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A LETTER 
 
 OV 
 
 CANADA 
 
 In 1806 and 1817, 
 
 DURING THE ADMINISTRATION OF 
 
 
 GOVERNOR GORE. 
 
 FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION. 
 1853. 
 
 """V, 
 
\ 
 
^^mmmm 
 
 J 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 The personal friends of the late Governor Gore, being 
 anxious to possess some record of a most estimable cha- 
 racter, having applied for information at the scene of 
 his principal public services, the province of Upper 
 Canada, for the most authentic information respecting 
 him, had the good fortune to receive the following letter 
 from a high local functionary, which they consider both 
 instructive and interesting, while it exhibits the won- 
 derful progress of a colony, to the prosperity of which 
 Oovemor Gore so largely contributed, and in which he 
 eter continued to evince a paternal solicitude. 
 , Colonel Gore was bom at Blackheath, in 1769, — 
 Intered the army in 1787, — rose to the rank of Lieu- 
 "tenant-Colonel, — was Governor of The Bermudas, — 
 twice Governor of Upper Canada, and died at Brighton, 
 
IV 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 November 3, 1852, at the advanced age of 84. An 
 interesting memoir of thiei frank, estimable, and public- 
 spirited man, will be found in Frasefi'a Magazine for 
 
 June 1853. 
 
 E. M. 
 
 London, 29th June, 1853. 
 
 0. 
 
 € 
 
 ::%:': 
 
V 
 
 J 
 
 LETTER ON CANADA, 
 
 Sir, 
 
 Toronto, March 10, 1853. 
 
 Your letter arrived at an unlucky time, when I 
 was just entering upon one of our terms, which was imme- 
 fiiately followed by a sitting of a court of appeal, and 
 b<M;ween the two I have not had a leisure hour at my 
 disposal till this day. I should be happy to be of 
 service to you, and the other friends of the late 
 Governor Gore, in carrying out your wish to shew 
 respect to his memory, by such a notice of him as his 
 distinguished public position, his generous character, 
 and his social qualities seem to call for — and there are, 
 perhaps, few, if any, inquiries which it might occur to 
 you to make, in respect to his official career here, to 
 which I could not give or procure for you a satisfactory 
 answer — though his friends here, as you may suppose, 
 ire fast passing away. Colonel Talbot, a brother of the 
 Uite Lord Talbot de Malahide, whom he well knew, has 
 jAst died, at the age of 81. Another valued old friend of 
 his I have seen within this hour, and I fear he also is 
 rapidly sibking from mere decay of nature, after enjoy- 
 ing more than 80 years of almost uninterrupted health. 
 Captain Macauley, when he spoke to you of me, might 
 have remembered that I was at school in 1806, when 
 
V 
 
 Mr. Qore first came to Canada, and for some time after- 1 
 wards, in a part of the country remote from the seat of I 
 Government ; and during the remainder of his first I 
 administration I was a student at law, or, in plainerl 
 phrase, a lawyer's clerk, too young to give much atten-l 
 tion to public measures, or to be able to appreciate the! 
 conduct and motives of public men. In September! 
 1815, 1 went to England, to keep my terms in Lincoln's! 
 Inn, and left Canada on that occasion, a few days only,] 
 I think, before Mr. Qore arrived there to assume the 
 government a second time. His return to Canada must! 
 have taken every one by surprise, for it was not antici- 
 pated when I left Toronto, though he must then have I 
 been on his voyage out. Before I returned, in 
 November 1817, Mr. Gore had retired from the 
 government, so that I was not in Canada at all during] 
 his second administration. 
 
 I saw him in August, 1806, as he passed through the I 
 village in which I was at school, on his way ^om 
 Quebec to Toronto, with his secretary, Major Halton, 
 having then just arrived from England. He went to 
 the parish church there, of which the present Bishop o^ 
 Toronto was then rector. All persons who saw him, \ 
 think, were very favourably impressed by his iirm^l 
 frank, manly bearing and appearance. 
 
 Upper Canada was at that time, one great wilderness j 
 — everything was in a very rough state. The popu- 
 lation of the whole province did not exceed 40 ^r| 
 50,000, dispersed over a country as large as Great 
 Britain, or very nearly so. Kingston, the largest town, 
 had scarcely 600 inhabitants ; York, the capital, pro- 
 bably not 500 ; Niagara, about as many ; and besides | 
 there were but four or five inconsiderable villages. 
 
/ 
 
 [There was not aetage-ooach, or public conveyance of any 
 kind to be seen in Upper CanaJa. For the means of 
 passing from one part of the province to the other, 
 people were chiefly dependent on the small schooners 
 which navigated the lakes, and in winter, when the 
 navigation was closed by the harbours and rivers being 
 frozen up, some few reads were barely passable for 
 sleighs, but could be used by no kind of vehicle at 
 another season. A journey from Montreal to York, at 
 that time and for many years afterwards, frequently 
 took a longer time, than it now does to come from Lon- 
 don. When Mr. Gore had been three years in Canada, 
 the mail came but once a month from Montreal to 
 Toronto. There were but seven clergymen of the 
 Church of England in the province, and the churches 
 lA which they officiated were small rude structures, with 
 one exception^ built of wood. 
 
 No town had a market. Only two newspapers were 
 published in Upper Canada, both weekly journals. 
 Banks and insurance offices were unknown. If Mr. 
 Gore could have visited this province last year, he 
 would have seen it (I mean Upper Canada alone) 
 containing fully a million of inhabitants. In York, 
 which has, in the interval, resumed its ancient Indian 
 name, Toronto, he would have found a population 
 of nearly 35,000, exceeding that of Oxford or Cam- 
 bridge ; in Kingston about 15,000 ; in Hamilton, even 
 knore. In several other towns from 2 to 7000 inhabit 
 tants, where, in his time, there were not three houses, 
 perhaps not one; and villages innumerable, scattered 
 throughout the province, each with a larger population 
 than he had left in the capital. ^ ' - i'?"*' '. 
 
 Our lakes and rivers are now alive with noble 
 
8 
 
 steamers, with excelleLt acr^ommodation, making their 
 daily trips between Qi <: jee anc' Toronto. By the im- 
 provement of the St. Lawrence, and by the magnificent 
 Welland Canal which now yields a revenue above 
 £50,000 a year, an uninterrupted navigation is open for 
 vessels of 350 tons burthen, from the Atlantic to the 
 western extremities of Lake Huron and Lake Michigan ; 
 and it will not bo long before they gain access into 
 Lake Superior. There is now building at Kingston, a 
 vessel of 400 tons, which is advertised for a voyage 
 direct from Toronto to London, in the spring. Besides 
 some thousands of miles of passable country roads, 
 made by the application of the annual statute labour, 
 with occasional assistance from public funds, tnero are 
 some hundreds of miles of macadamized, gravelled, 
 and plank road ; and not less than 800 miles of 
 railway contracted for and in progress. We have a 
 perfect telegraph Hue from Halifax, through Quebec, 
 Montreal, &c., to the western extremity of the province, 
 with branches to almost every populous village, and the 
 same facility for instant communication with towns on 
 the Mississippi and the American cities throughout the 
 Union. ' 
 
 Letters and newspapers from England have reached 
 our post office in this inland situation (500 miles from 
 the sea) in thirteen days in the depths of winter, and in 
 fifteen days they ore looked for with as much confidence, 
 and with less chance of disappointment than attended 
 our communication with Montreal in Mr. Gore's time. 
 In those days, indeed, it was not an uncommon thing 
 for the London November mail to be received in Feb- 
 ruary, and sometimes in March. We have now three 
 distinct communication by water from this city (which 
 
like our other cities and large towns is lighted with gas) 
 Ito the ocean, namely, — by Lake Ontario and the St. 
 [Lawrence to Quebec, — ^by the Wetland and the Erie 
 lals to New York ; and by the Welland canal, Lake 
 [Erie and the Ohio canal, and the river Mississippi to New 
 lOrleans. At present we have eight, and before two years 
 
 re over, shall have at least twelve points upon the 
 lAmerican frontier south of us, at which railways will 
 [terminate leading to cities on the Atlantic coast. Nine- 
 Itei^n hours take us now to New York ; and it will not 
 be long before the journey from hence to Washington 
 [will be accomplished within that time. 
 
 This all looks, as many think, fearfully like amnlga- 
 
 [mation, — but come what may of it, it must go on. We 
 
 are distant but thirty -five miles from Niagara, and a 
 
 passage in a schooner across that narrow water in Go- 
 
 vcmor Gore's day was attended with more inconvenience, 
 
 I and often took longer time than the journey does now 
 
 to New York. We have daily mails to all parts of the 
 
 province, and weekly mails from England; and as many 
 
 I daily and weekly newspapers perhaps, as not many years 
 
 ago were printed in Scotland, if not more. There are 
 
 I about 170 clergymen of the Church of England, offici- 
 
 ' ating in Canada to 240,000 churchmen ; and many 
 
 churches belonging to them and to other denominations 
 
 which would do credit to any town in Europe. The 
 
 market-houses in Toronto and in Kingston are not sur- 
 
 1 passed in North America; and banks, insurance offices, 
 
 gas companies, and associations for the promotion of 
 
 various enterprises abound in all parts of Upper 
 
 Canada. . < v^^^ 
 
 I have mentioned these things to show more strongly 
 by the contrast the condition of Upper Canada, when 
 
mmm 
 
 10 
 
 1 
 
 if 
 
 Mr. Qore first arrived at York, on 23rd August, 1806, t6 
 administer its go/emment. It was an immense, dreary { 
 vacuity. Nothing could be made of the country with- 
 out people and capital, and these could only come to it I 
 gradually. — ^Nothing that Was in his power to do, at 
 that period, could very materially accelerate the progress | 
 of things. The efiect of the peace of Europe in tum- 
 ing thousands out of employment, and the distress in 
 Ireland, were just beginning to be felt in an increased 
 emigration, in 1817, the year that Gk'vemor Qore left. It 
 was then that the first considerable influx of settlers came I 
 to the province through New York. The aid of steam, 
 which has done more than can be estimated towards 
 peopling this country, by lessening the delay, and misery 
 and expense of the long journey from the sea-boail^, 
 was just then beginning to be perceptible in the distance, 
 like the first fire from the Prussian cannon at Waterloo. 
 The Frontenac, the first steam-boat that ever moved 
 on the lakes of Upper Canada, had been launched^the 
 very December (1817) that Governor Gk)re returned 
 finally to England. She made her first trip in the 
 autumn of that year. The best service that Mr. Gore 
 could render to the province at that stage, he did render 
 very efficiently, by doing all that he could for the en- 
 couragement of settling, by facilitating the issue of 
 land-patents, directing new townships to be surveyed 
 and laid open to grant, and keeping the officers of the 
 land-granting department actively eo^ployed. He made, 
 in 1807 and afterwards, large purchases of territory 
 from the native tribes — ^by treaties openly and honourably 
 conducted, and which he took care should be in all things 
 literally observed. 
 
 The revenue of Upper Canada at that time was 
 
■^ 
 
 11 
 
 veiy trifling, less, probably, than £10,000 annually ; 
 now it probably exceeds £800,000. The British Par- 
 liament still made an annual vote of about £8000 for 
 defraying the charges of the civil government. And if 
 the Colonial Legislature had had at its disposal ten 
 times as much as it had, it must all have been ab- 
 sorbed, (as the whole surplus revenue was, for many 
 years after,) in opening and improving roads that were 
 necessary for enabling the farmer to obtain access to 
 market. The Qovemor at that period had really nothing 
 to work with through which a perceptible impression 
 could be made in so vast a country. But still, the state 
 of things wrjs steadily progressive. 
 
 In 1808 and 1809 Mr. Gore travelled through re- 
 iiote parts of Upper Canada, which were very difficult 
 of access. In going to and returning from Sandwich, 
 the western point of the then settled portion of the 
 protince, thirty- five days were consumed, though the 
 distance by one route is short of 300 miles. One could 
 now go from Toronto to Damascus, via London, in the 
 same space of time, and a railway is at this moment 
 fast approaching its completion, by which we shall soon 
 be able to reach Sandwich in twelve hours. 
 
 You ask whether any particular public meas'Tres were 
 originated or carried through during Qovemor Gore's ad- 
 ministration — any public buildings, or bridges, or canals, 
 or roads cut, or financial measures adopted. — Nothing 
 important in the way of public improvements could then 
 be accomplished, for there was no disposable public 
 revenue, nor any means of raising one. In the towns, 
 there were a few merchants of more or less wealth, as 
 compared with the other inhabitants, a dozen clergy- 
 men perhaps of all denominations, about as many 
 
mmmmmmmmm 
 
 12 
 
 n 
 
 - 
 
 IH 
 
 lawyers and medical men, and a good number of half- 
 pay officers dispersed throughout th^ province, who had 
 been reduced at the conclusion of the American war 
 in 1783. These as a class, were most worthy, respect- 
 able men, ardent in their loyalty, and able, from their 
 large grants of land and their small stipends, to live in 
 comparative comfort, and give material assistance to 
 their neighbours. The rest of the inhabitants were in 
 general poor, and struggling with the very formidable 
 difficulties of a new settlement, where there was no 
 older country in their vicinity to which they had con- 
 venient access. To haTC put up a public building equal 
 to any of the handsome town-halls that we now see 
 growing up year by year in our cities and towns, would 
 have been an eflfort almost beyond the ability of the pro^ 
 vincial government. The legislature did pass an aot 
 two years before Mr. Gore came out, by which a sum 
 of £400 was directed to be annually laid aside, to accu- 
 mulate as a fund for erecting a building for the public 
 offices. In 1812, after about £3000 had been got 
 together, the war broke out, and the legislature very 
 properly laid their hands upon that and upon every 
 other shilling they could raise, and appropriated it 
 towards the defence of the province — ^though it was but 
 a very small drop in the thirty millions expended in the 
 course of that war. Besides a due attention to the 
 efficiency of the land-granting department, which was 
 really the business of that time — including the pro- 
 vision for gratuitous grants to what are called U. E. 
 Loyalists, and to military claimants, the attention of 
 the government, during Mr. Gore's first administration, 
 was given to the opening of public roads, to the organi- 
 zation of the militia, which received more attention then 
 
il^ 
 
 r of balf- 
 who had 
 rican war 
 y, respect- 
 rom their 
 to live in 
 [stance to 
 ts were in 
 formidable 
 re was no 
 j^ had con- 
 iding equal 
 re now see 
 wns, would 
 of the pro^ 
 )ass an aot 
 hich a sum 
 de, to accu- 
 r the pul^lic 
 1 been got 
 ilature very 
 upon every 
 opriated it 
 \ it was but 
 inded in the 
 tion to the 
 vrhich was 
 ig the pro- 
 called U. E. 
 attention of 
 ninistration, 
 » the organi- 
 teution then 
 
 m 
 
 it has done of late years — ^and to efforts made to 
 
 lencourage the cultivation of hemp. The efforts in the 
 
 last named direction have, from some cause or another, 
 
 ever been successful, though the country is extremely 
 
 ell adapted to that production, both as regards climate 
 
 d soil. The high price of la1)our has been an obstacle, 
 
 dare say ; but now that we have many more people, 
 
 d machinery is extensively used, capital abundant, and 
 
 he facilities of transportation vastly greater, it seems 
 
 itrange that the attempt is not renewed. 
 
 In the first session after Mr. Gore's arrival, an act 
 
 as passed establishing a grammar school in each one 
 
 f the seven districts into which the province was 
 
 en divided. This provided a salary of £100 a year 
 
 V the teacher, in addition to fees of tuition, and 
 
 .blished a board of trustees to superintend each 
 
 lool. The suggestion was made by the present 
 
 lishop of Toronto, who was then rector of a parish in 
 
 * Canada, and was cordially seconded by the 
 
 emor. In every new district that was afterwards 
 
 i, the Legislature was careful to establish a pre- 
 
 lely similar school, and the province has derived vast 
 
 bnefit from this early attention paid to education. In 
 
 16, during the second administration of Governor 
 
 re, the foundation was laid of the common school 
 
 tem of education, and by an act of the legislature 
 
 000 annually was appropriated to their support. In 
 
 same year also, £21,000 was granted for the im- 
 
 vement of the highways. These are pleasing evidences 
 
 growing wealth. Canals had not yet been attempted. 
 
 key were much above the means of the country. But 
 
 lieve there is no country in the world with so small 
 
 opulation, which can now show canals on so large a 
 
14 
 
 I! 
 
 If 
 
 r i 
 
 ,i 
 
 scale, and so substantially constructed as are to be seen 
 in Canada. 
 
 As I have stated already, I was not in Canada during 
 any part of Mr. Gore*s second term of government, < 
 from October, 1815, to July, 1817. I believe it was 
 brought abruptly to a close in consequence of a collision 
 between him and the assembly, upon the policy of 
 admitting alien Americans to become settlers. Some 
 gentlemen in the legislature who had acquired large 
 tracts of land by purchase, thought more I fear, of the 
 benefit to themselves, by raising the value of their pro- 
 perty, than of the danger to the province from admitting! 
 large bodies nf settlers unfriendly to our system ofl 
 government ; and they had sufficient influence to pro*| 
 cure the adoption of some resolutions upon the subj^l 
 to which Mr. Qore was strongly opposed. He wtatl 
 down to the Parliament House, in consequence, uponi 
 a very short notice, and without much formality,] 
 prorogued the legislature. This gave rise to a goc 
 deal of excitement, and whether his retirement frox 
 the government was his voluntary act in consequenceij 
 or whether it was thought expedient in England tha 
 he should give place to another, I do not know. 
 ^ Mr. Gore had some warm and strongly attache 
 friends here, and those were most firmly attached 
 him who were most loyally devoted to the cause — as 
 who had no peculiar objects of their own to accomplis 
 He was, I think, regarded by those who were no 
 mixed up in the squabbles of that time, as a man 
 frank and generous nature, warm-hearted, very r.ealou 
 for the public service, and above any unworthy coui 
 or mean compliances. He had strongly marked in 
 deportment the high spirit of a well-bred gentleman- 
 
15 
 
 and was in his manner affable and friendly — with the 
 appearance of being confiding and unreserved, which is 
 lin general a popular quality. He had in truth, I appre- 
 Ihend, less reserve than was prudent in his position, — 
 Igave his confidence too entirely to those who were his 
 jfriends at the moment, which enabled tiiem to give 
 more annoyance when they became his enemies, 
 id this was a change not very unlikely to happen — 
 For he was quick and impetuous — ^impatient of opposi- 
 ion — and too reckless, as it seemed, of the consequences 
 }f giving offence. His first assumption of the goveru- 
 lent was attended by some unpropitious circumstances 
 rhich he had no hand in creating — ^but of which he felt 
 le inconvenience— though long before he left Canada 
 1811, he had surmounted whatever difficulties they 
 occasioned. His predecessor. General Hunter, 
 lOugh a high-minded soldier, of the greatest integrity, 
 id in every way faithful to his trvBt, was stem in 
 deportment, had no mercy upon irregular and un- 
 )fitable public servants. Somewhat arbitrary in 
 measures, he had contrived to provoke in some, a 
 itter feeling of hostility, and had rendered his govern- 
 lent rather unpopular with the multitude. This made 
 an easy matter for those who were seditiously dis- 
 sed, to play their game, for they found favourable 
 steners. Then the trofuUes in Ireland, of 1798, had 
 iven many bitter enemies of En^^^and to the United 
 ktes, and pome who were not exiles partook very 
 mgly of the same spirit. Of these a few forced their 
 ly to Canada. One had beeu injudiciously made a 
 keriff, and just before Mr. Gore's arrival, I think, he was 
 some cau6s, dismissed summarily. This made him 
 course a patriot j and put him in a temper to insult 
 
MM 
 
 
 i* ".\ 
 
 16 
 
 and abuse a Governor, eyeu if he had had all the yirtnes of 
 an angel. With the assistance of those who sympatuised 
 with him this individual bought a press, conducted a very 
 intemperate paper, and became a member of the Assembly. 
 He had that kind of popular eloquence that was fitted 
 to excite a simple-minded people, and succeeded in 
 producing a strong feeling of discontent, of which we 
 can trace the evil effects at this day. Whoever might 
 have been disposed at that time to put the worst possi- 
 ble construction upon this person's conduct and motives, 
 was certainly fully justified by his subsequent career. 
 He did all he could to undeceive any who could have 
 imagined him to be loyal at heart, for though he was 
 actually a member of the legislature, and must have 
 taken the oath of allegiance to his sovereign again and 
 again, as soon as war was declared against England by 
 the United States in 1812, he seduced as many as he 
 could of those whose minds he had poisoned, to join 
 the enemy, in which he had but a very limited measure 
 of success. Some few did enrol themselves in a corps 
 which he endeavoured to raise in aid of the American 
 invaders. He served for a short time in the American j 
 army, but, I believe, on the very first occasion of his 
 coming under the fire of his former fellow-subjects, he 
 fell. You are well aware, no doubt, that just before [ 
 Governor Gore came to Canada in 1806, the Govern- 
 ment in England had exercised their patronage very| 
 unfortunately, in appointing a Judge and a Surveyor- 
 General to the oolony, whose misconduct occasioned aj 
 great deal of trouble. 
 
 The Surveyor-General, besides setting himself very I 
 indecently and absurdly in opposition to the GovemorJ 
 was complained of as having done something Iiighlyl 
 
improper in his official capacity, and was on that 
 )und (if I recollect rightly) suspended. I believe the 
 )rder to suspend or remove him came from England, 
 le Judge waj a much more formidable enemy to the 
 [)ublio tranquillity than the poor misguided Surveyor- 
 sneml. He had, as it seemed, a prodigious longing 
 ^or popularity, and appeared to be anything but scru- 
 pulous about the manner of acquiring it. His turbu- 
 lence, I fear, was prompted by a worse motive than the 
 lere gratification of his vanity. On his first circuit in 
 le western part of the province, he began his charge 
 the Grand Jury at the opening of the Criminal Court 
 fhus : — " Gentlemen ! fifteen years of disgraceful admi- 
 stration of the government of this province calls 
 )udly for redress." As those fifteen years embraced 
 whole period that Upper Canada had had a 
 )vemment, the denunciation was sweeping enough, 
 )ming as it did from one who had been but a few 
 lonths, or weeks in the country. If I do not forget it, 
 will inclose another of the judge's charges to the 
 }rand Jury, which will show that modesty was certainly 
 kot his forte. There was a third party, a barrister, who 
 been some years out from Ireland, and who was 
 30 very active in this seditious movement, but his 
 reer was soon unhappily terminated. He was attend- 
 ig the assizes at Niagara, in which the judge alluded 
 was presiding, and took occasion in some trial that 
 was engaged in to help on the cause by some in- 
 [ammatory declamation against the government. The 
 irrister who was opposed to him remonstrated against 
 lis use being n'ade of a court of justice, and appealed 
 the judge to discountenance it. This brought upon 
 im a rude, insulting attack from the other, of whidi 
 
"vrvmnmmwrrv'vmwwr'miffvw'^'rmtiifmiim 
 
 i 
 
 Mf 
 
 18 
 
 he took that notice which, happily, is less common now 
 than it used to be in those days, — and the judge's friend 
 lost his life in the duel which immediately followed. 
 He that fell was a member of the Assembly, and his 
 death made a vacancy, which the judge, to the disgust I 
 of every respectable person, became a candidate for, 
 and after a desperate struggle he carried his point, 
 being the first and the last judge in Upper Canada who 
 ever desired a seat in the Assembly. This was in 
 1806-7. As soon as this monstrous proceeding became 
 known in England, the judge was suspended ; and from I 
 that time till (Governor Gore's retirement in 1811 — when! 
 on account of the prospect of war with the United States, 
 it was thought proper to replace him by a military 
 governor (General Brock) — there was little or nothing! 
 to disturb public tranquillity in Canada, and Mr. Goie'sl 
 administration was free from that anxiety and thosel 
 unpleasant difficulties which he had to encountei^uponj 
 his arrival, and during the first year that followed. 
 
 You ask me if I know what were the results of hiil 
 controversy with Sergeant Frith. Poor Sergeani< Fritli| 
 I knew well. He came out as Attomey-G^nc 
 in 1807, upon the promotion of the famed Attomey-j 
 General, Mr. Scott, to be Chief Justice, and as I was in 
 the office of the Solicitor-General at the same time, 
 saw much of him. He was an eccentric, unreasonabli 
 man, with an ungovernable temper, but had qualities tl 
 made him to be looked kindly upon in society, — ^beii 
 hospitable, an agreeable companion when his capric 
 did not interfere, and possessing literary tastes an^ 
 acquirements. He was so really absurd in his tempeij 
 that he was more laughed at than disliked for it. Beii 
 an Englishman, (from Norwich,) he did not partidpati 
 
19 
 
 in the spirit which before his arrival had been excited by 
 those others whom I have spoken of. But he was at the 
 game time ill-conditioned, and had grievances of his 
 own which had reference not so much to any measures 
 of the government, as to personal affairs touching his 
 office or himself. He managed somehow or other to 
 put himself on a footing an3rthing but cordial with the 
 Governor, and failing to obtain what he desired, in rela- 
 tion to some official interest or arrangement, he applied 
 for leave of absence, that he might go in person 
 and lay the matter before the Secretary of State. The 
 Oovemor declined to grant him leave, observing that 
 [what he contended for was quite capable of being 
 [settled by correspond'suce, and that he would willingly 
 [forward any representations he desired to make. Being 
 refused leave, he took the rash and improper step of 
 igoing without it, and lost his office in consequence, as 
 [he ought to have known he would. 
 
 Those who have lived much with Mr. Gore since his 
 return to England, must have heard him relate 
 facts of his being sued in a civil action by Mr. 
 Tyatt in 1816, for a libel which he was charged with 
 &ving published in Upper Canada, and being prose- 
 ited in some way, — I forget whether by indictment or 
 iformation — ^by Mr. Heape. These were vexatious 
 proceedings, but I believe Mr. Gore was indemnified by 
 le Government. 
 
 I was in England and heard the case of Wyatt v. Gore 
 
 led in the Common Fleas, of which a report is pub- 
 
 Ished in Holt's volume of Nisi Prius cases, page 299. 
 
 [r. Holt was by no means the least intelligent of 
 
 iglish law reporters, though he falls into the absurd 
 
 )r of speaking of Upper Canada as an island. 
 
Whether he imagined it to be an island in the East or 
 the West Indies does not appear. It seemed to me that 
 Mr. Gore had a hard measure of justice dealt out to 
 him in that action. The plaintiff had sent out a com- 
 mission to examine witnesses in Canada, in the hope of 
 proving that the pamphlet of which he complained, and 
 which was written by a Capt. Gray, of Montreal, from 
 mere zeal, as I really believe, for the public service, and 
 from a desire to vindicate the Colonial Government, — 
 had been circulated in York by the Governor. To 
 that end he examined all those known to be most 
 intimate with Mr. Gore, including the officers of his 
 government, but they all swore that they had received 
 no copy of it from him, and had seen none in his pos- 
 session. Failing in obtaining the desired evidence from 
 Canada, the prosecutor called the late Attorney- General 
 Frith into the box and examined him. He stated that 
 Mr. Gore had sent for him and asked his opinion, I 
 (shewing the pamphlet, of which several copies had 
 been sent to him from Montreal,) whether he thought it 
 would be proper in him to distribute them, as they 
 were evidently written with a desire to counteract the I 
 injurious conduct and statements of the individuals! 
 referred to in them. Mr. Frith looked at the pamphlet,! 
 as he said, in the Governor's library, and seeing that! 
 it dealt severely with the characters of the two orl 
 three persons named in it, he recommended him to have! 
 no hand in circulating it, particularly as Mr. Wyatt hadi 
 been suspended, whose conduct he thought proceededl 
 more from weakness than bad intention, and thatl 
 this publication might blast his future prospects] 
 Sir Vicary Gibbs endeavoured to restrain Mr. Fritii 
 from disclosing what had passed in official confidenc 
 
21 
 
 between himself as Attorney-General, and the Qover- 
 nor, who must, as he rightly observed, be allowed to 
 consult his professional adviser, without the danger of 
 having the conversntion made public. Mr. Frith had 
 the candour to state, that he believed the Governor 
 had acted on his advice, but he had no know- 
 ledge of his having given any one else a copy of the 
 pamphlet, and believed he had not done so. But, he 
 added, evidently to the surprise of Sir Vicary Gibbs, 
 who seemed not a little dissatisfied with his want of 
 proper feeling, that he did not look upon what passed 
 as confidential, for that nothing was said to him about 
 secrecy. . ' - 
 
 Judge Thorpe, then also in England, was examined 
 
 also as a witness; and I have not forgotten the as- 
 
 tonishment I felt when I heard the answers given by 
 
 him to some questions put to him in respect to occur- 
 
 irences in Upper Canada in 1806 and 7. His affected 
 
 ignorance of almost everything that had taken place 
 
 there, and his declaration that it was impossible he 
 
 could have had anything to do with such matters, 
 
 I because he Avas at that time a judge in Upper Canada, 
 
 evidently awakened recollections in the chief justice's 
 
 mind. Sir Vicary Gibbs had been Attorney-General at 
 
 Ithat period, and it was quite clear that he knew more of 
 
 judge's history and proceedings than Mr. jGore's 
 
 lunsel did. With the recollection that was evidently 
 
 resh in his mind, he said to the witness, " You have told 
 
 I that you were a judge in Upper Canada; are you still 
 
 in that office, and here on leave?" " No, my lord," said 
 
 [r. Thorpe, " I was suspended." " Oh, you were sus- 
 
 snded. Pray, may I ask, how did that occur?" "I 
 
 iras suspended, my lord, m order to be promoted.'' " I 
 
.1 
 
 do not exactly understand you, Mr. Thorpe,*' said Sir 
 Vioary. " Well,** replied Mr. Thorpe, "all I can say is, 
 that I was suspended by Lord Cattlereaghf when I got 
 to England, — that I was recalled in order to be pro- 
 moted, and accordingly I was promoted. I was a 
 puisne judge in Canada; and was made chief justice 
 at Sierra Leone soon afterwards.** Lord Castlereagh, 
 I believe, had promised him the appointment in Canada. 
 What I have never been able to reconcile myself to 
 is, that what passed between the (Governor and his 
 Attorney-General should have been held to be the 
 publication of a malicious libel, merely because Mr. 
 Frith chose to say that he did not consider the interview 
 confidential. It was quite clear from his own account 
 of the matter, that if he had not been the Attorney- 
 General, nothing of the kind would have taken place. 
 The relation between the parties and the occasion of the 
 interview, of themselves showed that what had taken 
 place was strictly confidential ; and the privilege of not 
 having it regarded as the malicious publication of a 
 libel under the circumstances, was a privilege that be- 
 longed to the Oovemor, and not to Mr. Frith. It 
 is for the protection of the person requiring the 
 official or professional advice, that the consultation is 
 to be regarded as confidential, and surely it should 
 not rest with the person consulted to dispense with the 
 privilege at his pleasure, or, as was evident in this case,| 
 to act in defiance of it, in order to gratify a hostile feel- 
 ing of his own. Sergeant Best managed the plaintiff's I 
 case with the skill and spirit that distinguished him as I 
 an advocate, and addressed the jury in the style that! 
 was certfdn to arouse their patriotic indignation against | 
 what he called "this most extraordinary governor J" 
 
m 
 
 Brgeant Lens, on the other side, was very respectable 
 but very tame. I left the court with the conviction 
 ^hat the chief justice thought the verdict an unjust 
 ind oppressive one; and that if Sergeant Best had 
 
 iu on the other side, he would have annihilated poor 
 
 [r. Frith, and brought off the governor in triumph ; 
 
 lough the odds are very much against a govemor in 
 
 ay such contest before a London jury. 
 
 THE END. 
 
'■i 
 
 ''M 
 
 LONDON: ■■■■, 
 
 SiViLL AND EDWABD8, PBINTEBS, CHAND08 BTBCKT, 
 COVENT OAnDEN. 
 
BTKUT,