Ipsslhan one thousand two hundred and eighty three nnrsnns. Of the parties we have named nhove, all were liberated after n detention of a tew weeks in prison, witlithc exception of Denis B. Vigor, who remain- ed in confinement until May IGth, ld40, when he wus released by Mr. Puulett Thomson. 60 Eianr ykahs la cA: on his way up, in custody, he accosted Sir James M'Donell, the oiander of the brigade, and claiming relationship with him ^he bore the same name), requested him to interpose his influence in his tavor. The veteran was exceedingly indignant, and told him that if he wag a M'Donell and relative, which he very much doubted, he >yu8 the first of the family who had over disgraced himself by turning traitor to his Sovereign — conseiiuoiitly that ho might oxpt'Ct neither favor or pmtection from him. On being landed at Montreal^ General M'Donell (th't younger) met with no such rtatterhig re- ception as greeted his relative. He was known in the city wTiiuh was indeeahis place of abode, and it required all the vigilance of the small detachment of Guards, composing his escort, to prevent him fi< n being stoned to death by the exasperated populace. As ii was, he received several severe blows from missiles, and such was the animosity with which he was followed that tho Guards were compelled to ensure his safety by entering the barrack yard of the Royals, the gates of which were with diN ficulty closed against the threatening crowd. While here, he fainted as much from shame as from fatigue and bodily pain, and fell to the ground partly drai,'ging with him an American sympa- tizer, (Isaac Negus, a contiautor,) who had been taken with him, and to whose wrist his own was manacled. A cart with a little straw was then procured, and in this humiliating manner, and chained to one who had more the appearance of a convict than anything else, the man who had filled a respectable situation in Montreal was conveyed amid the hootings and insults of his fellow townsmen, (and among whom there were many well dressed people,) for upwards of a mile to the already thronged prison of the city. At the period of his capture, several papers of the highest im- portance were, independently of a box contahiing flags and com- missions for aspirants in the Patriot army, found in his possession. What these papers were has never publicly transpired, but so im- portant were tliey considered by the party who arrested him at Nicolet, where he was taken into custody, that they were im- mediately conveyed to Sir John Colborne. Soon after their receipt, a rumor was spread abroad that among the documents had been found a plan for tne summary disposal, oy the leaders of tUe rebellion, of the principal loyal merchants of the city. Ttie Jews — and they are numerous in Montreal — were, according to to this statement, to have been completely proscribed. Mr. Benjamin Hart, a wealthy merchant of that persuasion, was to have been elevated to a gibbet. — The Montreal Water Works, the property of Mr. Hayes, another wealthy Jewish merchant, was to have been confiscated to the use of the Provincial Government, while tho proprietor himself, with numerous other Christian merchants, were to have been kept as prisoners until ransomed at high prices, to benefit the Provincial Government also. Hence the bitterness with which Mr. M'Doneli, who was a lawyer in good practice at Montreal, was visited by the inhabitants of the city generally, as above shown. It was further stated that his house, situated in an obscure street in the Faubnrg St. Antoine, and particularly adapted from its locale, for purposes of secrecy, was the great theatre at BlUIIl YEARS IN CANADA. 03 wKich the robol chiefs had been in thejmbit of holding lheir|miil- ni|j;ht conferonces.* On the samo day (thn 7th,) there was a partial risinff at Terre- bonne, but this, the inhabitants being generally well affected, was speedily put down. On the 8th, Sir John Colborne and hiM rtaff, with the Brigade of Guards, crossed over to Lapriiiiie, in the midst of a drenching rain which was the more unexpected as there had been a severe frost the preceding day. The whole force then moved on to St. John's. Meanwhile, that morning, tlie insurgents commanded by a Doctor Nelson — the only person who, as woll us Mr. Bouchette, seems to have evinced any spirit or resolution! durtjiR.' the 'rebelliiui — anxious to re ^ air the reverse sustainerf by the rebels on the 6th, rotumod to the attack of the small militia force at Odeltown, but again sustained a signal defeat, and were compelled to retire upon their head quarters at Napierville. The following day (the 9th,)4wa8 devoted by Sir John Colborne to the completion of his dispositions for attack, and on the 10th the main body of the troops advanced upon Napierville — Colonel Love with the 73rd moving and arriving nearly at the same time from St. Valentine, in an opposite direction. On reaching Napierville, they found that the enemy had fled, two thousand having evacuat- ed the place the preceding day, and the remainder of the force only two hours before the troops entered. The 7th Hussars were sent in pursuit, but did not come up with them. This delay of fivp days, from the 6th to the 10th inclusive, when the troops could have been pushed on to Napierville in two nights^ might, had the rebellion attained any serious height, have proved disastrous in the extreme. The destruction of this force, which contained the chief strength and sinew of the insurgents, was of paramount importance, not only as paralysing their pceser^ mea- sures, but because its dispersion by the bayonet could not fail to discourage them from future attempts. Fortunately, however, the country was not so ripe for open revolt as the leaders desired, and although, as will be seon later, the American sympathizers were, as had been concerted, on the move to second their efforts, their natural indolence of character prevented them from following up • The account lioro given of the circuniBtances connected with Mr. M'Monell'i capture varies somewhat (romjwhat appears in my notes taken on the very day of his be I ni; brought into Montreal ; and fu- vres which took place during the whole of the rebellion, — namely, tlie passage of th.? St. Lawrence, and occupatioii of a strong position below Prescott, in Upper Canada, by a numerous band of rebels and sympathizers, ujider the command of the Pole Von Schoultz. No. KKinX YEARS IN TANAn.t. fl% .s|i(»t could liHve l)C(>n NttlcctiMl no well aila|il;Mi to (ht> |iur|ioMf , iio( oi ]M;rinaiiHiit (li'lumtc, lor tliiit wun iicviir contRinplatiMl, hut of lioliliii;^ out until joinn led to heliuve, were ready to llock \n their Ntaixlard the mo- ment that a footing shouhl he ohtJiined. T\w windmill itself wan a perfect towtsr ot strenj^th, and occupyin;^; as it did, and Ntill does, a most commanding;; position on the elevated hnrtk, mi/;;4it have defied the strongest artillery that could have been brought to bear a^^ainNt it. Ah it was, the shot from the i^urn of light calibre that were used on the steamers sent from Kingston, scarcely left their impression on the surface of the wall. The ultinrite failure and capture of this expedition, were results, not of of any excellenco in the measures adopted by the officer in command. Colon. I Dundas, of the HUrd, but of the good conduct of the Militia under their several o/Hcers. Lieut. Johnson, of the above-named regiment, had on the first inti- mation of tlie landing, been despatched with forty men, and Lieut. Parker, of the Royal Marines, with tliirly of his corps ; and these of- ficers, supported ny the Militia, had v one c'ould for an in.staiit doubt wlial it would be, and what justice demanded it slioiild be. The day s!ibs''fpiou( to my interview with him, 1 left Kingston KIGHX YEAliS IN CANADA 09 for Toronto, and it was only on my arrival there, that I knew \m sentence to be death. Although I was prepared for this, I folt ne- vertheless grieved and, anomalous though it may appear, disappoint- ed ; for witti that strange tenacity with which we often cling to the hope of realization of that which, howeve. improbable, we earnest- ly desire, I had indulged in the possibility of his reprieve from the capital sentence to transportation. T remained three or four days in Toronto, and on that which pre- ceded my return, had the pleasure of dining again with the amiable family of Sir George Arthur. There was only a small party pre- sent, and consisted y)rincipally of commanding oflicers uf regiments and heads of departments. Among the former was the gallant co- Jonel Love of the 7.3rd, who, with his regiment, had been ordered to Toronto immediately after the return of the expedition to Na- pierville, and who in consequence of intelligence just received of an attack by the brigands on the unprotected village of Windsor, oppo- site to the American fort of Detroit, had that day received orders to push his corps to the western frontier without delay. The conver- sation, deriving a strong stimulus from the recent invasion, naturally tm ned upon matters of an almost exclusive military character. Thci sum (nary act of Col. Prince, who had ordered four prisoners taken at 'iVindsor, in defiance of his orders to give no quarter, to be shot when brought before him, was fully canvassed, and 1 could not per- ceive that the majority of the officers present dissented much from the opinion I had formed on the subject, — namely, that of complete justification of the act under the circumstances. The sympathizers taken were not recognized soldiers of any acknowledged power, but pirates and brigands come to despoil and murder those who had never given them the slightest provocation. These men were completely out of the pale of the law of civilized nations, and had there been nothing else to justify the most severe measures against them, the inhuman murder and atrocities committed by these lawless marau- ders on the body of the fust of their victims, atid he (Dr. Hume) an unarmed one, rendered it a matter of stern necessity and uncompro- mising Huty. In order to prevent the unoiTending inhabitants of the district from being made a prey to their rapacious and cruel acts, and to prevent a recurrence of these attempts at invasion, it was im- ])erative to inflict such a punishment as would eflTectually deter others from entering upon the same course. In causing the prison- ers to be shot, I conceive that Colonel Prince was perfectly righ*^. It had been his peremptory order that no prisoners should be taken, and if there were those who presumed to disobey that order, the wrong was with themselves. To have saved the lives of those men would not only have been a mistaken humanity, but would have subjected the country to future acts of aggression. Once convinced that they incurred no other penalty than the chances of an honorable death in the field, or the lenient punishment of imprisonment if taken, each month, each week might have witne.>ed a repetition of their efforts, until in the end pei-severance or some fortuitous acci- dent might have crowned their enterprise with success. There can be no doubt in the mind of any military man, conversant with the peculiar exigencies of the covintry, and the constant state of excite- ment in which the minds of the inhabitants had been kept for a se- ries of months, that Colonel Prince was perfectly justified in issuing the order he did, for it must be recollected that he was dealing, not K 70 EKiHT YHAnS IN CA:IADA. with an honorable foe, but a brigand and a midnight assassin, the first intimation of whose approach was the tor«^ applied to the dwelling of the slumberer — the rifle bullet to whose heart. Had I been placed in the same position of responsibility, I should have acted precisely as Colonel Prince did, and my only surprise is that he should have since disavowed the propriety of the act — the necessity for the execution. In its turn, reference was made to the affair of the windmill, and the court martial then being held on the prisoners. I repeated to Sir George the conversation I had had, a day or two previously, with Von Schoultz, and the interest with which his superior manner had impressed me, concluding with the expression of a wish that it had not been necessary, for the sake of example, to put so noble a fellow to death. Sir George seemed interested in my account, but of course it was wholly out of his power, whatever might be his per- sonal inclination, to do other than confirm the sentence of the court. Least of all of the prisoners, could mercy be extended to their leader, and the greater his qualifications, the less was he a subject for sym- pathy. Even that day he had been executed. But the conversation, although still of a military character, at length turned upon a more agreeable theme, — the services of the gallant Sir John Colborne. It was delightful to hear Colonel Love — an old 62nd man himself — who wore the well-merited reward of his valor upon his breast, expatiate on the feats of arms of Sir John in the Peninsula. He tracked him throughout his brilliant course, dwelt upon every darhing enterprise in which he had been engaged, and related so many amusing anecdotes of his service, that the whole party were disappointed wl^en he had closed. To Sir George especially, to whom the details seemed entirely new, it afforded great interest, and he listened with deep attention. There was no petty jealousy exhibited in implied doubts, neither was there per- ceptible any of the coldness of the mere assent of commendation of one who had been more fortunate in his military career in the field than himself. His ear drank in all that Colonel Love related with an earnestness that proved how much he was absorbed in the nar- ration, while the smile that lighted up his features, whenever some signal success of the gallant veteran was alluded to, bore evidence of the internal approbation he accorded. On the whole, I never passed a more agreeable or satisfactory evening. Colonel Love was the soul of the party, and infused his animation into all around him. Being desirous of communicating the earliest intelligence of the Windsor affair to Sir John Colborne, I applied for and obtained per- mission to convey the despatches from Sir George. Furnished with these, I left Toronto for Kingston in the armed steamer Traveller, bi' t, the day of my arrival at this last place being Sunday, there was no immediate conveyance downwards, and I was compelled to wait nearly twenty hours before I could resume my journey. To make me agreeable compensation for this delay, I had the pleasure of din- ing with the agreeable family of the Town Major Fitzgerald, an old soldier who had seen much service, and who well knew how to ex- ercise the hospitality of "auld lang syne." Dearly, and with the ineffable gusto of a connoisseur, did he love his glass of port wine, and nothing disconcerted him so much as to see his guest commit the sin of neglecting to put the stopper in the decanter when the wine remained with him. He is gone : peace to his memory. I •-. « ■■■■ El«m YF.AHS IN CANADA. 71 My delay in Kingston was fatal to the object for which I had re- quested to be entrusted with the despatches. Captain Arthur, the son and Aide-de-Camp of Sir George, and to whom I have already alhided, had also given me a note for Colonel Dundas, commanding at Kingston, conveying to him the substance of the intelligence contained in the despatches, and, as I subsequently understood from Major Fitzgerald, that officer had immediately sent ofT an express from himself to Sir John Colborne. Pressing my arrangements for departure, I got into the mail about four o'clock on Monday morn- ing, the weather being bitterly cold. Some snow had fallen within a day or two, but this was so partial for the first ten miles of the road out of Kingston, that the bumping upon the frozen ruts and the uncovered rocks was as good a substitute for the punishment of purgatory as well could be imagined. This distance passed, the snow became deeper, and the roads consequently better, while my persuasions with the driver were so effectual, that when we had got about two thirds of the way down to Montreal, I found that the ex- press (which, as there were many relays on the road, had been frequently changed) was little more than half an hour in advance of me. I confess I was extremely desirous of anticipating Colonel Dundas' communication, and therefore urged the drivers to renewed exertion. There was no lack of inclination, or of the whip on their parts; but such were the execrable arrangements of the Post-Office Department, that the delay in delivering the mails was great be- yond credibility. The smaller the hamlet too, the more protracted was the period of exchange. At Brockville, Prescott, and Corn- wall, we experienced little comparative detention, but I remarked that wherever we stopped at a pitiful village where an apology for a post-office had been established, and in which there were not half a dozen houses or rather cabins altogether, the delay was in- variably greater and more disproportionate. It seemed to me that they must have been in the practice, as they opened the bags, of emptying them of their contents and feeding their curiosity, by looking at the superscription of every letter, if not of examining the newspapers for the latest intelligence. I was annoyed beyond mea- sure on two or three occasions, for although I told these officials calling themselves postmasters that I was charged with important papers for Sir John Colborne which admitted not of delay in the de- livery, nay, although my name appeared on the way-bill in the cha- racter of a bearer of Despatches, there was not the slightest disposi- tion manifested to depart from their accustomed system ; and indeed the only thing I found efficient was a threat to report the unnecessary detention of the mail to the heads of the Post-Office Department. Not less than five hours of the time occupied in the route from Kingston to Montreal — altogether performed in forty — were consum- ed in the way I have described ; and indeed this very journey formed the basis of a communication to the Post-Office Commis- sioners which I subsequently, at their request, addressed to them, and which appears in pages 47, 48, and 49 of the " Post-Office En- quiry for British North America." Thwarted and baulked as I was by these village post-masters, it may be presumed I did not ^ain much on the express. — He was always half an hour before me, and when I at lenj^th arrived in town, about nine o'clock on Tuesday evening, and jumping from the sleigh, hastened to Government House, I found that my news n EIGHT YEARS IN CANADA. I! It- had been half an liour anticipuled by tliu corninnnicatiDii from Colonel Duiulii8. This, although not unoxp(!cteil, wuh mortifying enonji-h, for I luul taken all possible trouble in the matter, and h in the same forest ; their heads were often pillowed on the same rude lojj ; tlu; same fire warmed their feet; and the same laugh was ])rovoked from tliem Ity the quaint and characteristic tales of thost^ who passed the midnight iiours in stiiJngthe embers of the dying lire, and relating what they felt would atl'ord amusement to their otRcers. Here was a fellowship — a companionsliip, which, without one moment losing sight of the relative positions of the par- ties, blended all in concord, and left with the soldier noi the most distant desire for change. He knew his duties, and he performed them ; and when these were faithfully discharged, he enjoyed the intervening hours in a spirit which could leave no cause for lament that he had chosen the noble profession of a soldier. How sucli a man would have indulged in his rude witticisms, could h(! have an- ticipated that a time would arrive when a new " dynasty " of military men should arise, whose chief object it should be, not to seek laurels for themselves, but to compliment each other on the gallant deeds performed by their regiments long before they were born, or, at least, out of leading-strings ; and to asN a credit for these deeds to themselves. These were the good old days of simplicity in the character and bearing of a soldier : but var and peace necessarily render that character dissimilar. In the former state, too much vigor is infused into the physical and moral man, by a constant series of exciting scenes, in which he finds himself an important actor, to admit of his entertaining any more predominating feeling than that of proud iden- tification with the glorious results achieved by the common valor. He feels that he is looked upon as one of the connecting-links in the great chain which binds the glorious destinies of his country — that he is respected in proportion to the service he is enabled to render to her — hc.i^ever humble the mode — and it is his pride to know that, when a nation's praise goes forth in thanks for an important victory, he is one of those to whom that homage is paid. With such induce- ments for adhesion to the standard of his country — such means af- forded him to vary the scene of his dangers ancl of his service, to indulge in that desire for change which is natural to man in every condition of life, and yet to know that, if there be any percejitible or lengthened diminution of his comfort, it is because it is beyond the control of his officer to prevent that which is equally inflicted upon himself — with such inducements, I repeat, to be true to the flag of his country, the soldier feels that it would be a blindness of infatuation to forsake the manifold advantages he enjoys, for the pur- j)ose of following an ignis fatuvs, w^hich may lead to his utter de- struction, and certainly cannot better his condition. Hence it is that in war, when the mind and the body are actively employed, de- sertions are of far less frequent occurrence than when no such state of honorable excitement exists. But, during a period of profound peace, when there is nothing to animate the mind nr to excite interest — when no vista of glory is n KIUHT YU.IRS IN CAItASi. t I dimly seen In the distance — when a soldier's lift! is ronsumcd in an unceasing ronnd of drills, iiarudi's, and Kuard-mcnintings— when the same unvarying roster of duty is jirosenttMl to him, likening his toil in a great degree to that of the slave — and when, if change of sceno be ollered, he finds it unarcoinpanicd by any of those strong excite- ments which are inseparable from a condition of war, it is the less iun)rising that a morbid feeling, inducing listlcssness and apathy, ati(i even loathing of his condition, should cvcntudlly take possession of his mind, until recourse is finally had to that stc]) which he thinks will lead to his relief, but which, experience satisfies him, not only makes real that sutfering which is fancied, but shuts him out from every prospect of a return to the enjoyment of those actual benehts he has so thoughtlessly and so guiltily relinquished. Another superinducing cause of the frequency of desertion in the Hritish army at the present day is, in my opinion, the institution of libraries (Ly no means, in many instances, select) in the several eorps ; and the direction ot the minds of the men to subjects utterly unsuit(>d to their position. These, in expanding his intellect, tend to give to the soldier — especially if he b« a young man — an unduly exalted opinion of himself, and to induce a contempt for the position he occupies. Gradually he is led to infer that his education and talents are far beyond his present limited sphere, and looking on the uniform he wears as a badge of servitude, aetennincs on seizing the first favorable opportunity to rid himself of it for ever. Nor is this desire in any way diminished by (lie practice to which I have, in strong deprecation, alluded, of giving dinners to each other, and in- dulging in sentimental toasts and opinions which arc, I maintain, misplaced in the condition of a soldier. I may offer, in illustration of this view of the subject, a circum- stance that occurred in the 23rd Regiment, not long previous to their embarkation for the West Indies. Two corporals' guards were in the habit! of mounting daily in Kingston — one at the hosj)ital, the other at the ordnance, and a plan was laid by both non-commissioned; officers on duty, on one particular day, to desert with the whole of their command'. However, the men, who had necessarily been tam- pered with, disclosed the intention, and it was defeated. The cor- porals were confined, tried by a court-martial, convicted, and sent to the penitentiary. And liere it is to be remarked that they were both young, good-looking and intelligent, had received a tolerable educa- tion, and were not only able penmen, but possessed of that shrewd- ness and sagacity which so often obtains for a clever soldier the ioubriquet of '« Lawyer." Their guilt, therefore was, in all proba- bility, the result of that desire to better a condition which the esti- mate they had formed of their own capabilities had led them to be- lieve was not what it ought to be. It was fortunate that the men, not acknowledging the same refine'' influence, conceived it to be a duty incumbent on them to regard their oath.. I have stated, on the authority of Sir John Colborrie, that the number of deserters, between 1815 and 1838 inclusive, was at least 6,000. Correct statistics of desertion since that period I have not been able to obtain, but they cannot be much less than 600, for at Kinf^ston alone, I know the number up to the 20th of September 1844, to have been 215. This mania has, as I have already remarked, been carried to a greater pitch in Kingston than in any other part of Upper Canada; insomuch that every per- 78 itONT rKAR.1 irr cksava. ^■■f Fon nwninc^ a lM)at of wlmtsocvi'r dcwription, wn« nt onci timn oompulled to adopt tho utiiioNt pri'uuution to ])r()Vt piirMim thii miiuv courwo. A HHOorul (lo.scrtioii hIioiiM. in my opinion, HnKlorn ho jmrdoiu'il— n tliiril iiovnr; for tlio mnKH olu U«*ij;imi'Mt aroonly iliMtrmctnl l») the ntstoriitioii to tluiiii of iikmi whoso villainy Ih of tlio most hardened kind, and whoso nnl>lnshin^r oxatnpio cannot fail to 0|)erato nnfavoiably on those who, althon^h now untainted, may ut Honi(! I'ntnrn period, indulgu in thu huuiu propeuHity, with thu uaine liopt' of impunity. It luiH ever appeared to mo (and I confess my surprise that no ofiicor of llio British army, servinir in (Xanadu, should have proiind- gat(>d th<^ same opinion,) that it would bo ^^ood policy to issue,a J)roclamation of pardon to all thoso «oIdi(MS who huvo desttrted ot)C£ ; hut that vvherev(!r a seeotiil case occurred, the narty should be cornlemned to the Penitentiary for a certain nuniiH-r of years, and if tak«!n a third time, he should, after having b<'en tried and convict«jd by a (.'ourt Martial, bo snot. The i)miishment of tho renitentiary, for a fow years, has nothing nj)pallinK in it, to tho ontwanl eye, but surrourid a man with thu imposing cerr'inonies of ii military execution, and the lesson will ijo far to check tlio evil. Kven for a first ollence, commitlcjd under airt^ravated circum- tttances, n (htsertiir should he made to sniler deatlu The [)r(>clamation I snyi^est, buin^ an act of oblivion of tho of- fence, would have the etlect of removini; thai stij^ma which now uttuchos to the des«Mter voluntarily surrenderit ;,' himself, and thu dread of encountering which is on(j f^reat <)l»ie(.tioii to liis retuns amon;j his comrades, from whom lie may expect taunts little dis- similar- from those wl.'ich ho had found to attach to him in tho litnd lor which ho had incurred all tho odium. Moreover, tho cost of these desertfMs to the Government, independently of tho humiliation they briuir upon thu service, is so enormous that an attempt Jioncslly to reclaim tho erring soldier becomes almost a feature in political economy. No mail can well bo enlisted, clothed, fed, and moved from clime to clime, at less than au average cost of £20 to the country. Therefore, if wo add five hundred deserters to the number stated by Sir John Colborne as having gone otf between 1815 and 1838, there is a dead loss of upwards of £110,000. The following anecdote, for which I am indebted to the Town Major of Kingston — Captain Bouchier — is certainly most cool and unique. During the former service of the 71st in this country, a man had been seduced by an American farmer of some wealth to desert, and take up his residence w'th him for five years in the capacity of a laborer — the stipulation being that he was to receive certain wages, food, clothing, &c. He served his engagement, but during the whole time, although well fed and otherwise pro- vided for, he could get no money. At length he became urgent for a settlement, and, notwithstanding many evasions, succeeded in bringing his employer to a consideration of his claim. "I'll tell you what it is now," said the farmer, in his nasal tvang, " money is out of the case : I've got none : but I guess I'll give you so many acres of land, and what is more I'll help you to build a house upon it, and then you may fix it the best way you can." The proposal was accepted, a log hut was built, a clearing wa« efFecleJ, and the deserter remained in occupancy during the space 89 ElUHT r&ARS kl CAXADA. i of four yoare. But there was neither deed nor title of the slight- est description given to him. At the expiration of the term just named, the farmer died, :nd the son, his heir, who must, o course, have been fully aware of the whole transaction, callec shortly afterwards on the tenant of the log hut and demanded reiit . " Rent ! for what ?'» « viT^hy for this ere land you have located for the last four years. I guess the rent isn't paid." " Of course not : I owe no rent : this land was given to me, and tnis house put upon it by your father, for whom I worked five >» years " Don't know nothing of that," retorted the son. " If you ha'nt got the deed, I guess you must clear out, and I claim four years* rent of you." And turned out he was, forthwith. This was his well-merited reward for deserting, and placing himself in a position of which men scrupled not to take every unworthy advantage. He had perjured himself to his God and to hid country. He had toiled five years with the sweat of his brow for him who had seduced him from the path of honor, and in ad- dition had assisted in building a house, and had cleaved and cul- tivated a considerable portion of land. For all this he had been allowed barely the means of subsistence, and was withal called upon to pay four years rent for that which was in fact his own. This surely should bo a lesson to all soldiers cursed with the spirit of desertion. But the most amusing part of the story remains yet to be told. Annoyed and disc-usted with the treatment he had received, the dupe hearing of tne return of his regiment to Canadn. conceive- the design of honoring it w^ith his presence. He accordingly re- crossed the lines, gave himself up as a deserter, and demamied to be taken to his regiment. The application was forwarded to Colonel Grey, then commanding the 71st, but that officer very properly refused to have anything to do with him, oRlering, on the contrary, that his immediate discharge should be made out. The refusal to receive him was regarded by the deserter as very extra- ordinary, and his ideas had become so expanded during his long residence in the States, that he absolutely considered himself to be a very ill-used individual. One of the most singular cases of desertion, however, occurred in the 15th Regiment, while quartered on the Lower Canada frontier, and this so completely upsets all one's preconceived no- tions as to the inflnoncing causes of desertion that it merits a re- cord. A servant one of the officers had been sent on one oc- casion to Montreal with some valuable property belonging to one of the ladies of tne family, and having executed his trust with the utmost fidelity, returned to the Isle-aux-Noix, where his master was quartered. During his absence, or shortly subsequent to his return, his fellow-servant, the groom, had deserted taking with him his master's horse. A se rgeant of the regiment was immiiliately despatched in pursuit, and with him went the servant, already mentioned, for the purpose of identifying the animal. Thoy crossed over into the States, found the horse, which had been left in pledge^ by the deserter at a tavern, and, after paying the charges of the landlord, recrossed the lines and rpturned with the Bir.MT TKAR.S K'* CA.^ADA. 61 recoTer(3d animal to the British post. Two day.«i afterwards, tho same servant — wlio had only a lew days previously been entrust- ed with a parcel of some value, and with which he mitjht easily have absconded, who had moreover since that been in the States, where no power but his own will could have withdrawn him — de- serted also, and has never since been heard of on this side of the line. It might be inferred, from the uniform steadiness of the Artil- lery, and the superior mental attainments which soldiers of this arm usually possess, that desertions from this body are compara- tively unknown. I confess it was with the deepest surprise that I learnt, from an authority which could leave no dcubt on the sub- ject, that the crime of desertion exists with them to an extent (tak- ing into consideration their fewness of number) not exceeded by the average of regiments of Infantry. Nor was I less amazed, when, from the same source, I was informed that the 93ra Highlanders have not been an exception to the general delin- quency. The strong feeling of nationality which pervades this extremely fine corps, the personal and remar kuMe pride of ap- pearance of the men, who bear themselves as if conscious of the classic garb they wear, added to the fact of their general food and steady conduct, one would have imagined to have een such guarantees of their fidelity that no temptation could shake it ; but the infatuation has been too powerful even forth 9m, and if theu have yielded to it, who shall say on what de- scription of troops to rely? A most singular — nay inexplicable fact in the chronicle of deser- tion, and one which almost overthrows all reasoning from causes is, according to the same authority, evinced in the case of the Incorpo- rated Battalions, raised during the rebellion, and only a few years since discontinued. One would have imagined that, if any troops could be exempt from all inducements to des'^rtion, they would have been those, the very limited term of whose enlistment ought to have caused the service to be one rather of pastime than of toil. The men composing them were, moreover, not only not newly arrived in the country, and therefore not likely to be hurried away with a false esti- mate of the advantages awaiting thom on the otiier side of the line, but were principally old soldiers, or youn ?; men, either born or long resident in the country, who were no strangers to the American shore, and for whom the mere novelty of change could offer no at- traction sufficiently powerful to counterbalance the infamy of viola- tion of the oath which they had taken. And yet, strange to say, although the men serving in these corps had every reasonable ex- pectation of receiving a fresh bounty at the expiration of the two J rears for which they were engaged, or, if they should prefer it, of caving the service altogether, desertions were with them even more frequent, and on a more extended scale, in comparison with their strength, than with the regiments of the line. In proo/ of this, the returns of desertion from tlie Kingston garrison, from January 1838 to September 184-4, exhibit, as I have before stated, a total of 215 men ; and of this number, from January 1839 to August 1841, (Hve years back) there were, of the Incorporated Battalions, no fewer than 121. This immense disproportion is the more manifest when it is taken into consideration, that in Kingston, there are usually stationed one entire regiment, and thi; wing of another, indcpf.'ii- doiitly of a strong force of Ailiilcry. 82 Ki^iHT YliARS lilt CArurn the idea of working for the pittance the Ensign re- ceives, and yet that Ensign is compelled, on a stipend of five and sixpence a day, to make an appearance in public, and to keep up the credit of his regiment at the mess table much more, in comparison wilh their respective rates of pay, tlian the Lieutenant Colonel himself. No one can be ignoiant of the opposition everoflered by Joseph Hume to all unnecessary expense in the army, and yet no man seems to have taken a more liberal or comprehensive view of the policy and expediency of employhig men of their fixed habits of order, in the more civil departments of public life. Were his system adopted, and officers, both commissioned and non-com- missioned, permitted, on retiring from the army, to occupy those posts which are now filled by reckless and improvident clerks, the public service both at home and abroad would be most ma- terially advantaged. Lord Fitzroy Somerset has frequently paid me the compliment of questioning me in regard to the management and conduct of troops in Canada ; and the last time, only a few days before I em- barked for this country. I feel perfectly assured that His Lord- ship will, aware as he is of my former services in this hemisphere, gave me credit for having treated the subject not only with the serious consideration it deserves, but in a spirit of accuracy, the result of somi3 close application to its study ; and therefore this portion of m,y book do I especially devote to His Lordship's con- sideration- CHAPTER Vn. My engagements with the " Times " having now finally ter- minated, and tranquillity having been restored in the Province, I once more set out for Upper Canada, directing my course to Amherstburg, the extreme point of the British military possessions in the West. But how different were the feelings with which I now approached this most picturesque portion of the country, from those which had filled my young and ardent mind at an earlier period of my existence. Embarking at Buffalo, a flourishing American town which, while a mere village, had been burnt by our troops in 1813, but which Phoenix-like, had risen from its own ashes with renewed splendor, I ascended Lake Erie to the point of my destination. As we passed a cluster of islands which are abour two-thirds of the way from BafTalo, my memory forcibly recalled the morning when (a prisoner myself, and taken in a sub- sequent affair,) I had seen the gallant Barclaj', the commander of the little British fleet, lying severely wounded in the ward room of his own ship— herself a crippled and dismasted wreck, her cannon dismounted, and her timbers so torn witfi shot, that a hand coulu not be placed on that side exposed to the enemy's fire, without covering some portion of a wound. There loo, around tbjit gallant and well fought >jhip,had been clustered others which F.KiHT YKAU.S L\ (AN AHA. 8ft lirid nolily sustiiinnd lier in the unequal conflict, hut wliich an ml- vorsc lorliHiH liad ('(pially coii.sijjfniui to tho iinanlianship of a triunii)haiit loo. I had be(Mi, in boyhood, the favoritt; oltlie joyoii<», brave, but nnfortiniate loadt^r, and distinctly conld I remember the choerlnl smile wliich animated his intelliijont countenance, ptill preserving its freslui(;ss of color even in snllering, and the faint pressure of the mntilited hand with wliicii he i^reeted me, as he expressed his pleasure at seeing his " little warrior " once more. But the devoted Harolay is not to be thus summarily dismissed. It is with nnfeiiined jih^asure that I transcribe three, amon<2; many, of that gallant and noble minded oflicer's letters, written at a sub- setpient period. These letters are not only precious to myself, as coiiveyitig the ex]iressinn of his regard for my highspiriteil father, wfio, hastily ordered to join the squadron on the eve of engagement with the enemy, was made prisoner, and was present with him nt the moment of my visit; but important to the public because tliey nreathe thiit high toned and chivalrous spiri. wliich are the characteristics of the generous British seaman. Who can fail to esteem and love the memory of thiMTian who expresses himself 80 feelingly on the subject of his successful rival in glory ! Com- modore Perry is now no more, but his relatives will hail with satisfaction a fellow-hero's tribute which I have not hitherto haft an opportunity of giving 1o the world.* Independently of my vived recollection of the generous Barclay, u thousand olhers flitted across my mind, as I found mysef in the vicinity of the scenes of my early service. Every object that I ]>eheld olTered some exciting reminiscence of the past. Tfi£re, in Ihe heart of Avinte^, and on firm and seemingly enduring ice, we had crossed with heavy artillery, and surroujuled by hundreds of stealthily glidin^j Indians, to the attack of an American army which we d(^U ;ited and destroyed. Here^ in simimer, we had crossed the lake in balteaux on an expedition of a similar kind, and altonded by a'similar result ; and ever, on these occasions, en-- joying the rude song of the men, or their quaint recital of some anecdote, provoking the laugh of their otiicers, as, in treating of the differences of condition of the soldier in w.ir and in peace, I have already remarked. When we had crossed the bar, and drawn nearer to the river at the mouth of which the little town of Amherstburg is situated, the feeling of desolation which had been gathering in my nnnd, amounted to absolute painfulness. There was a stillness — a nakedness — a vacuity about everything, as we approached it, that, but for the leading features of the beautiful scenery, miijht have Ici one to doubt its identity. Before the town, and bounding with it the narrow channel for vessels of the deepest burden navi- gating the lakes, had once ))leasingly arreste(l the eye of the stranger, a small island of extreme beauty of shape, and covered with a dense and luxuriant foliage. Nothing could then have been mnn^ picturescpie than this island, which is about three-quarters of a mile in length and luilf a mile in breadth, covered as ii was with the wigwams and watchfires of the Indians. Now it had been disfigured in every direction by the bad taste of the commander of i Sfie Ajrpoiiilix, Nos 10, 11 & 12. M Si V.UiUT VKARS l.V CANADA. I I tlie uanisoii, wlio, in fon,se(|iioiico of tlio pHtriols having .sotiu'tiiiio ])r(;viously lamlod (»ii tlio island, had ht'silatod not to saciidce a ficeno of surpassin^j; boaiity to thoir a[)pieht*nsion of a danger which in fact exiHltuI no longer. InonUir to dttpiive thorn of tlio iM)H8ibility of shelter in the dense cover of the tail and verdant wood, lie had cansod the axe to be laid at the root of trees which had exinted for agen, and in removing the dark cnrtain whieh the .snn invariably goldened with liis rays, before ili[)ping finally fronitluj view, destroyed a beauty which no human hand — no human ingenuity can renew. Then, again, in the harbor, where so often had resounded the busy hammer of the ship-builder, and where had floated seven goodly barks of war, ?nanned by crews eager for an encounter with their enemy, and where had waved the proud pennants of England, scarce a sound was to be heard — scarce an evidence of human life was to be seen. Beyond die fort the same monotonous stillness prevailed. Then, gathered around the house of council which had since tlisappeared, had been collected three thousand warriors taken from at least twenty ditl'erent tribes. These, clad in their wild costume, and formidal)le in their war paint, had con- . tributed by their presence to give an air of animation to the scene, which was fuilhermore increased by that of their wives aiul ♦Miildren. At the period at which I had last seen them assembled on that ground they counted not less than ten thousand souls. Now there was not the faintest vestige of an encampmejit, and if a solitary Indian exhibited himself, he was so changed in character and in appearance from the warriors of tho.-^e day.'^, and pr(*.sented so uninteresting an exterior in his unbecoming g'arb of civilization, that his presence only added to the melancholy of the feelings in- duced by the contemplation of the change. Nay, the very town itself had alteretl its character, and, in.stead of making that [jrogre.ss which should have been looked for in a new and enterjjii/.ing country, had, by the operation of very un- favourable circumstances, retrograded in the exact proportion in which it should have advanceil. The slre(!ts were dull and dirty, the hou.ves of wood, which then were bright ami jnue in ta.stelul colors, were now almost without a shadow of the paiut which, for- merly, had atlorued them, and ruin and dilapidation seemed to have done their slow and (|uiet work of destruction in every ob- ject that hadojue been familiar to my eye. Often, in my dreams, had I revisiteil this spot, and imagination \u\d treacherously, anil with startling fidelity, decked it m the hues which were most familiar to my mind — nay, so vividly had the future been rejjre- sejited, that [ could not but feel deep paifi when the chilling reality stood, in all its nakedness, before me. But who has ever returned to the home of his boyh.'joii, alter an ab.sonce such as mine had ber'u, full of the confidenoe ot meeting its well remembered scenes, and yet not ielt his heart to sink within him, when, inste.ul of the warm greeting of familiar ac~ quail, tinces — animate and inanimate— -he finds himself almost a stranger to everything he beholds. Mow is it that the sympathies cling so fondly, and \\ ith sncli tenacity, to the early pa.st ? There are certainly lu, very j)!i'i;y, wunnltk, vitality. Tim aiuirial sfiirils of tlu; man appnarod to have buen withcrcil iiii, Hiul tlu! (h'l-adcncv of tlu; iiioial iMUMj^y of the inhabitants to have bn rode the youtli, and, the bonghj among, Thus the free birds o'er his pathway sung : " Wherefore so fast into life away \ Thou art leaving for ever thy joy in our lay. " Thou mayosf come to the suuuner woods again, And thy heart have no eelio to greet their strain ; Afar from the foliage its love will dwell : A change must pass o'er three. Farevvel! ' t'j'.rewell ! '' On rode the youth, and the freshets and stream^-- Thus mingled a voice with his joyous dreams " We have been I by plnyiiiate* lliioiigli maii\ n (|;iy ; Wherefore ilms leave u? ? oh '. yet delay ! no r.iiiirr vi;\rs i.\ canapa. I " lJHtn> liiit oiico to ill*" h'mukI of our mirlli ; l''i)i llu'f, 'lis n miloily pi\-^>iiiK from rnrtli : Never nfrniji wilt tlioii Hiul in its (!ow, Tlie penci' it coiilil once on thy lieiirt bellow. " Thou wilt vifiit the xceiu-H of tliy cliihlhoodV «!ti', With ihf lireath ofthe world on tliy Hjiirit fn'*-: l'iiH:nie iiuigh no pnrt ; — Wiint should it do for n burning henrt I Tlinu wilt bring to the hnnksof our freshet rill, Thirst which no fountain on earth may still. " Farewell ! When thou cotncst again to thine own, 'I'hou wilt niJHs from our nnisic its lovclieut lone. IVIournfully true ia ths tale we tell : Yet, on, fiery dreamer ! Farewell ! forcwell !" And B something; of yloom on his spirit wei^hod, Ah ho cau|:5ht the last sounds of his native shade: But he knew not till many a bright spell broke, . How deep were the oracles Nature spoke ! But altliouGjh the town was, as I have already remarked, merely the ruin of what it had been, such had hnen the effect of the introduction of troops into the counliy, that it was Kradiiallv emerging from the state of supineness and inactivity into which it had fallen ; and indeed so great was the deinanil for houses, notwithstanding the erection of so many new buildings, that I could not hire one, however small, at any price, and had the utmost ditliculty in obtaining a suitable accommodation. And here it mny he observed, that if the rebellion has been attended with no other {fOod to Canada, its military occupation has been in itself a boon which leaves it difficult to determine whether the province has most gained or most lost by the events of the past few years. Until that period, the country had been regarded at home with an indifrereiico that could well account for its rapidly increasing ))overty and its degeneration ; and when we considej the vast im- ])ortance of Canada to the empire, furnishing as its trade now does a nursery for three fourths of the seamen of Great Britain, one cannot but entertain surprise at that absence of political eco- nomy which should have left to the working of faction and discon- tent, the true means of developing its rich resources. My remarks ia regard to Amherstburgh, apply equally to all those towns in the province which had formerly enjoyed the advantage of military and naval stations, but wliieh a long interval of peace had, in de- l)riving them of that naeaiis of enriching themselves, also deprived of the spirit of enterprise. No sooner were the troops again quar- tered in these places, then they sprang up in renewed strength, and the vigor infused into them gave earnest of the commensurate return to the Empire wliich had at lengtli awakened to a sense of its own interests, in promoting those of the polony. Tlie Govern- ment of Great Britain will do well to bear in mind, that if the rn- nrtnnus trade of Canada constitutes an enduring nursery for her seatnen, in no less degree does its soil atlord the same advantaire In her soldiery. As a large standing army m\}<\ be kept up, tliere is no country where n great portion of it can be mniiitainiMl at a FIHHT YFAW in (MNAHA, !)1 loKsooHt (I'litliii'j; iinidt' tlu; i|iic'H(i(tii ot dcHi'tlioii) tliaii in CatiiMl.i ; iitid, iiM II rn;itt*>r of ixiliiical i'(M)iii)iiiy, till* u;rt'iil<'i tliiil uiiny, tlio hettiM' for tliu iiiterrst^ of tlu' t>tii|)ii)! : lor tlu> I'oii.-^iiiriptioii ol homo iimriiifacliirort is n«H'»)HMarily iiuMcuMod, not only l>V llii« (oreu, but liy tho additioinil nl hlioidd not he maintained in (-unada. Tho very proximity of the province to tlie United States, ruiulerH it as much a measure of preeantion that tlie on«) should be ;;uarded a;;ainst foreijiu a;{i;ressi<»n ami doiiu'stie diseord, iiH that tlie others should be surroiinded by the impoRin<,' military stretiyth wliieh, not only keejts the coinpieied natives in subjec- tion, but defends them aj;ainst the (ierce enemies who dwtdl on their ontskiiis. The larger the army iu Canada, the more will the empir(% both in a political and in a commercial point of view, bu benefitted. While at .\merstbur'j;h, F went on two or three ooensions fo its small Kpiscopal Chureli, at which by the way otiicinfcd jicleruy- maii of V((ry austere manners, :uid luijusliliably proin to induliro in personalities a;u;ainst particular portions of his llock ; sometiin«!s compellinj; parties to le.ive the service with a mixed fetdin^' of indipiation and disgust which it ill comported with the duties of his position to excite. T\w lirst time I visited it, I was struck by th(! appearance of a beautiful willow tree, its sea-green branches tlo.iting gi Miofully, in the gentle breeze of a summer day, over ii grave the sward of which was bright and fresh as the fust bloom of beauty, and occasionally sluuling the light thrown upon the pulpit, that adjoined u window lookiii. on this part of llie burial gKMiml. When the service had terminutt • i, I inquired over whose grave this beaiitii d and drooping tri- .ad been planted, and was told that he w' <• "posed uii Kr its , 'nches was my next and favorite brother. H iiad buon wounded u action in the early age of four- teen years, i ' liiigert;d long and painfully for many months, yet had gradually .uid, to a I apptiarance, \" ' ollv recovered. Con- sumption j however, had rtsulted from liie constant exfoliation from a limb which had been severely shi'ttored, but which ht^ never would consent to have taken oil'; anti dtiath had terminated, a few years aftt;rvvards, the exi.-'^enco of as gallant a \ viilhasever entered the service of his Sovorngn. He had receiveil a positive order to remain behiml on an expedition of some importance nn- ilortuken anainst tho enemy, but. ;(MH rously disobeying that order, he joined the army about an hour bcfor(; it Wus engaged, and was almost one of the first who dl, loth bones of thcM'iglu leg having been shat'>/roii by a musket bail, while in the .'ict of ap- plying a match to I rte'. '.-piece. When we last ])arted, at the con- clusion of tho Amei 'e.'. I war, he had just thrown askletue crutches which he had used foi nearly a year, and expressed to me tho most sanguine expectation of his fpeedy reeoveiy. The hoixj proved delusive, and ii was Caled thai I should never behold him m .re. s^. IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-S) .Vl^ 1.0 I.I i^y^ 12.5 ■>« Itt |22 u 114 ■■■ ^ li£ 12.0 IL25 III 1.4 I m % ^ A /; ^V/ ^'« ^V- Hiotographic Sciences CorpQralion ";j«^^^ 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, NY. 14580 {■''6) £72-4503 '^ '9,*' ^<^ ok upon the art of ingenious writing, not as a merit, but a mere incidental gift, for which o^e is more indebted to nature than to judicious application. The mechanic possesses the same in a variety of ways, and I regard the works of many of these with a wonder and admiration surpassing even those which are produced by N ' 94 EiORT TEARS IN CANAM. a contemplation of the more elegant and accomplished arts of paint- ing and sculpture, and yet I am familiar with the chef d^ceumes in both. Painting and sculpture are^ after all, but imitations, — splen- did, I grant, but still imitations. The exquisite beauty of the per- fect human form is placed before the airtist as a model, and the whole secret is to copy with accuracy and fidelity. 1 am far from wish- ing to convey a belief that nicety of execution, in those more refined occupations^ does not reauire both inspiration and genius ; but tha inspiration is one of thoughts which are familiar to the mind, and the genius has a tangible foundation on which to build. But in me- chanics how different ! There is no model no design on which, or after which, to erect a structure. For instance, in ue construction of the higher M>ders of mechanism, both of an ancient and modern date, what inexhaustible powers of imagination have been put forth in order to invent, combine, mould, harmonize, and finally give life and motion to that on which the eye has never hitherto gazed, and which has alone been woven en the labyrinthean meshes of the brain. Such have ever been my sentiments, such my views in re- gard to the relative bearings of the^fine arts to the more complicated mechanics, and even at the hazard of being accused of having <« no music in my soul," do I now avow them. Not, be it under- stood, that I look upon mechanics with anything approaching to the enthusiasm with which I have gazed on the breathing Tenus de Medici in the Louvre, or the glowing Madonna of a Raphael ; but because I conceive that there is more of absolute f enius in one than in the other. If, therefore, I regard painting and sculpture as re- quiring far less ingenuity than certain complicated operations in mechanicism, how much less in the scale of comparison must I ne- cessarily class literature, and particularly ihat lighter literature which is embraced in works of nction. The power so to weave to- gether the incidents of a tale that they may be made comprehensible and attractive to the reader, is a mere gift, which soine persons pos- sess in a greater or less degree than othere ; and can reflect no more credit upon him who is endovved with it, than can reasonably be claimed by any man or woman who has beenj by nature, fortunately gifted with personal beauty and attraction superior to that enjoyed by the generality of their Icind. A man who chances to possess this advantage, cannot write ill if he would ; neither, if nature has been lavish of her bounties, and made him what is called a man of talent,, can he employ that talent in a less luminous way, whether for good or evil, than nature herself has designed and willed. It costs him na effort, and therefore there cannot be said to be much merit. These, then, being my honest impressions, it may be asked wherefore it is that I allude, in a spirit of censure and complaint, to the absence of honoring notice by their countrymen, of the lite- rary effusions of the few Canadian writers we have ? The answer to this is very simple : Because it is the custom of the civilized world, and has been such for ages ; and however I may differ from that world in my estimate of the lighter literature of the day, still as all are agreed in rendering honor to those whom they have in>ested with an overrated merit, the exception is so gross and glaring as to form a proper subject for animadversion. Where nations unite among themselves to elevate their men of letters, and when i'. is universally admitted that their efforts reflect favorably upon the land of their birth, and tend to raise it in the scale of civilization^ I ^■ii ZlGHl YEARS IN CANADA. 00 any deviation from a principle so sacred and acknowledged, can only be regarded as a slight, whether originating in ignorance or in wilfulness. True, I have elsewhere remarked that the Canadians are not a reading people. Neither are they: but yet there are many hundreds of educated men in the country, wlio ought to know better. — who possess a certain degree of public influence, and who should have been sensible that, in doing honor to those whom the Dolished circles of society, and even those of a more humble kind, have placed high in the conventional scale, they were adopting the best means of elevating themselves. England prides herself on her innumerable hosi of literary men ; France, on hers ; Scotland ren- ders homage to the shades of Scott and Burns ; Ireland boasts of the versatility of talent of her many eminent writers. Every nation in the Old World has done honor to the profession of letters, and the United States, in the New, glories, and justly glories, in the well- won reputation of her gifted Cooper ; nay, if I mistake not, the land of recipiency of pollution and crime — New South Wales — has not shown herself so degraded as not to seek for honorable estimation, by producing and encouraging one or two native authors who have re- cently flourished amongst them. Canada, alone, in the wide universe, forms the exception. Tlie few men of talent who exist within her bosom, have never met with that attention which it is the pride of the nations to which I have alluded to bestow upon those who undertake to instruct, in- form, or amuse their minds ; and so far has this apathetic feeling been carried, that in my own case it was left to the people of the United States to inform them that they possessed a writer not less favorably known in Europe than among themselves, of whose ex- istence tney (the Canadians) were ignorant, and to whose success they were mdifferent. As this is the last time I shall ever allude to the humiliating sub- ject, I cannot deny to myself the gratification of the expression of a hope, that should a more refined and cultivated taste ever be in- troduced into the matter-of-fact country in which I have derived my being, its people will decline to do me the honor of placing my name in the list of their " Authors." I certainly have no particu- lar ambition to rank among their future "men of genius," or to share in any postbimious honor they may be disposed to confer upon them. The gratification which I have elsewhere slated I experienced in my communicaton with the hospitable people of Detroit, had near- ly now been interrupted by a not very welcome invitation, which emanated from one exercising high influence on that border. All the world know, or have heard of, the famous General Theller, who won his way to much renown by escaping, in 1838, from the citadel of Quebec, while immediately under the surveillance of the Guards , and who, after a diligent and fruitless search of many days, had secretly left the vicinity of the city about the time I re- turned from my farewell visit to Lord Durham. He was now once more in Detroit, the point from which he had originally in- vaded Canada, and while editing a paper entitled the "Spirit of '76," denunciatory of British ascendancy, was anxiously awaiting an opportunity when sonr.e future demonstration on the part of the disaffected Canadians mii^ht enable him to renew his hazardous i ! course. I 96 EIGHT TBAHS IN CANADA. . ' The distance from Sandwich to Windsor is about three milos^ and between the latter place (the scene of action during the invasion I have already described, when Colonel Prince ordered the prisoners to be shot) and the American town of Detroit imme- diately opposite, plies a small bteam ferry-boat. Intending one morning to cross over in this, as was m}r wont, I chanced to go into the "store " of Mr. Dougall, the proprietor of a large establish- raent on the Canadian side, which is much resorted to by the in- habitants of both shores, when that gentleman inquired if I had seen Theller's paper of that morning. I replied I had not, Vfhen he handed it to me, pointing out the following paragraph : — " ICr Hunters — Look out ! What does this mean ? We copy from the ' North American ' the following : " • Majoe Richardson, alias stevens, the spy.* "' Immediately after the troubles of last fall, a man, calling himself Stevens, made his appearance on the Vermont and New York frontier, who called himself a lumber-merchant from Michigan ; said he had been arrested at Sorel, Lower Canada, and thrown into the Montreal jail, on occount of his friendly feelings to the patriots. While at Champlain, he repeatedly endeavoured to get Colonel Gagnon into Canada, nndcr pre- tence that he wished to purcliase his (Gagnon's) farm, and it was necessary that the business should be done before a notary in Canada. His conduct looked suspicious, and, consequently, m3asure8 were taken which very soon led to his detection as a sfy- — and well did he merit the fate of a spy. "•He was afterwards recognized as the ridiculously fnmons Major Richardson, so well known for his cowardice in a certain ufTair of honor with Mr.LeBlanc Marconnay.of Monlrcal. The unhanged villain has now gone on a tour along the Michigan frontier, and is, no donbt, at his old tricks, of spying out the sayings and doings of the patriots. Give him a peep into /u^Mrifi/, and he'll be satisfied. " * DESCRtPTiON. — He is a man of middling height, rather inclined to corpulency, florid complexion, sandy hair and whiskers, of easy manners and martial carriage. " ' Look out for him along the New York and Michigan frontier.' '* There are some men so singularly unfortunate, and as it were predestined to notoriety, that, go where they will, court what pri- vacy they may, they are certain of being dragged before the iniblic by the dastardly malevolence of fools and scoundrels, and made to undergo the influence of that leprous curse of human society, the blistering foul-mouthedness of a loathsome and insatiate scandal. I could have felt disposed to smile at the paragraph, overcharged as it A'as with my accomplishments as a spy, but when I reference made to another matter of a more private character, and, from the '*' The following are the remarks, white giving it a place in his columns, of the editor of the Montreal Herald, upon the parngra(ih : — " The above is copied from The Spirit of '76, of the 19th ultimo (Sept, 1839), n pagter published at Detroit by the infamous Theller, " whoescaped from the Citadel of Quebec. Its object was, no (loubt, to induce some of tl'.e Sympathizers or re.'uMes about Detroit, to assassinate Mig'or Richardson, who is at pre- sent residing at Sandw en, and who was for some time a resident of this city. It is not at all unlikely that the .icticle in the North American was concocted in Montreal, by some - of those individuals who might have felt afraid that their characters ond couduct would be gibbeted in the work which the Major announced a shon time ago that he wa« about to publish. The charge against him of having been a spy is ridiculous in the ex- treme as we know, and equally so is that of his having shown cowardice in on aflfairof honor he had with Mr. Marconnay. That he was guilty of precipitation and indiscretion in that affair we cannot deny, but his character fur courage was loo highly cstttjilighed to : ' auifsr from the malignant efforts of any set of men." EIOIIT YEARS IN CANADA. »7 very fact of the allusion, formed the same surmise that appeared in the commentary ol the Montreal Herald, as given in the note I have appended, that ii had cmunatcd tiom certain beings whom I held in the most thorough scorn and contempt, I could ill suppress my indig- nation and disgust. But then, there was a manifest error. 1 had neither sandy hair nor vvhislicrs ; neither were my mustachios, which I had constantly worn for the last five-and-twenty years, al- luded to, and yet these composed a feature (if such it could be called) which was remarkable enough to have claimed a place in the very detailed description. I reviewed in memory all those per- sons who, from their peculiar position in the country, were most likely to have been thus employed, and finally became confirmed in the opinion that the present Queen's Printer in Canada, who had been employed by Lord Durham in some secret service on the lines, was the party for whom I had been mistaken, and who had been thus charged : his person completely corresponding to the description: — *< middling height, rather inclined to corpulency, florid complex- ion, sandy hair and whiskers, and of easy manners." But, whoever the offender, I was the individual to whom had been attached the odium.* Although I had never been near Lake Champlain ; had not set my foot on the Vermont frontier ; knew no more of Colonel Gagnon than 1 did of the Emperor of China, and had taken no part whatever in the affairs of that troubled period, I had been too markedly pointed out by name to the formidable * Hunters," who abounded on the American shore, not to appre- hend personal violence of some kind, even although I might escape the rifle bullet or the bowie-knife. I could not quite reconcile to myself the idea of shrinking from the danger that threatened, but prudence and my better judgment came in to the support of Mr. Dougall's earnest recommendation, and I resolved to discontinue my visits to Detroit until I should be enabled to satisfy all parties there and particularly my immediate friends, that I was not in reality the spy I bad been represented. Feeling the necessity of " holding a candle to the devil," I accordingly enclosed though the agency of a gentleman in Detroit, a note of explanation to the ^Jeneralissimo of the Hunters, and the Editor of "The Spirit of >76," from whonj I received the following guarded reply : — "Detroit, September Wth, ^i839. "Sir, — I acknowledge the receipt of your communication of yesterday from Sandwich, marked ' private,' through the hands of Alfred Brush, Esquire, of this city, with the accompanying documents, which, by your request, are herewith returned. •' The publication in the ' Spirit of '76,' to which yon allude, is extracted from the • North American,' a respectable journal of the State of Vermont. How far it is correct in imputing itjfamy to the individual whose nane is mentioned, is not in my power, nor am I called upon to decide . In re- publishing the same in my paper, I am not actuated by any design against any individual as yet known to me in this quarter. I am free, however. * Since writins the above wo learn from Mr. DerbiBhire himself thnt he war. not the porty ; and tliereiore we feel it our duty to express our re^et at having connectcri him with a suspicion we were anxious to ropel from ourselves. VVe learn tlmt Mr, Derbi- Bliira left Quebec for Fredericton nnd Halifax with Sir John Colborne's despatch to the Lieutenant Govoruor of New IJrunswick nnd Nova Pcotia a day or two after the out- break of Nov. 3rd, 1838, nnd that iminedintely on his return, which took pincc in I)e- remlier, he proceeded to Toronto, where he remained imtil March, 1839, These dates will shew the inipowiljilify of his havinff beoji present, on tho Vermont frontier at the time that the ullegnd (ittcinpt must, if at all, have taken place. 08 Eir.HT YEABS IN CANADA. 1 : ? ■■ to My,froiv the careful perusai I have given the documents, that in my estimation theiw is not foundation for the slightest doubt of your couraga in the affair alluded to. " I will take notice of the flrRt paragraph of the publication, when en- abled to do ao by a further ineit^ht into the subject matter, and you may rest assured that my sense of justice will ever prompt me to disabuse the public mind on that or any other subject in which due reparation is ne- cessary from me. " I am, Sir, your most obedient, " E. A. TUELLER. " Ma/or Richardson, Sandwich." It could not, of course, fail to prove particularly flattering to my self-love to have the admission of the conqueror of the walls of Que- bec, that there whs not the slightest groundfor reflection on my re- putation for courage, ulthough I was sensible that, like Csesar's wife, that reputation ought not to have been suspected. Furnished, however, with the certincate of the renowned Patriot leader, I was placed in a position to bid defiance to those who should presume to question that courage hereafter; or to deny that, like a servant bear- ing a good character from his master, I was entitled to all the advan- tages that certificate could confer. But the General's liberality did not end here. He forthwith issued a decree to the effect that, hav- ing made inquiry into the charge brought against me in a recent number of " The Spirit of '76," he had discovered that I was not the guilty party, and therefore the Hunters were on no account to ofler me hindrance or molestation. And thus was the threatened hostility avoided, and I ventured over as usual to Detroit. Theller having expressed, through the gentleman named by him as having conveyed my communication to his bands, a desire to see me, I, bearing in memory that he was a man not to be slighted with impunity, assented to his proposal, and an interview accordingly took place in the house of our intermediator. The first and onl}' time I remembered to have seen him previous to this meeting, was when he landed with his fellow prisoners at Quebec, preparatory to confinement in the Citadel. I was, on that occasion, standing at some distance from the crowd which had gathered in a spirit of cu- riosity to witness the disembarkation of the prisoners, and the action of the "General," as he slowly and gracefully threw his cloak around him, while he cast a look of supreme contempt and defiance upon the assembled and not very courteous multitude, had in it something that was intended to be at once so careless and so dig- nified—was so completely meant to convey the impression of the pre- sence of a second Napoleon in misfortune, that it would have been difficult not to have selected him as I did for particular remark. Such as he then was I now beheld him, — a man short, heavy, thick- set, with a mouth indicative of firmness, a quick and penetrating eye, and a general expression of feature that incontestibly denoted the man of energy and resolution. After conversing a short time on the subject of the paragraph which had appeared in his paper, he adverted to his recent cap- ture, trial, and captivity, and entered into a most detailed account of the circumstances attending his escape from the citadel of Que- bec, which were, in every respect, as he then related them, what he has since described in his ** Canada in 1837-38." I listened with that deep attention which his extraordinary narrative could EIGHT \BARS IN CANADA. 00 not fail to exoUe, and when he had closed I told him (not being aware of his intention to print his memoirs) that if he would write out a memorandum of the events he had so startingly detailed, I would throw them into a form that might render them acceptable to the public. He made no reply to my offer at the time, but on a subsequent occasion informed me that he had come to the reso- lution of publishing himself, and promised to send me a copy of the book to a part of Canada where 1 then proposed to reside. This copy, however, although the work has been now some years in print, I have never received, and it was only by pure acci- dent that I recently fell in with it. Many persons have been disposed to doubt the accuracy of Tholler's statements of extrawdinary incident, as connected with his escape from Qnebec I do not participate in that doubt. In- dependently of the fact of his publication agreeing, in every es- sential particular, with what he verbally stated to me in Detroit, I am fully of opinion that the man who could have the boldness to conceive, ana successfully execute, a plan so daring, and so seemingly fraught with insurmountable difficulty as that em* bracing an escape from the prisons of the citadel of Quebec, and in defiance of the presence of two fine battalions of Her Majesty's Guards, could have found no need of descending to invention. The evasion was, of itself, of too absorbing an interest not to throw all extraneous and auxiliary matter into the shade, nor is there anyone circumstance detailed in his narrative, as having occurred after his escape, which at all approaches in boldness of design to tnat which undeniably did take place — namely, his successful exit from the fortress. I believe every word he has related in re- gard to his evasion, in as far as he himself was concerned. There are, of course, some parts of his narrative which must necessarily have been given from the statements of others ; as, for instance, where he alludes to the unbounded rage of Sir James Macdonnell, on hearing of his escape. This he adverted to, while relating the circumstances to me, in nearly the same language as the follow- lowing, which appears at page 191, volume 2 : — " If the fury of a demon ever Ldd possession of a man's heart, we might wilh truth say it was the case of ' the old Highland Chief* (Sir James Macclonnell),at the receipt of this intelligence. Enraged beyond bounds, it had the effect of firs^ depriving him of utterance, but when he did speak, he poured forth such a volley of blasphemous oaths against the guards, the officers, himself, the government, the country, the rebels, and worse than all, the d d Yankees, whom, hnd he the power, he would have sent to sulphureous regions below. His manner, his oaths, shocked all ' M'ho saw or heard him. Like a madman, he mounted his horse and rode to the citadel, to wreak his vengeance on the guard. When he arrived, he ordered the officers of the guard under arrest, and the soldiers and ser- geant Norman into immediate confinement. When he saw the stupid sleeping sentinel.* who was then undergoing the treatment of the surgeon, he muttered : — " • Would that I had the power, I would drive this steel into your heart.' ** At the first sight of Normant he again burst out afresh with the moP| ** This man was so drugged hyTheller during the half hour previous to his escape Frotn the casement, both with porter and spirits mixed with laudanum, that he was literallf insensible. tThe lorgeant especially Intrusted with the caie of the prisoners. it hi 100 EIGHT YEAllS IN CANADA. t threatening onihs, that ho would not be satjsrietl rntil he how him hanftpJ, and when Norman, with tears in his eyes, and filKhtcncd all but tu death, strove to assure him thnt when ho left the room, and locked us up, wo were all safe and well, he stopped him. — " • Speak not, or I mny be tempted to do you an injury, traitor ! I will have your heart wrung out, but I will find the truth of all this: your con- duct has brought disgrace upon me, and upon your whole battalion. You, and every man connected with the whole busiuess in this domnable plot, I will cause to sup sorrow.' " All this is, of course, highly overcharged, hut there is no douht that the indignation of Sir James Macdonell was very great indeed, and that he taxed the Guards with having brought disgrace upon themselves and upon him by suffering the escape of their prisoner. Be this as it may, so much did the brigade feel their military cha- racter to be compromised by the unpardonable want of vigilance, that, independently of the five hundred pounds reward offered by the Governor-General for the apprehension of Thellcr, not less than the enormous sum of one thousand pounds was added by the officers of the regiments of Guards then in Quebec. Before taking my final leave of Theller, I may as well remark, that although, as I nave already stated, I am disposed to accord him every credit for accuracy in all that he has published in relation to his own personal adventures, I am far from pinning my faith on the correctness of all his statements, contained in the two somewhat lengthy volumes he has produced on Canada. For instance, his ac- count of the different affairs between the Patriots and the troops and loyal volunteers betrays exaggeration in the enumeration of the forces of the latter, as well as of their several casualties in action. Moreover there is a labored desire to shew that, as he passed through th- province on his way to Quebec, there was a disposi- tion on the piart of the inhabitants generally to sympathize with him, and to testify attachment to those piincip' 's for the mainte- nance of which he had so recently contended. This is unjust to the Canadians, the majority of whom, however deficient they, may be in other respects, most assuredly lack not loyalty. A few instances of individual interest may have been manifested, but I rather incline to think tliat the vanity of the writer, or rather of the hero, in leading him to believe that he was the observed of all observers (as indeed in a certain ^cnse he undoubtedly was), also, led him to infer indications of sympathy where a contrary feeling was sought to be expressed. As for the waving of tlw pocket-'handkerchiefa of the women, to which he repeatedly and in a spirit of much satisfaction refers, it is quite possible that this action was as much the result of rejoicing at his captivity and contemplated punishment, as of commiseration or concern. Self- love often induces us to view things through a deceptive and flat- tering medium. I was once marched a prisoner of war, and handcuffed as Theller was, through an enemy's country, and a good many pocket-handkerchiefs were waved by bright and smiling beautie8,as I then supposed in sympathy for me, but subse- quently I had good reason to believe, that what I had taken as a compliment, was intended in a very different sense. The country around Sandwich and Amherstburgh is exceedingly fertile, but a great proportion of the farms extending between the two places, a distance of about eighteen miles, being the pro- VICHT YKARS IN CANADA. 101 yvrty of French Catituliani<«, who are provorbial for tlit'ir disliko of iimovulioii, tho country j)ros«.Mits an uiihrokon imirnrniity which , aloii lM>r4t inditicront. The purtridpo is u«VHr to bo found in a wtubbhj field, bnt on tho marf»inM of very wmall rivulotN which interHect the woods, and where the o.sier and tlio willow aiford therncover, and a particular berry sopplies ihenn with food. A jK)inter or a .>ettor is hero of no use, for awthe cover is dense, the best shot can only bo a random one, tho sportsman necusNarily firing more at whal he fiearn than what he sees. Tho dog most prized by the Canadian sportsmcui for i)artrid;?e shooting is a small cocker, which, where the object in simply to secure the birti, is invaluable. Whenever tho animal turns up a covey, he begins to bark and runs after tiiem as^ frightened at tho noise» Ihey seek the shelter of some tall tree. Tlie dog still pursuj^s. and stopping where they hdve alighted, looks up into the tree ana increases his furious barking, llis master, gmdt^d by tho sound, then come, up, anil it is said that it often occurs that, when taking the lowest bird first, he has been onabUul to bag the wliole covey, for the attention of tho frightened partridges !)eing engrossed by tho dog, it takes no heed of its destroyer, and consequently be- comes an easy prey. It is somewhat remarkable that tin; princi- pal game in Ainerica bears a relative physical proportion to the grandeur of its inanimate nature. For instance the prairie hen, which in every respert resembles tho grouse at home, as the quail does the paitridge, while the snipe aiul woodcock are if any thing rather smaller. The pheasant is not a native of Canada. Colonel Prince, some years ago, had a few brought, at a good J(!al of risk and expense, from England, and introduced ihem into the woods adjoining his own grounds; but they were speedily shot down, and sold chiefly in Detroit. Tha breed is now extinct. [ndependently of the more legitimate snorting, there is wild lurkey shooting, deer shooting, and duck shooting — the latter in great abundance in the spring antl autumn seasons of *he year. Fish are plentiful enough, but with the exception of the white fish, tho most delicate of the finny tribe in the West, and the salmon trout which frequents the smaller streams, there are none which can be compared with what are obtained on the coast ; and as for sporting, one never thinks of killing a fish ala Walton unless it be in the case of the small salmon trout above named, which affords some resemblance to its European brethren. The markets are supplied with fishes taken principally with the net and spear, aiul which, in Upper Canada, may in addition to those I have named above, be confined to the following, — the mas- kinonge, the sturgeon, the codfish,(the8e three, the largest caught,, and something in size, and the two latter especially, in their veal flavor and firmness, like the tunny, which is taken oft the western coast of Spal' X the pickerel, the pike, the black-bass, the white- bass, the sui cer, the shad, the eel, the perch, and the rock-bass. T':<3se, if I mistake not, embrace the whole of the fishes of thft Upper Canadian watt rs worth noticing. The maskinonge, although large, is exceedingly delicate, but wha^ obtains general preiorence as an article of food, is tli» 104 EIGHT TEARS Ilf CAIfADA. white-fifth, which, albeit resembling it in size and color, is very difTerent in flavor from the white bass. It inhabits the western waters only from Lake Ontario upwards, and isdisfinguished from the other finny tribes in this peculiarity, that the farther you pro- reed westward, the more deliciously rtavored is the fish. Thus, for instance, the whit, -fish of Lake Erie is superior to that of Lake Ontario- -that of Lake Huron to what is found in Lake Erie, while in Lake Superior, the farthermost point,the fishis to be had in its fullest perfection. The white-fish is taken with a seine, chiefly in the autumn, when they migrate to and from various points like the herring. They ure cut open, cleaned, placed flat, with the back downwards, in a bairel — a little salt is sprinkled over each layer, on the inner surface of the fish, and, thus prepared, they are sold, according to their abun.dance or dearth, at from three to seven dollars a barrel. During lent, which occurs at a season when fresh fish are not to be had, they constitute an indispensable article of food. The Americans have been truly said to be a go-a-head people^ and but too prone to sacrifice the ornamental to the useful. Not- withstanding the many attempts which I made to discover the pite of the old fort — built originally by the French, and a pictur- esque feature in the scene — which we had taken possession of in 1812, I never could trace the slightest clue to its situation, not even a ditch remaining to call up a recollection of the past. True,,, they who accompanied nie pointed out what they affirmed (and no doubt correctly enough) to be the spot, but this did not render the matter in the slightest degree more evident to myself, and yet I fancied I had known every part of the immediate neigh- Dorhood. I could not but deeply deplore that the fort no longer existed, for associated with it were stirring recollections of an early period of the history of the country. At Detroit was laid a great part of the scene of my " Wacousta," and I confess it was with bitter disappointment that I beheld the ordinary habi- tations of men covering ground which had been sanctified by time and tradition, and hallowed by the sufferings of men reduced to the last extremity, by a savage and vindictive enemy. Another object which naturally excited my interest was the ruined bridge, about two miles above the town and bordering on the river, where the execution of Frank Halloway is made to take place, and where, during that disastrous war, when eight out of nine of the English forts were captured by the Indians, a com- pany of the 42nd was surprised, ar>d literally annihilated by the tomahawk. Here everything was changed. The ravine re- mained, but on its sloping sides were to be seen evidences of rich vegetation, while the bridge it:. elf, known in those days af the ** Bloody Bridge," had disappeared beneath the action of the "Water which had risen and overstepped its ancient boundaries. To my " Wacousta," I bad written, but never published, a con- tinuation of that tale under the title of " The Canadian Brothers," and as much of the action of this was laid in thf same neighbor- hood, at a more recent period, I was strongly urged by my Ame- rican friends to publish it forthwith. Having nothing else where- with to occupy my time, I assented ; but aware as I wa:^ of the great pecuniary responsibility of the undertaking in a cmtiy so indis- posed to the encouragement of literature as Canada, white the chief EIGHT TEARS IN CANADA.. 105 lale of the work was to be looked for, I stipulated for a list of sul)- ucribers which shouhi in part guarantee me from loss, even although I did not expect to derive much profit from the publication. This was promised, and in a few days I found about a hundred names ap- pended to a prospectus that had been left at one of the bookstores. The number was quite as great as I could have anticipated in so small a place, and more than trebled anything that emanated from my countrymen, in cities containing a much greater population' As there was no place in Canada where I couhl have the work published so well as in Montreal, I determined to continue there during the preparation of the volumes, and accordingly embarked for Buffalo in one of the very superior American steamers which ply on Lake Erie,* and which are some twelve or fifteen in number. From Buffalo, I took the car which (drawn by horses) leads to Lewiston, the great point of embarkation for the central and eastern portions of Canada. This trip was to me a rather nervous one. The road, on approachiug the point which is opposite to tiie heights of Queenston, runs for upwards of a mile on the very verge of an abyss of great depth. With a view of seeing the country to greater advantage, I had quitted the body of the car and perched myself near the driver ; and as I glanced downward and felt the shaking and yawing of the coach, which was pulled by two sluggish horses that seemed to have done duty on the same road for the last twenty years, I expected at every moment that it would overturn. Indeed, had there been anything to startle the horses (and yet from their appearance this seemed to be an impossibilty), or had a stone or any other inequality found its unwelcome way in the track we were following, no human skill could have prevented us from being pre- cipitated into the bowels of this not very inviting cavern, com])ared with which the Devil's Punchbowl on Portsdown Common is but a Queer Mab's tea cup. If we had gone over, I should certainly have fastened in the top of some tall tree of the forest that was far " beneath us, and possibly I might have floundered into an eagle's nest, affording unexpected promise of a rich repast for the family. Be this as it may, however, I confess I felt that extreme dizziness which is common to many peo'ile, and which invariably assails me when on the edge of a precipice, and during our descent of the hill I kept my body painfully inclined to the opposite side, as if that movement could have the slightest oflTect to neutralize any undue leaning the car might have towarus the abyss. Had there been a railing of any kind against which the coach might have fallen, and afford even a chance of escape, appearances might not have been so bad ; but there was no barrier of any kind, and a coach overturned towards the abyss, must, with all appended to it, have been dashed to pieces. We were nearly half an hour enduring this purgatory, and I was by no means sorry when the coach had gained the bottom ofthehiM. Being desirous of conveying a compliment to Sir John Harvey, who, independently of his having borne a distinguished part in the American War of 1812, had, while Adjutant-General of the Cana- dian army, evinced the most marked kindness and attention to my brother, to whom I have already alluded as having been severely v/sviaded in action against the enemy, and being furthermore aware * Good ns they wore thou, I am > jld thut they are now absolutely floating palaces. ¥ I 100 ETGIIT VEAHS in CANADA. that the Introduction of thi.s gallant officer's name on the title-page would do more than any intrinsic merit of its own, to induce the Canadian people, professing to be of any standing in society, to patro7iize the book, I wrote to him to request the honor of inscrib- ing this second historical tale of the Canadas to one who was so fa- miliar with its incidents, and who had so largely participated in them. The following post from New Brunswiclc, of which Sir John was then Lieutenant Governor, brought me His £xcelleiu;y'» reply :— " Government House, Fredericton, N.B., November ^Gth, 1839. " Dear Sir, — I am favored with your very interesting communication of the 2nH instant, by which I lenrn that you are the brother of two youths, whose gallantry and merits — and \v-ith regard to one of them, his suffer- ings — during the late war, excited my warmest admiration- and symoathy^ I beg you to believe that I am far from insensible to the afleoting proofs which you have made known to me of this grateful recollection of any little service which I may have had it in my power to render them ; and I will add that the desire which I felt to serve the father, will be found to extend itself to the son, if your nephew should ever find himself under circumstances to require from me any service which it may be within my power to render him. " With regard to your very flattering proposition to inscribe your present work to me, I can only say that, independent of the respect to which the author of so very charming a production as " Waconsta" is entitled, the interesting facts and circun>stances so unexpectedly brought to my know- ledge and recollection, would ensure a ready acquiesence on my part. " I will cause the subscription lists to be sent to different parts of the province, and will do what may depend on me to promote ita success, having first put down my own name for six copies. " I remain, dear Sir, your very faithful servant, (Signed) " J. Harvey.. '• Major Richardson, Montreal." Siugular enough to state, I had never seeii the gallant officer wha had thus flatteringly borne testimony to the little merit attached to . the early initiation in arms of my lamented brother and myself. Sir John had always been actively employed with the centre division, while I continued, until made a prisoner, to serve with a distant di- vision (the right) of the army. Notwithstanding, therefore, the uniform kindness which he, as well as Sir George Murray, who- was then at the head of the Quarter-Master-(Jeneral's Depart- ment, extended to my brother, whose sufferings and manly conduct, at so early a period of his existence, had rendered him an object of much interest to both of these gallant and distinguished officers, Sir John could have known me only through private or official report. It was evident from his reply that he had in some degree misinter- preted my letter, and that he was not aware that his present cor- respondent was one of those two brothers to v/hose services he had alluded. My answer conveyed the explanation, and this I here transcribe, not so much because the explanation itself is a matter of much moment, but because it will be seen in the course of that letter that my denunciation of the Canadians as a people wanting in lite- rary taste and national spirit, has not been the result of any subse- quent disappointment, but was made before an opportunity had been afforded for testing its accuracy as far as I was immediately concerned. '"' ■. ■• • ■ ■ '• ■*!)' '■*■ .'•■(•■i..v tewi" EIGHT YEARS IN CANADA. 107 •' Montreal, Friday, December 20M, 1839. " May I be permitted, Sir John, to lose sight, for a moment, of the Governor in the sold er and the man, and to express the deep gratification with which your very kind and flattering note, dated 26th of November, has inspired me. " To have had it in my power, in any way, however "slight, to acknow- ledge the favors conferred on certain members of my family, now no more — and which I doubt not would have been extended to myself, had I ever summoned resolution to solicit them, is indeed to me a source of much gratification. The work which I am about to offer to you, whatever its merit or demerit, will at least contain that which must cause your name to be remembered in this country ps long as the book itself shall endure— . even assuming that time mny so obscure all recollection of the papt, asto leave a doubt, with succeeding generations, of the identity of those who were the most conspicuous among its defenders, during the era it em< braces. * " I trust I shall not lay myself open to a charge of undue vanity, when I express a belief that the book which I am about to give to the world, will live in this country long after its writer shall have been gathered to his forefathers , nor this from any intrinsic value in the production itself, but because I think I can perceive, through the visia of years, a time when the people of Canada having acquired a higher taste for literature thau they now possess, will feel that pride in the first and only author this country has yet produced, which as a matter-of-fact people they do not now entertain ; yet which may then induce them to perpetuate the only two tales connected with the early history of these provinces. " Wi'h this object principally in view, I shall distribute circulars, and thus make the existence of the work known in almost every town, no matter of how little note, in Canada ; and gratifying is it to me, to think that in so doing, I shall at the same time be the means of bringing before the more vivid recollections of its population, the debt of gratitude Cana- da owes to her most prominent defenders. " I yesterday received the garrison list, which you were so considerate as to send me. I had not intended submitting it to the Commander of the Forces, but as it occurred to me, on seeing the names which were at- tached to it, that the omission might be deemed discourteous, I enclosed it last evening to that officer, with an explanation of my reasons for so doing. I have not yet received the list back, but should the Commander of the Forces use it in the manner you have been obliging enough to do,* I shall, on its return, enclose it to Sir George Arthur, to whom I have the pleasure of being personally known. " I feel much the very kind and flattering manner in which you express yourself in regard to my gallant and lamented brother, who indeed is in some measure one of the leading characters in my tale — although of course, not historically so — I am the second youth to whom you have been pleased to allude in your note. I was fifteen years of age at the commencement of the American war, and served as a volunteer in the 4l8t Regiment, while waiting to be gazetted to an Ensigncy, for which I am proud to have been indebted to the noble Chief whose gallant feats of arms I am so inefficiently endeavoring to describe. It is indeed a source of unfeigned pleasure to me, to have it in my power to devote what talent I possess to the perpetuation of the deeds of those who have conferred benefits upon me and mine. "My brother was never married, and has left no son. The youth, Harvey ,t to whom I allude, is my youngest brother — a remarkably fine boy, and who, if moving in the sphere of life he ought to occupy, would * Sir John Harvey had obtninetl the sigiiatuiea of Bimust every otlicer of the aererul euipa serving ill New Brunswick t Named after Sir John. 108 EIGHT YJSARS IN CANADA. fulfil the promise he gives. I find the condition of my falher'a fauiiijr much cimnged, however, in consptjnence of liis widow not linyjna obtain- ed timt pension to whicli I should have conceived his great length of ser- vice entiled 1 rr. " I enclose herewith n roii<;h copy of the dedication which I submit for your approval. Should it prove unexceptionable, as I trust it may, per- haps you wiilhave the goodness to return it to me vvitii as little delay as pusaiblc, as the work will be out immediately, •'I have the honor to be, Sir John, with sentiments of esleem, " Your very faithful servant, "J. Richardson. " Sir John Harvey, &c., &c., &c." Tliat I was not wrong in assuming that the Canadian people would (however indiflereut to the success of the book itself) follow the example of the military, which seems to he as hinding on them as the laws of the Mcdes and Persians, I actually obtained among a population little exceeding a million of persons, not less than two hundred and fifty subscribers — two thirds of whom even went so far as to take their books when published. The other third had been kind enough merely to lend me the encouragement of their names, and nothing, therefore, was more natural when called upon, to decltne their copies— some under the pleas that the volumes, the price of which had been made known to them on subscribing — were too dear ; some, that they had been too long delayed in the publica- tion ; and not a few, that they did not feel inclined to take them at that moment. 7'his complaint of the dearness of books h, par parenthesc^ one of the rich fruits springing from the outrageous system of piracy which prevails in the United States. Accustomed as the American book- seller is to pounce upon every new English publication, and to reprint from it forthwith, he is, of course, enabled to sell the work at very little more than the cost of paper and printing, and, until very re- cently, these re-publications found their way into Canada, where they have naturally created a desire for cheap literature. That an author should be paid for the fruit of his brain, or indemnified for the hours of application devoted to his composition, are considerations foreign to their purposes. Provided they can obtain what they want at a reduced rate, they care little for the injustice done to those from the perusal of whose writings they profess to derive amusement and instruction. The law, however, as it now exists in Canada in re- gard to books, is such, that neither the English author nor the Eng- lish publisher can sustain much harm. The first obtains the full value of his copyright, while the latter sells for the English market alone. He could not, and does not, expect to dispose of any part of his stock in the United States, and as the introduction of American reprints of English works into Canada, or any other British colony, is prohibited, these colonies must necessarily look to the English publisher alone for a supply. But in the case oi" one who does not dispose of his copyright, but publishes on his own account, and for a very limited market, it is unreasonable to demand that his books shall be sold at the same nominal price at which the American ■ pirate can re-produce them, and without his enjoyment of any of the profit which accrues to the English author of previ6us remuneialion for his lab >i-, wliicli is so much deducted from the piofits of the ublisher. BIGHT YEARS IN CANADA. 100 One Adrantage, however, and it is an important one, which (he- British publisher derives from the recent interdiction of American reprints of the works of British authors into British colonies is, that where a colonial writer publishes in England, hiti works, if at all valuable, become to the former, who has purchased all right in them, an increased source of pront. from* the fact that no other has the privilege of competing with him in the colonial market. For instance, a book purporting, as this does, to treat of the manners, habits, political and moral character, of a colonial people, cannot fail to hud readers among that people, not from any innate love of literature which, may prompt them to the purchase, but because they will entertain an eager desire to know what is said and thought of them. Curiosity is a wonderful quickener of human impulses, and frequently accomplishes what, from the absence of better and. OMre ennobling sentiments, is otherwise difficult of attainment. . m ^^t»^*^t**^*^^^0m > CHAPTER IX. Towards the close of February, the object for which I had visited: Montreal having been completed, and the necessary instructions left with my publisher, I prenared for my return to Sandwich, where I still retained my « nut-shell." Kb the distance to be travelled over- was upwards of six hundred miles by land, and as L had my usual misfortune of being much encumbered with baggage, of which the stages carry only a limited quantity, I resolved to travel in my own ■ vehicle, and thus render mv journey one of ease and convenience. A box^leigh, of a particular construction^ was therefore made, for the express purpose of affording suitable accommodation for my bag- gaga, and I purchased a pair of black Canadian ponies — a most use- ful and untiring description of animal — for the very moderate sum of five-and-tweiity pounds. Black harness I had made to match, so that the whole turn-out, the sleigh and all its appurtenances, being painted black also, and only relieved by an almost imperceptible double line of red along the several borders, was sombre enough. As my ponies are rather conspicuous agents in my adventures throughout this and other long journcyings in Canada, they merit a passing introduction to the reader. Both were about thirteen Lands high, and the horse — a very strong and sturdy animal — had a round full carcase, a short but arching neck, and a shoulder that re- quired a collar nearly as large as that of an ordinary English dray horse. He was an excellent draft animal, and although his speed was not equal to that of his companion, there was scarcely any load which could be drawn by a horse that he could not drag after him. The mare, rather slighter in figure, but an excellent match notwith- standing, had more quickness and intelligence— vhinnying until they were again united. They were very great pets, fed from the hand, and although they had never been regularly led to the baptismal font, answered freely to the name of " Pony." If at the close of a hard day's travelling, I but uttered the word " Ponies," either in an encouraging or a reproachful tone, their spirits were sure to be aroused, even if their speed was not, frum exhaustion, materially in- creased. Such was the " turn out " which was paraded before Rasco's Hotel about six o^clock on a certain morning towards the close of February, 1840. Everything was comfortably ** stowed away," and my tiger — a little fellow whose size was in strict keeping with that of the ponies — sat with his chin buried in the collar of nis great- coat, and his hands thrust into its pockets, apparently as though he never intended to alter his position, until he should at least have at- tained the end of the day's journey. But if this was his impression, he counted, as will be seen presently, without bis host. I took the reins from the ostler, jumped in, tucked the buffalo robe closely round me, and slightly cracking the whip, away went the ponies on the Lachine Road, the route to Upper Canada. I had unfortunately, yet unavoidably, protracted my departure so long that it was now nearly the close of the sleighing season^ and not much snow remain- ed even in the Lower Province. There had been a thaw the pre- ceding day, and some rain had fallen, which, freezing during the night, had rendered the roads extremely hard, rough, and (contra- dictory though it may seem) slippeiy. Many parts of the road were as smooth as a mirror, thus not only caw^ing one's seat in the ve- hicle to be exceedingly disagreeable, but allowing the sleigh to sway tc and fro in a manner vhat threatened an upset, notwithstand- in^f our heavy " ballast " o( baggage. As we approached La- chine, I observed that the surface of along and rather steep hill over which the road pas>es, and which It was impossible to avoid, was like ^lished glass. I did not much admire the appearance of this, especially as my ponies, who had been harnessed in a slovenl; Tian- ner, seemed to be rather loose in their traces. However, trusting more to good luck than to any careful supervision of my own, I re- solved to try the descent, seeking such inequalities as the sides of the road mi^ht present. But no sooner had the horses turned the brow of the hill, when finding the sleigh pressing upon their heels, for they were without breechings, they started off at their utmost speed, dashing down the slope as though it had been the Montagnes Russes in Paris, and naturally inspiring me with some dread least we should meet and come in fearful collision with an ascending sleigh. For- tunately the road was clear, and, as I seldom lose my presence of mind on these occasions, I continued to pull steadily at the reins in a manner to enable me to guide thp horses in their present course. At length, we reached the bottom of the hill, and the pressure upon the horses was consequently lessened, but they had become too much excited to abate their furious speed, and I was compelled to rein them with all the strength I possessed. This threw them even- 4. EIGHT YEARS IN CANADA. in tually on their haunches, and aa the sleigh had not yet wholly lost its forward impetus, but still kept touching their heels, they com- menced kicking most furiously, dashing in the strong front of the sleigh, and leaving the prints of their shc^* on a small packing case which was closely wedged in front. In order to avoid having the vehicle dashed to pieces, I again gave them the rein, and they had just started forward again when the sleigh came against some- thing — I could not learn what — which upset it in a twinkling, and sent me bounding some half-a-dozen yards over my servant's head, upon the hard and ice-covered road. I felt myself to be a good ileal bruised, yet rose as fast as the weight of two or three overcoats would permit, to see what had be- come of the sleigh, which I fully expectuti, now that the horses had no one to guide them, to find uaHhed to pieces. Much to my surprise, I beheld the latter, still harnessed to the overturned vehicle, within twenty yards of the spot, and quietly approaching a shed adjoining the cottage opposite to which the accident liad occurred, and to wliich they had evidently been invited by the tempting appearance of some hay which lay within. My next care was to see how my tiger had fared. He did not complain much at the time, nor had I the slightest idea that he had sustaiil- ed any other injury than severe fright, and yet (as will appear later) an arm wa^i di slocated. As for the sleigh, it was still on its side emptied of half its contents, which were strewn about on the road, and in no condition to rise without assistance. This was soon afforded to it by the man who inhabited the cottage, and the baggage having once more been collected and replaced, I had leisure to think of my own injury. I entered the cottage, at the door of which was standing the wife of the habitant, who had been a spectator of the upset, and requested her to assist me in removing my coats, with a view to the examination of the arm on which I had fallen, and which from an old wound, was rendered particularly susceptible of pain ; but such was the agony I endured in the attempt, that I resolved, if the coats must come oif, to defer their removal until I should have reached the house of an apology for a medical man, who was named to me as being the only one in the village of Lachine, and to whom I felt it would be necessary for me to apply for the means of relief. The place was about half a mile distant, and the habitant having driven my sleigh thither, the erudite culler of simples stripped my arm of innumerable, and rather tightly fitting coverings, the united thickness of which had, in all probability, prevented more serious injury — applied some warm aromatic de- coction to the injured purt,and strictly enjoined that the arm should be supported in a sling. This was, it must be confessed, an excellent beginning to my journey of six hundred miles, and it now become a matter for se- rious consideration, whether I should proceed in my present disabled state, or return to Montreal for the purpose of procuring proper surgical assistance. I did not much fancy the idea of re- turning; firstly, because of a certain apprehension of ridicule; and secondly, because I foresaw that if I did not avail myself of what little snow remained, I should not accomplish my journey on run- ners as I meditated. My mind was therefore soon made up on the subject, and I started from Lachine with a determination, 113 ei6UT YEABS IN CANADA. if I t. I' ^2 %! > li route fu'tlcou'te, to reach the Cdteau du Lao (nearly forty miles from Lachine) that night. I bad only one hand (the riglit) with which 1 could exercise any gnidanee or ooirtrol over the horses, wiio never, during that day, lostsi«>ht of the excitement ofth^ morning-, and yet with this I ha/ardod the journey. My tiger had never had a rein in his hand, and even could he have driven^his feebleness ^-for he wa& a mere boy — would have rendered it impoB»ible to place any trust in him. • The wmter route from Montreal to Western Canada is from Point Claire, about fifteen miles above the city, and across an arm of the St. Lawrence to another island, called Isle Perroty after traversing which the Ottawa is gained, a few miles beyond its innction with the St. Lawrence. The roate is somewhat circuitous, bat as the ico is there generally firm, a few miles of extra road becomes a matter ef secondary consideration. At Point Claire 1 first quitted what might be called the land, for the frozen surface of the river, and as there was a gentle declivity on approaching this, i made up my mind for another run-away. The ponies had made up their minds also, it appeared, for, as I expected, they set off* once more at a pace which compelled me to use my teeth as well as my hand for more than half a mile, before I could succeed in stopping them. I had taken the precaution to tie a knot in the reins, and this afforded me a capital purchase, without which, indeed, ! never could have checked them. About mid-day I left the ice for the Isle Perrot, and the country over which the track lay was so uneven and cut up by cahots,* that I despaired of getting across it with- out accident. Nor was I wrong. I had reached nearly the middle of the island, and was in the heart of a dense wood, far removed from any human habitation, when a sudden jerk of the ponies, who were pulling to disengage the heavily-laden sleigh from between two deep and short cahots, broke the off whipple-tree, and Ivft me in the most hopeless condition. I bad neither axe nor knife, nor, had I even possessed these, could 1, with a single hand, have made any efficient use of either. What was now to be dene, I could not advance until I obtained a new whipple-tree, and night might, for all I knew to the contrary, overtalce me in this position, without food or shelter for either *< man or beast.". These, however, were but ifleeting anticiitations, for scarcely had I formed them when I observ- ed at seme distance, and moving through the wood, a man who, from his costume, I knew to be a French Canadian. I called lustily out to him, and, when he drew near, promised him a dollar if he would contrive to mend my whipple-tree in such manner that I could pro- < «eed on my journey. He assented, and went to work with an axe which he carried on his shoulder, with such good purpose that, in a very short time, with the assistance of a rope from one of the pack- ages, a new whipple-tree was produced much stronger than its fel- low. Acquiring caution and foresight from experience, I now asked the man if there was any sudden descent from the island upon the . ice of the Ottawa. He said there was a slight one, but that if f would give him something in addition, he would relinquish the work on which he was employed (wood-cutting) and accompany me until I got upon the ice. This proposal I gladly embraced, and we proceeded onward. Before coming to the spot designated by him, ^ .Abrupt andnlntions of siionr, rewmblinir the waves of a shott sea, niid oat of th» gtmtcst nuisances in Lower Canadian trayeBiiig, EIGHT YEARS IN CANADA. 113 my new friend had an opportunity rhom, by t of witnessing the run-away pro- pensities of the ponies, whom, by the bv, he admired very much, — as much I believe berouse they were, like himself, French Canadian, as from any other reason. We had cleared the wood, and reached the high road which runs near the edge of the Ottawa, when a deep ravine, approached on both sides bv a gradually increasing slo'ie, appeared before us. Here I was perfectly assured the wicked yoi "g rogues would make another trial of their speed, however I said no- thing to the man, beyond telling him that my boy and myself would get out and lighten the sleigh, which had to cross a bridge and as- cend the op])osite bank, while he drove the horses. I cautioned him to keep a tight rein on them, and to place himself In such a ]K)8ition that their heels — should they be inclined to kick — might not reach him. Away he drove, and, as I anticipated, the animals had no sooner attained the downward rnclination, when thev rushed on- ward as if the devil himself, instead of the sleigh, had been at their heels. Out tlew one or two packages, and so certain did I feel of the total destruction of tbe sleigh and its contents, that I turned my back upon the scene, determined not to witnesc- the mischief that should be done. Jean fiaptiste was no doubt rather startled by this unexpected outbreak, but he kept his seat manfully, and when, a few minutes afterwards, I heard my tiger exclaim delightedly that every thing was right, and that the Frenchman was ascending the hill with the horses at a trot, I turned again and rejoiced to see that it was the case. Of course we were not long in getting to che brow of the opposite bank, where he had now stopped, waiting for us to come up. At a couple of hundred yards beyond, was the auberge at which travellers usually bait their horees before getting on the Ottawa on their way to the Cascades, and here we passed half an hour until our horses had eaten their oats. While they were thus occupied, I examined the descent to the ice, and found that, although exceedingly abrupt, it was little more than the length of the sleigh; however, well knowing from m^ experience of the past, that if the splinter-bar should touch their heels, the excited ponies would again stait off at their speed, I di- rected the Canadian to place one or two rails across the uesceni. in order that the runners might drag as they went over them. This was done, and, when everything was prepared, off we started, my new friend in the front, and holding the reins. And well it was that I had taken the precaution, despite of the careful placing of the rails as a drag, to take him part of the way on the ice. Unchecked by the obstacles which had been placed in its way, the sleigh, in its descent, again touched the sensitive heels of the ponies, which, find- ing themselves on the open held of smooth ice, and seemingly breathing renewed fieedcm, carried us at their fullest speed for up- wards of a mile before the driver could succeed in reining them in. This at length done, however, they were now quiet enough, so that I was enabled to dispense with the further services of my guide, who, having received the stipulated sum, left me on his return home, with a good-natured " Bon voyage, monsieur," which, however, I fancy he did not anticipate would be as good as it sub- sequently proved. Although my left arm continued to be so painful as to render the hand for the moment uuserric cable, the remainder of the day ^;| I 114 EIGHT YEARS IN CANADA. i ! I paflsed over without further accident, and about nine o'clock I reached the hospitable dwelling of Mr. Simpson, (the futher-in- law of Mr. Roebuck the present member for Duth,) at Cnteau du Lao — a distance, as I have already remarked, of forty-nine miles from Montreal. This certninly, conHiderin;> the long chapter of disasters which had attended me during the day's journey, was not so very bad travelling after all. My arrival hud been ex- pected some hours earlier, but none wore prepared to see mo in the character in which I now presented myself — that of a com- parative cripple. The inflammation of the limb had been greatly increased by excitement and fatigue, and I now suffered so much that I was glad to get my clothes oif ut an early hour, and to seek relief in bed. To this I was eight and forty hours confined, and the severity of the hurt may be judged of from the fact that, during; the first night, I could not rise or turn in my bed. On the follow- ing morning Mr. Simpson proposed) as tliere was no regular prac- titioner in the neighborhood, to send for a man self-taught in ana- tomy, who was proverbial for his successful treatment of bruises of this description ; and who, although he had not received the least education, and consequently was without professional know- ledge beyond what he had himself studied in the great book of nature, evinced as much acquaintance with the human frame as if he had served half a life's apprenticeship at Guy's or Saint Thomas'. This character of the old Canadian, as given to me by my host at the time of making his proposal, excited my interest, and I assented, not so much because I placed reliance on his skill, as that I felt curious to see how he would proceed in his vocation. A messenger was forthwith despatched on horseback, (one of the Roebucks being kind enough to undertake to find the mail of simples,) and in the course of the morning he made his appearance. He was a venerable looking man, apparently be- tween sixty and seventy years of age, without any of that for- wardness or pretention which are so common to the medical em- Eiric ; and notwithstanding his bronzed cheek was marked by ard lines, there was an expression of quiet benevolence on his countenance, which insensibly won on the attention. His dress was a gray capot, surmounted by a hood of the same material (Canadian cloth), and his waist was encircled with a sash such as is worn by the habitans also. He calmly approached and 8alutingme,uncovered the arm, — he then sought with nislong,bony, dark and shrivelled fingers the various nerves and muscles, and at length after a good deal of the usual manipulation, pronounced that the limb had not been broken as I had almost begun to apprehend, but that it had sustained an injury which had only not terminated in that serious manner by reason of the quantity of clothing with which, as had been stated to him, it had been covered. He cor- rectly described the nature and situation of the pain I experienced, and then issued his directions for certain embrocations to be made and applied. My servant was next submitted to his in- spection — He bared his arm, which was exceedingly sore, passed his finders rapidly over it — pronounced that it was dislocated, and then without violence, but also without hesitation, twisted the dis- united parts into their proper places The next morning the boy Was perfectly well, and the application to my own arm proved so far beneficial that, at the end of three days, I was in a condition BIOHT YEARS IN CANADA. 115 to rftunme my jonrnny. Ft was »vith some reluctance thnt I fore myself from such excellent quarters, but the snow was fast de- partintr, and I dreaded any change in my mcwle of traveliinj;^. On the fourth morning, the ponies, who had all this time been Iuxuriatini»in oats and rest, were brought to the door, looking as saucy in their harness as though they meditated some new mis- chief. They pricked their ears — champed their bits — and pawed the little snow there was, beneath their feet, as though they were impatient to repeat the scones in which they had been such con- spicuous actors only a few days before. For the first twelve miles of the road, most of which was over ice, they went at a pace that required all the strength and address I could, in my convales- cent state, muster, to prevent from turning into another runaway. However, as the day advanced, and the sun ocquired power, the roads almost de.ititute of snow, became so extremely heavy, that every mile subs -quently passed, became one of severe draft ; and here was the excellent meltle of this peculiar race of horses most fully tested. The sleigh was, as I have elsewhere remarked, heavily laden, and as the runners now dragged through the half mud — half snow — the strong draft powers of the horse were put fortli, as though he had reserved all his energies for the occasion, while the mare on the contrary, although possessed of a spirit which would have prompted her to " die m harness" rather than yield, and who, on good roads, always led — now slackened in her traces, and allowed tier companion full opportunity to put forth his remarkable strength. That evening, however, notwithstanding the execrable state of the roads, we reached Cornwall, forty-one miles from the Coteaii du Lac, where, in compliance with a previous invitation, I took up my temporary abode with an old brother officer, who had serv- ed with me in the King's Regiment. The gay soldier was now transformed into the sober judge, but this did not prevent him, as we lingered over our wine each day, when the ladies had retired, from recurring to past scenes, when our mutual wild oats had not yet been sown ; and we particularly dwelt upon a circumstance that had occurred at the reduction of the second battalion of the regiment which made some noise in England at the time — namely, the burning and burial, with funeral rites, of our colors — an act of insubordination which brought down upon us the expressed displea- sure of the Dnke of York, who was then Commander-in-Chief. In emphasizing the word " exprpssed," I mean it to be understood that, although His Royal Highness was, in vindication of the oflfended discipline of the service, compelled to issue a general order, condemnatory of the act, there is every reason to disbelieve that he impugned the spirit which had actuated us. In no other way can we account for the fact, that notwithstanding we were all very young men (the whole having seen active service, however), and that there were numerous second battalions reduced at the same time, whose officers were incessantly besieging the Horse Guards, a very great number of us were restored to full pay within a few months from our reduction. My friend Jarvis, who was then, like myself, a junior Lieutenant, and who had been one of the most ac. tive in the praiseworthy destruction of the colors which had been rendered sacred to us from recollections of past triumphs obtained under their folds, and which we vowed should never be sullied by a iM U' no Rionr YBAns in ca.vada. touch from other hands than those which had unfurled them before the enemy — I repeat, my friend Jarvis, aithous;h a ringleader, if I may so term it. in the atlair. was appointed to (u\\ pay in the 104th Regiment within five months and bir Henrv Torrens, then Military Secretary, procured my appointment to nis own regiment (the Queen's), serving in the West Indies, within less than six from the period of reduction of the King's. Nay more, Captain Simmonds, who was the officer who read prayers over the ashes of the colors, buried in the barrack snuare at Portsmouth, was also within a short period gazetted to the olst Regiment, irom which corps he hadorigi. nally joined us. These appointments, with numerous others that took place from disbanded corps about the same time, could scarcely be said to- indicate any serious dis|)lcasnre at our conuuct on tht) part of His Royal Highness, althongh a sense of public duty called upon him to censure tlie insubordination. As hiay be presumed, we did not, while destroying the coloni,^ fail to reserve what v/ould later form a gratifying remembrance of the past. The moment they were brought from the commanding officer's quarters to the mess-room (for it was after dinner, and over our wine,, that we entered upon the ceremony,) a couple of carving- knives supplied each ofRcer with a relic, and before the burning ol the mass, with their poles, had commenced. My old companion now showed me his portion,, which he had religiously preserved, but I had unfortunately lost mine, even since my return to Canada. Although, since my short stay in Cornwall, almost every trace of «now had disappeared, and my friend strongly recommended me to exchange my sleigh for a waggon, I still cherished the hope that winter had not yet wholly disappeared ; but that some opportune fall would enable me to continue the use of my runners. At length my antieipation seemed gratified* The snow began one afternoon to descend, and in such large flakes, that the groiuid was speedily covered. Delighted at the prospect, I rallied my friend on hia seeming want of knowledge of the caprices of hi^: native climatfly and expressed my intention to be off on the following booming at day- light, and before any of the family were up. He shrugged his shoulders with a dryness of manner peculiar to him, and replied that, if I expected to derive any advantage from the snow which was then falling, I literally <' counted without my host " — that it was what is termed a "wet snow," the wind coming from the wrong quarter to render it lasting ^ and that moreover, as the roada were not frozen, the morrow's sun would dissipate the thin veil, and leave me to flounder through mud and « slush," until I should heartily repent that I had not followed his advice, and exchanged my sleigh for some more appropriate vehicle. I. however, persisted, and on the following morning the ponies, who had had four days' of good food and rest to restore them, were once more on their way to the West. For the first four or five miles we went on smoothly enough, but as the day advanced, and the sun, then acquiring pow-^ er, imparted its warmth on the earth, the snow began gradual^ to- disapp«ar, and was only to be met with in detached parts, and where the deep shadows of the woods, through which we occasion^ ally passed, prevented its rays from penetrating. Finally, as we fained the more open country, the journey became one of infinite istress, and such was the severity of punishment to the ponies, that, in order to relieve them, I was compelled to vr?!.!; at their side EIGHT YF.ARS IN CANADA. 117 for luMirs, Riikln-deop in mini, with tho roini In my liftndn. Tim «!istaiico from ('ornwaij lo Hrockvilji! In ht'twecn sixty and Novmly mileH, nnd tliis it took mc two d;iys to accompliHli, witii imrd liibor to th« horses, and scarcely Ipms f'ati>?iio to tl»« drivor. My tifjcr oc- casionally walkod, hut much oftcnor rode. On reachinj^ Krockvillc, ahout nino o'clock the second ni^ht after my doparturt! from Cornwall, I found tnyse'f in (piarters very dif- ferent from those [ had just quitted. There was not a Rood hotel in the place, and the hest of the indifferent was kept by a Yankee, who had lonu; resided in the town, nnd whom a succesHful husines8 — the staj^e-liouse heinjf his — had rendered "pretty consi- deraldy independent" — a condition which, hy the way, is applica- ble to most persons in Canada who keep inns, and (what arc meant to he) houses of accommo«lation for trave'lors. Here, after having seen my horses proi)erly attended to, I sat down to a not very choice supper, which had neon prepared under tho expectation that my sei- vant and myself were to eat it to;?ethor, yet which, in following our respective inclinations, we devoured separately. I was then, shewn, at my reauest, to one of the best l)cd-rooms rry host had to give me. Completely knocked up with my day's work, I was so disposed to sleep that I could with dilliculty keep my eyes open (luring supper. I had not, therefore, much time, nor did \ experi- ence any inclination, to criticise the apartment which had been allot- ted to me, and which, on the following morning, I found was hound- ed on all sides, save that which admitted the light, by a thin unpaint- ed wooden partition, the loosened and shrunken joints of which al- lowed the eye to explore the mysteries of two adjoining sleeping- rooms. In one of which, as was evidenced by scattered petticoats and bonnets, some interesting and not « too-devilish-narticular '* female had reposed. No sooner had my head toucheu the pillow than I fell deliciously asleep. But it was not fated this luxuri- ous state of repose should last. 1 could not have been more than an hour in bed, when I was awakened by the most infamous noise* that ever assailed the quiet of a slumbering man. A party of dis- solute and dissipated fellows of that class which is known, both in Canada and the United States, under the expressive designation of ** loafer," were carousing in a room not far from that in which I lay; and one of them — a ventriloquist — was amusing himself and his equally intellectual friends, by imitating the braying of asses — the lowing of oxen — the mewing of cats, and the crowing of cocks, in such a manner, that I could not but believe the object of this horri- ble din was to disturb me. I got out of bed, threw on my dressing- gown and slippers, went into the passage, and, in no very amiable tone, I confess, demanded to know who it was who presumed . raise such a disturbance in the house at that hour of the night, to the great annoyance of those who preferred sleep to being torment- ed with their blackguardism. There was a discontinuance of the noise, but no answer, and taking it for granted that my expostula- tion would prove a suthcient check upon their unseemly conduct, I returned to my bed, but sleep was no longer to be met with there. After passing a most wretched night, in vain endeavors to renew the sweet slumbers from which I had been so cruelly awakened, I rose at an early hour, for the purpose of repealing my task of th«-. preceding day, until I should reach Kingston (fifty miles from. Brockville), where it was my intention to stop for a few days, uutit Q. ^1 ■I, I Hi i i ! i I 118 EIGHT YEARS IN CANADA. I couM have a waggon prepared for the long journey which was yet before me. Apologies were made to me by the delinquents, hut these were no recompense for the heaviness and ill-humor with- which I had risen from my miserable bed, to the untempting ap- pearance of which fatigue alone had blinded me. How seldom and how imperfectly can we rr into the page of the future, and how often do the most important actions of a man's life take their rise in the most trifiing> causes. Little did I con-^ ceivo at the time that this display of ventriloquism would prove to have been the first link in the chain of events which was to make this Brockvilli) — ^a place I had 89 much reason to detest, and* which I entertained no desire-to behold a^in-my resting-placa in Canada. Yet so it was. I had ordered my horses to be har- nessed, and given other necessary instructions to my tiger, when an old half-pay officer ",nd friend of my own entered th- able, and yet one of the most picturesquely situated villages in Canada. Here there are (what are prized beyond anything else in the country,) «*good water privileges," formed by the dis- colored and narrow river from which the place derives its name, near its point of junction with the Saint Lawrence. A clan of M'Donald's own the greater part of the village, which (opposite to Frenchtown on the American side, and the great rendezvous of of the celebrated Bill Johnston, I have alluded to on a former oc- casioii as being the head quarters of deeerters from the British army,) hab (he reputation of producing the best flour in Canada, or even in the United States. It is fortunate that it can boast of something of which one may write f avo rably. '*' The amiable Colonel uccompniiied me a short (listance on the roiid, mid on tiil — n the fellow, I like him. D— -— d fine fellow ; d d rich too, (would that he hud been correct in this pariiciilnr). lie has given lots of presents to the girls, -D d sorry h« i» gone." So at least I afterwards understood. r I EIGHT YKAKS IN CANADA^ 121 The journoy from Gananoquo to Kingston — a distance of twenty- four miles — my ponies accomplished on the following day in good time, and as in consequence of my having been so opportunely supplied at Brockville with the proper vehicle in which to con- tinue my route, I had now no inducement for delay. I pushed on immediately for Toronto, passing through Belleville, Cobourg, Port Hope, &o., and over a tract of fine country which increased in richness and fertility as I approached the then Seat of Govern- ment in Upper Canada, (Lord Sydenham had not yet carried his - panion, in whose convei.-ition I could take pleasure, would admit. The accommodations for the " beast " were usually good, but those provided for the " man " were not always of tL ost tempt- ing kind. The beds were sometimes good, but much oftener bad, while the meals, except in the cities and some few of the towns through which ! passed, were the least inviting that could have been placed before a hungry traveller. Let the reader imagiite to himself — sour, home-made bread — tea which resembles, in flavor, a decoction of hay, and sweetened with what I never could endure, the maple sugar of the country,— a rasher of bacon or ham exceedingly salt, and oftener rancid than sweet, and as thick as a beef-steak ought to be, but never is in this countr)' — potatoes infamously cooked — eggs fried and overdone in grease — a saucer or two filled with preserved apples, embrowned in the same eternal maple sugar — a few other fruits, such as raspberries, cur- rants, &c., spoiled in the same manner — a couple of large plates of potted butter, with huge particles of salt oozing from them like drops of hoar frost from a damp wall — cheese resembling hard prepared bees' wax, and tasteless and tough as leather, — Tet the stranger, I repeat, imagine thi? giilimatias of eatables, (he must not l^ EKtllT YEARS IN CANADA. forget to add hu;r;e hIIcos not of crisp, but soddened toast,) and he •w'A know what sort of a breakfast or sapper he may expect to find in Canada, should he ever be induced to t avel through it. Someli*nes a fowl is added to what tbev^pe'-i'npx5iot>slvir»'8tupim calling ** supper," if you partake of it axier one o'clock .'n the day, but whch you, having only breakfasted, rray incline to re- gard as your dinner; and this, if plainly roasted, is passable enough, nut I confess that I never saw a piece of beef, (for they have no joints) or mutton, or veal, placed on one of those ** country inn " tables that was not smotliered in grease, and altogether most uii- inviting in appearance. While in Toronto I had again the honor of dining with the amiable family of Sir George Arthur, and on the following even- ing the pleasure of attending a very brilliant ball given by the Chief-Justice Robinson, whose savmr vivre not less than whose savoirfaire ever render his parties the most agreeable that are given by any private gentleman in Canada. I moreover again dined, for the third or fourth time since my arrival in the pro vince (and I had passed but little of the interval in Toronto) with the truly hospitable Colonel Jarvis, the Superintendent of Indian Affairs, to whose son, now in the Canadian Rifles, Lord Morpeth was indebted for preservation from death by drownmg, during his excursion with ColoneLJarvis in 1843 to the Manitoulin Islands. This gentleman has, like the Chief Justice, an amiable and pro- mising family, and he who likes good dinners, good wines, and a cordial welcome, may dream of something worse in his philoso- phy than passing an evening in the domestic circle of the gallant Superintendent. I had now travelled more than three hundred and seventy miles by land, and being heartily sick of the unavoidable jolting over rocks, ruts, and roots of stumps, which had presented themselves in multitudinous profusion, determined to escape at least that por- tion of the land route which lies between Toronto and Hamilton — a distance of forty-five miles — and to cross the Lake Ontario, which was now beginning to be navigated between those two points. Waggon, ponies, baggage, master, and tiger, were there- fore, on the fifth day of their arrival in Toronto, duly shipped or rather steamered on the deck of the Britannia, which in a few hours carried us across the lake to Wellington Square, the ice in the bay not permitting us to reach Hamilton, the usual place of landing. The captain charged me what I thought was, accord- ing to the rates of steamboat travelling in the country, rather an exorbitant sum, namely, seven dollars, nor did he make any de- duction when he found the state of the bay at Hamilton was such as to compel him to land his passengers at least six miles from that place. Indeed this part of the journey, yet to be performed before reaching Hamilton, was the worst of the road. Leaving Hamilton at an early hour on the following morning, J passed along several miles of a macadamized road, and through an extrernely fertile country to Brantford, where I purposed stop- ping for a' day or two. The view from tne high bank on which this town is built, overhanging as it does the Grand River, is exceedingly beautiful. The small stream which bears this im- c name, waters a broad, rich, and winding valley, hemmed posm„ ill by lofty ridges of an arable, yet wooded land, which give ElCnX YEARS IN CANADA. V2Z to the whole a picture^ique character not to be equalled in Upper Canada. Nor has the beauiy of this scenery, amid which were cradled the infant years ef Brandt, immortalized by Can pbe'l in his Gertnjdo of Wyoming, and the favorite resting place of the present remnants of the once renowned and warlike SI.*: Nations,. of which he was their head, been wholly lost sijiht of by those whose more refined taste might be supposed to lead to the se- lection ; for in this part of the country, atr well as the neigh- borhood of Woodstock, in the Oxford District, which adjoins, reside some of the most really aristocrainc,. because really well born, families of the colony, — the Vausittarts, De Blaquieres, Winnietts, Lights, &c. From Bmntford to London, distant nearly seventy miles, the traveller pa8se» through an exceedingly rich tract of 1 J, lying Erincipally in the Oxford District. About six mii^H beyond Irantfoni, while pursuing the route I did' to London — for there are two roads — one's dormant i-ecollections are suddenh' awakened,, by tumbling upon what you are told, on enquiry, is Paris, a small village of some half dozen houses, which lies at the foot of a deep declivity. It required no little dexterity on my part to cause my ponies to decend in safety. The valley reached^ I found myself once more on the Grand River, and at a- point where I could comnvand a view to my right. Confined aifd shaded as the river was between its high and preoipitous banks, it reminded me of certain portions of the Ebroi Crossing a plank bridge-there, and urging ray ponies-up a longand winding ascent, I observed for the- first time a feature which is peculiar to this part of the country, — namely, that the woods, insicad of partaking of the character of the dense forest, usually impervioub-from overgrown brushwood,, resembldd rather an English park, so open were the tall oaks and beeches, and' so wholly unhampered by- creeping vegetation or rotting Ibgs. This is a character so dissimilar to that of the Ca- nadian forests generally, as to be worthy of especial remark. It applies chiefly to the banks of the Grand River, which are so high as to be almost mountainous, and is attributable in a great degree I presume to the comparative sandy nature of the soil. In only one other instance* did I remark this, and that was on subse-^ quently entering London y but this distinguishing feature was on< a much more limited scale. In London, the capital of the county of Middlesex, which is up-^ wards of five hundred miles from my ori^nal point of starting, I re- mained some-days under the heritable roof of Colonel Hamilton,, the sheriff' of the London district', who, on hearing of my arrival, in- sisted that my horses should be removed from^ the inn to his own- residence, a short distance without the town. London.may be said to have grown oat of the woods, within the? last ^laTter of a century, and reminds the traveller of Captain BasiK Hall's description of Rochester. It is literally a ci(y of stumps, foe many of the nouses are surrounded by them, ai.-' the b«»rracks dura- ble, neat, and well-finished, although constructed in an incredibly short space of time, and aifording accommodation for a couple of re- giments (a regiment and a wing, with a detachment of artillery,, usually composing the strength of the garrison), may be said to have- been erected in the very heart of a forest of stumi)8. The river- Thames winds its silvery and serpentine course around at leasti . M iu EIGHT niAHS IN CANADA. three-foui(hs of the town, to which it may be said to form the boundary,, and has a very imposing-looking court-house built oil au elevation overhanging the prettiest part of the stream. The effect of the whole, verdant as are the sloping banks, is in pleasing contrast with the opposite extremity of the town, where the ground is flat, and where the defacing excrescences I have named so principally prevail.* After the delay already named I again recommenced my journey, but had not proceeded far on my way before I found myself in a position which had nearly brought my travelling adventures to a close. Hitherto, and since the day of my first series of disasters, my ponies had conducted themselves quietly enough, for I had made it m rule, each morning on starting, to see that their harness was in good order, and their collars well brought up to the end jf the pole, so that on descending a hill there might arise no danger of whipple-trees or splinter-bar from again touching their heels. On this particular morning, however, I had neglected this precaution, and was not aware until it was too late to remedy the evil, that the pole-straps had not been bnckled sufficiently short. I had advanced some miles from London, and was driving at a smart trot, the ponies seeming to feel all the beneficial effect of their rest, when I came suddenly on the rise of a steep hill. Before I could check my horses they had turned the brow, and the waggon was upon their heels. Restraint was out of the question, 4gain they set off at full speed, and at a glance I perceived the imminent danger which awaited me, if I should suffer them to continue their course, for at the bottom of the descent the road made a sudden turn, so that there was almost a certainty of the horses dashing forward in a straight line, and carrying the waggon over an angle of the small bridge, and into the ravine it overhung. I had once before been in a po- sition of similar trying difficulty, where presence of mind alone saved me from destruction, and this circumstance, to which I shall presently refer, coming vividly upon my memory, suggested the course I should adopt. This was to upset the waggon before it could reach the point of greatest, and seeniingly unavoidable, danger. Even, therefore, while the excited animals were going at a speed, which the heavily-laden waggon, pressing forward on their haunch- es, rendered it impossible to check, I sawed the reins in such a manner that I compelled them to quit the road and dash the vehicle against a projection on one side of the bank between which it ran. The collision was fearful, and the waggon was so instantaneously upset, that I found myself lying on my back a few feet from the vehicle, almost before I was aware that what I had sought had been effe^ ♦ed. That I had not been killed, falling as I did, was certainly marvellous, yet so far from this, and so little inconvenience did I suffer, that I was on my feet in a few seconds afterwards, en- deavoring to ascertain the extent of injury which had taken place. A few paces from me lay my unfortunate tiger, with his face down- wards, and apparently without sense or motion. A dreadful pre- sentiment that he was dead came over me, and, with a beating heart, and a cheek that T felt to be blanched, I approached and turned him over. He, too, was very pale, but although I soon found that although he moaned a good deal on being touched, and * The greater i>art of this plncc hat) shice been destroyed by (ire, and rebuilt. «■ EIGHT YEARS IN CANADA. 125 complained Gi" a violent bruise in his stomach, that he was much more frightened than hurt. I gave him a few drops of brandy fioni my flask, wliich had escaped unbroken, when his color returned, and he was enabled to rise and assist in collecting the pack- ages, which were strewed upon the road. The waggon was lying on its side, and the ponies were standing as quietly where it had been overturned and checked, as if nothing of the kind whatever had occurred. Fortunately, a farmer passed at the moment when we most needed assistance, and through his aid, principally, we managed to get the waggon righted — the baggage once more ** stowed " away, and the harness properly arranged, when we re- iiumod and completed our dav's route without further disaster. The accident — a fatal and distressing one — to which I have al- luded, as havinjr called for the exercise of similar presence of mind, occurred in England in 1831. Captain Gordon, of the 51st Light Infantry, and his young bride, had been spending the day with my wife's family in Esfex. I was then "vegetating" in the neigh- borhood while writii.g my " Wacousta," and composed one of the smallparty. The evening looked dark and lowering, and I observed that Gordon, who had ordered his phaeton and horses to the door at an early hour, so that he might reach his cottage, near Epplng forest, before it became dark, looked pre-occupied and anxious, as though he dreaded some coming evil. This was the more remarka- ble, Decause he was naturally of a gay and rattling disposition. His horses, moreover, appeared to oe very impatient, and this might have been one reason for his evident nervousness of manner. When all was ready, and he had taken his seat and the reins, I handed Mrs. Gordon to her place, and he drove from the house. He had previously offered to set me down at my own door, at the opposite extremity of the town, but noticing his absent and anxious mood, I thought it better not to be any clog upon his evident desire to make the best of his way home, and therefore, as he did not re- new his offer, abstained from getting into the carriage. But they had not proceeded many yards when Mrs. Gordon, perceiving that I was not in the back s^ at, reminded her husband, who reined m his horses, and beckoned me to join them. I did so ; and we passed ra- pidly through the town, the attention of all parlies being too much attracted to the uneasiness of the horses to leave much inclination for conversation. It seemed, indeed, as though we were all under the influence of some strong presentiment of danger, and I confess, selfish as it may appear, that I was not sorry that my seat in the carriage was so soon to be relinquished. But fate had willed it otherwise We were within a few yards of the spot where Gordon was to put me down, when some Savoyards, who had just stopped opposite to the house, began playing on the hurdy-gurdy. The sound seemed to infuriate the horses, who dashed off at full speed, goon leaving the house at which I was to have alighted far behind. " Richardson, assist me with the reins," were the first and only words pronounced by Gordon. I, of course, added all my efforts to his own, but although we both pulled at the beasts with all the strength imparted by a full consciousness of the impending danger, we seemed to have no more power over them than we could have had over a whirlwind. Suddenly Gordon stood up in the phaeton, relinquished the reins, and sprang sideways from the vehicle. He passed from before our eyes like a shadow, but there was no time 129 910I1T TEARS IN CANiDA. to look round, and his wife's gaze, as well as rr:y own, eontimied to be intently fixed upon the horses. The guidance of these mad- dened animals was now left to myself, and it required a coolness and presence of mind to follow the windings of the narrow by-roads^ without bringing the wheels of the phaeton in collision with obsta-> cles which must inevitably have dashed it to pieces, that I did not think T possessed until put to the trial. The great danger to be apprehended was the advance of some waggon or other vehicle coming into the town Narrow and winding as the road was, the best wiiip in Christendom would have found it difficult, if not impos* f ible to pass anything moving along it in safety. Providentially, how- ever, we met none — overtook none^forit was so late in the day that all Ine country market people had been some time since returned. And thus we so far escaped. Still we dashed on at the unabated fipeed of the excited horses, which were thorough -bred, and as I recollected in particular a short narrow bridge in a sudden turn of the road which was guarded on each side by a slight railing, I had summoned all my address to pass it without touching the latter. To my own surprise, I cleared it, but there was neither time nor room to congratulate myself on the occasion, fpr there was yet, within a few hundred yards, a point of greater danger. On passing tliis narrow bridge, the ground gradually ascends for about tliree hundred yards until the top of the short ridge is gain- ed, the descent from which is rather abrupt, and over a bridge at the bottom not much unlike that I had just crossed. I felt satis- . fied that if the horses once gained the brow of this acclivity, no- thing short of a miracle could prevent us from being dashed to pieces, and it therefore became necessary that cfur great velo?e of nve-and-twenty. One of his horses had been lost or stolen from pasture about ten days previously. A reward was offered for the animal, and when all expectation of his recovery had been giv<'n up, he was (would he had never been found!) restored to his master. This was only a day or two before the accident occurred which cost him his life. As the unfortunate young officer had been gazetted to a company, by purchase, only the preceding week, I waited on Lord Fitzroy Somerset, explained to him the whole of the melancholy occur- rence, and submitting the very peculiar condition of Mrs. Gordon, who had no other provision than what should accrue from her pen- sion, solicited that he would obtain from Lord Hill some indulgence in her favor. Lord Fitzroy warmly interested himself in the mat- ter, and was successful enough to ol)tain from Lord Hill the remis- sion to the young and bereaved widow — who was the daughter of an Austrian Consul in the Mediterranean, and whom Gordon had married there while quartered with his regiment at Malta— of four hundred pounds of the purchase money, while her claim to the pen- sion of her husband's new rank was fully acknowledged. This was a trait of generosity and good feeling on the part ofthn Commander- in-Chief and his Military Secretary, which is not generally known, yet which I have great satisfaction of having an opportunity of here recording. The disaster I experienced on leaving London had rendered me rather more circumspect about the harnessing of my horses, and I pursued my jouniey with all necessary precaution. But although my ponies had no further opportunity of running away, there was not yet an end to the contretemps I was doomed to endure. In the midst of a sea of mud through which they (the ponies) were endea- voring to force it, one of the springs of my waggon gave way, and, like a ship on her beam ends, the body of the vehicle fell on one side, and rubbed against the wheels. Here was misery in the fullest acceptation of the term, for the accident had occurred some distance from any habitation, and there was no *< returning wave " to right the <'hiill" of the waggon. At length, as it began to grow dark, two men, who had been engaged cutting timber, emerged from the forest near us, and coming to our assistance, applied the never- failing remedy adopted in all emergencies of the kind, both in the United States and in Canada. They detached from an adjoining fence a strong rail, which they lashed «fore and aft" in such fashion upon the axle-trees, that it would have greatly puzzled a Long- Acre coach-builder to divine in what school they had acquired their ready art. This so strengthened the waggon, even while it robbed it of a portion of its elasticity, that I almost felicitated myselt on the fracture. Soon after recovering from this difficulty — that is to say, on the following day — I passed through what are called the "long woods," the road being the worst I had encountered during the whole of my journey upwards, and strongly reminding me of my trip from Utica tp Syracuse, as described in an early chapter of this volume. Never had I experienced an impatience more complete than on this occa- alon, for as the wheels now became imbedded, one after the other, in stiff and clayey soil, I began to fear that my ponies, fatigued as they EIGHT YEARS IN CANADA. 120 were, could never find the Ntrength to extricate them. To add to the desolation and discomfort of my position, the road was straight as an arrow, and coiihi be traced, hotli in front and rear, as far as the eye coulu roach ; while a ranii dense vegetation crept along the foot of the swampy and monotunons line of wood clos*>iy skirting what had been a high-way, and forcibly impressing mu with the belief that its only tenants could be the most slimy of the creeping tribe. I was now, 1 knew, not far from a scene which had been en- deared to my young recollection, yet which sinco my boyhood I have never had an opportunity of approaching: — this was the spot on which the great Indian chief, Tecumseh, had fallen; and where I, witli the greatest pail of my regiment had, as I have bolore remark- ed, been captured by the Americans. The " forty mile woods," through which I had just passed, had been celebrated, at that pe- riod, for the pursuit through it, by a party of mounted Kentuckians. of the General who commanded us,* and who had basely deserted his men at the very commencement of the action. On emerging from this, I, for the first time, beheld the Indian village, situated in a small plain, whither it had been the original intention to move the army and our Indian allies — some three thousand warriors — in order that we might take up a position from which the enemy could not easily have dislodged us, protected as we should have been by the river (Thames) on the left flank, by a morass on the right, and by a ravine in front. But weightier considerations had prevented the carrying into eflect of this excellent plan of arrangement, by which an entire division of the army might have been saved, and much injury and annoyance spared to the subjugated country. It had, unfortunately, happened that the waggons containing the General's kitchen utensils, and other "plunder," as a genuine Yankee would have termed it, had not been able to get beyond this point in the line of retreat, when the enemy were announced as coming rapidly up to us. Here was a perplexity, and what was to be done to extricate the endangered culinary and other domestic household goods ? Pots and kettles and frying-pans were not to be found everywhere in those tinnes of scarcity, and it was deemed advisable to cover their retreat at all hazards. The plan of defence was therefore changed. The battcric dc cuisine was forthwith put in motion, while the troops received the order to halt where they were, and form two extended lines in a forest which rendered them a most easy prey to the enemy, while the latter moved among the trees and foliage almost unseen by their less practised adversaries. But although what men were not knocked on the head were made prisoners in defending the approach to the General's main battery — the aforesaid batterie d" cuisine — this latter did not the less fall into the hands of the tri- umphant enemy who, had the party pursuing succeeded in cap- turing their gallant proprietor, would, without a doubt, have cut him to pieces and boiled him in one of his largest saucepans. As I passed from the plain into the wood where we had been at- tacked, I anxiously sought to discover any traces of the particular ground on which we had rested. For this purpose I alighted from my waggon, leaving the reins in the hands of my tiger ; but in vain did I seek any indication of the precise spot. The general features of the wood bore so monotonous a resemblance that I was completely at fault, and after a fruitless attempt to discover the grave which • Goiierul Proctor. 130 BIOHT YEARS IN OANA»A. 1^!*'' Wfti Raid to contain the boneii of thn woll-known but unfortiinat* Tecumseh, I moved aionjj; thi> mad which I hud last travomcd an a prisoner of war, in the haiidR of an exaiiperatifd and insulting enemy, with feelings deeply imbued with painful recollections of the occur- rences of that eventful dav. There was no one who could uoint out to mo the grave ol the inilomitable warrior who had sealed nis faith t^ Knglana, and hin unbending determination to avenge the great and manifold wrongs of his oppressed race, with his heait's blood and I felt deeply disappointed, 1 had known Tecumseh well. Dtiring my boyhood he had ever treated me an a young favorite, and I had experienced a good deal of pride in what I considered a very great condescension, for I had always entertained a deep and enthusiastic admiration of his generous, teHtless, independent and warlike cha- racter. Not an hour before he fell, he had passed along our line ia the elegant deer-skin frock, fringed, and ornamented with the stain- ed quills of the porcupine, which he usually wore, and which, on this occasion, surmounted a shirt of snowy whiteness, in addition to this, he wore a plume of white ostrich feathers, and the whole style of his costume was such as to impart to his dark features an expression, and to his eagle eye a brilliHiicy, which the excitement of the occasion rendered even more remaikable, and which had been so forcibly impressed upon my memory, that whenever tho image of tlie noble Indian has appeared to me, it has been as he then looked, when, for the last time, he cordially shook me by the hand. Numerous Americans have ventured, in a spirit of political hosti* lity, to deny that Colonel Johnson, who commanded the Kentucky ri^emen on that day, was the slayer of Tecumseh. This, it seems to me, is Mnfair. I sincerely believe that the noble chieftain fell by the hand of that officer, for it was so stated and understood at th« time, not only among the American officers who were present in the engagement, but hy the British officers who fell into their hands, ana surely if any merit can attach to the act, it is rather unjust to refuse to Col. Johnson what has been so generally admitted by so Dnany participators In the action, when they who maintain the re- verse position must be disqualified from pronouncing, from personal knowledge, any correct opinion on the matter. Soon after my arri- val in this country I had occasion to address Colonel Johnson, then- Vice President of the United Statesmen a particular offer made to the American Government, and in the course of a few private lines which accompanied the official letter, took ti>,e opportunity to allude to the circumstance of Tecumseh's dcalli^ which I stated I per- ceived, not without surprise, had been attributed to a different party. Now it is evident that, had Colonel Johnson entertained any doubt whatever on the subject, or been in the habit of vaunting un- necessarily or unbecomingly of his immediate agency in the fall of Tecumseh, he would have been but too glad to have availed himself of the testimony of one who had been opposed to him that day in the field. So far from this, however, he, with the modesty of truth^ refrains from all allusion to the disputed circumstance, but taking my remarks as a matter of course, conlines himself, as will be seen from the following letters (all I ever received from him), to the demi-official parts of my communication, addressed to him very sooa after my arrival in Canada. BIGBT TEARS IN CANADA. 191 "Sbnati Chambim, Hth Mai, 1838. " M T oitAn SiK, — I hnve received your notii and communirntion, wtilch I will without delny pincf in the hnnds of the Preaidrnt (Mr. Von Kurrn), n* you demrr. If the tnnitcr Rhonid be rcfirrpd to the Senate, ak • branch of the Rxecutive, it will alwiiyH K>ve ine pknauie to promote yuur viewa, ao far aa may be conaialent with my duty and benefit to my country. " You had bet^r correapond direct with the Preaident on the aubject, M he haa the power. " With great reapcct, " R. M. JoBNSOlf. " Major Richardaon, Niagara." "United States Senate, ni«(f May, 1838. ♦' Mt dcak Sir, — I hnve n'ccived your kind reply to my answer to your first. 1 performed the promise made, by enclosing your first letter and communication to the President of the United States, and I find thnt you have taken my advice, by writing direct to him, as he has the power of acting on your proposition ; and I have no power unless trans< mitted to the Sfnale for ncliun. I do not know any mode in which I •an servo you more than I have. The subject of your letters. Sec, ia embroced in the power of the President and the Navy Department. The only wny in which yon could succeed in your wish is, to convince the President and the Navy Department that it would be their duty to make some arrangement or contract with you. It would be indelicate for mo to interfere further than I have. ' ., " Most sincerely yours, ** R. M. JoiiNsox* ♦* Major Richardson, Niagnra." About' a mile beyond the scene of action, I came to a houflo which had ever been vividly impressed on my memory, by reason of a ludicrous circiimMtanre which had occurred in it the day after our defeat and capture. When our bagt^age was overtaken and stopped by the enemy, our (twii women were the first to plunder it, so that the linen of the officers adorned some of these Amazons in much greater profusion than it did those of our tall Kentuckian captors. On the morning following the action, we were marched back to the house to which I have alluded — a sort of inn, which was kept by one Sherman— and were warming ourselves by a stove in the apartment into which we had been Hshered, when some eight or ton of our soldiers* wives uncere- moniously entered and threw themselves into chairs, while they unblusliingiy displayed some of the trophies thay had obtained, coolly asking us at the same time if we would purchase them. Now, under ordinary circumstances, the appearance of these wo- men among us would scarcely have been regarded as an intru- sion ; but as we were fully sensible, from their manner, that they were desirous of insulting us in our altered position as prisoners, the impertinence was not to be tolerated. One officer in parti- cular remonstrated with them, and commanded that they should leave the room instantly, but this order, so far from being obeyed, called forth all the billingsgate powers of the ladies. They jumped up, snapped their fingers, put their hands on their hips, and favored the offemler with tfush a volley of " slang" as had never before greeted his ears, politely intimating that tney would be d — d if tney left the room for "such as we were," \vh6 T 132 EIGHT YEARS IN UNADA. |I5 ' Btood in the samo position with themselve.*., being only prisoners and without any power to compel them. And thus they went on, until the uproar terminated, not in their expulsion, but in our withdrawal from the reach of the venom 'heir tongues. Often and often since had that scene occurred to me, and the very position of the house in which it had taken place was so forcibly im- pressed upon my recolIeci»on that I rrccgniscd it at a glance. As I looked up at the sign — which doubtless had continued to hang Ihere since I last passed the spot — I beheld the same name — Sherman— half Visibie in the dimness of a paint that had perhaps been washed by a thousand rains, and every feature of the dwelling was precise]; what my memory had retained. Pursuing my route from Sherman's, I soon came upon the banks of the pretty river of the Thames, which I had first seen at Loudon, and nad occasionally .^nce crossed on mv journey, but which \ now followed for some distance* "ntil I reached Chatham, in the county of Kent. Finding, jtx luy arrival here, that the na- vipation was entirely open ; and not only my ponies but myself bemg in rjeed of some repose, I embarked my waggon on the steamer Brother , and rjuietJy pursued my way down tl. ' river to ihe place of my destination, Windsor, about three miies from my residence. No part of the Canadian scenery is more lovely thar what is presented, on leaving Chatham, by the windin gs of the narrow and picture'-^ue Tliames. For about twelve miles this ri/er runs between not very elevated but sloping and verdant banks, until theLe latter suddenly recede, leaving nothing visible for several mil.:;s farther, and until the stream disembo^^nes itself into the Lake St. Clair, but a forest of tall rushes, affording Ehelter and nutriment, at tha proper season of the year — spring and autumn — to myriads of wdd ducks of every description and quality, and from the largest to the smallest in size. For mil"* around, Po you at length issue into the lake, the surface of th© latter is seen darkened, at short intervals of space, with huge flocks of the jO migratory birds, which afford not only abundant occupation to the sportsman, but constitute an important article of food. At the point where the beautiful banks of the Thames texninate, there is an auberge, overhanging the river in such a way that the pas, ..enger may siep from the deck of the steamer to the covered galler*' of the house, ^vhich is kept by a French Ca- nadian, who has two or three very pretty and well mannored daughters ; and therefore, it may be presumed, that the sportsman who feels inclined to devote a few days to the pursuit of his game, does not consider it to be any very severe penanc that, after the fatigues of the day, he should enjoy the meal, and luxuriate in the bed, which has been prepared for him by these very charm- ing girls. Multitudinous parties de chasse resort, in turn, to this bouse, and the name of Dauphin is unknown to few, gentle or simple, In the district. it was 'ate in April when 1 landed at Windsor, having been altogethe .• nearly two months, including my stoppa.?es at Coteau- du-Lac, Cornwall, Brockville, Toronto, and' London, on my rout« from Montreal, and during this period my ponies had brof :ht me, a great part of the way through most execrable vcads, * distancu of upwards of five hundred niiles. Indeed, after their rest on board the steamer, they seemed as fresh and as eager as ever, IIORT TBARS IN OAIfADi. 139 •nd aUhougli they had but three milss further to go, they would I am sure have accomplished i nether five hundred p. much lea* time thaii had been taken to perform fhe recent journey. But they were never doomed to underijo this trial. I had written to hav» their stable well supplied with wherev/ithai to indulge themselves at the end of their tc:l ; and here, after having made acquaintanca with a very splendid. Newfoundland dOg whom I h-id left behind as a guard to his mist, ^ss, and who on recognizing me, and ob-" aerving this addition to ihe dornertic establishment, had manifest-* *ri unbounded cielight, they were for a season left \o ibeit straw beds and well earned repose. CHAPTER X. My return to Sandwich by no means involved a termination of my wanderings. The lease of my **den," with the hangman's projection to it, which I had taken for only twelve Tionths, was to expire in a fow weeks, and I should then be at liberty to retrace a great poition of my journey, and enter upon the occupation o& ** Rock Cottage," my new purchase at Brockville. The firs^ con- sideration was the disposal of my furniture, and this was effected in a manner to impress me somewhat forcibly with the very widt* difference whi^^h exists between the two simple acts of buying and selling. Owing to the utter impossibility of procuring tha most common articles 'vf household furniture on the Canadian shore, I had been uni 3r the necessity of supplying myself at Detroit, and at prices which we» e far from low. The whole was sold for about one fourth of what I had paid for it, and thus was my first initiation into the economy of housekeeping eifected. True, these beiug the good old times wht n Responsible Govern- ment had not started up like a bugbear to frighten the Collectors of Customs in Canada into vigilance and attention to their duties, I had managed to cross much of my furniture without being sub- jected to the very disagreeable process of being interrogated as to wheace it came, and conseque!"'.tly had been spared some addi- tional charges- I'ut this advantage had been rather the fruit of dexterity and a 'dress en the part of the bold French Canadian whom I ercployed, and who was quite a character in hi3 way, thfin a neceFjsary consequence of being drawn to the American shore for what cooild not be procured on our own. Had I paid duty on aU that I purchased, the fouiih which I obtained on a subsequent sale, would have dwindled down to a mere shadow indeed. Lefore leaving the Western District of Canada, which ha*** served to revive so many of my earlier recollections, I accepted the invitation of a gentleman in Detroit to pass a few weeks with him, prior to attending a ''monster" meeting which waste be held for the express purpose of manifesting the popular feeling in favor of General Harrison, then a candidate for the Presidency of the United States. Delegates from every State in the Union were to assemble on a j^round which had been the theatre of the display of some resolution, less active than passive, on the part 6 131 EIGHT YEARS ZIY CANADA. m I KB m I rwf ' m" IPI 11 I 11 1 Pi J ^■"^wS' 1 1 ' of " Hard Cider," as the Americans familiarly termed him, and which was not without interest to me, as having been one of those against whom he had defended himself. A very numerous body of people (Whigs) marshalled for the occasion in Detroit, and one fine yet sultry morning, under a salute of artillery, amid the waving of the handkerchiefs of ths agreeable and lady-like women for whom the capital of Mii'higan Is celebrated, and who now lined the balconies and windows overlooking the river, the steamers, five in number and literally crowded with people, unmoored from their respective wharves and glided down the river. The sky was clear and bright, although the atmosphere was insufTerably warm, and as the prow of each boat, which was decked with gay flags and alive with music,rippled through the still and waveless current, it seemed as though its course were pro- pelled through the yielding, but hitherto unbroken, surface of a mirror. Crowds of spectators collected on the populous and ver- dunt shores, evidently wondering at the cause of the unusual dis- play ,which,albeit known to a few, w as a mystery to the mass ; and as we moved, in succession, past thj British fort at Amherstburgh, the bright scarlet uniforms of the guard, who, in the midst of their less gaudily attired comrades off duty, lingered near the gateway, or thronged the ramparts, strongly brought to my me- mory the contrast of a past position with the present, and yielded abundant materials for reflection not of the most soothing or sa- tisfactory nature. Tlien I had marched from the spot around which those soldiers lingered, and glided down the river on which I now found myself, for the express puipose of investing and de- stroying the very place to which I was now hastening as to a fes- tival ; nay more, with the object of capturing or slaying the very man whom it was intended that festival should honor. I had en- dured hunger, and thi st, and privation of every kind, during that close seige, and had ueeply rejoiced whenever a bursting shell, falling into the works, threatened to spread havoc and destruction among those they sheltered, and to give promise of the extermi- nation of their stronghold. Now I was about to visit the same spot, to be a spectator of rejoicings at the imputed defeat of all our plans, and of the bestowal, by assembled thousands, of homage upon him who claimed a victory over us, and against ■wihofse claim there was no one present but myself who could, even if imprudent enough to do so, demur. The pof 'tion was a curious one, and yet as we advanced there was even more cause afford- ed for contrast and reflection. At length, we entered the Miami River, but how different was the appearance of the country, and how dissimilar the mode of ascent, to what it had been at the pe- riod when I last visited the scene. It had been my fortune to be upon this river on three several occasions, during the last war between Great Britain and the United States, and at a time when one unvarying wilderness piesantod itself on either shore to the eye, as far as the commencement of the beautifully green and sloping bank which, for about twenty yards, formed the boundary be- tween the forest and the river. VVe had, on the first occasion, penetrated almost to its source, and far beyond the point to which ourious thousands were now impairing to celebrate what was in- tend^^d to be a national jubilee ; and during that expedition— some seventy or eighty mih^s into the interior — we had seen but ono EIGHT YEARS IN CANADA. 133 •olitary cabin, which, in apprehension of the outrages of our In- dian allies, had been deserted by its inhabitants, — and the ruins of an old English fort, one of those alluded to in my " Wa- cousta " as having fallen into the hands of the same race of people, then our fierce and uncompromising enemies, and united in exterminating confederacy under the renowned chieftain Ponteac. We had, it is true, t) m penetrated far beyond this ruin, but not an evidence of civilization had met our view. On the second occasion, when our light-hearted and joyous soldiery, who ever found, in expeditions of the kind, indulgence for that wholesome spirit of adventure which is peculiar to the profession of arms, pulled, with cheerful song and jest, the bat- teaux in which we were embarked, it was for a more hostile and decided purpose than that which we previously entertained. As we rowed up the river, the country was, for a series of miles, pre- cis jly as we had found it on our first approach, the wild turkey occasionally winging its lazy flight from shore to shore, and pre- senting a tempting and seldom neglected mark to the rifles of the Indians who flanked our advance on either bank, and to the less effective musket of the soldier, fired by some eager and impru- dent oflicer ; but when we had traced about one third of our for- mer route, and approached the point where had stood the deserted cabin to which I have alludecf, we discovered that around that, and extending over ground where, on the first occasion, we had amused ourselves with shooting down the hogs, which, untended by their owner, had become absolutely wild, had now risen, in imposing strength, fortifications, against which our present efforts were to be directed. This fort was commanded by General Harrison, the very man whom a st ong political party were now assembling to honor in the immediate theatre of his assumed mi- litary achievements, and in order that the reader may fully un- derstand the value ol these, I will refer to the circumstances as they took place. On taking up our position about a mile below the fort, which was reconnoitred and found impracticable except by breach, the necessary batteries were immediately thrown up opposite to the American defences (the river or *' foot of the rapids " separating Uiij armies,) at a distance of about eight hundred yards, and in a ^ew days, protected. by strong covering parties, they were in . ^: diness to receive the battering guns which had accompanied 'Ue .'xpedition. Two of these w^ere long twenty-four pounders ') icL we had previously taken at Detroit, and well do I recollect the iiiimense exertion it cost us to drag them from the point where they had been landed, to the batteries. The distance was a mile, and the roads so bad that it required many yoke of oxen and nearly two hundred men,(the latter furnished with drag ropes, )from nine o'clock in the evening until three in the morning,to effect this im- portant duty, which, at one time, had nearly been abandoned in very hopelessness of success. A principal object was to get the guns into battery before the Americans could be aware of their advance, for the range was so short that they could not fail, in day-light, to have caused us serious molestation. This, after ex- Iraoi-dinary eflbrt, was accomplished, and at a given signal from a nuiiboiit anchored abreast of tlie encampment, and the hoisting of tiie union jiick at the batteries themselves, a furious cajuionade IM IIOBT TEAB3 IN CAitADA. was Opened upon the enemy, who returned it with spirit, but not with the san\e efficiency. Well did these beautiful twenty-four ])ounder8 throw iheir metal- They were, in comparison of one arm with the other, as true as rilles, and at whatever point the gun was directed, there the shot \^as sure to fall. I had more than once, while forming one of the covering party, prevailed on the bombardier who had charge of these pieces to allow me to point them, and I remember feeling all the delight which is natural to a young soldier on occasions o/ the kind, and during his earlier days of service, wherever I perceived the destruction I had been instrumental in effecting. There was one point at which the twenty-four pounders were principally aimed, and this was th» roof of the rxjwder magazine which the enemy were busily en- gaged in endeavoring to render bomb-proof. Most gallantly did they acquit themselves of this dangerous duty, for although our heav) and hissing shot struck the roof at every discharge, tearing up the new laid earth, and occasionally mixing with it the blood and limbs of those who were employed in placing it there, no Booner were they extricated from the shove er of wet earth which, scattered high in air, ••" enveloping their persons as in a dark cloud, than they recoiu " 'd their task with an undiminished ardor that astonished us, i. • eased until they had accomplished their object. The magazine was, in spite of our incessant fire, rendered bomb-proof ; and then, and not until then, did the work- men retire from their exposed position. For four consecutivo days we continued, with little intermission, to bombard the place, throwing into it shells, and red hot, as well as the ordinary round, shot ; and such was the number of these that we could not pos- sibly conceive how the enemy was enabled to hold out as ho did. But the resources of these brave men were in proportion with th» magnitude of their danger. With the same indefatigability and resolution they had m- nifesled while covering their powder magazine, they prevented that destruction in their force, which must else have resulted Sfom our fire, by excavating obliquely in the earth, and forming burrows in which the Indians used to Ray they buried themselves like ** ground hogs," — thus finding shelter from our shells. The state of the earth itself had greatly contributed to their exemption from serious loss, for in conse- quence of the heavy rains which had fallen since our arrival in the neighborhood, the clayey soil of the newly dug fort had be- come so saturated, that the area was one continuous paste reach- ing to the ankles, and as the shells dropped in this, the fuzes were generally instantly extinguished, while the hot shot fell equally without effect. Thus stood matters in relation to the seige itself, when, on the fifth day from the opening of our fire, the affair occurred which gave to General Harrison, according to American history, a victory some sixty thousand persons, from most parts of the Union, wero now about to celebrate in presence of the assumed victor, and on the very theatre of contest. General Harrison being uncertain as to the ultimate results of the seige, and moreover extremely annoyed by our guns, resolved upon an attempt to silence these latter ; and with that view despatched a messenger to General Green Clay who, he had been apprized, wa»a few miles up the river, advancing to the relief of sieuT rsARS m canadj^. 13T the irnrrison with a force of fifteen hundred men, and some am- rnuiiition and slorHs. The orders now sent to him wore to mov« forward without delay ; land within a short distance of the British batteries; carry and spike the gnna, destroy the carriages, and instantly recross the river, and join him in the fort. It should have been previously mentioned that, prior to ths opening of the guns from our batteries opposite to Fort Meigs, two companies (the grenadier and light) of the only regular regiment employed in the expedition, had been detached, with two guns of light calibre, to the right bank of the river with instructions to take possession of, and cMitrench themselves in, a ravine, about half way from our encampment and the American fort, and thus distract them by a cross fire. This party, supported by a few militia and Indians, it was the intention of General Harrison, as intimated to General Clay, to attack, while the latter executed the important duty assigned to him, on the opposite shore. Now thia plan was, beyond all question, an admirable one, and as far as General Harrison was concerned, reflected great credit upon hia military judgment ; but it will be presently seen with whom the merit of victory, in reality, rested. No sooner was the American commander made aware, by the report of the first desultory firing, of General Clay's approach to the batteries, when he directed a sortie upon the light battery thrown up on the brow of the ravine which sheltered the little detachment, on his own side of the river. This was instantly carried, five and thirty men and two officers — all of the light company — falling into his hands . The remainder of the party, hotly pursued, succeeded in crossing, not without difficulty, in the boats which were ready to receive them. On the rightbankof the river, therefore, everything was decidedly in favor of the besieged. But how stood matters of the opposite shore? General Clay had surprised the batteries so completely, that the first intimation in our camp of the proximhy of the enemy was given to us by the artillerymen, who had naturally abandon- ed their guns at the approach of a force against which resistance was utterly hopeless. General Clay had, in my opinion, badly chosen his moment of attack. I could have wished him to have deferred his movement at least an hour. Wa had only just seated ourselves in our tent of boughs to partake of a very scanty break- fast, and this, consisting of a tough steak of lean and half cooked beef, and a piece of dry bread, moistened with an apology for tea made of the root of the sassafras, and sweetened with sugar from the maple tree, it was hardly fair to compel us to abandon untasted. I hatl ever been of the opinion of much older soldiers than myself, that in order to do duty properly in the field, it was indispensable that the cravings of the animal man should not be Buffered to interpose themselves between his-, sublimer aspirations after glory ; and as mine was an appetite that was seldom grati- fied to its full extent, when sharing the bivouac of those who were older, and less diffident than myself, and who always assigned me any other than Benjamin's portion, I was scarcely ever ex- empt from the gnawings of hunger. I recollect well, that, during our forced march on this occasion to the batteries, I thought a great deal more of the uutouched breakfast, and its probable fate, than of the enemy we were about to encounter. I was a confirmed Oliver Twist in those days, nnd " always asking for more." ii 13S SIGlil- YEARS m CANADA. 'ill! !! ' ih Rut nnother direction was given to my reflections. Ah we a<1- Yanced alon^ the rond I have already described, at a pace as rapid as its heavy njiiure would permit^ and flanked on the forest •ideby a bodyof Indians, we could distinctly hear the firing going on on onr left, and see the enemy advancing rapidly upon the small battery of six-pounders. Instead of discouraginjL^ this however animated our own immediate leaders the more, and they urged their men to the re-capture of the heavy guns. In a few minutes we were on the spot, and saw the enemy in possession of and determined to retain them. We had not three complete companies on the ground, or engaged in the affair at all ; and yet when the order was given to charge, we advanced and drove from the batteries the masses that occupied them, in a manner that, on subsequent reflection on the fewness of our numbers, astonished ourselves quite as much as it must have disconcerted the enemy. They retreated into the woods, and being there met by the destmc- tive fire of the warriors under Tecumseh, were speedily broken^ and, as a force, literally annihilated. Of thirteen hundred men whom General Clay hatl brought with him to the attack of the batteries, not two hundred effected their escape ; and indepen- dently of the many who fell, we took no less than lour hundred and sixty prisoners. The moment the firing had ceased, and these latter had been marched ofT under as strong an escort as could be spared, we again returned to the batteries, whither the artillerymen had again promptly repaired, and assisted them in un- doing the injury which had been done to the guns. Owing to some confusion in the advance of the assailants, the man charged with the spikes could not be found, or had not come up ; and, too impa- tient for delay, the Americans had only partially effected their purpose by thrusting ramrods into the touchholes and breaking them off" short. These were now removed without much diffi- cuhy, and the fire of small arms had not been discontinued an hour when our batteries re-opened on the fort. Before half a dozen rounds had been discaarged, however, the enemy hoisted a white flag, which we at the batteries supposed was a signal of their surrender. The firing consequently ceased, and it was not until we saw a few boats of General Clay's division (the greater, number had been captured and plundered by the Indians) mov- ing down the river, and anchoring as close beneath the fort as they could, that we suspected a ruse, and renewed our fire. But this again was instantly stayed, as we saw a party issue from the fsrt dressed in scarlet, and evidently prisoners who had been cap- tured that morning on the right bank. The movement of these under an escort toward the river, where we saw them embark, an- nounced to us at the batteries that the white flag had beon hoisted only with a view to an exchange of prisoners ; and our aisappoint- raeut became extreme as wo perceived another imp^^rtant move- ment on the part of the enemy, which the momentary truce was intended to cover. No sooner had we for the second time ceased our filing, when, availing themselves of the exchange of prison- ers which was being then effected, several hundred unarmed men issued from an angle of the fort, under the cover of a detach- ment, and rushing hurriedly to the boats, loaded themtselves with what they could bear away. This was principally shot and ehellsaiul stores of various kinds, for the (upply ol the gnrrison, SIGHT TEARS IN CANADA. 139 which the Indiana had neglected to destroy ; contenting them- mtlvoH with the handsonnely ornamented swords, rifles, and pirt- tols, as well as the linen and rich epaulettes and uniforms of the officers, with which many of the warriors afterwards decked themselves, not a little to the amusement of the camp. Nur wu(< it until qfter the pritipners had been landed, and the supplies in- troduced into the fort, that we were again at liberty to open our fne. I have been diffuse in the historical detail of these proceedings, because I am aware that the An'.ericans are generally impressed with the belief that the affair of the Miami was, to General Harrison^ one of unqualified victory ; and as this book will, of course, be re- published in the United States, I am desirous of correcting th? error into which they have fallen. Of General Harrison's merit as an officer, and of his very able dispositions on that day, there can be no question, but victory is not always to those leaders whose combina- tions and enterprise are best calculated to ensure it. Had General Clay obeyed the order so emphatically given to him, and, after spiking }he guns, retired across the river without further loss of time, there would have been every fair claim to complete victory; but surely it will not be pretended that the capture of a weak battery, supported merely by two companies of troops, with a few mililia and Indians, can as a military feat, be placed in comparison with tiM utter destruction of a force of thirteen hundred men by one-third of their number. Then let us look at the results. The Americans issuing in force from the fort, succeeded in capturing thirty- five men and two officers, while four hundred and thirty-five men and thirty- two officers fell into our hands> Nor can \i be said that General Harrison's success on the right bank of the river has nothing to do with, or can be affected by the defeat of General Clay on the left, which was only the result of unlooked-fur disobedience of orders. As well might it be said, if we compare small things with great, that Napoleon's was not a defeat at Waterloo, because Grouchy is stated to have disobeyed his instructions, and by his abserce, mainly con- tributed to the loss of the battle. Had the Duke of VVellington. on the contrary, failed in any of his numerous engagements, solely through the fault of one of his commanders of divisions, victory would not the more have been ascribed to him, because his disposi-* tions had been proved by results to have been good, and that the fullest success should have crowned those operations which he im- mediately superintended. It is true that the siege was subsequently abandoned, but this was because it was found impracticable to effect a breach for an assault. Had the enemy been surrounded by stono walls, they would have crumbled about their ears, but as it was, th« shot merely passed through, without levelling or even seriously wounding the strong loop-holed pickets which formed the stockade^ and the capture of the place could only have been effected by tho expenditure upon it of more time and ammunition than the necessity for its reduction demanded. Furthermore the Indians, laden with tlie spoils they had secured from the captured boats of General Clav's division, were in conformity with their usual practice on #nch occasions, and in defiance of the noble yet severe Tecumseh Cwbo, with a small band of chosen warriors — chiefly of his own tribe — remained with us to the close), deserting us hourly for a brief season ; and without their united support, the force was much too ■ill Ml 140 IIOHT TEARS IN CA?VADA. si: weak to efTect any imporlani object. But although we retired, it was without the slightest show of prccijtitation. The hatteried were regularly dismantled, and the heavy guns removed and piacnd on board the boats pre|)ared for their rece|)tion, precisely in the order in which they hacl first beon landed from them, nor was anything left beh" id which could at all advantage the enemy. Neither, when the battering train, stores, camp equipage, &,c., had been ail re-embarked, and the troops followed in thi'ir open boats, was the ulightest obstruction offered by the Americans during any nart of our descent of the river. No attempt was ever made at a sortie, which, in our exposed position, must havT gi-eatly annoyed us. I should be induced to apprehend that I had dw^lt too long on so apparently unimportant a suuject, were i^ not that I am desirous to shew with how iit'le foundation the Americans so frequently claim advantages over the troops of Great Britain. Where they are fairly entitled to victory, let their claim be allowed ; but it is unjust to as- sume that to themselves which is not warranted by facts. While their whole Union was ringing from one end to the other with re- joicings at the asserted triumph of their arms over those of Great Britain at the Miami, the gallant regiment — a small but dariag por- tion of whom drove, ai the point of the bayonet, a vastly superior number of the enemy from the batteries on the left bank — were wearing, still wear, and ever will continue to wear, the word "Miami," on their colors and appointments.* The third time we ascended the Miami, and some account of this is necessary to the understanding of certain American proceedings at this celebrated convention, was in the following August — little more than three moiiths afterwards. Tecumseh had conceived a plan for the withdrawal of the Americans from the cover of the fort, which it was hoped would prove efficient, and in which he obtained a pro- mise of co-operation on the part of the British General. We ac- cordingly moved up the Miami river in our boats as before, and with the Indians skirting the woods on either flank. Instead, however, of occupying the ground we had previously rested on, we effected a landing on the right bank, and gaining the cover of the woods, remained for many hours stationary, and out of view from the fort. Meanwhile Tecumseh, who, at the head of his warriors, had, by a circuitous route, gained the high road by which the garrison receiv- ed its supplies and reinforcements, opened a desultory fire, accompa- nied by fierce yells, apparently on a party coming towards the fort. This fire gradually increased until it eventually became an inces- sant roar of small arms ; and now had arrived the critical moment — that of the success or failure of his plan. It was known that General Harrison had some days previously left the place, entrusting the com- mand to the next in rank to him, and was then lying with a body of troops at a short distance from Sandusky (another stockaded post not far distant from, and connected with, Fort Meigs, by the road iust alluded to), and It was expected that the garrison of the latter, inferring that the General had been attacked while coming to their ♦There is n circumstance connected with this subject of so curious coincidence, at tn merit a pissing notice. The storming of tlie batteries on the Miomi took place on t)ie 5tA of May, 1813, when I served in the company of as giillaiit nn officer as pvor enter- ed a fie'd. On the 5th of May, IH.'JC, I assisted ot tlie storming of the Carlist lines (thre» til number, and sustained by batteries) drawn around Sun Sebastlun, and on this latter or- paiio'i one nf my siihiilterna was a sou of tbo very mac under wIiudi I hud entered lh» •Mmy's butteries iu 1S13, KIUUT TBARS IN CANADA. 141 assistance, would sally forth and cover their entry. We waited ]>atiently, or rather impatiently, on the skirt of the wood, half-soaked through with a drizzling rain, and looking earnestly for evidenced of a sortie on the road, when it was our intention to have taken the force composing this in the rear, but all in vain. The American commander was too prudent, and although we opened a fire in re^ turn to that of the Indians, with a view of further misleading the enemy, the attempt proved fruitless, and we re-embarked the same afternoon, and descended the river for our ultimate destination — which was Sandusky^ the fort I have just mentioned, and on which our storming powers were again, although by no means successfully, tried. Such had been the condition ot this interesting tract of country on the three several occasioivs on which I had traversed its banks a quarter of a century before, and such as I have described had been the mode of navigation of its waters. But what a chaiige had been effected within that comparatively short period. It seemed as if the wand of enchantment had passed over a region which I had in some degree enshrined in my recollection as hallowed J [round, and I, at a first glance, contemplated with feelings of pain- ul disappointment *he abundant evidences of the destroying, yet renewing, hand of a matter-of-fact civilization, which had remo- ved from view those land-marks of primeval beauty, once forming such prominent features in the attractive scenery. On we dashed with our steamers decorated with their gay flags, and enlivened with music ; and as the ponderous paddle wheels threw the waters aside, startling them even from their own beds, I could not but draw a striking and unfavorable contrast between their turbulent intru- sion ana the subdued action of the light oar which, formerly, had almost insensibly, divided the placid water, and formed ripples so slight as to be discontinued almost at the moment of their creation, leaving scarce a trace behind of the burden they had so recently borne. The destructive effect produced on the natural beauty of the shores, by the fieice and unchecked paddle wheels — and this is an evil peculiar to every narrow river on which steam navigation prevails — was here disagreeably evident. The eternal lashing of the disturbed waters had worn away the verdure from the more abrupt banks, and the gray dry earth, divested of that clothing which had formerly constituted the leading charm of this ascent, fell and crumbled as each heavy swell dashed against and dislodged some portion of its body. After proceeding a few miles up the river we came to Toledo, a large and thriving town, furnished with piers, wharves, &c., and altogether exhibiting marks of a commer- cial prosperity which, notwithstanding my preconceived ideas of the go-a-head system of the West, excited my utmost admiration and surprise. While advancing towards the mouth of the Miami River, which we did shortly after we had sustained the loss of one of the " enlightened," who threw himself from the upper deck and found the death he sought before means could be found to lower a boat, we had seen numerous steamers, decked with gay flaj^s similar to our own, and equally freighted with a mass of living matter, moving from various points, indicating the several harbors on Lake Erie, which they had l«>ft, and wending their way to the narrow entrance leading to the place of rendezvous. Some of these we novv overtook at Toledo, where, in consequence of (he shallow wa- I4'i KMKT YfiAlS IN CANADA. ter above, it was necessary to leave neveral of (he largest flleamen (and amongst them was that in which I had embarked) and perform the remainder of the route in others of a smaller clatw. It was with a deep interest — as boyish in character, perhaps, as it was irresist- able — that, an we threaded the windings of tne river, I watched every thing which could indicate our near approach to the spot most familiarly impressed upon my memory. At length, after making a sadden turn in the river, we came within view of the immediate scene of our own and the enemy's operations — the foot oF the Miami rapids — but how unlike was it to t. j wild country I had once known. True, the water was the same, and the earth was the same ; but on either bank had arisen, on the extinguished fires of men who had ])«en arraved in deadly hostilltv to each other, two large divisions of a flourisning town, connected by an elevatea and extensive bridge, which bore the same evidence of commercial improvement that I had remarked at Tuledo. The site of the town on the right bank was some few hundred vards on the side of tht ravine, nearest the mouth of the river, which had sheltered our troops : and on the brow of which our enfilading battery had been erected, and must have been about the point where, with the ex- ception of the prisoners taken by General Harrison, the detachment ha!d succeeded in gaining their boats and crcwsing the river. At the base of this, studded with piers and wharves, with their adja- cent store houses, were moored the numerous steamers that had been enabled, from t M(iii^!i Ht my matured yt'arM — which I vainly ntrovd to biinit hitenutM ot th« hour at which we had un- lerod on our pliioo of bivouac, I had not been able to obtain any thin^ liice adihtiiict view (»f our ixwition, and I waited imnatiently for the approsujh of day, when my curiosity hUouKI be fully grati- fied. It wax not, however, until the 8un had appeared above thu hori/on in tiie mornin^z, and the bustling of my compainoua who were making their rude toilet, warned rae of my tardiness, that I rose, Irnlf dressed myself, and sallied forth for the i>urpo80 of entering the shallow stream that flows laxily through the valley beneath. It was not, therefore, until after I had returned from tny ablutions, and partaken of an excellent breakfast which haU meanwhile been ^)ropared for our hungry party, that I had an op- portunity to exaiame the posilion< Th > scene at this tiraie, when the whole of iiie surrounding encampment, containing some fifty thousamt souls, had breakfustod, and were in motion in various parts of the ground, was highly animated. Bugles and drums and trumpets sounded from every quarter, summoning the se- veral corps of " Guards " to their morning parade within a spactt formed by the peculiar disposition of their tents; while the nu- merous bainls of music wnich had accompanied the delegates fix>m their several States, rent the air, otherwise stilled by the in- fluence of a burning sun, and were, in the oooasional pauses, succeeded by a confused hum of human voices, which gave a juster estimate of numbers to the ear, than was afforded even t» the eye. The most of these bands were elevated in carriages, drawn by four, six, eight, twelve, and in one instance sixteen Itorses, two abreast, — these latter conducted with so nuich ability, that a single postillion, mounted on one of the centre horses to reach the leaders with his whip, was all the aid the driver re- quired. Then there were displays of gorgeous flags, and shows, and refreshment tents, and, in short, of everything that is usually found in a fair, but the fair themselves^ very slight sprinkling of whom were discernible in the throng. These were confined almost exclusively to the belles uf the Maimi who, although not quite so graceful or so beautiful as many of those we had left in Dttpoit, enjoyed at least this advantage — that being the only wearers of that inflammable symbol ot womanhood — the petticoat — they were look- ed u|)on with all the interest that mystic garment, thinly scattered among the many thousand of wild men there assembled, could not fail to inspire. Plain women were at once transformed into good- looking ; while these latter, in their turn, were invested by the wil- ling imagination with every attribute of beauty, and enjoyed a tri- umph which, inasmuch as it was unprecedented, and can never since have been renewed, must, even at this hour, cause them ta dwell with unnungled satisfaction on the " Three Day's Celebra- tion,'* and ardently desire its repetition. Among this moving mass, a great portion of which was within- the precincts of what had constituted the defences of the fort, it was not easy to thread my way so as accurately to define its limits ; however, with the assistance of some of my American friends, I ae-^ complished the circuit. But with the exception of finding here and there the stumps of a few pickets, and following the traces of the •lightly raised ground which had rested against them, there was na 144 BtaHT TSAUI IN CANADA. I 11 evidence of a fortification. Everythins had licen levelled, and tho grans grew thickly over the whole of that surface which had onco been a bed of clay — extinguishing our shells, and aflbtding shelter £rom our shot. The spot of greatest interest to me was that on, or within a few ft'et of which, our tent had been pitched. Hor«, It was obvious from various indications, had stood- tho powder magazine against which our fire had been unceasingly directed, and as I gazed on the surrounding scene, tho contrast between the past and tho pre- sent which had f(Mced itself upon my mind from tho outset, became more marked. There was something piquant too in resting and aleeping on the immediate ground on wliich had been concentrated the whole of our attempts at destruction, and on which, at that time, we should have deemed it the highest object of our ambition to set foot. Where had stood our batteries on the opposite banks, were to be seen three or four scattered dwelling-houses painted white, as most of the buildings in the town were ; and the wood that had skirted the bank, and masked the road by which our heavy cannon had been dragged up, was now out down, and fair fields and pas- tures greeted the eye m its stead, until the point was gained wnere had stood our encampment. Here again, instead of rude tento, or rather wigwams made, by the practised hands of the willing sol- diery, from the boughs and bark of trees, which afforded us shelter during the siege, was now erected a portion of the town of Miami. This, as already described, was connected with the greater mass of buildings on the right bank by an elevated biidge which, even while I gazed, was i. .onged with men and horses, passing to and fro as business or inclination ^ugge^ted ; and as the eve circum- scribed its range, resting on the long line of steamers, with their gay flags hanging droopingly in the waveless air, and embraced the well constructed piers to which they were moored, my mind could not resist a certain melancholy and sentiment of^ regret, that these solitudes, in which some of the most stirring incidents of my life had occurred, should have been thus in /aded and destroyed. I could have loved to have beheld every feature of this scene pre- cisely in the order in which all had b( er. exhibited on the several occasions when I had previously made acquaintance with them, but now everything was so altered, so civilized, that I regarded what- ever met my eye with a feeling of bitter disappointment, scarcely exceeded by that which I experienced on remarking the striking change which had been effected in the character, dress and demean- or of those who had once been the lords of this wild and picturesqu« region. True, there was, notwithstanding, a certain interest ex- cited in me, but that interest was not the result of what I saw, but what I vainly sought to discover. I loved the ground, not for what it was, but what it had been. I had some desire to be re-introduced to Greneral Harrison, whose prisoner I had been so many years previously, yet whom I had never since seen, and attained my object, through Governor Wood- bridge, of Detjoit, who made me the offer of an introduction. I found the " Hero of Tippecanoe " a very plain and unpretending person, whom one must have known to be a soldier before ventu- ring to pronounce that he was such, yet who seemed pleased to meet with one who had been opposed to him in the battle, the celebration of which he was there to assist in. As the introduction took place KlUHT YMARS U1 CA.'IAUA. 145 while he wai in liiii carriap;**, nn»l wftitinj^ in ne« thf Mv^ral haiulM of dultt^ates, ^iianlit, &c., to \h\hh in review before him, oiir ronvunin* tion wati fortunately of a general character, ho that I ettcapeii much of the awkwardneHH that must have resulted I'mm a detailed refer- ence to the occurrences oS the r»th May, IHI.'J. I was the mor« pleased that no particular allusion to the nuhject should have been made bv him, an I had expected would have been the case, because as the General was to address the people, 1 was the more willing to hoar hill version of the story as ho intended narrating it to them- A platform, some ten or twelve feet high, had been erected in the very centre of what had been the fort, and at one o'clock precisely General Harrison, attended by many old officers — one or two of the- <; sharers in his earlier campaigns — ascended it and addressed the auditory. A meridian sun was casting down its scorching ravf upon ')e head of tens of thousands, from whose brows the perspiration ran literally in streams, yet who, oven amid the cIom pressure to which, wedged in as they were, and overtopping each other as some slight duclivit\' in the ground permitted, all wers more or less subjected, preserved a quiet and (lecorum of conduct worthy of the utmost commendation. Before (icneral Harrison com- menced, one or two of his supporters and military friends addressed the meeting, and they naturally gave a most vivid and one-sided de- scription of the victory obtained on that very ground on which all were then congregated. Hurrahs, and cheers, nn■ me. As we neared the landing place, one vast sheet of flame burst from the now completely enveloped barn, which, fed the straw and hay with which it was filled, tossed its large flaliL no the air as if in proud rejoicing at the havoc it was creating. UlA I saw no vestige of my ponic—no tiger to inform me whether they were ?n\ ■{[ or de- stroyed. Some person, however, from *he hotel, recogmzin'j: me, ran down to the boat as she drew up to the wharf, and called ait to me not to be alarmed, as my servant had, in the most active man- ner^ daved both ponies and harnoss, and was then occupied in se- curing them in another stable. This certainly was a great relief, and I felt a degree of gratitude to the boy, so much the stronger in pro- portion to the injustice I was sensible I had been guilty of towards him. Hastily stepping on the wharf and following my informant, I went to the stable named by him and was not a little delighted to see the ponies eating their ifiay as calmly as though nothing had occurred to disturb them. Of course, my tiger was very garrulous, and very proud of his conduct, as he fully merited to be, and gave me an account of what he had done for the rescue. It appeared that I was not far wrong in assuming him to have been at play with the young idlers of the village, but this circum- stance had, in all probability, saved the ponier. They had assem- bled near the barn, which was tar enovigh fiom the house not to have drawn early attention to the accident, ar.d my boy chanced to i; 150 EIRUT YKAUS IN CANADA. i : i . i ;( be the first to observe the outburst of the fire. He immediately, with threat presence of mind, forced open the door, and while the flames were ascending at a distant part of the barn, ran into the stalls of thp ponies, which were rather near the entrance, and unty- ing their halters led them forth without resistance on their part ; and having removed and tied th"m, once more returned and succeeded in saving every portion of the harness, with the exception of one or two unimportant straps, which were soon and easily replaced. My waggon, which lay at some distance in the yard adjoining the barn — then rapidly consuming — had been removed without difficulty, and had sustained no injury. That evening, on my return to my friends of the 'Ith, T renewed my rubber and the mint juleps, with a gmto not al ail diminished by the fortunate escape of the day. It was now the close of Jone, and although the weather was ex- tremely warm, is ir.'leed It ever is in the West abou* that season of the year, I bc,ra,i to make preparations for my depa tur*" Having, however, no lancy to reii«w the misery of my * Long vVoods" journey, I resolved to change my route altogether, and instead of returning by Lake St. Clair and Chatham, to take the road border- ing on Lake Erie ; and thus, by performing a sort of circle of about a hundred miles in extent, until arriving at what are called " the five stakes," where the roads again meet on their wa)' downwards, not only to escape the monotony of going over ground already tra- versed, but of seeing more "^ the country. My heavy baggage was Iheiefore shipf >d on board one of Mr. J)oiigall's vessels, then about to sail for the East, for its ultimate desiinalion, while that which I retained as indispensable to the comforts of a journey which was not intended to be a very hurried one, was so disposed, as well as other conveniences intended for the road, that the mode of arrangement requires, in justice to my inventive genius, a passing notice. The body of my waggon 1 have elsewhere stated to have been an oblong square box, about two feet deep ; and to the back and front of this I had caused two packing cases, each nine inches in depth, to be fitt !d, of precisely corresponding Aze. These, with hinges, and straps that were secured by small .ron padlocks, were secured to their several places by means of strong straps, passing through staples screwed on to the body of the waggon. Both — the one con- taining my wife's apparel, the other my own — rested on ledges that protruded from the back and front, and fitted, when properly strap- ped on, so closely to the waggon, like which they were painted that it was difficult for a stranger to know that they did not abso- lutely form a part of it. Nothing could be mo ;; perfect than this arrangement which, moreover, afforded abundance of room inside, the waggon, already sufficiently filled in the following manne/. My past experience having induced in me but little desire to frequent the " houses of accommodation " along the road more than well could be avoided, I had determined, as the season was fine, to enter them only at night, and leave them on the fol- lowing morning as nxtn as we had breakfasted. Accordingly, I had another oblong square box divided into compartments, and of sufficient depth to contain a : .m, three or four fowls, a ♦nngiie and all corresponding et ceteras ; and in order to admit tae air to this, without at the same time giving ingress to the flies which abounded, I had lined the lid, which was perforated with aume- tous augur holes, and fastened like the cases with a padlock. EIGHT YEARS IN CANADA. 151 with a coarse stiff green i^auze, through which the air found easy entrance. This box was made wide enough to fit closely across the bottom of the waggon, where it formed a resting place for the feet. A second small case contained dishes, plates, and drinking cups, us well as a pitcher with -.vhich to supply ourselves with water when dinina: under the shade of some tall and umbraaeous tree. Nor were other comforts forgotten. I had purchased and filled a five gallon cask with excellent cider — a delicious beverage when oppresised by thirst in travelling — and a few bottles of wine anil brandy, with a moderate portion of good cigars, and all this, to be renewed as required, composed our travelling stock. a manner my beina Thus provided, I commenced my journey, and in that " astonished " even **the natives." Without made aware ot the fact, the mare had been in foal when I pu^■ chased her in Montreal and she had thrown a colt about a month previously. This audition to my family had occasioned me a pood deal of annoyance at the time of its occurrence, and believ- ing that it was utterly impossible foi a creature of that tender age to perform the journBy I meditated — nearly five hundred miles — I had half formed the resolution to destroy it, but the liltle thing was so full of life and spirit, in short so much resembled her dam, that I had not the heart to give the order for its removal, but finally decided that it should tfke its chance on the road, parti- cularly as it would have a gii.iv i and companion in my faithful and noble Hector, the splendid Newfoundland dog to whom I have already alluded, and with "■^om it was on the best of terms. Thus started the caravan — for it could scarcely be called any- thing else — from Witidsor, the whole for, ling a tableau that had as much of the ui^ful as the ornamental about it. The people,as we passed, ran to the doors to admire the ponies, the curs ran after the colt, whom they seemed not much to admire, and Hector ran after, and upset right and left, the curs who had the temerity to in- sult his little friend and charge. The whole route through the villages and more densely settled parts of the country was marked by much of the same confusion, and it was only as we passed through some thick wood, or extensive valley, tha. our four-footed followers were allowed to proceed in peace. The journey, along the lake shore especially, was really de- lightful. Although the heat of the day was great, and the mus- quitoes as teazing as they were abundant, we had generally the advantage of a gentle breeze from the southward, which blew balmy and fresh as the liquid plain over which it rolled. Be- tween two and three o'clock in the day, when its sultriness was at its height and the air partially stilled, my search was directed for some green and shaded spot, where our usual halt was to be made, and when this could be made in the neighborhood of a a farm-house, or near a stream of running water, it was invaria- bly taken possession of, without much regard tothemeum or teum right of the property thus invaded. Generally, however, we stopped as near the road side as possible, and on one or two oc- casions on the border of the lake itself. Some amusing scenes were the result of this gipsy mode of travelling, and among others the following : One beautiful day, after quitting the Talbot District, and gaining , 152 KICIIIT VEARS IN CANADA. (he high road leading through the Townslilp of Mersca, in Esse.v, found ourselves about the usual hour between n continuous we chain of fences skirting the highway, and offering no oii.er shelter than what was affouled by a few fruit trees overhanging the latter. We chose the neighborhood of an orchard where a number of thick- ly planted cherr)^ trees, teeming with fruit which was, at that time, in its full perfection of ripeness, promised us the shade we wanted, while, from the farm house which adjoined, we could obtain the ne- cessary water for our horses. I accordingly drove up to the side of the road, under cover of the cherry trees ; and as there was some fresh and inviting ^rass crowning a small elevation formed by the gradually sloping side of what had once been a ditch, we here alighted, and having, much io the suqmse of those whom business or curiosity drew along the road, opened our provision-box and spread out our ham, fowls, &c., we did ample justice to our dinner, while my tiger, who had taken the ponies to some little distance, and under cover of the same shade, gave them their oats, a feed of which was always placed in the waggon on starting in the morning from the place at which we passed the night. While thus dispatch- ing our mid-day meal, occasionally moistened with a draught of the cool and thirst-slaking cider, and looking at the tempting cherries above us — much in the same spirit with which an habitue of the classic precincts of St. Giles discusses his potatoes and point, a waggon drove up in which were several persons, and among others one who proved to be the proprietor of the fann house near us. This man jumping out, and approaching us, made a low bow, saying at the same time, <* Pray, Sir, may 1 be so bold as to ask where you come from, where you are going to, and what you are doing ?" This was out-Jonathan ing Jonathan with a vengeance, and I lootced up to see more particularly what sort of an animlil my questioner was. I beheld nothing remarkable in his features but an expression of very surpassing impudence, which, being in no mood to gratify his curiosity, I in some degree checked by slowly repeating his words, and inquiring '* if indeed it would particularly interest him to know where I came from, whither I was going, and what I was doing ?" He replied it would, for that no stranger ever passed that way without his making it a point of inquiring his business in that neighborhood. I kept my temper, while I Temarked, that if other people chose to be silly enough to gratify his impertinent curiosity, I certainly did not intend to do so, and therefore he need not give himself further trouble on the subject. This little colloquy had of course taken ])lace within hearing of those in the waggon, who seemed amazed to see one, who I afterwards found was considered to be the bully of the neighborhood, put down by a caravan dri- ver or pedlar, for aught they knew to the contrary : and much whispering and shrugging of the shoulders ensued. My hero, evi- dently crest-fallen at the non-success of his inquisitorial power, now joined his companions, and while I was smoking the luxurious weed which ever crowned my frugal dinner, a gentlemanly looking young man, who had been a distant observer of the scene, came up, and addressing me by name, apologized for the rude behaviour oi the person who had just left me,— stating that it was a p'-acticc with him to annoy every one who passed in the same way. I thanked Mr. Ambridge, who was tlie Poslmaster of the township, for his attontion, in seeking thus lo explain what in some degree , KUaiT YEARS IN CANADA. i:,'.\ reflected iiiiravoial)ly on his immediate neighborhood, hut o!)servod to him, I had experienced no annoyance whatever ; but had rather derived amusement from the consequential language and bearing of my unceremonious interrogator. I promised as soon as the horses were put to, and our journey of the day resumed, to call at his house, about half a mile further on our route, and he left us to return home. A few minutes afterwards, and while eating some of the tempting- looking cherries which I had despatched my tiger to purchase, the waggon returned, and the Grand Inquisitor again jumped out. He did not however, venture to renew his questions to me, but playing with a roll of papers which he held in his hand, and which in some degree gave him the appearance of being the savant of the village, or rather settlement, approached his own house, about twenty yards distant from us, and in a tone of much condescension said as he passed, and addressing a lad who stood near, and who had gathered the cherries for us, *' I cannot learn who these people are, or where they come from, or where they are going to, or indeed anything about them, but if they choose to send in for any clover for their horses, they may have some ; or if they like any milk for them- selves, there is plenty, and they can have it ; not indeed that I intend, to make any charge for the accommodation which I ofler them." Now, all this latter part of his discourse was exceedingly fair, as far as expression went, but we had been put sufficiently on our guard by Mr. Ambridge, and had too much penetration ourselves not to perceive that the o'yect was to obtain through an aflfected kindness, tha^ gratification of his curiosity in regard to our names and business in the neighbourhood, which had been refused to his abrupt demand. I therefore took no notice of his remark, but de- siring my boy, who had now finished his dinner, to put the ponies to the Waggon, performed my portion of the day's duty by packing lip the remnants of the " feast *' \n their several compartments in the box, and lifting it, cider-keg, cushions, cloaks, &c., into the ve- hicle. Hector, who lay at some little distance, eating the frag- ments of the dinner which were appropriated to himself, did not seem half to like the appearance of the (irand Inquisitor, and the occasional growl which escaped him, as that personage still linger- ed near watching our movements, led me to fear he would eventu- ally get me into a serious scrape. Fortunately, however, hostilities were not declared in form, and shortly afterwards there-invigorated ponies dashed off under their accustomed weight, leaving the " tor- mented " to mutter audibly as we drove off, " Although they won't tell who they are, they are glad enough to take shelter under my trees." And no doubt we were^ for nine days at least, the subject of his abusive gossip to all upon whom he was in the habit of in- flicting it. The journey downward was so completely a transcript of tlio journey upward, with the exception of our humble dinners whicji, eaten as tney so frequently were, under the incentive of a keen appetite sharpened by fatiirne, and in some shady spot where every variety of verdant folinge played around ns, that it can fsoarcely be necef-sary to dwell upon it. One discovery we, how- ever made in domestic er»onomy, whicli it may not be nnimport- ant to reveal, for the itirormalinn of lliosD who are interested in At London we passed several diiys with the amia- tlic science. 154 Kfr;j?T YUAHS IN CANADA. btd aud hospitable family oi Cr' ■ u;! Askin, a short distance out of the town, and near neii^hi m.h of Colonel Hamilton with whom, It will bo recollected, I had sojourned on my way up in the earlier p irt of the year. On thn mominar of our departure from the residen dog, and of a ditleront figure. A hasty glance, in the deceptive moonlight, linvl led to his former error; and now all scruple being removed, he • ithershot him liimself,or desired one of his people to do so. The dog belonged to an individual residing in what is called the Irish settlement, some distance in the rear of the Park Farm, and used to travel thus far to enjoy the delicacy of a rabbit. I was not sorry to find that the gallant Colonel had had an opportunity of fully undeceiving him.=!eff, for Hector had too often accompanied me, when partakin", after a hard day's sporting, of the excellent " home brewed " that was liberally tendered, not to suffer all the deserved odium of deep i ngralitudo,jn thus repaying the hospitality extended to his master in the parlor, and to liimself in the kitchen. Such was Hector, and his companion, the colt, was no less a cha- racter in her way. On our arrival a,i Toronto, the little creature, which had commenced her journey at a month old,and had now tra- versed three hundred miles of road, not only drank water, but ato her oatSjWith the same eagerness with her older and more practised companions. It was curious enough, whenever the ostler ap- peared with a measure in his hand, to hear her whinnying and scraping the floor of the stable whh the utmost impatience until her portion had been given. This addiction to water and oats,even ■while sucking the mother, was considered so singular that they even who were the most conversant with the habits of horses, ex- pressed no little astonishment on witnessing the fact. It being the period of the races,and the stable where I had put up the ponies being owned by the proprietor of several race horses, there was of course a constant influx into it of men connected with the turf, and my little steeds wore naturally to them, from the scarcity of the breed in Upper Canada, a subject of some interest. Without a single exception, all whom I found remarking on the circumstance, admitted they had never known or heard of an instance of a colt of that lender age even touching oats, much less devouring them in the impatient manner they had witnessed. It was confidently predicted, however, that not only the growth of the animal would be checked thereby, but that she would lose her hoofs. Neither the one, nor the other evil, however, resulted. Indeed, but for the taste she had acquired for hard food, the colt never could have performed the journey. On reaching our final destination, she was just two months old, and had travelled upwards of five hundred miles of ground, the journies being from five-and-twenty to forty miles a day. An amusing occurrence took place at a later period,when,on leav- ing Toronto and approaching Kingston, we came within sight of the village of Napanee, oi. the creek of that name. We had stopped BIUHT TBARS IN CXVAlbA, 157 nbout amilo from this, for tho purnoso of diniiif? «s u«iml under tlio Nliade of (I tiill trtMj, u»ul w(;r(! already (Mn^ii^c'd in our meal, when a porHoii came up diiviii;^ a team of biokeu-kimod horsed that liad eoutituil inoro summers tliau they could ever hopetoseo ajjain. Ho stopped his wafrson near my own own, aiul lh«Mi sid- vanoiuff to tho ponies, which were feodinfj; at some littlo dis- tanco, began to examine them with an air of much interest and curiosity. At length, when he had completed his inspection, ho drew near to mo, and throwinj^ tho hanth, built his frame work of |)ine trees, taken from an overhanging ridge beyond the field, where they could be best spared, filled the interstices between the layers of logs, fastened together by notches at the end, with slips of timber, and then placing tan bark and brush-wood, covered the whole with earth and sod, so as to render it impervious to the outward atmos- phere. The door was then added, and this facing the north, was •ufficiently exposed, when necessary, to the action of a cold tempe- rature, without admitting the warmth produced by the rays of the ami. This ice-housc, the most rude and simple in its construction that can be conceived, answered all the purposes required of it. During the two following summers, it was clos*. ly packed with huge blocks of ice taken from the water below, not twenty yards off, and drawn up by tho ponies on a Hat sledge, and lasted so well that, throughout the season, we were never without the luxury of ice. Upon each layer had been thrown water which, freezing as it fell, and filling up the interstices, formed a compact and solid mass, which the axe alone, and that not without some trouble, could break up. My positio.. soon became nearly as critical as that of the Creator of Frankenstein. I had formed an image which carried terror to my own soul, and I felt an utter hopelessness of freeing myself from the new ties which bound me to the spot. It seemed to me as if all power had been taken from me to overleap the narrow circle I had drawn around my future fortunes, and I experienced all that painful serrement de caur which the tjrtainty of coming evil invariably produces. There were moments when the idea of being buried alive, as it were, in this spot, without a possibility perhaps of ever again seeing the beautiful lieb's and magnificent cities, and mixing in the polished circles of Europe, and of matchless England in par- ticular, came like a blighting cloud \ipon my thoughts, and filled me with a despondency no efibrt of my own could shake otf. It did not once occur to me that I could, by disposing of the property, again shake off the incubus which weighed me down even from the very outset, and once more obtain that liberty of which I was sensi- ble i had been deprived through my own consummate folly alone. 169 IIGHT Y£>^R8 IT* CiNADA. n And the greatest act of folly in that series of absurdity was th« disnosal of my commission in the Service. But 60 confident did I feel that Lord Durham had, in compliance with the prmciple he had energetically avowed to me, and on which he appeared so much to pride himself, named me to his successor, Mr. Poulett Thomp- son, as one who had strong claims on the Government, and liad re- ceived his promise to be provided for, that I had conceived that the retention of my half-pay would in a great degree debar me from the enjoyment of the reward to which I had conhdently looked forward. Under this impression l hac". ..."itten to Lord Fitzroy Somerset, re- ? [nesting to be re-appointed to some regiment, and suffered to sell out rom full pay. His Lordship promptly complied with my wishes, and soon after my arrival at Bvockville, (for I had made the applica- tion while in the West) I saw the Gazette which announced my ap- pointment from the 92nd Highlanders to the 44th Regiment and i-e- tirement from the same ''orps. Here, then, was my all at stake, and doubtless it was this x^onviction that tended so strongly to con- firm me in the iowness of spirits from which I was never thoroughly exempt while a resident en my new acquisition. The necessity for self exertion, however, was obvious, and as I iiad neither the habits, taste, nor aptitude to become any thing that had not some connexion, more or less, with literature, I suffered my- self to be influenced by the strong persuasions of several friends who expressed themselves perfectly confident that if I would undertake the publication of a newsp^.per, 1 rhould secure at least a couple o thousand subscribers, and determined on editing a publication in sup- port of responsible Government, yet rather literary than political. The mode of conducting a newspaper in Canada is very different from that at home. There an editor, as we all know, invariably enjoys a fixed salary for the management of a journal in which he nas no immec'.iate interest as a proprietor, but in Canada, with per- haps not moie than three or four " 'ceptions out of upwards of sixty newspapers, the Editors are the sole proprietors of their papers, and of the mechanical mysteries of the craft necessary to produce them. I therefore resolved, like Benjamin Franklin, and, more recently, the King of Bavaria, to purchase a press and take lessons from my ow^n people, in an art which proved to me to be full of intere&t and amusement, and in which, although I could never perfect myself in it, I subsequently made progress enough to satisfy my own not very ambitious rlesire of excellence. How true it is that what we are compelled to do, we ever per- form with reluctance and distaste ; and never was this fact more obvious than in the very art to which I am now alluding. The best of compositors — those who work with the greatest ease to themselves — have as inveterate a dislike to "setting up," as a man who ha;, been any time in the West ludies, has for pine- apples, and turtle cooked in all its varieties. He goes to his w^ork with the same sort of feeling with which a hired wood- chopper sets about his daily toil, and leaves '*, when the tim« comes for the cessation from his labors, with quite as much de- light and absence of care for the work on which he has been en- gaged. No matter how interesting the subject, he looks merely mechanically at the letters composing the words, seldom at the ■words as a whole, and never at a consecutive sentence. And )et this man is endowed with an education, an intelligence, which the wood cutter has not ' SIOUT YEARS IN GAUADA. I'Sl CHAPTER XII. It being necessary to obtain, from New York, what was indis- pensable for (Inly installing me in my meditated character of ** Editor aad proprietor of a newspaper," and as every man in Canada who ^as important business to transact, must depend, not out im- bcing settnig upon others, but upon himself, I determined on mediately, although the advanced state of the season, it late in November, promised any other than an agreeable journey Crossing to Morristown in the Fanny Elsler, I took the stage for Utica, mtending thence to go by railroad to Albany, and to take my chance of the manner of accomplishing the remainder of my route to New York, as the state of the river might permit. A heavy fall of snow, the first of the season, having covered the ground during the night of my transit to Morristown, we were fortunately enabled to proceed in a sleigh ; and this mode of conveyance I found much more agreeable when, on gaining a chain of mountains, forming a spur of the Alleghanies, we re- peatedly dashed into short and steep hollows, where the wheels of a coach or wapgon would have acquired a dangerous velocity, which even the abrupt elevation of the opposite face might have proved almost insufiicient to check. A smooth ice-road might, It is true, have been attended by the same disadvantages, but art upset from this would not have entailed the same danger of bro- ken bones, or impalement on the sharp rocks around, besides the snow was sutlici'^ntly deep to act as a check upon the runners, which, even as it was, went rapidly enough to keep the spirited horses on their mettle. Apart from the bumping and jolting consequent on our passing over these abrupt and interminable undulations, there was a wild and romantic character about the scenery that forcibly im- pressed the imagination. The various and a few hours passed in the discussion of various topics with which the majority of people whom one encounters in a publio stage-coach are but little familiar, soon satisfied me that I had met with those whose acquirements, not less than their savoir faire, would have done honor to the best European society. We soon fell into that sort of intimacy which a communionshipof tha pleasures, not more than of the annoyances, of travelling, so oftea induces between people of kindred minds, and by the time wa had reached Albany, which we did in the same car, our senti- ments of preference for each other's society seemed to have been confirmed. After crossing the river on foot and on the ice, to a small villa^ on the east side of the Hudson, opposite Albany, we had conti- nued to rise gradually above the river until, eventually, we found ourselves many hundred feet above its level, and then having traversed twenty-seven miles, passing through the village of Kinderhook, descended, by a similar inclination, to the pictu- resque city of Hudson, where it was expected we should find the river sufficiently open to admit of steam navigation. In this, however, we were disappointed, and after having recruited our- EIGHT YEARS IN CANADA. io.1 selves vrith a substantial dinner, once more resumed our journey, intending to stop at Rhinebeck, where, we were infonned, a Bteamer was momentarily expected. On leaving the city of Hudson we ascended nearly two hun- dred feet, and pursued our way along the high road to Rhine- beck, seventy-one miles distant from Albany, and in a rich and E reductive flat borderin? on the river. Here we were assured a oat would arrive in the course of the night, at the landing about two miles below the town, and accordingly prepared ourselves to pass the intervening hours in the not very comfortable hotel in which we had supped. Hour after hour passed in this manner ; fatigue weighed down our eyelids, and yet no one ventured to retire to beet, for every one seemed to know that the act of em- barkation and starting would so immediately follow the announce- ment of the arrival of the boat, that to go to bed would, in all pro- bability, be to lose the passage for the next eight and forty hours at least- We were nearly all in one room — the only room in the house that could be spared to the passengers — and after sitting up as long as exhausted nature would permit, each dropped on the carpeted floor with a cloak, or portmanteau, or carpet bag for a pillow, as suited the means at command of each. Mrs. New- bold, who had as much of the power to reconcile herself uncom- plaincugly and good-humouredly, to circumstances, as she had of the manner and appearance of a sensible Englishwoman, threw herself upon a cloak near her husband, and sustained her- self to the last, endeavoring to liiake herself amused, and kept awake by the facetiousness of an acute Yankee, who had enter- ed into a discursive conversation with a young lawyer of New York, one of cur immediate coach companions, and who kept the whole party alive with the roars of laughter his dry remarks and drolleries elicited. Insensibl3', however, the influence of the drowsy god made itself felt, and gradually, one after another, th» voices were hushed, and powerful indications attested that more than one of us slept as profoundly as if there was no anticipated interruption to his slumber. About an hour before the dav/n of day the door was opened, and the ahnouncement of the arrival of the steamboat, and the readiness of the coaches to take us to the landing, soon drew all to their feet — the snorers included — and, before the day had well broken, we found ourselves on th« deck of a small steamer very unlike in appearance and accommo- dation what is usually found on the noble Hudson ; but selected at this particular season of the year, as being less likely to sustain injury from the floating ice through which she was compelled to force her way to the Rhinebeck landing. We passed successively on our route down, Poughkeepsie, West Point, and Sing-Sing, near which village the celebrated penitentiary of that name is situated, forming an imposing fea- ture, though not by any means elevated in the view from the water. The former place, which has in it about one thousand dwellings, and from five to six thousand inhabitants, is celebrated in American history, from the fact of the convention of 1788 hav- ing met in it for the adoption of their constitution. Although having so small a number of inhabitants, Poughkeepsie appears to be divided into every stage of sectarianism, for of thirteen churchesj there are not less than ten distinctions in the mode of f 104 EIGHT TEARS IN CANADA. ^ worship practised in them, as for example, one Presbytoriani one Confjiestiitional, two Episcopalian, one Baptist, two Friends, two Methodist, one Dutch Rcformtnl, one Universaliat, ono Roman Catholic, and ono African. The soil around is a mixture of sand, clay, and loam, forming a super-stratum over a bed of limestone. Sing-Sing, besides its penitentiary, the main building of which is eighty-four feet long and forty-four feet wide, containing five stories, in which are a thousand cells, has a fine marble academy for boys, and a seminary for girls. Both of those buildings are pleasantly situated. Above tlie village is the great Croton Aque- duct Bridge, an especial object of attraction totlie eye of the pas- senger from the water. The penitentiary, which is conducted on the silent system adopted in Auburn, is however admitted to be less perfect. So many writers have described the Academy at West Point, that it is almost a work of supererogation to introduce any re- marks of an extended nature upon it here. Be it sufficient, therefore, merely to observe that the buildings composing the barracks are two in number and of stone, the one three stories in height, the other a story higher ; the whole of the grounds ap- pertaining thereto being not less than two hundred and fifty acres in extent. There is, independently of the barracks, above named, a large stone buildling for military exercises in winter, and for the reception of the diiferent models, &c., and another built in the Gothic style, with three towers, for the reception of astronomical apparatus, the middle tower being a revolving one. There is, moreover, a chapel, an hospital, a mess-room, two cavalry stables, a magazine, a laboratory, soldiers' barracks, a store, and numerous dwelling-houses, some of them for the offi- cers of the institution, others for more private families connected therewith. The whole of the ground attached to the academy, and exclusive of the sites of the different extensive buildings, was ceded to the General Government by the State of New York. For those who love to roam in this neighborhood, or to pass their time in examining at their leisure the several component parts of this excellent estab- lishment, in which the number of cadets is limited to one for every acre of ground, may obtain good accommodation in a spacious hotel overlooking the landing. We reached New York about two o'clock in the afternoon, and at the recommendation of my new formed American acquaintances, desired the driver of the hack in which my luggage had been placed, to proceed to the Globe Hotel in the Broadway, and not far from the Battery, one of the most fashionable promenades in New York. The Globe is kept wholly in the French style, the lodgers dining at small tables, and d la carte, but this system of dining is, in New York, far more expensive than it is in Paris, while the price for rooms is most exorbitant. I had only a bed room (not a very large one either) on the second or third floor, and yet for this 1 paid as much as one would for a suite of rooms in London. Namely ten dollars a week, and this exclusive of fires which were charged at a food rate, as extras. There are, however, comfortable baths, both ot and cold, belonging to the establishment, and the former I found on landins: from the steamer very great luxury, only £10HT YEARS IN CANiDi. 165 in a h id go from my room, in my dressing gown and slippers, in order to reach it. A very pretty girl superintended these baths, thus com- pleting the resemblance of the style of them to similar establish- ments in the fascinating French capital. During my sta)' here, which was about a fortnight, and indeed only a few days after my arrival tiie young American lawyer, to whom I have alluded as being one of my compagnzns de voyage, on the route from Albany, left his card with a note inviting me to dine with him on the follojv'ing day. This was apiece of politeness I was not prepared to expect, but the mere invition to dinner was not the only mark of attention I received. We were to dine at seven o'clock at some Italian restaurateur's whose name I do not now re- collect, but my provident host came to me by appointment, as early as three, in a handsome carriage in which he proposed we should visit, before dinner, the most fashionable and remarkable streets at the west end of the town. Every thing worth seeing was pointed out to me, during our drive through streets and squares that would do no discredit to the West ..nd of London. But the object which particularly attracted my attention was the vast reservoir then in a train of completion for the reception of the waters of the Croton — a river whose course has been, by the aid of numerous aqueducts, turned into New York, supplying the whole of the city with this ne- cessary of life. The Croton waters are among the wonders of the world. The un- dertaking is one of great magnitude anc^ utility, and reflects the ut- most credit on the public and enterprising spirit of those who first Planned the introduction of this mighty mass of water into the city, 'he tunnel is of solid mason work, seven and a half feet wide, nine feet high, and not less than forty miles in length. The dam across the river is placed at its point of entrance, and after having mean- dered through a more level country, between two hills. One of these hills — that on the south side — isofsolidrock, the other offering ex- cellent earth for the construction of the dau. This last is not of any great length, but is ingeniously made of the most substantial masonry. Its greatest elevation exceeds fifty feet above the natural bed of the Croton, while the water thus thrown back, forms a lake of nearly four hundred acres in extent, three feet in depth, and containin;^ on an average 100,000,000 gallons for each foot in depth from the sur- face. The water is conveyed into the aqueduct by means of a tunnel cut into the rock, forming the south side of the hill. At the distance of every mile, *;here is erected over the aqueduct, for the purpose of ventilation, a hollow tower of white marble the effect of which, when seen from the river, is highly picturesque. There are, more- over, at intervals of three miles, means constructed for turning off" the water whenever any necessary repairs may render such a courre desirable, but the most magnificent part of this stupendous structure is, as I have elsewhere observed, the great arch at Sing Sing which, traversing a deep ravine, has a span of not less than eighty-eight feet. The land purchased for the erection of these works em- braces nine hundred acres, at an average cost of five hundred pounds an acre. The water is conducted over the Haerlem river which separates the island of New York from the mainland, by means of a bridge 1,420 feet in length, and having sixteen stone piers, six of which have their foundations laid in the bed of the river. The main reservoir is situated near Bloomingdale, a beautiful spot a few 166 EIUUT irjiARS IN CANADA. miles north of Ihe city. This covers thirty-five acres of ground, and is divided into two sections — the north having twenty foet of water when full, and the south twenty-five feet— both containing more than lfiO,0()0,0Ol) gallons. From this vast reservoir the water is conveyed through what is called the fifth avenue to the distribut- ing basin at Murray Hill, covering about five acres of ground and containing 20,(!00,000 gallons. From this point, the various dwel- lings are sujtplied, by means of iron pipes. The descent from the dam of the Cioton is very gradual, and averages not fifteen inches to the mile. The whole cost of this gigantic and most useful under- taking, was originally estimated at 10,0(X),000 of dollars, but even this large sum was insufficient for the magnitude of the works, and $4^000,000 more were expended. At the time I was in New York the works had not yet been com- pleted, but in the course of the following year the basin at Murray Hill, at which numerous hands were employed, was finished, and the aqueduct opened with great ceremony, and in the presence of a vast assemblage of persons. It required some time to convince the inhabitants, generally, of the great benefit which had been conferred upon the city by this magnificient and stupendous design, but its usefulness is now every where acknowledged, and there are few houses in New York that are not supplied with the clear pur? water which the people may well feel proud to see forced from its native bed into their cisterns, and from a distance so great. A day or two after dining with the young lawyer, my earlier acquaintance, Mr. Newbokl, came by appointment, and taking myself and portmanteau into his carriage, drove me to hia hand- some and picturesque residence at Westchester, a. few miles out of the city. Here I remained three days. The weather was bleak and damp, and I had not the advantage of seeing the ex- tensive grounds in that state of perfection which, from the beau- tiful view they commanded of the Hudson and East rivers, it was clear was their attribute in the season of foliage. The whole of the rich loamy valley in which the house was built was her- metically closed, and a garden tastefully laid out extended from the house to the pebbly shore ; but although there was scarcely any evidence of vegetable life along the serpentine walks, the eye and scent were gratefully regaled on entering the spacious hot-house, where almost every description of plant and flower had been gathered in a profusion rarely to be met with in a private gentleman's conservatory, and were then being subjected to the inspection and pruning hand of their elegant-minded mistress, who having no other family to attend to, invariably devoted an hour or two of each morning to the nursing of her sweet-smelling favonles. If I found Mr. and Mrs. Newbold amiable in their character of travelling companions, and courteous to one whom they knew only as a stranger in the country, and who ttiey were conse- quently desirous of setting at his ease ; much more strongly was this amiable feeling developed now that, a guest under their roof, they felt called upon to render to me every rite of hospita- lity. Nothing could exceed their delicate care and attention. My bedroom had been fitted up in the most elegant, nay, luxu- rious style. The bed was soft and deliciously inviting to repose, and before retiring to this, I always found a foot-bath, with nap- I * » 7 '■ ?IG1IT YE.» .1 CANADA. 167 i !» kins white as the piiro sheets which nightly received my willing limbs. Then there wan nlways a cheerlul fire bla/in^ in the shielded grate, without which it was impossible at this chilly season of the year, to have appreciated half the comforts by which I was surrounded ; ana on this fire bubbled the pure liquid contained in a neat and polished brass kettle, the very app'jarance of which induced a desire to " brew sornithing hot " before getting into bed. And this it evidently was intended I hIiouKI do, if so inclined, for, on a small round table near the lux- urious ann-chair which fronted the fire, and on a silver tray, stood decanters containing both wine and spirit, with sugar, lemon, and all the necessary appliances. With all these temptations to sit late, it might bo inferred that my hour of rising was not particularly early, but such was not the fact. The Americans generally are fond of early breakfasts, and at eight o'clock every morning — the servant having always entered my room soon after daylight, stealthily and with as little noise as possible, for the purpose of renewing my fire, which was never wholly extinguished — I found myself seated at tha breakfast table, and sipping the delicious coffee made by the hands of the fair mistress of the mansion herself. And wnat a profusion of good things crowded the breakfast table ! Ham, eggs, rump-steaks, mutton-chops, roasted clams (these latter be- ing a description of oyster, though much inferior in flavor), hot rolls, toast, corn bread, buckwheat cakes, the richest and most highly flavored dried venison, and preserves of the rarest kind — all these, with delicious tea added to the coffee, formed such a tempting assemblage, displayed as they were on the snow-white breakfast cloth, that it really was a matter of some difficulty to choose from '^lem. Nor were tue dinners less recherches, even while they were served up with all absence of ostentation. Every delicacy of the season, and the choicest wines, were absolutely given here in a profusion scarcely to be exceeded by the entertainments of the sergeants of a British marching regiment of the present day. Fishes of the most delicate kind, made dishes after every manner of Parisian cookery, the canvass-back duck, and game of all des- criptions, were in daily profusion, while the port and madeira which I sipped liku Jew from Heaven, each day after dinner, had been forty years in bottle, and was reserved for those whom my excellent host delighted most to honor. The port was a little tawny and somewhat thinned with age, but the flavor was not- withstanding delicious, while the Madeira was such as Gany- mede might have handed to Jupiter when returned from the battle of the Gods. Tea was the only meal which succeeded dinner, but this again was marked by that profusion which is so usually to be found on an American table at every repast, and which on that of an American gentleman embraces every delicacy. It was the ab- sence of supper, which they presume an Euglishman cannot dis- pense with, that in all probability led to the forethou. lit of sup- plying me with the means of brewing a " niglit-cap," while lux- uriating in my easy chair before the fire in my bedroom. One wet day I pn^^sed entirely in tlie house, yet not without anui.seinent. Mr. Newbold's annoury was a coiiii)le1e museum 103 EIGIIT YEARS IN CiNADil. of curiosities. Here were ^uns, double and single barrelledi rifles long and short, duck gfuns, pistols, flasks, moulds of all des- criptions, rods, lines, flics, jjimp, hooka, landing and minnow nets, and in fact all the mumtiiB of the piscatory art. Then there were carpenter's tools, and blacksmith's tools, sticks, hats, umbrellas, whips of every variety of fashion, and in short the room was so comnlotely filled with every imaginable and un- imaginabl(3 thing that it would have taken a whole day to have enumerated them all. In this room I passed o,n hoiir examining the guns and fishing tackle of my host, which were all orthodox of their kind; but Mrs. Newbold having promised me a greater treat in the library, I was curious to know what she had in re- serve for mo, and promised to join her as desired. And it certainly was a treat of no common kind that awaited me — uo other than tlie splendid volumes of Audubon's birds, which, for the first time, I glanced into beneath a roof, the ele- gance of the distribution of which was in perfect keeping with the intellectual habits of the amiable owners. The refined taste of Mr. Newbold, in securing to himself so interesting and valua- ble a work, may be inferred from the fact, that a e'ugle copy cost the large, but not overrated, sum of two hundred and fifty pounds Halifax currency. I had the pleasure of meeting and being in- troduced to the venertable ornithologist in the course of the fol- lowing year, during the session of Parliament in Kingston, when he appeared for the purpose of j^pplying to have a copy of his work taken by each House of the Legislature, and I am aware that two hundred and fifty pounds a copy were voted by each branch. Thus, Mr. Newbold, as a private individual, paid for a work embodying vast talent, and close and patient research into the habits of the animal kingdom, the same amount that had been voted by an united people, and which, no doubt, was by many conceived to be a heavy tax for unnecessary information. The volumes being too ponderous to inspect in the ordinary manner, a strong but light and neat mahogany frame had been made expressly for the purpose, and supported the huge tomes, as, seated before the open fire-place, above which appeared to frown upon me a portrait of the dark-featured and intellectual Webster — a near relation of Mrs. Newbold — I opened in succession the in- teresting and splendidly executed representations of the feathered world of America. What a life of unadulterated simplicity must be that of the venerable Audubon, whose hair has been whitened in revealing to the world the wondrous art of the Creator, as mani- fested in this most gorgeous portion of his works, and the benevo- lent expression of whose countenance denotes an almost utter ex- emption from the vainer pursuits of that worldly life, with which a contemplative mind like his own can have no sympathy. Never did I experience more profound sentiments of love for the works of the Creator, than while gazing on the faithful representations of the surpassing beauty with which He has clothed so many of the birds Audubon has sketched, and of which it may be observed, as of the lilies of the field, that " Solomon in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of these." My three day's visit to Westchester having terminated, and being anxious to complete the business which had brought me to New York, I was even compelled to tear myself from the luxurious ease KIUHT TEARS IS CANADA. 100 with wliicli I was surrounded, and prepare for my return to the city, prior to setting out again for Canada. My kind host finding me firm in my intention of departing, ordered his carriage again to the door on the morning of the fourth day, and drove me up to town himself. Never did a comparative stranger meet with more marked — not merely attention — but kindness than was displayed towards me, during the whole of the period I had the pleasure of enjoying tiie society of this amiable couple, both of whom added to an intellect of a hign order, manners that would have retlected no discredit on the most aristocratic Europeans. Yet with all their fratik and open hospitality, there was no siraining after effect — no ostentatious ex- hibition, tending painfully to impress a guest of any discernment with the conviction that the rites of hospitality were tendered, not so much from regard for the recipient, as through a love of display of the donor. Subsequently I experienced much renewed attention from my young friend, Mr. Howe. He took me to see all the lions of New York, and as I had expressed a curiosity to taste the oysters which are to be found there in great variety and abundance, afforded me ample opportunity to dive into the cellars of the most noted professors of the art of cooking them. Here they were certainly to be found in per- fection ; and stewed, broiled, plain, and roasted were successively placed each night, upon a small table covered with a cloth of purest whiteness, and provided with rolls of delicious bread. On these oc- casions my companion made it a particular point to enjoin upon the several cooks to out-vie themselves, as a stranger was present whom it was necessary to impress favorably with the mode in which the mysterious delicacies of^ the oyster tribe were revealed by them to the public. The darkies — for they were generally such, and seem- ingly fattened with their own fat oysters — grinned assent, showing their white teeth in the act, and promising their utmost efforts to please the '' gentleman," soon re-appeared with dish after dish of their several preparations. The most luscious of them was a large fat oyster nearly equal in circumference to a common breakfast plate which fried and browned in bread crumbs, something like an Eng- lish sole, constituted a dish worthy of the most Epicurean palate. A glass of warm brandy and water, as indispensable to the digestion of this oyster feast, invariabl}' followed, and this accompanied by the fumes of one the best cigars the city could afford, generally soon in- duced a desire for repose, which rendered these suppers as indispen- sable for the comfort as they were grateful to the appetite. Of course they were eaten late at night, often towards the morning, and always after we had returned from some previous evening en- gagement. A few days after my return from Westchester, and on going to my room to dress for dinner, my glance fell on a neatly embossed note, evidently addressed by a lady. This, on opening it, I found to contain an invitation to a ball to be given that evening at a private residence on the western extremity of the Broadway. Being a stranger to the parties, I could not divine how they had found me out, and thus honored me, unless it was that my indefatigable friend, Mr. Howe, — indefatigable in his most kind endeavors to render my brief sojourn in New York one of amusement and grati- fication, — had been the means of procuring me the unexpected in- vitation. I made it a point to see him, when, on my questioning no EIUHT YKARS IN CANAD/t. i Itlm, he admiUod that cnnccivinf( f might like to have an oppor- tunity of seeing ;i I'ashionable i)aily on a large scale in New York, ho had mentioned the fact of my being in town to the gentlemHU giving the entertainment, who was to have called and left his card with an invitation. He added he regretted extremely he could not go himself, as he had an engagement elsewhere, but that a friend of his would either call for and take mo with him, or failing in that, would meet me at the door of the house to which we were jjoing, and introduce mo to the host. He however thouirht the former. Ten o'clock came, but no one appeared, and I hnally give up all idea of seeing my friend's friend. I confess I did not quite recon- cile to myself the idea of entering a house, to the proprietor of which I was an utter stranger, however as I had taken wine enough after dinner to give mo the requisite " Dutch r ourage," I resolved at all hazards to venture, and trust to the promised rencontre, lor an intro- duction to my host. I therefore ordered coffee and a cab, and while I sipped the one in the smaller and more private room of the res- taurant of tho Globe, the other was brought to the door. I threw on my cloak and cap, gave the driver the number which he seemed perfectly to know, and soon arrived at the residence which was strikingly indicated by the profusion of light thrown upon the broad street from almost every window. I looked, while uncloaking, for my medium of introduction, who, I presumed, would know and address mo, oven ?>' hough I could not recognize him, but no one seemed to notice i, ,'itli sulilcient interest to induce the inforoncr that he was the man I sought. I waited a few moments in the dressing room, and then sent a card up by a servant to tho f,entleman of the house himself. The latter quickly made his appearance, received me with a great deal of cordiality, expressed himself delighted with the honor I had done him in accepting his invitation at so unavoidably short a notice, and requested me to precede him to the ball-room, at the en- trance of which stood his wife and daughter, who were evidently awaithig my approach, and to whom he now presented me. There was a very large and brilliantly dressed party assembled, consisting of nearly three hundred persons, among whom were several exceedingly beautiful women. Most of these, with the loveliest faces that can be imagined, and of pure soft delicate complexions, were yet sadly wanting in that fulness of contour of person — that seductive embonpoint which gives to woman a charm far surpassing that of mere beauty of feature, and awakens emotion, where the other only commands the admiration, and yet there were two or three exceptions to this too general deficiency in the American style of beauty. These were in the full meridian of womanhood, while their rounded proportions fascinated the atten- tion, and insensibly awakened feelings of adoration lor that Master hand from which has issued the most splendid work the human imagination can conceive. Everything in the suite of apartments, comprising the theatre of the dance, was in the perfection of good taste. The walls were hung with a drapery of white and gold, which harmonized admira- bly with the prevailing color of the dresses of the women, and gave to the whole — illuminated as they were with handsome and nu- merous cliandcliers to correspond — an air of lightness and elegance not to be surpassed. The crowd however, as may naturally bo UliJUl' VUAKS IN CAN/\UA. ITl niipnoscd from the number I hnvo mimed, m having hcoii asscm- l)|«'il toj^etlior in thn drawing-rooms of a not very remarkaldy spaci- u\iH house, was much too dense for comfort; and the flushed cheoka and disordered ringlets of many of the fair dancers, as well as the continued application of cainttric to the overheated Itiows of their partners, sulhciently attested that thuir pleasure was not purchased without some toil. My host, Mr. Joneti) introduced me to a number of persons, ladies and gentlemen, and at one time pointed out, either Washington Irvine or niy far greater favorite, Coo|)er — I do not recollect which — who was at the 0[iposite extremity of the room conversing with an clilfrly hidy. On my stating that it was the first time 1 had had the ])feasuro of meeting the celebrated author whom he named, ho o/fered to introduce me the moment the crowd would admit of our passmg to the point to which he seemed riveted the whole evening, liut lu'fore my host again thought of his i>romise, or could lind leisure to fulfil it, the "nnknown," or rather the " unrecollected," had taken his departure, and I was thus deprived of what would have proved to inc a great gratification — the more particularly, if it was indeed the gifted delineator of Indian character as, from the desire I had to know and converse with him, I am almost persuaded it must have been. I was well enough entertained to be among the last of the de- parting guests ; but as I prepared to make my bow to the lady of the house, she begged me, in a tune that was nloasinj; and gratify- ing in its friendlin(!H, not to leave them yet as tin! family, and a few intimate friends, intended sittin:<(lown to some oyster soup alter the others had departed, and hoped that I would do them the favor to join them. At supper we were accordingly seated in the course of half an hour,"and as promised, some most delicious oyster soup was served lip. There was only one other gentleman, who seemed to be on in- timate terms with the family, and therefore this invitation I could not but regard as a personal compliment. There was an end of all that gene and ceremony, that unavoidably attend a formal reunion like that we had just witnessed, and the conversation flowed as freely and unreservedly upon the ball, the management, the appear- ance of one, the manners of another, and the graceful dancing of a third, and other light topics, as if no stranger had been present to criticize the remarks that fell from their lips. There was some- thing winning, loveable, in this confidence, and I felt myself (as it is ever my delight to be placed in a position to feel) so perfectly at home with those whose courtesy and kindness I was enjoying, that I was extremely sorry when a tell-tale clock striking three, reminded me that I owed something to Inenseance, and must, if I did not wish to lose caste, as a well bred man, make a movement to retire. The eldest daughter, a charm'ng and unaffected girl, declared it was not late — as having passed the usual hour of going to rest, she was not in the least sleepy. The younger members of the family joined her in declaring that "it was not too late," and that " I must not go yet," hut even, if their renewed invitation could have tempted me to be be unreasonable enough to remain longer, I could Kerceive, in the half-drooping eyelid of the amiable host and ostess, that although their lips gave expression to a confirmation of the request preferred by the younger branches of the family, they m BiaUT YCARI IN CANADA. :l ' would not be particularly sorry if I should refuse their inritation. and leave them to the repose ihny seemed so much to require. I •hook hands with them nil, and they returned my pressure as thoui^li wo had known each other for years, expressing; a hope that I did not yet intend to loave New York. The carriage of the gen- tleman to whom I alluded, which had boon waiting during this time at tho door, conveyed us to his residence, where he alighted, desiring his coachman to drive me to the Globe. This I reached not long before daylight, smoking an excellent cijjar, tendered me by Mr. , on jjarting from him, and ruminatmg on the vast difference of the reception [ had invariably met with by the reading Americans, and the non-reading Canadians.* Indeed, if I have been particular and detailed in my account of the personal attention shown to me by all parties, during my second brief visit to New York, it has not been only with a view to rtiray, as well as I can, with a public acknowledgment the debt of hospi- tality I had contracted, but to provejthc utter want of nationality and refinement in those whum the accident of locality of birth have made my countrymen. It cannot be supposed that the very marked attention which f received firom all those parties of whom I have written, was the result of any mere personal or abstract merit of my own. Neither was it reasonable to expect that to an absolute stranger, they would have extended an hospitality so marked as that of which I had been the subject. But the truth is — how discovered I know not, for I am the last man in the world to herald the announcement myself — Mr. Newbold was made acquainted with my being the author of publications which have commanded the attention and, in many uio'^r.ces, met with the unqualified approbation of the American people ; and by him the same information was no doubt conveyed to Mr. Howe, who succeeded in making my stay in New York as gratifying to me as the effort was honorable to himself. In this they complimented not so much the man as the author, who had been the means of presenting them with a picture illustrative of an important epoch in American history, and of amusing and in- teresting their minds, albeit only for a brief hour, and therefore sought to render to him that return, for the bestowal of mental re- creation, which they felt, perhaps more than was necessary, was his due. They offered that meed of homage to literature whicn the cultivated mind is ever prompt to tender, and investing one of its * No better nvidence cnn be given of the literary taste* and purnuitiofthe Americani, than is affordeo by the following statistics of the State of New Yoric, for 1845' " The New York Stnto Register contains a masa of information, valuable to all classes of the ciiizens, from which we lenrn that the number of colleges in the State ii 12; students, 985; academies and griimmar schools, 501 ; scholars, 34, .503; primary and common schools, 10,871; scholars, 501, lfi6 ; scholars at public charge, 20,206. Theis are 48.746 white persons over twenty years of ago who cannot rend and write. There are three hundred and ninety one pericMlicals published in the State. Of these, there are thirteen daily, six semi weekly, two tri- weekly and ei^hty^ihree weekly Whig newspapers. There are eight daily, three semi weekly, and ninety-five weekly Ier of publications issued at any one time, owing to the mortality among newspapers. iroilT YEitRS IN CANAUA. 173 '•e of in- tbre re- was the its humblest disciples wi h all the attributes which are properly those of its grund masters, thus proved their readiness to SHcrificc unre- straii cdly at its altar. Wore I to live a hundred years in Canada I whould never, and after \\ liat has nassed, would never receive one tithe of the delicate attention whicli the peu|)lc of New York paid to me even during my shnrt visit of three weeks — and that purely on business — to tht-ir beautiful and flourishing rity. Christmas was fast opnroaching, and I was desirous of returning to Canada before the enciof the year. My great ditaculty — hanr.ely, that of |)roourint^ a person to superintend my pres — having been removed, there was now no obstacle to my movements, and I only waited for a fall of snow to enable mo to cross the Highlands, between New York and Albany, with that comfort, of which travel- ling over a winter road on wheels could alFord no promise. During my stay in N«'w York I attended two of the churches. The one a French Protestant, the jireachcr at which was a great favorite. He was a young man of good address and delivery, and, if rumor spoke truly, much in esteem with the ladies of his congre- gation, to whom generally (that is to say the congregation) he in- culcated the principle of doing as he desired them, without any re- ference to exemplary conduct in himself. This chapel was ex- ceedingly neat, and fitted up in good taste. I observed that many more women than men attended the service, and, indeed, to con- fess the truth, this may have been one icason for my repeated visits to it. It is, seUm moi, always pleasant to look on a beautiful wo- man, whether in the House of God or in a more worldly Theatre, nor can we render to the Deitv a more perfect homage than what is involuntarily exacted by what we have already declared to be the most perfect work th^'t lias issued from His hands. On Christmas Day — and one or two preceding my departure, I was resolved to gratify rny curiosity as much as my devotion by visitinjr the church of St. Pauls, immediately opposite the Globo Hotel in the Broadway. I had remarked that numerous dashing equipages, containhig the most fashionable women in New York, drove each Sunday up to the door at the usual hour of morning service, and had, on enquiry, been informed it was considered the Episcopalian Chyrch par excellence^ in the city. I have an innate horror of going into a place of worship, and looking round like a beggar for some good Samaritan to pity my condition, and relievo ine by offering me a seat in his pew. — I therefore took my stand near the large procelain, or Ruesiai., stove near the entrance, and under the pretence of warming my feet, looked at each new ar- rival in the expectation that some one would enter to whom I was not unknown, and vrho would dc the amiable by inviting me to a seat. I had not waited many minutes before my friends, of the Broadway and the oyster supper, drove up and alighted from their carriage. It was the first time I had seen thom since the night of their entertainment, for although I had called a day or two afterwards they were from home, thus compelling me to leave my card, when I should have preferred a personal meeting with those who had so politely treated me. The young lady, whom I have before stated to be a very fine girl, and wholly without affectation in her manner, expressed her delight at seeing me again, and insisted on my going into the family pew — an in- vitation which, of course, I was not there to decline. The church V ti' :!>: M. ^« ri) in >-M. I i. i 171 EIGHT TEAKS II* CANAI^i. was not only neatly fitted up,but in a style of elegance not usually, «een in fjoudou — not even in the Quebec chapel, or St. Philips', 'f'he service differs from that of the English Protestant Church, and of course wholly so in the national prayers. The clergyman, I forget his name, who read the sermon, gave one appropriate to the occasion, and in a tone of voice which led me to infer that ho was an Englishman, and not a native of the country. In fact the whole stylo of thing was strictly orthodox. And here by the way 1 must, while on the subject of churches, take occasion to remark on what I have not had an opywrtunity of noticing in its proper place — namely, the head of the Episcopalian Church in Detroit. Few preachers unite a more commanding and dignified person, with a more imposing delivery than the Bishop M'Coskry, whose powers of oratory are acknowledgedly very great, and whose ira- j)assioned appeals to his congregation are ever clothed with an eloquence and truthfulness which impart irresistible force to his arguments, and render him at once the awe and admiration of his fU)ck. But although this gentleman, who is a man of deep read- ing and conversant with almost every subject, is strict in his sacerdotal character, and stern in the exaction of what he con- siders to be the moral obligations of his charge, he is, in private life, of an amiability and even cheerfulness that would scarcely lead any one thus meeeting him, and ignorant of his pastoral character, to sup^wse that he was the unoom})romising lasher of human vice, and the thundering organ thiough which the liiiathemas of the church are poured forth^ carrying conviction to every heart. The Bishop M'Coskry is about six feet high — of a good and well proportioned figure, with blue eyes, light hair, and rather liorid complexion, while his mannens and carriage are distinguished b)^ an case — even elegance— Uiat is niiich more frequently observable in the man of the world, than in the ser- vant of the church. On the following Sunday, at an early hoar, I had my baggage removed to the stage oliice, but insieail of starting immediately as 1 had expected, there were .so many deliiys from the asserted inability to stir the drivers into action, or to procure the necessary horses — many of these having been lamed on the previous jour- neys to and from Albany — that it was nearly ten o'clock in the day before we could get off. The stage house was a filthy place, filled with people of a low description, whom I found were to be my fellow travellers, and whose vulgar and impertinent curiosity gave me ample earnest that [ was not to hope for the eujoymeut of the same comfort of society with which I had been favored on comi"'i down. As in such cases I generally enshroud myself in a vtM of taciturnity which is not easily penetrated, I took my assigned place in the stage, in a spirit of dogged sullenness and ill humor that promised little " word of speech " from me, at least until we should arrive at Albany. The journey was tedious, and to me a very unsocial one ; how- ever, notwithstanding I did not exercise my tongue mo-e than absolute necessity required, my ear was suliicn'iilly on the alert, so that although not particularly edilied or instructed by the con- versation of my fellow passengers, there wore local subjects can- vassed in a spirit tlint often excited in me a passing curiosity. They were particularly free in their discussion of public men. EIUHT YEARS IN CAXiDA. 175 ami of their Governors especially, and as we approached Mr. Van Kuren's resid(Mice, near Kinderliook, their (juaint strictures on that celebrated functionary were perfectly in accordance with the bias of their political opinions. While some averred him to be the most exemplary, aiul wise, and virtuous statesman that had ever presided over the United States, others denonnced him as an incapable tyrant, whose whole object was his own personal ajjgrandizement, and an utter recklessness of the interests of the Eeople. This topic was so warmly discussed, while in the nei;L,'h- orhood of its subject, that I at every moment dreaded some un- fortunate explosiou, nor was it uniil some new scene, bni.iking upon the view, changed the subject of conversation, and afforded a temporary truce. I reached Albany in time for ihe cars of Tuesday morninnr, and exchaui»ed with pl(?asure the society of those I had been confined with during the route from New York, for that which I found on the railway, not that there was any particular ditference in tho style of passeii'iers, but because I was desirous of chanire, what- ever tlie garb in whicli it should present itself. One circumstaneo occurred, however, during this puit of our route which I with pleasure record, and should these volumes ever fall beneath tho notice of the individual referred to, he will at least have the satis- faction of knowing that his civility was not extended to one in- sensible of the service he sought to render. In changing cars at Schenectady — one of the greatest bores of this mode of travelling, from the very hurried manner in which that change is effected — I had used so much haste, that my purse, which I had in my hand for some purpose or other, slipped from my grasp without my being at all sensible of my loss, or even of the manner in which it had disappeared. I examined my pockets and shook my cloak, which was upon my knees, but no purse was forthcoming. The passengers, some twenty in number, were ranged alou'.r tho sides of the car on seats disposed lengthwise after the fashion of an omnibus— I sat at one of the ends, and therelore the search and its result could not fail to bo noticed by nearly all those within the car. In answer to some questions asked about my Irst*, I stated that I regretted it tho more because my purse contained the only American money I had with me for defraying tb a expenses of my journey. Here, a passenger v(>ry respectably dressed, and, as I afterwards learn- ed, a merchant residing somewhere between Buffalo and Detroit, was kind enough to say that any money I desired he would be most happy to place at my disposal to be returned to him when- ever it might suit my convenience, on my arrival in Canada. This was certainly a piece of courtesy one does not often meet with in travelling as a stranger in a public conveyance, and to be met with among few other people. But the Americans, what- ever their public repudiation, are in ihe more private and social relations of life, a hospitable and gonerou:; people, and allhough the strong speculative bias which is inseparable from their enter- prising character, may when those speculations prove abortive, lead them as a body to disclaim a public or national pecuniary responsibility, I am quite satisfied that many of these men would be far more forward in tendering private aid, from which they Were to derive no benefit, than the punctual supporter of the pub- % '4 ^ V » i •I 'I I 17fl EIQHT TEARS IN CiNADA. ^t lie credit, who would in all probability pay his just debts to the uttermost farthing, yet on whose coid heart and calculating head the more generous sympathies of our nature have no power. Far be it from me to justify those who have pledged the solemn obli- gation of their good faith, in exchange for pecuniary benefits derived through reliance upon that good faith, but most assuredly, I should far rather esteem the feelings of the man who, alive to the more generous impulses which adorn poor human nature, should extend his hand to render individual service, than those of him who, disdaining every thing that is not based on his im- mutable principle of reciprocal benefit, should, with the most scrupulous exactitude, repay the pound of ilesh required of him. I could not but be deeply sensible of the generous confidence of the American, whom I warmly thanked for his offer, stating how- ever that I hoped, on reaching Utica, to exchange sufficient of my Canadian notes, without any material sacrifice. No more was said on the subject, and the purse was for the moment forgotten. Some time afterwards, on rising to get out of the car, which had stopped a few moments on the road, and while removing the folds of my cloak so as to throw it across my arm, down dropped something which I did not myself notice, but which a lady at my side saw, exclaiming delightedly, as she picked it up, " Here, sir. In your nurse." It was so indeed. In removing from the last car, ' f, must nave got fastened in some fold which I did not shake out, and there remained perdu until, extending the cloak, it had fallen to the floor of the car. Under any other circumstances, this asserted loss of a purse, which had never been out of my possession, and its accidental expose, might have appeared awkward enough : and indeed I could not but feel, at the time, that it was extremely fortunate I had not been under the imperious necessity of accepting the generous offer which had been made to me, of supplying its presumed loss. How- ever, I did not look very guilty, but, on the contrary, not a little pleased, and I believe none of my fellow travellers wjre unchari- table enough to impute to me what I certainly did not merit. On leaving Utica the same afternoon, f found myself the solitary occupant of the stage >;8 being loosened, he was left to make acquaintance with the ponies, wlio regarded him with a good deal of curiosity and surprise, but manifested no disposition to injure him. In the cour«e of a short timo ho was tetliered, during the ilay, on tho lawn in front of tiio house, and there siifreied to nibble the clover which was provided for liirn. His acfjii.-iiulanco with tho human family, as well as with the canine, then commenced; but ho never evinced half the alarm on .sueing a stranger that ho did whenever the wheelbarrow, in which he had been first im- prisoned, appeared before him. At the sight and stjiind of this, he was always exceedingly restive, making the most violent efforts to free liimselC from his confinement, and trembling in every limb until the obnoxious vehicle had passed away. Ho never overcame this aversion. During the three years that he remained with us, this deer, ever treated with kindness, became very tame indeed. He would take bread from my hand, insert his nose into my shooting jacket for food which 1 had purposely placed there, and which ho was ever impatient to reach, and unceremoniously entered the house and took from the table whatever pleased him most. His great partiality was for broad, for although he ate oats, potatoes, green vegetables, &c., tho former he evidently considered a luxury, devouring it with eagcness. Nor was he by any means of an unsocial dispjosition. He tolerated the larger dogs, and formed such an intimacy with a very small but intelligent cur I had, that they used to lie down together and lick each other for hours. It was often amusing enough to see the dog, in imitation of the servant, who fre((uently led the deer from spot to spot where the herbage most abounded, take the rope between his teeth, and pull with all his foice to uige his companion to follow him. But although he was thus quiet ami even familiar with my own dogs, he could not endure the presence of others. Any strange clog coming into the place always excited the fury of the animal, who curved his neck in defiance, stamped furiously wilhliin feet, and throwing back his ears altogether evinced the strongest desire to get him within his reach. On moie than one occasion he has, without hurting them, teirifletl strangers who approached too near to him by chasing them againsl the wall of the stable or some other out house, and there " pinning " them by the thigli, until the cries of the frightened prisoner has drawn tlie attention of the servant accustomed to feed him, and whom he ever obeyed, to the ridiculous position of the l)arty, and procured his release. His attachment to his feeder was very markeib He would follow her through the streets without the slightest ditficuhy, and without her being compelled to stiain upon the rope by which she led him. I have known him on one occasion to follow thus for a mile, and over a bridge one-fourth of that distance, and this regardless of the curs which ran yelping at his heels, and could not be prevented from barking at him. When later, 1 removed to Kingston, he made his first trip in a steamer, but w^as so fright- ened at the strange noise of the mnchinery, that he manifested extreme impatience, and struggled so violently that his horns pre- maturely fell oil'. Those he had the oii.suing year now form the handles of a carving knivc and fork, which serve as a memento of my Canadian " deer taking." He was later sent to Montreal I I IM BIGHT YEARS IN CANADii. Bocured in one of the osier orates used fur crockery, and on tUa duck of one of the Mmall Mteamecs descended tlie whole of tlko bdilinpf rapids — the distance being nearly two hundred nwles — without accident of any kind whatever. It may seem siiqirising that I shouFd, aware as 1 was of my etronfi; claims uikjii the oxistiiif? (iovennruMit, have so lon;, however, recollectt the intense longing I once had for a water- melon, while pri 'strated ni iler the effects of yellow-fever in the West Indies; and the almost eagern< wl''i which I had devoured one that my Colonel luul, with the greatest ditficulty, aftersending over half the island of Hurbadoes, obtained for me; and having ascer- tained that Lord Sydenham was in a state of feverish excitement, produced from the un. i-d pain from his woMud, and his old enemy the gout, which had returned upon him with redoubled violence, it had occurred to me that my offering would prove, as it did, an acceptable one. It is a singular evidence of the fertility of the soil, that a seed, planted !?> *he very sligh covering of earth with which the rock was cK'il"!", should have produced so fine a melon; but a rocky country <>(!<' iv.s to be so peculiarly adapted to the growth of this particul.ir i":"it, that it has been known, in the same neighbor- hood to uit.'in the weight of live-and-thirty — na}', even forty — pounds ! The squash, however, grows to a far more prodigious size. I have seen a monster of this species, at a confectioner's in IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 ^1^ U^ ■^ Uii 12.2 S 144 ■" IS US |2£ I.I M L25 1 1.4 p.6. < 6" ► t? /'I 7] ^>I>^ (?> /^ Hiotograpliic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSiM,N.Y. 14580 '716) 872-4503 /. f^ 186 EIGHT YEARS IS CANADA. being of the Kingston, (exhibited as a curiosity,) and labelled as enormous weight of one hundred and tifty-seven pounds. What greatly contributed to render fatal the unfortunate acci- dent which befel Lord Sydenham, was the free indulgence he had been in the habit of giving to his appetites. His Lordship, with all his activity and energy of mind, was a sensualist, and his sacrifices to Venus were scarcely less copious than those ren- dered to Bacchus. It was well known that his establishment at one time acknowledged the sway oi at least one mistress, who, of course, wa? not visible, but with whom His Lordship found so- lace after the hours of labor devoted to his government. His Lordship, moreover, paid great couit to several Canadian ladies, both in Toronto and Montreal. Married as well as unmarried — French and English — in turn, exited his homage. His attentions to Mrs. ', of Toronto, were so very marked, that the scan- dalous circles rang with them ; and each belle, jealous of the pre- ference given to what she deemed to be her less deserving rival, was ready to die with vexation that the vice-regal handkerchief had not been thrown at her feet. It was said that Mademoiselle . of Montreal, rejecting a gallant lover who had long dangled after her, was to be elevated to the honor of being Baroness Sydenham ; but there were those, again, who believed that the presumad attention to the young lady, was only a cloak to hide his unremitting devotion to her not less fascinating married sister. These were the on dits of the day ; whether true or false, it is difficult to pretend to determine. Canada is, however, behind no country in the civilized world in keen love for scandal ; and there was something exceedingly piquant in attributing to Governors those weaknesses which are common to our nature, and which in some degree reduce the man of intellect and intelligence to a level with the braggart and the fool. At table. Lord Sydenham is said to have indulged, and fed the gout, by which he had been so long and so painfully afflicted, with every viand the most calculated to ensure its continuance. He invariably took his turtle, or mock-turtle soup ; swallowed the seeds of early dissolution in the thick, fat. bottled porter, which was indispensable to his meal : and dived unhesitatingly into all the mysteries of champagne. In fact. Lord Sydenham was in every sense of the word a gourmet; so much so, that a wound which, in a man of temperate habits and uncorrupted blood, would have proved superficial, created in him an irritability, aided as the latter was by the dormant gout it had awakened, beyond what his weak and debilitated frame could bear, and principally tended to his demise. Had he not led the life of indulgence he had, the mere accident, which occurred to him never would have deprived him of life at the early age of forty-two. CHAPTER XIII. In reviewing the political life of Lord Sydenham, it is impos- sible net to be forcibly struck with the fact, that nothing in the course of his administration was new or original- Energy, quickness EIGHT YKARS IN CANADi^, 187 and pliability of mind, he possessed in all the degree necessary to the Governor of so turbulent a coinitry, where, as he very pro- perly remarks, (and 1 have stated the same thing in my notice of Lord Durham's administration,) there are nearly as manj' political prejudices and opinions to conciliate as persons ; but these were Sualities characteristic rather of the determination of the soldier, lan of the sagacity and wisdom of the statesman. The way had been completely paved before him. Lord Durham's report was his text book, and it was hietly by condescending to the little arts, (.not very flattering by tlie way to the understandings, of the Ca- nadian people,)fADA. 189 course of action. It was easy enough to have said, and no one in the country could have impugned the correctness of the principle, <* People of Canada, Her Majesty, yielding to the desire you have expressed, consents that the boon of Responsible (Jovernment shall be conferred upon you; but, just as she is gracious, she cannot admit to domination over the great mass of her Cana- dian subjects men who havp been suspected if not absolutely attainted with treason — whose principles have been decidedly hostile to British connection, and whose actions have had a direct tendency to sever it. It is admitted that there may have been abuses in the administration of this country, which it is essential should be rectified by the application of a new system of Go- vernment, but the means of correcting those evils lie wholly within yourselves ; and the preponderance of party must be governed by events. They who have continued loyal to their Sovereign will now receive the reward of their fidelity, by being placed in a position to remove existing abuses ; and if they fail to do this to the satisfaction of the people, it will remain for the voice of that people to displace them from the position of distinc- tion to which Her Majesty has called them, and to substitute in their stead those ivho have undergone the ordeal of a political purification." Had this been the language used, or the principle adopted b^ Lord Sydenham, how much more brilliant must nave been his Canadian Administration. As a high-minded and virtuous Go- vernor, he would have scorned the intervention of mere expedi- ency in the final settlement of a question involving interests of so paramount importance, not only to the people themselves, but to the Empire ; but Lord Sydenham, as is evident from his own pub- lished letters, regarded nothing beyond the means by which a majority of supporters could be gained, and without reference to the public principles of those who constituted that majority. By this palpable leaning towards the rebel party, who styled them- selves reformers, he finished by disgusting every loyal man in the Colony. It was an insult to these latter to ask them to coope- rate with men whose every act had betrayed their aversion to British dominion, and the hands of whose partizans had been already steeped in the blood of their relatives or friends ; nor was this amalgamation more necessary than it was unnatural. Had it been essential to prove the sincerity of the Government, Lord Sydenham might easily have selected, from the ranks of the moderate reformers, men with whom the conservative portion of those sought to be introduced into the Executive, could not reason- ably have declined to act. But by nominating men of known disaffection, and more than suspected participation in the events of the recent rebellion, to act with them, he completely gained his end, by driving what he conceived to be the numerically weaker loyal party from any share in the Government of the country, and eventually composing it of those by whom he admits himself to have been principally surrounded, and who, in yield- ing him the majorities requisite to the temporary success of his measures, promised hin the best prospect of success in the at- tainment of otijects involving his own personal aggrandizement. There was altogether too much intrigue — loo much, indeed, of * A 190 EIGHT YEARS IN CANADA. charlatanism about Lord Svdenhain,* ever to have ensured that respect which his dignified position ought to have commanded, nor while he incurred the disapprobation of one party, did he •wholly escape the distrust of the other. That he considered the settlement of the Canadian difiiculties an affair of mere expedi- ency) is evident from the tone of persiflage in which many of his private communications home are couched. He had obviously a great contempt for those he had been sent to govern, yet the vani- ty he experienced in successfully cajoling those whom it suited his purpose to gain over, is as obviously commensurate. This vanity at other times degenerates into puerility, as for instance, when he compares " My Parliament" with the House of Com- mons, and in all the fulness of self-satisfaotion, vainly sought to be concealed by an affectation of humility, pities "poor Royalty as exemplified in his person " — talks of his cocked hat — and the bore of being obliged to wear it on the Throne, and finishes with the self-gratulation that his " Legislative Council beats the House of Lords hollow.'* It may be remarked that these are merely the private impres- sions of tlie man, and can have no weight in deciding upon his political merits. But to this again it may be replied, that it is alone by these private indications of the secret motives of action of a statesman that the public have an opportunity of distinguish- ing between the tinsel and the gold which adorns their rulers, nor can one attach any great faith to the pureness or disinterest- edness of motive of him who, in a spirit of mockery, alludes to his position as one calculated rather to provoke ridicule than to command esteem. But Lord Sydenham had well nigh reaped the bitter fruit of a policy which sound reason, not less than common sense, con- demned ; and those disaffected men, whom he had the indiscre- tion to call to his councils, and place in authority ovar the w^ell- intentioned ar.d loyal of the colony, labored hard to sting the hand that had fostered them into the fullest attainment of their personal ambition, and to wrest from his grasp that prize which he regarded as already his own. Mr. Baldwin, who had been in the Executive several months, and who had previously recorded his protest against the conti- nuance in office of several of his colleagues not inclined to sup- port his extreme or republican views, waited patiently until within a few days of the opening of the first session of Parliament under the Union Act. Then, in the "ull assurance that Lord Sydenham ■would, at that eleventh hour, find himself in such a position of embarrassment as to yield to his demands, he insisted on the removal of the obnoxious colleagues above referred to,t and the substitution of certain members of the French party who had shared his extreme radical policy. This was an unexpected blow to Lord Sydenham, but it must be admitted that he had in a great degree brought it upon himself. He had committed an irrepp.rable fault in calling Mr. Baldwin to his councils at all, and now he was made to feel that political gratitude was not a quality inherent in the breast of a disloyal Canadian. He, however, had * Mr. Dmper is evidently his ropyist. t Messrs, Draper nnd Cgden. EIGHT YEARS IN CANADA. 191 the firmness to resist this insolent anft Wat Tyler-like demandi and Mi. Baldwin retired from the Cabinet, a pretended martyr to the integrity of his public life ! But this false position, in which Lord Sydenham had placed himself, micht easily have been avoidecl, had his Government been based on those immutable principles of justice which are as indispensable to the well-being and prosperity of a whole people, as they are to that of individu- als. The course, elsewhere pointed out, should have been that adopted by a statesman to whom his biographer (and it is well known that five hundred pounds were bequeathed to Mr. Mur- dook, his Civil Secretary, under the express understanding that he was to prepare an account of His Lonlship's Administration in Canada) had ascribed, in language of high eulogium, tact, judg- ment, prudence, great natural sagacity, energy, firmness, deter- mination, integrity, honor, and dismterestedness of purpose, such are common to few men, and to few Governors especially. Had stern and uncompromising justice, which should have taken the lead of, been added to, tKese qualities, and proved the guiding star of Lord Sydenham's political career in Canada, none of the heart-burnings which succeeded to his short-lived success would have occurred to mar or disturb the fabric he might have built. Petty intrigue, exercised not only by himself but by that host of satellites by whom he was surrounded, had done much to gain over several individuals of influence in the country, but there was a vast majority of those, who, immovable in their own honest right, and commanding respect from their high integrity of pur- pose, refused to be made the subservient puppets of a policy of expediency, and ought to have been made, by a prudent and just Governor, the leading men of his councils, instead of being art- fully excluded from tnem. It is idle to pretend that seats in the Executive Council were offered to certain individuals of thfs party, and rejected by them. It could not be regarded in any other light than as an insult, or, at the best, ; , vain and idle com- pliment, to ask men who had come nobly forward to the rescue of the Crown, when threatened with the most imminent danger, to take their seats at the same Council Board with those who had assailed the dearest privileges of that Crown, and sought to tram- ple it into the dust. Therefore, to attempt to form a Council in which these two parties should have equal ascendancy, was vir- tually to dispossess of all power those whose devotion to the Monarchy had saved the country. Nor can it be objected that there would have been a greater difficulty in governing accord- ing to the new principle intended to be introduced, by reason of the weaker numerical body of the loyalist portion of the people, as compared with the reformers. Recent events have shown that the loyalists are not, and never were, the least influential body in point of numbers. Had Lord Sydenham offered Responsible Grovemment to the country, under the express understanding that the first Grovemment, under the new system, was to be composed of those who had so nobly manifested their devotion to theic Sovereign, he would have encountered none of those difliculties' — none of that opposition of which he complained, as proceeding from what he is pleased to call the " Family Compact," nor would the rebel party have reasonable cause for complaint. But,, so far from this, we see that, from the very first moment of his *m 1 ! f H U'2 EIGHT YKARS IN CANADA. nrrival in Toronto, ho threw himself into tlio arms of the extremo Kadicnis. Tho bias of feeling communicated by this movement was groat. It naturally led moderate men, who would have been as ready to throw their influence into the opposite scale, to add strength to the favored party, and to obtain proselytes where- ver they could. By this moans the tables were for a time re- versed, and the radical party, encouraged and supported by Her Majesty's Representative, became proportionately formidable. They had not been prepared for this excess of favor, and their confidence now becaie unbounded. Impressed with a con- sciousness of the guil'y share they had borne in the recent lebel- lion against the Crown, they had fully expected to have been put down for ever as a party,and would nave deemed themselves fortunate in exemption from punishment for the past. But when they found, not only that punishment was not to oe inflicted, but that they were called upon to rule in a country they had so re- cently attempted to desolate with fire and sword, their boldness became commensurate, and intespreting the conduct of the Im- perial Government into fear, they received the boon offered to them, not as a measure of general utility, but as a concession wrung from the Crown by their imperious demands. Strong in their new authority, they laughed at the impotency of those whom Lord Sydenham liad thrown, bound hand and foot, before them, and from that moment a most rankling hatred animated the breasts of the two parties — a hatred that must sooner or later, but for the fortuitous advent of another statesman greater than he, have burst forth into glaring acts of hostility, and laid waste the Province in all the horrors of civil war — a policy which, however it might ensure his elevation to the Peerage, could nowise b© found harmonious in its working, or beneficial in its results. With as much justice might Frost, the leader of the rebel Chartists, bave been associated in the councils of the Home Go- vernment, with all the good and noble of the land, as Mr. Bald- win or Mr. Hincks introduced into the Colonial Cabinet. True, the latter individual had not yet been appointed, but had Lord Sydenham carried his favorite Bank of Issue project, he was to have been placed at the head of it, with a seat in the Council i nay, as it was, he, at the recommendation of His Lordship, and shortly after the death of the latter, was called to the Executive Office. I confess I was at one time a warm admirer of the ener- gy, firmness, and decision of character displayed by Lord Syden- ham, in moulding various discordant materials to his ends, and al- though it could not but be considered that he had been guilty of a grave error in surrounding himself with those who had been tho secret, if not the avowed, enemies of the Crown, I had been willing to sink individual impressions in consideration of interests of a highrr magnitude. The appointment of Mr. Baldwin, al- though, under all the circumstances, an injudicious one, was the less obnoxious because, whatever his extreme politics, his private character was of a nature to command the esteem even of his bit- terest enemies, and his election, however unpalatable, conveyed no very marked slight to the loyal portion of the Province. Had Lord Sydenham confined himself to this, tlie lesLion taught him by the imperious ultimatum of Mr. Baldwin, tendered as'l have al- ready observed on the eve of the session of Parliament, would EltJIlT YEAUS IN CANADA. ion have been coiiftiilored Hufliciont; but when, lator, it appears that His I^ordship liml not only approved, but recomtnnnded to the Homo (iovornmont as an Executive Councillor, Francis Hincks, the editor of the "Toronto Examiner," and the bosom friend of Mackenzie, with whom he communicated on the morninj^ of tho afliiir at Gallows Hill, when that traitor was in arms ajramst tho Government, no further doubt could be entertained of the system of expediency, at the utter sacrifice of every principle of justico by which he sought to govern, [t is idle, therefore, for his (Lord Sydenham's) biographer to assert, as ho does at the close of hia volume, that His Lordship was an " example to future Governorsi to guide and encourage them in their difficulties — to shew how the energy of one man may diffuse itself through a whole society, and how a straightforward and uncompromising firmness may confound the most inveterate opposition of its adversaries, and in- duce the sincere and generous attachment of its friends." Energy and firmness there were to be sure, but these were neither straightforward nor uncompromising in their application, or cer- tainly, the country never would have been so grossly insulted aa by the appointment of Mr. Hincks, whose character ia thus de- scribed by a Montreal paper : — •' We hate him as we do the adder, A thing whose head we'd crush beneath our heel, A fearful thing — but yet a reptile still." "The career of this man is a libel on colonial politics. Without going back to the ddrk a?es of his " history," when he is reported to have been a zealous orangeman, there is enough known of hia sayings and doings to brand him as one of the most unprincipled adventurers on record. Found leading the life of a loafer in one of tho West India Islands by a Quebec merchant, he ofiered the penniless outcast a free passage to Canada. On his arrival in Quebec he was saved from starvation by a shop-keeper of that city, who fed him, clothed him, and enabled him to make hia way to the Upper Province. There he became first a clerk in a bank, and afterwards a retailer of small wares on his own account. But men of his caste never succeed in the paths of honest indus- try, and we soon find him, ending as he began, a pauper. His earliest appearance in public life was as a supporter of the Old Famil) Compact, but with all the faults of that party^ its lead- ers were gentlemen and men of talent, and they soon discovered that our adventurer was not a person to serve their interests. He was, indeed, capable of doing any dirty work : but they were too shrewd not to see that his ingrained vulgarity, his recklessness and brutal temper would gain them the enmity of those whom it was their policy to soothe rather than to irritate. He is next found in the society of William Lyon Mackenzie ; and, after aiding that traitor in fanning the flames of rebellion, his cowardice alone pre- vented him from embarking in the insurrection which was the fruit of their joint labors. His opposition to Lord Sydenham in the first instance, and tho alacrity with which he ratted from hia party when that nobleman offered to purchase him, are known to every body. His conduct at that period was the most pitiful, the most unprincipled, the most disgraceful that it is possible to con- ceive. When charged in the House of Assembly, by Mr. Aylwin, with having dccived and betrayed his old friends, his reply was. 11 ^liJJLL lUpi J lii 104 EIGHT YEARS INf CANADA. that he, nn n reformer, had no Bentiments in common with the French Canadian party — the very party whose liberalism he now vpholdH, and praines with a ftatlorv bm innincere an it is venal. VVhen Sir Charles Bagot offered offfoo to Messrs. Lafoutaine and Baldwin, the latter long refused to join a Ministry of which a man who had 80 cruelly deceived him should be a member, and it wr^ not until Hincks humbled himself in the dust before him, that Mr. Baldwin could be induced to forgive the renegade and traitor to all parties." And yet it is stated, of the Nobleman who had made an appoint- ment, the obnoxious nature of which may be inferred from the foregoing commentary, — " that he left the Province in the most complete security and repose : safe not only against foreign ag- gression, but against intestine discord ; hope and co'ifidence re- vived in every bosom, and the union with the mother country cemented and phiced on a broader and more secure basis." It may be urged, in answer to the objection taken to the choice made of his Executive Councillors, that Lord Sydenham acted in consonance with the wishes of the majority of the people. But this. 1 have no hesitation in stating, was not the fact. The discontented of the country never, at any period, bore a proportion to the loyal ; and when it is considered that these latter never would have oh. jected to take office with the moderate reformers, had such been as- sociated with them at the Council Board, and that the majority oZ these two parties when united would have been overwhelming, it un- deniably was an act of the greatest wantonness and cruelty to select the enemies of the former and the well-known opponents of British domination. All the virtues bis panegyrist has, after a careful re- view of his administration of the affairs of Canada, ascribed to him, Lord Sydenham may have possessed ; but that essential one, with- out which the public acts of a Governor are weak and imperfect, and to which no allusion has been made 'n the category — namely, justice — was wanting; and without its healing influence, the minds of men could neither be soothed, on the one hand, nor subdued on the other. Yet, even admitting that the discontented composed the numerical strength of the country, it became the more necessary, in order to prevent the recurrence of similar scenes of confusion, that the leaders or promoters of the crime of rebellion should have been put down at all hazards- Had Lord Sydenham found difficulty in the outset (yet this, with his energetic mind, could not be) in com- manding a loyal majority in Parliament, he should have applied to the task of Government that enduring patience, forbearance, and justice, which Lord Metcalfe has since used with so much benefi- cent effect, and which, slowly insinuating their influence into all reasoning and reasonable minds, would eventually have obtained for him all his most sanguine expectation could have desired. True, it might, and would have proved a work of greater time ; but time ought to have been no object in the attainment of such an important result as the permanent tranquillity of one of the first colonies of the Empire ; and it became the duty of the statesman sent out to govern it, to spend years, if necessary, in studying the best means of executing his trust in the strictest spirit of impartiality and justice, instead of making it a matter of pride to hasten through bis arrangements in the least possible period of time. The impatience of Lord Sydenham to get through what he evidently regarded as a EIGHT YEARS IN CANADA. 105 11 "job," is everywhere manifest in his correspondence, oft'cial a.s well as private, and it was not reasonable to expect that measures so hastily concocted as his were, however of temporary usefulness they mifrht seem, should be either satisfactory or enduring. Trie, he had succeeded in quieting the disaffected, bv giving to them that which was strictly the property of the loyal; but in implaiitin(L' the seeds of a deep consciousness of injury in the bosoms of these latter, he had created an evil far more to be dreaded than that which he had removed. In short, while conciliating the enemies of the em- pire, he had disgusted its best friends, and left behind him, at the close of his admuiistration, all the elements of future trouble. By those who seek to shield Lord Sydenham from undue and uiv stateimanlike haste in carrying out the Union Bill) under the sup- port of the Reform or Radical party, it has been urged that his Lordship, anticipating opposition from the old loyal party of tho -Upper Province, was vividlv impressed with the necessity of imme- diate action in the matter i^he would obtain success. But, not only is the necessity for this brusque measure, as based on the reason given, not apparent, but the evident determination to carry the Bill through without even condescending to win over the supposed ene- mies of the project, but even to consult with them seriously on the subject, forms a reasonable fi;round for the subsequent distrust they entertained of his general policy. Lord Sydenham had allowed his mind to be prejudiced against what he, in common w'th the Radi- cals of the country, termed the " Family Compact," and therefore when on his arrival in Toronto, for the purpose of convening Par- liament with a view chiefly to the passing of the Union Bill, he courted, not their support, but that of the disaffected, it was not marvellous that he should encounter the opposition he did. High spirited and proud men, who distinctly saw the rebels, whom they had sorecently discomfited, enjoying that confidence of the re- presctitative of the Sovereign which they could not but he sensible should rather have been extended to themselves, could not be ex- pected to do other than seek to curtail the influence and the power to do harm of those who had thus monstrously been pre- ferred. Much has been charged against Lord Sydenham for his supposed intervention in the elections of Lower Canada, under the first opera- tion of the Act of Union ; but where the passions and prejudices of men are so warmly enlisted on their side, it is difficult to arrive, be- tween conflicting statements, at an accurate knowledge of facts. Certain it is that Lord Sydenham, not only made such a change in the electoral limits of Montreal as to secure to himself two suppor- ters in that city, btit through the active agency of a well-known individual Mr- FuUam — greatly contributed to the defeat of Mr. Lafontaine, the Opposition candidate for Terrebonne, who had been offered, but rejected oflice. It is not likely that Lord Sydenham directly interfered in this election in the manner represented, but Mr. Fullam well knew that his Lordship was desirous of securing a majority coute qu^U coute, and (hat it is not always necessary for great men to compromise theraselves by giving direct expression to their wishes. All that is known is that Mr. Fullam was an avowed partizan of Lord Sydenham, and had been employed by the latter on a commission of enquiry of some importance ; that he headed a considerable force of determined men from Montreal to the theatre > il 100 RIGHT YEAJtS IN CANADA. of election, and that Mr. Lafontaiiic, the most bitter onoiny of Lord {Sydenham, was defeated. There waH natiiially and obviou:dy a desire on the })art of this nobleman to i>ut down the French party, even although he had previously, and in a spirit of perfect imparti- ality i*Md justice, overruled the desire of a certain cru^uc in Upi)er Canada to lessen the French representation as compared with their own ; since from their hostility he was principally to apprehend danger to his future schemes of (ilovernmunt. Such also had been the intention of Lord Durham, but hit plan was one based upon a Bystem of Ciovernment which, while it would have eflTectually ac- complished this object, left not the slightest justifiable ground of complaint — namely, the General Union of the Provinces. And this is a measure which, however obnoxious to their own pride and in- terests, must eventually take place unless they, the French, party consent to withdraw that factious opposition to the moderate system of government in Canada they have hitherto so systematically dis- played. Once call in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and New- foundland, to the general councils of British North America, and the French Canadians must, as a political body, necessarily sink into in- significance. There is, however, one charge brought against Lord Sydenham, Avhich common sense, and a correct reading of the principles of Re- sponsible Government, practically introduced into the country by him, wholly repudiate as unjust and undeserved. It is that of arbi- trary and tyrannical conduct in the dismissal of Mr. Berrie from the office of Clerk of the Peace at Hamilton, for having publicly avowed sentiments hostile to his Lordship's Administration. Had Lord Sydenham failed to dismiss Mr. Berrie, he would have been guilty of culpable weakness, nor was it to be tolerated that a public officer should array himself ingraUiItous hostility against the Go- vernment that employed him. To pretend to govern a country under such a system — and it is deprecated by Lord Sydenham in the course of some previous correspondence — would be an absolute mockery. A man holding a public situation, should, if his political principles clash with those of the Administration he serves, at least nave the prudence, if his retention of office be an object of pecu- niary importance to him, to abstain from political discussion, or if incapable of this moral control, and sufficiently independent in his circumstances to reject the protection of the Government, to tender his retirement. Mr. Berrie, however, did not adopt the latter course, and it was impossible that Lord Sydenham could do other than dismiss him. Tne fault, therefore, was not with his Lordship for having dispensed with the services of Mr. Berrie for publicly expressing hostility to his Government, but for having taken into his favor, and into his councils, that party against whom the honest, but the unjustifiable and the imprudent, denunciation of Mr. Ber:ie was directed. From the above strictures on Lord Sydenham's Administration, it will be seen that while possessed of all that energy, firmness, and indefatigability of purpose attributed to him by his biographer, and which, if properly directed, would have prevented the neces- sity of any future change of legislation. His Lordship did not suc- r jd in giving that unqualified satisfaction to the people of Cana- da which he i."? represented to have done ; but, on the contrary, that instead of eradicating the seeds of future joaloueies and cou- 1 ! ;j „'i.a->'j..- ■ SIOHT VK,\nS IM CASAUA. 197 tonlion in Oie colony, ho only Imn.^planlod iIkmh iritonnoil whoro timy nii,^ht rip«n into fiillr, liixurinnco, and npreml th»'irnnin»'roim nmiHicntionH tliroiia;lioiit tlio lanil. Vot how conid it be other- wino? Ho viHitc'il CaniKia with n, mind projudioml jifyninnt onw partVj nnd his Hyinpalhios enliwtod in favor ol the other; and whifo, by his public proforetu'o of those who wore tlio more snp- plo instruments of his will, Im dishonored the servicjes and the worth of some of the most faithful and devoltfd of Her Majesty's BubjectF, ho raised up between tiio rival parties a spirit of bitter hostility and even lioreo hatred, wliidh was never more intonso than during his Administration, and which ill justified his bio- grapher in concludin«? as he liasj'nnd in the spirit ho intends it, " that the impress of his inlinonco on the future liistory of our North American Colonies, will form F^ord Sydeidiam's most en- during and appropriate monument." That he rendered great and lasting services to the country cannot bo denied, but they who state tnat the close of his Administration saw the Canadas in " the most complete security and reiwse," " safe against intestine dis- cord," and <* confidence renewed in every Dosom," state that wh.ch was not. How far the assertion is correct will appear from the working of that party feeling which he has introduced into the country, at the price of the sacrifice of the first principles of jus- tice — that great standard by which all human interests should be judged, and from whose fiat there can be no reasonable appeal. Wwuld Lord Durham have stooped to this ? Not more than Lord Metcalfe did. It was some months after Lord Sydenham's death that, while indulging one evening in the blue-cfevils, one of my servants en- tered the room,8tating that there were two gentlemen in the kitchen who wished to see me. As bailiffa had in some degree been asso- ciated with the peculiar train of mv thoughts for the preceding half hour, I with some nervousness, ancf a slight palpitation of the heart, as much aproaching to fear as anything which is not fear can well be, followed the servant into the kitchen, and found myself in the presence of the gentlemen, the first coup d'aiZ obtained of whom did not go far to reassure me. One was a stout and portly man, with a full face and florid com- plexion. His dress I do not particularly recollect, but it was nei- ther extremely fashionable, nor was it put on the burly form of the wearer with any extraordinary nicety of arrangement. A large handkerchief was tied round his chin,after the fashion of one of the London'fraternity to whom I have just alluded, or the driver of an English stage-coach. A huge stick was moreover in his right handy and a lighted ci^ar between his lips. The premier anord of this gentleman, such as I have described it, was ceitainly not of a nature to make me feel quite at my ease. However, the next instant set everything right. He in- troduced himself to me as Mr. Edward Gibbon Wakefield (whom he said, and truly, he presumed I did not recollect), and his friend "^s Mr. Colville, a nephew of Lord Auckland, just come out from England with him. Replying to my request that they would come into some more fitting part of the house, by a declaration that they had no time to lose, Mr. Wakefield added, that they had nearly broken their necks in the deep darkness which prevailed while getting up to the house — that, however, being charged with 2 B '^ 199 Elf.HT YKAUS IN CANADA. IJi li 31 ■■' I y i' r, \ M a letter from Mr. Charles Buller to me, which he had piomiseil to deliver into my own hands, he had determined to find me out, and had merely stopped at Brockville, on his way up to Kingston, for the purpose of effecting that object. I certainly could not but feel thankful to Mr. Wakefield for the trouble h*^ had taken, and assuming of course that Mr. BuUer's let- ter contained mailer of some importance to my future interests, I congratulated myself that they whom I had at first regarded as mes- sengers of evil, should have proved to be the bearers of tidings of good. As 1 could not prevail on Mr. Wakefield or his companion to partake of the unpretending hosi)itality of my cottage, I was soon left alone to break the seal of a letter which, althougn couched in the usual tone of friendly interest which Mr. Buller has always been suflicisntly mindful of my services to, and sacrifices for, Lord Durham, to entertain and express, contained no assurance that his exertions at home in my favor had been succtjsful. After ex- pressing himself disappointed in a certain object which he had been desirous of clTecting in my favor, Mr. Buller, in this communication thus concluded, — *' All I can do is to watch the course of events, and suggest you, if yon should be in Canada when the occasion arrives. This you may depend on my doing, as I can assure you, that I, as well as Lord Durham's friends, are fully sensible of your great ser- vices to him. I write this in great haste, to send this by Mr. Wakefield, who starts to-night by the mail for to-morrow's Cunard. Yours very faithiully, Charles Buller." ' CHAPTER XIV. The period which elapsed between the demise of Lord Sydenham and the arrival of his successor, was marked by an interregnum that did much to injure Canada. For some time the Executive remained inactive, but no sooner had intelligence arrived from England that the Tory party, who had recently come into power, had nominated Sir Charles Bagot to the Government of Canada, when apprehend- ing from the aristocratic character of the family with which the new Governor General was connected, that a change in the Canadian policy might be attempted by the Home Adminit'tiation, they dili- gently set to work to strengthen their party, and to secure them- selves in office. Sir Richard Jackson, who had temporarily been in- vested with the Administration of the affairs of the Province, was closely pressed by them to fill up the new appointments created by the passage of certain recent Bills, all of which were, of course, to be given to the frie:.ds of their parliamentary supporters ; but this officer being naturally a cautious man, and little desiring to incur the lesponsibility of appointments, while acting merely as a locum tenenSf could not at first be prevailed upon to accede to the wishes of his Council, to the extent they demanded. His reluctance was, however, subdued — still there was ore appointment so pressingly urged upon him that he was staggered by the importunity, and he consented to make it, solely from the assurance given him that it * A subsequent letter (see Appendix 13) was sent to nv" .ty Mr, Buller, couched pre- cisely iu the same .ipirit. GIGIIT YE.ARb IN CANADA. 100 was of the utmost consequence to the country, and could not be dispensed with. And ivhat, it may be asked, was that appointment, and where the urgent necessity of its being filled up at that mo- ment? It was no other than that of Queen's Printer, of which there were already two persons bearing the title in the Province, and common courtesy to the new Grovernor General demanded that this, one of the most important nominations in the country, should have been reserved for his confirmation, whatever the promises made by him who was now no more. But the appointments which were made before as well as after the arrival of Sir Charles Bagot, were all conceived in a similar spirit, and excited the indignation of every friend to ^ood govern^- ment. Some of the most notorious rebels of the Province, having influence with certain members of the Legislature, whose support the Administration was solicitous to secure, were gazetted to situa- ations of high trust and importance. One individual in particular — a man who had been seen in company with the Araencan sympa- thizers when they descended the St. Lawrence to the attack of Prescott, and had subsequently fled from the country, at a moment when his services were required for its defence — was especially ob- noxious, from the general knovvledu,e possessed of his delection, to the Loyal party, and yet the Executive had the effrontery to nomi- nate this renegade to the Treasurership of the District of Johnstown, in preference to men who had strong claims, from their loyalty and good services — chiefly because he was a protege of the Member for Leeds, in that District, one of their principal supporters ! Nay, to such a pitch had this insulting preference been carried, that I have heard Mr. Sullivan, the President of that Council, more than once declare, that they would only give office to those who could, and would, bring to their support a certain share of Parliamentary influence. This fact is the more worthy of remark, because it has ever been maintained before the public by the Radical party, that they would adopt as a princi))le that office should be given to those who, from their talents or their services, were the most entitled to fill them, without reference to political considerations : but that if two candidates, having equal claims and equal merits, should come before them as applicants for a situation, they would naturally give the preference to him who adopted their politics. Now, this was all very fsiir and equitable if true, but unfortunately the theory and practice of every Administration in Canada, since the introduction of Responsible Government, has been widely dissimilar; and the ac- tual system pursued in this instance was that enunciated by Mr. Sullivan. Repeatedly, had the ostensible leader of their party (M.\ Baldwin) made before the House the declaration which has just been recorded, but in almost every instance has a party man, irres- pective of ability or qualification, been selected. Tme, at a subse- quent period, and that after the arrive! of Sir Charles Metcalfe iu the countiy, they acquiesced in the nomination of Mr. Stanton, the Queen's Printer for Western Canada, and an old, tried, and faithful servant of the Crown, to the situation of Collector of Cus- toms of Toronto, which office had been left vacant by an act of ex- treme injustice towards the incumbent whom they displaced to make room for hinij but they could not, without increasing the ge- neral discontent with their policy, have acted otherwise. Mr. Stanton had been o- „ of those sacrificed to their personal views and 200 EIGHT YEARS IN CANADA. J interests, in the appointment of Mr. Derbishire to the o/Iice of Queen's Printer for United Canada, and in order to prevent that strict inquiry into the true cause of the remarkable haste displayed in making this appointment, they felt that it was necessary, much more in consideration for themselves than for Mr. Stanton, to exhibit a show of impartiality, by according him some office in indemnifica- tion for the glaring injury he had sustained. Thus secured, on every hand, by the influence of the appoint- ments they had lavished on the friends of their Radical parasites, the AdministraticMi were fully prepared to meet and neutralize any disposition that might be traced in the new Governor General to restore a more equitable order of things. But they had little to ap- prehend on that score. Sir Charles Sagot — the least efficient man that could have been selected for the Government of so turbulent a people as the Canadians — was of too weak and un iecided a charac- ter — possessed too little energy — too much of the vis inertia, to combat the opinions and wishes of those whom he was contented to invest with the exercise of the administrative power, with the least trouble to himself. On his first arrival, he had been so closely be- sieged by tb*" Radical Administration, who were desirous of creating a first and lasting impression on what they presumed to be his aris- tocratic prejudices, that it was not difficult for one of the opposite party to discover that he had thrown himself entirely into their nands. One great cause of this was the state of helplessness in which he found himself placed by the numerous appointments to office which had been so artfully made, under the plea of necessity, before his arrival ; and of the annoyance felt by Sir Charles Bagot on this particular subject, I have some knowledge. Finding that, notwithstanding the many appointments that had been conferred on the Radical clique — some of these the greatest political knaves and traitors in the Province — I, a loyal subject of Her Majesty, who had brought out letters of introduction from the Colonial Secretary, and conferred services on the country, had been wholly passed over by the Council, I resolved not to be influenced by the absurd delicacy which had kept me from Lord Sydenham, hut to go at once to Sir Charles Bagot. 1 did so, and His ExceU lency, having been made acquainted with my relations with Lord Durham, expressed extreme bitterness of disappointment that the Council should, by this unjustifiable and indelicate interference with a privilege he considered ought to have been reserved wholly for himself, have put it out of his power to reward those whom he considered to be entitled, from their services, to consideration. I perfectly agreed with His Excellency in viewing the conduct of the Council as an impertinent interference with his rights, and told him frankly that it was notorious to the whole country, that their chief object in doing so was to fortify themselves in ptwer, and to render him, as much as they could, subservient to their own views. Sir Charles Bagot, however, declared that I should have the first suitable office that became vacant, and made a memorandum to that eftect, promising to speak to Mr. Harrison, then Secretary West, about the Registrarship of the Johnstown District, which, it was supposed, would in a few days become vacant by the resigna- tion of a gentleman who held, in addition to this office, that of Judge of the District Court. I mention this conversation because, aH hough the Registrarship was not given up, but the Judgeship, which, of EIGHT YEARS IN CANADA. 201 course, I was not competent to fill^ Sir Charles Bagot^ on a subse- quent occasion, and through his Mi.'itary Secretary, disavowed all recollection of ever having made a promise of the kind. Whether His Excellency's advisers nad recommended this answer, or it had proceeded from himself, it afforded a striking proof how little trust IS to be placed in princes, or men in authority. However, it must be admitted that Sir Charles Ragot had fallen into such a state of profound obedience to the will of his tyrannical Council ihat, what, ever his inclination, it was not in his power to bestow an appoint- ment. I do not for one instant doubt that the letter of his Military Secretary to which I allude was written at the suggestion of those who so completely overruled him. He had surren'fered himself wholly into their hands, and the loyal population of the country had the mortification of seeing the scion of a noble house moved, as though he had been a puppet, in the hands of a few designing men, against whose oppression — had the evident leaning of the mother country not favored and encouraged it — they were ready to rise in far more force and fearful energy, than when their dastardly oppo- nents commenced a rebellion they had not the resolution to carry through. A lamentable instance of this self-abasement, on the part of Sir Charles Bagot, occurred after his moral energies had been prostrated by the stern and sinister influence usurped over him by his " Council of Ten." Among the applicants for appointment in the country was Mr. McDonald, a relation — nephew, I believe — of the Adjutant General at the Horse Guards, who was the bearer of letters of in- troduction to His Excellency Sir Charles Bagot. The unhappy vic- tim of the tyranny of the Radical Executive was naturally desirous to bestow upon Mr. McDonald some situation, which, without in any way affecting the support which it seemed to be the chief aim of his Councillors to obtain, might in some degree benefit the appli- cant — a geatlemen of quiet and unobtrusive manners, and one of whose appointment, albeit a stranger in the country, there were few men in Canada besides the Executive themselves who would have complained. But it was in vain that the enfeebled Governor sought the consent of his Council to the trifling appointment he had in view. They sternly and peremptorily refused, when Sir Charles, humbled and pained at the position of humiliation to which their brutal conduct, founded on his want of energy, had reduced him, bursit into tears, and expressed his sense of the ingratitude of those whom he had hitherto invariably supported in all their views. Thus was Canada governed, during the life of this unfortunate and weak man, until in the end the murmuring Conservatives cursed the usurpation of a power which, placed originally in the hands of the wily Executive by Lord Sydenham, who is said to have " left everything in peace and harmony behind him," threatened to excite a spirit of revenge and resistance among the loyal populatic , that would have tended more to retard the quiet and prosperity of the country than any of the puny attempts of the less resolute Ra- dicals which had preceded. This feeling of exasperation was the stronger in their minds, from the fact of Sir Charles Bagot being the delegate of a Conservative Ministry, and one who, from his high aristocratic connexion, might have been assumed to possess little sym- pathy with men who had insolently dared to raise the standard of revolt against their Sovereign, and attempted all that their puny =!■ I I' 1 1 1 ! ! ! I I; ; 1 ■ :•! ' if) * f 203 EIGHT YEARS IN CilNAD>\. force could effect) to dissociate themselves from the Empire. Never was injustice more crying and monstrous than the policy pursued by Sir Robert Peel's Government, in the instructions conveyed to its too weak and too willing servant at this period. Fortunately, how- ever, the crisis of danger has passed. Circumstances liaving, not long after the arrival of Sir Charles Bagot, induced me to change my oanishment in Brockville for the somewhat more stirring life of the new Canadian metropolis, I re- solved, on the opening of the ensuing Parliament, to petition the House of Assembly for a grant of money in furtherance of the object of completion of my « War of 1812," that is to say, of the opera- tions of the centre and left divisions, for many interesting records connected with which I was indented, not only to the Adjutant General of Militia in Upper Canada, Colonel Bullock, but to Dr. Winder, the Librarian of the House of Assembly, and an old brother officer of General Brock, who, feeling all the pride of the soldier in the recollection of the events of that period, was, independently of his acknowledged urbanity and desire to afford information to those who sought it, extremely solicitous that some such record as that which I had undertaken, should be given to the world before the last of the actors in those scenes should have passed away for ever. Aware as I was, however, that a grant of this nature must ori- ginate in a recommendation to the House from the Head of the Go- vernment, I applied, by letter, to Sir Charles Bagot, stating the ob- jects of the publication, the service it was likely to confer on the youth of the country, and the little doubt I entertained that, if re- commended by His Excellency, the proposal would be adopted without difficulty by the House. In answer to this application, I received a long communication from the Civil Secretary, Mr. Raw- son, of some three or four foolscaj) pages, the " sum tottle " of which was to assure me that His Excellenc^r, however sensible of the value and importance of such a publication, could not possibly comply with my request. Whether His Excellency had so decided at the instance of his Radical Executive, I of course had no opportunity of ascertaining ; but certain it is, that these tender and conscientious gentlemen gave, as a ground of objection to the encoura«jement of the work, that it had a tendency to revive unpleasant recollections with " our neighbors,^' the Americans, who would necessarily be pained to find tnat the assertions, contained in their various ac- counts of that war, and disseminated through the whole of the Ca- nadian schools, that they had invariably t*^ whipped " the British, were so unexpectedly to be refuted. Mr. Hincks, the friend of M'Kenzie, whose recommendation by Lord Sydenham to fill a seat in the Executive Council, had been, to the utter astonishment of all parties, confirmed at home, and now held the ofiice of Inspector General, was particularly opposed to the publication. Somewhat daunted by this attempt to throw cold water on my efforts, I was yet resolved, if possible, to baulk the Executive, by pressing the subject in the way of petition, as I had originally de- signed, before the House ; and here I may as well observe, that in a{)plying, in the first instance, to Sir Charles Bagot, I had not enter- tained the most remote idea that I should receive any other than a reply in the negative. I was perfectly aware that he would con- sult his Council on the subject, and these men I knew to be too indis- posed to approve anything tending to reflect lustre upon the British EIGHT YEATIS IN CANADA. 203 arms. But, as a mere matter of form, I felt this preliminary step to be necessary. A few days before the opening of Parliament, and knowing the influence ot that gentleman with the French Canadian party, who, from my politics, were likely to offer the greatest opposition, I ap- plied for, and received a ready promi.^e of, support from Mr. Aylwin, the Member for Quebec, who had undertaken to introduce tiie peti- tion. Very shortly afterwardj, however, and before the House met, this gentleman, who had been all along in opposition, was subjected to the mesmeric influence of the party in power, and accepted the oflice of Solicitor General East, when of course it became impossible that he, as one of that Government which had already denounced my work, should take the initiative in the matter. He strongly urged me to defer the introduction of the subject until the following year, when its chance of success would be greater, but as I had no intention to submit to such unnecessary delay, I took the petition out of Mr. Aylwin's hands, and placed it in those of one who was not likely to evince lukewarmness in anything that reflected fa- vorably on the warlike and loyal spirit of the country, — Sir Allan M'Nab. . The petition was read by the gallant Knight, and in due time a motion was made for an address to His Excellency on the subject. Sir Allan had commenced reading from a mass of documents highly eulogistic of the volume, nut only from the Superintendent and De- puty Superintendents of Education in the Province, but from many of the Wardens of Districts, whose Municipal Councils had passed the strongest resolutions in its favor. But the House would not suffer Sir Allan, who, by the way, was then one of a weak political minority, to proceed. They declared it was unnecessary to read further, as they had all made up their minds, and were unani- mously in favor of the address. There was only one dissentient vote, and that was given by Mr. James Durand, the father or some near relation of whom, if not himself, was strongly suspected of loyalty during the rebellion. That this gentleman, then Member for one of the Ridings of Halton, whose attachment to the British Crown was such as to cause him to hold Radicalism in abhorrence, and the chief study of whose life was the ars elegantmrum, and the politer accomplishments of literature, could have recorded his vote agtiinst a work reflecting favorably upon the British arms, has ever seemed to me to involve one of those singular contradictions which, although they do sometimes occur in life, are notwithstanding not the less diflicult of solution. I confess it was not without secret triumph, that I heard read in the House, a few days after, a Message from His Excellency stating that, in compliance with the address sent up to him, he recommeno- ed that the sum of two hundred and fiftj' pounds should be voted to the author of the first series of the "War of 1812." I had been compelled to use some diligence in the matter, it is trae^ but I knew io ensure that success which I was so desirous to obtain, notwith- standing the avowed hostility of the Executive-it was necessary that I should exert myself particularly With the French Members. And my efforts were not tiirown away. The result exceeded my most sanguine expectations, and it certainly was fair subject for congratulation when I beheld the Radical Ministry compelled to digest, and to reco.nnmend a sura of money for the encouragement of 904 EIGHT YEARS IN CANADA. I I i i that which they loathed, and which, only a few daya previously, they had rejected, through their head, with alfected regret but ill- disguised scorn. Shortly after this victory over them, a victory for which Her Majesty's Canadian Ministry never forgave me, and never would had they continued in office for the next twenty years, I received the following letter in reference to the vote passed by the House, from Sir John Harvey : — S " Government House, St. Johns, Newfoundland, I 22nrf November, 1842. *• My Dear Sir, — 1 observe, with much satisfaction, the aid and en- couragement which the Government and Parliament of Canada are giv- ing you, to enable you to do justice to the work which you have under- taken, and for which I know no one better qualified. " Of the operations of the Centre Division (the Head Quarters) of the Army of Upper Canada, the details will be found in the published Des- patches, and in tbn his tifHt arrival in Canada, Si^r Charles Hugut was remarkable, not only for his excellent spirits, but a general healthiness of appearance, the only drawback to which was his rather emaciated limbs, Riving promise of the dropsy, by which ho was subsequently atilioted. In public he was animated, cheerful, even playful, and while the pageantry of office, address- es, balls, receptions, reviews, &c., lasted, all went merrily as a marriage bell with him, and it seemed as if he thought that nothing more would be exacted of him than to receive the liomago that was paid to his new station, and to show off his elegant and commandmg figure in the handsome uniform of the Gevecnor- General of Canada. His reception was certainly most flattering. A brilliant ball^ given by the United Services at Kingston, then the seat of Go- vernment, was the first public entertainment he attended ; and here it was that he displayed those graces of light conversation and personal carriage, to which he was evidently more fitted to do honor, than the arduous and responsible duties of a wise and discriminating Governor. At Toronto, whither he soon afterwards proceeded, the loyal of the inhabitants of that city, lookin;^ upon nim as one who had come to break the chain which had hitherto bound them, received him with every demonstration of respect and confidence. Triumphal arches were erected in various parts of the city, through which it had been desioned His Excellency should pass on his way to the residence which had been prepared for him, and a very splendid ball was given to him at what had been tho Government House — the chief people of Toronto lending their plate on the occasion, to grace the abundantly furnished supper tables, and emptying their oaloons of all that could bj found most recherche in painting in the country, to deck the walls of the conservatory, which had been fitted L'p as a promenade room. Nor was the attraction of female beauty wanting to please the fastidious eye of His Excellency, and first among the candi- dates to favor was the retiring Miss F , since married, whose attributes of loveliness were little inferior to, while precisely in the same style with, those of her fascinating namesake, the pre- sent Countess of H— — . The next day produced a fete, got up also for His Excell'mcy. Ho had been invited to Toronto for the purpose of laying the tbun- ddtion stone of King's College, a ceremony which was conducted with becoming eclat, and on one of the most lovely days of a Canadian summer. Great honor was morever paid to the classi- cal attainments which His Excellency was reported to possess, by the respective heads of the Church, Bench, and College, and altogether he could not fail to discover that there was a spirit of good taste — a tact — and an intellectuality, among the Conserva- tives of the Colony, to which their Radical adversaries had not the slightest pretension* Another day devoted to the pursuit of amusements which had been prepared expressly for him, and Sir Charles Bagot returned to Kingston, leaving the Conservatives ot Toronto every reason to be- RIGHT VSARS IN CANADA. •ill lievo that ono no evidently brought up in ihonchool of lopritimnny, and hnvinjjf tlm oxnnnpU» of a hiKh nucoMtral rnce before hiin weuKl never Huflor himsnlf to bo made the i<^roblo tool of u Ua • dioal Adminifltration. But Boon wore they undeceived. *^\iey had seen and honored him during the early days of his advent, when he had yet sivon no indication of the course of jvtilicy ho intended to purnuo; and what subsequently rendered their disap- pointment and indignation the more complete, was the odious certainty, entertained by all, that his acquiesooiico with the views of the exacting and tyrannical men who held the reins of ollico, was not the result of his own unbiassed jiidirment or dispassionate estimate of what was best for the interests of the colony, but a consequence of disinclination to avow principles which miprht have the effect of bringinj? him In collision with his Council, thereby endangering the salary he derived from his ooiiperatiou with them. A high-spirited man would have spurned, with dis- dain, all coercion of the kind, and even although it might have been the policy of the (iovemment whose servant he was to intro- duce a dishonoring spirit of expediency in the adjustment of the affairs of the country, he would have refused to have been made the instrument of the will of any set of men who were desirous of governing in a spirit of injustice, oven if such refusal should have entailed nis removal from office. The answer to the remonstrances made, by the inhabitants of Brockville, against the appointment of Norton Buell to the Trea- sureship of the Johnstown District, was the first political step taken by Si'* Charles Ragot, which fairly opened the eyes of the Conser- vatives to the weakness of their new Governor — that Governor who, while in Toronto, had laid his hand upon his heart on some parti- cular occasion and exultingly proclaimed that it was that of a Tory ; but numerous subsequent appointments, of a similar tendency, con- firmed them in their belief of the check in which his naturally Conservative bias was kept by those who were insensibly weaving their meshes around him, in a manner to prevent all future exercise of his own free will. As has already been seen, the Conservative press, indignant and disappointed that so much pusillanimity should have been found to exist where firmness and energy had been con- fidently looked for, became loud and violent in their censure, and by the severity of remarks which Sir Charles Bagot could not but feel to be just, contributed to lay the foundation of a despondency, and keenness of self-reproach, which, there can be no doubt^ tended much to accelerate his death. But, glaring as was the case of Norton Buell, and deep as had been the astonishment of the Loyalists of the country w*^^ i Sir Charles Bagot expressed his determination not to interfere w*. n ' appointment which had been made without his sanction, they were doomed to additional mortification in the same quarter. The Collectorship of the Customs at Brockville having become vacant, numerous applications were made for the situation, by men of high standing and respectability in the district, and it was, of course, supposed tha'. it would be given to some one who had acknowledged claims upon the Government. To the surprise and dismay of eveiy lover oi consistency, it was bestowed on an indi- vidual of mean origin — a man having no public claim upon the country, and whose sole recommendation with the Executive was li 313 EIGHT YBARS IN CANiDA. the support aiven by him to Mr. James Morris Ahe Radical Mem- ber for the County of Leeda) in whose house he was a oopyins clerk), by writing strong, but vulvar and un^mmatical politioal articles, in a Badical paper of the town. Here was another of the rich fruits of Responsible Government, and a splendid illus- tration of the correctness and sincerity f the principle the Ad- ministration of that day attempted to put forth^hat candidates should be appointed to office, only in proportion to their capabili- ties and their claims ui>on the country. From the moment this last apoointment was made, the disgust and contempt of erery respectable man in the Province fell ujwn a^d reduced Sir Charles Bagot to such a position of humiliation thatj combining as it did with physical disease, the effect was to shatter his frame and enfeeble nis mind almost to idiocy. A bitter lesson had more jver been the result of his plastic bending to the iron rule of his in xorable ^* Council of Ten.^' So completel]^ had he succumbed to them -so unbounded had become their dominion over his every act, that as has already been seen, they even re- fused him the privilege of making one solitary appointment in favor of a Conservative, and that Conservative, Mr. Macdonald, the relative of a high military official in England) and a personal friend of his own. Well may behave sheot ! Although the former had incurred the displeasure of the Conservatives, they could not fail to admire the energy of cha acter of the man who Imd the boldness to will, and the resolution to cany out what he willed ; and when the accident happened which threatened tho loss of his Lordship's life, one universal j^loom spread itself over the country, and was by none more forcibly manifested than ly the extreme conservative press, hitheito his mofit strenuous op- ponents. Moreover, Lord Sydeidiam professed to be of the libe- ral school, and wliatever his disresjard of the claims of tho loyal party, it was tho less astoiiisliinn tliat he sk^uld have adopted a policy the most suited to the views of their enemies. With Sir Charles Bayot it Vv^as different, for few could fail to perceive that he was not the ruler but the ruled ; and falling as he did into a system of CJovernment which must have been so foreign to his nature, and ought therefore to have been insurmountable to the delicacy and high-minded ness of one in his peculiar position, it cannot create surprise that his illness excited no sympathy. Nay, I will even go so far as to affirm that, had the restoration to health of Sir Charles liagot involved the certainty of his continuance at the Head of the Government of the country, there were not ten men among the thousands who had hailed his advent, in the fond hope that lie would do justice to the insulted loyalists of the colony, who would have shed one tear, or evidenced the slight- est mark of regret at his death. Nor is this surprising ; for such had been the strong manifestations of the Radical Executive to root out the spirit of Conservatism in the country, that the only hope left to tne loyalists, was, either the death of him who lent the sanction of his name to their irieasures, or his removal from their control ; and, as it was not likely that such ren;oval would be his own desire, it was obvious that death alone could accomplish their release from the thraldom which enchained them. This was a melancholy and appalling picture of the sentiments of the loyal yet insulted Canadian people at this exciting and critical period, but it is not the less true. It will be denied, of course, by those whose saltish and peculiar interests caused them to hold up Sir Charles Bagot as a )>attern for Governors, as an idol whom the people they had enslaved should worship, but no Conservative will dispute the accuracy oi' the picture I have drawn. Even when Sir Charles Bagot did breathe his last, c'lsarmed although he was of the power to continue the deep injuries he had inflicted upon the most devoted subjects of the Crown, such was the exasperation of the public mind, that they scarcely accorded to him the common sentiments of regret which the departure of a human bein^ from among his fellow* men occasions, but received tlie tidings with an indifference which was ill concealed by the conventional and common-place expressions of concern which fell from the unsympathising public press. The ** Toronto Patriot " in particular, the dead'v and uncompromising enemy of the Administration of tha* day, hesituied not to proclaim that the Head of the Government was an imbecile and a slave, while other journals, even less guarded in their language, boldl}' pronounced a wish that his death might free the country from the- etate of thraldom to which it has been r'^duced. - - - 2u (Ill i 1l f 214 EIGHT YEARS IN CANADA. CHAPTER XVI. But a briss, to the great body of the Canadian people. Suddenly the minds of men, who had brooded in sullenness and despair, and who had scarcely dared to look for a fa- vorable change, became animated and full of hope, in proportion as the assurance was given them that the successful Governor ol India, and the pacificator of the feuds of race in Jamaica, wa:' to be sent out to them. But they did not base their confidence in him so much on the acknowledged ability which, necessarily cramped and co- erced by the artifices of advisers, must, under the (even to him) new system of Government, in a great degree be shorn of its power, as upon that high spirit of integrity, justice, and impatience of un- due interference with his authority by the Home Government itself, of which his long and brilliant previous public life gave ample evi- dence. Possessed, moreover, of an ample fortune, which rendered him independent of whatever Government might seek to induce him to rule on principles of mere expediency, an additional g*'"iT~ antee was given to the reviving Loyalists that those just pri..- ciples, which had formed the noble sub-structure of his past political celebrity, would inevitably prevail in the new government, to the ultimate reestablishment of those who grounded their hopes on the justice of their cause alone. It was impossible not to feel that that man alone could restore ultimate tranquillity to Canada, who, with high powers of accurate apprehension, and a corresponding degree of moral resolution, had refused to sacrifice his own sense of right to an authority little less than absolute ; and that bv the adoption of a course of policy, at once firm, and consistent with the necessities and claims of the country, he would insensibly and gradually re- store the tone of political feeling into the true channel, from whence it had 80 strangely and so guiltily been diverted. Indeed, a con- trary impression could not be entertained, for to have assu.iicd that Sir Charles Metcalfe would, after having made himself acquainted with the real state of feeling in the country, continue the Govern- ment in the existing spirit, would have been to have denied to him either the existence of, or the power to exert, the very qualities of statesmanship which had constituted the germs of his previous success. Perhaps there had never been a previous instance of a Governor — a personal stranger to those whom he was about to govern, and yet separated from them by an entire ocean — obtaining such a hold upon the affections and good will of a people, as Sir Charles Met- calfe did, from the very moment that his name, was confidently mentioned as the future Governor-General of Canada ; and in the same proportion that the drooping spirits of the hitherto insulted loyal population were revived, so were those of the Radical faction — diligently as they labored to conceal it — depressed. The existing Executive well knew the firm and just character of the statesman who was to succeed the puppet they moved at will, and perfectly understanding that the former would never consent to administer the government except in accordance with the spirit of the majority EIGHT YEARS IN CANAUA . 215 of the people, labored hard, shortly previous to the arrival of His Excellency, to pour forth such fulsome eulogies, through their Ra- dical press, on the excellence and worth and liberal principles of the Governor whom they ruled, endeavoring to make these appear as the effusions of the mass of the population, tha it was not difficult to detect a desire to create an impression on the mind of the new Governor-General favorable to their own views. But Sir Charles Metcalfe was not to be thus imposed upon, and the very first days of his arrival afforded him cause for doubting that, as intended to be impressed upon him, the consei vatives were the most turbulent and partizan of his future subjects. He had crossed the ice into Canada from the American shore, at the close ot the month of March, and was, on entering Kingston in his sleigh, re- ceived by the several national societies, and followed by them to Government House ; and on this occasion his calm and intelligent eye had immediately detected, as by fai the most numerous, and under the disguise of green ribbons and temperance badges, a body of Repealers, or Radicals, whom Mr. Hincks had assembled for the purpose of impressing the Governor-General with a false estimate of the existing bias of the country ; but in this he had outwitted him- self, for His Excellency dryly remarked, on his attentioii being called to their number and appearance, that he acknowledged the error into which he had been led, in assuming that partizanship was exclusively confined to Orangemen. This implied disapproval of the display did not escape the watchful Executive, and Mr. Hincks in particular ; and from that day — the first of His Excellency's ar- rival in the country — were sown the early and almost imperceptib' ' seeds of that antagonism which, subsequently and fortunately, broke out between the Governor-General and his Ministers. To one of Sir Charles Metcalfe's acute penetration it was not dif- ficult to discover, in the intercourse he coveted with all those whose position could afford him that knowledge of political parties in the country, that the radical portion of the population were far more unlettered, vulp^ar, and assuming than their conservative rivals ; while in even grertcr proportion, the same distinction existed be- tween the contending journals of the country. With such elements as these on which to work the change which h»' ^*>ep sagacity and reading of the human heart assured him was inevitable, provided a calm and enduring patience should be brought to his aid, in order to soften down the fermentation of disappointment on the one hand, and of undue exultation on the other. Sir Charles Metcalfe re- solved quietly to await the course of events, and to model his Ad- ministration accordingly. Nor was this state of comparative quies- cence the least trying to his personal feelings. While his deep sense of justice pointed out to him the harshness of the treatment the Conservatives had received from those who should better have re- warded exertions made at a crisis of great danger, and naturally induced a desire to restore to them an influence of which they had unjustly been deprived. His Excellency felt the impossibility to give effect, under the new form of Government, to his own wishes, unless the Conservatives should arouse from their apathy, and adopt those steps which, by giving them a majority in Parliament, could alttne enable them to attain their object. Meanwhile, the Executive watched with jealousy, and a di- minished confidence in their own security, the proceedings of their li 'r •la I i 2t6 EIGHT YEARS IN CANADA. Chief, and although there arose not for many months any cause for (lerious collision, it was evident to them, from their very first meet- ing with His Excellency, that they could not hope to acquire any- thm!< approachin;;; to that influence they had so recently exercised over his feehle-mindod predecessor. To make an attempt to bolster up their own sinking authority in the eyes of the people necame now a portion of their plan, and it was cs^rcfully set forth, through their worthy organs of the press, that the same perfect understanding ex- isted between Sir Charles Metcalfe and his Council that had mark- ed the Administration of his predecessor. But the country was not to be thus duped, and each succeeding? day brought with it increased hope to the already revived hearts of the Conservatives. Such was the condition of thinss and parties when, on the 12th of Jul}' of the same year (1843), Mr. Hincks' Repealers, under the designation of the Hibernian Benevo'ent Society, committed them- selves by a gross outrage upon a number of Orange boys, who were amusing themselves with a mimic celebration of the day, while their parents dined peaceablj"^ at their several lodges. This outrage terminated late at night, in a very heav}' firing on the part of the repealers, by which one or two Orangemen were wounded, and a a youth of sixteen, of no party at all, and a casual spectator of the turbulence of the repealers, was killed. In celebrations of this kind, and considering the warm state of parties in Canada, at the seat of Government especially, this was a result almost to have been anticipated, and the occurrence would, unconnected with other matter, scarcely be worthy of notice here, but as this circumstance formed a leading groundwork foi the arguments which subsequently were urged to strike at the root of all loj^alty in the Province, by the introduction of the Secret Societies Bill, which was intended to incapacitate an Orangeman from holding office, and which was with so much praiseworthy firmness resisted b}^ Lord Metcalfe's able Secretary, Mr. Higginson, and left by himself for the consideration of Her Majesty, by whom it was disavowed — under this particular view of the case, I repeat, it is not unimportant to shew how the Executive acted in a matter in which they betrayed an interest that was vainly sought to be concealed. Imlependently of one Foley — a violent repealer — who was taken up for the murder of the boy, there was a radical, of French Canadian origin, of the name of Thibodr -the chief airent of the Executive in the formation of the so-called Hibernian Society — on whom strong suspicion fell of havinj^ been one of the most ac- tive participators in the outrage, and he, on after information be- fore the proper authorities, was arrested and brought before them. The sensation created among the Executive by this arrest was very e^reat, and their anxiety was so ill concealed that it became a matter of general observation, and there were not wanting those who were of opinion that they dreaded important disclosures, on Thibodo's examination and conviction, which might ser' -usly compromise them with the country. Mr. Derbishire, the Queen's Printer, was particularly active on this occasion, attending during the proceedings, and manifesting deep interest in the acquittal of the prisoners. Nay, to such an extent was the desire to favor them carried by the Executive, regardless of all prudence in the mat- ter, that Mr. Sullivan, the President of the Council, whose boast it had latterly been tj^ " his party had now their feet upon the ElttflT YEARS IN CANADA. a 17 necks of the conservatives, and would keep them there," even went so far as to order the Sheriff of the District t^^ dismiss his paoler, because he had refused to permit communication with them, except at the stated hours prescribed by the prison regula- tions. In fine, every attention was paid to the assumed murder- ers — so mucii so indeed that the sympathy of these gentlemen seemed to be in no way with the poor youth who liad been killed — but with those — one of \vhoin, it wast stntnirly inspected had advised the otiier — who had perpetrated the foul and pitiless act. Great efforts were nunle, at the well-known inc-itigation of the Executive, to procure the admission of Thibodo to bail, but the Judges refused to entertain the application on the evidence which had been adiluced; and the prlsoncM's were deta' 'd in prison until the assizes, when, from the ditricully of pro' g the identity of the party who had fired the actual sliot by which the boy had been killed, they were neces.«arily acquitled. A good deal of ex- asperation grew out of this afliiir, and subwcpaently led to a duel — a very bloodless one — between in)'.8t of thuni believed) and tiiere was much gn)iuid for that belief, that the a^i^ressioH by the Catholics, or rather tho Repealers, (»n the 12th of July, had been planned, ia order to provoke a re,«*i.**tance that might yield adilitional argument in support of a Hill which was iutendu tation and a desire of ensuring popularity, the princely donations, which were given by him to public charities, and the su^iport of churches of every creed and sect, whenever suitable application was made for them : but even were it possible that any unprejudiced man could entertain so unjust a belief, the boundless private charities and aid to the indigent which Lord Metcali'e delighted to adminidter, and of which no living being, besides the parties beneAted. has cog- nisance but his Private Secretary, Mr. Higginson. are bright and cpnclusive refutations of the calumny. He is gone, but has left be- hind him evidences so pure of a good and blameless life, that never in Canada will his memory be forgotten. Already are preparations being made to do honor to him oy a grateful people, in the erec- tion of a tablet to pernetuate his name ; and although, with unexam- pled audacity, Mr. Hincks has soundsd the note of preparation to his Irish hordes who are employed on the canals, to destroy any structure of the kind, it will soon be found that Canada has hands and hearts sufficient to shield from indignity, the memor}' of the only Governor whom they have sincerely loved. Let but the hand of desecration pollute a monument so commemorative of the deep dis- grace of the radicals in Canada, and Mr. Hincks will be looked upon as the prime mover, the agitator, whom the « Loyal Protective Society " will not be slow to summon to retributive account for the Tiplation he has, in unmistakeable laiu^uage, recommended. This book having, as I had origini;Ily intended, been brought down to the departure and death of iho greatest of Colonial Gover- nors, and the arrival of Lord Elgin — lor what existed in the mean- tiine could scarcely be called a Government — I shall content my- self, in the present edition, with remarking, that from the latter nobleman much is expected — but expected precisely in the same spirit in which the Government was administered, and the prero- 1 gatiye of the Crown upheld by him., whose reward has been the fj unmixed sratitude of every loyal Canadian subject of this coun- i try. Lord Elgin is evidently gifted with the art of making him- ) self popular, but it is not popularity alone that can secure the tranquillity of the Province. Justice is the foundation on which .. his policy must be based, for without that there must ever be .5 wanting the dignity which is necessary to success. The \ BIGHT YL'ARS IN CANADA. 2'ift Radicals have ulreadv openly declared, even while diMvuw- ing all party spirit, tiiat they will have no coalition. It is avowediv with them **aut Casar aut riui/u." I'he whole of their body must bo restored to power, or they will not suffer a moderate Administration to remain unopposed by them. And it is fortunate that they thus betray theniselvos. Lord Elgin cannot venture to retrace the step Lord Metcalfe has taken, for to du BO would be to destroy his yet incipient popularitv with tlie great majority of the people) whose good opinion of liim is based on their perception of his decision of character, which gives them promise that their enemies shall not again be empowered, in the language of Mr. Sullivan) to " place their feet upon their neckS) and to keep them there." The crisis is one of interest, and the people of Canada will watch it closely. '■**'>.-. „■: ^rfv. ^i-fW^^-r^^-:^ ,"rr^|T!.vt'?-;v>;^ 1 i 1 1 1''! 1 ■^^/■^^m'm!'iiff.mm^f'!*'m'^wm-' ' ■V^W^Ww^ APPENDIX. (APPENDIX I.) QuE«EC, October 2, 1838. Dear S.n, I thank yoa klndi'y for yom- account of the meeting, which was the first I received. I fully expected the "outbreak" about the union of the two Provinue*. It Is a pet Montreal project, beginning and ending In Montreal 8elfi!ihiie8i nssi>red that I •hall always arail myself of every opportunity that presents itself of for- warding your interests. Yours truly, (Signed) D. Major RiCRABDSON, Montreal. (APPENDIX 2.) London, Tebruary 15, 1839. Drar 3ir, I have just time to thank you for your kind letter, and for all yoar good ofSf^es. The best answer to all ray detractors is my Report, which I send you, and which will show the nature and extent of my labours. I shall read with great pleasure the new work to which you refer, and readily coiuply with your desire to inscribe the following one to mo. Yours truly, (Signed) D^ Major RicRABDSO .') Montreal. (APPENDIX 3.) London, January 22, 1840. Dear Sin, I trust and hope that Mr. P. Thomson is going on successfully. How- ever much I may regret that I was deprived of the opportunity of putting my own plans inro execution, for the benefit of the Canadas, I shall feel it my duty to revider every aid in my power to those who are willing and able to carry them out. If the (^anaias are pacified, and their prosperity secured, I am content* Yours truly and faithfully, (Signed) Dcrhah. Major RiCHAiiDSON, Montreal. (APPENDIX 4.) Quebec, August 3, 1838. Dear Sir, What you say respecting the pi.'r^'rcadings in Parliament is tr o true. That conceited gentleman, Lord Ellenborough, seems to imagine fhat ha is to govern North America from his place in the House of Lords. If ho can do so, and is permitted to do so, the sooner I am released the better. If not, the absurdity of his pretensions ought to be exposed by the Min- istry. There is nothing new to comtrnnicate at present. Yours truly. (Signed) D* Major Richardson, Montreal. 2-23 APPEKDIX. ' ! i k f '1 (APPENDIX 6.) Quebec, (Tuesday,) August 14, 1638. Mr Dear Sin. Lord Durham !■ ao occupied at present that he has desired me to ac< knowledge your rery obliging communication of the 18th. I have no doubt that you think me very negligent in not having complied with a similar request on your own part, ma-^e just before my departure for the Upper Province. But you have hearc* probabi/ that during that journey I was seriously unwell. I was indeed too much so, even when most convalescent, to feel capable of any communication, requiring thought or care. You might indeed be of considerable service in setting the public in England right on those points in which our opponents in Parliament take so much pains to misrepresent, and our firiends so very little to sup- port us. Lord Ripon's remark in particular appeared calculated very Ingeniously to misrepresent the principle adopted by Lord Durham in the formation of his Executive Council. It is true, as Lord Ripon said, that the Canadians had complained that the Executive Council contained no Canadians. But what they mt^ant by this was, that it was composeb entirely of their enemies — the old English official set. Lord Durham, in composing it of persons who came out with him, avoided the evil of which they complained — that of throwing himself into the hands of the old official set The Canadians admit that, in the present state of affairs, he could not call their leaders to his Council. He does the next best thing, in not calling their enemies. Lord Ellenborough's observation, that the Executive Council, as composed by Lord Gosford, was a popular body, shows an ignorance perfectly ludicrous to any one who has been five minutes in the Province. For, you could not talk to any one on the matter without learning that the Canadians whom Lord Gosford took in are beyond question the most unpopular men in it, and that the taking them damned the Council in the eyes of all parties. The Duke of 'Wellington's remarks about Lord Durham's having no greater powers then previous Governors, must have been uttered in utter forgetfuiness of the sole and entire legislative power which he had vested i n him by the Act, and which no previous Governor had ever had. His Grace knows little of the real power of previous Governors if he does not see that Lord Durham effectually exercised a control over the other British North American Provinces, which no previous Governor really possessed. But I think you might point out that such remarks as these do harm to objects which all men of all parties ought to have at heart, and that any depreciation of Lord Durham's powers below what they are supposed by the people here to be, enfeebles the authflrit;;< of his Govern- ment, and compromises the preservation of t^e Colonics. "Whatever you say in favour of Lord Durham,, I think you may satisfy the Toryism of the Editor of the Timet, by commenting on the weakness and perfidy of the Miiiistry who understood so little of the policy of their own Governor, in supporting it so weakly and insincerely. Neither Lord Durham xior myself have been able, as yet, to get a sight of the Timet, but we see from the " Examiner" that your obliging communications produced a different impression from the Editorial arti- cles. I am, with many thanks. Very faithfully yours, (Signed) Chables Bcllcb, Major RicnABDSov, Montreal. APPENDIX. 229 (APPENDIX' fi.) QutuEC, September 24, 1838. My Dear Sir, What do you think of the news from England ? It seems to me that it is decisive of the fate of these Colonies. Whether Lord Durham did right or wrong, his success in his present mission was the last hope of keeping Canada, and he should accordingly have been suppLTted, right or wrong, by all parties at horn., who profess to value the integrity of the Empire. I think you might give your friends of the Time$ a hint that this proceeding on the part of the Tories at home has done more to set people of all parties here against them, than years can undo. From all 1 can see I really believe this new display of faction and weakness at home has turned men's minds more strongly to the project of a separation than a tliousand arguments could have effected. Yours truly, Major Richardson, (Signed) Charles Buixer, Montreal. (APPENDIX 7.) Quebec, September 23, 1838. Dear Sir, Pray do not fancy that I can Teel any thing but gratitude for the kind interest which you take in me. You will see, in the Quebec Mercury, my answer to the Address from the Deputations from the Eastern Provinces. I have come to the determination of resigning, not because I feel dis- gust and annoyance at the base malignity and treachery with which I have been assailed — that I should have borne cheerfully to the end, as I have done hitherto, — but because all weight, all real power is taken from my authority — all civil power is annihilated — nothing remains but mili> tary force, which I cannot wield so well as an officer, and would not if I could. No confidence can now be felt in the validity of any one act of mins or my Council. The latter would meet with the certainty of being disal- 1' wed. In these circumstances I feel that I can be of more service to Canadian interests in the Parliament of England, than here, a degraded, disavowed Governor. There I can speak the truth respectiiig the real state of Canada, which has been seldom told, and prevent similar acts of legislative imbecility from passing. All my friends here agree in this view of the case, and I trust you will also, on reflection. Your's truly, Major Richardson, (Signed) D. Montreal. (APPENDIX 8.) Quebec, October 18, 1838. Dear Sir, It is indeed most disgusting to see such proofs of malignity in those who ought to value truth and fair dealing as the best means of informing the public, of which they profess to be the " best possible instructors." Your course has been that of a man of honour srA integrity, and you can hardly regret the dissolution of a connexion which it appears could only have been preserved by the sacrifice on your part of truth and jus- tice — by the suppressio veii, if not the assertio fuUi. Vours truly, Blajor RiciiARD?ON, (Sitiiicd) I^- JNItMitroul. 2f ■A- 230 APriiNuix. I' J li ^ (APPENDIX 9.) QbJiHEC, Ovtobtr 18, 1838. « My Dear Sir, I am truly sorry to henr >>f your rupture with tha Times, and most grieve*] to hear of its being caujed by your support — able and honest sup- port — of Lord Durham. Whatever he or I can do for you, on our return to England, you may be sura we shall do with all ou" power. Lord Durham is not a man to forget those who have suffered in the ac- tempt to serve him. Believe me, Very faithfully yours, Miijor Richardson, (Signed) Charles Bulleb. Montreal. (APPENDIX 10.) London, 6, Hanover Street, February 18, 1828. Mv Dear Sir, I only delayed n ; ^ ing to your letter on the subject of your Poem, be- cause I expected to * - ; our neighbourhood about this time. I did hope to meet the son o. excellent father, whose merits and devotion to the cause of humanity ' uld make it strange indeed could I ever for- get him. This hope of seeing you, however, I fear is past, as I am ob- liged to be in the City early, and indeed late, to-morrow. Your very flattering notice of my poor exertion, but yet not dishonour- able defeat, claims my most sincere acknowledgments and thanks, which I beg you will do me the honour to receive. Its merits, as far as I am able to judge, seem very considerable, and, if the world only knew it, you speak the truth — an ingredient not always to be found even in an epic poem, founded on facts. You have done ample justice to the merits of poor Tecumseh, whose self-devotion to the cause were worthy of a better fate; — had his opponent been endowed with the gallant generosity of mine, his remainp would not have been treated with such savage in- dignity. I return to Scotland on TVednesday, where the same address will find me; and if I can be of any service, I shall feel pleasure in being com- manded. Had your work been ready some years ago, you might have found many more people interested ii: the period and scene, but we pro- fessional men are so easily scattered over the earth and sea, that it is diffi- cult to catch us on the winij. I am sure that you will be pleased to hear that I am wonderfully re- covered from my severe wounds, and that I feel even equal to serve, should I be called upon. But my right arm is still feeble ; I canrot make use of it over my head ; and you will observe by my writing that my hand is not so steady as when you knew me flrst. If any of your father's family are in your correspondence, pray offer them and him (if he is still alive) my most affectionate regards; and with every feeling of good-will towards yourself and undertakings, I am. Most faithfully yours, J. Richardson, Esq., (Signed) R, H. Barclay*. H. P. 92d Regiment. M- (APPENDIX 11.) Saxe Cobourg Place, Edinburgh, April 17, 1828, My Dear Sir, I have been a good deal occupied since ynu very eloquent letter, with your Prospectus enclosed in it, came to hand; but I shall now endeavour APPENDIX. 231 to thank you As you deserve for the kindness expresned towards both my person and services. I nni truly grieved to hear such sad accounts of your excellent father, whose latter days, however, will be soothed by the remembrance of a well spent life — spent In the alleviation of the sufferings of others. I still trust, however, that his valuable life may be spared, for the good of his fellow-creatures, as well as for the comfort of his family. I well remember your visit to me while lying on my couch of pain, suffering much from my severe, but not dishonourable, wounds. I re- member your sympathy, but I was not aware that feeling was to bud and bring forth fruit so highly complimentary. I do not remember if In your notes you remark my often-recorded sentiments of Commodore Perry's gallantry in action, and generous kindness when it was over. If you have not, I should be gratified if you could contrive n place for such a tribute of gratitude to him in my name, — if he had fallen the day was mine. I shall soon write again. If you see my friend Ogilvie, re- member me in the kindest manner to him, and express my regret at be- ing so near him without seeing him. 'With every wish for your success, believe me. My dear Sir, Very sincerely and faithfully yours, (Signed) R. H. Babclay. J. Richardson, Esq., H. P. 92d Regiment. (APPENDIX 12.) EoiNUUBOii, August 24, 1832. Mv Dear Richardson, I was from home, like every body else who can get away at this season, when your very kind and welcome letter arrived ; and as I was a sort of wanderer on the face of the earth and waters, I did not have my letters forwarded. Your letter has been by these means long unacknowledged. I feel very deeply your continued kind feelings towards me, in your remembrance jf times that are past. I never think of the period alluded to without raising the images of my kind old friends there and then, and amongst them your excellent father. I had heard of, or seen his demise in some way or other. His life was one of usefulness and credit, and he lived in the language of Scripture, " to be old and full of days." On the subject of your publication, I was very sorry to find that Tecumseth's name and gallani bearing had been too much forgotten, or perhaps like many other things in the Canadian war, never known, to assist you much in that work. I am no great, critic, but to mo many things in it are powerfully, graphically, and truly drawn, and some day it will be looked upon as a sort of metrical history of an eventful period of the very existence, to this country, of Canada. Ecarte is assuredly an able and dreadful essay against the most insidi- ous and ruinous of all sorts of dissipation and idleness, gaming ; bad enough anywhere, but perhaps in Purls it holds its throne. I dare say, however, Crockford's or some others of the London hells, could turn out some, if not many, similar scenes of madness ano despair, if not with the frightful addition consonant to the French character — ever a tiger or a monkey. I do not at this moment remember any story like that to which you allude as the subject of your next book, txcept it be connected with the Scottish Indian Major* who married a Squaw and hrought her to this country. But it matters not, I shall probably remember the circumstance when I see your book, which I shall feel honor in receiving from your kindness. If I can contrive to interest Wilson f in your favor, I shall feel happy, but • Norton, nlins, Teyoninhokorawen, Chief of the Six Nations. + Professor Wilson. TA2 APVENDIX. cuiinot promiBe deoiiieJly. He in ut present on a crui»e in the Vernon. In your next,* wlieu you say that I may be brought in, — pray dome the fuvor and Juaticu to exaggerate nothing, whether of difficulty or danger, but in all you say, be as oalinly-correct as possible. I am not ashamed of any part of my conduct while on Lake Erie, but hyperbole might tend to make me so. Neither I nor yow would know Canada in its new and prosperous state. I trust it will be so governed as to induce a close intimacy with the mo- ther country, at least, till it is able to secure its own Independence without the assistance of the United States ; then, perhaps Great Britain would bo better off as a friend and ally, than as the bead of its Government. I am happy to say that I and my family are well, and should any event bring you In this quarter, you will receive a most hearty welcome. With every kind wish for your welfare and happiness, I am dear Uichardson, Yours very truly and sincerely, (Signed,) B. H. Babclay. ' J. RicuAnDSON, Esq., H.P. 92d Regiment. (Extract.) (APPENDIX 13.) 2 Chester Place, Monday, Aug. 24, 1843. "Lord Durham, I know, felt this most deeply, and was very anxious to serve you. And as death has deprived you of the result of his good in- tentions towards you, I feel bound, as knowing the sense he entertained of your services, to do all in my power to repair your loss. An application from me to Lord Stanley, made on the grounds I should have to place it on, would be of no service to you. But as I have the honor of knowing Sir Charles Metcalfe, I have written to him by this packet, to state your claims, and beg his attention to them. I should have written both to him and you by the last packet, had I not relied on send- ing the letters by a private hand. Yours faithfully, (Signed,) Charles Buller. Major Richardson, &C. &.C. &.C. * Canadian Brothers THE END. ion. the luf 1 to ate. nno- lOUt rent ath f. 18 to I in- ined [)u1d the this OBve gud- a.