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12 3

It ' . •>

r. A a/ ' ■ r

'4BBB9SSS

AN APPEAL

THE PEOPLE

OP THE LATE PROVINCE OP

UPPER CAN ABA

COLONEL FITZ GIBBON.

MONTREAL:

LOVELL AND GIBSON, PBINTERS, ST. NICHOLAS STREET,

1847.

TO BE aAD AT THE PRINCIPAL BOOKSTORES.

Price Is. 3d.

NOTE TO BE PREFIXED TO THE FOLLOWINCf

NARRATIVE.

After serving two yeai's in the Knight of Glin's Yeomanry Corps,
which I entered at the age of fifteen, I enlisted in a Fencible Regi-
ment on the 25th of October, 1798, as a Private Soldier, and on the
same day was appointed Sergeant. On the 9th of June following, I
volunteered into the 49th Regiment, then commanded by the late Sir
Isaac Brock, and accompanied the Army under Sir Ralph Abercromby
to the Holder, where we landed on the 27th of August. On the 2d
of October, I was taken prisoner at Egmont op Zee, and carried into
France. On the 24th of January following, I was landed in England,
having, with the other prisoners taken in Holland, been exchanged.
In March, 1801, the 49th Regiment, having been embarked on board
the Fleet, to do duty as marines, were present at the Naval Action
before Copenhagen, on the 2d of April. I served on board the
Monarch during the action, and that ship having been greatly shattered
by the great Trekoner Batteiy, had to be sent home, and the survivors
of the Grenadier Company, to which I belonged, were sent on board
the Elephant, then Lord Nelson's Flag Ship, in which I served until
the return of the Fleet to England in August.

At the close of the War, the 49th Regiment was sent to Canada,
and after landing at Quebec on the 21st of August, 1802, Lieutenant
Colonel Brock appointed me Serjeant Major, althouglx yet in my 22d
year only. In September, 1803, Colonel Brock recommended me for
the Adjutantcy, but as the resignation of the Adjutant could not then
be accepted at the Horse Guards, there being no vacancy in the Regi-
ment for him as a Lieutenant, he was permitted to do the duty of a
Subaltern and I was appointed to act as Adjutant, and acted as such
until 1806, when Colonel Brock obtained an Ensigncy for rae, in order,

as he said, that I should obtain rank as an officer without any further
loss of time. I was gazetted to an Ensigncy on the 6th of February
in that year. On the 18th of December following I succeeded, to the
Adjutantcy, and on the 9th of June, 1809, I was promoted to a Lieute-
nantcy. On the declaration of War by the United States in 1812, I
resigned the Adjutantcy that I might be eligible to be employed on
detached service, and was immediately placed in command of a com-
pany whose captain was absent. On the 12th of June in the following
year, 1813, I applied for and obtained leave to select 30 men from the
49th Regiment, to be employed in ad van -^e of the Army on the Niagara
Frontier. On the 24th of the same month my success in capturing a
detachment of 500 men of the American Regular Army, 50 of whom
were cavalry, and two field pieces, obtained for me a Company, and
on the 14th of October following I was gazetted Captain in a Provincial
Corps, the Glengarry Light Infantry Fencibles. On the 24th of June,
1816, that Regiment was disbanded, and I was placed on half pay;
and took up my residence at York, in Upper Canada, now Toronto,
{|,nd thus made Upper Canada the land of my adoption.

This rapid statement I have written by way of Introduction to the
following Narrative, which Narrative was already written and about
to be placed in the hands of the Printer before it occurred to me that
such a brief prefatory statement as this would not be inappropriate,
and under this sudden impression I have written it.

JAMES FITZ GIBBON,
Montreal, 24th May, 1847.

AN APPEAL

TO THE PEOPLE

1?HE LATE PBOVINCE OF UPPER CANADA.

On the 23rd day of January, 1838, your Representatives in Parlia-
ment assembled adopted two Resolutions, and a motion to amend them,
of which the following extract from the Journals of their House is a
copy :

** Resolved, — That James Fitz Gibbon, Esquire, having rendered
" signal services to this Province in a Military capacity, on various
"occasions, when he was an officer of the Regular Forces of the
" Empire, during the late War with the United States of America, and
" subsequently in several Civil capacities, and also very recently, as
" Colonel of Militia, on the breaking out of the Rebellion in the Home
" District, it is a dMXy incumbent on this House to recognise, by some
" public expression, his brave and faithful conduct, and to use
" such means as may be in its power to procure to be granted to him
" by his Sovereign some lasting Token of the Royal Bounty, as an
" acknowledgment of the estimation in which those services are held
" by the People whom it represents.

^^ Resolved, — That this House do h"mbly address Her Majesty.
" praying Her Majesty will be graciously pleased to grant to the said
" James Fitz Gibbon five thousand acres of the waste lands of the
" Crown in this Province, as a mark of Her Majesty's Royal Favour,
"for the honorable, efficient, and faithful services of that gentlemail
"during a period of twenty-six years.

" Mr. Merritt seconded by Mr. Burwell, moves that the foregoing
" Resolutions be amended l)y inserting the word ' unanimously,' after
" the word Resolved.

" Which was carried."

Upon these Resolutions an Address to the Queen was passed by th6
House, and sent to the Legislative Council, which House also passed it
with only one dissenting vote ; and the Lieutenant Governor transmitted
it to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, Lord Glenelg, strongly
recommending it to the favorable consideration o? Her Majesty.

Here I beg leave to call your attention, particularly, to the fact that
these proceedings were entirely spontaneous on the part of that House ;
no application or reference bein;:; made to it, either by the Lieutenant
Governor, or by me. But some of the many facts which I will state

hereafter, were known to many of the Members, and especially so were
many of the wrongs and Injuries then recently done me by Sir Francis
Head.

And here, too, I beg leave to state that some expressions injurious
to me were made by certain Members of the present Legislative Assem-
bly in 1845, in Montreal, on the passing of the Resolution granting to
me one thousand pounds in lieu of the five thousand acres of land;
and that other injurious language was expressed by some unjust and
ungenerous men, elsewhere, wlio declared that I did only my duty,
and therefore was not entitled to any reward.

Because of these expressions I do noAv declare to you the people of Upper
Canada that had I been out of debt, when the Address to Her Majesty
was passed by the two Houses I would have promptly but gratefully
declined to accept any reward for the services it had been my lot to
render : — and I would have considered the day of such refusal as the
proudest of my life. But I was plunged deeply into debt, first by
having accepted an Ensigncy in the 49th Regiment, obtained for me
in the year 18CG, by my first and best patron, the late Major General,
Sir Isaac Brock, when I had not one sliilling ; for as a Serjeant Major I
could not have saved one shilling out of the tlien inadequate pay of
two shillings per day, whereas now the same non-commissioned officer
receives tiiree shillings and sixpence per day. Neither was any allow-
ance then made by the Government to non-comrmissioned officers when
promoted, whereas now every mounted officer promoted from the ranks
receives from the Government £150 sterling, to provide him a sufficient
equipment ; and I was then a mounted officer, an acting Adjutant. The
debt then incurred painfully pressed upon me until I was placed on
half-pay, in 1816, when I was solicited to accept a very humble office
under the Provincial Government, and which my pecu.Jary embarrass-
ments constrained me to accept. How these embarrassments were
increased and aggravated, afterwards, by acts of that Government, I
will state hereafter, and prove the facts by Acts of the Legislature and
Orders in Council. As to my having only done my duty before and
during the Rebellion, the same may with equal justness be said of
every public servant who has ever been rewarded hy the Imperial
Parliament for public services. I will hereafter show the risks I ran
of bringing ruin upon myself and family, by the language uttered by
me from time to time to Sir Francis Head, but which the pressing
exigencies oi the crisis I then saw impending extorted from me.

Feeling how unjust those reproaches were, and that my mind has
long been painfully alFected by them, it at length occurred to me to
write to a Member of the last Upper Canada Assembly, and request
of him to vouch for one fact which, to some extent, would show that I
did not avariciously desire to grasp at all I could from the public
revenue of the Province. I therefore, in January last, addressed a
letter to that Member, and received from him an answer of which the
following is a copy :

Matilda, February 1st, 1847.
My Dear Sib,

My absence from home is a sufficient apology for not answering
your letter sooner.

I now inform you tliat I well renionil)! r the time when I called on
you in your room in tlu; l*ttrliiiinent House, to obtain Home intbiination
fVoui you respecting your circumstances, and I told you tiiat it was
the intention of the Members to (ill up the blank in the Resolution
just adopted with six thousand acres. On whicli you paused a iew
minutes and then told me you did not desire an acre more than would
relieve you from your present embarrassments, and that five thousand
acres would give you that relief, and for which you would feel thank-
ful. The blank was then llUcd up with five thousand acres, and the
Resolutions were j)a8sod unanimously.

Believe me to remain yours truly,

T -, T/-* r'Mt T? • Peter vSiiaver.

James I^itz Gibbon, tsquire.

Besides this Member there are, I venture to affirm, many in Upper
Canada, of undoubted honor and veracity who believe me to be one of
the last among men who would desire to receive from the public funds
one shilling to Avhich I was not fully and honorably entitled. But I
now publicly declare that according to the naost moderate scale of
remuneration for public services, and according to the salaries now
paid, I have neve'" yet been adequately paid for the ordinary routine
service rendered by me to the late Province of Upper Canada : from
1816 to 1841, the remuneration should have been at least one hundred
pounds per annum more than I received during those twenty five years:
and the correctness of "this declaration I hope to prove by statements
hereafter to be made in this address to you. And thus the sum of
^62,500, the upset price of the land prayed foi", was justly due to me in
1841, even without any reference to the sei'vices intended to be rewar-
ded by that grant.

In the month of April, 1816, it was announced to the Regiment in
which I then was a Captain, that it would be disbanded on the 24th
of June following. The Adjutant General of Militia of Upper
Canada soon afterwards called on me, and after apologising for offering
me so inferior an appointment as a clei'kship in his department, at 7s. 6d.,
currency, per day, he requested me to accept it, adding that I would be
subject fo his own control only ; and he having been my friend for
many years I would not find the duty disagreeable. After much
consideration I accepted it, hoping and believing that in some time I
should make myself so useful to the Government that it would find it
to be its interest as well as its duty to promote me.

For three years I continued in this ofRcc, but finding my family
increasing rapidly, and my debts accumulating upon me, I turned my
thoughts to the Land Agency business, and decided on giving up the
employment in the Adjutant General's Department, and taking up the
business of Land Agent. During two years it produced for me upwards
of five hundred pounds, and was increasing ; when the Adjutant Ge-
neral again asked me, and urged me to return to his office. And here
I will st'ite that the gratitude I felt for the promotion I had obtained
in the Army, inclined me strongly to serve the Government and the
Nation whose servant I had so long been : for at that time I had not
learned to draw any distinction between the Provincial and Imperial
Governments. I therefore consented to return to his office it he would

■ "Ti

mmmmm^mmmmm

^>rocure for mo tlio snme wages us were piiitl to the senior tlerks in the
otiier Departments of tin; Government, uuqjely, ten Hhiilings, sterling,
per day. He said the Executive Government hud not the power to
inereaso the wages of the Clerk, but I expressed a diflerent opinion,
having carefully considered the law. I told him that I could not>
with any justice to niy faujily, give up my present business for a less
sum. He then petitioned the Lieutenant Governor, and upon his
Petition an Order in Council was passed, granting ten shillings, sterling,
per day, for the said Clerk.

Let me here ask what any reasonable man would say, or think, did
.' tell the Adjutant (Jeneral that 1 had no I'aith in the Governor and
Council who made that Order ? Yet in a few months was this Order
set aside to my great wrong and injury ! The Adjutant General
when urging me to return, assured me that I should be permitted to
administer the oath of allegiance while in his office ; I having been
recently appointed a Commissioner for that purpose. This ofl'er was
made by him spontaneously ; to which I answered, " Without such
permission I would on no account return." Let me again ask what
would bo thought of me, if I had told the Adjutant General that I had
no faith in his pledge or promise, although professedly my friend ?
Yet before many months after my return to his office I saw, one morn-
ing, in the Government Gazette, a list of newly appointed Commis-
sioners, in which my name was not. Whereupon I went immediately
to the Secretary's OlFice, and asked why my name was not inserted in
the new Commission ? He answered me evasively and with evident
embarrassment. I said, " Then I will go across to the Government
" House, and appeal to Sir Peregrine Maitland, personally." Upon
which he said " Stop for a moment : what has been done. His Excel-
'* lency will not undo, and if you bear this patiently, something better
" may hereafter be done for you. l^our agitating upon this occasion
'* will only irritate, and may mar ;your future prospects. If you will
*' pledge yourself to me that you will move no further in the matter,
" I will tell you how the omission has been brought about." After
much consideration, and painful alarm for my unhappy circumstances,
I gave the pledge ; when the Secretary told me tliat the Adjutant
General had been informed that some of the Members of the Assembly
had said " They M'ould not vote for restoring the salary of the Adju-
" tant General to £365 per annum," (to which from £200 it had been
raised, in 1816 for four years by a temporary Act, and which Act had
expired some two years before, and was now sought to be renewed)
" for that there could be little to do in his office, inasmuch as the
'• Clerk was much employed in administering the oath of allegiance."
In fact, the few oaths which were usually administered by me, never
occupied altogether, any one day, more than half an hour ; and in lieu
of this, to prevent any fault finding on my account, I attended the
office every morning at nine o'clock instead of ten, and continued in it
until four P. M. instead of three ; so that the public service gained
much instead of losing any thing by me. The Adjutant General on
hearing what had 1 -n said, went to His Excellency and prevai'ed
upon him to put mc out of the Commission ; and thus was a great
iryury done to me in my pecuniary circumstances ; for the gentleman

t]l()

!r to
iun,
not,
less
his

who was appointed in my place told me that the oflice brought to him
the following year, £75. JJut deeper injury was done to my mind
by the sense of such cruel treachery and injustice, committed by those
whose solemn duty it was to protect and sustain me. An influential
Member of the Assembly said to me, a few days after, and he said it
with an oath, ** Let Sir Peregrine Maitland appoint a competent man
" to the ofllce, and I will vote to give him jGSOO per annum ; but
" the present incumbent is wholly inefficient, and I will not vote for a
" shilling of increase while he holds the oflice." And this was lite-
rally true, and the injury thus, by his mismanagement and inefficiency,
done to men's minds in Upper Canada^ from 18 IT) to 1837, had a large
share in bringing about the Rebellion.

Extraordinary effijrts were now made to procure for the Adjutant
General his late salary of JG36.5. A conference took place between
the late Mr. Peter Robinson, then a Member of the Assembly, and Mr.
Jonas Jones, another Member, when the latter stated (hat the expenses
of the Adjutant General's Department cost the Province, the year just
ended, jE630. lie then said he would vote for a IJill which would
repeal the Law under which the contingencies of the Department Avere
hitherto regulated by Orders in Council, and which would grant,
annually, for the Department, a fixed sum of £600 ; which sum the
Executive might api)ropriate as it pleased. To this, Mr. Robinson
agreed, and such Bill was brought in and passed. It contained the
following provisions : — It authorised the appointment of an Assistant
Adjutant General : it gave to the Adjutant General £365 ; to the
Assistant Adjutant General JGI.GC; and for postage of letters, sta-
tionery, office rent, and fuel, £85 per annum ; the last mentioned
being, in fact, a very inadequate sum. Thus did the Government
sanction an Act, by which I was deprived o£ £52 los. 6d. per annum,
while at the same time I was taken from my obscurity and raised to
the rank of Assistant Adjutant General, and put to an expense for
equipment of upwards of JG60. Thus did the Government and the
Adjutant General effectually, deprive me of JG127 15s. 6d. per annum,
in breach of most distinct and formal agreements previously entered
into, by them with me.

Of this adjustment, by those Members, I was immediately made
acquainted, and I might have marred the measure in the House, by
appealing to some friends I had among the Members ; but I ever stu-
diously refrained from exercising any influence I might have in this
way. Besides, I could not doubt but that out of the Crown revenue
the Lieutenant Governor and Council would surely make good to me
the amount tjius taken from me, and which they had guaranteed by a
formal Order in Council. But it was made good for a part, only, of the
interval. For about two years I made painful and humiliating efforts to
obtain redress, and at length the Assembly passed another Bill adding
£50 to my salary, but making no provision for the expense of my
equipment, or to meet tin increased expenses to Avhich, in other res-
pects, my new rank so p,in fully exposed me.

No man who has not himself suffered under the most painful
pecuniary cmi-rrassments for a long series oi years can form an
a,dequr.te idea of the depression and irritation, to which my mind was.

thus subjected. Wlien I remembered that I had given up a lucrative
and an inereasixig business, (and by which others have since become rich)
from a feeling of gratitude for tlie promotion I received in the Army,
and contrasted the treatment I received in that Army with the wrongs
and injuries thus done me by the Provincial Authorities, I was nearly
driven beyond the contr,>l of my reasoning faculties. But I had a
wife and five infant children to protect and sustain ; and I had suffer-
ing parents in Ireland to whom I had made occasional remittances,
but which I could now no longer make ; therefore did I turn myself
to every source of relief and consolation to which I could by any means
find access, that 1 might not sink beneath the pressure of the wrongs
and injuries thus heaped upon me.

In addition to these evils I had to endure others, of which an exten-
sive correspondance by Post was a serious one. Having been much
known to the Military and the Militia in Upper Canada, during the war
of 1812, great numbers of them applied tome from time to time, after the
war, about various affairs in which they desired that I should aid them.
Few of those paid the postage of their letters, and from 1816 to 1827,
when I was appointed Clerk of the House of Assembly, I am confident
I paid upwards of j£200 for postage. Often did I think of appealing
through the newspapers for protection against this tax ; but consider-
ing that comparatively few of those who usually wrote to me, would
pee the paper in which I would give the caution, T declined making
such appeal. Th'^re are yet many hundreds of persons in Upper
Canada who will, 1 am confident, even now remember gratuitous acts
of mine in their behalf.

Thus did I struggle onwards until the year 1837. I will not here
state any of the particulars of the part I took in the riots in Toronto,
and during the two summers of the Cholera in 1832 and 1834 ; nor
in dealing with the events which occurred with the Irish settlers, near
Perth, in 1823, near Peterboro' in the following year, and in Cornwall
during the elections in 1836. But on the departure of Sir John Col-
borne, in the last mentioned year, I addressed a letter to his Secretary,
requesting that some testimonial in my favor may be left with his suc-
cessor. Sir Francis Head ; for I knew that Sir John Colborne had
intended to reward me on the occurrence of the first opportunity
which might enable His Excellency to do so. The following is a
copy of the Secretary's letter in answer : —

Sir,

Government House, 20th January, 1836.

With reference to your communication of the 12th instant, I am
directed by the Lieutenant Governor to assure you thftt His Excel-
lency is so fully persuaded of your zeal and active services while he
has been in the I?rovince, that he has long been desirous of having
an opportunity of conferring on you an appointment which might, in
some respects, be more in accordance with your vie vs and wishes.

His Excellency thinks it but due to you, to express his thanks for
your exertions on many occasions in the Public Service, and to notice
the sacrifices which you have made of your time and i ;}i''h in carry-
ing on the various duties which you have been entrusrcf^ '.o discharge.

I am also to add, that His Excellency will leave a copy of this letter
with his successor, in order that your character and services may be
made known to him.

I have the honor to be,
Sir,
Your obedient servant,

Wm. Rowan.
James Fitz Gibbon, Esquire,

&c. &c. &c.

It was by order of Sir Francis Head that I was sent to Cornwall
that year, with fifty stand of arms and ammunition, to be issued there
to the Militia, should I deem such issue necessary for the preserva-
tion of the peace, which was then threatened by the turbulent con-
duct of the great numbers then employed on the Saint Lawrence
Canal. The peace was preserved without the issue of the arms, and I
returned to Toronto, after the elections were over.

Yet, notwithstanding that I have just stated that I would not give
any of the particulars of what occurred near Perth, I will do so, be-
cause some of them recur at tliis moment to my memory, so forcibly,
and upon reflection I think them so important, that I will state some
of them hurriedly. On the occurrence of those riots in the Township
of Ramsay, the Magistrates applied to Sir Peregrine Maitland for a
detachment of troops to be sent to their aid, for the preservation of the
peace in the Bathurst District; and in confident expectation that a
detachment would be sent from Kingston, two Companies were there
held in readiness, and provisions were prepared by the Commissariat
to be sent also. His Exc- llency, who then resided in his cottage in
Stamford, decided othc .se, and sent me to inquire into the repre-
sentations made, and to report the result to him.

The circumstances under which I had to obey this ordci* weie, to
me, of a distressing character; for I had to go from the grave in
which I saw one of my children just interred, to the steamboat, leav-
ing my wife in a most feeble state of health. After making such in-
quiries as I deemed necessary, and which occupied me many days,
both in the Township of Ramsay, and before the Bench of Magistrates
at Perth, I returned and made my Report. As an evidence of the
effect produced by my proceeiings on that service, I will state that Mr.
Attorney General Robinson, after his return to Toronto from attending
an Assizes at Perth, some year or two after, was pleased to send me a
list of the very few cases tried before that Court, and to congratulate
me on the good results which appeared to have grown out of my deal-
ings with the two hostile parties of my countrymen, in the district of
Bathurst. And Doctor Hubbell, a resident Magistrate in a neigh-
bouring district, told me some fifteen years afterwards in Toronto,
that he had been surpt'ised and gratified at the peaceable conduct of
my countrymen in the Bathurst District ever since I had visited them
in 1823.

In the year 1335, Sir John Colborne requested of me to form into
a corps for drill, such young men of the City of Toronto as desired
military instruction, and he would issue rifles from the military stores

fill

1:1 I

■«■■

for their use. His Excellency wished them to be instructed, that they
might be qualified to hold Commissions in the Militia. I did so, to the
number of seventy, being tlie number of rifles then in store. To en-
courage these young men to put tliemselves into uniform I ordered
Rifle Dresses for myself and my eldest son, and all followed our ex-
ample; thus, still adding to my pecuniary embarrassments. For three
summers, tliose of 1835, 1836, and 1837, I drilled those young men
twice a week, and for which service 1 never have received any remu-
neration, nor did I expect or desire any.

Before I begin to relate such of the events of 1837, as I now de-
sire to make public, I will here state that having since 1815 clofely ob-
served the passing political and religious controvei-sies in Upper
Canada, I had long apprehended that they would at length grow into
Rebellion. For some years I entertained this apprehension. I was,
consequently, the more watchful of every circumstance or event which,
from day to day, occurred in the Province. Therefore when some of
the people of Lower Canada took up arms, in 1837, to resist the
Government, I had no longer any doubt.

Between eight and nine o'clock every morning I usually went to my
office in the Parliament House, in Toronto, and I frequently met Sir
Francis Head on his way to walk for exercise on the long wharf near
the Garrison. On these occasions he would address himself to me on
the state of the Province; and he soon found that my opinions upon
some important points differed greatly from his own. I cannot give a
consecutive detail of the many conversations I had with His Excellency.
A brief statement of a few of them will shew some of the most im-
portant differences. But first I will state that those meetings were so
frequent, that I feared His Excellency would think that I threw my-
self in his way, and therefore on seeing him at a distance I would
sometimes turn into another direction, so that I might not meet him ;
but on seeing me do so he would either call aloud to me, or hold up his
walking stick, and beckon me to him.

When Sir John Colborne asked him how many of the Troops, then
in Upper Canada, he could spare for service in Lower Canada, he
answered, ALL. This word "ALL" he had some time afterwards
printed in large capitals; and accordingly all were sent. The last
detachment sent down was that from Penetanguishene, consisting of a
Subaltern and thirty men. As this detachment approached Toronto
from the North, I urged His Excellency to keep it in the City, to be a
nucleus for the Militia to rally round. He answered "No, not a
" man ! the doing so would destroy the whole morale of my policy : if
" the Militia cannot defend the Province, the sooner it is lost the
"better." "Then, Sir," I replied, let us be armed and ready *o
"defend ourselves." "No," he continued "I will do nothing; I do
" not apprehend a rebellion in Upper Canada:" and the djtachment
proceeded to Lower Canada.

Six thousand stand of small arms had recently been sent to Toronto
from Kingston, with ammunition, and his Excellency ordered that they
should be deposited in the Market buildings, in the charge and keep-
ing of the city authorities, and two constables were ordered to keep
«ratch over them at night. This amount of protection I considered

altogether insufficient for their safe keeping. I constantly apprehen-
ikd that the rebels would corae into the city, individually, and conceal
themselves in the houses ot their friends until a sufficient number were
at hand, when a rush to the City Hall at any hour during the night,
would give them easy and prompt possession of the extensive Market
buildings, and their contents; and thus tliey would have not only arms
and ammunition, but a very strong place of defence in the heart
of the city. To guard against this dreaded danger, I assembled on
parade the young riflemen under my tuition, and asked them if they
would volunteer to furnish a guard of fifteen or twenty men every
night, to take cliarge of the Market buihlings, and to furnish two sen-
tries for the Government House, when they promptly and cheerfully
answered in the affirmative. Whereupon I called on His Excellency,
and male the offer of our services, but lie quickly, and even pettishly
refused. I urged the danger to which I considered we were exposed,
and stated how I thought the rebels mig'it, individually and secretly,
come in and surprise us: ::i answer to which, among other expressions,
he use/l the following Avords: — " In short. Colonel Fitz Gibbon, but
" that I do not like to undo what I have already done, I Avould have
** those arms brought from the City Hall, and placed here in the
" Government House, under the care and keeping of my own doraes-
*' tics." further argument I saw must be useless, if not irritating to
His Excellency, and I Avithdrew. Before, liowever, I had passed
through the outer apartment, His Excellency opened the inner door
and called me back, and said, '* Make your offer to me in writing,"
and he closed the door between us. I then began to hope that he
would accept the guard. On returning to iny otlice, I wrote, and sent
the offer, accordingly; Avhen to jny surprise, on the following day, I
saw it published in the Toronto Patriot. It Avas noAV plain to me, that
His Excellency desired to be urged to take measures of defence, that
he might show forth to the Province that he had no fear of rebellion,
and that thus he might, ultimately, show how much more correctly ho
estimated the future, than those did Avho thus urged him to arm tht
loyal part of our people, so that they might be able successfully to
defend themselves. 1 am convinced that His Excellency AA'as con-
fident he could keep all in peace and safety, Avith his own Gouae
Quill.

Soon after this I had another, and Avliat appeared to me a still more
convincing proof of my opinion of His Excellency's mind. 1 had
recently been transferred from the command of the 4th Regiment of
York Militia, to the command of the 1st Regiment of the City of To-
ronto, in which I found some four or five Captains, and only two Subal-
terns. To complete the officers I prepared a list of more than twenty
candidates for promotion and appointments, and topk it to His Excel-
lency myself, for the Adjutant General Avas manifestly so inelllcient
that I could not hope for prompt attention tabe paid to my recommen-
dations, did I send the list through his ofhoc. His Excellency looked
at the list, and said he would do nothing until the following summer.
This decision convinced me that I could not hope to move His Excel-
lency to take one step for our defence, seeing that he would not even
permit the perforraanco of the ordinary, the every day duties which

i !

llii

the law required. The passing occurrences of every day, now almost
of every hour, impressed me more and more with the necessity of pre-
paring for our deftrsce; and at length I began to think that I might,
of my ovn mere motion, do something elficient for the protection of
the City at least, if not of the Province. Under this impression I im-
mediately acted as follows:

I took my pea and wrote down the names of all those men living
west of Yonge Street, within the city, upon whose loyalty I thought I
could depend. On counting them I found the number amounted to 126.
With this list I went to the Government House, and was admitted to
His Excellency. I showed him the list, and stated to him that I inten-
ded to warn each of those men to go to bed every night having arms
loaded near his bedside; and on hearing the College bell ring he should
run to me to the Parliament House with his arms: that I intended to
call on the Mayor of the City, and advise him to warn, in the same
way, all the loyal men living east of Yonge Street; and on the :.'ing-
ing of the College bell, which I would take caro should be rung if
needed, that he would cause the City bells to ring, and let those east
of Yonge Street run to him to the City Hall. I said to His Excel-
lency that I considered two places of rendezvous four times better
than one place. After a short pause, and while His Excellency was
looking over the list, I said, " For the doing of this I desire to have
" Your Excellency's sanction : but permit nie to tell Your Excellency
" that whether you give me leave or not I am determined to do it."
He took the paper from before his face and looked at me with an ex-
pression of surprise, or anger, in his face; when I added, " I say so
** with all due respect to Your Excellency, as the Representative of
"my Sovereign; but you are so convinced that we are in no danger,
"that you will take no measure of precaution; but I, being fully con-
" vinced that the danger is most imminent, am determined to take
"every measure in my power to devise for the protection of my family
" and friends." After a pause and apparent further consideration, he
said, " "Well I think this is a good measure, and you have my sanction
" for carrying it out." I then thanked His Excellency, and with-
drew.

Immediately I proceeded to the City Hall, and made my communi-
cation to the Mayor, in the presence of Alderman Dixon. I beg that
this fact may be remembered ; because when I was assured of the ap-
proach of the rebels towards the City on the night of the 4th of
December, and therefore caused the College bell to be rung, the City
bells were not rung, as agreed upjn, until I lost nearly half an hour
of my most valuable time in causing them to be rung, and was pro-
ceeding to break the Church door open, when the key was at length
brought.

After leaving the City Hall I proceeded to warn the loyal men and
commenced with Captain Macaulay of the Royal Engineers, then
retired from the service, and living in Toronto, in the West end of
the City. I continued onwards from house to house, until I came to
that of the Chief Justice. I found him alone in his Library. I showed
bim my list, and stated my object. J^ter some pause he said, " Colo-
" nel Fitz Gibbon, I cannot partake of your apprehensions, and I am

im-

'ing-

" sorry to see you alarming the people in this way." I then repeated
to him what I had said to Sir Francis Head, and added that no hu-
man power should prevent me from taking every possible measure to
guard against surprise. But I had so great a respect for the Chief Jus-
tice that, to meet his wishes as fur as I could, I agreed to Avarn the
heads of families only, and not the young men.

And here I beg leave to state that 1 did not then, nor have I evei*,
blamed the gentlemen of Toronto who Averethon so incredulous. They
had as deep interests to protect as any could have, and would be as
prompt to defend them did they in reality apprehend danger. But I
state this expression of the Cliief Justice that the value of his testi-
mony in my favor, which I will hereafter give, may be duly appre-
ciated ; for I will show that his conduct in my behalf thereafter was
most generous, I may truly say magnanimous: contrasted with that of
Sir Francis Head it was really so.

As I warned each individual I marked his name on the list, but the
Rebellion broke out before I had warned quite fifty out of the one
hundred and twenty-six.

[And here I request that reference may be had at once to the Chief
Justice's letter to the Bishop of Toronto; and also his letter to me,
hereinafter inserted.]

On the morning of Saturday, the 2nd of December, I was in my
office taking down the information of a man from the Township of
Markham, previous to my swearing him to it, I being then a Justice
of the Peace. Before I had gone through with the case, a gentleman
from another, and more distant part of the country, north of Toronto,
came in, and desired to speak with me alone. I took him into the
Speaker's Room, and hearing his statement, which I considered as
most important, I determined to take him with me at once to the
Government House; but he positively refused to accompany me. He
said the rebels knew that he had urgent business to transact in town,
and they believed that for that only had he come in ; but that if they
suspected he came to give information, he had no doubt they
would assassinate him. I still urged him, but in vain. He said ho
could not depend for secrecy upon any one else in town, and he would
not.* On going from the Parliament House, I said to him that His
Excellency w ould no doubt desire to hear his statement from his own
lips, and again urged him to let mo know where in Town I could send
for him, should His Excellency insist upon seeing him; and at last ho
consented, and did tell me.

On arri>i.ig at the Government House, and sending in my name, 1
was shown in to His Excellency's presence, and found assembled with
him the Members of his Council, some of the Judges, the Attorney
General, and the Speaker of the Assembly. I communicated the in-
formation I had just received, and stated the objection made by my
informant to his appearing personally before any other pei'son. After
some conversation it was decided that I should summon him before
His Excellency, and I did so. Before he came, much discussion took

♦To account for this confidence in me, especially, I must state that I had been,
for some years before, Deputy Provincial GranA Master of the Free Masons in
Upper Canada.

jllllll^ll lipi^^^^M

III!

Fi t

place on the state of the Province, in which I was invited or permitted
to take a part. No one present appeared to have any apprehension of
approacliing danger. I expressed mine very strongly, and from time
to time urged upon His Excellency the necessity of arming in our
defence. Upon one occasion, Judge Jones, who sat next to me on my
riglit hand, turned towards me and snid, " You do not mean to say that
"these peojde arc going to rebel?" To wliich 1 answered "Most
"distini!tly 1 do, sir." AVhereupon he turned from me towards his
Excellency and exclaimed, most contemptuously, "Piigh! Pugh!" I
instantly threw out my hand, and looked around the circle until I saw
all silent, and then said, " Which of you, gentlemen, would have pro-
" phesied one month ago that the Lower Canadians would now be in
"open rebellion as lliey an^? — and have not these people been repeat-
"edly drillt^d and practised with ball cartridge in the neighbourhood
"of this City, and will they not go further?" And on. my pausing,
jVIrr Jones said "there is some truth in that." I then thought I had
made a convert of him. But no ; lor on Monday night, only two days
after, when I galloped from house to house, calling upon one man to
go and call his neighbour, that I might multiply the means of arou-
sing the people from their beds, I sent a gentleman to call Judge Jones,
whose residence was opposite; and when the Judge came forth into
the street, he roughly asked, " What is all this noise about? who
"desired you to call me?" he was answered " Colonel Fitz Gibbon,"
when he exclaimed, " Oh, the over-zeal of that man is giving us a
" great deal of trouble." And yet had it not been for this over-zeal it
is possible that h3 would have been one of the victims which would in
all human probability have been sacriliced by the Rebels, on that
night, had they i)roved successful.

But to return to the meeting on Saturday : — On the arrival of the
gentleman who had been sent for, His Excellency and the Attorney
General examined him in an adjacent room ; and on tlieir return the

Attorney General said " The statement made to us by Mr. ^djes

" not make half the impression upon one's mind as was made by Col.
" Fitz Gibbon's statement : the information he brings is at third or
" fourth hand." Upon which I said, " The information he brings is
" at second and third hand, not at fourth hand ; — but what impres-
" sion does it make on the man's own mind I Has he not seer in a
" blacksmith's forge, bags lilled with what he has no doubt are pike
" heads ? Has he not f^ei^n the handles already made, and the timber pre-
" pared for more, which he was told were intended for hay-rakes
" or pitch-forks ? And has he any doubt at all of the object of the
" preparations which he, .i'rom day to day, has seen making in his
"neighbourhood?" "Whereupon the Hon. Wm. Allan said, ""What
" would you have, genth-men ? Do you expect the Rebels will gome
" and give you information at first hand ? How can you expect such
" infoi'mation but at second, third or i'ourth band ? I am as lon^ in
" this country as most of you, gentlemen ; I know the people of this
" country as well as most of you, and I agree i.i every word spoken
** here to-day by Col. Fitz Gibbon, and think that an hour should not
*' be lost without ]neparing ourselves for defence."

Up to this period not a word was spoken by any one present in,

mj support ; and these expressions greatly relievptl and encouraged
me. After Mr. Allan liad done pju'aking, I turned towards His Ex-
cellency and said, "In short, Sir, Avhen I came here this morning, I
" expected that Your Kxcellciicy would give inc leave to go into thn
'* streets and take up every half pay olliec^r and discIiarg(Ml soldier I
'* could find in the City, and place tiiein this vim'v day, in t!ie Garrison
'* to defend it." To this, Ilis I'^xccUeury answered, *' Whiit would the
" people of Engl.md sny were we thus to iirin ? And, hesidcs, were
" you to pass the Militia by, i!i(\v would feel tlieiuselves insulted."
To which I replied, ^"Pardon me. Your Excellency, they would rejoice
" to see ine organize the Military to be a nucleus for them to rally
« ronnd."

This meeting, or Council, snt for five or six hour.-J, and when I
withdrew from it and reflected upon all that had passed, of which I
here state but a few pai'ticulars, I did fear that I should be looked
upon by those present as a presumptuous and arrogant man : for I
spoke with great earnestness and fervor.

On Monday morning, between eight and nine o'clock, His Exc(dlency
sent his Secretary for me, and on coming into his presence, he had in his
hand, a Militia General Order, appointing me to act as Adjutant
General of Militia ; and having read it to me, he told me I may sign
the general orders and Jther documents issuing from the Department,
as Adjutant General. After a moment's pause I observed that if I did
so, it would expose me to a charge of assuming to be what I Avas not :
that the law allowed but one Adjutant General, and that Colonel Cof-
fin still held the office. I therefore ventured to suggest that I should
add to my signature " Acting Adjutant General," to which His E^xcel-
lency asseuti d. I state this fact here, because it Avill corroborate other
facts which I shall have to state hereafter, and which will show how
easily His ICxcellency departed from a due regai'd to veracity when
his interests or his feelings prompted him to do S(>.

On this day, Monday, His Pixcellency pre[)ared a Militia General
Order, appealing to the Officers commanding Kegiments and Corps in
the Province, and conveying instructions for their guidance under the
circumstances mentioned therein. A copy of this I took to the
Queen's Printer ; but it could not be circulated before the out-break,
which occurred the night of that same day.

As that night approached I became more and more apprehe.isivc of
approaching danger. I determined not to sleep again in my own
house, which, being some distance from any other house, might be rea-
dily surrounded, and my cjipture or destruction easily accomplished ;
and McKenzie had recently in his newspaper made especial mention
of me, by name, as the Teacher of the young men of the Volunteer
Corps. I had no doubt, therefore, of being a marked man. I conse-
quently determined to sleep in my office in the Parliament House,
until I should consider all danger over. Late in the day I invited
several gentlemen to come to the Parliament House and watch with
me during the night, and many came in consequence.

About ten o'clock, because of some occurrence, which I now forget, I
went over to the Government House, where I found Mrs. Dalrymple,
His Excellency's sister, and his danghtcr. Miss Head, at work with

mmf

wmmmmmm

J!'

i I:

their needles. I told Mrs. Dnlrymple that I desired to see His Excel-
lency. She said he was in bed. "Nevertheless, Madam, I desire to
" see liim." " Tie retired early, being fatigued, and it is hard that he
" should be disturbed." " Still, Madam, I think it most important that
•* I should see him ; but if he will not come down, I must go to his
" bedside." lie was sent for, and soon came in his dressing gown.
I told him that I apprehended some outbreak would take place that
very night, which foar I deemed it my duty to communicate to him,
leaving His Excellency to give it what attention he pleajsed : that if
he retired again, I would take care that he should not be surprised.
He did retire and I withdrew. Before another hour elapsed I was
informed that a body of the Rebels was approaching the city from the
north. Whereupon I instantly sent Mr. Cameron, then a student at
law, and now the Solicitor General for Canada West, to ring the Col-
lege bell, which he immediately did. At the same time I mounted a horse
belonging to the House Messenger, and in a stable at hand, and galloped
from iiouse to house in the west end of the town, calling the people
out of their beds, and directing them to run to the Parliament House
with their loaded arms, for that the Rebels were approaching the city.
I called Mr. Stanton, and made him call Judge McLean, wiiose house
was next to his. I called another gentleman and bade him call Judge
Jones ; and this I did in order to multiply the means of arousing the
people. When Mr. Jones came into the street he asked, angrily,
" What is all this noise about ? who desired you to call me ?" and was
answered, " Colonel Fitz Gibbon," when he exclaimed, " Oh ! the over
" zeal of that man is giving us a great deal of trouble." This fact I have
already stated, +o elucidate more clearly the force of what I then
mentioned, as in connexion with it, and to remove all doubt of the
incredulity of all the principal Members of the Government, down to
the very last moment, Avith the single exception of the Honorable
Wm. Allan.

As I went from house to house, I listned for the ringing of the
City bells, but several minutes having elapsed and no bells rung, I
galloped to St. James' Church, which I found yet shut. I called aloud for
some one to run for the keys, and after waiting for some considerable
time, I called aloud for axes to break the door open, when at length the
keys were brought and the door was opened. In accomplishing this,
I lost nearly half an hour of my most valuable time. I then gave
directions in the City Hall to break open the cases in which the arms
were deposited and to issue them rapidly to the men as they came in.

Everything being now in motion I desired to ascertain what pro-
bable time would elapse before the Rebels would enter the City, and I
therefore rode out Yonge Street, accompanied by two young students
at law, Messrs. Brock and Bellingham, who were then near me, and
also mounted. We proceeded as far as the bridge and Causeway,
lately made over the ravine, in front of Rosedale, the Sheriff's resi-
dence, about two miles from the market place, and meeting no one,
and every thing being perfectly quiet along the road, I began to think
the alarm I gave was premature, and t;hat I was exposing myself to
ridicule by my extraordinary proceedings. But seeing that I had now
time to return and form a strong piquet and place it on Yonge Street,

sti

Bii;: i

to meet the Rebuls, I determined togalloi) back lor tliat purpose. But
still desiring to learn where tlie Uebels were, if indeed at all approaehing,
I expressed my regret that I had not Avith me a few more mounted
men and with arms, for we were without any, that they might ride as
far as Montgomei'y's, then two miles from us, to reconnoitre. The
young men instantly and eagerly offered to do so, but I would not con-
sent, partly because they were unarmed, and partly that Mr. Brock had
been sent to Canada, and recommended to ray care by his father, Major
Brock, of Colchester, who had formerly served in the 49th Regiment
with me, and who had, some short time before, generously lent mo
£1,500 sterling. I shrunk from thus exposing his son to such danger.
But the young men pressed me so importunately that I consented.
Now, at this moment, the Rebels were within two hundred yards of
us, silently marching towards town, and in two minutes after the young
men left me, they met them in the dark and were made prisoners.
I was then returning rapidly towards town and soon met Mr. Alder-
man Powell, and Mr. McDonald, the Wharfinger, riding outwards ;
and on asking them their object in going out, Mr. Powell said he was
desirous of ascertaining if the Rebels were, in fact, at Montgomery's,
as lie had just been told. I expressed my great satisfaction and told
him that Messrs. Brock and Bellingham were already proceeding before
him for the same purpose, and begged of him to ride on quickly and
overtake them, and we parted. In a few minutes after they also met
the Rebels, who called upon them to surrender. Mr. Powell, however,
being armed, drew a pistol and shot their leader dead as he approached
him, and then turning his horse, he galloped back towards town. On
arriving at the Toll-Gate he found it shut, and no one answering his
call, and supposing he was pursued, he quitted his horse and ran
through the woods and fields to the Government ITouse, and went at
once to His Excellency's bedside and acquainted him with what was
passing. On my arriving in town, but yet ignorant of what had just
occurred behind me, I also went to the Governor's House to let His
Excellency know all that I had done, where I met Mr. Powell coming
down from His Excellency's bed-rocm, and he told me what had just
occurred to him. I passed up to His Excellency and advised him to
dress quickly and come with me to the City Hall, and that while he
was dressing I would ride down to the end of Yongc Street, and ascer-
tain whether or not the Rebels had yet come so far, as if they had, we
must gain the Court House by one of the front streets, not liable, just
then, to be traversed by them ; and I did so. But on approaching
the end of that street I saw some seven or eight men grouped together,
and I called aloud, desiring one of them to approach and let me know
who they were ; but they all quickly ran behind the two corners of
that and King Street. Being unarmed| and not doubting but that
many concealed Rebels were ready in town to join those coming in,
I did not venture to approach them, but galloped rapidly b^ck towards
the Government House, from which I saw His Excellency issue with two
or three of his servants, all armed, and I led him by a front street to
the City Hall.

On proceeding to form a piquet I learned that Judge Jones had
already formed one and had marched it to tho Toil-Gate on Yonge

n ■ ! )

Street, whither I itumediatcly rode, and soon learned that the Rebels
had returned to Montgomery's. I afterwards learned that they did
so because their leader was killed, and because they heard the bells
ringing in the City.

Sentries were now carefully posted, and soon two men on horse-
back, riding cautiously inwards, were secured by them. These men
pretended tliat they were coming to town on business. They had no
arms. They admitted that they passed through the Rebels who did
not molest them ; and they gave the first information of the shooting
of Colonel Moodie, who they saw lying on a bed, dying. I sent them
to the City Hall and placed them in custody. The remainder of the
night was spent in arming and organizing the citizens.

On the following morning, at sun-rise, accompanied by Captain
Halkett, of the Guards, His Excellency's Aide-de-camp, and four
others, mounted, I rode out and reconnoitred the Rebels, who it was
said, were felling trees and fortifying their position at Montgomery's.
I found they had done nothing ; that the road was perfectly open and
well macadamized, and that in less than two hours they could be
attacked by a force from town. I had already formed in platoons, in
the Market square, upwards of five hundred men ; and one six poun-
der field-piece, was manned and loaded in front of the City Hall. I
therefore galloped into town to pray of His Excellency to let me take
three hundred of those men and the six-pounder, and make an instant
attack upon the Rebels. I will not attempt to describe the feelings
of exultation which filled my mind while galloping into town. I
eagerly begged of His Excellency to let me take that number of the
men then Ibrmed in the square and the six-pounder, and I assured him
that there need be no doubt but that in two hours we would disperse
the Rebels. But to my surprise he almost angrily exclaimed, " O
" no, sir! 1 will not fight them on their ground, they must fight me on
" mine !" Filled with such unexpected and deep disappointment I
mentally exclaimed, " Good God ! what an old woman I have here to
" deal with !" I cannot, even now, refrain from thus declaring
these, my thoughts, exactly as they then arose in my mind, unbeco-
ming aS) to many, this declaration, perhaps, may appear. And no doubt
the expression of my continuance indicated what was then passing
within me. In vain did I use every argument I could, to obtain leave
to attack the Rebels instantly ; for I considered a prompt defeat to be
of the utmost importance to our cause in the very outset ; but I soon
found that my arguments produced upon His Excellency irritation
only.

This day, Tuesday, was passed in further preparation. In the
evening I was forming a piquet to be placed on Yonge Street during
the night ; for the one placed there the night before by Judge Jones he
withdrew in the morning. His Excellency from a window above saw me,
and sent for me and asked what I was doing.: I answered, " Forming
" a piquet to be placed on Yonge Street." He quickly and impera-
tively said, " Do not send out a man." To which I said. " I cannot
" endure to leave the City open tothe incursions of these ruffians !"
He continued : " "We have not men enough to defend the City ; let us
" defend onr posts : — and it is my positive order that you do not leave this

" building yourself." To which I said, " I pray of Your Excellency
*' not to lay such imperative orders upon me : 1 ought to be in many
" places, and I ought to be allowed to exercise a discretionary power
" where you are not near to give me orders." But His Excellency
only repeated his orders more imperatively. I retired from the pre-
sence of those around me, and reflected intensely on all the circum-
stances by which we were surrounded. I had no doubt of the importance
of having a piquet on Yonge Street to stop the approach of the Rebels
from Montgomery's, should they attempt to enter the City. From
what I had seen of night-fighting, I knew full well thqt a handful of
men opening a fire upon them as they advanced, would at once make
them run back. Whereas if they were not resisted they might come
in with the more confidence and set fire to the city ; and thus give
confidence to their friends in town, and also, in the country at large,
and thereby paralize the spirit of the Loyalists every where. I there-
fore formed a piquet in a place where His Excellency could not see
me, and placed Mr. Sheriff Jarvis at the head of it, and marched it out
myseif and posted it ; giving the Sheriff such instructions as the place
and circumstances seemed to me to require. I then returned to the
City Hall ; and as I approached it I debated with myself whether I
should state to His Excellency that I had so posted the piquet ; and I
deemed it most candid to do so I therefore reported to him what I
had done, and he rebuked me for it : certainly not angrily, but in
milder terms than I expected from him. In the course of an hour,
however, a report reached him that the Sheriff and piquet were made
prisoners by the Rebels, and then he reproached me in angry terms
for what I had done.

I will here state that in dealing with the authorities around me I
found some of them more ready to dictate to me than to obey my orders,
and I was thus forced to speak to such in decided terms, and sometimes
in the most imperative tone, even to threatening an officer of rank that
I would cut him down, and which I assuredly would have done had he
not instantly obeyed my orders. And this was on the morning of the
day on which the attack upon the rebels was made. I had sent for the
three last kegs of ball cartridges which remained unissued, to be distri-
buted to a portion of the force intended for the attack ; but finding
some delay in its being brought, I galloped to the wagon wherein it had
been placed, and there I found Colonel Chisholm in the wagon, rolling
outoneof the kegs, when I said, "What are you about. Colonel Chisholm?
I have sent for that ammunition to be distributed where it is most
wanted," when he answered most bluntly, " But my men want it too.
Sir, and I will have it." I then said, " Colonel Chisholm, your detach-
ment is going to the Peacock Tavern, where there is no enemy, and
therefore they are not to have ammunition which is so much wanted
elsewhere." When again putting his hands to the keg he exclaimed,
" I am determined to keep this for my men, let what will happen !" I
instantly put my hand upon the hilt of my sabre and cried aloud, "Quit
the wagon this instant. Sir, or I'll cut you down!" He looked at me
and appeared to hesitate, and I repeated my order still more sternly:
" Instantly quit the wagon or you are a dead man !" and instantly
I would have cut him down had he not instantly obeyed. Now, Colonel

•

Ciiisholm was a paiticular iVicnd of mine, and u most wortliy man,
and with whom I hud often served during the lato war ; but the circum-
stances of the moment imperatively required from me such unHinchlng
exercise of autliority.

Excited therefore by His Kxcellency's rebuke I said, in no mikl tone,
•* I do not believe the report, your Excellency — the Sheriff is not a
fool; he lias been well posted and well instructed, and I have every
confidence in him." Very soon after a second report was brought, that
the Sheriff and his piquet were running into town through the fields
in twos and threes, which seemed to appease His Excellency u little.
In a few minutes more Mr. Cameron, the young student already men-
tioned, came from the Sheriff to inform His Excelleny that the rebels
had approached his position when his piquet fired upon them, and they
fled, leaving some of their men dead upon the road. It was ascertained
the following day that they were coming in to set the town on fire. A
Captain Mathias, on the half pny of the Royal Artillery, who lived near
the Toll Gate on Yonge Street, was coming into town on horseback,
when he fell in with the rebels, who made him a prisoner, and h^ had
to ride in iheir midst towards town, when he learned, from what ho
overheard of their conversation, that their object was to set the City oa
fire.

Thus, in this particular instance, was the City saved from being set
on fire by a measure of mine, carried out in direct disobedience of His
Excellency's positive command, delivered by himselt to me, personally.
Yet for this great service Sir Francis Head did not, in his Despatch,
give me the least credit ; nor for any other service, saving and excep-
ting what is given in the following short paragraph :

" Accordingly, on Thursday morning, I assembled our forces, under
the direction of the Adjutant General of Militia, Colonel Fitz Gibbon,
Clerk of the House of Assembly."

A man of magnanimous, or even of candid mind, vould the more
readily have given me credit for it, because it was done contrary to
his own order. But had he given me credit for any considerable part
of all I did he could not make many of the misstatements which ap-
pear in his Despatch, because their ingeniously contrived phraseology,
being placed in juxtaposition with a true statement of my proceedings
would at once show that they were elaborately devised misrepresenta-
tions. Take for example, the two following paragraphs, and with them
my statement, hereafter given, of the circumstances relative to the
burning of Gibson's house, which His Excellency's own admission, in
his published " Narrative," in part confirms, and a suflliciently accurate
estimate may be formed of this extraordinary Despatch, scarcely one
paragraph of which is free from false colouring, exaggeration, or
absolute, and elaborately contrived misrepresentations of facts clearly
known and fully understood by Sir Francis Head :

" Mr. Mackenzie and his party, finding that at every point they were
" defeated in a moral attack which they had made upon the British cou-
" stitution, next determined to excite their adherents to have recourse to
'* physical strength. Being as ready to liieet them on that ground as
" I had already been to meet them in a moral struggle, I gave them every
"possible advantage. 1 in no way availed myself of the immense

" resources) of tliulJiitisli Empire ; on tliccoiitnirv, I purposely di.iiiiiased
" from the I'rovinco the whole of our troopsi. I allowed Mr. iMackonzio
" to write wliiit ho ohortc, sui/ what Jkj cliodo, and do wimt Ikj chose ;
"and waited with folded avrui until lie hud colleeted his rebel furcef,
" and had actually coniineneed his attack.

"I then, as a solitary individuiil, called upon the Militia of U])per
"Canada to defend uw, and the result has been as I havo stated, viz:
"that the people of Upper Canada came to me when I called them;
"tliat they completely defeated JNIr. JMackenzie's adherents, and drovo
"him anil his rebel ringleaders from the land."

It is now manifest that if all had remained as inactive as His Excel-
lency did, and as he desired all others to remain, no call from him could
have ever gone forth to the Militia; as the City would have been sur-
prised by the rebel.-", and he would have been sacrificed to their rngo
} against him ; for they had determined to put him and the Attorney

General to death. Yet these two men, and these chiefly, if not only,
were the men to conceal, as far as they could, from the Sovereign and
from the Nation, the services so well known to them, whic'i the
Almighty enabled me to render, in despite of their own discouragement
and opposition. And these wrongs becoming known, in part to tho
Members of the Legislature, no doubt increased those feelings which
prompted them to move in any bclu.l.", as they did, in a few weeks
after the Rebellion was suppressed.

And when tho Despatch was received in Toronto, the citizens were
so indignant at the inju .tice done me by Sir Francis Head, that tliey
had a public meeting, and passed Resolutions, praying of the Provincial
Government, to grant an acre of land in the city to me, and further
resolving to subscribe money to build a house thereon for me. Appli-
cation was therefore made to Sir George Arthur for the grant, and
books of subscription were placed in the Banks ; but active efforts
were immediately made by one high in office to quash all further pro-
ceedings, and those efforts were successful ; it being speciously ui-ged
that the measures already adopted by the Legislature would be unfa-
vorably affected by those now prosecuted by the citizens.

The proceedings of that meeting were published in the Toronto
Patriot in the month of May 1838.

Now tho official and political conduct of this man, whose agencies
quashed those proceedings, did more to urge men to Rebellion in
Upper Canada than that of any other public man in the Province;
and next to Sir Francis Head, was he active in discouraging every
Tuan fi'om taking any measure of defer ee, previous to the Rebellion.
Yet did Sir Francis Head appropriate two thousand pounds out of tho
Crown Fund in Upper Canada, to purchase half an acre of land from
that official, ostensibly for the use of the Government, but which, to
this day, nearly ten years after, has not been applied to any use what-
ever. Thus one man whose conduct nearly caused the loss of a Pro-
vince, and partly led to the loss of some 1-ves, and of vast treasure, is
thus favored, while another whose conduct has produced the most
opposite results, and in whooe behalf the Legislature of Upper Canada
and the citizens of Toronto have repeatedly prayed that he should be
rewarded, has been left to suffer as I have been left. The unprofita-

mmmm

I f

■V- i

ble servant lias been proraptlj, lavishly, and corruptly rewarded for
\mdmervicei while instead of the reward so often prayed for, being
promptly and graciously given to the other for a great service, he has
been subjected to mental torture for nine long years. In truth he has
been cruelly punished. And these things have oco ed under British
Authorities, and in the middle of the nineteenth century.

Take as another example of Sir Francis Head's crafty misrepresen-
tation the following paragraph from his Despatch, with my, statement
which follows:

" Mr. Mackenzie under these favourable circumstances, having been
" previously permitted by me to make e^ery preparation in his power,
" a concentration of his deluded adherent;?, and an attack upon the
" City of Toronto, wms secretly settled to take place on the night of
"the 19th instant. IIowe\or, in con?3quence of a Mihtia Gene-
" ral Order which 1 issued, it was deemed advisable that these
" arrangements should be hurried; and accordingly, Mr. Mackenzie's
" deluded victims, travelling through the forests by cross roads,
" found themselves assembled at four o'clock on the evening of Mon-
" day the 4th instant, as Rebels, at Montgomery's Tavern, which is
" on the Yonge Street macsdaraized road, about four miles from the
« City."

Now the order mentioned here was not issued from the Government
House, until Monday the 4th of December, the very day of the out-
break, on which day, I carried it to the Queen's Printer to be printed;
and it was not circulated until after that day, and I doubt if it
has ever been circulated: so that Mr. Mackenzie could have had
no knowledge of its existence when he assembled his followers
at Montgomery's, for lie had left town several days before, for
the purpose of assembling them. Yet Sir Francis Head in his
Despatch of the 19th of December makes the statement which I have
here copied; although he then well knew that it could not then have
liad any such effect. If Mackenzie was moved to hurry his measures
by anything doing in Toronto, it could only have been by tht pre-
cautions which I had been taking for some weeks before, and which
were known to so many, that he most i)robably hr.d heard of them.
In fact this General Order was written by Sir Francis Head, in conse-
quence of my statements before His Excellei^cy, and His Excellency's
Council, and the Judges, on Saturday, and only two days before.*

Adjutant General's Office,
Toronto, 4th December, 1837.
Militia General Order.

Ilis Excellency the Lieutenant Govenor has pleasure in announ-
cing to the Militia of Upper Canada, that in consequence of the
present disturbed state of the Lower Province, several Regiments have
gallantly expressed their readiness to co-operate in case of necessity
with Her Majesty's Troops, in protecting th^ir fellow subjects in Lower

*nic ninth clause of lhf> Militia Law, td which ihp Colonpis are rpferrcd by His
Exoplloncy, was pointed ont to him at that meetino; by *h<> Chief Justice, as that by
which the Oolonels should be guided. And here 1 insert the General Order at full
length.

th(

Cunadu, in the maintenance of the revered hiws and institutions ol' the
British Empire.

While this spirit, so honorable to Upper Canada, and so fully in
accordance with the character of its inhabitants, has been manifested
in various portions ot the Province, His Excellency has witli regret
received information from various quarters, that in certain portions of
the Home and London Districts, a number of individuals have been
seen assembled, as if for the purpose of drilling, some of them beai'in«'
arms, although not called upon by public autliority, nor acting under
the orders of any Olficer appointed by t'le Crown.

Whatever may be the motive of such assemblies, the Lieutenant
Govenor is of opinion that they are calculated to excite alarui in the
minds of all peaceable inhabitants, and that being contrary to law, they
are inconsistent with that duty and allegiance which it is the pride of all
faithful subjects to cherish.

The Lieutenant Governor has therefore determincvl to call upon all
persons in public authority, as well as upon all classes of Her Majesty's
subjects in Upper Canada, to unite together in maintaining the high
character which this Province now holds in the esteem and affection of
the T'Tother Country, by discountenancing such meetings, and by doing
all ili their power to discover and make known those who promote and
take part in them.

With this object in view, the Lieutenant Governor directs that the
Colonels of Militia throughout the Province shall, upon receiving this
Order, call out their respective Regiments, and acquaint them of the
above circumstances ; and also that His Excellency's offer to Sir John
Colborne, of Her Majesty's Troops who were in this Province, has been
accepted — that Her Majesty's stores, arms and ammunitions, have been
entrusted by His Excellency to the civil authorities — and that the
period has consequently arrived for His Excellency to call upon
the Militia of Upper Canada to do justice to the honorable confi-
dence which under circumstances so flattering to their character, has
been publicly reposed in their valour and in their loyalty.

Upon the Militia of Upper Canada, as the Constitutional Force of
the Country, the Lieutenant Governor relies with confidence for
aiding the civil powers, firmly to maintain the laws, and to protect
all classes of the Queen's subjects in the full enjoyment of their rights
and liberties ; and His Excellency is fully assured, that if necessity
should arise, the inhabitants of Upper Canada will not fail to place
on record an honorable examph? of a people who, appreciating the
blessings, of peace and freedomj will allow no political differences of
opinion *to prevent them, Avhen duly called upon, uniting to support
their religion, the cown, and the laws.

His Excellencj therefore directs the Colonels of Militia through-
out the Pxovince, immediately to make such arrangements as may
appear to tUam most judicious, for enabling their respec^'ve corps to
act with promptness and effect, should any emcigency render their
services necessary. And in case the civil authorities should find oc-
casion to suppress an illegal meeting, His Excellency especially refers
to the 9th section of the Militia Act, passed in the 48th year of
the Reign of His lato Majesty George the Third, relying that the of*

jmm.

ficera commnndiiig Regiments will, with aincrity, firmness, nnd discre-
tion, exercise the j)Owera tlierein given thera, of suppi'essing with
the force of their respective Regiments, any attempts that may be
made to oi)pose^the Civil Magistrates, or to diaturb the peace of the
country.

The Lieiitennant Governor is proud to believe that Upper Canada
is the only portion of the British Empire divested of Military support,
and he feels confident that the Mother Country as well as the conti-
nent of America, respect the steady peaceful conduct which at present
so peculiarly distinguishes the inhabitants of the Upper Province of
the Canadas.

By order of His Excellency,

James Fitz Gibbon,
Acting Adjutant General of Militia,

Let me again return to the proceedings in the City buildings.

In fifteen minutes afterwards, His Excellency came to me with an
open letter in his hand, which warned him that the Rebels intended
before day, to come in and set fire to the City, in many places at once,
and in the hope that the Market buildings might thus be burned, and
our armed force therein be driven from their several defences. Down
to this moment the idea of the Rebels setting fire to the City had not
occurred to us. The letter was anonymous. His Excellency then
ordered that I should proceed at once to have the spare arms and
ammunition removed to the Parliament buildings, which being isol ited
were not exposed to danger from any surrounding buildings, as in
our present position we were. After a moment's reflection I con-
sidered such a movement in the dark us most dangerous, for many
reasons. We had no wagons or other carriages ready, nor could we
readily procure them at that hour of the night; and this I stated to
His Excellency. He then desired that the armed men should lay
down their arms, and each man take four or five muskets on liis shoul-
ders, and thus send them up, load after load, a distance of about
half a mile, until all were removed. Now^, at the hour in qu ~tion,
these men had been confined w^ithin the buildings, some twenty-four
hours, suffering more or less from cold and hunger, and want of rest.
I will not now give in detail the thoughts which I entertained as to
the consequences of taking these men from their several positions of
defence, in Avhich they had been placed with much care and trouble,
and where they had been instructed how to act if attacked. They had
not, as yet, been formed into squads or companies, having sergeants
and corporals to guide them. The utmost confusion, I had no doubt,
must follow their dispersion in the dark; and leaving their own arms
lying in he City Hall loaded; the Rebels would soon become acquain-
ted with tha* confusion, and would no doubt, make some movement to
avail themselves of its advantages to them; our men would be exposed
to every kind of panic; and in any event I had no doubt that many
would go to their homes for rest and refreshment; and thus would our
present organization at doors and Avindows, and on the roofs of houses
be broken up, and in the middle of a dark night we would be scat-
tered abroad, in circumstances the most critical and dangerous. I
represented all this to His Excellency, and prayed of him to delay the

Gei

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the
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I discrc-
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may be
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e exposed
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of houses

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delay the

<4S

rcmoTal until after daylight; and that in the meantime I would place
men in the neighbouring churches and buildings, so as to keep the
Rebels at such a distance as- would protect us until then. But His
Excellency persisted in ordering the movement to be commenced as he
had directed. I continued to remonstrate, for I apprehended the worst
consequences from the movement, and after some time I turned and
walked a short distance from him, endeavouring to devise some argu-
ment to dissuade him, or some better means of accomplishing the
removal. He quickly followed me, and angrily asked, *' Do you mean
" to disobey my orders?" I anstvered, "No, Sir, but I desire toconsi-
** der how I can ])est obey them, for they fill me with apprehension."
At this critical moment a shout from below announced the arrival of
Colonel Macnab, with upwards of sixty men from Hamilton. I
instantly said, "Now, Sir, we are safe till morning, for with this rein-
" forcement we can guard every approach to any distance from which
" we can be injured:" and he yielded. The reinforcement added little,
in fact, to our security, but I eagerly seized upon the ai'gument it affor-
ded me, to keep all things as they were until daylight.

During the remainder of the night we were not disturbed, and on
the following day, Wednesday, we made the necessary transfer to the
Parliament buildings.

In the course of that day, the Attorney General met me in one of
the passages of the Parliament House, and showed me a Militia Gene-
ral Order, appointing Colonel Macnab to the command of the Militia
in the Home District, and to which order ray name was affixed. I
confess I was on the point of seizing the Attorney General by the
breast and demanding "who had dared to put my name to that order?"
But reflecting upon the critical circumstances by which we were sur-
rounded, I feared that any discord might produce unforeseen, and
perhaps irremediable evils. I therefore let it pass. It will be seen
hereafter why this Order was issued without my knowledge; for the
mode of carrying out the objects intended was, specially to be con-
cealed from me as long as it was possii 'e.

During this day, Wednesday, reinforcements came in from Hamil-
ton and Niagara by Avater, and from the countiy by the easte. nd
western roads. The city was noAV becoming crowded. "We were with-
out organization, without any sufficient Commissariat for the moment.
It became therefore imperatively necessary to attack the Rebels with
the least possible delay. Night came on, however, and no order was
yet is^sued to prepare for an attack. Surprised at this, but yet reluc-
tant to urge His Excellency, I waited until eight o'clock, when I
\\ jnt to the Government House, to which he had returned from the
Market buildings, and there learned that he was at the Archdeacon's.
On returning to the Parliament House, I met the Hon. Mr. Allan and Mr.
Draper, and requested of them to accompany me to urge His Excellency
to order the attack on the following morning. They readily complied,
and we found His Excellency with the Archdeacon, the Attorney
General, the Honorable Robert Sullivan, and I believe another per-
son not now remembered by me. After some conversation I stated
the object of our calling, but to my surprise I found little corrrespon-
ding desire to act so promptly. Wc sat hero for abou* two hours, and

?■'■■

lit,'

111

I! 'Hi

^ii

out of all that was said I will state but a few particulars. I used
many arguments to show the necessity of making the attack on the
following day, and I was surprised that there should be any hesitation
upon the question; nor could I then account for such hesitation; for
the necessity appeared to me self-evid' nt. At length His Excellency
consented to order the attack, and I instantly rose to depart, because I
had not rode round the piquets and guards for the last three hours.
On my rising, Mr. Allan took hold of my cloak, and bade me sit down
again, and I did so, Avhen he said, " I apprehend there is some misun*
" derstanding here. It is plain from Vhat Colonel Fitz Gibbon has
" said this evening, that heexpecis to command at the attack!" Where-
upon I threw myself back in my chair, and mentally exclaimed, " Why
" to be sure I do!" and JMr. Allan continued; — "but Colonel Macnab
" told me this day, tliat His Excellency promised him the command!"
Upon this a pause followed, and the Attorney General rather hesita-
tingly said, " Why, as His Excellency has appointed Colonel Macnab
** to command the Militia in the Home District, it is a matter in
" course that he should command at the attack." To this I said, " It
" is not at all a matter in course. Sir, His Excellency may appoint you
" or any one else he may please, to command an expeditionary force
" like this, intended for a particular service, without any reference to
*' the commander of any district." I soon after withdrew, but no
further decision was then made as to who should command. The
motives and the object of His Excellency and the Attorney General
became now still more obvious to me, but the exposure of them here
would greatly add to the length of this appeal, already extending to
a greater length than I at first anticipated.

After riding round the line of Piquets I went to my house to take
some rest; for I had not slept at all since the night of Sunday. On
arriving I learned that some suspicious persons had been fii'ed at near
my house just before I arrived. Therefore, to avoid all risk of sur-
prise, I w<nt to my office in the Parliament House and slept on the
floor from one till four o'clock. I then rose and sketched a plan of
attack, and just as I had completed it Judge Macaulay and the Hon.
John M.-raulay entered. I related briefly what had passed at the
Archdeacon's the evening before, and reqaest^J of them to go to Sir
Francis Head, who was sleeping in a room in the other end of the
House, and ascertain from him who was to command at the attack.
They went, and in a few minutes I was sent for, and so also was the
Speaker of the Assembly, Colonel Macnab. I found His Excellency in
a camp bed in which he raised himself up, and said that he found him-
self in a painful position, having, as rivals before him, two officers of
equal zeal, of equal bravery, ami of equal talent competing for the
command. On his using the words " equal talent " 1 stepped back
and looked at him with an expression of surprise; for I had served in
the Army for more than eighteen years, and had obtained by the most
arduous efforts in it advancement from the rank of a Private Soldier
to that of a Captain; and had obtained my Company for services in
the P^ield; and also the thanks of the Commander of the Forces in an
autograph letter from His Excellency, in 1813. Whereas Colonel Mac-
nab had served as a Cadet for about one year, and as an Ensign some

Inl
To

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jervices in
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)

eight or ten months, and held no rank at all in the Militia when I was
already a full Colonel. I confess that I was HUed with indi;?natlon at
an assertion which His Excellency must have known he was wliolly
unjustified in making. And when J did spoak I used, among other
expressions, the following words, arrogant though they may appear to
many: " I little expected to find any Militia-inan in the Province
" competing a Command with me under such circumstances as these
" in which we are now involved: " — and turning to Judge Alncaulay,
who had served in the same Regiment with me during tlie late War,
I said, " If there be any Militia-man in Upper Canada who has any
" pretension to compete with me on this occasion, this is the man."
Whereupon Judge Macaulay, wlio was then, also, a Colonel in the
Militia, said: "I have not energy enough to bear mo through suc'^ a
" crisis as this." His Excellency then desired that the two Macar ya
and I should leave the room for a short time. AVe were then detained
in the passage for a considerable time until we wvre shivering with
cold, and I was at the sam.e time burning with indignation. For I
then more clearly understood the unworthy motives which moved His
Excellency and the Attorney General thus to strive to make a tool of
me, to organize the heterogeneous mass of men now crowded within the
City, to direct their movements during the attack, while Colonel Mac-
nab, having nominally the Command, was to reap the fruit of Avhatever
service might thus be rendex'ed, and even indirectly to rob me of the
credit of having saved the City, which had been already saved before
he arrived in it.

On being again called in, His Excellency said that Colonel Macnab
had released him from his promise, and that I was to command.
Whereupon I turned to Colonel Macnab, and holding out my hand,
said, " Colonel Macnab has acted like a just man and a patriot," and
I shook hands with him and immediately withdrew; for His Excel-
lency by much talking had already robbed us of much of the valuable
time which should have been employed in forming the men into Com-
panies and Battalions, so as to be ready to make the attack sufficiently
early in the day.

The difficulties I encountered in hurriedly forming such numbers
into Companies and Battalions, and selecting Officers for the several
Commands and Stations were to me nearly insurmountable. For my
physical energies were nearly exhausted, and ray mind was irritated
almost beyond endurance by the treachery and ingratitude of Sir
Francis Head and his Chief Adviser, the Attorney General, whose
unworthy motives became, by this time, quite manifest to me. My
condition was, altogether, such as I cannot stoop to describe here,
further than to declare that it was the most imminent crisis of my life.
A short time before marching out to the attack, His Excellency sent
to me for an Officer to act as Aide-de-Camp to liim foi thoc day, and
I sent Captain Strachan, who had lately retired ft-om the dStl. Light
Infantry, in which Regiment he had served for seven or eight years.
To my surprise His Excellency sent him back and desired especially
to have a Militia Officer; and 1 sent him Mr. Henry Sherwood. I
then begged of Captain Strachan to accompany me during the day;
and this I did to soothe his wounded feelings, and he most readily and

^«

rmKK^^mmmtnmmmif

.;-■

r ■

■■

kindly complied. I mention this timong othei* facts to show how
much His Excellency desired to act through the Militia, rather than
through those who had any pretensions to Military experience, and aa
if regardless of the injury he must do by thus misapplying the various
machinery by which he was then buirounded.

The moment we marched I considei'ed all our difficulties as sur-
mo'inted. I had no doubt that the Kebels could not resist us for half
an hour; and in point of fact they fled almost iriimediately on being
attacked, as no doubt they would have fled had they been attacked on
Tuesday morning. In pursuing them up towards Montgomery's
House, those in advance and the head of the column broke into a crowd
as if they had never been formed, ond became for some time quite
unmanageable. Thinking it possible that the llebels might rally some-
where near in their retreat, I desired to follow them up without deby,
but I saw that much time must be lost to re-form any considerable
number of our force. I therefore rode forward slowly, causing the
bugle to sound the Advance, at short intervals, and in obedience to
the call many advanced as it were in a stream. I was then informed
that Mackenzie was not far a-head of me, and, followed by Captain
Halkett, a son of the Chief Justice, one of my own sons, and three
others, all mounted, we pursued in the direction pointed out, and were
soon turned from the road towards the woods. A young man named
Maitland, one of the pursuers, out-rode us all and cqine in view of
Mackenzie, who, seeing himself thus pressed, abandoned his horse and
ran into the forest. We then gave up the pursuit, for we were with-
out muskets or rifles, and were two or three miles in advance of
our men, while the rebels were flying through the woods in every
direction.

On regaining the main road, on our return to rejoin our men, we
met a detachment of about forty men mai'ching outwards, I asked
the person who commanded them where they were going? he answered
" To burn Gibson's house." Surprised at this, I asked sharply,
<* Have you orders to burn it? " and was answered, " We have."
" Are you sure you have orders? " " We are sure," — and I let them
pass. On overtaking the rear of the column, then returning home-
wards, Mr. Sherwood rode up to me aud said, " His Excellency de?
<* sires to recall the men who. are going to burn Gibson's House: they
<* are not to burn it." I turned to Captain Strachan and requested
him to gallop after the detachment and bring it back, and he did so.
In a very little more time several voices called aloud for me, saying
^hat His ExcelleTicy desired to see me. He was riding homewards in
advance of the column, and I had to ride rapidly after him for some
time before I could overtake him. On meeting some one he pulled up,
and on my riding up alongside of him he turned to me and said,
<' IfiGt Gibson's house be burned immediately, and let the Militia be
" kept here until it is done." Already I had seen with displeasure
the smoke arising from the burning of Montgomery's house, which
had been set on fire after I advanced in pursuit of Mackenzie; and I
desired to expostulate with His Excellency, but he quickly placed his
right hand on my bridle arm, and said " Hear me! let Gibson's
" house be burned immediately, and let the Militia be kept here until

" it ia done,"— exactly repeating his order, and then he set spurs to hig
hprse and galloped towards town.

It was now late in the day; the weather was coldj the men were
much fatigued and hungry; they could be of no manner of use if halted
where they then were, so that I decided, at once, on sending a detach-
ment to burn the house, and I did not interrupt the march homewards
of the main body. I waited until the column passed and then wheeled
the last Division about and sent them northwards. I called on a Field
Officer who was near me and ordered him to take command of the
detachment and carry His Excellency's orders into effect; when he
said " l^^or God's sake, Colonel Fitz Gibbon, do not send me to cari-y
" out this order." I said, " If you are not willing to obey orders you
" had better go homo and retire from the Militia." " I am very willing
" to obey orders, but if I burn that house I shall be shot from behind
" one of these fences, for I have to come over this road almost every
" day in the week." I then excused him, but on looking around for
some other Officer to whom I could entrust the duty I found myself
some distance from all parties, they being all the time marching from
me; the main body towards town, and the detachment towards Gib-
son's house. I therefore rode after the detachment and directed the
burning of it myself.

From the spot where His Excellency gav" me the order, Gibson's
Jiouse was distant about three miles ; and some two miles of the road
was at that time almost impassable for horse or man, the macadamized
piart of the road not coming within two miles of Gibson's house.

I give this minute detail because Sir Francis Head in his despatch
of the 19th of December, twelve days after, states that " the Militia
" advanced in pursuit of the rebels about four miles, until they reached
<< the house of one of the principal ringleaders, Mr. Gibson, which
" residence it would have been impossible to have saved, and it was
" consequently burned to the ground," Now, in point of fftct, Gib-
son's house was more than seven miles from town, and tlie Militia had
not come within two miles of it vhen they were countermarched to
return to town, and the house was in no danger. Sir Francis Head
well knowing these facts, and having given repeated orders to burn,
aqd not to burn this house, yet does he unscrupulously and craftily
pen the above quoted passage.

On reading this despatch, in Toronto, in April following, I saw at
once that it exposed me to the charge of being the incendiary who
'laused the house to be burned, not only without any order, but rather
in defiance of authority; for every one there knew that it was burned
under my immediate directions, there being about forty men present
who acted under my orders.

I immediately addressed a letter to Lord Glenelg, and stated the
above facts therein; and Sir Francis Head in a Narrative which he
soon after published, admitted that he gave the order to burn it. The
admission was made in a note at the foot of one of the pages, in the
following words: " By my especial order."

On arriving at the door of my own house late in the evening of the
7th of December, I was so stiff, cold and exhausted, that I could not
dismount from my horse, and had to bo helped off and supported into

■Mi

the house and laid down.* On the following morning I could not leave
my bed, and the Chief Justice kindly came to inquire after me; and
by him I sent a verbal resignation to His Excellency, of the office of
Acting Adjutant General of Militia, to which \\e had appointed me on

,1 f

it I

* It is now Thursday morning, six o'clock, tho 27th of May, 1847, in Montreal:
I am examining the proof-sheet of this page, after having perused Sir Francis
Head's letter to the Editor of the ZonJo/i Sun, dated "Athena;um, April 24th,
1847." From that letter I copy the following paragraphs;

" 1. It is stated in the Edinburgh Iteview, page 369 : " 'For the information of
readers at home, it niuy be as well tlmt wo should give a succinct narrative of the
circumstances that attended M'Kenzie't; attack on Toronto. Our knowledge of such
facts as are not taken from the official accounts have been derived from written
statements given to us by Colonel F." '

"2. For about eight 'pages these 'statements' are quoted at tedious length, in
order to blame me in every possible way for not having attacked Mr. M'Kenzie, &c.,
&c., &c., according to the advice of this otricer.

" 3. It is, therefore, necessary th:'t I should disabuse tho public by reluctantly
stating, what is perfectly well kmiwn throughout Upper Canada, namely, that the
gallant militia Colonel in (picstion, from exccssixe zeal and loyalty, gradually
became so excited that on the day after the defeat of the rebels it was necessary to

Elace him under medical treatment; that during his illness 1 in vain endeavoured,
y every possible act of personal Idndness, to n-muve fn)m him a strange idea that
I was his enemy ; and that although he eventually recovered, this idea continued to
haunt him so incessantly that when, a year afterwards, on his visiting England, I
was from feelings of regard about to call upon him, I was earnestly warned by a
Canadian now at Toronto not to do so.

" 4. Now is it creditable that under such circumstances the " written statements"
and opinions of this brave and worthy individual should have been selected as the
foundation of an elaborate attack upon me ?

" 5. It is stated in the Edinburgh Review, page 382, " ' That having quarrelled with
Colonel F. and every independent person who had once acted under hira — having
disgusted the old officers of the army and navy by ordering them to serve as
privates luider the lawyers and merchants' clerk;, of Toronto, Sir F. Head was
entirely in the hands of the • family compact.* Commissions in the militia were
given to every relation and hangei-un of the principal members of the Govern-
ment. One regiment is said to have been entirely officered by pt'rs<ms of tho same
family name. Profitable contracts enriched others of the favoured connexion." '

" 6. Now, I never for a moment quiirrellcd with Colonel F. On the contrary, on
my arrival in Downing Street from Canada, I respectfully but most earnestly,
urged Lord Glenelg to reward him ; and, as regards the rest of the charge, I feel
confident that if appealed to, the old officers of the army and navy, as well as the
Adjutant General of the Militia of Upper Canada, who was officially cognisant of
every appointment, will certify that the altove assertions in the Edinburgh Heview,
especially that relatin;j; to a regiment having been entirely officered by persons of
the same family nan.o, are a series of untruths."

To these statements I answer that after the defeat of the rebels it was not neces-
sary to place me under medical treatment, neither was I to placed. I did not even
send for Doctor Widmer,f who for more than twenty years had attended my family.
But he called to see me of his own accord, so also did the Chief Justice, as is
already hereafter written in this Appeal, and in the very next sentence of it, after
the inserting of this note. And so, also, did the Honorable Wm. Allan call to see
me. Let these honorable men judge between Sir Francis Head's statement and

■j Doctor Widtnor attended the Militia in the field on tho 7th in liis professional capacity, ho
being a retired Army Surgeon. Few men knew more of the details of passing; events durin|;
those days thau did Doctor Widmer.

as IS

Monday morninji^. For I was convinced that I could not serve the
Province advantageously to its interests under His Excellency, after
the treacherous and unworlhy treatment I had experienced from him,
at a time when he well knew that to me he was indebted for his life:
for the rebels had resolved to facrifide him and the Attorney General.
Yet these were the men who tiius have wronged and injured me.
Their objects and their motives, as 1 have already stated, are well
known to me, and tlie time may come when, with other events of those
days, I shall lay them before the public.

In justice to Sir Allan Macnab I will here state that in no one par-
ticular did I see cause to be displeased with his conduct towards me
in those transactions. I consider him as having acted only in obe-
dience to the orders received by him.

Thus, then, did I feel myself constrained to resign an office in the
Provincial Service, which, above all others, I desired to hold; the
duties of Avhich were familiar to me, and to the efficient performance
of which I could cheerfully devote my best energies. But I could not,
without gross hyprocrisy, serve under the immediate authority of Sir
Francis Head, after the injuries done me, and the indignity offered by
him; and therefore returned to my duties of Clerk of the Assembly.

On the 23rd of the following month, January, 1838, two Members
of the Assembly, Messrs. Merritt and Burwell, who often acted with
me on the Niagara Frontier, during the late war, brought my case
before that House ; manv of the circumstances herein stated were
known to those gentlemen, and to the Members of the House, generally,
and they desired to procure for me that justice which they saw was not

mine. Neitlier was any message or mcssengei' from Sir Francis Head received by
me or mine after the 7th of Doceinber, and the fecHngs of my wife and children
were most indignant because of this ingratitude.

As to his "quarrelling" with me, he may put what interpretation he pleases upon
the verbal resignation M(hich I sent to him by the Chief Justice on the morning of
the 8th of December, " because I could not, and would not, serve under his imme-
" diate control after the treacherous and unworthy treatment I had received at his
" hands." Already, in 18C9, it was bruited in Upper Canada that I was mad. I
have no doubt that he would have secretly rejoiced had madness or death been my
lot.

Neither did Sir Francis Head show me any mark of kindness, nor even of the
slightest attention, until after the two Houses had passed the Address to the Queen.
Then he became uneasy because of his injustice and treachery, which, being likely
to be thereby exposed, his caution or his fear prompted him to assume a regard for
me.

As to the other statements in the Edinburgh Review, not one of them has emanated
from me, which is not included in this Appeal to you, the people of Upper Canada.
And for the truth and accuracy of every statement in this Appeal I hold myself
answerable to God and to you.

The paragraphs from Sir Francis Head's letter, and this my short statement in
answer, I thus introduce into my Appeal, while examining the proof-sheets as they
come from the press. The rest of this Appeal was written in Upper Canada in
March and April last, after I had perused Sir Francis Head's book, " The Emi-
grant."

n I

I-- i

likely to bo sought for me oy Sir Francis Head. They, therefore,
moved and carried the Resolutions which are given in the first part of
this statement*

Now let mo ask you, the people of Upper Canada^ to itnagine what
my feelings were on the evening of the 23rd of January, 1838, while
returning to my family with the news of what had, that day, been so
generously and unexpectedly done for us, by your Representatives.
After my long suffering, here was relief preparing for me, in the most
gratifying way that ever could have entered into my heart to hope for:
being even by the spontaneous proceedings of a whole people in my
favour— a people among whom I lived and served for more than
thirty years ; who for three years stood side by side with me,
in our successful, our triumphant defence of the Province, against out
neighbouring invaders. Could I then, at all, have imagined that those
proceedings woiild, ultimately, be to me but a delusion and an afflic-
tion ?

On the Address to Her Majesty being passed by both Houses, Sir
Francis Head deemed it prudent to appear to be equally desirous to
procure the desired reward for me ; and he addressed the following
letter to Lord Glenelg, to accompany the Address : and I confess that
When I read it, (for he ordered a copy to be sent to me) I felt ashamed
of its phraseology, for the recommendation is couched in language
Such as was to me most distasteful.

Upper Canada,

Toronto, 8th March, 1838.
No. 25.

Mt Lord,

I have the honor to transmit to Your tiordship, a Joint
Address to the Queen, from the Legislative Council and House of
Assembly of Upper Canada, praying that Her Majesty would be gra-
ciously pleased to grant to James Fitz Gibbon, iJsiiuire, five thousand
acres of the waste lands of the Province, as a mark of Her Majesty's
Royal Favor, for the honorable, efficient and able services of that gen-
tleman, during a periotl of twenty -six years.

I beg leave respectfully, but most earnestly, to join in this recom-
mendation, and I can assure Your Lordship that a braver, a more loyal
and devoted servant than Colonel Fitz Gibbon cannot exist in Her
Majesty's Dominions.

In time of war as well as in peace, he has admirably performed his
duties, and I am confident that the boon, which is solicited in his
favor by the Legislature of this Province, would be most gratefully
acknowledged by Her Majesty's loyal subjects in Upper Canada.

I have the honor to be,

&C., 86C., &c.,

(Signed,) Francis Bond HeaiI.

To the Lord Glenelg,
&c., &c., &c.

A true copy,

(Signed,) J. Joseph.

Fi
G(
bu
su

Sir

When Sir Francis Head wrote this letter, lid had time to review
his injustice towards me. He had seen the spontaneous proceedings
of the two Houses in my behalf, and he must have felt that on the
publication of his Dcapatch in Canada that tliat injustice must appear
more manifest, and he now availed himself of every opportunity to
soften my mind towards him by every means in his power. Hence,
the overstrained language of this letter, and his sending me a copy of
it. He availed himself of an opportunity to tell me that, " He had
" noticed me in his Despatch." You have already seen the great injus-
tice done me therein. Upon another occasion he desired me to go to
the Surveyor General's OlRce and have my name pencilled upon lots to
the amount of 5,000 acres of any vacant land I desired to have in
Upper Canada. " Provided I did not ask for town lots." And had
the land been then granted, I might have selected land worth £5,000.
But in this, as in so many other instances, I. have been only tantalized
by promises and proceedings which have continually resulted in the
most bitter and cruel disappointments and injuries to me, for now nine
long years, and from the evil eifects of which I can never in this life
entirely recover.

•About the end of March, news was received in Toronto, that His
Excellency's resignation was accepted, and that Sir George Arthur
was appointed to succeed him. The day before his departure he
invited me to dine with him, and the only other person present at
dinner was his Secretary. He assured me that immediately on his
return to London, he would use his best efforts in my behalf, with
Her Majesty's Government.

I accepted this invitation with much reluctance; but seeing so
many instances of a desire to conciliate me, I no longer felt a wish to
injure him. And if justice had, at any time hitherto, been done to me,
I would gladly have allowed all these events to have passed from my
mind, as far as it was possible for me, and to forget them. The one
great wish of my life was to be relieved from the grievous burden of
debt which so long had depressed, humbled, and, as it were, degraded
me. I had little desire for distinction or notoriety : my long suffering
had nearly extinguished all such; and if my name has been oicen
before the public, let it be remembered that it was the action of others
and the course of events which led to its being so brought before you.
But as all the private means I have hitherto employed during nine
long and painful years, to obtain due justice, have failed, I am, in the
last extremity, driven to make this public appeal. And in making it
there is a necessity for stating those facts against Sir Francis Head, so
far as I have now done, that I may let you, and the Parliament of the
United Province, see plainly the many important facts herein
set forth, which have hitherto been withheld from public view.

On the publication of Sir Francis Head's Despatch in Toronto in
May, 1838, a Public Meeting of the citizens was held, which express-
ed by resolutions their strong sense of the injustice done me by Sir
Francis Head; and they further resolved to apply to the Provincial
Government for the grant of an acre of land within the City, whereon to
build a house for me; and that to raise funds for that purpose, books of
subscription should be deposited in the Banks in the City. But clan-

( ''

destine and sinister infltiences were promptly and aurccssfully employed
to quasli these proceedings; for they emanated from one of the most
influential persons holding ofRce under the Provincial Government,
whose tools urged with specious plausibility that such proceedings
would, in all probability, offect the success of the proceedings already
had in my behalf by the Provincial Legislature. Aid this proposed
measure added another to the many delusions and disappointments so
often encountered by me.

In the month of June following, I received from Mr. Secretary
Macaulay, by order of Sir George Arthur, a letter, of which the fol-
lowing is o copy:

Government House,
Toronto, 23rd June, 1838.
Sjh,

I am directed by the Lieutenant Governor, as it is a matter in which
you are particularly interested, to inform you that he has received a
Despatch from the Right Honorable the SvCretary of State, acknow-
ledging the receipt of the Joint Address to the Queen, from the Legis-
lative Council and Assembly of this Province, praying that a grant
may be made to you of five thousand acres of the waste lands of the
Crown, and stating that on its being laid at the foot of the Throne,
Her Majesty had been pleased to express her gratification at the hono-
rable testimony borne to your services by both Branches of the Pro-
vincial Legislature.

His Lordship adds, that if it shall be the pleasure of the two Houses
to mark their sense of your services by a pecuniary grant, it will
afford Her Majesty much satisfaction to give her assent to any act
which may be passed for that purpose; but Her Majesty is advised,
that consistently with the terms of the recent Provincial Act, on the
subject of the alienation of the waste lands of the Crown, and the
principles on which that Act proceeds. Her Majesty could not
make you ♦he proposed compensation in the form of a grant of
land.

I have the honor to be,
Sir,
Your most obedient humble servant,

John Macaulat.
Colonel Fitz Gibbon.

&c. &c. &c.

This unexpected disappointment fell heavily upon me; for I had
incurrfd new ve»pnnsibilities in the confident hope that an order would
be received to grant me the land.

During the following Session, the two Houses passed aBillto autho-
rise the granting me the land by law. The land being now the pro-
perly of the Province, to be appropriated by law, I hoped that the
Lieutenant Governor would, upon my stating my embarrassments to
him, give the Royal assent to the Bill at the close of the Session; for I
then considered the land as equitably mine, and all but legally so. I
therefore urgently prayed of His Excellency to do so. From what he
said to me, I hoped he would grant my prayer; but to my deep disap-
pointment he reserve '' it to be sent home fo? Her Majesty's considera-

tlo&t tnd this he did in the most heartless manner, never offering me
one word of sympathy to soothe or sustain my mind, the unhappy
state of which was well known to him.

Under the pressure of feelings which I could not control I suddenly
set otiFfor England, in the lioiMi of procuring the Koyal Assent to the
Bill, or a grant in money, in liuuof the land, from tlie Crown Revenue
of the Province, which was then at the disposal of tlio Crown. The
upset price of the land, M'hen lirst prayed for, Avas ten shillings the
acre, and this was the sum the House of Assembly intended to have
granted to me.

I had two interviews with Mr. Labouchere, the Under Secretary
for the Colonies, and of what passed on both occasions, 1 will give a
part only of the last conversation.

He said "You cannot have the land: it is determined that land in
" the Colonies shall be no more given in reward of Public Services."
" Then, Sir," I said, " give me the upset price of the land in money."
He asked, " Where am 1 to find the money?" I answered, " In the
" land fund of Upper Canada." " How am I to ascertain that?"
" By asking Mr. Dunn, the Receivtr General of the Province, who is
" now below in waiting, in obedience to a summons from this Office: he
" will tell you it is there, for I know it is there."

I then withdrew, in the confident hope that this grant would be
made tome, out of the Provincial Crown Fund: for my chief object
and hope on leaving Canada, were to obtain this alternative.

On the following morning I called on Mr. Dunn, who told me that
on being asked the question, he said to Mr. Labouvihere, " You have
" only to issue a warrant in favor of Colonel Fitz Gibbon, and I will
" pay the money." But no such warrant was ever issued.

I now submit to the candid consideration of any Statesman, if, after
the great service I had rendered, not only to the Province, but to the
empire also, and having a Joint Address to the S*" reign, and a Bill
parsed by both Houses of the Legislature of the Province, whose pro-
perty the wild land now legally was, presented in my favor, it was
not an act of callqus cruelty and positive injustice to me, to refuse
the grant thus prayed for? Any considerate Statesman, having due
regard to justice, and the pledges already given, would not hesitate to
gratify the loyal and gallant people of Upper Canada, and that, too,
at their own expense, after that people had been repeatedly assured
that Her Majesty desired tc govern them agreeably to their own well
understood wishes, as expressed through their Legislature. Thus did
that people twice formally pray that a reward might be conferred on
a public servant for great services rendered by him. Yet these two
prayers were refused, and a third and subsequent one was not even
answered. It was upon the faith and trust I placed on those assuran-
ces, that I hastened after the first Bill to England, not doubting that
by personal eflfbrts and explanations this pledge would, in my humble
case, be redeemed.

And here I may r(»asonably ask, would any Minister of the Crown
hesitate to submit for the Sovereign's approval any Bill passed unani-
mously by the Lords and Commons of England, providing a reward
for the public services of any servant of the Crown ? And why has

Ri ^

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1
f

^ ■■

\i 'f^

the prayer of the Upper Canada Legislatuic been thrice denied,
although the reward prayed for was to come out of their own ftinds ?
But to a controversy between the laiperial and Provincial Authorities
I have been cruelly sacrificed. Can I doubt f<, moment but that the
Queen "vould at once have graciously assented to the first Bill passed
in my behalf had my case beei- truly laid before Her Majesty ? And
in answer to the difficulties raised to the granting me the land, let me
here give the following extract of a Despntch from Lord Stanley, in
answer to my Memorial to the Queen, transmitted and recommerded
by Lord Metcalfe, which is in t)ie following words :

" Even thft difficulties whi-li were formerly opposed to a grant of
" land have now lost much, ii' not all, of iheir original weight. His
" Lordship is of opinion that you have ai: indisputable claim on the
" liberality of the Canadian Parliament, and earnestly trusts that they
*' will recognize that claim, and carry it '^'^ .^ yxll eii'ect,"

After this admission I may Avell ask, vhy was not the land granted
to me then, after six years* delay, if my services were to be substan-
tially rewarded ? I'ov/ palpably does it now appear that the Upper
Canada Legislature .^lone had it at heart to reward mc ? But surely
the Provincial Authorities will now, at the last, let their better fp'-'-
ings plead in my behalf, upon reviewing my whole case as herein set
before them ; and that t\ey will no longer withhold from me the full
amount of the reward originally intended for me. Even the interest
for all this time is justly due to me ; but the remainder of the j£2,600
will suffice to pay off" my remaining debts, and I have never desired
more.

I will not now attempt publicly to describe the state of mind into
which, in London, I was then driven ; nor yet confess the course I
had determined on pursuing. I returned to my lodgings in despair,
but my eye falling on a letter of introduction given to me by an officer of
the Guards, on leaving Canada, who had served with me on the Niagara
Frontier, in 1814, but which, for some reason, I had not yet delivered
durin'i; the many weeks I was then in London ; a ray of hope flashed
upon my agitated mind, that he to whom it was addressed, might stand
between jie and the peril so imminently at that moment impending
over me. I took it up and hurried to his residence, in a distant part o?
the City, soon after twelve o'clock. But he was not at home, and I
left the letter and my card. On returning, I took for granted that he
would :iot call on me or tak j any notice of me. I knew nothing of
the usages or customs of the Nobility, and I gave up all hope of seeing
or hea^'ing further of him. In this state of mind, T returned to my
lodgings at four o'clock, and on retiring to my room, 1 was surprised
to see a note on my table, which, on opening, I found had been there
written by aim to whom my letter of introduction was addressed. It
stated that he had, at two o'civock, called on me, but not finding me Dt
home, he had written this note, apprising- me that he v»'ould call again
at two the following day.

At tv/o, on the following day, he came, and being seated, he began
by reproaching me in friondly terms for hj.ving delayed so many weeks
to deliver his friend's letter. The letter Avas a sealed one, and I should
have delivered it without delay on my arrival in London, had my miud

not been fearfully disturbed. " For," said he, " how much might I
" not have done foi you during all this ti ne, had yoa come to me on
" your arrival ?" Fur two long hours did he peruse and consider my
papers, and then said, " Now, I think, I understand your case pretty
" well ; put up your papers and come with me, I will drive you
" througli the Parks till six, rnJ come and dine with me to-morrow
*' at seven.''

How he exerted him?eK in my ^)ohalf for y^ars, since then, I mny
hereafter declare, should I outlive him. lie turned me then from a
aangerous course to one of ^comparative safety, and again in two years
after did he stand between ine and other threatened danger. To him,
also, was I indebted for a special introduction to Sir Charles Met-
calfe, whose conduct towards me during the short remainder of his
most valuable and exemplary life was extraordinary even for that extra-
ordinary man.

Tire Bishop of Toronto and Chief Justice Robinson, being then in
England, I sought their aid in my behalf. I called on the Bishop,
who was then in toAvn, and made my request. The Chief Justice was
at Brighton, and the Bishop addressed him in my behalf; and in a
few days I received from His Lordship the two following letters :

"London, 23, Sackvuxe Street,

" \6(h August, 1839.
" My Dear J^'ir,

" I have received from Chief Justice Robinson a letter, which I
" enclose, ii the hope that it maj be useful to you in the present crisis
" of your affairs.

" I concur most heartily in the statements it contains, and shall have
" mucl ,)leasure in adding my testimony at anytime to their correctness,
" as well as to the great satisfaction with which any u (^asure on the part
" of Her Majesty's Governmant to reward your valuable services,
" would be received in Upper Canada.

". I remain, rnj dear Sir,

" With great regard, yours sincerely,

(Signed,) " John Tokonto. .
" Colonel Fitz Gibbon."

Extract from the LeUer of Chief Justice Robinson.

" My dear Bishop,

•* I think Colonel Fitz Gibbon may feel assured that the Government
" has a just sense of his faithful and valuable services. If I had any
" doubt of thij, I would most readily repeat in writing what I have
"taken occasion to say to the Secretary of State on that subject.

" During the many years that Colonel Fitz Gibbon has resided in
" Upper Canada, his resolute character, his ardent loyalty, and his
" active and intelligent mind, have led him. and have enabled him, to
" render important services to the Government and to the Province,
" and on several occasions when I think it would have been ditlicult to
" find any one else who could i.ave discharged the same duty so
" effic'entlv.

is : i

" With regard to his service in 1 837, 1 have no doubt, and I should
*• be happy to atate this on every occasion where it could be useful to
" him, that his earnest conviction before the outbreak that violence
" would be attempted, and the measures of precaution which he spon-
" taneously took in consequence of that impression, were the means of
" saving the Government and the loyal inhabitants of Toronto from
" being for a time at least at the mercy of tl.3 Rebels; and I believe
" that the most disastrous consequences would have followed the surprise
" which Colonel Fitz Gibbon's vigilance prevented. His conduct,
" also, when the crisis did occur was most meritorious. The Legisla-
" ture has shown a strong sense of this service, and a great desire
" to reward it ; and I am persuaded that no one would receive more
** pleasure than the present Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada
*' and his predecessor, from any measure of Her Majesty's Govern-
*' men* which should have the effect of recompensing Colonel Fitz
" Gibbon in such manner as maybe most agreeable and useful to himself.

(Signed,) "John B. Kobinson.
« The Right Reverend The Bishop of Toronto."

Immediately on receiving these letters I sent copies to the Colonial
Office, to be added to the documents there already in support of my claim.

And here I will add a copy of another letter which the Chief
Justice addressed to me, on the 5th of June, 1843, four years after;
and also copies of certificates given me by the Honorable C. Widmer,
and Doctor Winder, which I applied for to aid me in obtaining leave
f absence from the Legislative Council during the sitting of the House,
each session; being no longer able to discharge my duties in the
House, with the required accuracy and despatch :

Extract fro.a the Letter of the Chief Justice.

•* I have great pleasure in learning Sir Charles Metcalfe's most
*' considerate and generous conduct towards you. It does him infinite
"honour. He did you the justice to believe what I have no doubt
'* he had heard, and what beyond question is true, that by the vigilance
" you exerted, and the steps you took, on the 4th December, 1837,
" and a short time before, unprompted by any one, and moved only
*' by your own ardent zeal for the public good, you prevented calami-
" ties, public and private, which it is fearful e zn now to think of.

" To that conviction I have always adhered, and been always ready
" to bear testimony."

Copy of Doctor TVidmer^s Certificate.

"Toronto, April '6d, 19^6."

" It is now thirty years since I became acquainted with Captain
" F?tz Gibbon, then in the Glengarry Light Infantry. The War with
" America had then just concluded, and the whole community of
" Upper Canada, civil and military, was full of applause in regard to
" the conduct of Captain Fitz Gibbon, during the course of the preced-
" ing campaigns.

" It was justly pronounced that his services had been of the highest
" order, and contributed to stamp his Corps with the character o^
« vigour, vigilance and valour.

■

I should
useful to

violence
he spon-
tneans of
nto from
I believe
; surprise

conduct,

Legisla-
at desire
ive more
* Canada

Govern-
onel Fitz

himself.

3INS0N.

1 Colonial
my claim.

the Chief
;ar3 after ;
Widmer,
ling leave
he House,
ies in the

life's most
lim infinite
i no doubt
e vigilance
ber, 1837,
loved only
ed calami-
a think of.
ways ready

f,1845."

th Captain
e War with
nmunity of
n regard to
the preced-

the highest
■haracter o2

<(
i(

" During a long series of years of peace, the same qualities which
had rendered him conspicuous as a military man, were productive of
an efiective and highly honorable discharge of the duties of the offices
he held in civil life. And thus would the useful and faithful course
of Captain Fitz Gibbon's career have terminated in civil engagements,
but for the occurrence of the unnatural attempt of the Rebels to
sever the country from British connexion i'^. 1837.
" At this crisis the foresight and energy of Captain Fitz Gibbon
saved the City of Toronto from destruction, and were the means of
shortening a struggle that might otherwise have been protracted.
For these services, alone, the gratitude of the Government is emi-
nently due to Captain Fitz Gibbon.

" His expectations of a release from pecuniary embarrassments have
been raised by a vote of the Legislature for a grant of land grounded
on the high value at which it estimated his services duiing the
Rebellion. Ihese expectations having fjjled in their acconplish-
ment, to my knowledge, has had a powerful effect in destroying the
healthy tone of his mind, and has rendered him incapable of perform-
ing the active duties of his office, and almost unfitted him for the
social intercourse of his friends and acquaintances.

- (Signed,) "C. Widmer."

Doctor Winder's Certificate.

" These are to certify that my knowledge of Colonel James Fitz
". Gibbon, Chief Clerk of the Honorable the Legislative Council,
" extends over a period of thirty-three years. Gifted with a consti-
" tution naturally good, and of abstemious habits, he has nevertheless
" a temperament highly sanguine and nervous, and tliis acted upon
" primarily by an active life spent in the Military and Civil Service
" of his country; and secondarily, by disappointments and distresses
" of no ordinary character, has produced such a state of mental irrita-
" tion, prostration, and despondency, and loss of memory, as, at time?,
" to render him quite incapable of the efficient discharge of the duties
" of his Ycry important office.

" In addition to the foregoing circumstances I would observe, that
" Colonel T'-tz Gibbon has nearly attained the age of sixty-five years,
" forty- . v> r.r which have been honorably passed in the Public Ser-
" vice, a. '■ i>rvt Ticing age has brought with it an increase of physical
" infirmitivit, a jio of them indeeil of long standing, which greatly add
*" to the causes ;.'' incapacity above mentioned.

*' On the whole, then, it is my deliberate opinion, founded on facts
" which have come to my knowledge from so many years personal
" friendship and intimacy with Colonel Fitz Gibbon, that he is, from
" causes quite beyond his own control, or power of avoidance, physi-
" cally and mentally incapable of further public duty, and that his
" perseverance in the attempt to perform the arduous duties of his
" pro nt official station, will greatly aggravate the constitutional
" m'' ivuies under which he now suffers.

" G."ven under my hand, at Montreal, this fifth day of May,
«' 1845.

(Signed,) " William Winder, M. D."

f i, ,

i *'■'■;■
I ftJ

N 4

! I

There were many other occurrences connected \^'ith my departure
from Canada, and relative to Sir George Arthur, Avhich I would wil-
lingly state here, but that their insertion would much lengthen this
statement, which is already greatly longer than I expected it would be
when I began it. And now I fear its great length and the alternate
irritation and depression of my continually agitated mind will deter me
altogether from publishing it; much as I desire that you should possess
a knowledge of so many of the factp herein stated as have hitherto
been concealed from you.

I returned from London to Toronto, still in the hope that, after* all,
an .order would be sent out to pay to me the then upset price of the
land, namely £2,500, and which, therefore, was the sum the House of
Assembly estimated the land at when they resolved to provide for the
payment of my debts; but no order was sent.

After the meeting of the last Session of the last Parliament of
Upper Canada, the following Address was voted by the Assembly to
the Governor General, the Right Honorable Charles Poulett Thomson:

** To His Excellency The 72., 'r' ^fmorable Charles Poulett Thomson,
Governor Gefieral, SfC. '•c.

" May it please Your Excellency,

" We Her Majesty's dutiful and loyal subjects the Commons of Upper
" Canada in Provincial Parliament assembled, humbly pray that Your
" Excellency will be pleased to inform this House if the Royal Assent
" has been given to the Bill passed lasi Session, entitled, " An Act to
" enable Her Majesty to make a grant of Land to James Fitz Gibbon,
" Esquire."

(Signed,) *' Allan N. Macnab,

" Speaker.
*' Commons House of Assembly, )

8th day of January, 1840." / .

To this Address His Excellency made the following answer:
" Charles Poulett Thomson.

" In answer to the Address from the House of Assembly of the 8th
" instant, the Governor General desires to inform them, that after a full
" consideration of the subject, Her Majesty's Government have come to
" the conclusion that they could not advise Her JMajesty to confirm the
" Bill passed by the Provincial Legislature during the last Session, but
" reserved for Her Majesty's eonfirniation,.to enable Her Majesty to
" make a grant of Land to James Fitz Gibbon, Esquire.

" Her Majesty's Government, sensible of the long and valuable ser-
" vices of Mr. Fitz Gibb -ii, came to this decision with much reluctance;
" but they felt that the confirmation of such an Act would be inconsis-
" tent with the principles laid down for the disposal of the Waste Lands
" of the Crown in the British Colonies, and confirmed in that Province
" by an Act of the Legislature, and that it would establish a very incon-
" venient precedent.

" If, however, the Legislature of Upper Canada should desire to mark
" their sense of Mr. Fitz Gibbon's services by a pecuniary grant, th<?

' the 8th

" Governor General "vrould have much satisfaction in recommending
" such a grant for Her Majesty's approval.

« Toronto, 14th January, 1840."

Upon this Answer the House was resolved into a Committee of the
whole, on the 2oth of January, when, after discussing the subject, the
following Resolution was adopted:

" Resolved, — That it is expedient to pass a Bill repealing the Act
" 7th Williitm the Fourth, chapter 118, entitled, ' An Act to provide
" * for the disposal of the Public Lands in this Province, and for other
" * purposes therein mentioned,' so far as to enable Her Majesty to
'< make a grant of 5000 acres of Land to James Fitz Gibbon, Esquire."

Upon this Resolution a second Bill was passed by botli Houses,
which Bill was also reserved for Her Majesty's consideration; but to
which lo answer was ever returned.

I soon after wrote to Lord Seoton, and requested of him to use his
influence in my behalf, and in answer His Lordship addressed the fol-
lowing letter to me:

" Lyneham, Great HAMPTON, Devon,
« Augusi 30, 1840.
** My dear Colonel,

" I forward to you the reply of Lord John Ruse 11 to my represen-
" tation of your claims and services. You probably may be able to
'■^ suggest to the Governor General some mode of complying with the
** intentions of the Upper Canada Legislature, in passing a Bill with a
" view of granting a reward for your services.

" I acquainted Lord John Russell that I presumed he had received a
*' report of your conduct at the time of Mackenzie's menaced attack of
" Toronto; that you had constantly exercised yourinflucnceamong your
" countrymen settled in Canada, and with great advantage to the public;
" and that the Local Authorities had made use of your influence in times
" of diflBculty and danger.

" I regret that my application has not produced a more satisfactory
" result, but I shall have great pleasure in being able to render you any
" assistance in my power.

" I remain,

" Very faithfully yours,
(Signed,) " Seaton.

« Colorel Fitz Gibbon,

Toronto."
Copy of Lord John Russelts Letter to Lord Seaton.
" My dear Lord,

" I have received your letter recommending to me the caso of Colonel
*' Fitz Gibbon, of Canada.

*' It was impossible that I could do otherwise than decline to sanction
" the grant of Land which had been made to him by vhe Legif^lature of
" Upper Canada. I should, however, be very happy to give ray best
" consideration to any other mode of indemnification which might be
" suggested by the Governor General.

" Believe me very truly yours,

(Signed,) " JouN Russell.

" The Lord Seaton,

&c. &c. &c "

- I u

During the administration of Lord Sydenham nothing further was
done in my behalf. Seeinpj that all His Lordship's energies were
exerted to bring about the Union of the Provinces, I refrained from
bringing my case more urgently before him ; and thus two more long
and painful years of suffering were added to my unhappy life.

Sir Charles Bagot assumed the Government in January, 1842, and
in the month of March I drew up a petition to His Excellency and
appended thereto the several vouchers then in my possession, with
which I went to the Government House. I placed them in the hands of
Captain Joiies, the Secretary, with whpm I had some former acquain-
tance in the 43d Regiment, and requested of him to read them, as I
desired that he should be acquainted with all the circumstances of my
cnse. At the siame time I requested of him not to lay them before
His Excellency, but when he should have a leisure day, then to send
for me that I might present them myself. Captain Jones on reading
tliem, was so moved by the perusal that he immediately placed them
ill the hands of Sir Charles Bagot, who also read them, and such was
the effect produced upon His Excellency's mmd by the perusal, that he
immediately ordered his carriage and drove to the Council Chamber in
Kingston, and at once laid tliem before the Council ; at the same
lizTie saying that he " considered me an extremely ill-used man."

An Order in Council was forthwith made, of which the following is a
copy:

Executive Council Chamber,

Kingston, MondaT/, 23d March, 1842.
Present :

" His Excellency The Right Honorable The Governor General.
*' Upon the Petition of James Fitz Gibbon, Esquire, praying that
means may be taken to carry out the intentions of the Houses of the
Provincial Parliament of Upper Canada in his favour, expressed by a
Joint Address of the Legislative Council and House of Assembly to
Her Majesty, recommending the Petitioner for a grant of five thousand
acres of land, and by a Bill* passed both Houses to enable Her Majesty
to make such grant to Colonel Fitz Gibbon, In consideration of his
honorable, efficient and able public services during a period of twenty-
six-years.

" Ilis Excellency in Council, being fully impressed with the value of
the meritorious and faithful services of Colonel Fitz Gibbon, and fully
concurring in the wishes of the Legislative Council and Assembly of
Upper Canada, as exjtre.ssed in the said Address and Bill, is desirous of
taking such moans as will procure for that Officer the proposed reward,
without again incurring the objections made by Her Majesty's Govern-
ment to grants of wild hind for such a purpose: and is of opinion,
that an issue to Colonel Fitz Gibbon of land scrip to the amount of
the Government price of the land which he might have procured had
the above mentioned Bill received Her Majesty's Assent, would not
only be available to Colonel Fitz Gibbon, but would be free from the
objections made to the Bill becoming a law.

* Two B.lls had been then passed.

■5?'

" His Excellency, by and with the advice of the Executive Council*
" is pleased to direct, that Co'onel Fitz Gibbon be informed, that it is
" His Excellency's intention to recommend his claim to the most favour-
" able consideration of the Houses of th(! Provincial Parliament, to the
" end that His Excellency may be legally authorised to direct the issue
" to Colonel Fitz Gibbon of laud scrip to the amount of two thousand
" pounds, Provincial currency.

" Certified,

(Signed,) « Wm. Lee."

"While my mind was filled with gratitude to Sir Charles Ba?;ot, for
having taken up my case so promptly and so feelingly, I was at the
same time disappointed at the proposed reduction from J£2,o00 to
j£2,000, and greatly irritated that even this reduced sura should be
given to me in the shape of land scrip, which was then seUing for about
half its nominal value ; while in giving it to me it was taking £2,000
out of the public chest as fully as if that Himi in mont-y had been
taken therefrom. For although I mast have sold it for about one
thousand pounds, the Province must have redeemed it at its full nomi-
nal value. The purchaser would, in fact, be a gainer to the extent of
ray loss. The order, therefore, appeared to me both unjust and cruel
in the highest degree.

I some time after wrote a paper, of which the following is a copy,
and enclosed it to His Excellency's Secretary; in the hope that it would
produce a more favorable decision in my case :

" Upon the Order in Council of the 23rd March, 1842, I. beg leave
to make the following remarks :

*• When the Address to the Queen passed both Houses, in January,
" 1838, the upset price of the land was ten shillings an acre. The Order
"in Council, in fixing the intended remuneration at a subsequent and
" reduced upset price of eight shillings an acre, reduces the value of
" the grant from je2,500 to £2,003.

" In granting Land Scrip instead of a Debenture or Money, the value
"of the grant will be further reduced to £1,000, or thereabouts ; while
"the Province, in granting the Scrip, as effectually disburses £2,000,
"as if that sum were granted by Debenture or in cash. Thus it would
" appear to the people of the Province that a grant of JG2,000 was, bona
" fide, made to me, whereas the grant would realize about one thousand
"pounds only.

" The substitution of the proposed measure for the reward whicli,
" upon three different occasions, was prayed for by the Legislature of
" Upper Canada, will have the effect of diminishing most materially the
" value of the contemplated boon. The difference to me between the
"real and nominal value of Kand Scrip has been already adverted to.
"I dv^sire, in addition, permission to urge the injurious consequences of
" the protracted delay upon my circumstances. Five ye .rs and nine
" months have now elapsed since the action of the Parliament of Upper
"Canada first incited in my mind the hope of speedy relief from my
" accumulated embarrassments. By the expectation then created 1 have
"continued to be sustained ; and I still encourage the hope that the
"grant which that Legislature made so many efforts to confer will not.

\ I i

I* t

" at all events, be depreciated in amount, and thus curtailed in useful-
" ness, by the Parliament of the United Province. On the contrary, I
"sincerely cherish the hope that the severe losses and irreparable
" Injuries which the prolonged anxiety has occasioned me, may be rather
" viewed as an additional motive for conferring the reward in such
"form as that its value to me may remain unimpaired, while the
"generous intentions of the original donors may likewise be fully
" carried out."

On receiving this Order in Council I had no doubt but that during
the following Session I should be relieved. I therefore addressed
letters to my several creditors in Toronto and elsewhere assuring them
of early payment, founded upon the faith of this Order in Council, a
copy of which I sent to each.

After the change in the Executive Council which admitted to it
in the first instance Mr. Hincks, and afterwards Messrs Baldwin, La-
Fontaine and Aylwin, I called successively on each of them, with the
exception of Mr. Baldwin who already knew enough of my case, and
needed not any further information upon it. Mr. LaFontaine heard
my statement, and after c pause, he said, " I hope, Sir, you do not
"expect any promise from me?" To which I answered, "I only
" desire to put you in possession of the facts of my case, and then
" leave you to exercise your own discretion upon it as you shall
" please," and I withdrew.

I then called on Mr. Aylwin, and when I had done speaking, he
held out both his hands, and taking one of mine, he said : " I assure
" you. Colonel Fitz Gibbon, you have as good friends in Lower Canada
" as you have in Upper Canada. It is our intention to make good all
" the pledges of the late Parliament of Upper Canada, and you may de-
" pend upon our doing you justice."

Gratified with these assurances, and the cordial manner of Mr. Ayl-
win, I called on Mr. Hincks, but found that he was not at home. I
therefore left for his perusal the papers explanatory of my case. On
the following Monday they were returned to me with a note from him,
which the following is a copy:

" Kingston, Monday, 8th August, 1 842.
Dear Sir,

" I return you the papers you were good enough to leave for my peru-
sal. Sanctioned as your claim is by the Government it will of course
be my duty to lend it my best support, but 1 beg of you to believe that
I shall perform that duty with the greatest pleasure, andl do not anti-
cipate that any difficulty will be thrown in the way by the House of
Assembly.

" Believe me,

" Yours faithfully,
(Signed,) " F. Hincks.

" Colonel Fitz Gibbon,

&c. &c. &c."
Thus were my hopes of success during the following Session further
strengthened, and ray mind partially relieved from its long continued
suffering. And these hopes I surely thought were well founded.

"With Sir Charles Bagot's Order in Council, and the above pledges
superadded, how could I doubt of success, if public men had any
regard for my hardships, for candour, for common justice, or for their
own pledges? Yet, to show, in fact, tlie nature of the foundation on
which I built those hopes, I will state here, that when thu question
was under consideration in the House of Assembly, in March, 1845,
Mr. Aylwin is reported to have said, " That I had monopolized honor
" which did not rightfully belong to me: that I received credit for the
" affair at the Beaver Dam, in 1813, while in point of fact the party
" to whom that credit was due, was Major DeLorimier^ a relation of
" his own, and a native of Lower Canada;" together with much more
in opposition to the grant. And Mr. Hincks, in his paper of the fol-
lowing day, the Pilot, asserted, among other statements which are
offensive, and partly untrue, that " Colonel Fitz Gibbon had not even
" the shadow of a claim for compensatioii,^^ and these words he printed
in Italics.

For some weeks after the meeting of the Parliament, I looked with
anxiety for a Message from His Excellency in my behalf, but day by
day brought disappointment only. At length I addressed a note to Mr.
Sullivan, the President of the Executive Council, requesting of him not
to forget the Order in Council in my favor, and urging him to have
the Message sent down to the two Houses. Day after day passed, and
I received no answer to this note, and 1 addressed another to him. In
this last I requested of him, if he had not time to give me a written
answer, to say to my messenger, I'es, or A\ and if he said yes, I would
immediately apply again to His Excellency; but if he said no, I would
not move further in the matter, but leave it to him. To this note,
ray messenger brought for answer, that he would call and speak with
me; but he never did. Many more days elapsed, and losing all hope
of seeing Mr. Sullivan, I addressed an anxious letter to His Excel-
lency, praying of him to send the promised recommendation to the two
Houses. But, no; the Session ended, and I now found myself more
painfully compromised with my creditors than ever. I had to repeat
apologies and explanations such as I had often given before. I felt
mortified, humiliated, irritated, almost beyond endurance. The Bank
of Upper Canada, from which I had borrowed ^400, and had paid
back £150, by money borrowed elsewhere, in the continual hope that
each Session must surely relieve me, to my surprise and indignation
gave instructions to sue me. This proceeding of the Bank extorted

from me the following letter:

((

Sirs,

"Kingston, 6th April, 1843.

" But yesterday I wrote to Quebec to the Assistant Clerk of the
" Legislative Council to hold himself in readiness to come to me, at a
" short notice, to perform duties which I feared I should soon be inca-
" pable of performing myself, because of the unhappy state of my mind
" caused by the injustice, the callous, the cruel injustice, of men in
" power, whose duty it was to have, lung since, afforded me relief. And
" in such a moment I receive information from one of the generous
" young men who have become my securities to you, that you will no

I ■

** longer extend your indulgence to me. Goaded as I long have been
•*by indescribable evils, you, in the eleventh hour, and when you know
"that a cruel and unjust govcnunent must at length do me justice, you,
"too, strike a blow at me. You, whose Bank, containing J6 100,000
** in gold and silver, I saved for you, whose books and other evidences
" ot* debt I saved for you, which wei'e worth to you J£200,000
" more, you drive me, already driven as I am almost to insanity. The
'* Province of Upper Canada has been saved by me from desolation.
" And its people have striven, many times, but alM'ays hitherto in vain,
*' to reward me for it; for unfeeling statesmen have stooa between me
" and the benevolence of my own people and have laughed me to scorn
"in deed, while they have uttered fair, but useless words, to me. And
** you, ungrateful men! smite me at the eleventh hour, and use your power
" to snap the cord which yet holds me in precarious intercourse with the
*' world around me. liut I will arouse myself against all whose ingra-
*' titudc or injustice would destroy me. I will defy you, and despise
" you. I will at length constrain the Government to do me justice, if
" the spirit of honest and good men be yet, at all, among our people. My
" debt to you shall yet be paid. I cannot doubt it — you cannot doubt it
** — and if it never were ])aid, it is unworthy in you to drive me for it,
" circumstanced as you all well know I am. Yes, you know it; for I
** have written letters of entreaty to you, such as 1 now lament I ever
" wrote. But now, and here 'ter, I will write to you but in scorn and
" defiance; for you dare not sue me in the face of the people of Upper
** Canada.

" Jamks Fitz Gibbon.
" To the Directors of the Bank of Upper Canada."

They did not sue me; but I have long believed that their forbear-
ance was the result of better motives than the unworthy one I then so
angrily alluded to.

I will here introduce the following statement:

In 1818 I was enabled, by mortgaging my halt-pay for two years,
to purchase eighteen acres of land, adjoining to the City of Toronto,
and which aci'cs now form part of the City. By selling it from day
to day in small parcels for building ground, I proposed to replace my
half-pay, and meet my increasing expenses, until my services under
the Government should procure for mc enough for my support; and I
hoped that I should ultimately be able to retain so much of it as
would, from its continually increasing value, be a provision for the
helpless individuals of my family, whensoever I should be withdrawn
from their protection. But this long cherished hope I could no lon-
ger enjoy; for on being offered a sum sufficient to discharge a mort-
gage held upon my property, and to pay my debt to the Bank, I sold
it. This property was sold six years after the Paidiament of Upper
Canada had prayed of the Sovereign to reward me, out of their own
Provincial Pro[)crty. During these long years I strained every nerve
to save it from sale, and every year I had some new reason to hope
that the long proposed grant would surely come in time to save it.
But no; I was compelled lo sell my house, and the seven remaining
acres of land, now become vary valuable, and which in a few years

will be worth ten thousand pounds. Let anypnrcnt but fooh'n,c;ly con-
sider this one result ol" tlio long delay, and cunsequiint injiiatiro tlius
exercised towards me, and then blame mc, if he can, lor my want of
patience with those who, thus lonrf, continued to withhold from mc a
reward so generously intended, ancl wliicii at liivst would liave been a
blessing to me and mine, luit which has thus been made the bane of
the ladt years of my unhappy existence.

It requires my utmost etlbrts to restrain my words and my actions
within the bounds of moderation, or even of safety. Surely wrongs
thus done by public men, under the colour or plea of justice or expo
diency, are more intolerable than direct and actual wrongs by
force.

My humble services have, in all human probability saved the lives
of thousands of Her Majesty's subjects, and also millions of British
and Provincial treasure . For had Toronto boon taken bv the Rebels,
they would have gained possession of six thousand stand of arms, with
the ammunition appertaining to tiiose arms; besides the avtillory, bar-
racks, and barrack stores, and all otlujr deseviptions of Government
stores belonging to that Military Post. One hundred tliousaiid pounds
in gold and silver then in the Bank of Ui)per Canada, would have
fallen into their hands, and the provisions, and all else in that City
would be in their possession. The leading men of the Province would
have been put to death or made prisoners. Every disloyal man in
the Province would have taken arms, and been joined by numbers who
cared only for plunder; even by many who afterwards took arms in
our defence. Thousands of the greatest ruilians from the United
States would have crowded into the Provhice in all directions without
resistance, before the scattered and unorganized loyalists could recover
from the effects of their surprise, and unite to resist them; and Upper
Canada would thus have been easily overrun by the two parties so let
loose upon it. The conscciuences to Lower Canada, then in open
rebellion, may be easily imagined. It is now well known that many
of the Authorities in the neighbouring States, watched eagerly for
the moment when they could be assured that the Kebels hnd a reason-
able prospect of success, and with such assurance they intended to
afford them openly all the aid in their power. A war with the
United States must have followed; and I now call on every reflecting
man to look back upon the condition in which Great Britain would
then have found herself. She was then nearly at war with France,
because of her operations in Syria; her affairs in the North of India
were in a disastrous condition, and she was on the eve of war with
China. In such circumstances did she then stand; and who can
doubt but that war with the United States, at that moment, must have
led to th« loss of thousands of lives, and of millions of treasure, even
though carried on most successfully. To the loyal people of the Cana-
das it would have been ruinous. Of the vast importance of all this, I
was fully convinced at the time; and had no doubt but that the Execu-
tive Authorities, as well Imperial as Provincial, would promptly, as
well as gratefully, unite in rewarding me. How deep, then, and bitter
have been my disappointments? How provoked to exasperation by a
sense gf the injustice, and of the ingratitude thus manifested towards

I ::':

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Sfl! S

me, by those, niuny of whom knew my sufferings, and whoso high nM(!
holy duty it \'a3, instantly to jH'otect and relieve me. I did fear that
elForts would be made by Sir Francis Head and his Attorney General,
to withhold from Ilev Majesty's Government all knowledge of the
services so rendered by me; and whicii were sometimes rendered in
contravention of His Excellency's expressed will, and, in more than
one instance, in disregard of his most positive orders: and I was pro-
pared to make those services publicly known, should I find, on seeing
His Excellency's Despatch, that he had not reported them truly. But
the Provincial Legislature having taken up my cose so soon after the
rebellion was suppressed, and long before the Despatch could be seen in
Canada, after its publication in London, that I rested in patient, but un-
doubting confidence, that through their proceedings my ddbts would
soon be paid ; and that, too,in a way most soothing and gratifying to ray long
harrassedmind. Ibecame, therefore, comparatively indifferent to any loss
of credit or honor which might be withheld from me, through the injustice
of those men, Avho must have been conscious that to my efforts they were
both indebt»^d for their lives. And had I been in due time rewarded, I
would have allowed those events to pass into oblivion, so far at least
as I was concerned. And if any ungenerous men shall reproach me
for making this expose now, I beg of you, the people of-Upper Canada,
to consider that 1 have refrained, for nine long years, from complain-
ing thus publicly, although enduring all that time a degree of irrita-
tion and suffering which few men could have survived. And now a
question with me is, whether ^ shall tamely sink into the grave under
this fearful pressure, and leave my name and my character to be mis-
represented by unjust men, who, having concealed my services, would
malign my character to cover their own unworthiness, and their in-
justice, before I should tlius make known to you so much of the truth
as I now state in this Appeal ; and which Appeal I desire to leave behind
me as a defence against all future calumny, should any appear against
me.

And as one evidence of the animus of that Attorney General
towards me, I here state that he never once voted in favor of the seve-
ral n lasuies carried through the two Houses, ior my relief, but inva-
riably left the chamber of the Assembly, when each question waa
brought before that House, during the three several Sessions of their
discussion. If he entertained any proper objection to the proposed
grant, he had not the manly candour to state it in his place in the
House. I know not whether he excercised any influence against me
while he was in London, afterwards, but I have learned that such in-
fluence was there employed against me.

But to return to my narrative.

Some few days after the close of the Session I had to appear before
His Excellency, Sir Charles Bagot, in the performance of a public
duty. Although an opportunity was thus afforded me to mention to
him the subject of the promised Mpssage, I refrained from doing so}
for I had no doubt of his own good will, and I felt that the subject
must be painful to him. But His Excellency himself mentioned it,
and in strong terms expressed his regret that he could not send the
Message down; and concluded the several observations he made upon

! i

Ihc conduct of the Executive Council, by the following words: — " In
short, I was overruled."

Such wus tlio csult of the encouraging Order in Council of the
23rd of March, 1842, u[)on tlie fuith of which I so confidently relied,
and in tlio utter disregard of which 1 was again thrown back upon my
creditors, some of whom were .subjected to suffering of tlic most pain-
ful character, because of their friendly generosity in advancing to me
large sums of money; and others were alarmed wlio had been sureties
for me, on the faitli of the proposed grant, in IS.'JS.

Thus, with my burdens continually and rapidly increasing, had I to
struggle onwards until the arrival of Sir Charles Metcalfe in April of
the following year. In a few days I had an interview with His Ex-
cellency, and placed in h\-. hand a bundle of papers, the accumulation
of the years since 1838, saying that I could hardly hope that His
Excellency could read tuum all. But this truly excellent man said,
in a most kind and assuring tone, ** I will read them all carefully."
Among those papers was a copy of a letter I had addressed to Mr.
Secretary Harrison on the 1st of March, just five weeks before, re-
questing of him to lay it before the Executive Council. Sir Charles
Bagot being then on his death-bed, I, therefore, did not make the ap-
plication to His Excellency. Trom this letter I give the following
extracts:

" On Monday I addressed a note to Mr. Dunn, a copy of which
*' I send you herewith. I have received no answer to it. * *
Humiliating as it would be to me, yet I would sell my household
*' iture by auction if the proceeds would keep me out of Court,
*' .. save my friends harmless ; but the amount would be too small,
" and the sacrifice and exposure would be made without accomplishing
*• the desired object.

" May I, under these circumstances, request of you, as Secretary for
" Canada West, to bring my case under the consideration of the
" Executive Council, in the hope that an advance may be made to me
*' with the least possible delay."

The note to Mr. Dunn was in the follotoing words :

" KiNGSTON> 27th February, 1843.
" My dear Mr. Dunn,

" Mr. Hawke and I are on the eve of bein(? sued for a note of mine
for £75, and a second for £75, from another party will be due in a
week. Let me entreat of you to advance me £100, which, for the
present, will stay proceedings in these two cases.
" If my lorg dif appointed hopes from the justice of the Govern-
ment are never to be realized, yet it will be possible for me to pay
you fifty pounds on the first of October next, and the remaining
fifty on the first of January following.

" You have so often relieved me heretofore that it is most painful
to me to trespass upon you ever again. — And when I repaid the last
money you lent me I did hope that it was the last vexation I
should ever cause you. If you cannot let me have this sum, either
to-day or to-morrow, do not take the disagreeable trouble of writing

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" to me a negative. Tour silence will sufficiently, though painfully,
" show me that this application is fruitless.

James FiT/i Gibbon.
To my application to Mr. Harrison not even an acknowleclgmenS

was given.

Thus did these letters come into the hands of Sir Chnrles Metcalfe.

In two days after, I received a note from Mr. Secretary Higginson,
raying that His Excellunc} desired to see me. On presenting myself
he told me that he had submitted to the Executive Council my appli-
cation for an advancOj n.nd that they declined to advise him to make
'\t. " But," added llis Excellency, " name to me a sum of money
" sufficient to relieve you from 3'our most pressing emergencies, °nd t
'* will advance it to you out of my own funds." Surprised at thi»
offisr, for His Excellency had arrived but a few days before, and was,
as yet, a stranger in the Province, I paused and said, " Your Excel-
" lency's ofTev is so imexpected that, for the momci.t, I know not what
** sum to name : but it humbles me to have to tell Your Excellency
" that last week a baker stopped his issue of bread to my family
" because I coidd not makeinnncdiate payment;" and I 'jtateu another
fact which I will not mention here because its publication would wound
the too sensitive mind of the person to whom it referred. After
another pause I continued, " If Your Excellency will ac^vance me .£100,
** it may be enough to keep me from severe pressure until the next
" Session." Whereupon he said, " From the vicAv I have taken of
" your case I do not think that sum enough." Still more surprised I
again paused, and said, *' Theu I will say £200, but I will go no
" further;'" and the following morning I received a cheque for j6200.

Thus then I was enabled to struggle on till the following Session.

Soon after the opening of thpt Session a Member of the Legislative
Council, who took a warm interest in my welfare, addressed a note
to mc, advising me to remind His Excellency of my case, as no Message
had yet been sent down, and to pray of him to bring it before the
Parliament. But I wrote, in an«wer, that I could not bring myself to
urge His Exi^ellcncy upon it after what he had already done for me.
In a fe.v days afterwards I had business to transact with His Excellency,
yet I would not speak to him on my own behalf, thinking it ungenerous
to urge him in any degree. But on ray rising to withdraw he took my
papers from the table, and holding them up, said, " I am just about to
** send your IVIemorial to the Executive Council, and to suggest to them
" the justice of recommending that the grant should be equal to the
" upset price of the land in 1838, namely £2500, and that it should
" be made in money instead of land scrip." T thanked His Excellency
and withdrew., much please 1 that I hud refrained from speaking to him
on the subject.

Some weeks more passed away, but no Message yet appeared. Again
ray friend in the Legislative Council Avrote to me, (for I was no longer
able to attend my duty in that House,) and I stated to him, in ans-Acr,
what His Excellency had recen-iy paid to nic • yet as the clo-j of the
Session approached my friend stiU u.ged me to move in the matter,
but I would not. At length it became suddenly known that scvorp.l zC

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the Executive Councillors had sent in their resignations. On the
following day I reaeived a note from ilie Sccretar ', summoning me to
the Government House. On presenting- myself to His Excellency he
infoi'med me tliat a month ago he had reuTred my IVIemorial to the
Council, as he told me he would, but that they liad not reported upon
it, and he had reason to believe that they had determined not to report
upon it. But now many of them having ,so;it in their resignations he
determined to proroguethe Parliament on a day in the following week,
whiehhe named; andthat if lue.sii-ed it he would send a M'.^ssage to the
two Hoaseson my beJia'f; but that he thought the time too short; and I
said I thought so too. But after some pause, and reflecting how I must
again suffer if another year were lost, I prayed oi' His Excellency to
semi the Message down at all hazai-ds, and he promised he would.
Early on the following morning His Kxcelleney's Secretary called on
me and acquainted me that His Excellency had decided on the proro-
gation one day sooner than thut named to me yesterday ; f.nd he
desired to know if I still wished to send the Message down ; but I
considered the Hme now too sliort to carry a measure througli in my
behalf, and with great pain and reluctance I said so.

Thus wasm^ unhappy caso again most cruelly staved off for another
year.

After the close of the Session I sought to obtain immediate relief
froT*i Her Majesty's Government in England, aud I prayed of His
Excellency to transmit a Petition to that effect from me to the Queen.
Upon tliis he was pleased to call on the Executive Council for alleport
upon it, and the following is a copy of the Report then made :

Seckktaky's Office, Kingston, \6ih February, 1844.
Sir: — I have the honor, by command of the Governor-General, io
transmit to yoa herewith an Extract from a Re])ort of a Committee of
the Honorable the Executive Council, approved by His Excellency,
on your Memorial of the 20th December lai^t, praying for the confir-
mation of a Grant of Land voted to you by the Legislature of the
late Province of Upper Canada, and to express his extreme regret".
at the repeated disappointments which have hitherto deprived you of
a benefit to which you are fully entitled.

I have also the honor, in compliance with your request, to return
to you lierewith the enclosures which accompanied your letter to me
of the 2d instant.

I have the honour to be, Sir,

Your most obedient, humble servant,

D. Dai.y; Secretary.
Ool. Fitz Gibbon, Kingston.

" ExTRiVCT.

" The Committee have taken the Memorial of Colonel Fitz Gibbon
« into their anxious consideration. They feel sensibly the diiliculties
" and embarrassments under wlvich Colonel Fitz CUbbon has laboured
" in consequence of the delays which have arisen in satisfying his
" acknowledged claims on the public ; and have carefully examined
" into the history of his case, in order to place their view of it fully
" before \o\xv Excellency.

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m m m mm m '

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" There can be no doubt that had the intention of the Legislatiiro
" of Upper Canada be^i carried into effect at the time it was first
** expressed, Colonel Fitz Gibbon would, while obtaining no more than
" what the gratitude of that Province felt due to him, have also
" gained the means of preventing those embarrassments which have
** since so cruelly pressed upon him. Her Majesty's Government,
" however, felt objections which the Provincial Authorities were
" unable to remove, to the remuneration of Colonel Fitz Gibbon by
" a Grant of Land, though they expressed their readiness to concur in
" a pecuniary grant for the same purpose. This, however, the then
" state of the finances of Upper Canada does not appear to have per-
" mitted, and the consequence was a part of that delay by which
*- Colonel Fitz Gibbon appears to have so deeply suffered.

" The claims of the Memorialist have not, however, in the opinion
*' of the Committee, been at all weakened by the postponed satisfac-
" tion of them. Repeatedly recognised, and never (so far is the
" Council are aware) doubted or questioned by any one, the very
" circumstance that they have liitherto been ineffectually urged, tends
" to five them increased weight, and will, in the opinion of the
" Committee, justify the most favorable recommendation and support
" which their duty will permit them to offer and afford.

" It is on this account that the Committee have arrived at the opin-
" ion that an amount of Land Scrip, corresponding in nominal value
" with the five thousand acres of Land which the Legislature of
" Upper Canada in 1838 thought Colonel Fitz Gibbon entitled to,
** would not be an equal compensation to that which it was at first
" proposed to grant. On the contrary, besides the injurious conse-
" quences of delay, the course would in effect deprive Colonel Fitz
" Gibbon of "^arly one half in point of value of the remuneration
" originally pi >posed.

" The Committee, therefore, respectfully advise Your Excellency to
** recommend Colonel Fitz Gibbon's case to favorable consideration at
" the next Session of the Legislature, for a grant of such sum of
" money as pliall be considered a fair equivalent for the Land originally
" proposed to be given to him.

" With regard to the application for an advance, the Committee
" have felt deep regret that they have not found it proper for them,
" to advise that it should be complied with. However strong their
" opinion of the justice of Colonel Fitz Gibbon's claim, or the proba-
"bility of its being favorably entertained by the Legislature, they are
" not prepared to advise Your Excellency to make an advance of
" public moneys in anticipation of the decision of the Parliament on
" the subject."

Here, then, was a candid and honorable statement of my case.
Here then Avas new ground for renewed hope, and especially did I
hope, confidently hope, on receiving a note from the Secretary ac-
quainting me that His Excellency had transmitted my Petition to
the Colonial Secretary with a favourable recommendation to Her Majes-
ty, with the view of procuring more speedy and certain relief from the
Imperial Government than could be looked for from the Provincial Le-
gislature in its then unsettled and discordant condition. But again did

the Imperial Authorities deny me any relief, even though my case was
recommended by such a man as Lord Metcalfe.

The following is a copy of the Secretary's note, and also of mine
acknowledging tlie receipt of it.

GovERNMKNT HousE, February 24, 1844.
My DEAR Sir,

Your Petition to Her Majesty with a favourable Report from His
Excellency, goes home by the packet now in port, and I earnestly
trust that the result may bo such as will prove satisfactory to you.
I am, my dear Sir,

Yours very truly,

J. M. HiGGINSON.

Colonel Fitz Gibbon.

Monday Morning, 26th February, 1844.
My dear Sir,

Exceedingly desirous as I am to cease from soliciting His Excellen-
cy's time or attention, even to accept the expression of my gratitude
for all he has hitherto done for me, yet I cannot but acknowledge the
receipt of your note of Saturday, which satisfies me that all that can be
done for me by His Excellency has been accomplished.

I will now endeavour to sustain myself by trusting in the good Pro-
vidence of the Almighty, and in the favorable consideration of Her
Majesty's Government, for an early and favorable settlement of this
long pending case.

I had no expectation of receiving any information from you of the
course taken by His Excellency on the subject of my Petition; your
kind consideration, therefore, is the more soothing and gratifying to
me and to my children, and cannot fail to strengthen them in their
future efforts to be found not undeserving of all that has been done for
us.

James Fitz ( noN.
J. M. Higginson, Esq.

On the removal of the Seat of Government from K'ngston to Mon-
treal I applie'^ for, and obtained leave of absence to remain in Kingston.
I was mentally ir^apacitated from performing my duty in the House,
and 1 was wholly without money to defray the heavy expenses of re-
moving my f\imily and household furniture to Montreal.

Another painful year had nearly elapsed when the new Parliament
was at length assembled, and in the month of January following, 1845,
I drew up an appeal to the Members of both Houses, in order to ena-
ble them to understand many circumstances of my case which may
have been but little known to them. I will not insert this appeal here
because of its length.

In March following the estimates were laid before the Assembly,

when to my surprise an^ dismay the sum of one thousand pounds, only,

v/as inserted and recommended for me. I instantly addressed several

letters to gentlemen who, I hoped, could obtain justice for me, but

^ wholly without success.

It-:

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And here let Jt be remembered that at the time this grant of one
thousand pounds was made to me, in March, 1845, upwards of seven
years had elapsed since the rewavl was first pn.yed for ; and during
those seven years I had to pay upwards of JG 1,200 interest and law cools
on my debts. Let this single fact be considered, apart from all my
disappointments and mortificationa, and it may be easily imagined how
great must have been the amount of evil thus infiicted upon me. In
truth I have been punished by those whose high and holy duty it was
to have cheerfully, graciously and promptly rewarded me. Ought I
now to be blamed for declaring these facts? And yet I have my fears
that this declaration will excite against me feelings of hostility, rather
than of sympathy for my many wrongs and long suffering. Surely
these sufferings will not be increased or prolonged because I cannot
any longer endure them in silence?

Now, then, I was brought into a new kind of difficulty. Every Jne
of my creditors now expected full and prompt payment of his el.ii.n
upon me out of this grant. But this was impossible, inasmuch as I
yet owed almost £2000. The painful result was that some of those
who were dearest to me became incensed at my breach of promises, so
often repeated, and covered me with reproaches and insult. To keep
friends with those men was one of the most cherished objects of my
life. With some of them I had hoped to enjoy a friendly and a happy
intercourse during the short time which might yet be granted to me in
this life. But this is now impossible. The discharging the residue of
my debts, even if I ever can discharge them, will in no degree restore
the friendly relations of half a century, which have been thus so cru-
ellv rent asunder.

Still smarting under my remaining embarrassments, and under a
never ceasing sense of the wrongs and injustice thus heaped upon me,
I determined again tu apply to the Colonial Minister to make good to
me the difference between the ui)set price of the land v hen first prayed
for, and the sum given to me in March, 1845. Therf are two grounds
upon which I consider myself entitled to have the original grant made
up to me by the Imperial Government. The first, though not, perhaps,
the most undeniable one is, that having refused to confirm the Acts of
the Upper Canada Legislature, or to grant to me the value of the
land out of the Crown Revenue in Upper Canada, in 1839, then at
the disposal of the Crown, the Colonial Minister threw me back upon
a newly created and discordant Legislature, which, disre; irding the
pledge so often given by the Legislature of L^pper (."anada, has gran-
ted after a lapse of seven long years only two-fiiths of what was inten-
ded for me by that Legislature ; the Imperial Government ought,
therefore, to make good to me the loss thus caused, chiefly by its
refusal. But the second, and what appears to me the most undeniable
ground, is, that the service rendered by me was as important and
beneficial to the Empire at large as it Avas to Upper Canada. The
denial of this undeniable fact I can regard in no other point of view
than as an act of the most unwise, as well as of the most unjust and
cruel character. For the object of the Legislature of Upper Canada
was to have me relieved from my debts ; and witli that view they
intended to insert in their resolution GOOO acres. But fearing that

6000 might not be suflBcient to enable me to pay tlios^ debts they consi-
derately caused inquiry to be made of me, personally ; and to the
members who came to me I stated that I considcrd 5000 acres would
suffice, as Mr. Shaver's letter of February last hereinbefore inserted,
confirms. Here, then, was a clearly expressed pledge given that I
should be rewarded to that amount. It was an honorable bond, spon-
taneously and unanimously entered into by the people of Upper
Canada with me, for a generously acknowledged consideration, for
service rendered by mo to them, as well as to the British Empire.
Surely, surely, if justice be not wholly disregarded, if honor be yet
at all esteemed among us, the authorities will now hasten to repair, as
far as they can, the cruel injuries thus long heaped upon me, and
redeem a pledge, the repudiation of which by any gentleman in private
life would for ever dishonor him.

"With a mind filled with these impressions I addressed Lord Stanley,
and he gave for answer that having received already from vhe Provin-
cial Government £1000, he considered my claim satisfied. At the same
time I addressed a letter to Lord Metcalfe, then in England, praying
of His Lordship to use his influence in my behalf with Pier Majesty's
Government, and on the 2nd of February, 1846, I received a letter
from Mr. Secretary Iligginson, of which the following is a copy :

Metcalfe Terrace, (near Montreal).
February 2iid, 1646.
Mr Dear Sir,

I have received a letter from Lord Metcalfe in whic' 'le desires me
to say in reply to j'our communication to him relating tj your appli-
cation to Her Majesty's Government for a grant in addition to that
made by the Provincial Legislature, that although it was always His
Lordship's wish that the grant voted to you should have been larger,
and it was a disappointment to him that it was so small, he considers
himself as now precluded from any interference in the affairs of Canada,
unless he should be called on by Her Majesty's Government for his
opinion upon any subject.

I am desired to add that if in your case a reference should be made
to him, his reply would certainly be favorabl' to you — and to assure
you of the high respect and regard which Lord Metcalfe entertains for
you, and of the estimate in Avhich he holds the important services
rendered by you to the Colony.
I am,

My dear Sir,

Yours very faithfully,

J. M. HiGGINSON.
Colonel Fitz Gibbon.

Immediately on the accession of Mr. Gladstone to the cfTice of
Colonial Secretary, I appealed to him, but, as I suppose, owing to his
retiring from the office very soon after, I received no answer to my
application to him.

Wlien, on Earl Grey's accession, T addressed His Lordship, and also
Lord John Russell, sending at the same time a copy of Lord JMetculfe's

\Vi

fitatement in my favor, Earl Grey was pleased to give the foUowiug
answer, through His Excellency, Lord Cathcart:

Seciietaky's Office,

Montreal, 30th Nov., 1846.
SiK,

I have the honor, by command of the Governor General, to inform
you that His Excellency has received a Despatch from Her Majesty's
Principal Secretary of State for the Colonies, stating that His Lord-
ship had had under his consideration, your letter of the 28th of Sep-
tember last, addressed to the Kight Honorable the Lord John Russell,
•wh''^h was referred to His Lordship as the official organ of the Govern-
ment in Colonial affairs, renewing your claims upon Her Majesty's
Government, for services rendered by you during the llebellion in
Upper Canada, in 1837.

The Governor General has been instructed by the Secretary of
State to inform you that your representations have received his most
attentive consideration, and that it affords His Lordship sincere regret
to be under the necessity of stating thai he! cannot admit your claim to
be rewarded for your public services in Canada, by the means of a
grant from the British Treasury. As your claim has arisen from your
exertions in the defence of Canoda, His Lordship considers that it de-
volves exclusively upor the Province to discharge the same, and he is
therefore compelled to refer your application to the decision of the
local Legislature.

I have the honor to be,
Sir,
Your most obedient servant,

(Signed,) D. Daly, Secretary.

James Fitz Gibbon, Esquire,
Belleville.

On receipt of this letter I again addressed Earl Grey, to declare that
I had no hope of a further grant from the Provincial Legislature, and
again to press the justice of my claim on the Imperial Government.
To which also His Lordship was pleased to give an answer, of which
the following is a copy:

Civil Secretary's Office,

Montreal, 6th March, 1847.
Sir,

I am directed to inform you, that the Governor General has recei-
ved a Despatch from the Secretary of State, acknowledging the
receipt of a further letter from you dated the 7th of December last,
in which you renew your claim to be rewarded by Her Majesty's
Government for your public services during the Rebellion in Cana-
da, and that His Excellency has been instructed to convey to you
the assurance of Earl Gi'cy's deep regret for the distress under
which you describe yourself to be suffering.

That regret is enh?inced by the painful conviction that it is totally

*■

out of his Lordship's power to relieve, or mitigate the embarrass-
ments of your situation.

I have the honor to be,
Sir,

Your most obedient humble servant,
(Signed,) H. Cotton, Chief Clerk.

Colonel Fitz Gibbon,

&c. &c. &c.

Thus, then, is my claim again to be referred to the Legislature of
the Uniteu Pi-ovince. But Avith only the information already before
that Legislature, what reasonable hope can I indulge that they will
now look upon my case more favorably than they did in March, 1845?
I think, therefore, that in justice to them, to the Executive Govern-
ment, to myself, and to you, the people of Upper Canada, I am in
duty bound to publish this statement.

But it is with the utmost reluctance that I make any appeal. I
would gladly refrain from thus placing myself before the public. If
you give rae credit for possessing but an ordinary share of the manly
spirit of an independont mind, you will imagine how painful it must
be to me, thus to appear before my children, and the Canadian people,
as it were, an importunate mendicant, supplicating for that which
should have come blessed to me as the free will offering of a generous
people; among whom I have lived and served for nearly forty-five
years. But painful though it be, it is the only alternative I can
choose. Nor while I live, and suffering as I am, can I ever cease from
prosecuting this claim, through every available channel, and by every
means within my power, from time to time, to employ. I would fain
abstain from the use of language which unjust or malignant men
might construe as threatening. But nine long years of injustice and
deep injury make it appropriate. And I feel that any statement of
mine less forcible in its tone and expression, or any affectation of calm-
ness, after all I have suffered, could only be regarded as hypocritical.
Let it not be forgotten that I have thus suffered for nine long years
before making this public appeal.

James Fitz Gibbon.

I U '

'■)■■<

/:'

To Messrn, LovcH 4- Gibson.

Montreal, 29th May, 1847.

Gentlemei?,

I have just found two papers, the existence of which I had quite
forgotten, and which have not hitherto been made any use of by me.
Although found too late to be incorporated with the statement you arc
now printing, I think them of such importance that I desire to have
them subjoined to that statement. I therefore request of you to have
them printed by way of Postscript or Addendum to it.

Your obedient servant,

James Fitz Gibbon-

To Colonel Fitz Gibbon. "

Dear Sir,

We, whose names are hereunder written, beg leave to express to
you the high opinion which we entertain of the services rendered by
you to the Government and people of this Province, prior to, and
during the insurrection of 1837, and 1838. Having each of us had
for more than two years previously the benefit of your instruction in
Military discipline while we were members of a Volunteer Rifle Corps,
which you commanded, we can speak confidently of your untiring
efforts, although with much trouble and inconvenience to yourself, to
make us perfect in our duties, and we are glad that we are enabled to
bear testimony to the fact, that for some time previous to the outbreak
we had received directions from you to be prepared for, and how and
where to assemble in any emergency that might arise, and that on
the evening of the outbreak, the force at the Parliament and Govern-
ment Houses was composed chiefly, if not altogether, of members of
your Rifle Corps, who had been warned by you to meet there that
evening, with arms and ammunition, to repel an anticipated attack.
\Vb have to add, that we shall be most happy at all times, to offer any
expression of opinion, or give any testimony in accordance with the
facts above stated, which may tend to further your views in procuring

from Her Majesty's Government the consideration foi* you, to which
we conceive you aie by your long service entitled.

(Signed,) Gkokoe Brock,*

W. BELLINGHAM.f

J. HlLLYARD CaMKKON,!

Thomas Galt,|]
James McDoNiiLL,§
Georgk D. Wells,**
R. A. Kelly,
George SiiAAv.ff
A. C. He\vari>,JJ
A. J. FergussoNjIjI
Waiter McKenzie.§§
Grant Po\vell,§§
Edward Hitcuu<gs,***
August, 1840.

Toronto, 10^/t August, 1840.
Dear Sir,

It has afforded me great pleasure to embrace the opportunity of add-
ing my signature to the testimony wliich has been borne by my
fellow companions of the Rifle Company, with respect to your
valuable services to the Government and people of this Province at
the time of the late Rebellion. Concurring, as I do most fully, in
the opinions they have expressed on the subject, I consider it my
duty to add my circumstantial evidence of the following facts: —
1st. That you offered the services of the Rifle Company to His
Excellency Sir Francis Head as early as the month of October,
1837, in consequence of the removal of the Regular Troops from
the seat of the Government.
2nd. That this offer not having been accepted, you intimated a desire
that the Company should assemble at the Parliament House, ia
the event of any disturbance — for which purpose the tolling of the
Upper Canada College Bell was fixed upon, as the signal of
alarm.
3rd. That on Monday the 4th of December, 1R37, (on the night of
which day the rebels assembled at Montgomery's Tavern) at or

* Student at Law, in 1837 — now a Barrister.

f Student at Law, in 1837 — now, in May, 1847, a Captain iu the 32nd Begi-
ment.

X Student at Law in 1837 — now Solicitor General for Canada West.

II Student at Law, in 1837 — now a Barrister.

§ Now holdin": an office un^er the Provincial Government in Toronto.

** Student at Law, iu 1837 — now a Barrister.

f f Who, with four othur brothers, formed a part of this corps. These are sons
of the lato Japtaia Shaw, 36th Regiment, and grandsons of the late Major Gene-
ral Shaw.

XX Barrister, &c.

nil Well acquainted with the truth of the above statement from having served
under Colonel Fitz Gibbon before, and during the outbreak, though not a member
of the Rifle Corps — now a Barrister.

§§ These two gentleman now hold offices under the Provincial Government.

**♦ In 1837, a member of the Rifle Company, and Barrist«r at Law.

J'l

before the hour of four o'clock P. M., I received your orders to
warn as many of my companions as time would permit, to meet
you at the Parliament House, in arms, and was ('n{;nf!;ed ticcor-
dingly until a late hour, when you employed me on otiier service.
It may not be irrelevant to observe iu concliiaion ihut your pre-
vious instructions already enabled many members ol" tiie Rifle Com-
pany to render eilicient service at the critical period in question.
For myself I may assert that my ap[)oint:nent to the command of
one of the four principal divisions, organized in the Market Square of
this place on Tuesday morning, the Sth December, 1837, must have
arisen from my connexion with tliat body, and that my conlidence in
assuming the charge was materiall\ increased by finding myself
under the guidance of an officer of your ardent zcalaud distinguished
services.

Believe me to remain, dear Sir,
With great respect.

Colonel Fitz Gibbon,

&c. &c. &c.

Very faithfully yours,

Waltkr McKenzib.

Without such testimony as this, those at a distance could hardly be
convinced that so many and such extraordinary steps should be taken
by one individual, so discouraged and discountenanced, during several
weeks, even down to the very hour when the Rebels came within two
miles of the City of Toronto; and yet that all the functionaries of the
Government, although thus ■warned and urged, retired to their beds,
disregarding every warning, so often, and so forcibly given: — Even to
my going to the Government House after ten o'clock at night, only
one hour before the alarm was given, and insisting upon seeing Sir
Francis Head, and who came to me from his bed, and was then told
how, that very night, I apprehended an outbreak: and yet he returned
to his bed, from which, he was in one hour after, aroused by Alderman
Powell after his havingshot theRebel leader. And at which hour, Judge
Jones, also, on being called from his bed, exclaimed, *' Oh! the over-
" zeal of that man is giving us a great deal of trouble." Could any
honorable man believe that Sir Francis Head, knowing nil, or almost
all of these circumstances, should only so report my services, as in
the following short paragraph in his Despatch is stated; namely:

"Accordingly, on Thursday morning, I assembled our forces, under
" the direction of the Adjutant General of Militia, Colonel Fitz Gib-
" bon, Clerk of the House of Assembly."

But in truth he felt so mortified by his errors, and his obstinacy
being thus made so manifest, that he had not the candour, the magna-
nimity, to state the truth to the world, and to exert himself at once,
openly and legitimately, to procure forme that justice which his duty,
his honor, and even his gratitude, should have impelled him to use
his best efforts to obtain for me. For, had he fallen into the hands
of the Rebels, his life would, in all human probability, have been
sacrificed by them, they having declared that they would put him and
his Attorney General to death.

Can any camlid man among you, the people of Upper Canada, have
any reasonable doubt, after reading; this appeal, but that t^e Rebels
would iiave surprirted and taken Toronto, if the measures and preeau-
tions thus taken by ine, in disregard of so much diseouragement, had
not been taken, and I had retired to my bed as all those functionaries
did to theirs?

James Fitz Gibbon.

I request that the following may be added also:

When the proposed grant to me of on(> thousand pounds was debated
in the Legislative Assembly in Mareh, 18 43, Mr. Aylwin, a Member
of that House, is reported to have said, '* That I had monopolised honor
" which did not rightly belong to me : — that I had received eredit for
" the affair at the lieaver Dam in 1813, while in point of fact the
" party to whom that credit was due was Major Delorimier, a relative
** of his own, and a native of Lower Canada," together Avith more in
opposition to the grant.

In answer to which I submit the following Testimonials :

Extract of a General Order, issued hy Jlis Excellencj/ Lievtetiant
General Sir George Prevost, dated Kingston, June 28th, 1813.
" The Commander of the Forces has great satisfaction in announcing
" to the Army, that a Report has just been received from Brigadier
" General Vincent, of a most judicious and s|)irited exploit achieved,
** on the 24th instant, by a small detachment of the 49th Regiment,
" amouning to forty-six Rank and File, under Lieutenant Fitz Gibbon,
" and a band of Indian Warriors, which terminated in the defeat and
" entire capture of a considerable detachment of the American Regular
" Army, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Boertitler, of the
" 14th United States Regiment, after sustaining considerable loss."

Extract of a Despatch from Brigadier- General Vincent to His
ExcaUency Sir George Prevost, dated Jufie 25th, 1813.

" I cannot but particularise the conduct of Lieutenant Fitz Gibbon,
" 49th Regiment, commanding a small party co-operating with the
" Indians, through whose address in entering into the capitulation,
" Your Excellency will perceive by Lieutenant Colonel B!«-"hopp'3
" Report, that the surrender of the American Detachment is to be
•* attributed.

" I beg leave to recommend this OtHccr to your Excellency's pro-
tection."

In November 1840, I received a note from His Excellency Major
General Sir Joha Harvey, of which the following is a copy :

" GoVEUXMENT HoUSE,

" Fredericton, N. B., October 29th, 1840.
My Dear Sir,

It will always afford me, as it ever has done, very sincere satisfaction
to hear of your welfare, and of the high degree of esteem and respect
which your public and private wortii appear to have obtained for you,
on the part not only of the Authorities under which you have acted,
but in the community in which you have lived.

I Imve not forgotten, nor nm 1 capable of fbipjeltinj;, how admirably
you justified my selection of you for ii (litfic'ilt and hazardous
Service — one from the able and tjucce.isful accoiiiplishiuiiut of wliicU
both the country and yourself reajjcd honor and advantage.

I tliunk you for ti>e paper which you have Kent me, but btill more
for the warui exj^ression of your friendly good wishes. Accept
mine for yourself and all your family, and believe me,

Very faithfully yours,

J. II All VET.

Colonel Fitz Gibbon, Toronto.

The paper thus mentioned by Ilis Excellency was a copy of Instruc-
tions written by me for tlie guidance of my youngest son, then an
Ensign in the 24th Regiment, iji Kingston, Upper Canada. The then
state of Ota* lelations with the neighbouring Republic, made me think
it not improbable that war would soon be declared ; and such instruc-
tions as my former experience in the Forests of America enabled mo
to give I prepared for that son's guidance. The Frontier of New
Brunswick was then, I thought, most threatened ; I therefore took the
liberty of sending a copy of those Instructions to 8ir John Harvey,
to be dist'''buted among the young (Jllicers, Regulars, as well as
Militia, within the limits of His Excellency's Government, should ho
approve of such distribution'.

JaMKS FjTZ GiUUON.

■tf

MoNTUKAL, Wednesday Mohnixg,

2nd June, 1847.

Ycstcrilny I cxnmineil the last proof sliect of my Appeal to you,
the people of Upper C;Miada. On the evening of yesterday I received
n letter from His Excellency's Civil Secretary, in answer to a letter
which I addressed to the Secretary on the 21st ultimo. I here give a
copy of each:

MoNTUEAL, 2]st May, 1847.
Sir,

I have this day presented myself to the Governor General for the
purpose of making t'^ lii?s Excellency, personally, some observations
on my long unsatisfieii ciuim upon the Governments, both Imperial
and Provincial. The statements I made were few, partly because of
the disturbed state of my mind, which I feared might cause me to
fall into incoherency or run into excitement ; and partly that I might
not encroach, inconveniently, ujjon His Excellency's time. Even to
to write coherently costs me much time and repeated efforts.

But there is one feature in my ease which I desire to lay before His
Excellency, because I have been frequently informed that the force
of my claim has been sought to be weakened by an argument founded
upon the circumstances which constitute that feature.

It has been said that my three sons have had appointments conferred
upon them by the Government. To this I answer that Sir John
Colborne, in JMontrenl, in May, 1839, condescended to inquire after
my children, individually ; for lie knew them individually. His Excel-
lency's sons having attended Upper Canada College at the same time
that my soris did. In speaking of my youngest son I stated, with an
expression of regret, that I could not ])revail upon him to devote
himself earnestly to the study of the law, to which profession I had
him bound by Articles, because of his great desire to enter the army.
I intended to have added that I could not sustain him in that service,
and therefore woiild not make an effort to obtain a Commission for
him. But before I could make that addition His Excellency quickly
asked me his age, his height, and two or three other questions, at the
same time taking up his pen. I saw at once what His Excellency
was about to do, and I had some time to reflect while these questions

iv-^

1 1-.'

were being put and answered. His Excellency then began to wi-ite.
My first impression was that it would be ungracious to decline His
Excellency's offer. My next was that it might be best to accept the
the Comniission, and that the young man would soon find that he
could not live upon his pay as a subaltern without having to endure
humiliations to M'luch he could not long submit ; and that then he
would retire and return Avith good will to the profe?<ion I had destined
him for, and devote himself to it with an undivided mind.

And so, exactly, it has occurred. After serving nearly four years
in the 24th Regiment, he wrote to nie from Devonport asking for my
permission to resign his Commission, which I most willingly gave;
and although the Duke of Wellington permitted the Commission to be
sold, and mo t considerately allowed the yo- ng man to receive one
half of the p archa^e money, yet I had to borrow J620 to pay for his
passage from Glasgow to New York, besides making a remittance to
him while he was in England. Altogether he cost me upwards of
£200. This appointment did thus but add seriously to my other
embarrassments.

In Upper Canada I held a small office of Register of the Court of
Probate, in addition to that of Chn-k of the Assembly. For thirteen
years that I held it, the fees received by me annually, i-raounted from
£21, to £66. At my request Sir Charles Bagot most I'eadily and
graciously transferred it to my eldest son, who has since held it ; and
the fees of the last year have exceeded £100. Out of the pi'oceeds
of this office, held in Toronto, it has been im;jossible for this son to
afford me any aid.

Sir Ciiarles Bagot fiirthei-, most considerately extended his pati'on-
age to my sons, by appointing my second son to be C^-rk of the Peace
in the Distr:;;t of Victoria, This t'tlice has hitherto produced to him,
annually, from £120, to £loO. After the return of my youngest son,
some thiee years ago, he resumfd his studies under this brother, who
has, until a i'cw months, supported him, and partly by borrowing money.
So that fiom this son it was impossible I could obtain any aid.

Under such circumstances I concealed A-om my children as much as
I could, the whole extent of my embarrassments and my sufferings.
For uselessly to afflict their minds and depress their energies could be
productive of evil only. Yet under such circumstances have ungene-
rous men used their arguments and their influence against the confir-
mation to me, in full, of the intended grant by the late Legislature of
Upper Canaua.

1 therefore request you. Sir, to bring this letter under the Governor
General's notice, that His Excellency may be enabled duly to appre-
ciate such arguments or influence, should such be used when my case
again comes under consideration.

I have the honor to be,
Sir,
Your most obedient, humble servant,

Jam lis FiTz Gibbon.
To Major Campbell,

Civil Secretary to His Excellency the Governor General,
&c., &c., &c.

•*>'

.Jfc

Le
re
le

|ra

je;

jbe
Ine

liis

I to

ier

Civil. Skcretaky's: Offioe,

Montreal, IstJwne, 1847.
Sir,

I am directed to inform 3'ou that your letter of the 21st instant, has
heen laid before the Governor General in Council, and that the claims
which you consider yourself to have on the Government having
been fully considered, His Excellency has not been advised to propose
to Parliament any further appropriation of public money for your
relief.

I have the honor to be,
Sir,
Your most obedient, humble servant,

T. Campbell, Major,

Civil Secretari/,
Colonel Fitz Gibbon.

Discouraging and depressing to me as this denial is, yet aiter a
long night's deep and painful thought I still cherish the hope that
truth and justice must, before the end, prevail. I still hope that after
this Appeal shall be read in Canada, andthewhole truth publicly made
known, (and which I intended should be published before my case
should be again brought under consideration), the minds of all, whe-
ther governing or governed, will be convinced that justice has not yet
been fully extended to me. Truth, justice, honor, every principle
which tends to elevate the mind of man, is involved in this question,
however intrinsically unimportant it may be. Enlightened minds in
this present day of advancing candour, benevolence and magnanimity,
will, when convinced, acknowledge these principles, and act upon them.
From hope in this view of my case I will still continue to draw strength
for future effort, until success shall be attained, or my last energies be
exhausted.

Jamus Fitz Gibbon.