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Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la m6thode. 1 2 3 32X 1 2 3 4 8 6 SI SKETCHES OF CANADA AND THE UNITED STATES. r SK " A ntll< uur u|ilnloii lh« iiir« ut « " We arc to hli Mnjiii " Hero II wa; of tax, and viii|ilo]i I*!!- iifllia i SKETCHES OF CANADA AND THE UNITED STATES. Bv WILLIAM L. MACKENZIE. 1 p. H/io^^ci " A nation muil not be nice about deulls when lis existence oi Ubeities are threatened. In uur u|ilnlon, no criils ever arose In tireat Britain more pregnant with grave alarm than that on the eve of which we at this moment stand."— r/io Times. Saturday, June lith, 1833. " We are approaching to a state of anarchy and confusion."— ^Mreu of the Legislativ Council t» hit Mulmty, on theprcunt eondiiion of Lower Canada. ' " It is not by the consolidation or concentration of powers, but by their distribution, that good government is effected. Were not this great country already divided into states, that division must be made, that each might do for itself what concerns itself directly, and what it can so much better do than a distant authority. Every state again is divided into counties, each to take care of what lies within its local bounds ; each county again info townships or wards, to manage minuter details; and every ward into farms, to be governed each by its individual proprietor. Were we directed from Washington when to sow, and when to reap, we should soon want bread."— J/emoira of Thomcu Jefferton, a Whig of \77G. W. CLowiia, Stamford Streat. tf» be cloie to CONTENTS. ers, but by 9t this great e, that each ;aii so much iivided into Linds ; each letails; and proprietor, to reap, we a Whig of Page Introduction ...... xiii Western New York — Lockport— Sects — Rochester — The Erie Canal — Natural Gas . . . . . 1 to 7 A Scotch Whig — A Cameroniaii . . . .7 Bordentown — The Jerseys — Point Breeze — Joseph Bonaparte 8 to 12 The State House —The Bell — Philadelphia Water-Works — General Assembly of the Presbyterian Ohurch — Tim Naval Yard . 13 to 18 Equality, or Whites and Blacks —Canadian Elections — Female Voters — Philadelphia Ladies . . , 19 to 21 Kidnapping Slaves in Upper Canada . . 21 to 23 Baltimore — Slavery — Conduct of Negroes m the Canadas . 23 to 25 Washington ; the Capitol — Mr. Gales — Republican Simplicity 25 to 27 Mr. Leckie — Major Barry — The General Post-Office — The Pa- tent-Office - Colonial Post-Office — War- Office — Gales and Seaton . . . . . 27 to 33 A Divorce— Crazy Dow — Marriages . . 33 to 3fi General Green . . . . v\ Officers of the General Government — General J\I'Comb — Library . V Congress . . . , . 37 to 4(» The Department of State— Royal Autographs . 40 to -4 2 Martin Van Buren . . . . 42 Andrew Jackson . . . . 46 to 49 Notice of his Birth and Early History — The Poor . . . . . 49 to 56 Public Opinion— Colonial Militia— United States Militia— Character 56 to 59 60 to 62 62 66 of the President .... Duties of Congress — Public Servants — James Monroe Standing Armies . . . Lafayette on the Niagara Frontier "^.tA-' A<- t. r ^-i ": "r- 4 ^^j^D -^^ \ '^A. ^; 1.VV- :^-^-tf f\ >: S\ ''-■-^J 0. '■^-'f •^\ .!->.,< /^^. <-c<. VI CONTENTS. Ji: Pas* American Governors— Governor Finlay — Governor Gilmer 69 to 72 Going Downhill — Bankruptcies — Noah's Safety Valve, or Life in the West— Trade in 1750 . . . 72 to 76 Philadelphia Fashions Fourscore Tears ago . . 76 Bookselling in America . • . ' 78 Nullification in Canada, or a Smuggling Scene upon the Niagara River . . . . .81 Albion Mills— The Burning Spring— The Lover's Leap — Ancaster — Burlington Bay . . . . 85 to 87 A County Election at the Falls of Niagara . . 87 Doctor Lefferty .... 92 A Voyage down the Falls of Niagara . . .94 Sam Patch— A Tremendous Jump— Sam's Death— Trenton Falls — The Table Rock— Niagara . . . 97 to 101 The Niagara Whirlpool — ^The Falls — Scenery near St. David's 101 to 104 Methodism in Canada^a Camp Meeting . . 1 05 Middlesex Election — Captain Matthews — Mr. Rolph — Colonel Talbot —The Spirit of Freedom . . . 110 to 115 Father Talbot— Riot at St. Thomas . . . 1 1 5 to 1 1 8 The Children of Peace, a new religion— Hope Village — Splendid Temple— A Concert in the Woods . . 118 to 123 An Itinerating Sect . . . . . 123 Tnie Christianity, or the old Negro — Militia Fines — A Lovely Country —Newmarket — Dr. Strachan . . . 125 to 128 Church Missionaries — A Marriage in a Stable . 128 to 130 The Credit Indians — ^The Mission House — Indian School — Peter Jones — Dorcas Society — Indian Fisheries — Salmon — * Deer Hunting . . . . . . 130 to 136 The Canadian Yorkshire— Tories versut Reformers . 136 Judge Hopkins' Tavern — The Canadian Solomons — Crime in Upper Canada . . . . . 137 to 142 Nova Scutia — Beating Legislators into Order — The Speaker 142 Lockport in 1825 — ^The Canada Company, a great evil 144 to 146 A Trip to Quebec — Montreal Churches— The Catholic Cathedral— A CONTENTS. VU s-l Page Chaplain dismissed— Lower Canada Clergy— Irish and Canadian Tithes . . . • • 147 to 15 Climate of the Canadas — Quails — Moutreal Harbour — Sorell— At torney •General Stuart . . • . 151 to 153 Anecdote of Sir James Kempt — Canadian Loyalty — On abandoning Canada {Note) . . . . 154 to 156 Government — Vermont and Upper Canada compared — General Assem. bly of Vermont . . . . . 15G to 151i Vermont — A Curious Quotation, p. 160 — Democratic Elections — Re- porters — General Assembly — Chaplain — Income and Taxes— Bank Taxes — Legislative Contingencies — Judges' Salaries — Salaries of Public Officers in Upper Canada and Vermont — Auditors — Trea- surers . . . . • • lG0tol65 Vermont — Governor's Salary — Mr. Crafts' Speech— CoJinty Officers — Biillots for Congress — The Pardoning Power— Contested Elections —Banks — Lotteries — A Judge's Contingencies — Who may give Evidence — Common Schools — Court of Chancery — A Prorogation ^Cognovits ..... 165 to 172 Shipwreck of the Waterloo Steamer — Travelling on the Ice — Honesty and Humanity of the Canadian Habitans — St. Nicholas — Death of Captain Perry . . , . 172 to 179 The Steerage of an Emigrant Ship — Quebec Dog Carts — The Amateur Theatre -Lord Ay Imer . . . . 179 to 182 Quebec — A Variety of Climates — Floating Frost — The Assembly's Library — Legislative Buildings — The Exchange 181 to 186 Quebec College — Upper Canada, College — Bishop Signay 187 to 192 St. Lawrence Navigation by the United States . . 192 A New York Synagogue — An Unitarian . . 193, 194 Albany Typographical Society — A Toast . . 195 Albany — Senate and Assembly of New York — Passing Bank Charters —Colonial I'olicy .... 198 to 202 An American Methodist Chapel — Religious Controversy . 203, 204 Eleven Quotations — Sermon on Slavery, by Mr. Bascom, in New York— Colony of Liberia .... 205 to 213 New York, London, and Liverpool lines of Packet Ships — A Voyage across the Atlactic — Fare on board — Steerage Passengers— Amuse- via CONTENTS. 220 to 223 . '22,i 229 to 231 231 to 233 . 233 P«ge ment« — Books — The Ontario— Aveiaj^e length of Voyages — The Swallows . . . . . 213 to 220 Spitheail— The Health Officer— The Custom House Insanity and Death of Mr. Mudgu . London— Lobo — Banks of the Thames Colonel Backhouse — North Shore of Lake Erie — A Slide Beauties of Houghton .... Quaker Meeting- House and School — Meuonists and Tunkards 234 to 236 Albion andCaledon — A Farmer from York — Accidents in the Woods — Falls of the Credit— A Highland Family— Justice Sloat 237 to 24 1 Upper Canada — The Lake Simcoe Country — Whitchurch — The Militia Band of Music— The Highland Lassie . 242 to 244 Wild Land Taxes — Brock Townnhip — Absentees — The Canadian Woods . ..... 245 to 247 A Quotation from Noah — Guelph — Mr. Gait — The Priory — Churches — Eramosa— A Town Meeting . . • 247 to 249 Seven Years in Gaol — Jonah Brown — Oppressive Law Costs — A Family Government .... 250 to 252 The Cholera in America — in Montreal — in Albany — A Mournful Marriage — Washington Sages . . . 252 to 256 Registering Titles to Landed Estates — Law in New York for recording Conveyances, &c. — Do. in the Canadas . . 256 to 261 Upper Canada Deer Shooting, 262— The Tame Deer, 263— Calves in Harness — Cat and Kittens — Farmer Wixson, 264 — Tlie Canadian Dog, 265— The Bears— Peter Orr, 266-7— Waterfalls— The Pic- tured Rocks of Lake Superior, 268 . . 262 to 270 Upper Canada Paper Mills — Maple Sugar, 271 — A Political Paruon — Marriage of a Catholic Priest, 272 — My Husband, my Slave— A Procession of Africans, 273 — The Church Bell at Auction-^Bund- ling, 275— A Militia Training, 276— Preserved Fish, 277— Early Marriages — Mr. Savage outwitted — Horse-stealing, 278 270 to 279 Old and New Charters— Settling Duties, 280— Itinerating School- master, 282 — Political Almanacks, 283 — A Liberal — Bets or Wagers, •284— Petty Law Courts, 285— The Macdonells at Law, 286— Won- CONTENTS. IX Page ilerful Escape from the Woods, 287— Glengarry — Political Frieml* ahips ...... 279 to 289 Methodista and CathuUcs, 289— Robert Gourlay, 290— A Negro by Ballot— 106 Speeches, 291— Springfield Village, 292— A Message from His Excellency! 293 .... 289 to 294 Scenery on the Niagara— Awful Death of Colunul Nichol — Stamford Cuttage— The Falls .... 295 to 297 Mock Parliaments, a quotation, 298 — A Canadian County Election— The Press Triumphant — Hustings on the Snow — An Itinerating Printing Press — A Procession — Noble Spirit displayed by the 79th Regiment — their Punishment — A Threat of removing the Seat of Government . . . . . 298 to .304 Laws of Entail, Half-blood, and Primogeniture done away — The Ex- isting Law in New York stated — Intestate Estates — Lands Allodial —Personal Estates — Mr. Godfrey Vigne's Opinions — Anecdote of John Binkley — The Upper Canada Legislative Council an ob- struction ...... 305 to 314 Queenston Colunm — Digging for Libel— Lieutenant-General Sir Pere- grine Muitland ..... 314 to 318 Tnp. RioEAU Canai. — Locks — Commercial Importance — Major Wal- ker's Toast — Military Value of the ('anal — A Loyal Population- Mock Estimates — Huskisson's Strictures — Dam at Hog's Buck — Lands and Mill Sites — 22 Block Houses— Glory — Redoubts and Powder Magazines — Naval Reservoirs— Fever — Proposed Passage to Quebec ...... 319 to 326 New York Schools and Mechanical Labour Institution . 326 The United States, a Chapter on Grievances — Dr. Wilson's Catalogue of Sins . . . . . . 328 to 334 Libel Laws ....... 334 Processions — ^The Fete Dieu — " His Excellency opening Parliament !" — A Care-worn Functionary .... 335 to 337 Fatal Accident on the Niagara — A Wonderful o/d Newspaper 337 to 339 Or. Doyle's Disclosures — A Pensioned Bishop — The Reptile Me- thodists — Turning out a Priest — Parson Strachan . 340 to 343 On Emigration to North America — Illinois and Upper Canada com- a 5 r 111 i ft. V X CONTENTS. Page pared — Colonial and United States Duties— How to become an American Citizen — New South Wales — Advice to Labourers- Classes of Emigrants — A Journey in Upper Canada*— January and April, 1832 — Hints to Capitalists— Cheering Prospects 344 to 336 Legislative Recreations at Albany .... 357 Politicril Condition of Upper Canada — Significant Quotations— Intro- duction to Ministers — Statements concerning the Colonies — The Colonial Office, 361— Upper Canada Revenues, 361-2— Mr. R. W. Hay, 363— Petitions, 364— Persecution for Opinion, 366— Difficulty of Petitioning, 367 — Government, 368 — Causes of Discontent, 369 —Judges, Juries, Sheriffs, 371 — Official Outrages — ^The Magis- tracy, 372— Favoured Priesthoods, 373— War Claims, 373— Legis- lative Assemblies, 374 — Taxation without Representation — Standing Armies, 375 — Education, Trade, Inefficient Legislation, 376 — Legis- lative Council — Colonial Expenditure, 377 — ^The Colonies and United States contrasted, 378 — A Remedy for Canadian Difficul- ties ...... 379 to 380 A Step towards Independence — (Quotations, the Official Gazette- John Q. Adams, 381— United States Journals, 382— The Times, 383)— A General Conference, 384— On Union with the United States, 386 ..... 380 to 389 Nova Scotia taunted with her dependent condition ai a Colony (note) . . . . . 386 to 388 Opinions of British Colonial Government, by the Washington Journal and Baltimore Gazette (nole) . . . 388, 389 The particulars of an Attempt to take the Life of the Writer of these Sketches, at Hamilton, March 19th. 1831 . 390 to 404 District Meeting at Hamilton . . . .391 Colonel Kerr's Attempt ..... 394 C< iduct of the Government audits supporters . 399 to 404 Colonel Kerr tried, to keep up appearances . . 402 Rev. Isaac Fidler's account of Sir John Colborne's defences, when be- sieged by the Yeomaury in the Government-House t . 404 Upper Cima(la~'A Venetian Senate, or " Kings, Lords, and Com- mons!" . . ... 405 to 410 Political UuioDB in the Colonies— Dismissal of the Crowa Lawyers 411 CONTENTS. XI Page )ecoine an abourers— inuary and 344 to 356 . 357 )ns — Intro- )nies — The Mr. R. W. -Difficulty ontent, 369 'he Magis- 173— LegU- — Standing 176— Legis- )lonies and in Difficul- 379 to 380 , Gazette— The Times, the United 380 to 389 I a Colony 386 to 388 [ton Journal 388, 389 iter of these 390 to 404 391 . 394 399 to 404 402 SB, when be- 404 I, and Com- 405 to 410 sawyers 411 Page Captain Phillpotts — The Colonels in Trouble — Mr. Hume's Mo- tion ..... 414 to 417 Captain Maithewsand General Maitland, orEspionage in the Colonies- Yankee Doodle and Hail Columbia— Military Persecution 417 to 423 The Chaplain tu the Jesuits .... 423 Ploughing Matches ..... 424 The City of the Falls .... ib. Petty Couits — Law Fees .... 425 Wheat and Flour Trade in the Valley of the St. Lawrence — The American Tariff of 1833 . • . 427 to 432 The Canada Timber Trade— Tax at the Chaudiere Falls 433 to 435 Trifling with the House of Commons — The Neglected Addresses 436 False and Deceptive Revenue Returns — The Blue Book — William Hands of Sandwich — Andrew Stuart on Jobbing . 438 to 444 Pensions and Sinecures, a specimen . . . 445 British North American Post-Office Department — Letter Postage- Improved means of conveyance — Pkindering the Public and hood- winking Downing Street — Canada Newspapers— Who's to blame ? —Viscount Howick's efforts to improve the System — Mr. Hume's Inquiries .... 446 to 455 Banking in Upper Canada — Tlie Kingston Bank blown up — The present Bank commences at York — Its doubtful character and im. proper conduct — Ways and Means for obtaining Bank Charters 455 to 460 Honesty the best policy ; or the true and abiding interest of England in her future intercourse with her North American Empire 460 to 467 Auld James Laidlaw — Land granting — James Hogg — Sir Walter Scott ..... 468 to 471 Esquesing— Gait's Lawrie Todd . . 471 to 474 Emigration to Canada and New South Wales, 1833 474 to 481 Lower Canada — A Free Press — Montreal Bank — Mr. Vigor — Nova Scotia .... 482 to 483 Lower Canada Company . . . . 488 Unskilful Physicians . ... 490 A Finance Committee ! . . • i 492 Monopolies in Uppei Canada • • * 493'| l-i Xll CONTENTS. Legislative Councils, a solemn mockery The Morning Herald , Anecdotes of Lake Ontario . Vote of thanks to the Earl of Ripoii Explanations 494 497 499 500 503 I l| 4'* '• Let tl i^e ws» contei •;• jou need i tV ijuettioi A BO< ruontl: ^ the sa charm ment. which the w least contim of its ia am se s ability public prepai ceedin Page 494 497 499 500 503 INTRODUCTION. " Let the House but remember the expression of Mr. Jettmon, when the conqueat of Louisiana wai contemplated,—' When the cherrjr is ripe and ready to fall, you have only to open your mouth, you need not shake the tree.' "—Vide Mr. Alexander Baring'$ Speechea in the Haute qf Commont, on t>w f Wilton of Canatlian fortificationt. A BOOK about America might be written every six months, by the same traveller, periodically revisiting the same scenes, and yet possess in a high degree the charm of novelty, so rapid is the career of improve- ment, and so interesting and extensive are the changes which the agency of man is continually effecting in the western world. But, although I have travelled at least forty thousand miles on the North American continent, and seen much of the manners and customs of its inhabitants, within the last fourteen years, I am sensible that I do not possess sufficient skill and ability, as a writer, to commaiid the attention of the public to any systematic and elaborate work I might prepare for the press. Even this little book is ex- ceedingly defective in its style and composition ; nor ii ii ■ il '. XIV INTRODUCTION. II 111 has much regard been paid to order of time and phico in the arrangement of the sketches and anecdotes^ whether original or selected. If it possesses any merit, it will be found chiefly to consist in a faithful detail of circumstances important to be known in this country, but concerning which, other and abler writers on Ame- rica have been silent. I am careful to state no one fact, as of my own personal knowledge, of the truth of which I entertain a doubt. When offering opinions on the political condition of Upper Canada, however, it is possible I may have been, in some cases, uncon- sciously swayed by the state of my feelings, for I hold it to be next to impossible, in the present excited condition of the two Canadas, for any person to take that active part in public affairs which has fallen to my share without becoming more or less of a par- tisan. All I can -say is, that I have desired to write with impartiality both of the United States and British America. I have not written of Canada in the manner of a traveller taking a passing glance at scenes h«* never more expects to visit, but as a person deeply interested concerning the home of his future years, the country of his adoption, the birth-place of his children. If the statesmen of England shall decide to present the United States with the better half of the northern continent, I am free of blame, and may plead the con- INTRODUCTION XV ind place necdotes^ ny merit, 'ul detail country, on Ame- 5 no one truth of opinions however. \, uncon- J3, for I excited to take as fallen >f a par- rite with I British ' manner :enes he I deeply ?ars, the 3hildren. present lorthern the con- tents of this book in justification. The candid Mr. Noah (see quotation, p. 160) fears that timely reforms may retard the separation of the Canadas from Eng- land ; and thousands of his countrymen oppose repub- lican institutions in the colonies for the same reason, although they are aware that the colonists possess no means of upholding a splendid aristocracy, and have no desire for its establishment among them. The elder Pitt, Mr. Fox, Mr. Burke, the Earl of Ripon, Lord Howick, and Mr. Stanley — good Whigs, as we would call them in America — have all admitted that the experiment of maintaining monarchical institutions beyond the Atlantic must fail. Why, then, not place the connexion gradually on the footing of interest, in- clination, and ancient friendship, and renounce the mockery, the mere pageants, " the means of riveting the fetters on the conquered," which Mr. Macaulay, in his reply to Mr. O'Connell, last February, so ably ex- posed and denounced* ? The political condition of the northern colonies is that of " a house divided against itself; "and successive administrations in England have turned round for aid in every other quarter ; but their strong hold, the affections of a free, grateful, and happy people, they have neglected. There is yet time, how- ever ; and if, by an honest and intelligent Whig mi- nistry, in 1833, (and I am strongly inclined to believe * See page 298 of this book. I'f I ;i ..I %•! tl > i' XVI INTRODUCTION. I I they deserve the name, notwithstanding all that is said against them,) we of the northern colonies shall be kept clear of the evils attendant on a violent revolution, (and they are numerous, and not of short diu'ation,) they will give the lie to those politicians who insist that a Whig in opposition is a Tory in place; and that, had the Whigs been in office in 1774, they would not have acted more discreetly than the Tories did. I feel a sincere and abiding friendship for govern- ments based on the broad principle of civil and reli- gious liberty. I seek no monopoly in trade for the colonists ; they have no desire for it. To promote the diffusion of useful knowledge among the people, as most favourable to human happiness^ is my anxious wish. The hope of promoting the success of these objects, in a part of the North American continent, induced me to accept the mission upon which I have been detained for a year in England, and I have no reason to regret my journey. I have found the mi- nisters of the crown easy of access, willing to hearken to the complaints of the people, and to consider of mea- sures for their relief. Although a great deal remains to be done, it is but fair to acknowledge that Lords Goderich and Howick, as well as Mr. Stanley, have given much of their attention to Upper Canada affairs, and adopted many very useful and salutary measures i ■4 I INTRODUCTION. XVll at is said sliall be evolution, i\iration,) ho iiisist ace; and 74, they lie Tories r govern - and reli- for the )mote the )eople, as ir anxious of these continent, ih I have have no i the mi- hearken ?,r of inea- 1 remains lat LordM iley, have da affairs, measures relative to that province. They are not disposed to Hsten to the opinions of those only who tell them that every thing done by the agents of the Government abroad is right ; on the contrary, they hear both sides, and judge for themselves. They have undoubtedly done much good, and I know that Upper Canada will be grateful. But let them not deceive themselves with the hope that the Legislative and Executive Councils, the present jury system, the judiciary, and those other monopolies I have elsewhere described, can remain as proper to uphold a pageantry the country is tired of, while the work of reform stands still. Nova Scotia, the best governed of all the colonies, is far from being satisfied. The feeling in New Brunswick may be known by the resolves of its late legislative session. Newfoundland has already proved the inexpediency of giving power to the people to tell their wishes while a junto of placemen is constituted so as to balk their o?;pcctations. The Lower Canadians, a people in whom the Government ought to have trusted above all others in America, " are approaching to a state of anarchy and confusion," so say the anomalous body called the Legislative Council; and as for Upper Canada, it must be hard times indeed when a governor requires to have armed men and cannon planted rovmd his residence, when he hears that the people are about to present him with a petition for redress of grievances. xvm INTRODUCTION. To those who take an interest in the affairs of the New World, and look with anxiety to the success of the experiment of self-government, attempted for the last half century by a majority of its inhabitants, my book will doubtless afford some satisfaction. Without giving, occasionally, minute sketches of the progress of the new settlements, from a state of wilderness to cultivated farms, villages, dwellings, chapels, school-houses, orchards, barn-yards, and fruitful fields, the property of a happy and intelligent population, a correct know- ledge of America is unattainable. Of castles, palaces, and other costly edifices, the -residences of men pos- sessing immense wealth, there are very few, and I trust they may not increase ; but we have noble rivers, lakes, and canals, splendid and magnificent scenery, and a climate which I should be very sorry to exchange for the fogs and ever-varying atmosphere around London. Dr. Dwight has expressed an opinion that the tra- veller cannot find in New England and New York those varieties of religion, language, customs, and manners, which in Europe often diversify the scsne at little distances, and give beauty and interest to his descriptions. There is, however, variety enough, if we include the Canadas. Within a square of 400 miles may be found the professors of 100 religious creeds and systems, from the Menonist, Tunkard^ and INTRODUCTION. XIX rs of the ess of the the last my book Jt giving, ■ the new ultivated 1-houses, property ct know- , palaces, lien pos- id I trust rs, lakes, y^, and a jxchange I around the tra- ?w York tns, and sesne at t to his ough, if of 400 religious ard, and Child of Peace of Uppe** Canada, to the Hopkinsian, Chrystian, and Universalist, across the Niagara. There are colonies of Welch, Dutch, Swiss, French, High- land and Lowland Scotch, Irish, English, and Ger- mans, each colony speaking its own native language, and maintaining its national character, customs, man- ners, and iisages, in many essential particulars. There are also a variety of tribes of Indians ; settlements of Africans and half-breeds ; Republicans ; Loyalists ; Yankees and Democrats ; absolute monarchy men, — supporters of Kings, Lords, and Commons ; advocates of cheap government ; and lovers of pomp, ceremony, and courtly extravagance ; there are Nationals, Nid- lifiers, Bucktails, Federalists, sticklers for primogeniture and the perpetual union of church and state ; and equally warm friends of the opposite doctrines of " civil and religious liberty." America has already proved that ignorance is not necessary to preserve good order among the multitude, and shown that " when ihe blessings of rational liberty and universal protection are securely enjoyed, men of very different religious views can all be strongly attached to the government " and its institutions. It may be thought by some that the picture I have drawn of colonial rule, as compared with self-govern- ment in the United States, is calculated rather to repress than encourage emigration — and, unless a re- ' t! I- J XX INTRODUCTION. medy be afforded, it may produce that effect. But it should be recollected, that I did not come to this country for the purpose of puffing any particular section of America, for the advantage of the monopolist or extensive absentee proprietor, but in the character of a freeholder and inhabitant, to state facts for which I shall be held responsible on my return. We of Canada are less anxious to encourage, by specious misrepresentations, a vast influx of settlers from Europe, ignorant of the situation of the country, and therefore too apt to be careless of its true interests, than we are to obtain the blessings of self-government and freedom for those who now constitute the settled population. Whatever may be the views, feelings, or prejudices of persons long accustomed to the governments of Europe, we know that their children will cling to America as their country, and seek its welfare. I am, perhaps, the hiuidredth agent who has crossed the Atlantic, within the last century, in the hopes of convincinor the advisers of the British crown that it would be good policy to sacrifice the personal interests of a few to the general welfare, and allow the colonists the enjoyment of free institutions. If Great Britain has profited by the trade of the United States, not- withstanding the interruption caused by the seven years'' ilar, and the many lives lost therein, besides 130,000,000^. of debt, and the disgrace of having >^ INTRODUCTION. XXI 1 been worsted in a bad cause, how much more would have been the national gains had that war and that debt never had an existence ? Among other advantages common to the United States and Canada, the emigrant may fairly enumerate cheap and good land, cheap and wholesome food, a high price for labour, no tithes, no taxes to impede the progress of knowledge, no game laws, no burthensome poor rates, no stamps, no house duty, and in most places a temperate and wholesome climate. Other distinctions I have stated elsewhere, when treating on Emigration. In the United States, the British or Irish emigrant remains an alien for at least five years. In Canada he is entitled to all the privileges of a citizen, such as they are, the moment he enters the river St. Lawrence. It may be alleged with great truth against these volumes, that they are the production of a radical re- former ; and the charge is a grave and serious one, when made in a community so aristocratic as the British reading public. But I would say, in mitigation, that I am writing about America, a land of radical reformers, and therefore so much the better calculated or the task of explaining their opinions and feelings : facts are the same, if faithfully stated, whatever may be the colouring. XXll INTRODUCTION. If the people of Great Britain can but perceive their true interests, before it be too late, they will assist their northern colonists in gradually changing those petty and vexatious governments — in spite of which they have multiplied like the Israelites in Egypt — into a federal, free, and independent empire, with well-defined general and municipal powers vested in the people. By thi'^ means Britain might enjoy all the advantages of a free, untaxed, and rapidly increasing trade with these coun- tries, uninterrupted, for many generations, and honestly lay claim to a large debt of gratitude at the hand of the Canadians, who are already amply sufficient for their own protection from outward aggression if united among themselves. The question of a Conference or Convention, to be composed of representatives of the people of the six North American Colonies, is not a new one ; yet it cannot be said to be fairly before the Canadian public —it has never been discussed in the Colonial Assemblies, nor has it ever formed any part of their resolutions on grievances. My own opinion, when I came to England in May, 1832, was rather in favour of tedding to the numbers of the British Hous* >(' 'uiiiions a lew Commissioners from the Colonies, to assist in the transaction of that Transatlantic business of general interest, for which their local legislatures are necessarily INTRODUCTION. XXlll ive their sist their petty and ley have . federal, I general By t\w of a free, ?se coun- honestly hand of cient for if united »n, to be r the six ; yet it m public isemblies, utions on England Iff to the [IS a lew st in the f general Bcessarily unfit. But when I had seen the working of tlie po- pular branch of the Imperial Parliament — its numbers by far too great for the purposes of legislation — its uiistasonable hours of meeting and separating ; (luui- (ix'dfc of persons toiling like slaves the greater part of the year, from six in the evening until one or two in the morning, as inspired by ambition, interest, folly, or patriotism;) and the inability of its members to do justice to the innumerable questions of public and pri- vate interest which it was their duty to decide, I became sensible that it would be the height of cruelty to attempt converting these persons into a congress for the larger half of the North American Continent, and thus to confine them to London all the year round. I may be in error with regard to the propriety or justice of calling together a general conference of the colonies ; and if so, the friend who shall expose the fallacy of my reasoning will receive my sincere thanks. But it does appear to me that much that is useful would arise out of such a step ; and I cannot perceive in what way a continuance in ignorance of the opinions of the bette»r-informed part of the nort hern colonists can prove advantageous to this nation. That colonial minister must be very clear-sighted, who is able to perceive and comprehend the slate of public opinion in British Ame- rica, notwitlteianding the clouds of dust which church- men and Canadian merchants, office-holders and oflUce- XXIV INTRODUCTION. seekers, are continually raising, in order to darken his understanding. The domestic conference would be a barometer in which he might more safely confide. The Morning Chronicle, in one of its numbers of this week, suggests to certain illustrious personages, that they might derive useful instruction from the study of certain memorable periods of English history. For a like obvious reason, I would earnestly recom- mend to the advisers of the crown, that they employ a leisure hour in comparing the history of the era pre- ceding the revolution in North America, with event* which are passing before their eyes on that interesting continent. I take this opportunity of returning my grateful ac- knowledgments to Mr. Hume and Mr. Warburton for the zeal, perseverance, and ability they have mani- fested in and out of parliament in advocating the true interests of the people of Canada, and of England as therewith intimately connected. London, June 15th f 1833. darken )uld be fide, bers of onages, )m the history, recom- nploy a ra pre- 1 event* eresting teful ac- irton for e mani- the true gland as SKETCHES or CANADA AND THE UNITED STATES. " We confess that we like to see men left to act for themselves. We like the variety of human nature. We like to see different races of mankind advancing, each by its own road, to civilization. The minds of men are tlien in a more vigorous and healthy state. We dislike the lonely, dead level of an universal or far extended empire, whether Ro- man, or Russian, or British." — The Edinburgh Review, No. CXI. Oc/. 1832. Article 4. Colonel Tod on the Hittory and Character of the Rajpoots, WESTERN NEW YORK— THE ERIE CANAL. Clyde, May Wh, 1829. Dear Sir, — I had no leisure to write until after I took the packet this afternoon ; and as a crowded canal- boat is not the most desirable situation for a letter writer, you will have to make the necessary allowances ; and believe me when I assure you that I am anxious to give a faithful sketch of the country I am passing through, without fatiguing you with tedious and minute details. I left York on the evening of the 8th, and next morning rode through the Credit woods, much pleased with the improvements which have been made on Dundas Street, on both sides of that beaudfi.l river. On the evening of Monday I reached Fort Erie ; but B ii 1 WESTERN NEW YORK. there was no gettiiiff across the Niagara ; the ice from the great western lakes was floating down towards the Falls in large masses, forming one contiimed tract of moving ice, extending as far up and down the river as the eye could reach. On returning to the Falls I ascertained that there was good crossing at Queenston, and experienced no difficulty whatever. Tlie weather was very cold, and the inhabitants considered the ice as having a powerful etFect in lowering the temperature of the atmosphere. The stage starts from Lewiston for Rochester at 2 A. M., and arrives at 3, 4, 5, or G p. m. the same day, passing through Lockport, where the passengers breakfast about six in the morning. The ridge road is naturally good, perhaps the best in America ; but to go to Lockport we had to leave it for some time, and on doing so we passed over ten or twelve miles of as bad road as any in Canada; but it is newly made, and probably they will have it improved before another year. It surprised me much to find the road between Rochester and Fulham's Basin, on the Canal, all full of holes and broken up, so as to render it quite un- pleasant for travellers. There are many very good j roads in " the States," but it seems they are not all ' good more than with us, Lockport tin-ivcs amazingly; there are now two towns, the ujjper above the locks and the lower below them. Many of the buildings show signs of great wealth, and tiie appearance of the place, taken as a whole, evinces a sense of security, comfort and industry. They had been electing their officers under the new charter in Lockport the night before we arrived, and the Jackson ticket succeeded. 'M J he ice owards d tract le river Falls I ^enstoii, veather the ice lerature 3stcr at e same ;sengers Ijje road ; but to me, and }s of as ide, and another between , all full iiite un- ry good ; not all lazingly; he locks )uildings ;c of the security, ino- their he night icceeded. ROCllKSTER. 6 The Presbyterians are the leading and predominant sect in this state ; I meet their chvu'ches in every di- rection. Presbyterianism is exceedingly well suited to a republican system, being itself distinguished by a democratic form of church government, and which well accounts for the detestation in which it was always held by the Stuart family when on .he throne of Eng- land. Episcopacy is on the increase ; and, being freed from state nurture, is by no means unpopular (as in Canada now or in New England threescore years ago.) One of the Episcopal churches in Rochester is superbly finished inside; and I could distinguish several more chapels belonging to this sect as I passed along, by the square tower witli which each of them is sur- mounted. We entered Rochester at half-past five, having passed through a thickly settled country, in some places in a high state of cultivation ; and Mr. and myself remained for the night at the Eagle Tavern, one of the mammoth caravauseras in that extraordinary town. The acconmiodation is good and the charges moderate ; but I am told that the Rochester House is more retired, and tlierefore preferred whore families are travelling. The postmaster of Rochester, Mr. Reynolds, has built an arcade or exchange for the merchants; it is one of the greatest curiosities in the place, — very handsome and convenient, — a pleasing evidence of American enterprise, and of the confidence capitalists entertain in the security of property and the permanency of their free institutions. Two lines of daily stages ply on the ridge road; — the old line, by Mr. Barton, Mr. Adams, and others, which conveys b2 I WESTERN NEW YORK. the mail, and the new or Pioneer line, which is dis- tinguished from its elder opponent by resting from its labours on the Christian Sabbath. Manufactures of various kinds thrive in Rochester ; there is one daily and about a half dozen of weekly newspapers, besides job and book printers. The flouring mills of Rochester are famed for the flour they turn out, and the paper- mills supply that article in greater variety, at least twenty-five per cent, cheaper ihan with us. Every ne- cessary and luxiuy of life is to be had in abundance ; law is cheaply administered, and there is the utmost confidence in the purity of the administration of justice. The seminaries for education are upon a grand and efficient scale ; and it is a fixed principle with all parties, that to make good citizens the people must be well informed, — and so they are. There is of course much party feeling in a free government like this, but it is very evanescent, constantly assuming new forms. I have never yet met an American who would prefer another system of government to his own ; local circumstances may cause him to emigrate, but an American is at heart an American still, and the more I see of this country the better I can account for the objections made by persons in office in Canada to the admission of its citizens to the benefit of natural- ization among us. * * * Along the line of canal below Rochester I am now travelling for the first time. About eight years ago I went by the land route, via Canandaigua and Auburn, which is by far the finest. The canal route, however, has its peculiar beauties and attractions ; every few miles bring you to a village or a hamlet, — and the elegant pa^ or, that the magnificent structure which rises in the spreading and embellished domain, presents a painful contrast to the meaner habitations, and sometimes the miserable hovels that mark a dependent, always a dependent — alas, sometimes a wretched peasantry t" —Bishop Hubart. fVhitehill, Banks of the Delaware, May 2Cith, 1829. After a voyage of some thirty or forty miles in a steam-boat, between New York and the ancient town of New Brunswick, and a drive in and on a stage coach for thirty additional miles, I found myself at Bordeatown last night late ; and took a post-chaise from thence to Whitehill, the seat of my friend Mr. higl a des- npered Doctor jchool ; There, not yet line of icher in divided n true church, enerally m done of more )n, that the hour of de- •ises in the rast to the hat mark a peasantry '." >elaware, liles in a ient town I a stage myself at )st-chaise riend Mr. BORDENTOWN. ^ Bruce, this morning. Bordentown is dehghtfuUy situated on the south bank of the Delaware, about twenty-eight miles above Philadelphia; a scattered village containing perhaps from 500 to 1000 inhabi- tant and in the immediate neighbourhood are the estate and grounds of the brother of Napoleon. A little be td Arnel's inn, above the steam-boat landing place, on the high bank, the traveller will have a prospect of the well cultivated valleys of Pennsylvania for many miles round. Judge Hopkinson, the author of " Hail, Columbia !" was sitting on the stoop with Mr. Arnel when I left the inn, and among other curiosities, I was shown the house in which the celebrated Thomas Paine once resided, and which is the only property he ever owned on this continent. Had he had sense enough to remain contented with his ample share of fame as the writer of "The Rights of Man," and ** Common Sense," without interfering with revealed religion, he would at this day have probably stood next to Washington and Franklin, as a promoter of the glorious revolution which secured freedom to America. Mr. Bruce pointed out to me, from the high bank, the remains of the house on the other side of the Delaware, the former residence of the father of Pennsylvania, William Penn. The soil of the Jerseys, so far as my observation goes, is far inferior in quality to the land in Upper Canada ; but it is well and gene- rally cidtivated, and the markets of New York and Philadelphia are near. The country is low ; there are few hills, but here and there a gentle swell ; vege- tation is far advanced, the people having every appear- ance of wealth and comfort. From two to four dollars B 5 10 JOSEPH BONAPARXn. are severally charged by different lines for a passage between New York and Philadelphia. The estate of Whitehill borders with Commodore Stewart's resi- dence, and the mansion house is at least sixty feet above the high-water mark of the Delaware, which ebbs and flows as regularly here as at Philadelphia, From the windows there is a charming prospect both up and down this noble river, and the stoam-Ijoats pass to and from the great city each morning and evening. There are toll gates here, and the road for many miles is covered with broken freestone, or metal as we call it in England. The travel is very groat. Coal will soon be plentiful over all this country, and it is well there is a substitute for wood, for it is getting very scarce. Our host, Mr. Bruce, being personally acquainted with the Count de Surviliers, we "ccompanied him to Point Breeze, and were shown the house and grounds of the man who had exchanged the toils and cares of a Spanish crown for the happier retirement of an American plantation. Joseph Bonaparte has here purchased upwards of a thousand acres of land, which he has improved and embellished to suit his taste and fancy; this is his residence both in summer and in winter. His lady and family are in Europe, and I believe his nephew. Prince Charles Lucien, is there also. In front of the house are several lemon trees bearinjr fruit, and on the right side, opposite the green-house is placed a bust of the empress mother, one of the finest specimens of the sculptor's art, and a pleasing proof of the power of man over marble. In the hall and elsewhere, in appropriate niches, are marble busts of the Empress Marie Louise, Louis Bonaparte, Prince Mu rat's :| .iiS 1 BORDENTOWN. 11 mother. Cardinal Caprara, the Emperor Napoleon (larger than life), Voltaire, Montesquieu, and many others; those of the Bonaparte family being all by Canova. Many beautiful pictures are hung up through the rooms, some of them, I am told, of very great value. Not a few of these pictures are family pieces, such as the Count's children, his countess and family. Napoleon in his robes as Emperor of the French, &c. Plates of the battles of Aboukir and Marengo, and several statues, attracted my attention, but I could perceive no memorial of Josephine, Madame Hor- tense or Eugene Beauharnois, and ascertained that neither their busts nor portraits had ever been placed in this selection. Prince Murat, son to the ex-king of Naples, has purchased a farm not far from his rela- tive. The Count's library consists of very splendid editions of Frencli and Italian authors ; it is not all in one room, and I am not sure that we saw the whole of it. Very few English books are in the collection. Among the ponderous folios and quartos I perceived CEuvres Homeri; Voyage de Saint Non; CEuvres de Jean Racine; Camptignes d'ltalie; Juvenal; Boccace ; Machiavel ; Dante (two or three editions) ; Pope's works ; Don Quixote ; Necker ; Virgil ; Pctrarca Rime ; Tasso, Gerusalemm Liberata ; Annales Fran- coises; Bossuet; Histoire Naturelle; Rousseau; Horace de Baskerville ; Crebillon ; Anacharsis (Bar- th61emy) ; Anacreon (Greek, French, and Latin) ; Moli^re; Voltaire; Xenophon ; Biblia Polyglotta; Bible de Saurin (a huge 6 volume folio) ; Voyages de Saussure ; Batailles du Prince Eugene ; Anticliita de Ercolano; a folio edition of St. Pierre's Paul and i *l 12 JOSEPH BONAPARTH. Virginia; and Prince Charles Lucien's Ornithology, the latter one of the most superb works ever issued from Carey and Lea's press. I took many more names down, but have not time now to copy them. I was led to imagine, from the general appearance of the books, that Joseph has not the same fondness for the mathematics which proved so eminently serviceable to the conqueror of Toulon and general of the army of Italy. There is a tower or square building where the old house stood, from which the best view of the coun- try may be obtained. The garden consists of four acres only, but is in the best possible state of cultiva- tion; Mr. Motheland, the gardener, was with the Count both in France and Italy. Among other wonders in this department we were shown the tea rose, which is in bloom, and smells like tea ; a great variety of roses on an eglantine stock ; the Camilla; the Flora Jessamine; the perpetual rose ; the Cape of Good Hope grape and other kinds ; many species of the pea from France; a multiflora, &c. The Count is highly es- teemed in the neighbourhood, as a mild, gentle, and i unassuming citizen ; he is on the best terms with the ; people, whom he does not slight, but treats them with regard. He had gone down to Philadelphia on the morning on which we visited his seat near Borden- town.* ■^1 m * Joseph Bonaparte returned to Europe in 1832. PHILADELPHIA. 13 PHILADELPHIA— THE STATE-HOUSE BELL-THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY. " Every well-educated man, who is not either utterly inconsidercte, or void of all sensibility, must regard with peculiar interest the spectacle which your country now exhibits, enjoying in its infancy the inestimable blessings of civil and religious liberty, and those arts and sciences which formerly have only been found in states that have arrived at their rull growth, and too often when they have been verging towards accay. You are rapidly augmenting on a scale nev ' before witnessed in the civilized world." — Letter— Mr. IVilberforce to Dr. Sprague of Massachusetts, Dtc. 1828. 23, South TJiird Street, Philadelphia^ ilfaj/28, 1829. The State House, from which the celebrated procla- mation of American freedom emanated, is a venerable structure, built in 1733, forming one side of Indepen- dence Square, and containing several of the public offices. The hall wliore the Declaration of Indepen- dence was signed is on the ground floor, on your left hand as vou enter, and contains a statue of Washiuff- ton, with the motto — " First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen." This room is, as it ought to bi^, taken great care of, and only used on extraordinary occasions. An Irishman, who emi- grated hither in 1784, has charge of the State House : he took us up to see the bell ; and its inscription, and the source whence that inscription emanated, show the feelings of the people twenty years before the Revolu- tion. This bell weighs over 2000 lbs., and was cast by Pass and Stow, in Philadelphia, 1753. The motto was ordered by the Assembly, and is as follows : — " Proclaim Liberty throughout all the land, unto all J i^ 14 THK STATE-HOUSE BELL. the inhabitants thereof.'' (Leviticus xxv. 10.) " By order of the Assembly of Pennsylvania, for the State House of Philadelphia." This bell was the first that tolled, on the announcement of the determination of Congress to assert and maintain the rights of their country. When the glad news of the royal assent having been given to the bill for the emancipation of Catholic Ireland reached Philadelphia, the good old bell was again put in joyous motion, and tolled for twelve successive hours, beingr the first time in half a century in which it had been nmg to celebrate the passage of a British Act of Parliament. They rang until the clapper broke; but, saitl the Hibernian keeper, " We rigged a jury clapper, and rang away again, for we thought we saw a ray of freedom in it to the old sod." The great clock in the same building was made by Isaac Lakins, a Pennsylvanian self-taught artist : the pendulum weighs 175 lbs. ; and, as the clock is illu- minated, " it shows the time o' day at any time o' night," and keeps time at all seasons, being constructed on a peculiar and useful principle. We were also shown the assembly-chamber of the ancient colony of Pennsylvania, which is much larger than our late or former assembly-room in York. The American Revolution was a noble era in the annals of British freedom. It was a memorable struggle of Christian freemen — of men who trusted in the God of Heaven, who revered his Sabbaths, and, by their representatives in Congress, set apart days of fasting, and humbled themselves before him, in that period of doubt and darkness. The British colonists of '76 ■'^m m its a virt almosi a mo(l plainj yield will for at PHILADKLPHFA. 15 fought with their Bibles in their knapsacks — they had learned to prize the sweets of liberty ; and panted, not after worldly wealth and distinction, but after the free- dom of interpreting the Bible for themselves, and fol- lowing its precepts. History affords a few similar glorious examples of disinterested devotion to the true principles of liberty — not in Greece nor in Rome, but on the plains of the United Provinces ; at Bannock- burn ; and on the mountains of Switzerland, at the battle of Morgarten. It is worthy of remark, that a fervent spirit of piety and benevolence animated the defenders of their country in all these cases. Leopold of Austria assembled 20,000 chosen men " to trample the audacious rustics under his feet ;" but 1400 of the flower of the youth of Switzerland grasped their arras and assembled at the town of Schweitz to meet the tyrant. They proclaimed a solemn fast — they passed the day in religious exercises ; and cliaunting hymns, and kneeling down in the open air, implored " the God of heaven and earth to listen to their lowly prayers, and humble the pride of their enemies." Let Mont- gomery's pious strains tell to posterity the victory of Morgarten ; let the solemn festival, decreed to be held in its commemoration, proclaim the sacred truth, that a virtuous people, struggling for their liberties, are almost, if not altogether, invincible. " Liberty," observes a modern writer, " will not desert the most unbroken plain, if its inhabitants are sincere in the homage they yield to her; but no fortresses, natural or artlHcial, will protect a nation of slaves. The Swiss were free for ages under a feudal administration ; and the Romans 10 WATKR-WOUKS OF PHILADKLPIllA. ccntinuetl to be slaves under a republican form of government." * * * I do not find the weather warmer or more unpleasant than in Upper Canada at this season ; nor have 1 ascer- tained that sickness prevails here to a great extent: on the contrary, the cleanliness indoors and out, the sweet- ness and openness of the streets, and the numerous squares and wholesome water, together with the regular habits of the people, indicate health. * * * We made a party to the Philadelphia water-works at Fair Moimt on the Schuylkill, in the afternoon. This magnificent undertaking is situated about two miles above the city, immediately opposite the patriotic Treasurer Morris's country-seat. These works are said to have been planned by Mr. Joseph G. Lewis, and are most important to the health, comfort, and cleanli- ness of the city. They cost about 130,000 dollars, and are one of the greatest curiosities in Pennsylvania; many persons having come hundreds of miles to view them. A dam is here thrown over the river, by which a head of water is obtained to turn three enormous wheels, by means of which the pure river water is pumped up in vast quantities to the top of a high and rocky bank, (an ascent of about eighty *'ect,) and there thrown into large reservoirs, from whence it is freely and plentifully distributed all over the city. In the streets there are pumps at certain distances for public use ; and the water is carried to private houses, and used to wash and sweeten courts and yards and to purify the street g\ittcrs ; and water-plugs are distri- buted throughout the city, to which the hose of fire- I I Pres foreii Rice IVV£ > I THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY. 17 of engines may be speedily attached in case of fire. In Philadelphia, a principal part of the people are, I think, Quakers : they call it the city of brotherly love ; and it is, without doubt, the cleanest, pleasantest, quietest, and most desirable town I have yet seen on this conti- nent. New York is larger ; but if I were to choose a retirement in the United States of America, in which to spend the evening of my days, I should strongly incline to prefer Philadelphia, so far as my observation has yet extended. The water-works at Fair Mount are constructed of hewn stone, at the expense of the mayor and citizens, and the neighbouring grounds highly ornamented with promenades, flights of stairs, arbours, carved and other figures, &c. There is placed, half way up in the rock, a statue, which throws the water in all directions; and below the works is a wooden bridge of one immense span, which reaches quite across the Schuylkill, and is well worth the attention of the stranger. On the hill you have a Chinese pagoda, built by Peter A. Brown, an American architect ; and in view is the shot-tower, said to be IGO feet high. The water-works are a source of great revenue to the C'ty; and there is no doubt but that, when the good tow.: of York shall have obtained a charter of incorporation, the citizens will turn their attention to the best means of obtaining a constant and plentiful supply of pure and •wholesome water. I visited the hall of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of the United States yesterday forenoon. That venerable body is now in session. Dr. Rice being laeu* Moderator, and Dr. Ely stated clerk. I was introduced to a number of the members by my 'J 'x I ■ I ! * 18 TIIK NAVAL-YAUD. friend, the Rev. Mr. Ballaiityne ; and remained about an hour lO observe their mode of procedure, which is much the same as obtains in the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, at Edinburgh. Many ladies and gentlemen were present, and the utmost order pre- vailed throughout. The Assembly consists, I presume, of between one hundred and two hundred members, partly ministers and partly laymen; and not a few of their heads were as white as snow, forming a striking contrast to the youthfvd appearance of the junior mem- bers. The assembly-hall is in front of the first Pres- byterian church, in Washington Square, a noble-looking building, as indeed are almost all the chm*chcs I have seen in this city, where marble is in far more common use than stone or brick in the town of York. The naval-yard is open, and it requires no special permission to enable the traveller to examine it. There are now two vessels on the stocks, both of them build- ing in frame-houses : the first is a frigate, and the other a ship intended to mount, I believe, one hundred and thirty guns : this last is said to be nearly two hundred feet keel, and both will soon be ready for launching. I could not possibly convey to you a correct idea of a ship of this class : to comprehend its vastness, you umst see it, as I did, with your own eyes. When we got upon cue of the decks, Mr. , a Philadelphian, proposed to hire a coach to take us round the ship, in order to avoid fatigue ! I meant to have made a few remarks upon the botanic garden, but ps the sheet is full I shall defer till to-morrow. * * * upon I the ta accoul Th liberti A AMERICAN KQUALITY. 19 EQUALITY; OR WHITES AND BLACKS. The citizens of Philadelphia live ia great comfort; yo\i meet with very few people indeed who are not in easy circumstances, and that class who live in wealth and affluence is very numerous. I have seen several black gentlemen ridinjj in iheir carriajjcs, some of them much respected and very respectable. Coloured people are in great abundance here, and tiiere is no slavery, nor the least appearance of it. Yesterday forenoon, when on my way to the post-office, I saw a lady right ahead, tall and graceful in her form and movements, with a grand Leghorn bonnet, fashion- able summer dress, &c. &c. I quickened my pace a little, and beheld a human face of the purest ebony ; black, black as the ace of spades ! They speak of equality in this country, but it is in ITpper Canada that it can be seen in all its glory. There is a man of colour, a barber and hair-dresser in our town of York, named Butler; he is married to a coloured woman, and they arc respectable, well-behaved people in their line, and pimctual in their dealings ; they have, of course, a black family : and (hear it, ye slave-tradind on a Sunday, near Queenston, in broad daylight, between eleven and noon, by two hired scoundrels, who hauled and pulled her through that village ; she screaming and crying in the most piteous and heart- rending manner, and her ruffian cream-coioiu-ed tor- mentoi's laughing at her distress, and amusing the villagers with the cock-and-bul' story that she had stolen five hundred dollars, and ihat the money had been found in her bundle. To the everlasting disgrace I 22 KIDNAPPING IN UPPER CANADA. of the inhabitants of Qiicenston, they stood by, many of them, and allowed the poor African lass to be placed by main force on board the ferry-boat which was to carry her back into slavery of a far worse nature than she had formerly oxperionced. Her lot would now be, 1st, exemplary punishment, and 2d, a slow murder (for so it may be called) in the unhealthy climate of the rice or sugar plantations. Is it not time that kid- napping of this sort, in Upper Canada, were put an end to by the strong arm of the law? The above case was related to me by a friend on whose accuracy I can fully depend. The following case of James Smith was published in the newspapers. I am acquainted with Smith, who (April, 1828) was a young man of about twenty-three or twenty-four years of age. I had from him the whole of his early history, and it was a horrible tale indeed. That slavery must have been galling indeed which coidd tempt a human being to trust himself to the broad and deep waters of the Niagara rather than return under it. " A black man, by the name of James Smith, in the employ of Mr. R. M. Long, of Clinton, was seized a few nights ago in his bed, by a band of slave-holding ruffians from the south, and conveyed across the Niagara river gagged and pinioned. He was kept concealed near Lewiston in some old barrack, while his Virginia master, whom he recognised, was making arrangements for proceeding onwards with his captive ; but very fortmiately Cuffee made his escape, and, after lying concealed for forty-eight hours without fire or food, actually swam the Niagara river in the night, and thus secured his retreat. The poor fellow landed at In tf offlj and One I flap the i| air iii migl^ and, quin f KIDNAPl'lNQ. 23 the fishing-ground on this shore, and was first dis- covered by a party of fishermen, buffeting the chilly element nearly exhausted. He states that some of the party who seized him were disguised ; they are sup- posed to be Canadian spies bribed lor the disgraceful purpose. It is a pity that the law could not seek them out for punishment as an example to others." BALTIMORE— SLAVES— FREE BLACKS. "And little thought I, when in youth's warm hour, Glowing indignant at tyrannic power, I turned in fancy to that happy land Whose milder laws victorious patriots planned. That I should ever see a region there. Where dark oppression urges to despair; And freedom's clamour, and the negro's cries, In wildest dissonance commingling rise." The Up ion. Indian Queen Hotel, June 2d, 1829. In the dining-room there are hung up several pairs of flappers which extend the whole length of the table, and that is about the usual extent of a rope walk. One or more blacks, by means of a string and pulleys, flap away like good fellows, causing utter dismay to the insect tribes, and producing an agreeable current of air in every part of the room. Gulliver the traveller might have improved on the Baltimore flapper system, and, so far as I have seen or felt, we in the north re- quire the luxury as much as the Baltimoreans. But ; \ '. !'■• I -t 24 BALTIMORK — SLAVKS. the Helots we want not. Maryland is a slave state, but the bondage is unpopular, insomuch that it is esti- mated that, out of a population of 80,000 in the city, only 5000 are in bondage, while 25,000 (blacks and mulattoes) are free. I perceive, however, that in all parts of the Union, and by all classes of white society, their ebony brethren are treated as a degraded caste, inferior by nature, whether learned or unlearned, rich or poor, virtuous or vicious. I was even told by a gentleman of respectability to-day, that a negro who has made a fortune of 100,000 dollars, as a sail-ma\er, in Philadelphia, and whose private character is that of a man of honour, discretion and probity, dare not so much as think of ranking himself with the whites, but when he and his wife invite any of their cream-coloured friends to tea, dinner, &c., they actually wait upon tlieir guests at table. Vice and cruelty, and money ill got, bring their own punishment with them ; so it is with slavery, — it is a curse brought on by the avarice of a former age, and the people of the present day are about to reap, or are already reaping, its bitter fruits. During my residence among the colonists in Canada, I have made the blacks who are interspersed amongst the population my occasional study. Many who are now free in Canada were born in the United States in slavery ; but although not a few are drunkards, spend- thrifts, addicted to low cunning, and so forth, yet have I found here and there a respectable, well-behaved, thrifty and intelligent family of blacks farming in the woods, and living as sober, righteous, and godly a life in this present evil world as any of their European- complexioned neighbours. From which L conclude. I " Eva and verl Great b( forma^iol the syste chief we Batt/e oi Some FREK BLACKS. 25 IS that, if the yoke of slavery were removed from off the Virginian and GeorjTJan race of sables, and they in- termixed with an industrious and moral people, a visible improvement in their condition would be pro- duced in an age. But among ihe profligate and loose population of the southern slave states, they cannot attain this blessing. Niles, in one of his Registers, gives a lamentable accoimt of the fatal effects of un- restrained intemperance among the negroes lately freed, residing in Baltimore, Negroes as well as Greeks must be accustomed to the blessings of freedom ere they can duly appreciate their value. The Israelites, when in a temporary difficulty, longed for the flesh- pots of Egypt, the land of their former bondage. Yet all men love freedom ; even the wild Greenlander, the grim Kamschatkan, and the desolate Siberian love their barren wastes. *' His wastes of ice are lovelier in his eve Than all the flowery vales beneath the sky ; And dearer far than Caesar's palact-dotne, His cavern-shelter, and his cottage-home." I \ REPUBLICAN SIMPLICITY. " Every man of sober, candid reflection must confess, that very gross and very unfortunate errors existed in the measures adopted, both in Great Britain and America, towards the Colonies. In both countries in- forma'ton was drawn and received, almost solely from those who espoused the system of the reigning administration Deception and mis- chief were the necessary consequence."— Dm'i^A/'* Reflections on Ihe Battle of Lexington. Washington, June 3, 1829. Some of the columns of the Capitol, which is now c '.♦ il «r: iW'- :J 1 26 REl'UBUCAN SIMPMCirV. finished, have carvings of Indian corn stalks substi- tuted for flutings and filletings, while the capitals are made of tlie ears of corn half stripped, having, on the whole, an appearance very like to the Corinthian or Composite order. The representative chamber is semi- circular, lighted from the roof, which is supported by massy columns of breccia, a dark-bluish, siliceous pud- ding-stone, hard and highly polished. It is known to the natives by the name of Washington marble. The mayor of the city is an Englishman, Mr. Gales, senior editor of the National Intelligencer, an oppo- sition paper. There is also an opposition paper pub- !ished in Cieorgctown, and the National Journal in the city, — all daily prints, and edited by men of talent and industry. In the houses, grounds, dress, and equipage of the citizens, there is certainly very little to be found of " rep\iblican simplicity ;" every thing you see be- tokens abundant wealth, and ** their majesties the people " appear to keep it up in the true style of princes. The grounds around the president's house, and the seat of national legislature, are undergoing improvements on a scale befitting the style and dignity of " the sovereigns of America." Go where you will through the country, in private houses and in public halls, in churches and in palaces, in books and news- papers, every where you have proofs of the national gratitude to George Washington, the gallant and dis- interested guardian of American freedom. Nor is the host of American worthies, who bravely determined to meet death or acquire constitutional rights and the use of them, forgotten by the present generation. " Their memory and their name " is remembered among the 1 wo tlie forJ letter vi will pri 1 REPUBLICAN SIMPLICITY. 27 early benefactors of this continent ; and yet upon what a slender thread once h\m n 36 GENERAL GREEN. how many children hud you by your first husband." —"Sixteen, sir; thirteen of whom are still living." — " Very good !" " Well, Mr. G., how many had you by your first wife." — " Fi:^een, sir ; fourteen living." — " Admirable !" Sparta would have been proud oi this couple.] GENERAL GREEN, PRINTER TO CONGRESS. "There is not one generous emotion of the heart against which the logic of enlightened self-interest cannot arm itself — not one whicii, according to this logic, is not blindness or weakness — not one which enlightened self-interest may not crush with its exact calculations, and its victorious equations." — Be/yamm Constant. General Green deserted the cause of the President and his friends at a time when he thought he saw a prospect of upsetting the administration, but their plans were blasted by the spirit and unanimity of the people. Mr. Eaton exposed Green's ingratitude in a letter published last year in the Washington Globe, from which I add an extract : — " Before I knew him (General Green), I rendered substantial services to this man ; but his ingratitude is a warning to the friends who now confide in him, of what they may expect if interest or policy shall hereafter make it necessary. Before he left Missouri, he was poor and pennyless, too much so, as he in- formed me and others, to be able to remove his wife and children to this place, where he had then lately estabhshed a press. Upon his application to me. \\ .' t^ I GENERAL GREEN. 37 and stating his necessities, I borrowed for him fourteen hundred dollars; part of which he repaid in about fifteen months, and the balance only recently, when he found the sense of the community shocked by the baseness of employing the means furnished by my unreturned advances to destroy my reputation. " In difficulty here, and pressed for money, he again, in 1826, applied tome, wlien, through a friend of mine in Baltimore, I obtained for him 2500 dollars. For the very press from which, probably, he daily circu- lates his abuse of me, I have a note which was pro- tested and paid by me, on which I was not an endorser, and which has been in my possession several years, the whole or a part of which still remains unpaia. To my exertions and zeal in his behalf, as most of the senate of the United States can testify, is he indebted for his first success as public printer, the annual re- ceipts of which appointment at this time are not less than from thirty to fifty thousand dollars." I have heard some anecdotes of editors in England, in private circles, not unlike this of DufF Green. 'i:f GENERAL M'COMB— LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. The officers of the general government of the United States are perhaps the most unassuming public func- tionaries in the world, and this is one reason why they are so highly esteemed, so popular with the people. True, they change situations often, but only to ex- !. , 1 38 GENERAL M'COMB. change one routine of important services rendered to their country for another, for which tliey are found more suitable. General Jackson was a lawyer, a judge, H senator, a warrior, a farmer, and, last jI' all, presi- dent — probably he will wind up, as Jefferson and Monroe did, by accepting the office of justice of the peace in a country village. Mr. Adams was a pro- fessor in a college, a foicign minister, a secretary of state, president, and is now a member of Congress. Mr. Van Buren was a senator of the United States, then Governor of New York state, next secretary of state for the Union, lastly, minister to Great Britain. His next step will probably be the vice-presidency instead of Mr. Calhoun, who will be taken care of by that class of his fellow-citizens who have most con- fidence in him, so that his labours may not be lost to the nation. Thus it is in America. I had letters to General M'Comb, the commander- in-chief, whose head-quarters are here, and experi- enced from him a great deal of polite and kind atten- tion. He showed me all that was rare and cinious in the departmciit over which he presides — wrote a note to another department, the system of which 1 was anxious to examine in some respects — and intro- duced me to several gentlemen in the public offices from whom I received and noted much useful infor- mation. The reader will find in Chief Justice Marshall's Life of General Washington, vol. v. pp. 648-9-50, a history of ihe circumstances ander which Mr. Adet, the Gallic eivoy, presented to this Republic the CONOKKSS LIBRARY. 39 f'l colours of the National Convention of France, with letters of amity from the Committee of Pnblic Safety of the French nation, accompanying their presi'nt. This flag is carefully preserved in the office of the adjutant-general, and on my making a request to that officer, it was unrolled and shown to me. It has the picture of the Gallic cock handsomely displuyed in its centre, and is in a state of excellent preservation. I was indebted to the general also for an intro- duction to the library of Congress, and passed several hours very agreeably in examining the extent and condition of that invaluable appendage to a ileliberative body. The library, as I have before stated, is placed in the Capitol — is exceedingly well arranged, each description of books being kept by themselves. Tliere is but one library for both Houses. Occupied on the same deliberations, interested in the same cause, appointed by the same authority, a iVee, con- tented, prosperous and happy people, why should the senators require one apartment and the rei)resen- tatives another? It is enough tliat less enlightened and united bodies pursue that course. The catalogues are upon a new, and I think, useful princij)le in large librarit j, which not only facilitates your finding any author you want, but also other works treating u^)on similar subjects. I perceive they have got British copies of a great many Reports of Committees of the House of Commons ; some of them well thumbed too. To a legislative body such as as- semblies at Washington, a choice collection of stan- dard books is absolutely indispensable. There are a number of copies of several domestic works in the 40 TIIIJ DEPARTMKNT OF STATE. library, purchased to encourage the authors, and afterwards voted away from time to time, by joint resohitions of the two Houses assented to by the Presi- dent, which serve in place of laws on such matters. THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE. To Mr. Van Buren, the Secretary of State, I had lettei-s of introduction from (ieneral Porter, of Black Rock, the late Secretary at War; from Mr. Cooke, now member of Congress for the Niagara frontier; from General Smith, senator of the United States for Mary- land ; from Mr. Guitteau, then postmaster of BuH'alo, and from other gentlemen in Canada and the Unitetl States, who were desirous to facilitate my purpose of acquiring useful information during my journey through the republic. Through Mr. Van Buren's kindness, I had access to the library of the Department of State, a fine na- tional selection, annually increasing in value. Major Van Buren, his son, spent a forenoon in making me acquainted with the most remarkable public docu- ments, &c. He showed me the original " Declaration of Independence," with the signature of the members of Congress thereto attached ; it is framed, and, of course, in a far better state of preservation than the Magna Charta shown at the British Museum. The Great Charter is, by many, considered a first step in the progress of political improvement — the revolution of 1G88 a second step— and the Declaration of Inde- pendence by America, a third. I examined the writing \\ ■r llli; DKrARTMKNT OF STATE. 41 and signatures witli care, and found them to resemble closely the co}ii)er plate facsimile published some years ago, I think, in Philadelphia. In the same suite of rooms are many other curiosities, such as swords, snutl'-boxes, medals. Sec, presented to United States' Ministers by liussia. South America, Sweden. &c. In the library attached to this department are deposited copies of all books for which an ex- clusive right of publication has been taken out by the authors or proprietors, besides many other works, some of them very interesting and rare. Having re- pressed some curiosity, I was politely shown tJ.e ori- ginals of the treaties made by the United States with several foreign powers. His Majesty King (leorire writes his name in nearly as good a hand a- myself, and the national seal of Britain attached \j the treaty is a piece of as elegant workmanship as anything of the kind I ever beheld. There are the records of not less than three treaties made with Bonaparte. I examined his signature to each care- fully. Once his name is tolerably well written, but in a hurried manner; another time I could trace the four first letters, and might guess the rest, from know- ing beforehand who ivrofe them. The third, hastily scrawled when on horseback (the Louv;ii*:a cession treaty, if I mistake not), is almost illegible. It is said of Napoleon, that he never wrote a good hand, and that latterly it had become so illegible as only to be deciphered by his secretaries. If it was as bad as his signatures to treaties with America, I should not have envied his clerks their situations ; especially if he wrote as much as his historians say he did. 1' 42 THE DEPARTMKNT OF STATE. There is a negociation with the Emperor of Morocco among these pledges of peace, but as it was written in Arabic, I could not understand a syllable of it ; it might have been old Ebony's Chaldee MS. for aught I could tell to the contrary. An award of the late Czar of Russia is also deposited here, having his auto- graph annexed. The King of Prussia writes an excel- lent hand, and shoidd " ci-owns and coronets be rent " from their wearers on the European continent in his time, he will be able to follow the example of Diony- sius of Syracuse, and turn country schoolmaster. I had an opportunity of seeing a treaty with the Empe- ror of Brazil, Avhich is a handsome silken document, but the Don affixes his name in a scurvy, clumsy, unkingly manner. The seal of the United States is beautiful, has a goodly device, and must have cost a " power of money " to Uncle Sam. It aflurds an opportunity for an instructive contrast, when placed beside Mr. Madison's plain small signet, with some thirteen or fifteen stars in it, which signet is preserved in the same place, attached to some conunercial docu- ment or other. MARTIN VAN BUREN. " Virtue and intelligence — the shcet-anclior of our national union and the perpetuity of our national freedom." — Andrew Jackson. The state of New York has, within the last twelve months, given Mr. Van Buren, the late minister to Britain, strong proofs of its approbation of his public MARTIN VAN BUIIEN. 43 conduct : hundreds of public meetings of the towns and counties have met and passed resolutions approving of his measures, and disapproving greatly of the vote of the Senate rejecting his appointment as the successor of Mr. M'Lane. Some of the other states have followed the example of New York ; and the resolve of the Senate, which was intended to etlect Mr. Van Buren's downfall, will, in all probability, serve to raise him still higher in the estimation of his countrymen. Martin Van Buren, who is in all probability destined to be the next Vice-president, and perhaps the suc- cessor of General Jackson in the Presidency of the Union, was born at Kinderhook, New York, on the 5th of December, 1782. Both of his parents were exclusively of Dutch descent, their ancestors having emigrated from Holland. His father was a Whig in the old Revolution, and an anti- federalist in 1788. Mr. Van Buren was placed in a lawyer's office at the early age of fourteen, and in 1803 he was licensed as an attorney of the Supreme Coiu't, and bt>gan to practise in his native village ; in 1807 he was admitted as counsellor of the Supreme Court; and in 180i) removed to the city of Hudson. He was of plebeian birth, began life a democrat, disdained to court the favour of the powerful in the pursuit of wealth, but aspired to the highest distinctions in his profession. In 1815 he was appointed Attorney-General of the state of New York, when he changed his residence to Albanv. In 1812 he was elected a Senator of New York, and distinguished himself as one of the original advocates of the war with Great Britain, and as a firm supporter of Governor Tompkins, who was pledged to its zealous If : \^. t\ \ 44 MARTIN VAN BUREN. prosecution. His Memoirs serve to show that he was one of the most active men in the state during the con- tinuance of the struggle, in endeavouring to provide money and means to carry the war to a successful con- clusion by the conquest of the C'anadas. In 1821, Mr. Van Buren, then the head of the democratic party, in opposition to De Witt Clinton and the Federalists, was elected to the Senate of the United States for New York, and was returned to the convention which amended the constitution of that state, in the same year. He continiied a uiember of the Senate, in Con- gress, until, in 1829, lie was elected, on the death of Mr. Clinton, Governor of New York State. In the Senate, lie had supported the Tarift' Bills of 1824 and 1828, as it was the wish of the state; but, like (ieneral Jackson, he is a friend to a moderate tarilV, and a reduction of the revenue to the lowest possible point consistent with the carrying on an economical govern- ment and paying the national debt. He resigned the office of Governor of New \ ork, after he had held it for about ten weeks, for the situa'ion of Secretary of State for the Union, in which office he was the s\ic- cessor of Henry Clay. In consequence of disagreements of the cabinet at Washington, he retired to private life in June, 1831 ; but was soon after nominated minister to the court of St. James's, in the place of Louis M'Lane of Delaware. It is said that the President was influenced in making this appointment by the belief that Mr. Van Buren would be the most likely to negotiate an adjustment of the \msettled questions concerning blockades, impressments, and the right of search, to which the war between Great Britain and *1 ! 1 MARTIN VAN BUREN. 45 America has been ascribed. What, success Mr. Van Buren might have had in the adjustment of these ques- tions, had he remained longer, must be left to conjec- ture, — he seems to have been a favourite with the King, — but the Senate of the United States, by the casting-vote of Mr. Calhoun, the present Vice-president, negatived General Jackson's nomination; and Mr. Van Buren, of course, returned to America last June, and is now a candidate for the second office of the Union, which will in a few weeks be in the gift of the yeo- manry. He seems to owe his rise neither to birth and ancestry, nor to property and patronage, but to ability and talent, joined with perseverance. His private character is that of a mild and benevolent man, of great ease and frankness of manners, and great know- ledge of the world. To great command of temper, he unites a good deal of forbearance, and is said to possess conversational powers of a high order. His opponents ascribe much of his success to a talent for political intrigue and artifice, while his partisans impute his rise to his own sagacity and discretion. Be this as it may, it is evident he possesses in a high degree the confi- dence of the present chief magistrate of the Union, and it does seem probable that he will be his successor. Many events, however, may take place during the next four years to change the relative situations of public men, in a nation where all the higher offices of state are in the gift ofthe people, or of those whom tliey appoint. In person, Mr. Van Buren is neither above nor below the middle height ; his figiire is erect and grace- ful; his frame slender, and apparently delicate, but capable of sustaining severe and long-continued exer- .. 46 ANDREW JACKSON. tion ; the general expression of his features animated ; his eye quick and piercing ; his head (wliich is now quite bald), particularly his forehead, of unusual size, and — as the phi onologists of North America assure us — admiral! • formation. ANDREW JACKSON. " I was a republican ; but fate, and the opposition of Europe, made me an emperor." — Napoleon Bonaparte. Washington, June, 1829. It was no part of my intention, when I resolved to pay a visit to the United States, to wait upon the President. I had imbibed unfriendly opinions concerning him from the newspapers and reviews and partisans of the day, and consequently declined lettc rs of introduction ivhich were tendered me by my friends, both in New York and Philadelphia. The more I inquired into (General Jackson's character, however, the more I ex- amined into facts, and judging it by these facts, the more reason had I to distrust my previous judgment ; and therefore when I was requested by the Secretary of State not to quit Washington on my return from the south without waiting upon the President, I assented, and one morning accompanied Major Van Buren to the President's house, expecting to meet, nevertheless, with a haughty, distant, military chieftain, in whose presence I sliould feel rather uncomfortable. I ^vas agreeably disappointed and pleased to find in General Jackson great gentleness and benevolence of manner, accompanied with that goodnatured atlability of ad- ANDREW JACKSON. 47 dress which will enable all persons who wait upon him to feel at ease in his presence, — as well the backwoods- man full of " republican simplicity," as the man of the world, long familiar with the pomp and circimistance of reoral magnificence. The house is a handsome stone building near the public offices, with an Ionic portico. We were ushered into a large and pleasant apartment, with plain furniture and lofty ceiling, the windows of which command a view of the beautn'id valley of the Potomac, where we found the president. On being introduced to him, he shook me heartily by the hand, as did his friend and private secretary Major Dunelson, who was the only person in the room with him when we arrived. After a conversation of perhaps three- quarters or half an hour, I took my leave. I had read in the National Journal a long history of in- numerable forms and ceremonies to be undergone by persons paying their respects to the head of the govern- ment, but found it was all a joke of the opposition. One attendant only was " in waiting," an agile little Irish lad, with a light summer jacket on, who appeared to me the very antipodes of ceremony and parade. I compared this active and useful servant, in my mind's eye, with the hosts of lacqueys and })edchamber gentle- men I had seen surrounding the persons and devouring the revenues of European princes, and the odds were greatly in favoiu' of that simple yet efficient system, which, disdaining the costly foppery and useless trap- pings of state, prefers placing confidence in the virtue and intelligence of a free people. The countenance and person of the President are such as, once seen, will not soon be forgotten : his tall erect figure and sin- I 48 ANDREW JACKSON. gularly original physiognomy allow of no rnistakos as to the individual His looks arc far more' mau1\ com manding i>iid open than tho portraits inthr print shops would indicate, and his eye seems ^o bctr.iy u di^j'osi tion ardent and })assionate, but nevn'r sidlen or petu lant. His foroheatl is very liich, and tbo lines thereon deeply indented; liis complexion dark and sun-burnt, and bis visage that of the war-worn veteran. I v.as impressed with his contem])lative, '.houghllid counte- iKDico and strongly marked features; well do t.n \' c'xresponl with !he eventful lale of his adventurous life, (lis exterior appearance is remarkably i)lain, — he w' ius a black dress, without any l)adge indicative of ins rank and office, yet are his jx'rson and demeanour well calculated to inspire a stranger ulth a senriment beyond mere respect. I looked ft»r the ring of Wash- ington's hair with which he hud been inesented, but it was not on his finger; it may be also remembered, l!.it on him were bestowed the telescope and pistols of the father of American liberty. I had been informed that he was sickly and unfit to transact business, which is another of the romances of the partisan presses in opposition to his administration. He evidently enjoys an ordinary share of good health, and sometimes rides sixteen miles of a morning before breakfast, which is no unfavourable constitutional symptom. Lacking some twenty or thirty years of the age at which his venerated predecessors, Jefferson and the (dder Adams, left the scenes of their country's greatness, he bids fair to fill the presidential chair for the next eight years with infinite honour and advantage to himself and his nation, and will probably retire into private life, the ^ ANDREW JACKSON. 49 last of the presidents which America can select from that noble band of patriots whose virtue and whose valour proved the salvation of their common country in its first and most glorious revolution. ANDREW JACKSON. " He would refer the House to what had passed as respected America, and it would see that, after all the quarrels and bloody wars, which were founded in justice on the one hand, and oppression on the other, it had risen into independence ; and from the subsequent course pursued, our friend- ship had been continued with the United States, and every Englishman who now visited that country was received with the utmost kindness and hospitality. He trusted, if ever the situation of the Canadians was such as to induce them to separate from this government — that, before that event look place, such a course of conciliatory measures would be adopted as would keep up a lasting friendship between the two countries." — lirport of Mr, Secretary Stanleifs Speech in the House of Commons, Matj 2, 1828. 'I'll ERE wore several intelligent foreigners at Washinor- ton during my residence in that city, and I heard them speak in the highest terms of the President; indeed, his deportment in his new residence, and the maimers of his family, appeared to give much satis- faction to all who hatl held inlercourse with them. .After my visit, I wished much to compare him with Mr. Adams; such comparison as a previous knowledge of the characters of the parties, joined to a personal observation of their manners, would have enabled me to make, but the ex-president had just then sustained a heavy domestic calamity; and al- 1 hough I had letters to him from two of his most intimate personal friends, I was afraid that a visit to u 50 ANDREW JACKSON. Meridian Hill, under the circumstances, would be deemed unseasonable. Mr. Walsh of Philadelphia, editor of the American Quarterly Review and the National Gazette, a gon- tleman highly distinguished in the annals of American literature, was at Washington during the time I was tliere, and, with very good means of observation, he represents General Jackson as of prepossessing ad- tlrcss, easy, liberal, and sensible in conversation. It is his constant practice to visit the public offices, anil examine into the manner in which the auditors and clerks perform their duties. His character and personal appearance have been mucli canvassed by his enemies. I will quote the de- scription given of him by Mr. Eaton, his biographer and most intimate friend : — *' In the person of General Jackson is perceived nothing of the robust or elegant. He is six feet and an inch high, remarkably straight and spare, and wejohs not more than a hundred and forty-five pounds. His conformation appears to disqualify him for hard- ship ; yet, accustomed to it from early Vii'e, few are ca- pable of enduring fatigue to the same extent, or with less injuri/. His dark blue eyes, with brows arched and slightly projecting, possess a marked expressior., but wlien from any cause excited, they sparkle with peculiar lustre and penetration. In his manners he is pleas- ing, in his address commanding; while his coinitenance, marked with firmness and decision, beams with a strength and intclligfence that strikes at first sight. In his deportment there is nothing repulsive. Easy, ANDREW JACKSON. 51 affable^ and familiar, he is open and accessible to all. Influenced by the belief that merit should constitute the only difference in men, his attention is equally bestowed on honest poverty as on titled consequence. No man, however inconsiderable his standing, ever approached him on business that he did not patiently listen to his story, and aftbrd him all the information in his power. His moral character is without reproach, and by those who know him most intimately he is most esteemed. Benevolence in him is a prominent virtue. He was never known to pass distress without seekinor to assist and to relieve it." Among other instances of good luck. General Jack- son had the fortune to please the fastidious taste ol Mrs. Trollope, the American oracle of the London Quarterly, who appears to have caught a glimpse of him when at Cincinnati. She tells us that " he wore liis grey hair carelessly, but not ungracefully arranged, and, spite of his harsh gaunt features, he looked like a gentleman and a soldier." Bishop Watson justly remarks, that " all families being of equal antiquity, and time and chance so hap- pening to all that kings may become beggars, and beggars become kings, no solid reason (he thinks) can be given why any man should derive honour or infamy from the station which his ancestors filled in civil society." It is indeed a remarkable feature in the picture of human credulity, which the page of his- tory everywhere presents to the philosophical reader, that so many persons should have really credited the foolish stories which interested men have propagated for interested purposes, about the wonderful efficacy 1 1 52 ANDREW JACKSON. of noble blood, ancient lineage, titular honours, and so forth, as if it were not well known that " there are few families but whtit are at one end related to the greatest princes, and at the other to the meanest peasants. '"" General Jackson claims no gentle blood, conveyed to him, with their splendid mansions and wide domains, from " a long line of ancestors." His youth was spent in adversity ; and I know not whether he can trace his connexion and kindred with any other family, either in Ireland or America, his nearest and dearest relations having fallen a sacrifice to the revolution*; yet did * It is the true and abiding interest of the people of Great Britain and llie United States, that they remain at peace with each oth^r, and nnite together in the bond of friendship and good will. I firmly believe that the President of the United States is anxiously desirous that these three kingdoms may flourish, and that their inhabitants may enjoy the inestimable blessing of good government.* But it is evident, from the following extracts from Major baton's book, tiiat his feelings towards the aristocracy of this country, the authors of the war of the revolution, were not of the most kindly nature. I hope that the present liberal go- vernment will do justice to the North American Colonies, and cultivate itie friendship and good will of the great English republic, so that such >rcnes as are here described may never again be heard of in America: — ''Andrew Jackson was born on the lath day of March, 1767. His fatlier, (Andrew,) the yount^est son of his family, emigrated to America from Ireland during the year 1765, bringing with him two sons, Hugh and Robert, both very young. Landing at Charlestown, in South Caro- lina, he shortly afleiwards purchased a tract of land, in what was then called the VVaxsaw settlement, about forty-five miles above Camden, at which place tlie subject ofiiiis history was born. Shortly after his birth his father died, leaving three sons to be provided for by their mother. She appears to have been an exemplary woman, and to have executed the arduous duties which had devolved on her with great faithfulness and with much success. To ihe lessons which she inculcated on the youthful minds of her sons was, no doubt, owing, in a great measure, that fixed opposition to British tyranny and oppression, which afterward so much distinguished tlicm. Often would she spend the winter's evenings in re- counting to them the suflerings of their grandfather at the siege of Car- camp, f" n ANDRKW JACKSON. 53 Mrs. TroUope, the prop and pillar of established churches, " thrones, and altars," see in him the style rickfergus, and the oppressions exercised by the nobility of Ireland over tlie labouring poor, impressing it upon them, as a first duty, to expend their lives, if it should become necessary, in defending and bupporting the natural rights of man. " Inheriting but a small patrimony from their father, it was impossible that all the suns could receive an expensive education. The two oldest were, therefore, only taught the rudiments of their mother tongue, at a common country school; but Andrew, being intended by his mother for the ministry, was sent to a flourishing academy at the Waxsaw Meeting House, superintended by Mr. Humphries, Here he was placed on the itudy of the dead languages, and continued, until the revolutionary war, extending its ravages into that section of South Carolina where he then was, rendered it necessary that every one should betake himself to the American standard, seek protection with the enemy, or flee his country. It was not an alternative that admitted of tedious deliberation. The natural ardour of his temper, deriving encouragement from the recom- mendations of his mother, whose feelings were not less alive on the occa- sion than his own, and excited by those sentiments in favour of liberty witli which, by her conversation, his mind had been early endued, quickly determined him in tlic course to be pursued ; and, at the tender ago of fourteen, accompanied by his brother Robert, he hastened to the American camp, and en;i;aged actively in the service of his country. His oldest brother, who had previously joined the army, had lost his life at the battle of Stono, from the excessive heat of the weather and the fatigues of the day." — Reid's Memoir. His capture by (he British forces is thus described by his biogra- phers : — " Being pi. ced under guard, Andrew was ordered in a very imperious tone, by a British officer, to clean his boots, which had become mr.ldied in crossing the creek. This order he positively and peremptorily refused to obey, alleging that he looked for such treatment as a prisoner of war had a right to expect. Incensed at his refusal, the oGBcer aimed a blow at his head with a drawn sword, which would, very probably, have termi- nated his existence, had he not parried its effects by throwing up his left hand, on which he received a severe wound, the mark of which he bears to this hour. His younger brother, at the same time, for a similar oflence, received a deep cut on the head, which subsequently occasioned his death. They were both now taken to gaol, where, separated and confined, they were treated with marked severity, until a few days after the battle M ANDREW JACKSON. and lu«aiiii<: of a jralUint }jontl(Miian — and slip saw P> n ^ right. heUne Canulcn, wlieii, in coMse<|iienre of a |t.irtiiil exchange, rffi-ctod by ihc intoicessiiins ami exertions of llioir mother, and Cnptain Walker of the militia, thoy were holh releiised iVoni ooiifinenient. ('nptaiti Walker had, in a charge on the rear of the Hrilish aniiy, xuccreded in niiiking thirteen pri-oncrs, whom he pave in ex(hanf;o for seven Americans, of which numher were these two young men. Hoheit, (liirinp his contine- nient in prison, had siilVercd (greatly; the wound on his head, all this time, having never hecn dressed, was followed hy an iiiflanmiation of tlir brain, which, in a few days after liiH hheralion, brought him to the grnvo. To add to the afBictions of Andrew, his mother, worn down by grief and her incessant exertions to provide clothing and other comforts for the sufl'cring prisoners who had been taken from their nci>,d)bourhood, ex- pired in a few weeks after her son, near the lines of Ihc enemy, in the vicinity of Charleston. Amlrew, the hist and onh ^urviving child, con- fined to a bed of sickness, occasioneil hy the sulTerings he had been com- pelled to undergo whilst a prisoner, and by getting wet on his return from captivity, was tinis left in the wide world without n human being with whom he could claim a nor relationship. The small-pox, about the same time, having m:ulc its appearance u|)on him, had well nigh ter. niinated his sorrows and his existence." — IteiU's Memoir, At the early age of twenty-one he stood a soli'ary individual in life: his nearest and dearest relations were in their graves ; not one of his kindred had been spared to remind him of '' those endearing recollections and circumstances which warp the mind to the place of its nativity." He therefore determined to go to Tennessee with Judge M'Nairy ; and in that territory he commenced the practice of the law, and was soon after appointed Attorney-General of the western district. His biographer in- forms us, that at this early period of his life he distinguished himself in checking the depredations committed by the Indians upon the settlers. In 1796 he was chosen one of the members of the convention for esta- blishing a constitution for the state of Tennessee, and was the first meni> ber elected to Congress by that commonwealth. Next year, when only thirty years of age, he was chosen a senator of the United States. About this time he was chosen to succeed General Conway as Major-Qeneral of the military division of Tennessee, by the field-officers, and continued to liold that appointment until, in 1814, he was constituted a Major-Oeneral uf the United States service. " Great Britain," adds Major Eaton, " by multiplied outrages on our rights, a3 an independent and neutral nation, had provoked from our go- I ANDRICW J\( KSON. .).) m our ur go- Hut sho is wronjT in spoikiii^ d(Tierving his country, he died poor. In the republics of North America, poverty in such a case ' ., to this day, held to be very creditable. But in England and her colonies the whole lifetime of public men appears to be employed in drawing from the in- dustry of the working classes, by all possible means, the greatest possible amount of money and wealth. Of the American presidents, Washington and the two Messrs. Adams were of English descent, Jefferson of Welsh descent, Jackson's fatlier and mother were from Ireland, and Monroe and Madison's ancestors natives of Scotlajid. It is said that John Adams was eight years oldc than Jefferson— he eight years older than Madison — Madison eight years older than Monroe — and Monroe eight years older than .lohii Qiiincy Adams. The deaths of so many presidents as three out of seven, on the 4th of July, the anniversary of their national independence, of that remarkable era in the history of the human race in which they had severally taken an active part, abandoning the prospects of per- sonal wealth and luxiuy under the colonial system, for the doubtful prospect of liberty to the people, is indeed a mar\'ellous and extraordinary circumstance. Monroe lived to see the fifty-fifth year of his country's indepen- G2 DEATH OF MONROE. (lence, and " while the roar of camion, the ringing ol bells, and the shouts ol' joy proclaimed the reliirn ol" that day sacred to liberty, this honoured patriot and gallant soldier tranquilly breathed his Inst." " As President he was a safe and valuable chief- magistrate — as a man he was pure, upright, and sin- cere — firm in his views, just in his intentions, attached to his friends, and liberal to his o})ponents. Congress by its late act, did justice to his claims. He exercised office for the benefit of the people, and not for his own aggrandizement ; for after fifty years of sxiccessful pid)lic services he died poor, without following the example of William Pitt, and enriching his relations at the expense of his country." STANDING ARMIES. *■' We cling to peace. Wc are not afraid of Holy Alliances. Peace is the parent of industry and wealtii ; and wealth is the parent of know- ledge and liberty. Let peace only he continued, and the harvest of ini- provement must lie leaped in ^piie ol all the ellbrts of all the goviru- nienls of I'u'opc." — ..Inr^iintf t'lin •><■!,•, Nnv.'lOlh, ly32. Large standing anviies ;ii-c of little use wliere the lauded property of a nalio-.i is pretty e([iijilly divided. The yeouiaiiiy will light manriilly in ilefence (tf their eomitry wherever they have a slake in the soil. Ijnt where tb pe<^ le are merely labourers, tenants at will, and sv rvants to a lev. excessively rich persons, or where they an^ triple-taxed inhabitants of crowded cities luu-epresented in tiie councils of their countrv, standing armies are necessary to protect the few from the indignation of the many. The tax-gatherer and STANDING ARMIES. 6:3 lithe-collector pile up their gold with the drawn bayonet of the hireling close at their backs. Know- ledge is power, and will surely break down this system ! Dr. Moore, in Zeluco, very justly remarks that the pay of the private soldier is small, and our govern- ment has been in no haste to remedy the evil. A private in a British foot regiment is allowed sirpence a day and plain food ; an ensign has eleven times as nuicli, besides his allowances ; a lieutenant fifteen times as much ; and a captain has the pay of twenty- one brave fellows, each of whom will probably take as manly a part in the heat of a battle as any of their offi( ors. In a monarchy we find no faidt that the men do not select their leaders, but we think that the system of buyinof and sollincj commissions is most unjust towards soldiers of merit. One commissioned or non-coinmissioiiod officer may be brave as a lion and deserviufj of promotion, b\it at the same time he is poor and unable to deposit a large sum of money ; the son of some idle sinecin-ist or servile functionary may have no one qualification but the cash, yet that a.lon(^ will rais<> him up step by step above all his fellows. To the private soldier the hope of laving up a fund for the decline of lilo is denied ; and unless the service is very long indeed, the retiring allowance will be merely nominal. Not so the officer, llalf-pay or a steady pi')ision is given him; nor do we object to it, although three gem rals to every regiment are rather too many in peace. As to the principle of rising by nuM'it to the higlu^sl ranks in the army, how rare it is that any common soldier realizes even a commission ! '! ' G4 STANDING ARMIES. No ! Interest, birth, gold, sycophancy, and the Mrs. Clarkes of the age, all these stand between him and even hope itself. These are evils, and they ought to be remedied, and remedied they speedily will be by a reformed Parliament. In tlie service of our repub- lican neighbours, the descendants of Britons, the soldier is found in food and clothing, and has his eight dollars a month besides, (fourteen pence sterling a day.) His term of service is five years — none are en- listed for a longer period ; and at its expiration he is presented with a free deed of 100 acres of land on which he and his family may spend their days in comfort. The British soldier too, in America, can obtain land.* But is it after five years' service? Is he not reither bound to expend the tlower of his youth and the prime of his life in an occupation which at the approach of age leaves him a labourer or mechanic without capital, while of promotion he can have small hope ? The moment a citizen of Cireat Britain enlists, his civil rights are in many res])ects suspended ; and he dare not even express his political sentiments if at \arianct with his officer's, whose ])ovver over his com- forts is most absolute. I have often asked myself wherein his actual situation dift'ored from that of the soldier of despotism in Russia, Prussia, and * Since I wrote these oliservations, liis Majesty's Government liave deprived the private soldier of the right tie formerly had to a lot of land in the North American Colonies after long service. Rut to commis- sioned officers, the privilege of free grants is continued. This ap[)ears to me to be unjust in principle. Mr. Stuart, in liis •' Three Years in Ame- rica," quoles approvingly the fact slated hv I'rince Paul of Wirtemberg, that " no soldiers m the world are .is well fed, as well clotlied, and as wcli paid, as those of the United States." STANDING ARMIES. 05 Austria. The American soldier preserves his ci\il rights unimpaired during his term of service ; he may vote at elections^ and freely express his political sen- timents of any public man. If by this means he is rendered less dS' draw the sword of freedom on behalf of foreigners in a foreign dime, struggUng against tlie despotism exei- cised by those of liis own order, in the name of English- men, but without their consent. In the hey-day of youth, in the glow of boyhood, at the -> ' 'iod of life when the sons of noble families are too frivolous and idle pleasures, lii devote his life, his fortime, and li u rescue Englishmen and the descent from that " gilded slavery," as Lord Chatham called it, with which a proud and selfish race then governing in England in the name of the nation, would have enchained the vouthful Hercules of America. La- fayette gloried in the prospect before him, of extending happiness to the hut of the poorest settler; with him " virtue was its own reward ;" he cheerfully entered a service where there was great danger to be encoiuitered, no pay, considerable ])ecuniary loss, and a doubtful cause to be contended for. But to retiu'n to the scene at Lewiston. The proud- i> AMERICAN GOVERNORS. ri years, and he remarked to me that he (Mr. Clinton) looked much older. No wonder he looked much older; the duties attached to the offices he filled were enough to undermine any constitution. But, after all, it is much better for a man to wear out than to rust out. Governor Clinton was dressed in the plainest manner possible ; so was the ex-dignitary of Pennsylvania. Speaking of governors, I may as well introduce in this place the state of Illinois. There the government is no burden to the people, nor is it a government opposed to their wishes and interests. It is exceedingly cheap, the whole of the civil list establishment not amounting to the one-thirtieth part of the cost of the [^pper Canada system. The governor of Illinois is chosen by the people, and a good governor he is. His name is Gilmer, and he keeps a capital tavern at the seat of his government, and boards the members of Assembly like so many princes at two dollars a-week, presiding, of course, with due decorum at the head of his own table ! His inn pays well, and the good folks of Illinois give him 500/. a-year for governing them. Mr. Gilmer is getting rich, and he is no burden to the country. If among the changes and turns of capricious fortune, and they are many, our Sir John had to turn tavern-keeper, he might soon become a formidable I'ival to the seer of Illinois. After all, the simplicity of the Illinois system and the 500/, a-year to Gilmer has perhaps less intrigue, less deception in it, being con- tinually and effectually checked by the active operation of p\iblic opinion, than the 5000/. a-year for ever to Sir John and his scribes out of the Upper Canada taxes. Gilmer in his respectable tavera, and Sir John in his i: I ' i.4 \ 1 72 AMERICAN GOVERNORS. t, ' ,' i-^l hi i'] palace, with the Lord Bishop next door, afford a droll contrast as to the various ways and means of getting a living by the art and mystery of governing the folks of North America. It must be allowed that the Illinois U»giHlator« have simphfied the craft in a marvellous degree. Mr. Stuart tells us that the people of that state " have adhered tenaciously to democratic prin- ciples, retaining in their hands every power which can conveniently be withheld from the rulers ;" and that •' the whole annual disbursements for salaries to the executive do not exceed 10,000 dollars." GOING DOWN HILL IN AMERICA— A RESTING PLACE. " To imprison a man's body, from which nothing can be extracted, is only to foutcr the too natural principle of man — to persecute his fellow. Misfortune (Ineii not deserve or require such punishment. If a man refuse* to pay, let the law take hold of what he has— if he fails altogether, whether from folly or misfortune, let the same rule be observed — if he has, in the couric of his business, committed or attempted fraud, let him be dealt with a» II felon. This is reason and justice." — The Courier. " He can mcc one feature of ev^iry landscape here, one charm of Ame- rican scenery, which more than repays for the absence of those monu- ment« of the power and the grandeur, and the \vealth and the taste, of the rich and the mighty of other lands — and which no other land affords. The sloping Aides and summits of uur hills, and the extensive plains that stretch before our view, are studded with the substantial and neat and commodious dwellings of freemen — independent freemen, owners of the soil, — men who can proudly walk over their land, and exultingly say — It in mine," — Hiihop Hobarl. TiiK facility with which boys, striplings without a shilling, lads who have more need of a schoolmaster's l)irch than a ledger, are enabled to " begin business " and obtain extensive credits, is injurious to themselves. GOING DOWN HILL IN AMERICA. in most cases through Ufe, and often ruinous to the credulous speculators who set them a-going. 1 counted nearly 300 names of persons advertised iu the Philadelphia United Slates' Gazette of the 20th October, 1829, as " applicants for the benefit of the insolvent laws, to appear at the County Court House, or. Tuesday, October 20th, 1S29, at 10 o'clock, a.m." If the county of Philadelphia presents, according to its population, a fair specimen oi' the present condition of the State of Pennsylvania, there must be from 150U to 2000 bankruptcies per annum. Some of the " ap- plicants" are recorded as labourers, clerks, collectors, bricklayers, watermen ! comb-makers, weavers, milk- men ! carters, whip-makers, bandbox-makers, waiters ! manufactvirers of wine bitters ! riggers, ostlers ! sus- pender makers ! oystermen ! teachers ! engineers, frame-makers, shingle-dressers, draymen, potters^ gentlemen, pedlars, iron-founders, comedians, portrait- painters, paper-makers, stocking-weavers, gold-beaters, auctioneers, hog-butchers, lottery-brokers, porters ! carriers, distillers, grate-makers, only two farmers, &c. &c. I have preserved this remarkable list, and am not a little curious to learn what sort of insolvent laws they have in Penn's country. I should judge, from the quality of some of the " applicants," that the system is cheap, expeditious, and withal very attrac- tive ! In the Official Gazette of the State of New York (the Albany Argus) of date the 22nd October, in the same year, I coimted 168 insolvent or bankrupt notices. I presume that law is about as cheap and expeditious in the one state as in the other j that aftei' r-d 'i i-.: '■ -,i ^W UVi [ I ■ :.-\\ . t". ,'■■.: ' '\ ■ i ' ' i ■^' t i i ■' ' ' ( 74 GOING DOWN HILL IN AMKRICA. ''I J- it has taken all a man has, it will permit him to begin the world again, and earn more outside the walls of a prison. I have read somewhere, that in England, of sixteen millions sterling lately wiped off by the Court for the Relief of Insolvent Debtors, the dividends from the debtors' estates averaged a farthing in the pound ! The celebrated Major Noah, whose experience of ** life in New York " no man will gainsay, and whose views of " life in the country " are entitled to great respect, gave in 1829, in his •* Enquirer," the follow- ing account of the safety valve, whereby the American commercial world is relieved from the pressure of unfortunate tradesmen, mechanics, and merchants. In England, by prudent management, the North American Colonies might be made to afford a happy home to hundreds of thousands of British subjects who are burthensome to their neighbours here, and doing no good for themselves and families. " There is another evil witli which our commercial cities are afflicted. The crowd that presses forward into commerce is too great. If a farmer's eldest son happens to say a bright thing, his mother strokes his head and protests he must one day be a lawyer, a doctor, or a merchant in New York. Hegrows up panting for Broadway, and dreaming over the delights of Pearl street. He leaves, as soon as he reaches a certain age, the green fields and healthy air of his native valley — and precipitates himself into a crowd of competitors behind the counters of Maiden Lane, or at the desks of Pearl or South-street. Commercial pursuits are overstocked. In other commercial countries, they are in a similar condition, but they possess not the remedy that vrv. have. If any one becomes unfortunate in business in this country, he can always turn farmer. No one need fear misfortune, if his health, industry, and ordinary discretion remain. He can go to the West — turn farmer — be an active man, and in a few years, he will be figuring in the halls of the state or national legislature. We have hun- dreds in this great city, who never can expect to make a figure— who are supplanted by rivals at every turning— who feci severely the effects of i^ T A RESTING PLACE. 75 \icissitudes in trade. In Western New York — in Ohio— in the interior of almost every state — such persons, by limiting their desires to a simpler standard of living, might even become squires, judgeii senators, congress* men, fathers of seven sons, and grandfathers of their fifty or one hundred descendants. Let them remain struggling in Nt^w York, and what is the result? They will run the gauntlet through WalUstreet every other morning — puffing and blowing like a porpoise — and trying to raise money at one per cent, a month. But let them go to the country, and in a few years they will, if industrious, sit in their own orchard— Kirink their ow n cider— cut their own apple pies, and give themselves no trouble about tarifT— anti-tariff— dull times — and troublesome duns." The following extract from Watson's "Annals of Philadelphia " would lead to the inference that the extension of trade had not improved the morals of the citizens. The narrator speaks of the times of the monarchy when he was under the government of the 2nd and 3rd Georges, previous to the revolution : — *' When I was a boy, there was no such thing as conducting business in the present wholesale manner, and by efforts at monopoly. No masters were seen exempted from personal labour in any branch of business, living on the profits derived from many hired journeymen ; and no places were sought out at much expense and display of signs and decorated windows to allur ^ custom. Thus every shoemaker ur tailor was a man for himself; thus w "^.nery tinman, blacksmith, hatter, wheelwright, weaver, barber, bookbindei, umbrella-maker, coppersmith and brass founder, painter and glazier, cedar-cooper, plasterer, cabinet and chair-maker, chaise-maker, &c. In those days, if they did not aspire to much, they were more sure of the end — a decent competency in old age, and a tranquil and certain livelihood while engaged in the acquisition of its reward. At that time, ruinous overstocks of goods imported were utterly unknown, and supplies from auction sales, as now, were neither depended upon nor resorted to. The same advance ' on the sterii ng ' was the set price of every storekeeper's profit. As none got suddenly rich by mono* polies, ihey went through whole lives, gradually, but surely augmenting their estates, without the least fear of the misfortune of bankruptcy. When it did rarely occur, such was the surprise and the general sympathy flf the public, that citizens saluted each other with sad faces, and made their regrets and condolence a measure of common concern. An aged person has told me, that when the inhabitant and proprietor of that large b2 I iu' » 1 1 . 1 .•. t '/; I i rr, nilLADELPIllA KASHIONS house, formerly tlie pust-office, at ihe corner of Chesniil-street nnd Car- peiiter's-court, suddenly failed in business, tlio wliole house was closely shut up ''or one week, as an cinhlein of the deepest fitiuily-mourniiig ; and all who passed the house instinctively sfopt and mingled the expres- sions of their lively regret. Now, how changed are the matter-* in these particulars ! Now men fail wiih hanly indilf'ercncc, ami some of them have often the effrontery to appear abroad in exprn^ive display, elbow- ing: aside their suffering crcflitors at public plares of expensive resort. I occasionally meet with such, by whom I have been injured, who indulge in travelling equipage, witi) which they delight to pass and dust me, and who, ntverihcless, would feel their dignity much insulted at even a ci\il hint to spare me but a little of the disregarded the B 5 f 1 1 I 1 i I f 1 j 1 i ! i J ■ J 7. I : 82 NULLIFICATION IN CANADA tax on hyson then being about two shillings sterling per lb. It was late one evening when I arrived at Lewiston (United States) ; 1 proceeded to Youngstown, opposite Fort George, having business to do with a forwarder of goods; went down to his store on the bank of the river immediately opposite the British fortress, and per- ceived that he was busy loading a couple of two-horse sleighs with barrels at bottom, and with large white boxes, of the size of two chests of tea, at top ; about fifteen or eighteen hundred weight was placed on each sleigh ; they were then roped ; the drivers mounted and drove across the only path cut through the rough masses of ice that led to the Canada shore, where a party of the regular soldiers were placed as sentinels to watch the coast and prevent smuggling, with a large blazing fire before them. The troops had enlisted in his majesty's service for the purpose of defending their king and country, and not as excisemen, police, or common informers; and although they could have cleared a good many hundred dollars by seizing the tea (if it was tea), they were pleased neither to see nor hear. There was no bribe given them, for I after- wards inquired particularly as to that fact. " A witness of the highest authority in this matter," says Sir Henry Parnell, " stated, in his evidence be- fore the Committee of Finance, that the duty of soldiers in the West Indies was that of a police." Englishmen toil and sweat to pay soldiers to go to the West Indies and guard the oppressor from the ven- geance of his slave ! I suppose Sir Henry Hardinge must have had in view the unfitness of the Canadian I A SMUGGLING SCENE. 83 iiiUitia for acting as a police, or as excisemen over their fathers and brothers, when he denounced them as inefficient in the debate upon the War Defences of the Colonies. After I had done my business in Youngstown, I also crossed over and went to take supper at Mrs. Rogers's, where I had left my horse. The two sleighs had driven right into the heart of the town, and I passed them in the yard of the same hotel. After the drivers had supped they left Fort George, and I have no doubt but that in two days' time they had supplied a dozen of merchants (who were probably postmasters, justices, coroners, bank directors, &c., &c.) on their route by land, travelling day and night through the thick-settled country around the head of Lake Ontario, a hundred miles to York, where I have been credibly informed the shop-keeping establishment of the then custom-house officer did not lack a supply of the scarce and valuable commodity any more than the others, although, of course, that officer did not conduct that domestic department himself in person. I would here remark, that not less than 1500 per- sons must have seen these sleighs — none who saw them could doubt much what their loading was — (although, of course, they did not know any more than my?elf, not having opened the packages)— everybody was aware that by giving an information to any of the custom-house officers or their deputies, a large reward would probably be secured, yet no one interfered. Why was this ? It was because the pec pie of Upper Canada, in 1822, were of opinion, that their country ought not to be made a tributary state, and as such. i- i^ :M i : ■■ ^ 84 NULLIFICATION IN CANADA ill ^ •t. I .i. ^ f turned over to the East India Company by way of compensation for the tea they lost in the old colonies prior to the revohition. The East India Company lay down a rnle, they allow free trade in their own dominions, and the people of Upper Canada, in such cases as the above, content themselves with render- ing the prohibitory ordinances of the aristocracy as in- effectual as possible. While I admit the illegality of the proceedings of the smugfjlers, I am of opinion that, if these tea prohi- bitions had been agreed to in a legislature in which the landowners were represented, they would have been morally bound to have conformed to measures intended for the general good; — but why the British parlia- ment renewed a prohibitory charter to the Company, including the colonies, and thus taxed them without their consent, in the teeth of a solemn obligation not to do so, while they allowed the Company to pocket the profits, I am unable to explain. The political economist may derive instruction from this short statement, and the British lawgiver and financier will at once perceive the difficulty that attends all calculations of the extent of the trade carried on between the colonics and the Northern States. That trade can only be lessened by a more honourable policy on this side of the Atlantic, and the abolition of every monopoly that interieres with the right contended for by the settler, to lay out his money in the cheapest shop. The practice of introducing tea and other American prohibited goods, at the time I saw the sleighs cross the Niagara, must have been nearly universal — THE BURNING SPRING. 85 iscarcely any tea was imported at Quebec. Juilen, also, acting upon the principle of doing as they woxild be done by, and considering the prohibitory system illegal and arbitrary, refused to convict; the law of " writs of assistance," that valuable legacy of England to the freemen of America under her controul, has proved a more efficient aid to the custom-house officer, who, it is supposed, has an understanding with the '* during our pleasure" sheriflf, in the selection of a few revenue jurors as the merchants call them, at the assizes, and these jurors, it is believed, I know not how correctly, are expected to stand out for a conviction for the crown wherever it is possible to obtain one. It is a pity that such suspicions sliould attend the ad- ministration of the laws, or that contraband trade should be necessary in order to countervail colonial regulations. THE BURNING SPRING— THE LOVER'S LEAP. I VISITED the burning spring in Barton, near the Albion Mills, on the 14th July , 1825 ; it is situated near the bed of the creek, in one of the most romantic spots in Upper Canada — a ravine made by one of the mountain creeks, in the ridge stretching across the country above IJurlington bay. To reach it, the traveller may leave his vehicle at Mr. S.''s, and pro- ceed on foot down into the hollow, half a mile below. I went alone, and found the spring bubbling and burning with a great deal of noise. It is below high- 1 I f : ■ m\ I i r ■>ii %.-: 86 THE LOVER 8 LKAP. 1' i ',! water mark of the creek in the spring, but as the waters subside, it again begins to bubble and burn amongst the stones. The place is wild and romantic in the extreme. I returned up the bed of the creek, a very difficult ascent. On each side was the wild grape vine, the ginseng, and many other shrubs and plants of note. The rocks smell strongly of sulphur all round, and there are crusts of sulphur in some of the rocky fissures. The gas evolved is carburetted hydrogen; and ii is said that the people of Erie, on the south side of the lake of that name, have turned to good account their burning springs, by converting them, with the aid of wooden pipes, into gas lights for their houses. At the back of Squire Secord's store I was shown by his lady the spot from whence a Miss Riley some years ago leapt into the dell. The rock is there eighty- eight feet perpendicular ; the young lady fell on her breast on a slab of wood, and survived but a few hours. She was a beautiful and accomplished Irishwoman, and her story is short. A young man (since married to another) promised to wed her. His mother is said to have turned his mind from her. She was ruined, however, and followed the advice of the poet, as given in the inimitable linos, " Wlien lovely woman stoops to folly," &c. My valued friend. Dr. Tiffany, senior, attended her in her last moments. Though an old man, he sobbed and wept by her side like a child ; but he could not save her, nor did she desire to live. From the Albion Mills (Secord's) to the village of Ancaster is seven miles, through a country settled by ELECTION AT NIAGARA. 87 rich farmers throughout. Ancaster, though upwards of four hundred feet above the lake, is well watered, and there are two or three grist-mills in its immediate vicinity. Abounding, as does this country, with de- lightful situations, yet are there few equal to the site of Ancaster. Beyond it are the fertile plains which lead to the Grand River ; below it is Burlington Bay, with its oval amphitheatre and sumptuous scenery; and, on the opposite mountain (divided by a valley of two miles), the cottages, mills, churches, creeks, rocks, orchards, fields, hollows, and knolls of the two Flam- boroughs and Beverly. AN ELECTION AT THE FALLS OF NIAGARA. " There is an air of neatness and comfort among the Swiss which I have seen nowhere else in Europe. The poorest are educated ; there are no exceptions. I have not seen a beggar in the confederate republics. Po* litical union is preserved by a love of freedom among a people professing different religions, and speaking four different languages. Universal suf* frage prevails at elections — business is transacted with facility. Self-go* vernment here proves itself favourable to virtue." — Letters from Swit- zertand, April 16, 1831. " It would be well if the people would at all times bear in mind that crowds have their courtiers as well as monarchs. Wherever there is power, there will be flatterers; and the people do not always sufficiently recollect that they are liable to be flattered and misled as well as princes, and by flatterers not less mean, cringing, and servile ; and, above all, not less false, or less selflih, than the filthiest flatterer who ever frequented a palace, to serve hii own private ends by betraying the interests of hit master."— Sir George Murray's Speech to the Electors of Perthshire. During my residence in America I have been a very frequent visiter at the Falls of Niagara. I was a spectator of the contested election for four members i !l ; a- I ' -. 88 AN ELKCTION AT !>i h\ li ••! ; ( ! f! to represent the county of Lincoln, on the Niagara frontier, in the Provincial Parhanient, held at the Pa- viHon above the Falls, o«i the 2t)th of July, 1824, and five subsequent days; and took notes as follows : — The tide of population, ^vhich has rolled westward with a slow but steady and even pace, during the last two centuries, and which, ere long, will people the western world with the overflowings of more thickly- settled climes, until the ocean shall set bounds to human dominion, has already proceeded in its course far beyond the confines of tliat magnificent stream the Niao^ara, properly so called. The reader will there- fore scarce wonder, that four knights, girt wiih swords, shoidd be found necessary, in the nineteenth century, lo guard the interests of the hardy yeomanry who are settled upon its western banks. Our conscript fathers at (Canadian) York are, it seems, required once in four years to pass in review before the plebeians whose affairs they conduct ; and, on the 26th of July, 1824, the yeomanry met, by virtue of a notice by Colonel Leonard, High Sheriff of the county of Lincoln, to select from old and new candidates for their favour the said four knights. The days of chivalry and knight-errantry, long past, would have well suited the scene here displayed : the splendid hotel of Mr. Forsyth, with its luscious sign-board, was the central point of attraction. The roar of Niagara's mighty abyss ; the cloud of smoke that arose therefrom, re- flecting the morning sun ; the lovely rainbow ; the elevated situation of the ground on which the specta- tors as well as the actors stood (one hundred feet higher than the summit of the cataract) ; the white El THE FALLS OF NIAGARA. 81) foam of the rapids immediately above the falls ; the grand, though rather limited landscape, including isle and main land, forest and cultivated field, dashing wave and gently-gliding current, — seemed not to arrest for a moment the attention of the mvdtitude, the drama and the actors absorbed all other conside- rations. After a friend of Colonel Leonard had read the usual writs and parchments, I cast my eye from the second balcony of the hotel, or, as the aforesaid sign- board terms it. Pavilion of Mr. Forsyth, and beheld what would have been well worthy the pencil of a Wilkie, — an assemblage, as motley, as varied in its materials, as the four quarters of the world could aftbrd to send together; the London Exchange, in its throngest business-days, inclusive. There were Cliristians and Heathens, Menonists and Tunkardsj Quakers and Universalists, Presby- terians and Baptists, Roman Catholics and Amcn-ican Methodists ; there were Frenchmen and Yankees, Irishmen and .IMulattoes, Scotchmen and Indians, Englishmen, Canadians, Americans, and Negroes, Dutchmen and Geituans, Welshmen and Swedes, Highlanders and Lowlanders, poetical as well as most prosaical phizes, horsemen and footmen, fiddlers and dancers, honourables and reverends, captains and colonels, beaux and belles, Avaggons and tilburies, coaches and chaises, gigs and carts; in short, Europe, Asia, Africa, and America had there each its repre- sentative among the loyal subjects and servants of our good King George^ the fourth of the name. A lawyer candidate sported an agricultural flag — a T ' i\ ^ t m 90 AN ELECTION AT '^1 :'i ^^4 i i ' farmer, a white banner; the others had no distin" guishing characteristic to mark out them or their fol- lowers from the crowd : and the unadorned straw hats and chip hats, black hats and white hats of the worthy freeholders appeared from above like the black and white men on a backgammon-board, but were rather irregularly placed for the game which the physicians, lawyers, merchants, and farmers, otherwise knights, were about to play with the brains, or in default thereof, as the case might be, the empty heads of the freeholders. A person, with a very friendly look, of a rotund, rosy countenance, handed me an election puff, praising some of the candidates ; another helped me to a second puff, lashing them. The speeches had nothing extraordinary either in the matter or manner. Dr. Lefferty's address alone ex- cepted. If I were to rest contented with remarking, that the doctor made an animated speech, I should do less than justice to the powers of his windpipe. To the lungs of a Stentor he added the eloquence of a Demosthenes ; and I may safely aver, that those tra- vellers who speak of having heard the roar of Niagara at ten or twenty miles distance, would add to their veritable histories, if they had enjoyed the pleasure of hearing the doctor's oratory, that, if he had continued to hold forth for ever, none within the reach of his powerful voice would have heard the least noise from any other cause — the horrible din proceeding from that awful dash and crash of the watery element im- mediately below would, to their ears, have been hushed to eternity. What then may we not expect from that patriot at York, whose thunders outroared the father \ TIIK FALLS OF NIAGARA. 91 of cataracts, and the terrors of whose tongue made the placemen and pensioners on the front halcony of the Pavilion quake and tremble like the pillars on which the stately fabric rests. After six days' polling, the names of the members elect were declared, and they severally acknowledged the sense they had of the public confidence. A carriage was now provided, which the four newly- elected representatives of the county of Lincoln, and Mr. M'Bride, the member for the town of Niagara, ascended ; the agricultural banner was displayed by the latter gentleman, and twenty or thirty hardy Ca- nadian youths set off at a good speed towards the next hotel, drawing onwards the men of their choice. I cast my eyes at the moment towards the falls, the rainbow over which was vivid, varied in its hues, and beautiful to behold. I remembered the promise of Omnipotence (see Genesis ix. 13), I surveyed the happy and delighted faces of an innocent yeomanry around me, and mentally exclaimed, — He that would barter the interests of these peaceable, confiding, kind- hearted, hard-working farmers, for the sake of the empty titles, honours, and emoluments which our executive can offer, surely deserves to be driven from society, to be branded in the forehead fool, or knavej as it may happen, and to feel the force of that still small voice, that inward monitor, which never did, which never can applaud a false friend to his country. Jl !.■ .' ' \ I 1J2 OOLfOR LEFFERTY. DOCTOR LEFFERTY. j ■; ' i: ! .ii Doctor Lkffkrty, who is a notlvc of the Province (now State) of Now Jersey, aii<' Mw s'»n of a former Attorney-General of that Lolony, serM'd as a surgeon to the forces in the tinu' of the var; had his premises (lesti d, and is not \c\ pn recompensed ; and liad his establishment again burnt wliileattendinjj at the Wis- lature at York. I stopp '(I ;, day or two with him at Lundy's Lane, before the sad destruction of his house, and copy from my note-book a list of the curiosities : " Visited this eccentric legislator, and by way of whiling away tlie time, took a list of all the rare and curious things, animate and inanimate, about his esta- bUshment, which is a handsome one. And first I may enumerate ' iiimsklf,* — then a part of a mammoth's tooth, taken out of the lower jaw, on the Missouri, by Mr. Stewart. It is very ponderous. A piece of Indian crockery, made of a composition of shell powdered and mixed with clay ; it was brought from the Arkansas territory. A wild yoose tamed : this animal was very polite indeed, and bowed to those who fed it, with dignity. A white owl, measiu'es from tip to lip (.1 wing, across the b;ick, five feet .our inches. T'f- ; ■■:uf ,>i(j. The Louisiana State pig. Two thigh bones; one of an Indian, very large, and had been in his lifetime fractured and broken, but had ossified and got firmly together again. SkuliSf jow-bones, drum -sticks, pistols, the skeleton of an American goldfinch, a noble head of deer's horns, three or four nondescripts in bottles preserved in whiskey for their elect conseq (jeiien One e and se DOCTOR LKITKRTY. 03 iinconinion Ufjliness : 35G9 doctor's phials, botllcs and jars filled with fluids, unguents, and powders ol" various kinds, several of the labels on which it would dislocate the strongest pair of jaws that <'ver lodged in a human head to pronoinice. Guns, pnivder-horns, ./ournal.'} of Assembly y Pharmacopeias, Alien Qucslion Resolutions, Colonial Advocate carefully fihd, (a re- markable and convineing instance of this gentleman's wisdom and good sense.) Observer : se\ ei al number.s of this jo\n'nal were wrapped round two stulVed rattle- snakes; — Joe lionfanti on the chimney-piece, — military sashes, daggers, anatomy books, skates, a pair ; five cats, two of them jet black ; two dogs, mortars and pestles ; specimens of petrifactions of leaves, Lncah's Pharsalia, 1G3G; an electrifying machine; Greek books in abundance ; and a large hornet's nest in good preservation." I was told that Derbyshire spar (lime with the lluoric acid) may be fuundat the whirl- pool, but had noi time to go to see it. The doctor has a standing song, " Twelve bottles more ;" and an everlasting anecdote, the authenticity of which has been disputed. The last time I heard it was in the Assembly's Chamber upon the militia question : — " If,'" said the doctor, " it should be determined to adopt the American laws here, and to allow the men to elect their officers and then domineer over them, the consequences would be just the same as it had been in (ieneral Hull's army during the invasion of Canada. One evening the general heard a noise near his tent and sent out to inquire the cause. I'he reply was, ■ I 94 A VOYAGE DOWN * O, nothing at all, general : — merely a company of Kentuckyans, who are busy riding their captain on a rail.' " A VOYAGE DOWN THE FALLS OF NIAGARA. On' tlie 8th September, 1827, I was present at the descent of the Michigan over the Niagara cataract. Tlie day was very favourable, and every steam-boat, schooner, and stage-coach, which could be procured within many miles of the Falls was in motion, as well as waggons and other vehicles beyond calculation : — the roads to the Falls in every direction were like the approaches to a Vorkshire fair ; and perhaps there were eight or ten thousand persons on the spot by one o'clock, p. M., including show-men with wild beasts, gingerbread people, cake and beer stalls, wheel of for- tune men, &c. The two hotels and the galleries were crowded with people dressed in the pink of the fashion : — the banks of the river above and belov,' Goat Island — the British and American shores — trees — houses and house-tops, —on waggons and waggon wheels — every place and every corner and nook was filled with human beings: — bands of music enlivened the scene ; — and the roar of the African lion in the menagerie, and the din of the passing multitude, joined to the crashing of the cata- ract, were almost too much for human organs. About a quarter before three, I, from a station on a point below Forsyth's, perceived the schooner Michigan Tin: FALLS OV NIAGARA. 03 of 136 tons in the channel ; she had on board a crew of six persons, commanded by Captain Rough, a bold and \mdaimted Scotsman, fourscore years of age, with two bears, a buffalo, two foxes, a racoon, an eagle, fifteen geese, and a dog. She made her ajipearance, in company with the steam-boat Chippewa, which escorted her below the island, nearly opposite to Chip- pewa village; when the crew put oft' in their boat, and after towing her to within about Haifa mile of the rapids, made for, and soon arrived safe on the Canada shore, within four rods of the rapids, and in very im- minent danger of their lives. Mr. Weishuhn told me that, if he had not cut the rope, Captain Rough would have continued to tow the Michigan until it would have been impossible for them to escape. The Michigan approached the rapids about three p. M. in very good style, with her head inclined to the Canada shore, and reached the first ledge in about twenty minutes after the steam-boat left her. This was a moment of the most intense interest, and attracted the undivided attention of the multitude, who had se- parated into groups, and taken their stations on the banks of the river, and on the islands — on the house- tops and on the balconies — on the table- rock above, and on the rocky banks below the cataract. A Canadian journal (the York Courier) thus cor- rectly describes the descent of the schooner : — " Every eye which could command a view of it was rivetted on the Michigan at this moment — and when she made the first plunge into the rapids, there was a simiiStineous shout of applause. The shock was evidently a severe one, and its effect was visible upoii ^1 ; 1 -/ 1 . I 9G A VOYAGE DOWN ship' i liich now began to be- hcr heterogeneous snip a crew, wiiicli now stir themselves ; — his btiffaloshij) was evidently in un- easy quarters — the eagle vainly essayed to soar from the ' troubled waters' around liiui, 1o a more congenial element — and even bruin exhibited sijiusol' uneasiness, and began to look out for more com foi table quarters. Relbre arriving at the second ledge of rapids, the vessel stuck apparently between two rocks, for a few seconds, but the violence of the current dro\e her rovuid, and she went stern foremost oxer the second ledge — pitched on her starboard side, and before righting, both her masts were carried away, the buffalo and several other finimals were thrown overboard, while bruin, after taking an observation from the bowsprit head, com- mitted himself to the waters, in search '>f less perilous iipartments. After this shock the vessel became water- logi^ed, and floating down the rapids, exhibited suc- cessively a wreck on the breakers, and a ship going to pieces. She broke right in half, and meeting with no further obstruction, darted like an arrow down the feai-ful steep. A goose, the only animal which went over the Falls and remained alive — was picked up, in a state of exhaustion, and is now in possession of a gentleman in York (Mr. Duggan) — the buffalo — ap- parently qiiite dead — floated in the wake of the ship, and went over the falls a few moments after it. The bears, after making every exertion, and stemming the violence of the cm'rent, for several minutes, reached a small island near the Canada shore, and one of them was afterwards piu'chased and shown to the company at Ontario-house, by Captain Mosier." In the preceding February, two men who cm- 1 SAM PATCH — A TREMENDOUS JUMP. 97 barked in a boat above the Falls, intending to cross over, were forced into the rapids by the ice, precipitated into the bottomless gulf below, and dashed to pieces. Any .MU- SAM PATCH— A TREMENDOUS JUMP. On tile 22d of October, 1829, I went over from York to the Falls to see Sam Patch take his tremen- dous leap of 118 feet perpendicular, concerning which I gave the following account : — " Mr. Sam Patch, whose leaping propensities have acquired him so great a notoriety, is a native of Mas- sachusetts, slight, but well made, perhaps not over thirty years of age, and of a temperament, as indi- cated by his dark countenance, rather inclining to melancholy. He is, moreover, like many other great geniuses, a greater friend to the bottle than the bottle is to him; and several respectable men, Americans, have assured me that his first leap at the Passaic Falls, in New Jersey, was with the view of getting rid of the cares and troubles of life, and of anticipating his share of the knowledge of the next believed to be acquired by the departed. Be this as it may, how- over, Sam, when he landed in the waters below the Passaic Falls, found himself as much alive as before he took the jump from above, and soon acqiurrd a fame which his late exhibitions at Goat Island are calculated to increase. Although last Saturday was very wet, Sam attended to jump as per advertisement, and leaped from the mast-head of the Niagara into F ' I. ■■■> 93 SAM PATCH — A TREMRNUUUS JUMP. I'M hi; Ml' ,1 11 the river, on his way down from Buffalo, perfurming the feat with great ease and dexterity. At three o'clock a considerable number of persons had assem- bled on both sides of the river, and ihe jumping appa- ratus appeared in order for use in front of Goat Island. It consisted of a ladder, or ladders, elevated 118 feet perpendicular above the margin of the waters in the eddy between the British and American Falls, stayed by ropes, and accommodated wiih a platform at top. Sam came forth with great punctuality, descended the Biddle staircase, ascended the ladder, and stood for some time upon the platform surveying the spectators and the gulf of waters below. He had on a black vest and white trowsers, and the American flag waved from a staff over his head. The day was gloomy ; it rained heavily ; a great mist was raising from the Horse Shoe, and the rainbow of the cataract exhibited its beautiful and varied hues. My station was on the British side below the rocks, and immediately oppo- site the platform; and I consumed the minutes in eating the grapes with which these banks abound, by way of dessert to a hasty dinner we had taken at the Pavilion. A boat crossed over in front of us, and took its station below the ladder. At last Sam sprang off the platform, eight or ten feet out ; but the ap- paratus not being very firm, he swung a little round, and descended, holding out his arms, the one a little above and the other below a horizontal direction ; his feet, when he struck the water, were not close together, but one of them was drawn up, and, as it were, cramped a little. When he came to the water, he made a great splash, and disappeared like a stone, SAM PATCH — A TREMENDOUS JUMP. 99 but came up in less than half a minute farther up the river, and swam to land on his back. He thought at first he had dislocated his thigh, but found, on coming to shore, that he had suffered no harm. There was only one gentleman with me in the dangerous spot I had chosen below the overhanging rocks ; and when we perceived a boat coming across with Sam in it waving a liandkerchief, he returned to the hotel, and I scram- bled along to the Forsyth old stairs below, and with difficulty got upon the bank. Sam was introduced to me in due form by Major Frazer of the United States army, and I took that opportunity of asking him a few questions. He inhales when he jumps, and says it does not hurt him in the least. " He is to spring off the Table Rock next, or from the same elevation (160 feet), and three months notice will be given the public. When he swung round and placed his elbows close to his back as if to save it, he was an exact representation of a man being hanged, and I felt for the moment a sensation of terror which scarcely subsided till I saw him re-appear on the waters.. He takes about four or five seconds to the leap, and supposes himself to go fifteen feet below the surface of the stream. Had I given him the least en- couragement, I have no doubt he would have accom- panied me to York, and jumped into the lake, from the top of any ladder or foot-way that could have been erected for his convenience. But I rather dissuaded him. To a mind fond of romance, and desirous lo realize now and then a sufficient share of the marvel- lous, Sam's 118 feet jump, the cataract above him and the cataract below him, the seemingly bottomless pit f2 I ' 100 SAM PATCH— A TRKMKNDOUS JUMP. at \m feet, tlic 200 feet of perpendicular rock behind him, the apparatus from which he sprang, so like the fatal ladder of the state, added to the horrid din of the i forsc-Shoe Cauldron continually sending forth thick cloiids of smoke, present a scene seldom equalled by the most sj)len(lid and gloomy descriptions of our modern (U*alc'*s in magic. The Superior lies ' safe and sound ' upon a shoal in the midst of the rapids above the Falls, and might be mistaken at first sight for a rock." I do not recollect havinjj heard of such another ad- venturer as Patch. The 80 feet leaps of the Persians into the river Karoon, at the foot of the Buctari range of mountains, are not to be compared with a descent of 118 feet into the stormy waves of the Niagara. A few weeks after, he jumped from the edge of the (jeneMsec Falls, near Rochester, one hundred and twenty feet, lost his balance, fell sidelong into the water, and, being intoxicated, disappeared in the gulf below, to rise no more. There were twelve thousand persons present. Sam appears to have had a sort of knjw- ledge of what would be his fate, for he bade the spec- tators a farewell, and requested a friend to convey his money to his wife. In the month of August before, a fine promising youth of twenty-one was drowned at Trenton Falls, by sHpping his foot into the current while conveying some hidies round. His look, as he was carried over the fall, is represented by his uncle as heart-rending in the extreme, and the more so as the party were unable to render him that assistance his look seemed to expect and request. of Pri the wi perpe au an SAM PATCH — A TREMENDOUS JUMP. 101 I \ i f i i V At the same time that I went across to see Sam, 1 \isited the Table Rock, and examined its position, l)articidarly the part intended to have been blasted off. An English gentleman of rank, who had actually measured it, gave me its height, 163 feet ; from a fissure, or cracked place, to margin, 49^ feet ; from perpendicular over the edge to inside of cavity below, 44 feet, leaving only 5^ feet of base. It is cracked from top to bottom, and you can thrust a pole down eight or twelve feet in several places into the crack. It is probabk that the next winter's frost will act like a wedge upon this crack, and loosen the whole mass, so that it will tumble into the river. Should that be the case, excellent stairs could be immediately erected close to the fallinc; sheet of water at the edge of the Fall. Niagara is pronounced in a variety of ways, but tlie correct pronounciation is Ne-aw-gerah, the emphasis to be placed on the second syllable, and the word spoken quick. The aborigines spoke the word in the same way. THE NIAGARA WHIRLPOOL. No traveller ought to omit visiting the Whirlpool several miles below the Falls of Niagara. The Whirlpool is a large deep basin, about the size of Primrose Hill, at the back of Chalk Farm, in which the waters of the mighty St. Lawrence revolve in one perpetual whirl, caused by their being obstructed by an angle of the steep and dreary banks which over- t ; 'i i /r 102 THE NIAGARA WHIRLPOOL. ;l'i II ^i: ii hang this dreadful place. The Whirlpool, like the Falls, has caused the loss of human life ; one instance of which I will here relate : — Mr. Wallace, the blacksmith, had a son, a fine youth, of whom he was exceedingly proud, and the lad one day went down to the Whirlpo and the cir- rent proving too strong for him, he was carried into the whirl. His poor distracted mother sat on *he gloomy bank, for days and hours, and beheld the b*. Jy of her own darling child carried round in a circle by the waters, sometimes disappearing for a time, and then coming up and revolving on the surface of his watery grave; and thus continuing for several days, no human aid being available even to obtain his remains. An acquaintance, who resides at the Whirlpool, informed me, that in the course of five or six days, bodies which get into this dismal cauldron are carried down the river. It is usual for persons rafting timber from places between the Falls and the Whirlpool, to get off the raft before they come to the basin, first placing the raft in such a position as may best enable it to float down the stream without being carried into the whirl. On one occasion, however^ one of the raftsmen refused to leave the raft — he was not afraid, all would go safe— entreaty was unavailing, and the raft, with the unfortunate, headstrong man upon it, made its way downwards and was soon drawn within the fatal circle; around which, for three days and three nights, it con- tinued to revolve ; all the efforts of a thousand anxious spectators proving unavailing. The continual and sickening motion he underwent robbed the poor suf- Falls THE NIAGARA WHIRLPOOL. 103 ferer of all power to eat — sleep he could not — a dread- ful death was before his eyes, so much the more ter- rible that it was protracted night after night in such a place. At last a man was found who ven- tured into the whirl as far as he could with hopes of life, a strong rope heing tied round his middle, one end of which was on shore. He carried with him a line to throw to the raft — succeeded; the agonized sufferer fastened it to the raft, and in this way he was drawn on shore, and his life preserved. In January, 1829, 1 had a letter from Mr. Forsyth, the proprietor of the Pavilion, stating that part of the great Fall had gone down into the chasm below, to the extent of an acre at least of the rock, on the Canada side, thereby extending the curve called the Horse- shoe, and adding exceedingly to the grandeur and beauty of the cataract. The Table Rock is not in- jured ; but immediately above it, in the shoe of the Falls, where the waters lately descended in a circular sheet, the range has become much more straight, and the resemblance of a semicircle, or rather a horse-shoo, is lost. The launch took place at nine in the evening of the 28th of December, 1828, and shook the Pavilion like as if an earthquake had taken place ; the concus- sion was even felt as far up as Chippewa, two miles above the Falls, So great was the crash, that it shook the bottles and glasses on the shelves in the hotel. There had been no expectation of that part of the Falls giving way ; but the fall of the projecting cliiV, immediately below the Table Rock, was every day looked for. \ ^i 104 THE NIAGARA WHIRLPOOL. ! 1 i i ■ St David*s, Grantham. — The most beautit'ullv diversified scenery the eye of man coidd desire to rest upon is to be found in the neighbourhood of St. Da- vid's Village, back, near the line of the Welland Canal , on the Niagara frontier, or from the hill behind the seat which belonged to Sir Peregrine Maitland, in Stamford. Hill and dale, meadow and arable land, grove and clearing, garden and orchard, neat cottage and substantial landowner's frame or brick dwelling, intermingle in pleasing irregularity. The broken lands, crags half hid with verdure, the sunny bank, the bubbling brook, now appearing clear as crystal, now lost in the depths of the valley ; the machinery of the cloth-dressers and wool-carders ; the village and village church ; and, above all, the healthy and happy countenances of the inhabitants, present a scene to the eye of the body and to the eye of the mind, in which not one unpleasant feeling is mixed. Grantham will equal, if not surpass, the most lovely situations in Westmorland or Cumberland. 105 METHODISM— A CAMP-MEETING. " With respect to the charge of showing an undue prefercnte to teachers of religion belonging to the established church of this country, it >s so utterly at variance with the whole course of policy which it has been the object of my despatches to yourself to prescribe, that I cannot pause to repel it in any formal manner." — Despatch — The Earl of Hip'in to the Lieut.- Oovernor of Upper Canada, Nov. 8, 1832. '' I am thoroughly persuaded thai there is not the slightest foundation for thinking that, in the populous parts of the United States, the people are more liable to the charge of fanaticism, or religious enthusiasm, than in Britain."— S/Mar/'« Three Years in North America. " Tlieir shelter was wretched, — their sufferings were intense,— their dangers were not small : all these evils they sustained with fortitude. To each other they were kind; to the savages they were just. They loved the truth of the Gospel, — embraced it in its purity, — and obeyed it with an exact excellence of life, which added a new wreath to the character of ma.n!'—Dwight''s Account of the Pi/grim Fathers. The " Christian Guardian" of the 29th of August, 1832, gives a statement of the Methodist body in Canada, from which it appears that within the bounds of the Upper Province there are 14,901 members of the church, of whom 1090 are Indians ; that the in- crease of members in society since last year is 3553 ; that the Rev. James Richardson is to be the editor of the "Conference" paper for 1832 — 3; and that the Rev. Egerton Ryerson is delegated by the Canada Conference to come to England next May with pro- positions for a union with the general Wesleyan Con- ference in England, which also has three or four mis- sionaries itinerating in Upper Canada*. It is estimated that there are about four or five regular hearers to one member, consequently the * Mr. Ryerson has since arrived in England. y5 106 MKTIIOOISM. 1:1 1 ' !l regular attendants upon the Methodist church in the colony may be reckoned at from 60,000 to 70,000. Many of the ministers of this connexion are men of excellent ability as preachers of the gospel. They have done great good in the colony, and are held in deser\ed estimation by the people for their zeal and faithfulness in the performance of their high duties ; but from the government and its officers they have suffered many wrongs. Although T have heard a great deal about camp- meetings I never was at any time a spectator of the proceedings at these rural assemblies for public wor- ship; and, having never seen them, cannot describe them. I should, however, incline to the opinion that the accounts of extravagance in action which are cir- culated concerning them, by Mrs. TroUope and others, are mere caricatures. The Methodists are a highly respectable and intelhgent body, and their ministers often men of talent and great knowledge of mankind, who labour unceasingly to promote the interests of morality and religion, receiving an income scarcely sufficient to support themselves and families. The following description of a camp-meeting h by a young Englishman, not a Methodist, and was ad- dressed to a person in England : — " Chinguacousy , 4th March, 1832. " As I am beginning this letter on a Sunday, I will describe a camp-meeting which I attended last year. You are already aware that the uncultivated part of the land here consists of wood or forest, every tree very high as compared to those in the English forests. The V CAMP-MKETINQ. 107 scene of the meeting I .:ttcndcd was about six miles from my uncle's, in Toronto, (near York, lj)per Canada.) He attended with his family, and occupied a tent in connexion with his next neighbour. There is about the space of a moderate field cleared of under- brush, and the trees thinned so as to leave a shade from the sun, (in the midst of the forest,) which is inclosed by a fence and string of tents which «" md the area. The tents are like the booths i; • fair, tables for the owners and their friend, being substituted for the counters. There ..ge stand or stage for the preachers, of rough workman- ship, but suitable to hold a number, and secured against rain. About a dozen preachers were present ; and I should say that 3000 people were collected together. The greater part of the people bring pro- visions and beds for three or four days. The camp is shut and opened by means of a large gate placed at one end, which is watched at night to prevent the entrance of disturbers or disorderly persons. 1 had otten felt a desire to attend one of these meetings, having heard a great deal both of bad and good respecting them. The bad were disorderly persons, and male and female drunkards, &c. ; but I must confess that little or none of this species of character came under my observation, although it is said that some disturbers were in the neighbourhood. The good you will say must be very good, where from sixty to a thousand or more come forward, and are or profess to be converts. I have met with persons from time to time, the fruits of these ministerial services, who bear a per- manently good character in the churches to which \ i 108 METHODISM. i i l-S I they belong ; there are also many who fall away. Ilie services consist of preaching, prayer-meetings, — both public and in the tents, — class meetings, &c., and are continued, nearly without interruption, day and night. The sermons I heard were both able in composition and powerful in delivery. The preachers speak ex- tempore. It is indeed very few good sermons I have heard in this country except at camp-meetings. There is something very remarkable in the prayer-meetings ; the people collect in considerable numbers, and are called mournern. There is a long table with a railing round at a little distance sufficient to contain them. They kneel down, and several preachers and others pray ; sometimes the whole people together pray. All is extempore. There are persons, both male and feuale, employed in the meantime [I suppose the writer here means *' in the intervals between these prayers." — M.] in going round and talking to them on the state of their minds ; and both at these and at the prayer-meetings in the tents there will be, every now and then, one who will, we should say in Eng- land, faint, — go into hysterics. These cases I will presume to say little of ; it is indeed a mysterious thing, and the universal cause to which it is attributed here is the influence of the Spirit. I have carefully observed the appearance of women in this situation : they ap- pear quite dead as to any power or sensibility remaining in them, excepting warmth and a feeble pulse, ^'^ou may prick them with needles, and it will have no effect whatever. The people will in no case use any means or method to recover them till they recover of themselves. I told you once that Mr. , his wife, A CAMP-MEEtlNG. 109 and eldest son, had joined the Methodists ; they were all mourners on this occasion. Speaking of this, I may tell you, that among the Methodists it is very common in their large meetings to have not only many speakers engaged in prayer at once, but also the whole of the people. It has struck me very remark- ably on one or two of these occasions, when I have been present, to hear a hundred persons or more pray- ing together. I could not, of course, distinguish what any one of them said. It was different from the re- petition of the Litany in some of the churches where the people join in an audible voice, for you knew or could imagine what they were speaking of A concert of music I have heard, but had not before (except as in the Litany) heard an audible concert of prayer. There was not, in the latter case, a harmony of sound, but 1 presimie there teas a harmony of feeling. The ground at the camp-meeting is illuminated all night by means of stages, each of them twelve feet high, and of the breadth of an ordinary sized breakfast-table on the top, on which are kept blazing fires of pine-wood. The Calvinists here, as well as with you, are exceedingly prejudiced against the Methodists, and the govern- ment and its officers have endeavoured in many ways to injure them. It is certain, however, that they have done a great deal of good, and been the real benefactors of the people of this country." Mrs. Trollope is not alone in her abuse of the Methodists in America in 1832. Mr. Vigne, of Lin- coln's Inn, in his " Six Months," condescends to retail the following spiteful remark of the captain of a Chesa- peake steam-boat to their injury : — " The captain as- \ 1' 1 If > 1 - r I 1 I t , no METHODISM. sured me that, upon one occasion, during a camp-meet- ing, he carried no less than 1500 persons at a time; he landed them during the night, and about 200 got away without paying their passage." Such a passage as this shows a feeling not creditable to its narrator. Steam-boat captains have no means of distinguishing the religion of their passengers. MIDDLESEX ELECTION, JULY, 1824. " The strength of the people is nothing without union, and union !.« nothing without confidence and discipline." — Thomas Attwoud. " Thither shall her sons repair, And beyond the roaring main, Find their native country there, Find their Switzerland digi\n"— Montgomery, For upwards of sixty miles, the road, as we passed upwards to the ground where the" election was to take place, was well travelled by people interested for some one or other of the candidates. I saw a Methodist church near St. Thomas ; about fifty miles below there is another, which was erected at Waterford, chiefly by the liberal aid afforded by Mr. Loder. On Monday moining we arrived at St. Thomas, the place appointed for holding the election for the county ot Middlesex, of which I will now give a brief account. The hustings were placed near the church, on a high and well-chosen spot of ground. The village was crowded with people, and the result of a contested election, not yet begun, was joyfully anticipated by the friends of all three of the candidates, though, of course, III! \ MIDDLESEX ELECTION. HI u Us d only two could succeed. Groups stood in every di* rection, some wearing an oak-tree leaf in their hats, which signified " Mathews and Liberty ;" others, rib- bons as favours. On one man's hat was tied a broad orange ribbon : the inscription, " Rolph and Mathews," showed his party : three-fourths of the people had no party emblems about them at all. A little after ten o'clock, Mr. Warren, the returning officer. Colonel Talbot, Mr. Rolph, Colonel Burwell, Captain Mathews, and Mr. Bostwick, mounted the hustings. Mr. War- ren was dressed in blue, had his sword appended to his side, and cut a fine figure as returning officer. He read the writ, and five or six hundred persons, who were bystanders, were hushed, when the tall figure of Colonel Burwell was extended to its full length, as he arose to address the multitude. He commenced plead- ing in justification of his past conduct, and parried admirably the thrusts of some teasing electors who were perpetually demanding why he had acted so and so, why he did this, and said that ? He spoke of the milk of human kindness, of location tickets, of flogging bills, of asking no votes, and read part of the Upper Canada Gazette for the edification of those present — this was all well ; and had I not known his votes in the house, I confess all I yet saw had served to prepossess me in his favour ; but towards the end of his speech he unfortunately stumbled on some political squib or cracker, that he had understood to have been written by an old acquaintance. He spoke of this performance in harsh terms. Some one desired him to read it, which he did ; and his passion having obtained the mastery of his better judgment, he burst at once into ■i I M ■} j 112 MIDDLCSKX ELECTION. hill . I 'I : Ml" such a strain of personal invective against the author — a jolly good-looking farmer — who was present, that I felt for both parties. This ebullition of resentment, in so inappropriate a place, lost him many friends ; and a poor man of the name of Gardiner, with whom he had had a law-suit concerning the value of an old house, and who complained of foul play, lost him a good many more. I addressed the electors from my waggon at considerable length in favour of tlie popular candidates, and electioneered for several days with great activity, but it was unnecessary ; the Talbot set- tlement would have elected the opposition candidates, if twice the influence the local government and Co- lonel Talbot possessed had been exercised against them ; and I am proud to acknowledge that they made a noble choice. The next speaker, after Colonel Burwell, was Cap- tain Mathews, of the half-pay (or rather retired allow- ance) royal artillery ; he met a joyful, kind reception. His manly, athletic form and courteous demeanour, added to the independent English principles he pro- fessed to espouse, secured to him a distinguished place in the good graces of many a worthy yeoman. He resided at Queenston when he first came to Canada ; and his departure for " the west " is thus announced in an old number of the Argus: — " We are informed that Captain Mathews of the Royal Artillery, with his family and servants, ron- sisting of nearly thirty persons, passed through An- caster, about four weeks ago, on his way to the Bush in Lobo, with six waggons, one cart, twenty-four horses, a flock of sheep, and some cows." This MIDDLKSEX ELECTtO^f. 113 Wealthy, intelligent, and patriotic Englishman made an excellent speech, remarkable for its brevity, considering the variety of subjects he embraced ; as he concluded the people rent the air with their acclamations — and well they might ; they never had a more sincere friend than the gallant officer they have sent to parliament. His well-wishers have only one fear, namely, that he will act too independent a part. Mr. Rolph (who spoke last) promised to act with inde- pendence, and to defend the people's rights ; spoke with considerable animation of the fine county in Vv'hich he that day had the honoi"* to be a candidate; expressed a warm interest in its prosperity and that of the pro- vince at large; adverted to the time when it was a desert ; reminded them of what had been effected in twenty-one years, and a\igured well of the future fate of the country, its agricvdture, and its infant manu- factures. Getting warm, he forgot that he was at a comity election, and commenced a sentence in his professional way, " Gentlemen of the Jury." He, however, quickly recollected himself, but indeed the expression was not ill-timed — " For lawyers, like women, however well bred, Will aye talk of that which runs most in their head." Colonel Talbot, to whose care the settlement of Middlesex was originally confided, was born in Mal- lahide, near Dublin, in Ireland, and has given that name to one of his townships in Middlesex. He is, without doubt, a man of eccentric habits ; but many of the stories that are current in the country respect- ing his manner of living have no foundation in truth. He was, when I saw him, dressed in a plain blue '11: 114 MIDDLESEX ELECTION. I hi ;. ! il '. * ' i surtout coat and trousers ; there was nothing fanciful about his dress or horse furniture, save an Indian blanket, which wa? v/rapped up like a horseman's cloak antl fastened behind his saddle; his air is that of a military officer. In youth he must have pos- sessed a handsome person and well-formed features ; for even now, and he is nearly sixty years of age, his features iiave nothing harsh, and his appearance is rather prepossessing. (See next sketch.) The ardent desire for rational freedom which ob- tains in this district was to me very pleasing. I saw it ill many instances made abundantly manifest. Long Point is fifty miles from St. Thomas, yet mo j than a hundred rode that distance to vote against Burwell for the independent candidates. Those who had no horses were furnished by those who had — those who had no money were cheerfully supplied by their more affluent neighbours ; and in a few instances, men who declared their willingness to join the good cause, but lamcnved their slender circumstances, were paid as much as they could otherwise have earned, or else young farmers who had no votes in Middlesex worked their oxen in their absence. It was a cheering spec- tacle to a friend of Canada to see the happy groups of horsemen from every (quarter ride up to the hust- ings, shouting blithely " Rolph and Mathews ! " — " Mathews and Liberty !" Even the newly-elected members of Oxford came with their bands of yeomen to vote for the men of the people's choice. Mr. Hurwell had represented the county for twelve years, ai.d his votes and conduct had so incensed the fnrniers that they determined to put him out. That MIDDLESEX ELFXTION. 115 precious political selection, the local magistracy, sup- ported him almost to a man. There is a Scotch settlement in the neighbourhood, but they would not on any account give him their votes. Mr. Rolph is a native of England, a barrister of the Inner Temple, and graduate of Cambridge University. \ ^ i ? I FATHER TALBOT. " The legislative council were ranged on the side of the government to oppress the people, and in raising those feelings of discontent which led them to make war upon each other. The legislative council, he was fully satisfied, was the root of all the evils which had oppressed that country for the last !en or fifteen years. Tiiese complaints were not of squabbles which sprang up on the moment, but of evils of long standing." — News* paper Report of Mr. Stanley^ s Speech on Canada Affairs, 2nd May, 1828. " Tiie affairs of Canada have particularly occupied the attention of the Commons. On the motion to appropriate 30,000/. for fortifying King- ston at the head of Lake Ontario, Mr. Stanley opposed the grant as a useless expenditure. In relation to danger from invasion, Mr. Stanley said that the United States would not accept of the Canadas. Mr. Stan- ley is in error. The two Canadas can, as separate states, come as easily and as readily Into the republic, as Louisiana or Missouri ; and Mr. Peel himself admitted, that the time would come, when the Canadas would become independent." — M, M. Noah. — New York Courier and Enquirer, 1828. The Hon. Thomas Talbot, a Downing-street pen- sioner, and legislative counsellor, issued the following handbill to his dependents ; his neighbours had been showing signs of insubordination, which it was deemed absolutely necessary to suppress. , 116 FATHER TALBOT. iii ,1 ' Port Talbot, March lOth, 1832. [To the Editor of the St. Thomas Journal.] Sir, — " Having seen the proceedings of different meetings held in the Talbot Settlement, on the subject of imagined grievances, and finding that it is now necessary to ascertain the real sentiments of the inha- bitants, so as at once to put down the fever (by a few only) manifested, to encourage disaffection to the British Government, I give this notice, recommending a general meeting of my settlers on St. George's day, the 23rd of April next, at the King's Arms at St. Thomas, at noon, when I shall attend. " Thomas Talbot. « Father of the Talbot Settlement." * Hi * The meeting was held, and I quote a passage of the Hon. Col. Talbot's speech, as reported by his friend Mr. Talbot, a Justice of tiie Peace in that neighbourhood: — "It was not until very recently that those intruders openly declared themselves. It was not until they formed a damned cold water society here, at which they met night after night in secret conclave to concoct measures for the subvertion of our institutions, that I was aware of the prevalence of such principles. This well-organized band first commenced the study of their tactics at Malahide, where they had the greatest strength, and where they iiad the advantage of the military skill of a Yankee deserter for a drill serjeant, aided by a tall stripling, the son of an U. E. Loyalist, whom they trans- formed into a flag staff. (Immense cheers and laughter.) Here the old Schoharrie line for a while drove a prbtty considerable trade. (Continued laughter.) They next tried their strength in Yarmouth, where, aided by a few Hickory Quakers, they succeeded in organizing a com- mittee of vigilance, whose duty I suppose was to sound ' the conchshell of sedition in every valley and on every hill ;' and were aided by certain characters who, making a cloak of religion to cover their seditious pur- poses, and who secretly lent them the light of their countenance, they prospered to the present time." Here is the language of a man who is venerated — idolized — and wor- shipped by the London District oligarchy — a man after whom they sent an escort with trumpets and banners, on the day of meeting. These ar^ FATIIKU TALBOT. ir A sketch of one of the meetings alluded to by the " Father of the Talbot Settlement " is furnished in the columns of the St. Thomas Journal. The scene v;as St. Thomas, nea?* Lake Erie, in Middlesex: — " H. Warren, Esq. was chosen Chairman, and E. Erma- tinger, secretary : an address to the King, prepared for signatures, being read, J. Givins, Esq. proceeded to address the meeting. In the interim, the opposite party having discovered what was going on, entered the room ; a scene of confusion shortly after ensued — ' from words they came to blows.' We should judge about fifty or sixty were engaged in the general scuffle — pelting and being pelted — several were pretty se- \erely bruised ; one person we saw had his eye gouged nearly out ; another was tumbled down stairs, and nimibers ran over him, trampling the poor fellow under foot. From the number of bloody noses to be seen after the scene of action was over, one would suppose there had been hot times. For our own part, we, with several others, who, like ourselves, chose to be spectators, rather than actors in this disgraceful scene, preferred a safe corner of the room, thinking ourselves lucky if we could but get oft' with a whole head on our shoulders. We hope, for the good name of our district, it will be some time before another such a Iracas takes place here. It is certainly a stigma on this part of our district — a disgrace to us. If we have grievances to complain of, (and certainly we do think we the feelings of liie antureform leaders towards temperance societies — towards religion — towards morality. This is the manner in which they are wont to bneer at and abuse men who are foremost as philanthropiist^ ill our cunntry — who are benefiting their fellow-citizens by arresting the march of drunkenness. — Hamilton Free Pres^, \ i ; >! f 118 FATHER TALBOT. have some,) should we enforce our arguments with the fist ? If we live in one of the best countries in the world, (and we certainly believe we do) — and if we are governed by the best rulers in the world, should argu- ments to enforce such belief be followed up by thumps and kicks ?"" ill i THE CHILDREN OF PEACE. " From the quality of the immigration (to use that neologism) now setting into Canada, there is no rational prospect for any alteration in this state of feeling favourable to the church of England. So far from that, the hostility which she already provokes will grow annually nore embittered as the number increases of her Catholic enemies, and as their conscious- ness becomes more distinct of the independent power which they pos- sess." — Blackwood's Magazine. Review of McGregor's British America. In September, 1828, I made a tour through the county of York, Upper Canada, and gave the follow- ing account of a new and very remarKable religious society, " The Children of Peace." " However much some may desire uniformity in religious creeds, services, and ceremonies, th^y will, in the absence of clerical persecution and disqualification, cease to anticipate such a result. In proportion to the intelligence, virtue, and morality of the several districts of a country, will the religic as distinctions of its inhabitants be more or less removed from fana- ticism, bigotry, supei stition, and intolerance. " Among the many sects which have taken root in the soil of Upper Canada, a new order of Christians has, within a few years, arisen and become conspi \ THE CHILDREN OF PEACE. 119 cuous (even to our legislature) less by the peculiarity of their doctrines (for they have no written creed) than for the outward form of their worship, which is very splendid ; whereas the Quakers or Friends, from among whom they chiefly took their rise, have made plainness and simplicity their distinguishing charac- teristic, even so far as the verv cut and colour of their garments. " The Children of Peace consist, at present, of thirty or forty families, residing in or near the village of Hope, in the township of East Gwillimbury, about thirty-five miles from York, and four and a half from Newmarket. The situation is healthy and salubrious, the country open and well cleared : and I noted down the names of tanners, weavers, hatters, blacksmiths, tinsmiths, coopers, joiners, shoemakers, cabinetmakers, carpenters, tailors, harnessmakers, storekeepers, and wheelwrights, who already follow their vocations in the village of Hope. In its neighbourhood I stayed two nights, in the house of Mr. Enos Dennis, an old settler from Pennsylvania, a part of whose family belonor to the Children of Peace. Mr. Dennis is at once a millwright, wheelwright, blacksmith, cabinet- maker, and cart and plough maker, and displays con- siderable ingenuity as a workman. The Society of Friends had once a meeting-house in Hope, not a vestige of which remains; but, on the same ground, Mr. David Wilson is now erecting an elegant and fanciful building, on two sides of which are the repre- sentation of a setting-sun, below which is inscribed the word ' Armageddon,' — the historical meaning of which may be found in the Old Testament. ' ■ * I 120 TIIK CHILDREN OF PEACE. I 't " 'J litre are two schools in Hope; one for the ordi- nary branches of education, and the other, on a far larger scale, for the instruction of young females in knittiiig, sewing, spinning, making chip and straw hats and bonnets, spinning wool, and other useful ai'complishnjents of a like description. There is a male and a female superintendent resident in this latter school : the pu])ils cook, make their own clothes, keep llie garden in order, receive lessons in reading, &c., and work at their various avocations. I counted nearly a dozen of large wool-wheels in one of the rooms. Among the pupils I saw either one or two young girls from York, and they all seemed happy and contented. " The new church or chapel of the Children of Peace is certainly calculated to inspire the beholder wilh astonishment; its dimensions — its architecture — its situation — are all so extraordinary. On a level plain, inclosed first with a fence, and afterwards by a row of maple trees, on every side, stands the chapel or temple of Hope. It is a regular square, each of the four sides measuring sixty feet at the base. The main body of the chapel is twenty-four feet high, and is lighted by twenty-four w indows, with seventy-two panes each; having also one door in each front. Sur- mounting a pavilion roof, so near a level as to permit me to walk upon it without danger, adding only six feet to the height of the main building, rises a square tower, hall, or gallery, measuring twenty-seven and a half feet on each side, and sixteen feet in height. In- side, this place is one blaze of light, containing twelve windows of sixty panes each: it is to be used as a:i THE CHILDREN OF PKACE. 121 orchestra or music room, being open within as a part of the chapel below. Here will be placed, as in a gallery, the musicians and organist, at least thirty feet above the congregation. And when the large full- toned and soft-set organ, built by Mr. Coates, of York, shall be set up in this room, together with the players on the flutes, violins, bass-viols, bassoons, clarionets, and flageolets, used by the society in their worship, the eflect will remind a visiter of * the music of the spheres,' about which bards of old have sung, and poets, in ' lofty lays,' recorded fancy's fictions. This tower or gallery is supported inside by sixteen pillars, and, like the former building, has a pavilion roof, rising so gently, however, as to permit us to walk on it with ease. Beautifully placed on the centre of this roof, and supported inside by four pillars, is a third tower, in exact accordance with the architectural taste displayed throughout the work. It is twelve feet high ; square, each side being nine and a half feet, with four double windows of fifty-four lights each. At the corners of each roof, and also on the four corners of the highest tower, are placed large ornamented lanterns, which add to the beauty of the temple, and are lighted up at the annual grand festival, which com- mences on the morning of the first Saturday of Sep- tember, and continues till the Monday following. ** The highest tower is surmounted by a gilded ball, on each side of which is inscribed * Peace.' The temple is painted white ; and when finished in- side, will be the most surprising and original fabric allotted for divine worship in the colony. Being seated on a rising ground, it has a fine eflect when G \ iil M 1 122 THE CHILDREN OF PEACE. i ' , ,r viewed from the surrounding country, towering above its mother earth, unequalled and alone, in all the sublimity and majesty of castellated grandeur. The elevation of the new chapel is from seventy to eighty feet, measuring from the ground to the tops of the four highest lanterns. The religious services of the society are performed as yet in the old chapel, a plain building outside, but finished within in very handsome style. The number of members and hearers is about 200, and the utmost regularity is said to prevail at their meetings. As I remarked before, the Children of Peace, like the Quakers, have no written creed ; the church liscipline being altered and amended, if need be, on motion, by a vote of the majority of the con- gregation. As yet, however, every alteration of church government has been carried without oppos:ition. On Saturday, at noon, there is a relaxation from labour — the children give over their work or tasks, amuse themselves, and take their recreation in the fields. In the evening there is a meeting in the chapel for religious exercises: besides, I was informed that the sabbath is strictly kept. In the old chapel, I observed several paintings by Coates, — Peace, represented by an elegant female figure with an infant on each arm, and Eve trampling the serpent under foot : there is also a third painting of Peace by the same artist. On one side of \he organ is a picture of King David's harp ; on the other, his spear, bow, and shield. Four black flags, used at funerals, with a star in the centre, and gilt at the top of the staff, wave from the organ- loft. Early on the morning after I arrived, I found some of the singers in the chapel practising their hymns The anoth AN ITINERATING SECT. The children of peace itinerate; I therefore hiul another opportunity of beholding their mode of wor- G 2 n THE CHILDREN OF PEACE. 123 and tunes. A number of young females sang a hymn, composed, as is all their poetry, by members of the society. Two young men had bass-viols, and the full- toned organ aided the music, which, I will venture to say, is unequalled in any part of the Upper, and scarcely surpassed even by the Catholics in the Lower province. I should like to have heard their minister preach a sermon, as it would better have enabled me to understand their mode of worship, but another opportunity will doubtless offer, which I can embrace. It is a question with many, whether the society will increase and spread over other parts of the colony, or confine itself to the original meeting. By some of the neighbouring sectarians, the Children of Peace are reviled with great bitterness, while others have been equally strong in their commendation. One thing is evident, they afford ample proofs, both in their village and in tlieir chapels, that, comparatively, great achievements may be accomplished by a few when united in their efforts and persevering in their habits and systems. Such of the members of the parliameal of this colony, as havo visited the society, speak of it with approbation ; and a few more years will probably determine, beyond a reasonable doubt, the tendency of its doctrines and peculiar mode of worship." M 124 AN ITINERATING SE«^T. h :i- Hi I ■f\ shipping on the 2nd September, 1829, at nine in the morning of a Sunday, eight miles from York. I found seated in the temporary chapel, around a table, at the upper end of the apartment, the musi- cians, from fifteen to twenty men, and six or eight young women, altogether presenting a band of vocal and instrumental performers, such as are seldom to be met with, unless in choirs, or perhaps at the grand festivals for sacred music, which now and then occur in England. The first tune played was Darling- ton ; J. Willson and Tebbitts each performed on the violincello; J&^se Doan and Benjamin Dunham on the first and second clarionets; C "h^s Doan on the bassoon; Richard Coates and ^ Willson on concert horns ; Job Hughes on the violin ; Ira Doan on the flageolet ; Charles Haines and Joshua Harris played on the German flute, and Judah Lundy and Enos Doan performed on octave flutes. It may be easily conceived that the effect was very pleasant and delightful. — Westminster was the next tune ; after which the females sang a psalm to the music of Cornish ; they sang it beautifully in trio. Their pre- paratory services were concluded by performing a solemn Scottish air. At eleven in the forenoon, the congregation had assembled, perhaps 200 or 300 persons in all, atten- tive, decorous, and well dressed; some came in car- riages of various descriptions, many on horseback, and not a few on foot. The service began with sacred music, first instrumental, and afterwards both vocal dnd instrumental. A pause ensued, after which Mr. David Willson, their principal minister, gave out a hour. Hope, improvi] chiefly, music, a third and a feet of commen \ AN ITINERATING SECT. 125 hymn or rather paraphrase of part of St. John's gospel, from which also he afterwards took his text. The women singers, who have very fine voices, and are all dressed in white garments, sang this hymn, ac- companied by such of the members of the society as chose to join them, the lines being given out two at a time for the benefit of the congregation. Their style of singing would here have been pronounced faultless by the best judges of the art. They compose all their own hymns and psalms to suit the occasions on which they are sung, have a large organ in their chapel at Hope, and assemble regularly once a quarter both liere and at Markham, on certain stated sabbaths. After anoher pause their preacher rose up and began his discourse, which lasted, perhaps, over an firilll* 5|t ijt ^j! 3[€ Sp 5p n THE NEGRO— MILITIA FINES— CHURCHES AND MILLS. " Nothing can be more disgraceful to the people of the United States, nor more inconsistent with their prufess°d principles of equality, than their treatment of the free people of colour." — StuartU Three Years, 8[c. Upper Canadttf July, 1830. Hope, the village of the Children of Peace, is fast improving. Their new and spacious temple, intended chiefly, 1 believe, for vocal and instrumental sacred music, will soon be finished. The materials for a third church or place of worship are collecting, and a structure of the dimensions of 50 by 100 feet of brick, with elegant workmanship, will soon bo commenced. I ■■■ i \ 126 MILITIA FINES. ! ■I I I i I In the house of Samuel Hughes, a member of this new society, I found an undoubted evidence of prac- tical Christianity. Three years ago an old decrepit negro, who had up to that time begged for a subsist- ence, was struck with the palsy in his body and one of his sides, and lost th use of his limbs and one arm. Mr. Hughes took him in — had a chair with wheels made for him — and continues to wait upon and assist the helpless object, who can do nothing for himself. Whether he and his family do this alto- gether at their own expense, or whether they get some help from the society, I know not ; but their conduct might put to the blush many who make extraordinary professions of that meek faith, of the effects of which their proud lives afford but a faint specimen. I learnt in Markhani that the Rev. Dr. Strachan had given Mr. Peterson, the aged pastor of the Ger- man congregation, a pension of 140 dollars, bound him over not to preach there, and placed in his stead an episcopalian clergyman of the establishment. A singular case in the way of fining persons absent at training was recorded lately in the Kingston Herald, from which it appeared that Mr. Thomas Turner Orton was pretty severely dealt with by the magistrates for being absent without leave. A few days ago Messrs. Smalley, Selby, and Tyler, assem- bled to put his new Excellency's instructions into full effect in the home district. We learn that a great many of the country people were fined, and that con- siderable costs accrued to the magistrates. [It will be remembered that his Excellency forgot to comply with the application of his faithful commons in assem- bly last session on this delicate matter.] We are told CHURCHES AND MILLS. 12V that Mr. Selby issued summonses for persons in King, although ' Mr. Tyler is the nearest justice, and that aliens who had not taken the oath were made to pay fines the same as others. One man having got two warnings to turn out at different days, paid four dollars of fines, and one or two more in costs ; and in cases where the penalty was remitted the costs were neverthe- less levied. I'nder the present rule of his Excellency's Royal Court, which enables him to take our revenues from us without our consent, for purposes of which v\<> disapprove, these things are all fair ; and there is also a provincial statute in the case. Moreover, Dr. Franklin's rules for reducing a large empire into a small one, apj^ear to be perfectly understood by all parties. Queen-street, beyond Yonge-street, is certainly the finest road, and passes through one of the most beau- tiful neighbourhoods in the county of York. It is in good repair, and both here and on Union-street is the face of the country diversified with gentle swells, valleys, and knolls, orchards, comfortable farm-houses, fine crops of grain, clumps of forest-trees, &c. I went as far as the high grounds from whence Lake Simcoe is visible, and returned vid Hope, Newmarket, &c. In the village of Newmarket, which stands at least 650 feet above the level of the surface waters of Lake Ontario, Mr. Robinson has built a large and hand- some gristmill, Mr. Cawthra has built another not far off, and Mr. Millard has erected a third. I also observed a lofty gristmill building at Thornhill, and another in King. The Unitarian Quakers are build- \ n. I Jf" r28 CIwRCHRS AND MILLS. i !il ing a moeting-house in King ; and in Vaughan, near Purdy's mills, a neat Episcopalian chapel has just been erected, to which I met Mr. Boulton going out to officiate yesterday morning, with his clerical gar- ments under his arm. I also met a Baptist preacher on his way out, and ascertained that the Rev. W. Jen- kins, Presbyterian minister, w a that day to preach to two congregations in the same neighbourhood. A clerical anecdote of Mr. Jenkins, well worthy of record, reached me at second-hand while on my travels, as follows : — Tiie reverend gentleman, who resides in Markliam, happened to be in company one day with Archdeacon Strachan, and several other priests. The archdeacon, in the course of conversation, turned round to Mr. Jenkins, and (with a self-approving look, which seemed to say, " if you had studied the art and mys- tery of booing as I have done, you might have been better ofF,") jestingly said, " Mr. Jenkins, your coat is get*iiig quite grey.' urses, and the like, to the value in money of one hvnulred dollars ; and have not this season relaxed their laudable exertions. To those who, with me, remember the state of the Indians ten or twelve years ago, their pleasant, happy, and comfortable condition will afford much pleasure. Divine Providence has wisely reserved to itself the government and direction of the seasons; and man. UPPER CANADA — CREDIT INDIANS. 133 to whom has been awarded the power of forming a temporary government for his species during their mortal pilgrimage here below, seems even in this to have received too great a task, of which the conduct of the Europeans to the Indians, generally, is a proof. Right glad, therefore, am I to be able to record ono instance in which the native tribes have really profited by their acquaintance with the Europeans. The Indians are regadar subscribers for the Colonial Advocate newspaper, and very punctual payers. Tliey presented the following very interesting peti- tion to General Colborne, in 1829 ; he referred it to the Assembly, which complied with their requests : — "The petition of the Mississagua Indians, settled at the River Credit, to our Great Father, Sir John Colborne, K.C.B., Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada, &c. &c. &c. " Father! — Your children, who now petition to you, are a remnant of the great nations who owned and inha- bited the country in which you now live and make laws ; — the trround on which vou and your children stand covers the bones of our fathers, of many genera- tions. \Vhen your fathers came over the great waters, we received them as friends, and gave them land to live upon. We have always been friends to our great father the King and his white children. When the white men came they made us sick and drunken ; and as they increased, we grew less and less, till we are now very small. We sold a great deal of land to our great father the King for very little, and we became poorer and poorer. We reserved all the hunting and • V 4 ;. i 134 UPPER CANADA — CREDIT INDIANS. fishing, but the white men soon grew so many that they took all : when all the rest was gone, we kept the ten- mile creek, the twelve-mile creek, and the river Credit. The two first are gone from us, but we are wishing to keep the Credit. We reserved one mile on each side of the Credit, where we now live. About four years ago, the Great Spirit sent to us good men with the great word the Gospel of our Saviour Jesus Christ, and we became a new people ; we have thrown away our sins ; we live in houses, in a village where we worship the Great Spirit, and learn his word, and keep his sab- baths; our children and young men learn to read; and many of our people from a distance have joined us. We now want the fish in our river, that we may keep our children at home to go to school, and not go many miles back to hunt for provisions. We also catch sal- mon, and sell them very cheap to industrious white men who bring us flour, and other provisions, and cattle ; and they say it is much better than to fish themselves. But now. Father, we will tell you how wicked white men have used us. — ^They come in the fall and spring, and encamp for many weeks close by our village. They burn and destroy our fences and boards in the night ; they watch the salmon and take them as fast as they come up ; they swear and get drunk and give a very bad example to our young people, and try to persuade them to be wicked like themselves, and par- ticularly on the Sabbath ; — their wicked ways give us much trouble and make our hearts sorry. Others go to the mouth of the river and catch all the salmon : they put the offals of salmon in the mouth of the river to keep the fish from passing up, that they may take tunal Amei M writii that Amei three! as thi \ UPPER CANADA — CREDIT INDIANS. 135 them with a seine near the mouth of the river in the lake; and often in the dark they set gill nets in the river and stop all the fish. By those means v.o are much injured and our children are deprived of bread. " Now, father, once all the fish in these rivers and these lakes, and all the deer in these woods, were ours ; but your red childrf^n only ask you to cause laws to be made to keep these bad men away from our fishery at the Rive'" Credit irom Mr. Racey's line to the mouth of the river, and along tl • lake shore one mile on each side of the river as f-, as our land extends, and to punish those w'^r* attempt to fi i« here. We will not fish on Saturdr y niTht, Sunday night, and Sunday, but will let the fish pass up to our white brotiiers up the river. " And your petitioners, &c. (Signed) " James Adjitance, " Peter Jones, •' Joseph Sawyer, And fifty-one others. •' River Credit, Jan. .31, 1829." ''<'" If Dundas Street, we met an Indian sleigh with eight deer in it, all which the owner had shot in the woods within the space of two days. There are for- tunately very mild and judicious game-laws in North America. Mr. Vigne, in his work on America, and while writing of the back settlements of Pennsylvania, says, that " of the cervus virginianus, or common deer of America, a single hunter will sometimes kill two or three in a day ; but will more often go without a shot, as they are very wild, and their sense of smelling ex- H n 136 THE CANADIAN YORKSHIRE. ''! ; ( ceedingly acute." In Upper Canada it more depends whether the hunter is or is not in the neighbourhood of a thick settlement. Vigne states a fact that I was unacquainted with ; he says that deer will crush rattle- snakes to death, by jumping upon them with all their four feet brought close together. THE CANADIAN YORKSHIRE. The county of York, the seat of government in Upper Canada, and the most populous and wealthy shire in the two Canadas, had generally been inclined to elect Tory members to the legislature, and its elections had usually been attended with a large expenditure of money by these candidates. Its first member was Sir David William Smith, now of Nortlmmbcrland, baronet, and a pensioner of about thirty years standing. Its second member was Mr. Alcock, the chief justice of the province. Its third, Angus M*Donell, Esq,, also a government functionary. The Honourable Mr. Justice Thorpe was elected by tho reformers, but the government soon ruined him by means of an application to Downing Street : he was afterwards appointed chief-justice of Sierra Leone ! Mr. Gough, an independent Irishman, succeeded Thorpe; then the Honourable Thomas Ridout, sur- veyor-general, followed by the Honourable Peter Ro- binson, who made the county a stepping-stone to half- a dozen of offices, worth about 1500^ a year. Dr. Baldwin, Colone! Thompioa, and Captain Playter — the latter a relative of the chief-justice — succeeded. A JUDGE S TAVERN. 137 In July, 1828, the county nailed the flag of freedor i to the mast ; and Mr. Ketchum, a wealthy tanner, and the writer of these sketches, were returned by triumphant majorities ; which decision of the land- owners, no influence of the executive, though added to that of all the colonial monopolies, and dangerous powers which surround it, has been sufficient to change. At five successive elections I have been returned by a county containing nearly 50,000 inhabitants, and 5000 freeholders, with continually increasing majorities ; and although the first contest was attended with great ex- pense to me, I must do the yeomanry the justice to acknowledge that they never allowed me to expend one farthing during any subsequent struggle. Last November, (during my absence in this country,) in a time of great excitement, I was elected unanimously ; men of all countries, and parties, and creeds, agreeing to support me, in order to show his Majesty's ministers the true state of public opinion. A division between the Orangemen and Catholics had, at the second election, created some disunion, but last November these parties buried their differences, and united to oppose the officers of the colonial government. \ I i' A JUDGE'S TAVERN— THE CANADIAN SOLOMONS. In October, 1826, t visited Buffalo, Black Rock, Man- chester Paper Mills, on the United States side of the Niagara river, and Lewiston. While at Lewiston an acquaintance showed me the 138 A JUDGE S TAVERN. 11 it day-book of Silas Hopkins, now one of the judges of the court of common pleas for the county of Niagara, which he had kept while an innkeeper in Cambria, a small village near the town of Rochester. I vouch for the authenticity of the book, and have copied therefrom the following accounts, the period being the second year of the war with England :— " Lias Hopkins to S. Hopkins, Dr. " Cambria, 29th March, 1813. (Various dates.) D. C. " To 1 quart whisky . . . „ 34 2 yards tobacco . . . „ 6 1 sling . . . ,, ^ Cr. by a pair of socks, 75 cents. 1 sling whisky . . . >, 13 2s. worth whisky, sundry times „ 25 To whisky and vinegar . . „ 13 " Glasses of brandy sling to Ahab Saylis, and cock- tails, (a spirituous compound much drunk in the States,) show Judge Hopkins's defective orthography. Luther Clark appears to have been a good customer for beer, which the judge spells sometimes bear — shrub he often spells schrub and scrub. One of his items is, " other 2 ginn slings, at 12J cents." The value of a brandy sling in these times was a quarter dollar. Another item is " one gallon of soap, 25 cents." Breakfasts he sets down as follows : — " To 2 brixfasts, at 25 cents . 50 cents." It appears they were often paid in barter. In August 1812, he charges pork 12 J cents a lb., buckwheat, a dollar a barrel, and wheat, 1| dollars a bushel. Common shugar, 25 cents a lb., ham 20 cents. A JUDGE S TAVERN. 139 He winds up an account thus, " twenty tow dollars," charges " a pint of sling, 50 cents," and credits Moly- neux on the Ridge-road, with 12 dollars for " 24 lbs. loaf shugar.'' In 1817 he has an account against Captain Jarius Ross of •* Breaking 1 pint tumbler . . 50 cents, his and Allen's drink . . . 125 one bushel oats .... 75 to 5 slings 125 2 quarts sider (cider) . . . 38." All these items are in the judge of the court of com- mon pleas's own hand-writing ; but I am told that he now composes more grammatically; that he judges with impartiality, to the satisfaction of an enlightened population ; and, as by law required, the charges in his court do not amount to one dollar to ten demanded in Upper Canada in similar cases. Each county in the state of New York has its court of common pleas, where a first judge, with four asso- ciates, decides the ordinary civil causes that arise within their jurisdiction. Very moderate fees are found sufficient to obtain the services of able men ; and I believe that Judges Robert Fleming (1st), and Messrs. Van Horn, A. G. Hinman, M'CoUum, and S. Hopkins, with incomes of, perhaps, thirty or forty pounds, from judicial sources, dispense as prompt and efficient justice to their fellow-citizens as they would do if paid fifteen times as much. Two of our inland custom-house officers, in Upper Canada, were appointed to seats in the court of King's Bench in that province some years ago, for the posses- \ nil It 140 CANADIAN SOLOMONS. sion of those qualities which suit British colony govern- ments. One of them. Judge Hagerman, was the same person who had attempted to horsewhip Mr. Gourlay at Kingston, which was thought a mark of wisdom in America by those who considered Mr. Gourlay 's con- duct towards Mr. Brougham a proof of insanity. Judge Hagern^an's education, like that of Judge Silas Hopkins, had been somewhat neglected in early life, so that he occasionally stumbled. He told a jury, in Hamilton, that he thought Vin- cent (a criminal then on trial for his life) was guilty of murder in strangling his wife, and that he would " share the responsibility with the jury !" Vincent was con- victed and executed, on suspicion alone, and chiefly, I think, on account of the charge of the judge, who was too 'gnorant to know the meaning of the words " chronic disease," used by a professional gentleman, and ex- cited the laughter of th9 ' li- informed by stating to the jury, that " chronic disease" was one that affected "the back-bone, and other bones immediately con- nected with the spine !" Mr, Hagerman has since changed his judicial functions for that of solicitor- general. From that office he has been removed, and is now in London, the agent of the Tories and the Church. Judge Sherwood, the other emanation from the Custom-house, told a jury in my hearing, that the editor of a newspaper, then on trial at the Court- House, York, for some alleged political libel, was "a wholesale retailer of calumny," and admitted in the same sentence, that the case before the court was his " first offence." The printer was condemned to a twelve- month's imprisonment, and other heavy penalties ; and 1; 2; \ CANADIAN SOLOMONS. 141 when the assembly interceded for a commutation of his punishment, the judge wrote to Sir J. Colborne, the Governor, that the printer of a libel ought to be punished to that extent, that " in human probability would prevent a recurrence of the offence." The military viceroy was of the same opinion, and the printer continued in jail. It was considered a much more venial offence to attempt to murder me in 1832, as th? sequel will show. On a review of the accounts of the Attorney-General, Mr. Jonas Jones, and the Solicitor-General, for 1825, which are chiefly made up of crov.ri prosecutions, opinions to the chief magistrate and others, and war- rants for the discharge and respite of criminals, we find that in that year there were in the high criminal court of Upper Canada 119 trials for offences. I am not enabled to say how many were convicted, nor how many on an average were tried together ; the imper- fect state of the accounts being an obstacle to accurate information; but if in these 119 trials, 238 persons were before the court, it will give the alarming number of one in 1000 of the whole population. The crimes are classed as follows in the accounts of the crown lawyers: — For maiming cattle, 2; arson, 2; libel, 5; perjury, 10; rape, 1; nuisance, 4; carrying, a challenge, 1 ; ibrgery, 5 ; sending a challenge, 1 ; assisting or enticing soldiers to desert, 3 ; con- spiracy, 4 ; larceny, 25 ; horse-stealing, 4 ; burglary, 2 ; assault with an intent to kill, 1 ; sedition, 1 ; murder, 5 ; bestiality, 2 ; manslaughter, 1 ; riot, 6 ; assault with intent to commit a rape, 2; receiving stolen goods, 1 ; maliciously shooting, 4 ; rescue, 1 ; ■I L42 lU'ATTNG LEGISLATORS INTO ORDKR. ,1 i pulling f U)wr. a dwelling house, 1 ; escape, 2 ; misde- meanor, 4 ; biaspliemy , \ ; extortion, 1 ; uttering ft»rged n«»!f'!i, 5 ; laiv;;riy of ittle, 1 ; felony, 2; forei- blts t»ntry rud detainer, 1 • maliciously killing a hog, 1 ; kc'oping a disorderly house, 1 j assaulting a magis- trate in the discharge of hh duty, 1 ; sheep stealing, 1, wou'.iding a marf, i; assault, 3; robbery,!. A ffcitrfu) catalogue f. hia is, and if the crimes which pass uijaotircd oti accoutit of the ignorance and neglect of magistrates, or the backwardness of prosecutors, as well as thoHC tried at the quarter-sessions, were added, I think a very powerful argument against the inefficiency of our colonial system might be deduced, in favour of general education. Crime has since decreased. NOVA SCOTIA— BEATING LEGISLATORS INTO ORDER- I SHOULD suppose that many amusing yet genuine anecdotes of colonial legislation might be picked up in British America, if one had time and industry sufficient for the task. The following true history of beating legislators into order is on the authority of Mr. Archi- bald, the present Speaker of the House of Assembly and Attorney-General of the Province of Nova Scotia, an actitc and a popular politician : — " The first deliberations of our legislature were rude as the country, and doubtless many extraordinary scenes took place. Within the memory of man, Mr. Chairman, for I have it from my learned friend, the Attorney-General, who was an eye-witness, the House of Assembly sat round a common table, with the Speaker at their head, and instead of the respectful sell He n BEATING LEGISLATORS INTO ORDER. 143 calls to order which you sometimes hear from that chair, the Speaker carried a cane and beat the re- fractory members into order. The building in which the governor, the council, and the assembly then met to deUberate, was narrow and contracted; but the building in which we are assembled bespeaks the in- crease of our resources, our public spirit, and our taste. But does the improvement only appear in the splendid apartments in which the House and Council assemble? No, Mr. Chairman, the country has im- proved in the same ratio; it is fast filling with the sons of freemen, men who know and who dearly prize their rights, and who will not allow their liberties, which they enjoyed in the lands of their forefathers, to be curtailed." The narrator of the above anecdotes is thus described by a contemporary : — The Speaker. " Our Speaker, S. G. W. Archibald, Esq., is the most easy and fluent orator in the House. He was originally bred a carpenter ; but having tumbled into a mill-stream, he was carried over the water-wheel and came out below, with both his thighs broken. Having recovered from the effects of this accident, and having, by the death of his parents, become possessed of a small property, he sold it, and with the proceeds went, I believe, to Philadelphia, where he put himself to school, and subsequently passed some time at college. He then returned here, put himself apprentice to an attorney — and, at his admission to the bar, soon distinguished himself by his fluency, ingenuity, and * ! 144 THE CANADA COMPANY. wit. Since then he has acquired the first practice in our courts — has been a Member of Assembly for several sessions, wiiere he is marked by his graceful and gentlemanly demeanour, his eloquence, and plausi- bility. He always leans to the side of government- being our Solicitor-General and Chief Justice of Prin'\' Edward Island, to which place he repairs periodi- cally, to hold his courts. In addition to his other qualities, he is, as I once heard a country member, who had in vain endeavoured to fortify himself against the fascination of his manner, emphatically say, — *An amazing pleasant fellow over a bottle of wine.' " ;'!.)■ il-i ,1: 1 LOCKPORT— THE CANADA COMPANY. *' I appeal to the House whether the colonial administration of the country has not been for years one system of jobbing. — Fitcoitnt Howick. Mirror of Parliament, February 18, 1831. " The example of the United States has shown, that without any of the complicated regulations by which it is attempted to guard against the mi nies are 'foul as Vulcan's smithy,'"— Morninff Chronicle, Nov. 16, 1832. I HAVE read, in a Lower Canada newspaper, an anec- dote of Sir James Kenjpt, worthy of the representa- tive of a British king, such as fancy would love to paint him. A common labourer, in some of the public works at Quebec, whose daily earnings by the sweat of his brow were all-important to him and his little family, was cruelly and arbitrarily dismissed by the superin- tendent from his employment, for the alleged offence oi' signing a petition, complaining of grievances. The injured peasant laid his wrong before the governor, praying his innpirage between his petitioner and those who were about to ruin him. This illustrio\is person, governed in all his public actions by the principles of equal justice, which in the end ever prove the wisest policy, ordered his immediate restoration. In Upper Canada it is otherwise. — George Rolph, Esq., of Dundas, Halton county, was most arbitrarily dismissed from the situation of Clerk of the Peace, upon pretended charges of misdemeanor in his office, without any proof of the m SIR JAMES KEMPT — SIR JOHN COLBORNE. 155 truth of such charges, and with an open refusal to hear any defence from the accused, — the known and just provisions of the statute-la\' to the contrary notwitli- stfinding. Against this flagrant injustice and oppres- sion, an appeal was made to Sir John Colborne, who. with all the promptness indicative of satisfaction or of a previous knowledge of the transaction, ratified and sanctioned the shameful proceedings ; to the evil ex- ample of all other magistrates in the like case oftend- ing against the good, equal, and upright government of our lord the king, his crown, and dignity. Such is the difference between the conduct of a Kempt and a Colborne, in corresponding situations, and just as w ide is the difference between the men themselves. Notwithstanding trie nial-administration of the exe- cutive, and the want of confidence felt in the courts of justice, there is yet a powerful feeling of friendship towards England beyond the Atlantic ; but the people there, as well as here, wish to be rid of a costly, cor- rupt, smd oppressive system. Ask a Canadian, — Would you desire an established ch\irch ; the ministers to be paid by the state ? He will reply. No, no ; let all denominations be equal. Would you desire the law of primogeniture ? — No. The election of your own justices of the peace ? — Yes. The control over your wild lands and all other revenue ? — Yes. Cheap, eco- nomical government? — Undoubtedly. The election of your own governors? — Ay. Of your legislative coun- cillors? — Ay. Well then, would you not also wish to be joined to the United States ? — No, never ! * * In commenting on a debnte in the House of Commons, relating to the commerce of the Canadu>, the " Quebec Gazette," speaking of EnglaiJ, 1 I -i-' 156 GOVERNMENT VERMONT AND '1 1 GOVERNMENT— VERMONT AND UPPER CANADA COMPARED.* " I am heartily disgusted with the times. Tiie universal cry is Liberty /" —Letter from Mr. Eddia, of the Customs, Maryland. Annapolis, 1775. •' I confeKH that it is with regret I see this country interfere with the regulation of those colonic*, either as respects the representation of the state, or their financial aflTuirs."— S/ueecAo/ A/;-. Stanley, May 2, 1828. " It it ohviotisly only by a system of good, steady, and conciliatory go- vernmesi!, that ' Canada ' can, if worth retaining, he preserved. The people triu»t be interested in the maintenance of the government by its cheapness, impai'i'ility, efficiency, and the purity of the administration of justice. At |tre»tTit. all are dissatisfied." — Siuarfs Three Years in North America, " If Icginlnlive capacity is hereditary with large landed estates, it may well be suppoHed trunsmissible, in a smaller degree, with s»»a//er sections of the soil."-— 7V«e Sun, Nov. 3, 1832. I iiAVi: (ItTivcd both instruction and amusement while coiilinud to the cabin by the rain, in reading sayn, — " In our minds there can be no kind of doubt that she ought to keep the colonics. The only thing to be considered is, the maimer in which hIic may best an. tent may be necessary; tlie Rideau Caiiiil, a* a means of conveying troop-', and stores, may also be necessary, — although we think tiiat an army ai lil)erty to cross the St. Lawrence miglit euHily cut oil' the communication on the Ottawa and Rideau Canal : it is only in the view of cheaply conveying supplies to Upper Canada befiire a war, tlcit lliis canal can be useful. " Anoiher mt-anfi, and one agreed by all to be essential, is the security ariiiing (rum the afTeciioti of the inhabitants of the country. It is singular that thi^ sIkpiiM have been very often neglected; but the affection of the Canadas i» shaken with difficulty, — it is at all times very easily gained, and it in very zealous. Under the fne operation of our eslublished con- ititulion, the ol)«i'rwince of public rights, and a free outlet for trade, that •fl'eclion, we nuiy siii'ely say, will never be shaken." • " The U|)per Canadian " (I quote the "Quebec_Gazette") "sees tlie UPPER CANADA COMPARED. 157 a close-printed octavo of 231 pages, purporting to be the " Journal of the General Assembly of the State of Vermont ;" for their session began at Montpelier on the second Thursday of October and closed on the se- cond Thursday in November last, after a sitting of four weeks. The proceedings of this body will be more interesting on account of the similarity in the condi- tion of our colony and Vermont in point of population, pursuits, religion, language, and origin. Our popula- tion is over 250,000 ; so is theirs. We are an inland people of the adjoining frontier thriving and contented, without the most distant idea uf any insecurity of the advantages which they enjoy. He sees the southern bani(s of the great river and lai^es, which are known to have been a wilderness when the Upper Canadian settlements were so far advanced that the first settlers on the American side depended on 'hem for a supply of provisions ; and he beholds them now surpassing the Cana- tliian inhabitants in all the necessaries and comforts of life, secure, con- tented, and satisfied with their own government. Those who count on j'lejudices, and ancient hostilities and declamation, long to resist the in- fluence of such facts, are mere dreamers. Even power, and a sense of duty, alune, are not to be trusted as a sure means of resisting them. There is no safe course but to intrust the people of Upper Canada with an in- fluence in the management of their own concerns, something like that which prevails in the adjoining country, and thereby throw the burden of any disadvantageous comparison which they may draw from their con- dition on themselves. " Instead of this, for many years past, their wishes, their views, and efforts, have been disregarded and obstructed; their means misapplied, their character vilified, and their liberties attempted to be wrested from them or restrained ; and all in the na-ne, too, of the British government, which in reality can have no wish, object, or interest, in opposition to the happiness, prosperity, and contentment of the subject in these colonies. " It is time that this state of things should cease. If one set of men in Upper Canada have so managed as to bring it about ; if they have rendered themselves odious to the great body of the people there, and in some mea- sure implicated the British government, others must be found who will cease to follow in the same steps, and prove to all, that a contented and thriving population is not less compatible with the British government in Upper Canada than in the United States." 158 GOVERNMENT — VERMONT AND <\ country, chiefly employed in agriculture, and having no seaport ; so are they. With us many religious sects flourish ; ditto in Vermont. We chiefly speak the English language ; so do they. And, lastly, our origin is in the main British, or Anglo-American (Ireland, that prolific land, never being forgotten) ; such also appears to be their genealogy. In soil and climate we have a decided advantage over these democrats; and in so far as a costly splendid government is (and must be) superior to a cheap and popular one, we have equal cause of self-gratulation. I proceed to state a few facts from the Journal : — The legislative session in Vermont generally lasts four weeks, and what the country desires is at once accomplished. Each town in the state is entitled to send one mem- ber, who is elected by ballot, and must have a majority of all the votes given at the election. Each member is paid at the rate of one dollar and a half per day of wages out of the state treasury, in lieu of expenses, and also allowed mileage-money to and from the seat of government. There are thirteen counties, some of them containing upwards of twenty towns, and one county which con- tains but four towns. The meetings of the assembly are, a morning session commencing at nine, and an evening session usually beginning at two. The season of meeting is October, which is most convenient to the farmers there, A select committee is annually appointed to report rules tor the government of the House of Representa- tives. All the committees are appointed by the Speaker UPPER CANADA COMPARED. 159 within the three first days of the session, but, on mo- tion of any member, the appointment may be overruled by the House, in which case the vacancy must be in- stantly filled, on the nomination of some member. The Speaker may speak on all questions of order in pre- ference to any other member ; and appeals from his decision to the House are to be decided without de- bate. The number of towns in Vermont exceeds 200 (ge- nerally about six miles square), and the number of members sent by them to the general assembly con- sequently exceeds 200. Their attendance is regidar and punctual, as may be seen by the yeas and nays. On the first division recorded on the journal, 199 members were present ; and during the last recorded vote of the session, 175 were in attendance. They elect their Speaker and engrossing clerk an- nually by ballot, and their clerk by nomination. The Secretary of State is also elected annually by the as- sembly by ballot. At each division of the assembly, the clerk takes down the name of each member ; and his constituents (as with us in the Canadas) may, at any future time, refer to the journals for an official extract of his vote. The government of Vermont is more like that of a municipal corporation than is that of Upper Canada, which latter has cognizance of foreign trade, &c. \ ii 1 1 '1 * , ' h^ 160 GOVERNMENT-VERMONT. " Unless we can make the Canadians more anxious to remain under British sway than to shake it off, and more attached to Great Britain than to a nearer ne- ' our, it is futile to fancy that we ever can continue to rule them. If thei - ?sts would, in their own eyes, be better consulted by quitting this coi> y tiia,! by adhering to her — if they can gain any tiling by the separation — if they see an English minister attempt to make out a case for England veriu$ Canada, or for a British Governor versua a Canadian Parliament, it is all over ; the colony takes lire, and will not be worth the expense or bloodshed of a contest (an unsuccessful contest) to preserve her. The Legislative Council must be remodelleil or abo- lished."— 77ie Times, May bth, 1828. " We suppose the reforms about to be introduced into the civil admi- nistration of these colonies will wither, for the present, the Roft, blushing, pulpy germ of democracy which — most frightful to the fat churchmen and loyal lawyers — had appeared in these regions during the last few years. We advise the Canadians, in a very friendly way, to take as much out of John Bull as they can get, while he is in the humour. It will be full time for [them to think of democratic committees and regular nomina- tions when John buttons up his purse, flies into a passion, and swears he won't give another brass farthing. There is a time for all things ; and when the time comes, let them send down to New York, and they shall have a ' schoolmaster* to teach them the A, B, C,of democracy very cheap." — M.M. Noah. — New York Courier and Enquirer, 1831. The freemen of Vermont have the privilege of elect- ing their governor, lieutenant-governor, treasurer, and twelve executive councillors, annually by ballot, in their respective townships, on a certain day named in the constitution. On the first day of their Parlia- mentary Session in each year, the Speaker of the Assembly nominates a committee, consisting of three members from each county, " to join such committee as the governor in council may appoint, to receive, sort, and count the votes for governor, lieutenant- governor, treasurer, and councillors." If, on counting the votes, it appears that no one GOVERNMENT VERMONT. 161 candidate had a majority of all the suffrages to each or any of these offices, the council and assembly with the governor in office meet in joint committee, and ballot until some one person has a majority of suf- fr-iges to the office or offices not filled by ^.h^.' f f^emen. 1830, it appeared that 30,721 freenrcf? b td /oted overnor; but no one candidate Uavin>/ had a er. He was drowned in attempting to cross in a canoe be!u\v Montreal, on the 3rd instant. We have already borne testimony to the anxiety he manifested, and the risk he ran, to save the passengers in the Waterloo, of whom the editor of this journal was one. We learn by the Montreal Herald, that this brave, but most unfortunate youncr sailor, might have easily got to land had he cliosrn tu abandon iiis two comrades', for he was a fine swimmer. But he saved one of them, and, after being an hour in the river, yielded to his fate in shoal water.^Co/tf/iirt/ Advocate. SHIPWRECK OF TUB WATERLOO. 179 the captain and crew, for the attention thus shown, and for the successful endeavours made to bring their bag- gage safe to land; to Mr. Sutton also for liis great hospitality and exertions, at much personal risk, in aid of the crew ; as well as to the inhabitants of St. Ni- cholas, generally, for their humane and persevering efforts to alleviate, as far as possible, the misfortune in which the passengers and crew were involved." AN EMIGRANT SHIP— QUEBEC AMATEUR THEATRE. " See on the beach Yon grey-haired man — the last of all his line. His is a tale well worthy of thy hearing; He speaks a language soon to be forgot ; And if thou linger'st but one liitle hour, Thou'lt mourn that tale, that language, gone, exiled To the Canadian wilderness, and \osi.'^ ^Godolphin. " It would certainly be a source of mortification to us, to see all our emigrating fellow>subjects relinquish their allegiance, and become citizens of another country. At present, however, we have the satisfaction to think that the great body of the emigrants who leave our shores, not only remain loyal and true to us in the provinces, but become a source of wealth and political strength to those imporant outworks of the empire — re- doubts, as they may be called in ilie language of fortification — by which the traverses .of the besiegers are kept at a respectable distance from the citadel."— fia«7 Ha/rs Travel*. I i 1 Quebec, April 22d to 2bth, 1631. One forenoon I went on board the ship Airthy C astle, from Bristol, immediately after her arrival. The passen- gers were in number 254, all in the hold or steerage ; alt English, from about Bristol, Bath, Frome, Warminster, Maiden Bradley, &c. I went below, and truly it was a 180 QUEBEC AMATEUR THEATRE. curious sight. About 200 human beings, male and female; young, old, and middle-aged ; talking, singing, laugh- ing, crying, eating, drinking, shaving, washing ', some naked in bed, and others dressing to go ashore ; hand- some young women (perhaps some) and ugly old men, married and single ; religious and irreligious. Here a grave matron chaunting selections from the last edition of the? last new hymn book ; there, a brawny plough- boy " pouring forth the sweet melody of Robin Adair." These settlers were poor, but in general they were fine- looking people, and such as I was glad to see come to America. They had had a fine passage of about a month, and they told me that no more ship loads of settlers would come from the same quarter this year. I found that it was the intention of many of them to come to Upper Canada. Fortune may smile on some, and frown on others ; but it is my opinion that few among them will forget being cooped up below deck for four weeks in a moveable bed-room, with 250 such fellow-lodgers as I have endeavoured to describe. Not the least curious feature of Quebec is its dog- cart. These vehicles, with one, two, and sometimes three well-trained dogs, in harness, are to be seen in every quarter of the city. I have seen the driver riding, and the dogs pushing along at a round trot, oftener than once. The dogs are in this way very serviceable, and the practice might be adopted in other places where there are too many " idle dogs." We of the Canadas surely require much keeping, and are a very valuable race of people. I saw as many military and naval officers at the Amateur Theatre, assembled to witness the representation of General r I v QUEBEC AMATEUR THEATRE. 181 Bombastes Furioso, as would have swallowed up any other nation than Great Britain for their maintenance in idleness. They were generally good-looking men, and if placed on farms, like Cincinnatus after the Roman war, would have raised wheat, Indian corn, pigs, poultry, and Johnny cake, to the benefit of our common country. General Bombastes sat immediately opposite General Aylmer, and supported his assumed character, style, and dignity, much to my satisfaction. General Aylmer is a hale, good-looking, elderly gen- tleman, above the middle-size, and if he does not live very comfortable, it must be his own fault, for he has a castle in the clouds — a court studded round with fighting cavaliers and fair damsels — a baroness who (I am told) speaks French like a native, and does the honours of his venerable chateau with the grace and dignity of a Maintenon or a Josephine — a crimson throne and chair of state — and last, but not least, about 10,000/. a year of spending money ! QUEBEC— LEGISLATIVE LIBRARIES. « In defiance of us, and all that our folly can accomplish, Canada, with the far-stretching countries to the west, will eventually compose a great empire. But we can do much at this crisis to forward that consumma- tion, and to found lasting remembrances favourable to our own foremost interests." — Biackwood'a Edinburgh Magazine, 1832. Review of Macgregor't Britiih America. Mailhofs Hotel, QuebeCf April 21, 1631. What a variety of climates and temperatures are to be found in Canada ! At York the ice had left the i I " I \ I I < ! . 1S2 CLIMATE AND SCENERY. Streets and open country more than a month ago; at Montreal, the scavengers were clearing it out of St. Paul Street, its last resort within the city, a week ago. But here, in the ancient capital of the Canadas, there are as yet left abundant memorials of turbulent winter. In defiance of sun and rain, and " gentle April breezes," vast quantities of snow and ice are accumulated even in the most open and exposed parts of the country round Quebec ; I came down from Cape Rouge the greater part of the road in a sleigh, and in many places the ice and snow lay two, three, four, say even six faet deep on the highway. In the harbour here there is a great deal of ice ; and on crossing hither from Mackenzie's Hotel at Point Levi there is much diffi- culty experienced in making the shore. The Cana- dians who ferried me across skipped like supple-jacks from island to island of floating frost, with their mo- cassins on, and in utter defiance of cold and wet. Now and then they held on by the boat and pushed it towards land with astonishing celerity. I like Quebec; I always admired its bold and romantic scenery. Nature here exhibits her handy- work on a grand and magnificent scale; and Art has done much to second her eiibrts. Steep as are the streets and heavy the ascents, yet nevertheless would my Scottish taste prefer this rock to the most level plains in Canada. The environs of Quebec in every direction appear to be well and thickly settled, and the style of cultivation in which the farms are kept is highly creditable to the Canadian farmers. They labour under one great disadvantage, as compared with the Upper Canada grain-growers, not being able to sow QUEBEC — LEGISLATIVE LIBRARIES. 183 fall wheat and depend on the crop. On the other hand, they are nearer the market. In Quebec are two reading-rooms— one in the lower town, sustained by the merchants — the other, in the Bishop's Palace, connected with the library of the House of Assembly. I have often proposed to influential members of the present as well as the two last legisla- tures of Upper Canada, the establishment of a reading- room, and the annual augmentation of ** the library," but always in vain. The representatives of our Upper Canada, " superior intelligences," possess so much in- formation already, that they appear to think an ad- dition to the stock would occasion a superfluous waste of public money. Here the law-makers are more moderate. They live and learn. Instead of a few miserable odd volumes, the sweepings of some second- hand London book shop, and which form " the library of both Houses" of the legislature of the intellectual colony above M' Gee's Point, I find in Quebec an ex- tensive and valuable collection of authors in the French and English languages, carefully arranged in boxes on shelves so that they may be expeditiously removed in case of fire.* They are divided, in the catalogue of 1831, into seven classes, viz. — i ■ ' * The libraries of the Legislative Houses in Lower Canada are valuable literary treasures. The library of Congress contains 16,000 volumes; the library of Harvard University contains 35,000 volumes, and a con- siderable angmentation is expected from Europe ; the library of the Boston Athenseum numbers 25,000 volumes ; the Quebec library in the lower town, and the public library at the Exchange, Montreal, are both of them valuable and extensive. But the library of the Legislature of Upper Canada has not had a volume added to it, except the journals, for nearly a dozen of years. It is indeed a miserable apology ; not wotth 184 QUEBEC — LEOISLATIVK LIBRARIES. 1. Theology. 2. Government, &c. — Section i. Government, politics, and legislation, ii. Political economy, com- merce and finance. 3. Jurisprudence. — Section i. Law of nature and nations, and treaties of peace. ii. Civil law. iii. Ecclesiastical and Canon law. iv. Constitutional and parliamentary laws of Great Britain and Ireland. V. Statute and common law of Great Britain and Ireland, vi. French law. vii. Colonial law. 4. Arts and Sciences. — Section i. Philosophy, ii. Physical and mathematical sciences and agricul- ture, iii. Mechanical arts, manufactures and trades, iv. Fine arts and art of war. v. Medicine, anatomy, chemistry, &c. 5. Belles Lbttres. 6. Geography and Voyages. 7. Chronology and History. f No book can be removed from the library during the recess, without the permission of Mr. Lindsay the I one-tenth of the private library which that ambitious priest who made a pilgrimage to London to accuse the people of Upper Canada and their clergy of ignorance and sedition has been enabled to purchase with the cash of the country. In several sessions of the Provincial Legislature of Upper Canada, I made repeated efforts to improve and enlarge the library. The Legisla- tive Council successfully opposed an attempt I made by a resolution which passed the Assembly, to order, out of the contingent fund, the " Edinburgh," " Quarterly," " Westminster," and " American Quarterly Reviews," and " Blackwood," the " New Monthly," and other leading periodicals of the day, for the use of members— they threw the motion under their table and refused to act upon it, and indeed manifested in all their proceedings the utmost unwillingness to put the country in possession of those British and Colouial publications for reference which the spirit of the age requires. Sp( arti T I QUEBBC LEGISLATIVE LIBRARIKS. 183 clerk of the Assembly, but that permission can be ob- tained. After being introduced to the librarian by Mr. Neilson, member for the county of Quebec, I found myself entitled to the use of the reading-room during my stay in the city, with the privilege of calling for any book in the ample catalogue, and reading or referring to it in the library between the hours of nine and five. The legislative council have their library separate and distinct from that of the Assembly. Perhaps the day may yet arrive in which " the superior intelligences" who annually assemble at York will be content to take from the Lower Canadians the example of a well en- dowed legislative library ! To me it would be an in- estimable treasure, a mine of the sort of riches I have ever coveted most. I never think of Philadelphia, without some friendly recollections of the Franklin library and its 25,000 volumes. The Assembly's chamber is an elegant room, taste- fully fitted up, with a gallery for spectators. The members sit upon benches with cushions, without desks. The legislative coimcil chamber is decorated in a style that may well be termed magnificent. The chair and canopy of state, with the costly crimson drapery, produce an imposing effect. In both cham- bers there are placed full-length portraits of our two last monarchs; and in the library are likenesses of Messrs. Panet, Vallieres, Papineau and the other speakers ; also of Messrs. Neilson, Viger and Cuvillier. I knew the two latter portraits at once; but Mr. Speaker Papineau 's likeness is quite a failure of the artist, whose canvas ill describes the animation, viva- J ! r i I j! 18G QUEBEC EXCHANGE. city of countenance, and j^netrating eye of that dirt- tinguished popular loader. There is much that deserves to be copied in the offices of the legislature. Every document to which reference might be desirable, every paper of every com- mittee of every session, can be immediately referred to, with the least possible difficulty. System is every thing.* The Quebec Exchatjgc and Exchange Rending- Rooms are chiefly upheld by the sxibscription^ of the mercantile part of the community, and the reading- room is abiuidantly supplied with newspa])ers from Europe, Lower Canada, and the United States. Although the trade of the two provinces is extensive, only one l^pper Canada paper, a journal of very limited circulation, is received. The second story contains the Quebec Library. In the room I found Almanacs of all soils in abundance, also the Reviews, New Monthly Magazine, and Army and Navy Lists, The " Black Book, or Corruption Unmasked," with the supplementary volume, are placed in a very con- spicuous situation, and the " Courant," ♦* Vindicator" and " La Minerve," are subscribed for. The Exchange building is an elegant new structure of a beautiful blue freestone. Mr. Henry Thomson, the anrent. is inde- fatigable in the collection of news, and extremely aflabl»^ and polite to strangers. * I understand that the Lower Canadians are making great improve* inents in their legislative buildings this year (1833). bve* 187 CANADIAN COLLEGES— YORK AND QUEBEC. " — ^— We do believe that the ruling English caHle in India, who are as honourable a class as is to bo found on earth, are so circumstanced a.< tu be under a moral impossibility of greatly improving the condition of those amon{r whom they are. This can only be done by the people them- selves ; and better, in the first instance, by a people under many small governments, than under one largo one ; — better by men left to themselves to find out and remedy their own wants, than, if trained and directed by such as arc far above them in science and information, and who have not patience to wait for their tardy progress ; — who are in haste to teach ihem the reiinemenis, while Ihcy are yet in want of the necessaries of life* What i^ the native growth of the soil is likely to be more healthy and more enduring than an exotic, nursed and watched with whatever care and Ubourr—lCdinburffh Review, No. CXI., Art A, Oct. 1832.— Co/o- we/ Tod on the History and Character of the Rajpooti." " In the same spirit his Majesty now directs me to instruct you to for- ward, to the very utmost extent of your lawful authority and influence, every scheme for the extension of education among the youtli of the pro- vince, and especially amongst the poorest and most destitute of their number, which may be suggested from any quarter, with a reasonable prospect of promoting that great design. All minor distinctions should be merged in a general union for this important end ; and, al Uie head of that union, the local government should be found encouraging and guid> ing, and, to the utmost of its power, assisting all the elTorts which may be made to create or to foster a tasto for iitellectuai enjoyments and pursuits." — The Earl of Ripon to the Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada— Despatch^ Nov. 8, 1832. Whi le in Quebec, I visited the college or seminary of edtication founded and endowed, many years ago, by th** French government. It is situated in the heart of the upper town, in a pleasant and commanding situa- tion, overlooking many miles of the surrounding country. The centre building of the college is one hundivd and eighty feet long, and four or five stories high ; and there are two wings of proportionate dimen- sions. The massy walls are of stone, of very sub- \ I ! ■ ' i i i' 188 CANADIAN COLLEGES — YORK AND QUEBKC. stantial workmanship ; and there is a chapel attached, aa also spacious gardens and offices. The system of education has become hberal. Those who desire in- struction in theology receive it ; and those who do not are under no obligations to adhere to the doctrines of the church of Rome. Messire Parent, the superior of the institution, was so very kind as to accompany me through the apartments devoted to the studies of the several classes ; at the same time affording me such explanations of the system pursued as I required. Upwards of two hundred students are now receiving their education at Quebec College, under eight pro- fessors, who instruct them in the mathematics, philo- sophy, the Greek, Latin, French, and English lan- guages, history, arithmetic, geography, and attendant sciences. There is also a teacher of Latin upon the Lancasterian system. Theology is taught to those who require it. There is a museum and valuable library, with a philosophical apparatus for experiments ; air-pumps, an orrery, a galvanic battery, electrical apparatus, a camera-obscura, &c. &c. About seventy scholars are lodged and boarded in the seminary ; the others reside with their parents and friends in the city. Students who do not board in the college pay 1/. a year in full of fees, and find their own elementary books. Boarders, for education, lodging, washing, and board, pay 20/. a year ; and if absent at vacation time, only pay 17/. 10s. currency. It was evening when I visited the college. The supper-room had plates laid for seventy or eighty. The table-cloths were of Lower Canada manufacture ; and each youth's napkin or towel was carefully wrapped r '•VKgjM' CANADIAN COLLEGES— YOUK AND QUEBEC. 189 I I round his knife and fork. Their drink is water. Spi- rituous liquors are never permitted ; and wine only at such seasons as Christmas, Epiphany, Easter, Ascen- sion, Whit-Sunday, and the anniversary of the supe- rior's birth-day. The health of the students is watched over with paternal attention ; and an hospital, with cold and warm baths, is attached to the seminary. The Superior showed me, from the garden, some of the lands from the rents of which the establishment is supported. They are situated below the city, beyond the falls of Montmorenci, and are valuable. The col- lege holds them in its corporate capacity. Messire Parent is a mild, amiable man ; very affable and un- assuming in his manners. Such, indeed, is the general character of those catholic clergymen in Lower Canada with whom I am acquainted ; and to this, added to a sincere desire constantly manifested to promote the happiness of the people, they owe an influence over the community, which legal enactments and the perse- cution or proscription of all other denominations could never have bestowed. As to the exercises of the students, I made but small inquiry. I pres\mie they differ some Httle from the usages of Edinburgh and St. Andrew's, in which vene- rable establishments boys of fifteen or sixteen may be seen attending the class of logic ; and, " without having formed a single idea, writing essays to refute Hume, Locke, Aristotle, and Des Cartes ! " The chapel of the college contains a choice collec- tion of beautiful pictures, as does rlso the cathedral church, which latter is very tastefuhy ornamented within, altliough plain on the outside. \ .'■ 190 CANADIAN COLLEGES — YORK AND QUEBEC. Let me now direct the attention of the reader to York College, and the monetary system of the execu- tive in Upper Canada. Instead of 1/. a year of college fees, the charge is 8/., besides extra charges for fire-wood and other contin- gencies; instead of 17/. lOs. for board, lodging, washing, mending, and college dues, the demand is from 35/. to 42/. 10s., with 31. 10s. of entrance money to buy bedding. The college at York in Upper Canada is most ex- travagantly endowed with from two to three hundred thousand acres of the very best picked lands of the colony ; 1000/. a year is allowed it from the Canada Company's payments; and thousands of pounds are realized at will by its self-constituted managers- from the sale of school lots and school lands, and the pro- ceeds applied as if they were the private property of the government officers. Splendid incomes are given to masters culled at Oxford by the vice-chancellor, and dwellings furnished to the professors (we may truly say) by the sweat of the brow of the Canadian labourer. All these advantages, and others not now necessary to be mentioned, are insufficient to gratify the rapacious appetites of the " established church" managers, who, in order to accumulate wealth and live in opulence, charge the children of his majesty's subjects ten times as high fees as are required by the less amply endowed seminary at Quebec. They have another reason for so doing. The college (already a monopoly) becomes almost an exclusive school for the families of the go- vernment officers, and the few who through their means have in York already attained a pecuniary V with ; accuse old set new or tliedra vered Messir '^'gnay tion Sonieti times, word manust earnest as obtc thousar ally he interrui purple MESSIRB SIGNAY. 191 independence out of the public treasury. The college never was intended for the people, nor did the executive endow it thus amply that all classes might apply to the fountain of knowledge. No; the same spirit which induced the present chief justice and venerable arch- deacon to trample in the dust Mr. Clark's modest bill for bestowing on the infant Crantham Academy 125/. a year for four years, out of the public taxes, for the j)romotion of learning, never did, never could intend to model the college at York upon liberal principles towards the Canadian people. * .+ * * Whatever faults Protestants may think fit to find with their Catholic brethren, they certainly cannot accuse them of that sleepy lack-brain practice of reading old sermons to their congregations instead of studying new ones. On a Sunday forenoon I went to the ca- thedral church of Quebec, and heard a discourse deli- vered to a very numerous and attentive audience by Messire Signay, coadjutor bishop of Quebec. Messire Signay is old and grey-headed, but there is an anima- tion in his tone and gesture that is quite delightful. Sometimes he spoke with his black cap on ; at other times, ho dolled it for a moment or two. But every word was from mind or memory. He had neither manuscript nor notes before him; his manner was earnest, natural, and impassioned, and his matter such as obtained for him the undivided attention of the thousands who composed his congregation. Occasion- ally he would kneel down in the pulpit, but without interrupting the sermon. His dress was white, with a purple tunic round his shoulders; and after he had 1 i ; » i :• 192 OPENING OF THE ST. LAWRENCE. concluded his discourse, he returned to the space in front of the grand altar, and took his seat among the other priests. ii I OPENING OF THE ST. LAWRENCE. Mr. Buchanan, the British Consul at New York, does not stand alone in his opinion as to the expediency of opening the navigation of the St. Lawrence to the American trade ; it is veiy popular in Lower Canada. The Times, in which Mr. Buchanan's essay first ap- peared, lays down doctrines in the paper of the 26th of September last very favourable to the pretensions of the United States to the free navigation of that noble river; and, as the same editor has conducted that Journal for many years, it may be inferred that the Times would be in favour of the consul's scheme. I add tlie quotation : — " The great powers of Europe assembled at the con- gress of Verona did not proclaim in their general act, that all rivers ' traversing or dividing different states were free;' they did not professedly open the internal trade of Germany, of Belgium, and of France, to the ocean, by the means of the noble streams, whose mouths had been hermetically sealed by the tyranny of Napoleon, that the court of the Hague might be per- mitted to shut thom by custom-house regulations." — Times, Sept. 2b, 1832. Tlie Quebec Gazette and Pictou Patriot were, in 1830, in favour of opening the St. Lawrence navigation to the United States' shipping : — La5 forel the *0r| ' -^jQI^" OPEMNO OK THE ST. LAWRkxCE. — 193 " Wo heartily concur in fJ,^ favour of opening the Sf T '^^"''^" « Gazette in 'he free operation oflZ^Z "'r'' ''"''" •o fear from contagion itT^T ,'™ '"""^ "°"»"? i' ".ight spread; :Z'CZ"' ""'" '" '"'"^^ "-' Russmn posscssious on this „„,"""''"' ^ ^^ly or the U.oAlZ2ol "'' ^'"''^ channel opened to their enn, " "^''J' ""v ■•-' very soon prevail on he 12' '''"!'""'' '''■^^''on, ™a.- ,. is „o,v indigenon. to ^tl !:^^""'"■""^ ^»- 'Op.mon»,|,o„W|,efr„asa,V „° """;»''■■"«'•' l"S rank, „h;„.„ ll»t my „p„„„„ „,„., 1,^ Last Saturday hein. ,hf rV^*"''^"'^^' ^^S^- ;'™'heje„4s;;cir:;ro'''^'r^^^^^^^^ forenoon to see the Israeli.!.!, "" '"""' '" *« • "" il-e St. !„.,„„ . '^'"S 'h<' oldest it, I L M ril >i 194 A NEW YORK SYNAGOGUi:. the city. The women sat by tliemsclves in the gallery;, and the men had seats assij;ned them on the jjround floor. The symbolical oil bvirnt in a lamp suspended from the roof in front of the officiating rabbi or priest, who, being surrounded by four or five elders in plaids, read or rather chaunted portions of two rolls which were si'ccessively opened by two youths, and afterwards carefully wrapped up with broad ribands, enveloped in a sort of bag of calico, and crowned with certain gold and silver insignia I could not understand the nature of. The services were all in Hebrew, and the children of Israel very decorous and attentive. The males had every one of them their hats on, in memory I presume of the manner of eating the Passover prescribed in Scripture. They were all shaved, except one man in the seat next before me, who appeared to have given his beard a iubilee of a week at least " for auld lanj; syne." Mr. Noah of the Customs, Judge of Israel, was not present on this occasion. Tiie ceremonies are ft'w, and not half so intricate and perplexing to strangers as the services of the C'hurch of Kome, many of which were always to me incomprehensil)le. Being invited by a friend, I went last evening at seven to hear Mr. Ware of Chambers Street, the celebrated Unitarian preacher. The burden of his discourse was an argument in opposition to the doctrine of the atonement. The conynjjation was numerous, and the decorations of the church very splendid, with an organ, hired singers, &c. I had never before heard an Unitarian sermon, ex- cept in the Upper Canada Assembly, from Captain Matthews of the Royal Invalid Artillery. J'lii senil nieni neiaj was iolU ariesl 195 at Ibis [the kvas levy ktain ALBANY TYPOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY— A TOAST. " Let us recollect that we are the same parliament which refused to inquire into the grievances stated in the numerous petitions and me- morials with which our table groaned — that we turned a deaf ear to the complaints of the oppressed — tiint we even amused ourselves with their sufferings. Let us recollect that wc are tlie same parliament wliich sanc- tioned the use of spies and informers by the British government — debasing that government, once so celebrated for good faith and honour, into a con- dition lower in character than tiiat of the ancient Frencli police. Who our successors may be I know not ; but God grant that this country may never see another parliament as regardless of the liberties znd rights of the people, and of the principles of general justice, as this parliament has been !" — Sir Samuel Romilly. " Those evils were many of them inflicted by the Irish Parliament, except so far as the domestic parliament was corrupted by English money, under the fancied name of an independent legislature." — Fide Mr, Stanley's reply to Mr, O' Connell, Housf of Commons^ February, 1833. Debate on the Address. " The people went to work alone. And shook up every case, sir, And published soon a work well known, 'Tis called 'The Great Three Days,' sir; Republished since in Belgium, And in the press in Poland : God speed the day when this great work Shall be unknown in no land. O, the Press, &c." The Printers of Paris, New York, April, 1832. The violent proceedings of the present House of As- sembly of Upper Canada have brought colonial govern- ment even more than formerly into contempt with our neiurhbours on this side the St. Lawrence; but I own I was not prepared to expect such a sentiment as the following at a social meeting of the highest fimction- aries of the state of New York, whereat were present K 2 ■a 196 ALBANY TVPOURAPIIICAL SOCIKTY. / / It < the governor of two millions of people, the Secretary of State, Speaker of the Assembly, Comptroller, &c. The cut is a severe one, but . .le majority dare not, and the minority will not deny that the sentiment is just. [From the Albany Argm.'\ "ALBANY TYPOGRAl'HICAL SOCIETY. " This society lield their annual meeting on Tuesday evening (March 13, 1832^, at Bradstreet'ii Mansion House. At nine, the society, with a large company of guests, sat down to a splendid supper, prepared in Mr. Bradstreet's best style, and comprising every delicacy of the season. The spacious dining>room of the Mansion House was elegantly and tastefully decorated. We were particularly struck by the efTect of a large illumi- nated transparency elevated over the chair of the president, with the device of a press sendin^^ forth its golden rays of knowledge, and the im- mortal motto, ' Ars Art#um.' " Among tht! guests we noticed (he Governor and Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of Slate, Comptroller, Speaker and several members of the legislature, &c. The evening passed delightfully ; every person seemed to enjoy himself; and in addition to the wit and humour of the toasts, several fine songs from Messrs. Roberts and Hamilton, accompanied by the orchestra of the theatre, contributed essentially to the general satis- faction of the numerous company. "The following arc soriie of the toasts : — " 1. The Press. — Tlie moral sun, whose light is true knowledge, and whose heat is a genial warmth to the cause of truth, but a scorching blast to error and falsehood. "2. The Printers. — Theirs is a noble task — to scatter truth, and feed the hungry mind ; may they never lack the more material bread necessary for the body. "9. Poland. — Once a fair/orwi, now defaced by the tyrant Nicholas ; may her sons yet butler his yiiee, and throw his motley columns into pi, "10. The Despotisms of the Old World ! — May their maZ/er hesquab- bled, and their heails distrihuled in the lower case. "11. Don Mi'juel. — An oppressive /orewan over an office of rats, whose works abound in monks and friars; may the devil soak his pelt in the lye-tub. " 13. Woman. — The last, the nonpareil edition from Nature's press. " When bached by virtue, and unslurred by art, Her sway 's most potedt o'er the human heart. ALBANY TYPOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY. VOLUNTEERS. 197 « By S. Baker, the President. — The Printers of Paris. — They composed the first column in tlic great revolution of 1830; may they be equally emulous in all causes honourable to our profession. "By Char'es I. Livingston, Speaker of the Assembly. — The Press..^ While labouring to establish free principles in the old world, U is success- fully maintaining them in the new. " '"l>"By H. C.Grant.— The Parliament of Upper Canada.- ^A/orwi.^ jl^ 0^ squabbled matter, locked up in the chase of restriction with the-f^ ^^quoins of violence and dissension, whose capitals are continually^::^ t3^falling out. -^ " By S. G. Andrews, of the Assembly.— The unshackled Press. — It strengthens the eil'urts of virtue and patriotism, and accelerates, with overwhelming power, the principles of civil liberty. " By J. S. Wallace. — The Fair Sex. — May each soon be locked up in the chase of wedlock, worked off, pressed, r.nd run through many Edi. tions, " By A. C. Flagg, Secretary of State. — Benjamin Franklin. — He left his tmpression upon the age in which he lived ; and he lived in an age too patriotic to reject the talent of a sound patriot because he was a printer. "There were many more toasts and sentiments." ' t lab- ■I 198 ■ 1 NEW YORK LEGISLATURE— BANK ACTS. " Instead of spoliation or pillage, we see no country in which the poa> session and disposal of property is better protected, ur its acquisition by judicious industry better assured." — fVilliam Gore Outeley, Attache to his Majetty's Legation at tVathington, " Here national prosperity is the prosperity of every individual ; not a cent is contributed by way of tax, not a dollar is expended from the public ccfTers, which is not assented to by the people, and employed to enlarge their means of enjoyment." — Vide Governor TTtroop'a Meiiagt to the Legislature of the State of New York, January, 1832. " America complained that it was taxed, and oppressively taxed, with- out having a voice in tlie imposition of the taxes ; that it was compelled to obey laws in the framing of which it had nu share whatever ; that it was in fact so shackled and oppressed, that it had no appeal but to force to assert its independence. It did appeal, and justice being on its side* appealed successfully."— A/r. Secretary St^r.'ey's Reply to Mr. O^Con' nelt. House of Commons, Feb. 18J3. " I trust these various institutions will form connexions with each other, and be bound to each other by the mutual ties of commi.ii objects and pursuits ; and that thereby the members of our two countries will habitually learn to consider and feel towards each other as brethren bound to manifest mutual good will, and to assist each other in the promotion of benevolent purposes." — Letter^ Mr. Wilberforce to Dr. Sprague of Massachusetts, Dec. 1828, New York, April 23rrf, 1832. * * * * While in Albany, I spent some time in observing the mode of doing business in the senate and assembly of this state.* They transact a great deal * Since my arrival in London, I have seen a copy of the Daily Albany Argus, the ofTicial Gazette, of the State of New York; and return my thanks to the editor for the kind feelings which dictated the following remarks, relative to that part of the above letter which was published last April in Upper Canada : — [From the Albany Argus of May 10th, 1832.] -"The Colonial Advo- cate contains an interesting letter, addressed to the conductor of that paper from New Yo.k, by Mr. Mackenzie, the former editor, a short on tribl lies! oftf ?al shed of business, very much to the purpose, in a short time, simply by attending to method, and setting aside all useless formalities. They read their minutes without turning out the public — they clothe their speakers neither with wigs, gowns, nor three-cocked hats — members rise in their places and make reports, instead of getting up in pairs and striving who shall obtain the floor and catch the Speaker's eye first — their onler and rule of proceeding cannot be departed from time before liis embarkation for Europe, on business connected with the political affairs of the province. This gentleman has been long and honourably known as the ardent and eOBcient advocate of reform in the British provinces of North America; and more recently by the meditated attempt upon his life, made at the supposed instigation of certain oflBcers of government, on the evening of the meeting of the irdiubilants of Gore district, assembled for the purpose of consulting together on the state of tiiti provinces, and adopting an address and petition to the king and par- liament of Great Britain. His indefatigable exertions in the cause of civil and religious liberty have gained for him a high place in the conti- ration of a kindred print in this state, reference to which is made in one of the extracts given below from Mr. M.'s letter. He goes to England as the bearer of the grievances of the people of Canada to the throne, with appeals to the advocates of Parliamentary Reform in England, and, we trust, to efTect for the provinces that equal representation which is so loudly demanded in the mother country. "On his way to the seabord, Mr. M. passed a few days in this city during the Session of the Legislature. The following are his observations on the forms of legislation iu this state. We quote them as a deserved tribute, from an intelligent and estimable foreign gentleman, to the busi- ness habits (.f our legislative houses, and as illustrative of that mode of thinking and speaking which characterizes a liberal-minded man." \ NEW YORK LEOISLATIRK. 199 : ' !i i t 20() NEW YORK LKGISLATURE. without tho common consent of every member, given without (Hscussioii ; the ayes and noes are taken with great accuracy in the shortest possiWe time, and with- out troubling any member to rise ; tho assistant clerks liave their places near the Speaker ; the reporters for the public press have comfortable seats assigned them also near the Speaker, but are not paid ; * w hen the clergyman conies in tho morning to implore a bless- iu,T on their deliberations, he takes the lieutenant- governor's chair at the head of the senate, and the Speaker's desk in the assembly ; the attendance of members is good, their deportment very orderly — tho closeness of their attention to business almost incre- • I was in tlie galfery of the House of Peers on the eveniti'j; on which their lordships were agreeably occupied in passing the Ileroim Bill for England ; and am free to admit that the Assembly's chamber, at Albanjr, is infinitely more gorgeouL and aristocratic than tb'i Peers' House, ami the capital at Washington and the President's house are evidently more "lordly halls" in outward appearance than the Houses of l^onls and Commons and the Palace of St. James in this ancient seat of an ancient monarchy. The interior of the senate and house of lepresentntives is also fitted up in a style of luxury not to be found in the chambers of the •' Col- lective Wisdom" of renovated and regenerated Britain. The seats in the House of Peers are plain benches, with backs something in the style of the methodist church pews in York, Upper Canada, but cushioned and covered with scarlet cloth ; the woolpacks are also covered with that material. Their lord>hips' bar has a plain railing, below one small comer of which, penned up, like sheep within a fold, stand the re- porters for the public press. Neither in the House of Commons nor in the Peers' Chamber are that important class of persons, whose duty it is to convey to Kngli^hmen the proceedings of their legislature, treated with a proper degree of respect. What a strange idea it mud give to an American of the character of the British Government, when he is told that 30/. or 40/. a session must be paid to the door-keeper of the Representative Chamber by the proprietors of each daily newspaper for leave to the reporters to occupy a back seat in a noi>y gallery, tliero to take the debates and proceedings of the most important legislative body in the world ! NEW YORK LEGISLATURE BANK ACTS. 201 diblc — they have a morning session at ten — then an after-dinner session — then an evening session, at seven. The minutes of both houses took tip httle short of half an hour in reading one day. The bills or acts are I'airly written upon good paper — no parchment is used. There are no knocks, and black rods, and bows, and scrapes, s^nd interruj)lions \o business on accoiuit of messages from the senate or governor; all is done qiiictly ; and bills and resolutions pass silently from the ofticers of one house to those of another, or to the governor, as matters of course. The lieutenant- governor, in the senate, and the Speaker and chairman of conunittees of the whole assembly, are provided with mallets or little hammers, which they use when tliere is any noise, saying, •* The house will please to be in order," or wouls to that effect — order is instantly re- stored. Utica and Buffalo have this winter obtainetl charters as cities— not on the Jesuitical plan proposed by the Attorney-General for York, by which he would have ensured bad government, high taxation, and nominal responsibility; but — to give the citizens the most ample and useful powers consistent with private right, and the safety and security of the state. * * * I was present at the passing of several bank charters in the assembly, and was especially attentive to the arguments made use of for a bank at Sackets Harbour, under and subject to the responsibilities of the safety fvmd and commission laws. The member for Jefferson county boasted of the gold and silver which had of late years enriched and strengthened that frontier section of the state, being received from Lower Canada in return for American produce exported to Montreal and Kd li -^^I V 202 NEW -VORK LEGISLATURE BANK ACTS. Quebec duty-free. You are indebted for that advan- tage (thinks I to myself) to the half-dozen of families who engross all political power in Upper Canada, and who, rather than allow the taxes and resources to return among the farmers to enrich the back settlements, and furnish capital wherewith to improve the country and increase its products to a sufficient extent to supply the wants of England, would keep the country a desart, comparatively speaking, wherein themselves might play the bashaw in perfect safety — while they fatten the Americans, and strengthen their power and resources, and impoverish Canada by the aid of the country which upholds them to her injury. America shuts out British manufactures by tariffs — Canada admits them — the colonial executives strive to frighten settlers of capital from Canada by established churches, clergy reserves, Hamilton and York riots, costly and ill-de- lined laws, bank and other monopolies, primogeniture laws, and a government wherein the people are in reality ciphers — where education is neglected, and the taxes most unjustly squandered for unworthy pur- poses. * ♦ * ♦ * * r c n SI SI .i!; in s t I 203 AN AMERICAN METHODIST CHAPEL. " And, above all, there is no country in which religion and its ministers are more generally respected and supported by the mass of the popula" tion, although without compulsory provision, and where the lives ami example of the clergy more nearly approach to those of their great pri- mitive models."— ^r7///flm Gore Ouselci/s Remarks, p. 12, " But it is in our civil and religious institutions that we may, without the imputation of vainglory, boast of the pre-eminence. Actual observa- tion will compel every traveller througli those nations of the continent that now succumb under the yoke of des|)o!ic power, mild and benevo- lent as in some instances is confessedly its admini:itration, to feel, however reluctant, the full force of the remark, which he may have thought evil discontent alone had raised, that the labour, and independence, and free- dom, and happiness of the many, are sacrificed to the ambition, and power, and luxury of tiie few." — Bishop Hobarl. New York, Sunday, April 20, 1832. Drak Sir, — I went this forenoon to Duane Stioel Chapel, one of the places of public worship occupied by the Wesleyans in this city. As well as I can re- member, it was the first time I had been in a Metho- dist church in the United States of America, and I returned home well satisfied both with minister and congregation. The preacher earnestly addressed a most attentive audience on the important subject of " the world to come ;" and, after dwelling for some time on the lightness and frivolity of many of the pvn*- suits eagerly followed by mankind, proceeded to lay before his hearers an interesting picture of eternity — " everlasting eternity." The singing was sweet and simple. The women, as in the Quaker meeting-hotises, sat on one side, and the men on the other. The build- ing had no useless ornament, and appeared to lack no 204 AN AMERICAN METHODIST CHAPEL. useful decoration. The many religious sects in this city, and their perfect equality in the eye of the law, open a door lor a great deal of controversy, and con- troversy leads to an investigation of facts ; the conse- quence of such inquiries, thus protected, is the detec- tion and exposiu'e of superstition, bigotrjs and false religion, and the promotion of the empire of truth upon the earth. I have been looking into a volume of me- moirs, by one of the ministers of Boston, which I find very interesting. They have gone through three Ame- rican and three British editions — I wish 1 was able to put them through a Canada edition also. I speak of the Memoirs of Mrs. Susan Huntington, of Boston. She writes well on the effect of religious controversy — but I am afraid I shall not have time to transcribe some of her opinions at length before sailing. Perhaps some of the readers of this letter, while ordering books for family use, will not forget in their list the works of the Rev. Robert Hall, Baptist minister of Bristol, Eng- land, of which there is a handsome octavo edition, in three volumes, for sale in this city, with the author's life, by his early friend, Sir James Mackintosh; and the third American edition of the pious and amiable Mrs. Susan Huntington's Letters and Memoirs. They are favourable to virtue, full of information, and cal- culated to enlighten and instruct, and to promote domestic happiness upon a true and durable founda- tion. ****** w ev h e e )r e li- ke la- 205 Mr. BASCOM— a DISCOURSE ON SLAVERY. " If you place in my hands the sacred trust of representing you in tlie Commons' House of Parliament, you arm me with power to complete the goof' works which we have begun together, nor will I rest from my la- bours until, by the bles)ing of God, I have seen an end of the abuses which bend England to the ground, and the mists dispersed from the eyes of the ignorant, and the chains drop from the hands of the slave.".^ H. Brougham. " Prosperity founded on injustice is never lasting."— BisAojo ffation. " Oh ! who midst the darkness of night would abide That can taste the sweet breezes of morn ? And who that has drank of the crystalline tide To the feculent flood would return ?" — Hosvoe. " Bred in a cage, far from the feather'd throng, Tlie bird repays his keeper with his song; But if some playful child sets wide the door, Aliroad he flies, and thinks of home no more ; Willi love of liberty begins to burn, And rather starves than to his cage return." — Independence. "What,! beseech you, are the props of your ' honest' exertion, — the profits of tradn ? Are there no bribes to menials ? Is there uoaduU teration of goods? Are the rich never duped in the price they pay .'' Are the poor never wronged in the quality they receive P Is theie honesty in the bread you eat — in a single necessity which clothes, or feeds, or warms you ? Let those whom the law protects consider it a protector; when did it ever protect me ? When did it ever protect the poor man? The government of u state, the institutions of law, profess to provide for all those who obey. Mark ! a man hungers '. — do you feed him ? He is naked ! — do you clothe him ? If not, you break your covenant — you drive him back to the first law of nature, and you hang him — not because he is guilty, but because you have left him naked and starving!"— -TAf! Robber^s Apology. Paul Clifford. " I am only known to you by my devotion to the improvement of our species ; by the love I bear to civil and religious liberty all over the world ; by my inextinguishable hatred of slavery, under what name so- ever it may be veiled, and of whatever race it may be the curse." — U. Brougham. " Look on yonder earth : The golden harvests spring; the unfailing sun Sheds light and life ; the fruits, the flowers, the trees, Arise in due succession ; all things speak ! i 206 MR. BASCOM — A DISCOURSE ON SLAVERY. 'if Peace, harmony, and love. The universe, In 1. .ture's silent eloquence, declares That all fulfil the works of love and joy — All but the outcast, man." — Shelley. " The Americans have frequently been reproached for suffering the continuance of slavery for one instant after the declaration of independ- ence. It must be recollected, that before that time they were not al- lowed to abolish it, even after repeated petitions to that effect to the go- vernment of tiie mother country," — H'llliam Gore Ouseley's Remarks, p. 159. " 'Twas light: his babes around him lay at rest, Their niollicr slumbered on their father's breast; A yell of murder rang around their bed : They woke ; their cottage blazed ; the victims fled. Forth sprang' the ambushed ruffians on their prey ; They caught, they bound, they drove them far away. Tlie while man bought them at the mart of blood ; In pestilential barks they crossed the flood. Tlien were the wretched ones asunder torn— To distant isles — to separate bondage borne ; Denied, though sought with tears, the sad relief That misery loves — the fellowship of grief." — The JVest Indies. " And man, whose heaven -erected face the smiles of love adorn ; Man's inhumanity to man makes countless thousands mourn ! See yonder poor, o'erlaboured wight, so abject, mean, and vile, Who begs a brother of the earth to give him leave to toil; And see his \ovA\y fellow. worm the poor petition spurn, Unmindful, though a weeping wife and helpless offspring mourn." — Burns. " Make a figure of a negro woman, and write under it, ' We still pay a poll-tax to support the flogging of women in Jamaica;' and when you can add to it the datr, of the removal of the evil, leave it to your posterity as a proof that their fathers, though humble, were not mean ; that though poor, they were much too good to be worked in their own country, for the sake of enabling the rich to work slaves in another.''— jS/awry m Ihe West Indies. fVestminster licvieu', No. 22, Art. 1. New York, Sunday Evening, ylprU29, 1832.— 10 p.m. * * * I HAVE been at the Presbyterian clmrcli, Murray Street, to hear the far-famed orator, Basconi. or di MR. BASCOM — A DISCOURSE ON SLAVERY. 207 preach a sermon in aid of the funds of the American Colonization Society, for sending free persons of colour to Liberia. The building is large and elegant, capable perhaps of containing 3000 persons, and beautifully lighted up with gas. I went early, but, although the seats were free to all alike for that evening, they were occupied, and I considered myself fortunate in being allowed to stand for an hour and a half to listen to one of the ablest, best, and most interesting discourses ever delivered on this continent. Thousands, less successful, could not find admission. At first I ffured I should not be able to hear Mr. Bascom distinclly ; afterwards I wrote in my memorandum book that he was a sensible speaker, but without the least pretensions to eloquence ; before he concluded, however, I felt that, whether at the bar, in the pulpit, or senate chamber, I had never listened to his equal on this continent. He fully dis- proves the charge that America is the land " where genius sickens and where fancy dies." Mr. Rolph's celebrated speech in favour of the abo- lition of imprisonment for debt, in the House of As- sembly of Upper Canada, was a masterly effort, but it could not equal Bascom's charity sermon. Tlie latter had the ancient glories of Africa before him — the 1700 rears of outrap-e and crime of which the unfortunate natives of that injured continent have been the hapless victims. The sufferings of millions, aye, of hundreds of millioii;3 of innocent beings, were the theme of his discourse ; and he careered in the grandeur of histo- rical description, a perfect master of his art. He tlid not read his discourse, nor even use notes. He needed them not. You might have heard the least whisper ,1 ■) 'i ! is' 208 MR. BASCOM — A DISCOURSE ON SLAVERY. when he came to speak of the millions of childless mothers and widowed women whom the accursed kid- napper had rendered wretched on Afric's 10,000 miles of exposed coast. " Females of America !" he ex- claimed — " ye free and happy children of this highly favoured land !" — but I must delay a detailed account of tliis extraordinary man and Ins delightful sermon until I can find a leisure hour while crossing the At- lantic. I do not know whether I should admire most the native eloquence he displayed, his great acquaint- ance with the history of his subject, or the select and choice lanjjuaffe in which he clothed his ideas. On making inquiry, I find that Mr. Bascom is a professor of divinity somewhere in Kentucky or Pennsylvania, an ex-chaplain to Congress, and a native American Me- thodist preacher. On board the Ontario, London Packet Ship, At sea. May 16, 1832. In my last letter I briefly noticed a most eloquent discourse delivered in Murray-Street Church, Ne'v York, on the Sabbath evening before I sailed, on the delicate question of Negro Slavery, by Mr. Bascom, a Methodist minister of the United States. When we look back to what Africa has been, and consider her present degraded condition, and the criminal part hitherto taken by Europe and America against her long-suffering and devoted population, the efforts of the p)»ilan1hropist to destroy slavery and make the African race happy and contented beconie deeply in- teresting to the friends of rational freedom. It was a noble act by which Charles James Fox, a few days I that! the an Socil coasj morj to fourti granj II MR. BASCOM A DISCOURSE ON SLAVERY. 209 only before he was taken sick of his last illness, over- threw the slave trade in the dominions of Great Bri- tain. Earl Grey and the Whigs may look forth with honest pride and pleasure at that bright event in their short career. It was altogether characteristic of the worn out and despicable Bourbon dynasty, that Louis XVIII.'s first effort after his restoration to the throne of France, was to re-establish in his dominions this accursed traffic in the life and labour of a portion of the human race. He had his reward. Nor have the Spaniards, Portuguese, and French nations escaped the punishment due to them for participating in such guilty gains. — England is endeavouring to wash her hands of slavery, and let the United States look well to it ; they also havu 2,000,000 and upwards of unfor- tunate, unoffending Africans in bondr.ge. "Is he not Man, though sweet religion's voice Ne'er bade the mourner in his God rejoice ? Is he not Man, though knowledge never $=hed Her quicliening beams on his neglected head ? Is he not Man, by sin and suffering tried? Is he not Man, for whom the Saviour died P " I understood Mr. Bascom to state in his sermon, that there are now 300,000 free persons of colour in the Union, where they are held to be a separate caste, an anomalous race — that the object of the Colonization Society is to send them to Liberia, civilize the African coast, and give them a happy home — that there are more applications from coloured people desirous to go to Liberia thati the Society's funds can remove — that fourteen of the legislatures of the United States have granted appropriations for the use of the Association — t 1 J 210 MR. BASCOM — A DISCOURSE ON SLAVERY. LI (the cost of transportation is twenty dollars each person to Liberia) — that in the two Americas there are now 9,350,000 negroes — that Virginia (a slave state) has reported, under authority of her legislature, that, during the la&t fourteen years, property in that state has depreciated 70,000,000 dollars — that the Union pays more annually for the correction of the crimes of the free blacks than woi'l 1 transport every one of them to Africa — that free people of colour hold life by as strong a teniu'o on the western coast of Africa as in any of the southern states of the Union — that Liberia is a fertile climate, in which the thermometer ( Fahren- heit's) ranges generally between + 20 and 65, pro- ducing indigo, rice, tobacco, spices, many luxuries, palm, sandal- wood, ebony, precious stones, &c. — Look back to the period (observed the accomplished orator) when the people of these states imported fifty or sixty thousand slaves per annum, for the sake of the gains made by murder, robbery, and torment ! Will ye, now that ye have ten times the wealth ye then possessed, hesitate to make some reparation, and send annually a tenth of that number back to their country? Nay, even now is it not a well-known fact, that twelve or fifteen thousand slaves (these were his words, I believe) are annually smuggled into the southern parts of this free republic ? Give us bui a tenth of the sums that were paid for forging chains for their slaves, by our forefathers, that colonies may be planted at convenient intervals, the native tribes enhghtened on the 10,000 miles of exposed African coast, and slave kidnapping thus effectually prevented. Will you hold the slaves in colonial subjection ? Remember the bondage wherein tl tl ai dj C(j hj a acl 1 Ml. BASCOM A DISCOURSE ON SLAVEKY. 211 your fathers were held. The chosen people of God were desired not to forget that they had been slaves in Egypt — they did forget, and were re-ensla»ed to Babylon. Let ns beware lest we lightly esteem what God has done for us as a people — the unequalled freedom and happiness we enjoy. Already are some of our public assemblies become fields of political intrigue, where some meet to sell character for a penny, and some for a place, and to act such scenes as would make a Hottentot blush. [Great sensation in the church.] We boast of our superiority to the African : wherein does it consist ? We are the descendants of the Goths and Vandals — Africa has a far nobler line to boast of Tlie speaker here dwelt upon the glories of ancient Africa, and affirmed that there was no branch of science or literature in which the negroes of the present day had not excelled. He scouted the idea entertained and promulgated of the inferiority of in- tellect of the black population, and cited many examples of the contrary. But was it to be wondered at that Africa had fallen back in civilization ? Since the com- mencement of the slave trade, European cupidity had murdered and enslaved 190,000,000 of the natives of that continent ; for nearly 1700 years (it is estimated that) from 150,000 to 200,000 of them have been annually dragged in chains from their country, and all domestic ties torn asunder and broken. Mr. Bascom concluded one of the most splendid orations I ever heard by a general review of the oppression and cruelty practised by man towards his fellow-men,, and made a touching appeal to the judgment and feelings of his admiring audience. Nor was that appeal made in I ^1' - ;! 212 MR. BASCOM A DISCOURSE ON 8LAVKRV. :; I vain. I hope that those generous and kind-hearted Canadians whom tliese Hnes may reach will bear in mind that the price of their liberty " is everlasting vigi- lance," and that the government which woidd bestow 10,000 dollars a year on an attorney-general, and 60,000 dollars on building a college for the initiation of some fifty or sixty placemen and pensioners' offspring, while perhaps 50,000 of the children of the province were starvingf for lack of knowletljje on a miserable pittance of 10,000 dollars annually, would wii'ingly see the farmers and mechanics reduced to as low a state as that to which the cupidity of Liverpool, Bristol, and London merchants annually reduced hundreds of thousands of unoffending Africans threescore years ago. To what a state of misery and calamity has not Tory oppression reduced the once hale and hearty labourers and mechanics of England and Ireland ! Mr. Pitt could not afford to suppress negro slavery ! Lord Eldon, too, opposed the abolition of that inhuman traffic with all his powers of argument and influence. The former is below the clod — the latter generally and justly despised. So may it ever be ! These selfish statesmen, rather than quit office, abridge a pension, or curtail a salary, would have continued to drag their fellow-creatures to distant lands, far from friends, home, and kindred, and for ever; would have tortured them in slave-ships ; would have burnt them under a tropical sun, packed into dens, without room to move, to stand, or to lie down, " chained, scourged, famished, withering with fever and thirst; human layers festering on each other; the dead, the dying, the frantic, and the tor- tured, compressed together like bales of merchandise ; n jh p; MR. BASCOM — A DISCOURSE ON SLAVKRV. 213 hundreds seizing the first moment of seeing the hght and air to fling themselves overboard; hundreds dying of grief, thousands dying of pestilence ; and the rest, even more wretched, surviving only for a hopeless captivity in a strange land, to labour for life under the whips of overseers, savages immeasurably more brutal and debased than their imfortunate victims ! " But I had forgotten — Pitt made a few speeches in favour of abolishing slavery ; aye, and a few more in favour of parliamentary reform, and with eqtial honesty. THE LONDON, LIVERPOOL, AND NEW YORK PACKETS. Written on board the New York and London packet- ship Ontario, at Sea, May 2ist, 1832. While at sea, I may as well address a few sugges- tions and state a few facts relative to a voyage across the Atlantic, for the information of such of my Cana- dian friends as may find it expedient to visit Europe on I usiness or pleasure. The London and New York old and now lines of packets, and the Liverpool lines, consist of vessels of the first class, commanded by ex- perienced seamen, and well manned. These vessels are well provided with sea stores ; and generally complete the voyage from New York to Liverpool, or Ports- mouth, in twenty-four days. — This is the average of the last ten years to Liverpool ; and the voyage to Portsmouth can be performed in about the same space of time. The two lines of London packets, advertised I 1 ■ ' . . ;»■ ■> ■■' (V'' ■' 214 LONDON AND NEW YORK PACKETS. by the agents, Messrs. John Griswold ; and Fish, Grin- nell, and Co., are composed of superb, lirst-rate, fast- saiUng ships. I have been on board several of them, and have carefully inquired into their accommodations and capacities for sailing. * * * ♦ 'y\^q p^g, sengers to London, by the London packets, usually take the stage at Portsmouth, the distance being seventy miles, and the road good; but they may go round with the ship, via the river Thames : anil it is very conmion for passengers for New York to meet the packet at Portsmouth, instead of sailing roimd by the river Thames and the Channel. These packets do not all carry a female attendant ; but those that do ought to have the preference where ladies are passen- gers, even although they have their own servants in attendance; for a female servant attached to the ship will not be liable to be sea-sick, being used to the sea; and being also accustomed to wait on ladies, she will often anticipate their wishes, and adbrd the usual alleviating remedies for sea- sickness, &c., more readily than tlieir maids, who may be taken ill in rough weather, when most wanted. We have break- fast on board this ship at nine, consisting of black tea, green tea, coffee, biscuit, bread, hot rolls, fish, fowl, ham, cold mutton, eggs ; sometimes wc have chocolate, &c. A lunch follows, at noon, consisting of bread, cheese, cold meat, tongue, wine, porter, liquors, &c. Dinner comes on at four in the afternoon, — soups, fresh mutton, beef, pork, and sometimes veal, served up in various ways, fish, curry, hashes, pies, puddings, turkeys, geese, barn-door fowls, bacon, plum-pudding, preserves, pastry, &c. The dessert — of I and licH, pou, t— LONDON AND NEW YORK PACKKTS. 215 oranges, raisins, almonds, Spanish nuts, figs, prunes, wines, viz., excellent Madeira and port, and also claret, are always on the table ; and occasionally (say every other day) champagne, a very fair and genuine sample is served round after the cloth is removed. I omit all detail relative to the order in which dinner is served on board ship. The passengers appear all of tliem quite at home. Sometimes, however, we have to hold the soup-plate and tea-cup aid saiicer nicely balanced in the hand to prevent disagreeable conse- quences to our own or our next neighboms' clothes, while the ship rocks, and rolls, and pitches " so plea- santly," that it might almost persuade a whole school to play truant in order to enjoy the ride. I have seen gravies, sauces, tea, coffee, milk, and liquors often sud- denly absent without leave ; and when you went to look for them, they had quietly settled down on the floor, in a lady's lap, or on a gentleman's vest or " inferior garmenf"" Mr. Noah formerly wrote essays on " good society " — the select few — the aristo- cracy but 1 found it difficult to learn what was fashionable, or what was good society, during my so- journ in New York. I dined one day in a democratic palace (for I may so style the mansion) where the ladies walked up to their chairs at the dinner- table without being escorted by the gentlemen; and where every one had leave to enjoy the good things with which that table was abundantly covered, without being sub- jected to the continual and often vexatious interruption of drinking wine, successively, with half a dozen of people before the cloth is removed. Drinking healths and taking wine with one another, in the midst of 216 DINNER CEREMONIES. ,. dinner, are as annoying as they are common practices. Another day I was invited to dinner where the custom (or, if you please, tlie fashion) was the reverse of the above. One of my kind and friendly entertainers (and I have experienced many proofs of friendship in that city) made me acquainted w ith every male and female in the room the moment I entered it ; another, with far more correct taste and judgment, introduced me by name only to the three or four persons seated next to him, and wisely left to chance the revelation of who were the other guests. An old and much-respected Scotchwoman asked me to be one of a party •* to drink tea and spend the evening," and wearied my patience by suspending the delivery of the second cuj) until all who sat at table had drank oft' their first. This is a custom she might have left behind in Edinburgh. ** A top])ing merchant," with whom I " scraped " an acquaintance while he was on a visit to Canada some years ago, entertained about a dozen of us one day at table without the least reference to a first, second, or third course. I was invited to dinner at five, and was punctual, but the soup was not served up till about ten minutes past six. To those who seldom take a lunch this is really unfair. If the invitation card says six, dinner ought to be on the table at least twenty mi- nutes after that hour ; but where it is only a verbal request, without a written answer, the entertainer is less to blame, for in that case there is no contract. I have found it the general usage in New York, as else- where, to ask some of the guests at dinner to cut up the dishes and help those at table. This is a very in- convenient and troublesome practice, Chesterfield and shi gri sea LONDON AND NKW YORK PACKETS. 217 at or [ten nc\\ I six, 1 mi- rbal Ir is plse- |t up in- and his successors, to the contrary, notwithstanding. There are many persons who do not carve in the most scien- tific manner, and cannot boast " a talent for me- chanics." I am awkward at dissecting a stiff-jointed turkey; awkward at cutting down an oak, if three feet in diameter ; awkward at mending a pen or in writing a letter ; and awkward at chopping fire-wood or mow- ing hay. To me, the German practice of having the joints carved at the sideboard , and sent round, or even the Upper Canada " farmer fashion/' so called, is pre- ferable to the above custom. I find the sea-air and the Ontario's bill of fare to agree well with my constitution ; for I can sit down daily, and do justice to a hearty breakfast and dinner — feats I was rarely ever eq\ial to at York. Threescore years have elapsed since the learned Dr. Samuel John- son exclaimed, in the fulness of his heart, " Give me a good dinner and an appetite to eat it, and I will be happier than the mightiest potentate which this world can produce, surrounded by his satellites and rioting in the indulgence of immeasurable power i " I presume there are millions of the doctor's compatriots of the present age who would gladly re-echo the sentiment. A good dinner is a good thing, if taken in moderation. Brandy, hoUands, London vx)iter, cider, seidlitz- powders, soda-water, and cordials are brought to the passengers by the steward, when requested, from a place fitted up like the bar of an hotel. A chest of medicines, with suitable directions, accompanies the ship for the use of the crew and passengers. Broths, gruel, and other light food, fit for tnose who may be sea-sick, qualmish, or otherwise indisposed, are pre- L » 218 LONDON AND NEW YORK PACKETS. : i pared at all hours ; and the comfort of the passengers studiously attended to. The ladies' cabin, in some of the packets, is placed at the stern, where the ship has the most unpleasant motion. In the Ontario, it is fitted up near the centre, where the agitation of the waves has the least effect upon the stomach and its contents. Passengers should go early and take their places, and pin a card or piece of paper, with their names, upon the berths they wish to occupy. The state-rooms, nearest the middle of this ship, I consider preferable. 140 dollars is the rale of passage for one person to London, wine and liquors included ; or 2G0 dollars for a lady and gentleman, with wines. Those who choose to save " something handsome," may go at 120 dollars in the cabin, and carry their own wines with them; but few do so, — singularity is dreaded even on board a London packet. Steerage passengers find themselves in everything but water and fuel, and pay 18 dollars passage-money. The voyage out to Ame- rica is almost always of much longer duration than the voyage home to England, and consequently more un- pleasant. On board this packet, reading, writing, eating, sleeping, conversation, cards, and, when the weather will permit, walking the deck, are the chief employments, as far as my observation extends. With not a few, the fashionable, but disagreeable, practice of smoking tobacco, cigars, &c. obtains. I think 1 mentioned in a former letter, that the Ontario had several hundred volumes of books on board for the amusement of the passengers. Except Lawrie Todd, I do not remember having allowed my- self hhure to read a novel for years, until witliin these LONDON AND NEW YORK PACKETS. 219 the un- iting, the chief rith Ictice the Is on icept my Ithese last three weeks, during which I have perused Irving's Tales of a Traveller ; Bulwer's Polham, Devereiix, Eugene Aram, Paul Clifford, and the Disownid ; D'Israeli's Young Duke; Colonel Hamilton's Cyril Thornton ; Sir Walter Scott's Anne of Gcierstein ; James Hogg's Sliepherd's Calendar ; Cooper's Water Witch ; Captain Marriott's Naval Officer ; and the Tale of Crockford's. The least interesting of these will bear " a first reading." But there is a number of dull, stupid novels on board, to go over which attentively would be a cruel penance. I have ac- quired the habit of looking through this class of pub- lications ivith as much despatch as the editor of a ew York daily journal, when fighting his way inrough the proverbial dulness of the weekly perio- dicals of the backwoods, of which, perhaps, hundreds are on his exchange list. I have not confined my reading to works of fancy, however amusing; but, indeed, there are days on board a ship, during which it is so boisterous and unpleasant, that to attempt the study of history, or to engage in any work requiring close application and attention, would almost be im- practicable. Then it is that well-drawn pictures of men and manners of the present or past ages — fancy sketches of society — add to the comforts of a sea voyage across the Atlantic. * * * Families taking passage by these packets for Eng- land should inquire whether such and such stores (they may wish for) be provided ; as also, whether such and such medicines be in the medicine-chest. They should also provide a sufficient supply of clean raiment in case either of health or sickness. l2 220 LONDON AND NEW YORK PACKETS. The Ontario has been rather a favourite with tra- vellers of and from Canada. Tliis voyage there was neither clergyman nor physician on board, and public religious exercises are altogether discontinued. Cap- tain Sebor is very well liked. The steerage passen- gers must be very uncomfortable, especially when the weather is rough, and the waves beating over the sides and bow of the vessel. It is, perhaps, necessary, however, that one should have felt the misery of a steerage passage, in order to judge of the comparative comforts of a packet's cabin. It is better to beyin life in the steerage of society^ and finish it in the cabin, than to have to walk forward in old age, or late in life. The average length of all the voyages of the regular packets, from Liverpool (or Portsmouth) to New York, during the last ten years, has been about thirty-eight days. December, January, and February, are counted among the worst months to return to New York from England, and among the best to obtain a quick passage to Europe. In April, the winds that prevail are from the eastward. * * * Yesterday two young swallows came on board and visited the cabin — 900 miles from land ! SHIP ONTARIO— THE HEALTH OFFICER. Quebec Hotel, Portsmouth, May 29th, 1832. We anchored last night for a few hours off the Isle of Wight, in sight of Hurst Castle Lights and the Needles. This morning about ten, the health officer SHIP ONTARIO— THE HEALTH OFFICER. 221 of the leer hailed us when in sight of Spithead, came alongside in a small boat, bearing a dirty small flag with a faded crown on it, and after constituting one of his oarsmen into a temporary portable desk-frame, began to fire oft' a series of interrogatories, which I feared at one time would prove interminable. He signed his name *' IV. Bore, superintendent and examining officer of quarantine ;" and if he borts the whole foreign trade as he did the Ontario, he is well named ; he put me very much in mind of Gait's sketch of "the weariful woman." He wore a sailor's blue jacket, sat on an old groat coat, and nevtr attempted to board us, or oven for a nioiiicat to cpiit his recumbent pos- lure. He was precise, solemn, and rather good-hu- movred — I would call him an epicure in his profes- sion. Many of his questions were about infection, quarantine, disease, health; whether the passengers had uU got sick at one time ; whether Captain Sebor had been put into quarantine at New York in consc- quence of sailing last from London, &c. He modu- lated his bass voice when asking any questions not on his brief; then raisinuf it almost to a higrh treble note. Ho jotted down the captain's responses opposite the questions, and one of his mutes hoisted the whole statement iqi in a sort of wooden ladle attached to the top of a long pole — the captain signed and lowered it dow n ; next, the ladle came up for the bill of health ; then it brought up a New Testament encased in copper and soldered, which the captain kissed, the old man below repeating the words of the oath sitting at his ease — no " hats oft*." The copper-cased edition of the Scriptures was lowered in the ladle — which. 212 SHIP ONTARIO THE HEALTH OFFICER. las*.>' brought tip a couple of cortificates of the iieahh oft fifty-eif^ht souls in the good ship Ontario, and Dou ijore bid us good morning. It is customary to make a present to the steward and his assistant. The gentlemen made up a purse for them, to which each contributed a sovereign — I believe that each of the ladies made a present of a like sum to the female attendant, who well deserved it. I mention this, in order to afford a better idea of ,M incidental expenses to the traveller. The captain hired a neat and commodious sail-boat to take the pas- sengers who chose to land at Portsmouth ashore — the distance being four m les. At the Custom-house, the Custom-house officers were very polite, speedily exa- mined our baggage, not as if with an intention to seaidi for trifles by which to give us trouble, but in the most gentlemanly manner. I have found good accommodation at this hotel, one of the proprietors of which is an agent for the New York linys of Loiidon Packets. It was four weeks {to an hour) from the' tinifi I came on board the Ontario off New York, to the time the passage-boat put us ashore here. I learn thftt the Caledonia, New York packet, which sailed with us, arrived at Liverpool three days before us. Her mail- bag reached London last night — the Ontario's mail will reach that city some time this afternoon. On the 29th of May, 1820, at noon, I had the pleasure for the first time to set my foot on the Canadian shore, at Quebec. This day, exactly at noon, I landed at Portsmouth. Twelve years of a difference, within a very few minutes; years spent in hard, fatiguing. \ INSANITY. 223 arduous (and as I trust, useful) service — a service that I do not by ai\y means regret, for my humble exertions have been well and amply rewarded, and that too in the way and manner calculated to afford me the most enduring satisfaction. * * * * I learn that the people of Portsmouth, Gosport, &c. are, almost to a man, radical reformers, and warmly disposed to support the whole bill as it passed the Commons. The example of the reformers in England, and their brilliant success, should teach the Upper Canadians to be united as one man in defence of their rights us British fivemon. ***** INSANITY— DKATII OF MR. MUDGE. " Suicide originates in misery." — Rrjleciions on Suicide by Madame •fe SlaVl. " To renounce life when it could alone be purchased at the price of conscience, is the only suicide permitted to virtue."— Larfy Jane Grey to Dr. Aylmers, " The man who «^r.y.^, ' I «.vill sorrow, and will not be comforted,' is ignorant of the laws of his own nature — he knows not that which is within him. He cannot dedicate his days to unavailing regrets. Comfort will visit him in a thousand unknown shapes and unsuspected forms. Sometimes it will steal unawares into his soul, and brooding like the hal- cyon on the billowy waters of his spirit, they will become culm. Some- times, like a thing of life and beauty, it will start up before him in his patli, and he will welcome it to his arms. If joy is transient, so is sorrow. Tlie chariot of time, though its wheels be noiseless, is ever rolling OP its course. The world may remain unmoved, but to us it is ever changing." — Cyrii Thornton. " Little did my mother think, That day she cradled me, What land 1 was to travel in, Or what death I should die."— OW Ballad. York, Upper Canada, I6th June, 1831. Had another example been required to teach mankind : il 224 INSANITY — DEATH OF MK. MUDOE, tliat health and wealth, youth and high connexion, are insufficient to produce contentment, the untoward fate of Mr. Mudgc (private secretary to the lieutenant- governor of Upper Canac.a) would have taught that lesson. It appears by the evidence produced before a coroner's j^uy, which sat last Friday morning on view of the mangled remains of this unfortunate youth, that he blew his brains oui, with a rifle at midnight on 'Jhursday last, lie was found next morning in bed, by his servant and the Kev. Mr. Matthews, a ghastly spectacle of human weakness — a mangled corpse ! The causes which led to this truly awful catostropho are a» yet enveloped in mysterious darkness. Some said he was crossed in love, some said he had received bad news, others declared he was insane, but the coroner's jury learnt nothing. It appeared by the evidence of Mr. M'Mahon, that on the day before his deatli, Mr. Mudge was cheerful, composed, and part of the time apparently very agree- ably employed in assisting in putting up a copying press that had been received from Europe. Mr. Jones had dined with him at Sir John Colborne's the evening before, w hen one of the officers of the 79th took a leading part in the conversation — Mr. Mudge tat silent and inattentive. It was remarked, that before going to dinner that night lie had been very attentive to his dress, much more so than usual ; and a friend who saw him set otl' assured me tliat he then appeared to be in a very lively humour, as much so as at any time within his observation. Throughout the day he was cheerful, and his countenance full of smdes. Yet it was stated by Mr. Jones, that that [ INSANITY — DEATH OF MR. MUDGE. 225 Ir. he th fry nd night, when walking with him in the gardens and grounds attached to the government-house, he asked him many questions, but could not obtain answers. Whether this perceptible difference in Mr. Mudge's maimer after eight o'clock that evening gave rise to the rumours that he had received an insidt at dinner which preyed on his spirits, and that Captain Blois, who had returned that same evenivfj from Europe, had brought him very distressing inteUigence from his cor- respondents in England, which he read at eight o'clock and turned pale, I know not. It was late in the night when ho returned home, and instead of waiting until the servant could light him up, he procv.eded (contrary to his us\ial custom) in the dark to his chamber; his man followed with candles as speedily as he coulr' " William," said he to his servant, " you can now go to bed, I shall not want you any more to-night," His servant on this retired to rest. Mr. Mudge's residence was situated midway be- tween Colonel Coffin's house and the hotel of Mr. Edward Wright, about fifteen or sixteen feet distant from each. Mr. Wright had a child sick that night, and its cries awakened him so that he rose out of bed a little before midnight — his chamber and Mr. Mudge's were opposite each other. His clock kej)t time Avith the garrison gun, and at the very moment the clock struck the midnight hour, he heard a report which he mistook for thunder, until, lool.ing out and observing that it was a clear, serene, starlight night, he became sensible that it was the discharge of fire-arms he had heard. The skies were calm, and the stars shone bright in the blue vault of heaven. The noise 11 ' .1 ,1 •,» 226 INSANITY — DEATH OF MR. MUDOE. he had listened to was the dcath-knell of a fellow* mortal, whose troubled spirit had at that awful moment fled to the tribunal of Omnipotence. There was then a lijjht burning in Colonel Coffin's window. A Mrs. Hughes, in an adjoining house, states that she thinks she heard the report of fire-arms twice. No one in ]Mr. Mudgc's house heard any noise; and it was only next morning, when the Rev. Charles Matthews called to accompany Mr. Mudge to bathe, that the attendant went up stairs and found his master lifeless on the bed. They then went and informed his Excel- lency, who sent for Dr. Widmer and the coroner. Mr. Mudge had wound up his watcli carefully and hung it as usual at the bed-head, hatl put on his night- cap, and placed his clothes on a chair. His slippers were laid aside — his candle put out — and the room arranged as if the occupant had gone to bed in com- fort. The room door was shut as usual, but not locked ; the bed clothes covered his body, which was placed in the posture of a man lying on his back with the left hand outstretched; on the left side of the corpse, above the bed clothes, lay a small and very handsome ride, with the ramrod firmly grasped in the fingers of the right hand. He must have put the muzzle of the giui in his mouth, and having touched the trigger with the ramrod, thus, while lying on the bed, blown out his brains. The ball was found in the pillow among the leathers, flattened as if it had come in contact with the skuJ ; the brains were blown all over the wall. Instant death must have ensued. It is inferred that the rifle must have been very hard charged, for it had started back half a yard, and md exi Dij thel abol rani lioni busj imi • ,» I I INSANITY — DEATH OF MR. MUDGE. 22"; Ime I all It lard md might have gone farther but for a chest of drawers. No testimony has been given by any one, either to the jury or since, that I have heard of, by which it could appear that the deceased then or at any former period laboured under insanity, or was suspected of being de- ranged. I have good private authority for stating that on the day before his death he had been at one time as jolly and happy to all appearance as at any former period of his life. The jurors must have returned their verdict that *' t he deceased came to his death by shooting himself with a rifle, loaded with powder and ball, during a temporary fit of insanity," upon the principle, that he who destroys himself nuist be for the time under mental derangement, self-preservation beingf nature's first law. I did hear a rumour that he was murdered, but the tale was so extraordinary and withal improbable that I forbear to toll it. There being no apparent cause for his death, we have yet to learn whether he had be- come a convert to Rousseau's extraordinary doctrine published in the L'ter from St. Preaux to Lord Boston — that " by making existence insupportable, God com- mands us to put an end to it. On putting an end to existence, therefore, we only obey the command of the Divinity." Mr. Mudge, as I learn, was nephew to the lady of Sir .John Colborne — he appeared to be about five or six and twenty years of age — held the rank of Lieutenant in the British army, and filled with honour to himself and advantatje to all who had business to do with the head of the government, the important oflfice of confidential secretary to the Lieu- ^ 1 -i .1 I I.. ',: ».' 228 INSANITY DEATH OF MR. MUDGC. tenant -Governor. As a man of business he was methodical, prompt, and decisive; and in liis habits sobriety and love of order were distinguishing cha- racteristics.* Benevolence was visible in his actions: it is understood that for a long period before his death he allowed a former servant who hud fallen into a lingering disease the same wages as when in health in his service, lie was of the middle size, very fair com- plexion; and his countenance, though not what would be termed handsome, was mild, agreeable, and indicative of a contemplative mind. His income, about iiOOl. a-year, was evidently far beyond his expenditure: of pecuniary embarrassment, therefore, I presimie, ho could have known nothing ; and in cases like his, even where a predisposition in the family is admitted, there is almost always a powerful and immediate impelling cause. * " Sure 'tis a curse which angry Fates impose To mortify man's arrogance, tliat those Who 're fashioned of some hetter sort of clajr Mucii sooner than the common herd decay. What bitter pangs must humbled Genius feel. In their last hours, to view a Swift and Steele I How must ill-boding horrors fill her breast When she beholiJs men, marked above the rest For cjualities mo?t dear, plunged from that height. And bunk, deep sunk, in second childhood's night !" Epistle to IVUliam Hogttrlh. 'I 229 ^i i LONDON— THE RIVER THAMES. " T]ie settlement of colonies in uninhabited countries — the establish* ment of those in >ecurity, whose mixfurtunes have made their rountry .10 longer picii^iiig or sufc,— the acquisition of property wilho\it injury to any — the appropriation uf liie wa>te and iuxurliint .ounties uf nature, and the enjoyment of those gifts wliicli Heaven has scattered upon regions uncultivated and unoccupied, cannot he considered without giving; rise to a great nnnilier of pleasing ideas, and bewildering tht imagination in de> lighlful pro.|)ects." — Johnson's Life 0/ Savagt, Loho, Upper Canada, July 27, 1825. * * * * I noticed one of our Scottish lir/ional characteristics copied here, which deserves io be re- corded. More tlian one half the men, women, and children in the London district walk barefooted all the summer season. Opposite Westminster, on the north side of the Thames is the Township of London, one of the best settled in the district.* Adjoining London is Lobo, • The Town of London, the new capital of the London District, had no existence at the lime I w rote. It was desc h^d by Mr. Talbut, in his first number of T/te Sun (1831), as follows : " The Town of London is situated on an elevated piece of land, imme- diately over the River Thames, where its branches unite. Less than five years ago its present site was a cheerle°' wilderness, without a human habitation ; it now numbers upwards of seventy framed houses, verging fast towards completion, some of v iiicn are of a very superior order. The court-house, (built by Mr. Ewart,) which is allowed by strangers to be the finest building in the province, stands within about twenty yards of the brink of the hdl, which may he said to be the bank of the river. It is 100 feet long, 50 feet wide, .ind 50 feet high. The building, aUhough not strictly Gothic, is in that style, and with its octagon towers has much the appearance of tlie ancient castles, so much admired in Great Britain and Ireland. The court room is finished in a very superior manner. The windows, which are six in number, and truly Gothic, are surmounted by , 1 230 LONDON — THE KIVKU THAMES. in which Captain Mafthows, iho nienihor for Middle- sex, resides. His honse is on the north bank of the river, whicli f^hdes j^enlly and in silence, on its way towards I^ake St. Clair. 'J'he elevation of the banks on both sides above the level of the water may here exceed st»venty feet, and the sides are very steep. In the bank below the ho\ise are very remarkable petri* factions. Koots, shrubs, trees. Sec, are I'oinid turned into stone. A s])rin«^ rushes out of the bank at this place, and my conjecture is, that it runs over a bed of sulphate of lime, and that the sidphuric acid contained in the water acts on the or(:;anized botUcs with wiiich it comes in contact at the surface, the water depositing a portion of the lime it holds in solution. IVtrifactions are seen here in every stajj^e, an ex cellenl and valuable bearing orchard; this is worthy of imitation. I hml almosi (^rofotfen to mention Mr. Wilson's staff; it is a crab-tree, ornament'd with a piece of ivory, part of one of the tusks of *}»e celebraied boar imported by Lieutenant-Governor Maitland; the rr .si of the tusk Mr. W. keeps as a relic;. The constitutions of the Canadas are explained so as to oK'-iude the Menonist, the Txnikard, the Quaker, and Moravian brethren from seats in the letjislature, or ortic( s under the government, because these persons, formidable in numbers, wealthy and respectable, con- scientiously affirm, instead of taking an oath. They have only to cross a river half a mile wide to behold persons of their persuasions in the full and peaceful enjoyment of equal rights with the rest of the popula- tion. [Lords Ilowick and Goderich, before leaving the colonial department, expressed a desire to remove these disabilities, and the decision of the House of Commons in the case of Mr. Pease, leaves grovmd for believing that the Quakers and 7'unkards of Canada, w ill soon be placed on a footing with the rest of the community.] Mil 237 UPPER CANADA- -ALBION AND CALEDOX— A HIGH. Lx\ND FAMILY. loon " Weave, brothers, weave ! — ^Toil is ours ; But toil i< the lot of men : One gathers the fruit, one gathers the flowers, One soweth the seed again. 'J'here is not a creature, from England's king, To tlie peasant that delves the soil, Tiiat knows half the pleasures tli» reasons bring, If he have not his share of toil \"—The Weavers'' Song. ♦' Dear Scotia ! o'er the swelling soa, From childhood's hopes, from Irierids, from tliee, On earth, where'er thy oflspring roam, This day their hearts should wander home." Her sons are brave, her daughters fair. Her gowan glens no slave can share ; Then from the feeling never stray, That loves the land that's far away." Sung bij Mr. Maywoud, on St. Andrew's Day, in New VorA. Albion^ August 2, 1831. This is a delightful township, agreeably diversified with hill ana valley, knoll and ravine, forest and clearing. The resident landowners made a very re- spectable appearance at the place of town meeting, Molloy's Mills, and took precisely the same view of public affairs as the people of the other townships; there was just as unanimous an expression of senti- ment, as would be found in the assembly if the people were fairly represented in it. Immense tracts of wild laud are to be met with in Albion, and the town is remarkably well-watered, with an abundance of rapids, mill sites, &c. The oak ridges, or Queenston Moun- tain continuation, run througli to King. The largest cleared farm belongs to Mr. William Wilson, from ' I r) 238 UPIMCR CVXAOA. ; York, in England, who has a conilbrtabk' fraine-hoiiso, and 100 acivs under good cultivafion. Tho Howard family of York have a grist-null, ami Mr. Gcorgo Bolton, an ICnglish settlor, has another. Tliero are several saw-mills, and the growing crop promises fair. On twelve acres of wheat land Mr. Wilson expects this year to reap thirty-five bushels an acre — this is a first crop. 'J'here is in some places wheat damaged with snuit, but perhaps this is owing to bad management. There is no post-ollice in Albion, C'aledon, J'^squosing, Erin, CMiinguacousy, Adjala, Mono, or Tecumseth, although the population is over (J.OOO, it may be over seven.* On the night I stopped in Albion, Mr. W. Wilson, the EngUsh settler, in whose house I slept, had eight sheep and lambs devoured by the v»olves ; and, on the previous Saturday, throe nien, in the far-back township of Mono, were caught in the forest in a storm. They crept below a liollow log for shelter, on which a large tree fell, and crushed them to eleath. Accidents are not unfrcquent in new and remote townships. InMe- lancthon, a distant township, four children, one of them a girl of sixteen, went into the woods in search of a calf, and have not since been heard of. They have doubtless perished with cold and hunger. One half of the settlers in Albion are English, and one half Irish ; there is not a more spirited town, for its size, I believe, on the continent of North America. They love their native land ; they i)ray for its prospe- rity, and that the downfall of its enenues and theirs may be hastened. * Mr. Stayner has attended to the petitions of the freeholders, and established four or five post-oiBces in these townships since I left Canadai a huj I the ALBION AND CALKDON. 239 and jada< Cnlvdon, A itgiist 3 , 1 83 1 . This townsliip is higher and (h*icr than Chiiit^iia- cousy, and fontains a trroat nunihor of clearings, many of them ol thirty, forty, fifty, and some of sixty acres. The ialls of the Crecht, which river is a large and powerful stream in this town, are a lovely romantic spot, ahoiit f(jrty miles from ^'ork. It is impossible adequately to describe the many natural beauties which adorn the banks of this noble river. There is m\ich fine land in Caledon, and in some places great irregu- larity in the sm-face of the earth, the Allegany ridge of momitains running through the town. A post-office in, and good roads leading from the township, are greatly required by the inhabitants. Fortunately for the settlers, there is no tavern ; but imfortunately for them there are but few school-houses, and but one buildinsr for ptiblic worship. Archdeacon Strachan came once to Caledon, but he never came back. I hear that Squire Lemon is at the head of a petition for a Church of England priest to settle in Caledon, and if he does settle, and is able to maintain himself as Mr. M'Millan, the Presbyterian minister, and the clergy of the Me- thodist cluu'ch have to do, I shall wish him every success. A Presbyterian meeting-house is now building : I have heard of no other. The townships of Markham, Albion, Caledon, Vaughan, &c., in York county, contain from eighty to a hundred square miles each. I accompanied Mr. Archibald M'Naughton, one of the Scottish settlers, liome from the town-meeting to \ ' >^ r^wM******"*"'***' K 240 A HIGHLAND FAMILY. andpvoditfe of Ins place • potatoes, new broaa, <.r «o..r 'l)" 8™"'' *' ' „„ fanada mavlc and a,lc.Um-mad. "T^'V^ilfrbei,," tl.c only f"«MS" a'-f^; tea from China^ .l>e la J '^ ; .^,„,i„„ .vceUs, I had except .alt. T)«nng he tl.r. M ^^^^^ j^^^,, „f„„ ,„de on horseback 1* \* "i a,,;„k no .pirH«o- „et tUrongU «i.l. 'he ra • _i, „.«, an ex- ,i.l„or, no nor for >"»" f',X or it. The Scottish periment. I fi"f "'>f ^J^l' 1 brought six children Lmer. «i.h «hom 1 J°^f ';„j ^,Z had other five „Uh him from A^g^ f " ^'^ j ,,even. He -ver lost bom to 1»»>"'C*:'"'^*.7'",;, are all cheerful, and „„o; and, «i,h h,s -^; j'^ „„,,, able roof. After healthy, and happy. "" " ' ,i„\e-honoured usage supper, in accordance ^^rth t ^^^^ jj.y^^ of^Ss country, he ookdo^nth^^ ^^^^^^^^^ his partner m W" 'J;^^"' „„,hered round him, and „ith his numerou f*™' ^^ ,^^ ,„iemn strains of i„,his J-'f/f :T::; a„» from Wslo^lyroof, Scottish melody heard » '^^ ^ . j,, Creator, pre- i„ honour and P™- "^ ^^/„ "„^ ,4 world. The server, and hount.ful ^f"^'';;;;„ u.e sacred volume; eldest son then read a ^»f '"j^^,^,^, ,he services of and -he famrty of '^^ -^'j/;,, ,,, to their God. the day by bo«mg the knee P Surely this is '^n"" '^^ watered, and has a Caledon IS /^'^''^•''''5'p ;„, „„e of the hills. Lake ,,rie.y of '--^^^tU^f intervening country, are Ontario, and the \asi vr«* I JUSTICE SLOAT. 241 said to be distinctly visible. I regretted mucli that my engaoreinent in Chinguacousy prevented me [roni visiting this spot. Some years ago, Mr. Bacon, who had been appointed to the high office of Assessor of the township of Ca- ledon, went to Mr. Justice Sloat to be sworn into office. The old justice was so much in the habit of attesting to land settlement duly oaths, that he took the book, and, presenting it to the new-made functionary, com- menced, " You, M. B., do swear that you have truly and duly performed the settlement duties on lot No. , according to law. So help you God." "Indeed," replied Bacon, " I will swear no such thing ; I am the new assessor of Caledon." " Ah ! rejoined the justice, I did not understand your errand, I thought it was land;" and then he administered the proper oath, and took his fee. The several townships of Uj)per Canada meet on the fii-st Monthly of January, and elect each its own officers for the year, every inhabitant householder and freeholder having a vote. These officers consist of a town-clerk, two town-wardena, an assessor, a collector of rates, overseers of the highways and roads, fence- viewers, a pound-keeper, &c., &c. The voting is open. In the United States it is by ballot, which is far better. Bills to improve the township incorporations have often been lost in thelegislativecouncil, although universally acceptable to the people. I i ■ \ IS M 242 LITER CANADA— YORK AND SIMCOE— NORTH OF THK RIDGES-TIIE HIGHLAND LASSIE. « « * 4. « And whilst the Fates afford Plain plenty to supply the frugal board, Whilst Mirth, with Decency, his lovely bride, And wii\e's gay god, with Temtekance by his side, Their welcome visit pay ; whilst Heai.hi attend* The narrow circle of our chosen friends — Whilst frank Ooou-Humolu consecrates the treat, And Woman makes society complete, — Thus will we live." C/iurchi/i. *' The emigrant will also find, I think, that the physical and pu»iti\c advantages arc more encouraging to the settler in UppcrCanadii, &c. than in the United Slates ; independently of the reluctance that every right- minded Englishman must feel to abandon the colours of his country," — H'llliam Gore Ouseley. •' The Scots are poor ! cries surly English pride ; True is the charge, nor by themselves denied. Are they not then in strictest reason dear, Who wisely come to mend their fortunes here ? Prophectf of Famine, Georgiana, Lake Simcoe, July, 1831. UNguESTiONABLY the country north of the Kidgos lur surpasses the south in beauty. Whitchurch, the east or settled part of King, near Yonge Street, East Gwillimbury and North Gvvillimbury, form one con- tinued settlement; and sucli might have now been all the (jood land in this fertile colony, but for the narrow- minded policy of the goverimient, who have been a tlead weight upon the energies of the country, and the protectors and preservers of wolves and bears, and forests and swamps, and fevers and agues, and bad roads — the gaolers of the people — penning them up I' 1^ UPPER CANADA— YORK AND SIMCOE. 243 r } ' • THK positive li,c. ihan ry hrIiI- ntry."— 1^. gos lai" lie t'liHl Kust ^iic cou- jccu all I narrow - been a laud the irs, ami lud bad leni "1> here and there, and squeezing from tlieir industry a miserable tribute. Where is there in America a lovelier spot of earth than the country nortli of Lake Ontario ? Mr. John Bogart, sen., with whom I breakfasted one morning at his house, situated on one of tlie high- est pieces of table land in Whitchurch, county of York, probably 700 feet above Ontario's margin, was one of the first settlers, and now owns, with his sons and family, a valuable and improving estate. ]3ogart's mills are built on a never-failing stream falling into Lake Simcoe, and a village has been laid out close by. The new mill is a large and extensive flouring esta- blishment, and must have consumed a great capital, Mr. Bogart's son called the town meeting, and the father presided; Mr. Eck, who has a farm and tannery in the next concession, acting as secretary. If those persons in office in England could but enter into the feelings of the farmers here, and properly understand the etlects of their exclusive system, it would be altered. And it will be altered. The meetinor in East Gwillimbury, to petition the king for a redress of grievances, was followed in the evening by many demonstrations of joy ; and the spirited young men of the volunteer amateur musicians, composing the powerful band of the militia regiment, marched up and down the streets of Hope, playing cheerful and enlivening airs. I had the curiosity to count their instruments, and there were three or four clarionets, two French horns, two bassoons, besides German and octave flutes, flageolets, &c. They have also violins M 2 ' ,. ! I 244 NORTH OF THK RIDGKS- THE IIIUIILANU LASSIE. and violc-ncellos, and arc masters of their delightful art. While ridinjj through the Georgiana woods, we lost our way about half an hour before sunset ; thero were many forest tracks, but we could not tell the true one. As we journeyed on, guessing our way, jumping over fallen trees, and wading the creeks as carefully as possible, lest our horses should sink in the mire, a young woman came up, with silver brooch, plaid, bare legs, shoes and stockings in hand, and dressed very plain. Highland Scottish fashion. She spoke very little ]''nglish, and Mr. M'Leod and I had forgot what little (Jaelic we once possessed ; but we ascertained that she had come from (I think) Breadalbane, and was on her way to a relative in Thorah, thirty miles farther back in these woods. Ii would, indeed, be hard, if the distress brought on by the cruel and unfeeling monopolizers of power in Bri- tain and Ireland, v.hich could drive a lass like this 4000 miles off to wander in these deserts to seek an independent home, could be made to reach the emi- grants permanently in America. But it will not — Canada is not lashed alongside of Great Britain like Ireland, to be scourged and oppressed for ages in the name of Jesus Christ, Christianity, and the Protestant religion! And perhaps, too, there is some reality in the Reform Bill. pa I th( Ml saw, had 182' 245 u WILD-LAND TAXES— THE LAKE SIMCOE COUNTRY. •' In truth, the parties of Whig and Tory are those of nature. They exist in all countries, whether called by these names or by those of aristocrats and democrats. — cdtc droit and c6li gauche,— xxXits^s and radi- cals, serviles antrong^, and bold, cherishes them, and is formed a Whig by nature." — Thomas Jefferson. " It is a celebrated notion of a patriot who signally distinguished him- self for the liberties of his country, that a House of Commons should never grant such subsidies as are easy to be raised, and give no pain to the people, lest the nation should acquiesce under a burden they did not feel, and see it perpetuatea without repining." — Addison's Defence of the Act of Parliament fur laying a Tax uf Four Shillings in the Pound on Land.—" Freeholder^' No. XX., Feb. 27, 1716. The fertile township of Brock lies in the rear of Ux- bridge ; and its inhabitants have six tniles of forest- path to pass throtigh before they come to the dreary twelve miles I have mentioned. The woods are taxed; but where are the fruits of the taxation ? — Not, cer- tainly, in improved roads. By the operation of the original wild-lanf' assessment law, the monies received by the treasurers of districts, for the eighth of a penny per acre tax on absentee lands, were ordered to be paid to the overseers of highways in the divisions where the lands lay, who were authorized to repair the high- ways therewith, within the current year ; and to ac- count for the money, on oath, under high pains and penalties in case of perjury. Messrs. John Beverly Robinson, John Strachan, Jonas Jones, Archibald M'Lean, and the rest of our mushroom aristocracy, saw, with regret, that some of the public money had got out of their grasp. They accordingly, ia 1824, repealed the law giving the money to the over- Mi 246 THE LAKE SIMCOE COUNTRY. seers of highways ; and enacted, that it should be given to their cronies, the justices of the peace, whom they could make and unmake at their pleasure ! Thus the law now stands ; and whereas they formerly made the overseers give in an account, upon oath, how they had expended the public money, they took care, in the law of 1824, to require no account from the magistrateH whatever. Mr. Billings, in the last Gazette, inserts an advertisement, dated in July, showing that nearly 1000/. are now in his hands ready to be paid to Judge Robinson's irresponsible justices in this district. Tn the woods of these vast settlements I find wild gooseberries, spikenards, the sassafras, raspberries, brambles, Solomon's seal, ground hemlock, moose or leather-wood, poplar, and heal-all ; partridges in abun- dance; deer, very plenty ; also, now and then to be met with, a black fox, pole-cat, or young bear. There c'lre no snakes of a dangerous kind in the country. 71ie feathered tribe are lesa tuneful than in more northern climes. The settlers assured me that I was the first of their representatives who, to their knowledge, had ever visited that part of the country since the province was settled, although they had often rode fifty or sixty miles to York, to vote for the best candidate. These people petitioned government to allow a bill to pass, enabling them to vote without travelling fifty miles ; but the local authorities make too much by abuses to listen to a voice from the Canadian woods. They will hold the grip until tiie people are strong enough to shake them off*, unless relief comes through the minis- ters of the crown or a reformed parliament. In Brock h . THE LAKE SIMCOE COUNTRY. 247 ( be lom hus ladc they I the rates iserts learly fudge X wikl ervies, lose 01* I abun- V to he There mntvy. \\ move of their Ll ever [wee was ir sixty lliese I to pass, miles ; Lbuses to ['hey will longh to lie minis- [u BrocV are some fine farms ; and Mr. Wixson, a native Ca- nadian, now editor of the " Advocate," at York, is an extensive land-owner, and resident on one of them. GUELPH, UPPER CANADA. '•The labour of converting an American forest into an iiabitaljiL' eounlry is immense." — Dr. DwighOx Travels, •■ Whenever there is a desire either to provide for or to get rid u( any member of a family, to the colonies — the general refugium peccato- fftni — is he sent. Let us reverse this state of things. Suppose, for a moment, that persons from Washington were to be sent over to govern the diflerent districts in this country : they would, of course, comi* here imbued with all their national feeling and national prejudices, and altogether unacquainted with those of this country. How would such a government be relished by the people of England .'' This, however, is the case of the Canadas at this noment." — Alejcander Baring — Par/in- mentartf Debates, 1828. " On general grounds we are pleased to read of these advances in civilization (Guelph) and these conquests, diisimed in vo long time to Ik exclusively the domain of our federal republic. But \'''-\c were to speiik selfishly, we would say that we regret the diversion o' ^Ir. Gall's genius from fiction to reality, — from the construction of roman^^es and novels, to the construction of market-houses and caravanser?s."__iii/. M. Nouk, Customs, New York, I VISITED the Canada Company's town of Guelpli ou the 5th of Sej)tember, 1831 ; it is the seat of the Canada Company's monopoly, and was intended at first as the centre of their operations. Mr. Gaits plans were injudicious, if the Company was meant to be, what it now is, a scourge to a new country., a dr.^in to its means, by giving it no advantage in point of capital, but taking all it can from the people. Bi>.t if Mr. Gait had been furnished with means, liis plans I 1 246 GVELfm, UPPER CANADA. were in general calculated to be productive, especially his bank, which was a very good idea. Doubtless he expended a few thousands uselessly, and paid two prices for many things; but what European could have avoided doing so, if he expended money at all, immediately on coming from England ? Mr. Gait's priory is an elegant design. The house might serve an earl — the rustic work is in character — the grounds Handsome — the spot well chosen, just above the river Speed, a constant stream, over which, here, is an excellent bridge, and below that a grist- mill, which I found Mr. Elgie, an Englishman, em- ployed in putting in order. Round the priory there arc gardens ice-house, well- house, offices, root-house, &c. Mr. Elgie is the only inhabitant ; but from the porch to the inmost parlour press, it is fitted for a prince. The scenery about Guelph is broken and uneven, and therefore interest- ing; the soil good; ^he situation healthy ; the distance from Dundas about twenty-four miles. Guelph town- ship is small — only about 47,000 acres, as I am told ; all is settled but 9000 acres. The population of the township of Guelph is 1050, to which add the villagers, other 300. There are Presbvterian, Catholic, and Episcopalian churches, on the way or finished ; there are no magistrates nor courts in the township; the maple stump and raiUng, with the sim-dial, where the first tree was cut down, when Mr. Gait left ott' building castles in the air at .Jock's Lodge to com- mence the caravanseras of Guelph, is still shown — they should paint it ; it is surrounded with a rail, being the first tree cut in the cittj, and surmounted by the n 1 Uvhere left off com- -they being Iby the OUKLPH, UPPER CANADA. 249 sun-dial. Five or six roads terminate \a Guelph, which stands probably 800 feet above Lake Ontario. In the mill are lour run of stones ; two for raerchant tlour, one for country flour, and one for oatmeal. The Company'o manager here gets, I understand, only 25/. a year' lu Eramosa township, back of Guelph, a Mr. Johnsoi had cleared 50 acres ; the three brothers Armstrong, 50 each; Nelson, 60 to 80; Parkinson, about 100; and Smith nearly 60. Mr. Gait's bank- ing-house stands empty ; it is in a very damp situation, and noiild have rotted the notes had the circulation been dilatory. It is of stone. The Company's school- house, taught by Mr. Matthews, is capacious, and also of stone. Mr. Matthews adjourned his school to make room for the meeting to petition for more liberal institutions. Mr. Akiii, merchant, Guelph, took the chair; and the late Mr. James Keogh, town- clerk of the township, acted as secretary. The York proceedings were adopted, and it was resolved, among other things, that the Canada Company, as con- stiiuted for the gain of a few, was a great e "il. Jones, the Company's agent in York, was enraged at the whole proceedings, and threatened Mr. Akin and others with the veugeance of the monopoly, on his visit to Guelph some time after. This nad the eft'tct of inducunjj those fariners who are in de'ot to the agents to exercise caution, lest their opinions might prove their ruin. The Guelphs, however, addressed the King, and sent their petition with the others. I M 5 250 UPPER CANADA— SEVEN YEARS IN GAOL. •' Partout oil des hommes en veulent opprimer il'aulres, il y a violence, liesordre, et cause de desordre : partout ou iiul n'affecte de pretentions clominatrices, partout il y a liberie, il y a repos et gage de surete,"— Dunoyer, " Oppression, willing to appear An object of our love, not feai, Or at tlie most a reverend awe To breed, usurped the garb of Law. A book she lield, on wliich her eyes Were deeply fixed, whence seemed to r; te Joy in her breast; a bonk, of migiif Most wonderful, wliich black to white Could turn, and, without help of laws, Coulil make tlie worse the better cause." The Duellist. A rooR man named Jonah Broum, who had reahzed n small property on the St. Lawrence frontier, got into contact with tlie Messrs. Jones there, and that in- llnential fam/y hurled him into the " whale's helly " v( the law. Hear his statement, as published in the Upper Canada tnnvspapers : — " A baililf was employed to take tne on a Ca. Sa. who was a stranger to me. The first thing ho did was to strike me on the head, and after- ward,-, clenched me. I disengaged myself from him ; but on hearing som one say that he had a lawful authority (o take me, I told him if he wo\dd show it, I was ready to go with him, (Mr. Howard, a former member of })arliament, was present;) but he refused to ^how any authority, and J, not knowing him to be any kind of leiral otticer, refused to "o with him, &c. Jt was on the 5th Nu\ ember, 1821, 1 was taken, and put /or tioj pn( awJ ofil 'Didl set 'he ^ SEVEN YEARS IN GAOL. 251 ence, itions ,«. liist. realized got into tliat in- s boUy " Upper |.<_\ to take nie first ^id after- t-om liiiT^ ; a lawful show it. a former I refused to lo be any 1, &e. 1^ Ivi, and pwt into Brockville gaol, and on the 10th day of January I was ordered to York to take my trial for an escape from the sheriff, &c., and fined 10/. and costs; but being unable to pay it, I have remained a close prisoner for^ue years and a half. Now, sir, I have been an inhabitant of this country for forty years, in the course of which time I have seen men tried for various high crimes, such as gaol-breaking, treason, rape, and murder; but I never saw any man but myself confined for fi\(' or six years, without ever having been tried bel'ore twelve men of his comitry,'"' &c. The law kept poor Jonah about seven years from his wife and children, shut rip in ^ ork gaol, and, if I re- member rifjht, only released iiini when it had obtained all he and his ehihhvn had in the worlii! In 1830, the people of the Gore District complained to the legislature, that they suffered severely by " the enormous expenses which at pre^fMit are attendant on the prosecution for small demands, in the several courts of justice in this province ; and that they behold with deep regret the suff«M-ings of the unfortunate debtor, who is impoverished by a bill of costs, I're- (piently amounting to dhuble or even treble the s\mi for which he was justly indebted : and that your i)eti- tioners are fully convinced that unless some more prudent mode is adopted, poverty or immediate ruin awaits a number of \ho most enterprising inhabitants of this colony." Other districts complained in equally strong language — but what could we do ? The Legislative Council and the judges, — a sort of family government, — had set their faces against every useful improvement, and the Assembly had no efficient control over the execu- 252 THE CHOLERA IN AMERICA. live council. Many trials have been made to simplify law process, but all in vain. I introduced a bill into the House of Assembly for the better reoulation of certain fees in the law, a few months before my de- parture for this coiuitry. It would have been a great relief to many, and the Assembly passed it, every one voting in its favoiu* but ISIr. Ilagerman and another. Mr. II. told the House that if he could not stop it there, it could be sto])ped elsewhere ; and he was right. The Legislative Coimcil threw it out at once. So it lias been in many other cases, as may be seen v^hen- evtr ihe colonial office shall send to tlie House of Com- mons the returns moved for last August, and again, last February, by Mr. Hume. TUli CHOLKRA IN AMERICA. '• Their steps were graves ; o'^r prostrate realms they trod." Mofilgomery. A RKLATioN of my wife's, who happened to be at Montreal, waiting for a passage to London during the 'hrce worst weeks of the cholera in that city, com- municated to me the following particulars: — The situation of the poorer classes of emigrants was in the h''"htst degree distressing. Hundreds of them lay, night after night, for a fortnight together, upon the hard stones, with tiieir blankets; nor would the commodore allow a single boat to carry them up to Kiiigston, for fear of still more spet (lily spreading the contagion. In Quebec, not a few sold their clothes in order to obtain the means of returning to Liirope, and many died : the remains of 140 persons had been Th ford r ' ti THE CHOLKRA IN AMERICA. 253 s was them \ipon lid tlic up to ng the thes in pc, and \ been interred in one hole, or grave, in the Montreal bury ing- ground, when my friend went to see it, and forty corpses lay ready for burial. Several of the Catholic priests were among the victims. Nothing could exceed the kindness and attention which was paid by this priesthood to the sick ; everything that men could do to alleviate suffering, they did. At the commence- ment, the Presbyterian and Episcopalian churches were shut up, but there was service in the Methodist and Catholic churches. The latter were open night and day. My friend was informed that the following experi- ment was made : — A piece of fresh wholesome beef was placed on the top of one of the Catholic new ca- thedral church spires, and taken down after an hour and twenty minutes, in a tainted and corrupt state. Lime was distributed iu the city, and plentifully used. Insj)cctors went round the city every day, in the morning, to enfoi'^e cleanHness; every one you met hud a piece of camphor in hand ; and, in St. Paul's Street, pots of pitch and rosin were kept burning at every door, to purify the atmosphere. Tiie field-pieces were brought from St. Helen's, and fired, in order to produce a more pure atmosphere; and as the mortality continued to increase, many were interred, and business was almost at a stand. Day by day the death-cart, with a yellow flag and a boy, went round for the dead, with deal boxes nailed together coarsely, in lieu of coffins ; but in the outskirts of the city the mortality was much less than in the thickly populated part. There was a doctor who came into the city, and per- formed many cures', by some very simple process. The 1 254 THE CHOLERA. IN AMERICA. citizens made him a handsome present. The Indians in Caughnawaaga sutlercd severely in their numbers, although in the country around the deaths were nt few. The disease has now abated in North Am* ;, but, while it raged, in no other part were its devatsta- tions so extensive as in Lower Canada. This is ascribed by some to the inmiigration from Europe. As for my part, I am vniable to render a reason. The cholera has taken otl' several thousand persons in the great maritime cities of North America, and has continued its ravages into the interior of Canada and the United States. It commenced at Quebec. In a very able and full report, by Dr. Beck of Albany, made to the governor of New York State, on the 14th of August last, are these statements : — " Jun(^ 8, 1832. — On this day the first case of cholera was reported to have occurred at Quebec, where it continued to rage for several weeks. " June 9. — The first case reported at Montreal. It was that of an emigrant on board the steam-boat Voyageur, from Quebec. On the 10th there was another case from the vessel. Same night several natives were taken ill. According to Dr. Nelson, several cases of choUna occurred in the early part of April, after which the disease disappeared, and broke out again in a mild form about the first of June. He states that, in many instances, several in a famil\ were attacked ; but the clergy, physicians, and those who were in attendance on the sick, unless rendered sus- ceptible by over-exertion, generally escaped." Dr. Beck continues his account of the progress of the disorder at great length ; he then remarks, that — t; M I THE CHOLERA IN AMERICA. 255 rress oi that— :1 "In reviewing this table, it will be observed that the disease has generally passed from place to place along the main channels of communication. Wherever cted city or vil- h the disease 1 •<' vicinity. t» les, it gra- it has prevailed to any extent, the lage appears to become a centre f is communicated to ditl'erent, pi • Thus, from Montreal and Quebec, dually spread into various parts ol Canada, following the course of emigration. Cases also appeared on the line of our northern canal, and at different points on Lake Champlain. In most of the villages on the Ca- nadian side of the St. Lawrence, and of Lake Ontario, where the tide of emigration has been uninterrupted, the cholera has occurred ; while, on the American side — where, since the breaking out of the disease at Montreal, all conmiunication with the Canadus has been stopped — not a case has been reported except at Ogdensburgh, and one or two other points on the St. Lawrence, where the intercourse could not be so completely interrupted. " Again, when the disease was once located at Albany, boatmen and others leaving the city were at- tacked in various places, both on the line of the canal and elsewhere ; and ^ it appeared to radiate from this as a centre. The same fact has also been observed at New York, from which, by travel, the disease has been communicated to cities and villages in the vicinity, and even at some distance." The American journals are filled with remarkable statements respecting the cholera, one of whic'. 1 select from the Philadelphia Gazette. The wedf'ing must have been a mournful one : — " Among the singular circumstances which we have i IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I lti|2B |2.5 H: m ^ " lis IIIIIM I. ^ iim L25 1.4 1.6 4 6" ► Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. US80 (716)a72-4S03 4' W '^ ;■-■. Vit,^^, •U'7K^is*rw^T.asn.jL 256 THE CHOLERA IN AMERICA. seen recorded, as connected with the cholera, we may mention the following, which we have received from the most unquestionable authority. We copy it from a letter before us, dated Princeton, (N. J.) August 24. We present the initials, but omit the full names of the parties. * Dr. S r, of Pennington, was seized with it (the cholera) on Monday night last, and on Tuesday, when in a collapsed state, ha was married to Miss W g, to whom he had been engaged for some time past, in order that she might inherit his property." The appearance of the cholera greatly frightened the Washington folks. In Loiidon it was recommended by some physicians to abstain from unripe fruits, but the Americans went much farther than this, for the Board of Health of W^ashington prohibited, for ninety days, the sale of the following articles in the market : — " Cabbage, green corn, cucumbers, peas, beans, parsnips, carrots, (^g plant, cimblins or squashes, pumpkins, turnips, water-melons, cantelopes, musk- melons, apples, pears, peaches, plums, damsons, cher- ries, apricots, pine-apples, oranges, lemons, limes, cocoa-nuts, ice-cream, fish, crabs, oysters, clamis, lob- sters, and crawfish ! ! " ii' 'i\ REGISTERING TITLES TO LANDED ESTATES. Conveyances of real estates in North America are simplified as much as possible in most of the states of the Union ; and, even according to the more complex and tedious custom adopted in Upper Canada, where .;VI REGISTKRING TITLES TO LANDED ESTATES. 257 the English law of descent obtains, the transfer of landed property is a matter of much less cost and trouble than in England. In most of the states and colonies, conveyances of real estates are required to be put on record ; but the mode, and time, and manner of registration varies, according to the laws and usages of each state ov province. I perceive, by a late par- liamentary paper, that neither Mr. Alexander Baring nor (I think) Mr, Ellice were able to state with accu- racy, to a committee of the Commons, the mode of recording deeds, altliough those gentlemen have a great interest in land in the new world. Mr. Ellice has estates both in Canada and the United States ; Mr. Baring has also a large inheritance in the Union. The state of New York being, as I have before said, the largest in the Union, and its code of laws the result of ages of unfettered legislation, I select its mode of registration of estates for the information of the English reader. The electors — that is, the people — once in every three years elect (by ballot, as in all other cases) a county clerk for each county in the state, which is care- fully subdivided, from time to time, so as to exclude Lancashires, Yorkshires, Rutlands, Nairns, and other counties, either too large or too small for the public convenience. The county clerk, so elected, has certain prescribed duties laid down in the statute-book ; gives security for the due performance of those duties ; and may appoint a deputy, who, in case of the death of his principal, is subject to the same responsibilities and entitled to the same emoluments as a county clerk, until a new clerk shall be elected and sworn into office. ■ I M I ,- ' ' i 258 REGISTERING TITLES TO LANDED ESTATES. Every conveyance of real estate, situated within the state of New York, must be recorded in the office of the clerk of the county where the land lies ; and every conveyance not so recorded is void in law, as against any subsequent purchaser, in good faith and for a valuable consideration, of tlie same real estate or any part oi it, ^.'iose conveyance shall be first put on re- cord. The county clerks are bound to keep two sets of books ; one for recording deeds absolute in their terms, the other for the registration of mortgages, securities, and all conditional deeds. To entitle any conveyance to be put on record by any coimty clerk, it must be acknowledged by the party or parties exe- cuting the same, or proved by a subscribing witness, if within the state, before the chancellor, justices of the supreme court, circuit judges, supreme court com- missioners, judges of county courts, mayors and re- corders of cities, or commissioners of ' ?ds for a city or county. If proved out of the statv id within the United States, certain judges, within their respective jurisdictions, may receive the ^;roofs. If ihe party to such conveyance be within Great Britain or Ireland, it may be acknowledged or proved before the Lord Mayor of London, or the chief magistrate of Dublin, or of Edinburgh, or of Liverpool, or before the United States consul in London : such proof to be duly certi- fied under the hand and official seal of such mayor, magistrate, minister, or charge des affaires. There is another mode of proof for foreign conveyances : — proof may be oflfered before any person specially authorized for that purpose, by a commission from the Court of Chancery, to be issued to any reputable person residing n the ice of every gainst for a >r any on re- \'0 sets 1 their tgages, tie any ;lerk, it es exe- vvitness, stices of irt com- and re- )r a city thin the ispective party to Ireland, Ihe Lord Dubhn, United ily certi- mayor, There is : — proof ithorized Court of residing KEGISTERINO TITLES TO LANDED ESTATES. 259 in or going to the country where the proof is to be taken. The officer who takes an acknowledgment of the execution of a conveyance is required to have had satisfactory proof that the person making the acknow- ledgment is the person described in, and who made the conveyance. No acknowledgment of a married woman is lawful, unless she acknowledge, on a private examination, that she has signed and delivered such conveyance freely and without fear of her husband. The proof of a subscribing witness is not to be taken unless he is known to the officer, or has satisfactory evidence that he is the person who was such witness. Every officer who shall take the proof of any con- veyance is required to endorse antl with oy, the he pur- liver, in ing last, lot at a whistle, unately, Gower, of being ig some- deer, he lis,) and sed him id young the next to go to lody by Dr. Wiley, on the 13th instant, and the verdict of the jury was ' accidental death.' " The case of Mr. Grant is truly afflicting. The banns of marriage had been published betwee.^ him and the female of his choice, and he was to have been married on Sunday. But mark the change ! he was shot on Thursday night, an inquest was held on his body on Saturday night, and he was buried on Sunday. A most affecting and appropriate discourse was deli- vered on the occasion by the Rev. Mr. Webster, who was on that day to have performed the marriage cere- mony." THE TAME DEER. June 10, 1827. — An Indian woman, living in or about York, Upper Canada, has reared a young deer, lor some time, with much maternal tenderness. She sold it lately to a storekeeper's wife in the market square, to whose house she goes every day, and allows the beautiful little animal to suck her breasts. Yes- terday I beheld the squaw sitting whh her child at one breast, and the young deer sucking the other. Its fore-paws were placed on the pap, paddle paddling in a very playful manner, while it eagerly received the nourishment usually appropriated exclusively to infants. In the third volume of Baron Humboldt's personal narrative, p. 46, he states that Lagano, a labourer, suckled his own child for five months, and that the quality of the milk was good ; also, that a lie-goat was milked every other day, in Hanover, for a great number of years. I like to see droll sights, and I remember three I { 1 (1 i 1 • r.'i ■ ■ "\ '/ 264 FIFTY ITEMS. in the winter of 1825. The first was a couple of calves, in harness, drawing a sleigh, and guided by an Indian boy in the Indian woods. The second, a boy harnessing two docile sheep to a wood sleioh, in Ilal- dimand. The third, a goat in harness, drawing a sleigh, in which were three children, near Kingston. THE CAT AND KITTKNS. My friend Mr. Wixson communicated the following curious fact in natural history, last August : — An old cat, at Mr. Abraham Losie's, in the township of Pickering, Upper Canada, having been killed about six weeks ago, leaving several kittens, the children took the kits to the house. Mr. Losie had a small bitch, which had, about a year before, had a litter of pups, but was, of course, dry at the time. She adopted the kits, which, sucking her, brought her to her milk, and she raises and caresses them as her own offspring : she will even return from following any of the family, of which she used to be very fond, and take care of and nourish her adopted charge. Query — Does not this afford us a useful hint how to conduct ourselves towards the helpless orphan ? ili i.'i AN UPPER CANADA FARMER. While travelling in Pickering, about twenty-six miles from York, Upper Canada, in July, 1831, 1 took notes as follow : — In the rear of the residue of the Elmsley tract, the land becomes agreeably diversified with hill and dale ; m lie of ly a« L boy Hal- ing a on. llowing wnsbip 1 about cbildren a small litter of adopted \er millv> flspring •• family. care of hint bow \an? -six miles ook notes I tract, the md dale; FIFTY ITEMS. 265 and the clearings creeks, orchards, and farmsteads, gladden and relieve the eye. Mr. Thomas Hubbard's wheat and rye, as I passed up on the 22d July, were dead ripe, and they were cradling. The crop was abundant, and the grain plump. About ten miles back from the street, on the Brock road, is the farm of Mr. Joseph Wixson, who presided at the town meeting — a lovely, healthy spot of ground, high above the lake, well-watered, the soil excellent, the clearing very large, and in the best cultivation; the garden, and orchard, and house, and offices, besj)eaking wealth and comfort. Four hundred acres in his homestead, and wool-carding, weaving, dyeing, and spinning, were carrying on within doors, while the harvesting was in progress without. For twenty years and upwards Mr. Wixson told me ho had lived in this spot, almost secluded from society by the vast forests which surrounded him. He now begins to get neighbours. Well, well do the persons in authority here know, that but for their sys- tem, persevered in for an age, ten times the present number of such farmers rrsiight have been now con- suming British and British West India goods, and giving their wheat and provisions in exchange, instead of Canada importing from New York and Ohio. Mr. Wixson accompaiiicd me to Uxbridge. THE CANADIAN DOO. Mr. Lamb communicated to me the following anec- dote, 25th February, 1831: — A slut belonging to Mr. Taylor, late of the H umber Mills, who stopped behind when he removed to the west country, had four N 1 I i 3 26« FIFTY ITEMS. pups. He happened to be passing by soon after, and took the old cur and two of her young ones home with him in the sleigh, a distance of full three miles. The animal, it would appear, did not relish her new residence, for she set out in the night, or very early in the following morning, carrying her two young ones through the deep snow to the place from whence they had been taken by Mr. Taylor. It is believed here, that she must have carried one a short distance, left it upon some dry sheltered spot of ground and gone back for the other, and continued this mode of con- \eyance until she reached home. I suppose that each of the pups weighed 6 lbs. ; and it is evident they could not have travelled, for they were quite dry. On her arrival, she lodged her offspring in an ashes-box until she found open doors to carry them in. Such maternal affection as was shown by this brute animal forms a remarkable contrast to the inhumanity of some mothers endowed with reason. THE BEARS. Bears are both numerous and troublesome in the unsettled country on the banks of Lake Simcoe, north of Vork, Upper Canada. The following extract of a letter to the Rev. James Richardson, York, would indicate that bear-hunting affords good sport : — " Narrows, Lake Simcoe, 11th Sept. 1832. " For some weeks past, frequent complaints have been made by unarmed travellers of the number and V)oldness of bears, making their appearance on the III ad ncie les. lew r in »nes hey lerc, !ft it crone con- civch they . On .s-box Sucli ininia^ ity of in the north let of a would 1832. ts have jer and on the FIFTY ITEMS. 267 road leading across the portage from the Narrows to Coldvvater; seldom giving the road or showing any timidity. " On Tliursday, 13th inst., one of our Indians who is an excellent hunter, and marksman, went out quite early in the morning to reconnoitre. The hunter soon observed a large stately bear approaching him with boldness; ho reserved his fire until the bear approached within a few paces of the muzzle of his gun, when he shot him dead. The hunter then pursued on, and within a few hours, shot seven ; five of which were large warlike old ones, and two vigorous cubs." Mr. Buel of Brockville relates the following story of an encounter with a bear which took place last year : — " Mr. Peter Orr, a native of Paisley, Scotland, ac- companied by his brother and another young man, having been to purchase scythes, on the I8th August, near to M'Nab township, on the Ottawa or Grand River, on their return home, coming up the river in a small birch canoe, saw a bear swimming across, which they ventured to attack. Tlie bear immediately swam towards them, when one of them struck it across the shoulder with a scythe; this caused the bear to go under water for a short time, and on his second appearance he was struck on the nose, which caused him to yell horribly. The young man who struck the bear being startled, leaned too far back- wards and upset the canoe ; by this means Peter was drowned, the other two clung to the canoe till she. drifted ashore. The bear was wounded and killed soon afterwards. The body was not found till the 27th Attgust, near to the place he fell in. He has left an V' \ '; '1 i N 2 268 FIFTY ITEMS. aged mother with a number of friends to bewail his loss." NATURAL CURIOSITIES. In October, 1825, I visited one of the greatest natu- ral curiosities in the Niagara District, Ball's mills in the township of Clinton. The waterfall at Ball's mills is over a ledge of rocks, seventy or eighty feet perpendicular. The view from the mill was highly interesting. There is another of these Upper Canada cataracts, which would form a fine subject for the pencil of the artist, namely, the fall at the brow of the mountain above Dundas village, which is much greater than that at Ball's mills. The wild, irregular, broken hill and dale country about Dundas heightens the beauty of the waterfall. But there is a wonder in nature I have not yet seen, but which I hope to be able to visit next summer, — I mean the Pictured Rocks of Lake Superior, of which we have the following account from the pen of Mr. Lewis Cass, late governor of Michigan : — " Upon the southern coast of Lake Superior, about fifty miles from the falls of St. Mary, are the immense precipitous dirts, called by the voyagers, Le Portrail and the Pictured Rocks. This name has been given to them in coi sequence of the different appearances which they present to the traveller as he passes their base in his canoe. It requires little aid from the ima- gination to discern in them the castellated tower and lofty dome, spires and pinnacles, and every sublime, grotesque, or fantastic shape, which the genius of architecture ever invented. These cliffs are an un- FIFTY ITBhiB. 2G9 broken mass of rocks, rising to an elevation of 300 feet above the level of the lake, and stretching along the coast for fifteen miles. The voyagers never pass this coast except in the most profound calm ; and the Indians, before they make the attempt, offer their ac- customed oblations, to propitiate the favour of their manitons. The eye instinctively searches along this eternal rampart for a single place of security ; but the search is in vain. With an impassable barrier of rocks on one side, and an interminable expanse of water on the other, a sudden storm upon the lake would as inevitably ensure destruction to the passenger in his frail canoe, as if he were on the brink of the cataract of Niagara. The rock itself is a sandstone, which is disintegrated by the continual action of the waters with comparative facility. There are no broken masses upon which the eye can rest and find relief. The lake is so deep, that these masses, as they are torn from the precipice, are concealed beneath its waters until they are reduced to sand. The action of the waves has undermined every projecting point; and there the immense precipice rests upon arches, and the foundation is intersected with caverns in every direction. ** When we passed this mighty fabric of nature, the wind was still and the lake was calm. But even the slightest motion of the waves, which in the most pro- found calm agitates these internal seas, swept through the deep caverns with the noise of distant thunder, and died away upon the ear, as if rolled forward in the dark recesses inaccessible to human observation. No sound more melancholy or more awful ever vibrated 1 I \' 1 -i J-- 1 270 FIFTY ITEMS. IN upon human nerves. It has left an impression which neither time nor distance can ever efface. Resting in a frail bark canoe upon the limpid waters of the lake, we seemed almost suspended in air, so pellucid is the element upon which we floated. In gazing upon the towering battlements which impended over us, and from which the smallest fragment would have destroyed us, we felt, and felt intensely, our own insignificance. No situation can be imagined more appalling to the courage, or more humbling to the pride of man. We appeared like a speck upon the face of the creation. Our whole party, Indians and voyagers, and soldiers, officers, and servants, contemplated in mute astonishment the awful display of creative power, at whose base we hung ; and no sound broke upon the ear to interrupt the ceaseless roaring of the waters. No splendid cathedral, no temple built with human hands, no pompous worship could ever impress the spectator with such humility, and so strong a conviction of the immense distance be- tween him and the Almighty Architect. " The writer of this article has viewed the Falls of Niagara, and the passage of the Potomac through the Blue Bridge, two of the most stupendous objects in the natural features of our country. The impression they produce is feeble and transient, compared with that of the * Pictured Rocks'* on Lake Superior." UPPER CANADA PAPER-MILLS. York, August 9, 1827. — About three miles out of town in the bottom of a deep ravine, watered by the river Don, and bounded also by beautiful and verdant ■ '■\ I ^;\ ' FIFTY ITEMS. 271 flats, are situated the York paper-mill, distillery, and grist-mill, owned by Messrs. Eastwood and Co. ; also Mr. Shepard's axe-grinding machinery, and Messrs. Helliwell's large and extensive brewery. I went out to view these improvements a few days ago, and re- turned much gratified with witnessing the paper ma- nufacture in active operation — as also the bold and pleasing scenery on the banks of the Don. The river might be made navigable with small expense up to the brewery, and if the surrounding lands were laid out in five acre lots all the way to town they would sell to great advantage. There are two or three other paper-mills in the province. lout of )y the lerdant MAPLE SUGAR. I have sometimes been present and assisted at an operation carried to great extent in both Canadas, I mean sugar-making. I have also seen the concen- trated cyder, made by freezing a barrel of the common, and obtaining the spirituous liquid that remains in the centre, inside. A great part of the sugar consumed by the farmers is got from the maple tree — the Indians boiling it for \ise and sale, as well as the English. The juice is allowed to run from the trees into coarse wooden troughs, collected from time to time in pails, and boiled in the woods, " at the sugar bush," which if watched night and day in the season, and the fires kept continually burning. I am very fond of maple sugar, and as for maple molasses, it is by many considered more de- licious than honey. li' /\ \i\ I 272 PIFIY ITEM». DOING TWO THINGS AT ONCE. Mr. M'Grath, the church missionary of Toronto, Upper Canada, married a couple one day in his vestry- room, of the names of Price and Hahon. At the con- clusion of the ceremony, he pulled out of his pocket a political address in favour of the colonial function- aries, and containing much ahuse of myself, and begged the signatures of the wedding party to it. The address has since been sent to England, MARRIAGE OF A CATHOLIC PRIEST. While in New York, in April, 1832, a Baptist minister related to me the foUowinjj curious anecdote; *' Seven years ago be had lawfully married one of the Catholic priests of that city, agreeably to the statutes of the State and the usages of the Union. The marriage was kept strictly private ; the lady had two fine children to her clerical benedict ; thoy were happy and contented, the priest concealing the nature of their connexion lest he should lose his office. He died suddenly while I was in New York, the church took hold or were about to take hold of his temporal wealth, and the lady his wife waited on my informant as evidence to enable her to obtain his property for his children. The clergyman assured me that she would fully succeed. Had, however, the church of Rome been established as part and parcel of the law, she must have failed, and her children come to poverty. Indeed a lawyer to whom I mentioned the circumstance doubted whether the rule of the church he belonged to FIFTY ITKMS. 273 would not apply to the deceased priest's property even in America. By and by, it is to be hoped the church of Rome will allow its priests to marry. Why not ? Many of the Levites, priests, prophets, apostles, preachers and teachers under the Old and New Testa- ment dispensations were married men. •1 A HUSBAND AND SLAVE. A late number of the The Charleston (South Caro- lina) Patriot mentions the case of a slave, named William, the husband and property of Mary Douglass, a free-coloured woman, who was tried on the 4th, and executed on the 17th of August, for having wounded two white men. It thus appears that the laws of South Carolina allow a free woman to marry the slave whom she may have inherited or purchased with money ; and that after the marriage his bondage may be con- tinued. It follows, I presume, that the free woman may sell the slave her husband. What then will be the state of the parties? Will the sale amount to a divorce in law ? Can a woman, luuler such circum- stances, marry another slave, and sell and divorce him also? 1 X 4 A PROCESSION OF AFRICANS. One day in April, 1832, I met in the streets of New York a procession entirely composed of coloured people, with drums, trumpets, and a band of music; — there were hundreds of them — some bearing banners, others flags, and all decorated with badges, sashes, ribbonsj &c. I felt pleased and gratified at their N 5 ! 1. 274 FIFTY ITEMS. u contented, joyous bearing, and hope that the day may soon come, in wtiich the task-master shall no more dare to lift his whip to the unhappy African ; and in which man shall cease 1» possess the power to buy, and sell, and torture his fellow-man. The philan- thropic Clarkson's worthy name was inscribed on the insignia of one of the societies composing the proces- sion. Were I a person of colour, and felt is I now feel, I would never rest nor cease my efforts until the last badge of degradation and inequality had been taken from the necks of my countrymen. Mr. Gore Ousley, attached to the British legation at Washington, speaking from his own observation, says, that " If an individual, concentrating the wisdom and virtues of every age in his own person, and inhe- riting th qualities of a Socrates, an Alfred, a Gus- tavus Vasa, and a Washington combined, were born with a negro skin in the United States, I do not think that he would ever be allowed a perfectly social equality with a white scoundrel. The consequence of this ar- tificial and unjust social degradation, is not unfre- quently a real debasement, which often renders the free-coloured population comparatively unprofitable members of society." THE BELL OF BATAVIA. The large and elegant Episcopal church of St. Jame8*'s in Batavia, New York State, got in debt to a carpenter for repairs, and refused to pay him, being out of funds. He prosecuted them, obtained a verdict, and seized the church-bell in execution, as is shown in FIFTY ITEMS. 275 r ■ ^ \i the following advertisement, the original of which is in my possession. It is no wonder that our Episcopalian colonial priests are afraid of Yankee practices. The Chief Justice would stare if he saw Dr. Strachan's bell rung for its own sale, by Baird, the deputy sheriff*. The American laws allow churches to be sold as well as other property, if they contract debts and refuse payment — which is very proper; — and the man who caused the writ to be served, stated, that if they did not raise enough by the sale of the bell, they would vendue Bible, prayer-book, parson's cushion, and all. The following is a correct copy of Sheriff" Thomp- son's advertisement : — = " Sheriff's sale. — By virtue of two writs of fieri facias, I have seized and taken the goods and chattels of the wardens and vestrymen of St. James's church, to wit, one bell ; which I shall expose for sale at public vendue, on the 2d day of February next, at ten o'clock in the forenoon, at St. .lames church, in the town of Batavia : dated January 25, 1827. " Wm. R. Thompson, Sheriff. " H. Thompson, Deputy.'* I A of St. Ibt to a 1, being ;erdict, kown in BUNDLINOW This custom, once common in some parts of the Canadas and the United States, seems to have arisen originally from the poverty of the early settlers, and their having scanty accommodations. A young man visits a young woman to court her for marriage, and is allowed to sleep with her, each keeping on a part of their clothes. I'liis custom is fast passing away. t I VJ.*! i'/r^ ■ x'-'l * P ■ 276 FIFTY ITEM9. .1! ■li! MILITIA TRAINING. In the course of a debate in the House of Assembly of Upper Canada, on the 5th of February, 1828, Cap- tain Matthews " enquired what good eftect had arisen from militia trainings ? — the people assembled from various parts of the country, and on reaching the ground a spectator would find beer kegs and whiskey kegs, and the people drinking and stimiilating them- selves with ardent spirits ; the officers and men often make fools of themselves going through a few ma- noeuvres they know very little about. Then comes the whiskey again. The officers go to some tavern and fall to drinking, and the men profit by their example. The question is perhaps asked, of how many men are absent, and how many present, and there the matter ends. The officers, he understood, were under the direction of the magistrates, and if a vagrant, as dis- orderly as may be found, will allow a magistrate to get in his debt, that vagrant will very soon become a militia officer : he did not speak at random ; no, he could pro- duce instances in his own county. Again, these officers have such odd ways ; one of them put a gun under his (Captain M's.) horse's legs at a training, and fired it off, at the risk of breaking his neck. It was also customary to fire off a gun as near a person's ear as possible, just to see if he would start ! (^Laughter.) The learned doctor from Lincoln had, on a former f ccasion, advocated more days of training and fewer of statute labour, and he should not wonder if that gentle- man were to advocate war by-and-by :-^he had reaped a rich harvest from it,'* {Laughter.) FIFTY ITKMS. 277 There is doubtless something of caricature in the captain's sketch, which I copied at the moment. \ \ i \ MR. PRESERVED FISH. Many of the names of persons and places in the United States are very curious, and not seldom ab- surd and ridiculous. It is the same in England. One of the principal merchants in the city of New York is a Mr. Preserved Fish. Although now the principal of an extensive mercantile house, he was formerly the humble owner and skipper of a small trading schooner, respecting which the following anecdote is told : — " Mr. Preserved Fish was carrying a cargo of pickled fish to Baltimore, when he was hailed by a large ship, and the following dialogue ensued : — ' What ship ? '— ' The Preserved Fish.' * What captain ?' — * Preserved Fish.' ' What owner ? ' — ' Preserved Fish.' ' What cargo ? ' — • Preserved Fish.' * Ay, ay, we know the cargo : but what's your cap- tain's name?' — ' Preserved Fish: — bound for Balti- more. The Liberty Days and Freedom Kings, of America, have their counterparts in Europe, but the inquiry is not worth the trouble it would give one to procure a full and true list of them. DOMESTIC MANUFACTURES. The editor of the Baltimore Visitor gave the follow- ing anecdote last year, under the above head :— k:l 278 FIFTY ITEMS. *' A gentleman of our acquaintance, now in this city, a Virginian by birth, has * done the state some service.' He is but thirty-two years of age, and is the father of fifteen children. He married his first wife at the age of fourteen, — she died when she was eighteen, and was the motlier of six ; at nineteen years of age he married his second wife, who is young yet, and the mother of nine. To use his own expres- sion, he has * prospects of more.' Fifteen children in seventeen years is what we should call doing a tolera- bly good business." The Virginian has proved himself an admirer of Franklin's Essay on Early Marriages. !, MR. SAVAGE. On a Saturday evening in August, 1829, about ten, a waggish Yankee knocked at the door of Mr. Savage, collector of the customs at the port of York, Upper Canada, and, in the character of an informer, received five dollars for pointing out to him a contraband dep6t, containing five barrels of American whiskey. Down sallied the collector, hired a team for other two dol- lars, rewarded a sailor with a dollar to roll tlie barrels out of the lake where they had been hid, had the seizure carted to the cellars of the king's auctioneer, and was congratulating himself on his night's work, when Mosley suggested to him the propriety of tast- ing the spirit. He did taste it, and found himself the fortunate captor of five barrels of the pure water of Lake Ontario ! HORSE-STEALING. In Upper Canada there is a great deal of this crime. FIFTY ITEM9. 279 p'nd when a culprit is caught he is generally sentenced to death, if convicted, but the sentence never executed. In the state of Delaware they have a different mode of punishing horse thieves : — " A man stole a horse in Sussex county, Delaware, and was arrested on the 17th of August, 1829 ; he was arraigned and found guilty on the 18th, and sen- tenced to restore fourfold the value of the said horse- to be set on the public pillory for the space of one hour — to be publicly whipped with thirty-nine lashes upon the bare back, well laid on — and to be disposed of, as a servant, to the highest and best bidder or bid- ders, for seven years; which sentence was executed on the 19th ; including only three days' ride from freedom and independence to the whipping-post, pil- lory, and slavery." I !! 'i - *i OLD AND NEW CITY CHARTERS. Those who think that our brethren in America have made no improvement upon the kingly practice of Europe, should obtain a copy of the charter granted by the " sovereign people of New York " to the city of Buffalo, in 1832, and compare it with the charter granted by that " Most high and Mighty Prince, James, by the grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King, Defender of the. Faith,*' to the Burgh of Peebles in Scotland, dated at Newmarket, 1624. I have seen a translation of the latter instru- ment, by Mr. Barclay, and the following are some of the rights granted by majesty : — , " To the said Provost, Bailies, Counsellors, and % r 280 FIFTY ITEMS. I I Community of our said Burgh of Peebles and their successors, of us, and our successors in feu heritage and free burgage for ever, by all the righteous meiths of the same, old and divided, as the same lie in length and breadth in houses, biggins, bogs, plains, muirs, marshes, ways, paths, waters, lakes, rivulets, meadows, grazings, and pasturages, mills, multures, and their sequels, fowlings, huntings, fishings, peats, turfs, coals, coal-heughs, cunnings, cinningaries, doves, dove-cots, smithies, kilns, breweries, weins, forests, groves and twigs, woods, stakes, stone and chalk quarries, with courts and their fines, herezelds, bloodwells, and the first night of the brides, with common pasturage, free use and entry, and pit and gallows sale, jack, thole kane, [A blank left here in the Latin Copy] wrack- muir venison, infang thief, outfang thief, pit and gallows, and with all and sundry liberties, advantages, profits, cessments, and their just pertinents whatsoever, as well named as not named, as well under ground as above ground, far and near with the pertinents," &c. I doubt much whether " the first night of the brides," was includ^jd in the privileges granted to the transatlantic corporation, by the legislators asseiabled at Albany last winter, unless, indeed, to i;:ch 'as not, I presume, stated in the charter as a royal b^.nevolence. LI.ER CANADA SETTLING DUTIES. In tiiose times when the British government re- \ FIFTY ITEMS. 281 i ind quired the heavy timber on each 200 acre lot granted to a settler to be cut down, to the extent of ten acres on each lot, a house to be built, and the ten acres cut down to 'put under good fence, before issuing the title-; Iced, many evaded the regulations, and the fol- lowing is a specimen of the conscientious roguery prac- tised : — "In 1825, Kr***r and Sy**s, two Yankees, are re- ported to have sworn that they had lately done settle- ment duties in the new townships on 50,000 acres, (before Squires Riley, M' Bride, and others.) The mode by which they are said to have eluded the terms of the oath displays no little ingenuity. They first got a chain made with ten links, out of sixpenny worth of wire, and therewith they cut so many chains in a line ; on a 200 acre lot they guessed a piece of ground of ten acres, the whole of which the order in council conditions to be put under fence. Leaving the post and rail system aside as tedious, they took each an oak sapling and fenced with one another, like swordsmen, until they fenced round the area of the ten acres. The house they built of the required size by the expeditious method of laying a few sticks across each o' her. All this was done in a few minutes, and their price was in proportion, being only 10 dol- lars for the settlement duty of 200 acres, while others charge 50 or (iO dollars. Mr. M. told me that their oaths had ^t into disrepute with the magistrates, and it appears, that they were disbelieved none too soon. Osborne and Armstrong have succeeded them in chopping." re- 282 FIFTY ITI:MS. ITINERATING SCHOOLMASTERS. Travelling teachers are very commcu in Upper Canada; but, perhaps, not so much so as in New England, where education is more accessible to the humblest citizens than in Scotland. The following story is going the rounds in the States, and it may be true : — " A young collegian, itinerating in the state of Maine, fell in company, and also in love, with a very pretty girl, the daughter of an old curmudgeon, whose brains were made of saw-dust, hog's lard and molasses ; but who, on account of the spaciousness of his farm, had been for years at the head of the school committee in the district. The collegian's attachment to Sally (for that was the name of the daughter) was so overpower- ing, that all the logic and philosophy he had learned in school was, compared to the force of his passions, as chaff in a hurricane. But not having- the wherewithal to winter in Maine without a resort to employment, he intimated to Sally that he should like to keep the school in that district ; when the kind-hearted girl informed him that her father was the committee man, and she also informed him what questions would be put to him, and how he must answer them, if he expected to gain the good graces of her father. Accord- ingly, on Sunday evening, the young man of classic lore informed the old ignoramus that he should like to take charge of their school for the winter, and board in his family. Whereupon the old fellow as- sumed an air of much importance, and looking at the apphcant with his usual dignity while examining \ FIFTY ITEMS. 283 ipper New ) the story ly be itc of a very whose lasses ; farm, imittee lly (for •power- leavned ions, as ewithal ►yment, keep ted girl iiniittee would 11, if he Accord- classic uld like er, and low as- g at the amining candidates for keeping school, put the same questions that Sally had informed her paramour would be asked. '' ' Do you believe in the final salvation of the world V " ' Most certainly,' answered the young collegian ; ' it is the only belief that the Scriptures justify.' *' ' Do you believe that God ever made another man equal to Tliomas Jefferson Y " ' Certainly not ; and I have been of this opinion ever since I read his Notes on Virginia?' " 'Can you spell Massachusetts?' "'I ought to know how, sir, for it is my native state.' *' * Well, spell it.' ♦' The youMg man spelt the word very distinctly, when the father turned to the daughter, and said, " ' Did he spell it right, Sal ? ' " ' Yes, sir,' answered the affectionate girl, — when her father, turning again to the candidate, triumphantly exclaimed — * You may begin school to-morrow.' *' How the young pedagogue and Sally managed affairs through the winter, is another part of the story." POOR Richard's almanacks. In order more effectually to unite all classes of the people against the system of misrule in Upper Ca- nada, I compiled and published an annual fourpenny almanack, filled with political facts and astounding disclosures concerning the colonial authorities. Such a work is referred to at all times of the year, a id be- comes a sort of family record. In 1829, 30, and 31, I dispersed from 30,000 to 40,000 of these «' Poor Richards," and am sorry that my absence in England I 284 FIFTY ITEMS. this year will cause them to be neglected. They are an efficient weapon in the hands of freemen. A CATHOLIC AND LIBERAL. Liberal opinions on religious matters are widely diffused through the North American population. I remember having read a speech of Mr. Freeman's, of New Bedford, Massachusetts, made in the legisla- ture of that state, in 1830, upon the presentation of a petition to incorporate the American Temperance Society, as follows : — " I have every reason, sir, to be a Catholic and Liberal. My father was at one time a follower of Priestley, then of Edwards and Hopkins. Among the fourteen that survive of his twenty children, are to be found Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Calvinists, Con- gregationalists. Unitarians, Methodists, and Baptists. For myself, I am, as it respects any of the thousand sects into which Christendom is divided, a Nothing- arian, but feel a fellowship with all who obey the pre- cepts and follow the example of the Lord Jesus ; and am willing that any, or all, should associate for any good object." NEW YORK— BETS OR WAGERS. The revised statutes of this great state contain the following provisions : — *' All wagers, bets, or stakes, made to depend upon any race, or upon any gaming by lot or chance, or upon any lot, chance, casualty, or unknown or contin- gent event whatever, shall be unlawful. All contracts FIFTY ITEMS. 285 are vldely latiou. man's, egisla- m of a )erance iic and >wer of ong the •e to be 3, Con- laptists. lousand othing- he pre- s ; and for any Itain the id upon ince, or contin- contracts for or on account of any money or property, or thing in action so wagered, bet or staked, shall be void. " Any person who shall pay, deliver, or deposit any money, property, or thing in action, upon the event of any wager or bet herein prohibited, may sue for and recover the same of the winner or person to whom the same shall be paid or delivered, and of the stake- holder or other person in whose hands shall be depo- sited any such wager, bet, or stake, or any part thereof, whether the same shall have been paid over by such stake-holder or not, whether any such wager be lost or not." A bet, therefore, is a contract, the performance of which rests entirely in the integrity and honour of the parties. PETTY LAW COURTS. The following is one of the mildest specimens of an attorney's bill in the inferior or district court of Upper Canada, which I copied from the original. The lawyer was the Clerk of the Peace : — Home District Court. — David Stcgman vs. Wil- liam G. Hay. — Instiuctions, 5s. Letter, Is. Draw- ing Declaration, 4s. ; two copies, 4s. Notice on ditto, 2s. Attending for summons. Is. Attending Sheriff, Is. Attending for return. Is. Attending to file ditto, Is. Alias Declaration, 4.9.; two copies, 4s. Attending for Alias Summons, Is. Attending Sheriff, Is. Attending for return. Is. Affidavit on Summons, 2s. Gd. Cgt., 2s. 6d. (1/. 16s. to attorney). To clerk, 2s. 6fi., 2.V., 2s. G(i. To Judge (although he had no- thing to try), 2s. Gd. and 2s. 6d.— (Mr. Grant Powell 286 FIITV ITKMS. is the judjro.) To the SherilV (.Farvls), 2s. Gd. and i).v. id. Total 59*. 10 J. costs, loss 2s. = 57». KW., Jrlalifax cuironcy. Plaint ill' and di'lcndant lived in one county. There wan no (rial, tto dispute, no trouble. Kay gave Ste, 3/. 8s. 2d. The suit was instituted for the ha- lance of 21. and upwards, with interest. Nearly twelve dollars costs were created, because attornies are allowed in the Assenddy to make the laws so as to bring forth the above nonsensical jargon in the shape of a law-bill. Were the district jvulges obliged to go the circuit of their districts every two months, and hold township courts, such cases as Hay's might be decided in fifteen minutes, at an expense of about half a dollar. THE M'DONELLS AT LAW. It must be admitted, however, that in some places the emigrants ward oil' expenses by making the law a sort of family allair. Accordingly, by referring to the Upper Canada Royal Gazette, of June 20, 1828, we find that Alexander M'Donell has prosecuted Alex- ander M'Donell for debt; that Alexander M'DoneJl has obtained an execution against the real estate of Alexander M'Donell. and that Angtjs M'Donell, de- puty sheri'V of the Eastern District, has seized Alex- ander M'Doneirs farm, being lot No. 8, in the seventh concession of Charlottenburgh, which is to be sold by the high shorilV, Donald M'Donell, on the 2 1st July next, at said Donald M'Donell's office in Cornwall. How clanish these liigldand Scotsmen are, even in 1 1 FIFTY ITKMS. 287 , and VO(i., eel ill 'e, no 182H, miary, lie ba- Uvelve illoweil .r forth a\v-l)ill. rcuit of )wnsUil> li tifteeu Canada ! Althouprh qnarrelliuf^ and ieariiig each other to pieces by Uiw, :t wouhl a])j)ear tliat tliey distribute the le<»al spoils, soU'ly and exehjsively, amonfif the namesakes and descendants of the jjreat feudal liouso of Chmranald of CJU'iigarry. WONOEUrUL PRESr.RVATION. On the second day of June IH2(), I received a letter from my friend, A. M. Farewell, of Wliitby, communi- cating^ the following particulars of the preservation of a boy and his grandmother, when lost in the grc^at forest north of Lake Ontario. " An aged woman by the name of Page, and her grandson, a lad of eight years old, were lost in the woods in the east part of Whitby, on the 24th ult., when attempting to go from one re- lative's house to another's; and, owing to the circum- stance of her often changing her residence among her children, she was not missed till the evening of the fourth day after. A company of men, to the number of three liundred, were immediately sent in search of them, and continued constantly limit ing till the 31st at three o'clock, before they were found. " It would hardly seem possible that an infirm woman of seventy-five years of age could have survived eigjit days of fatigue and fasting, without shelter or fire, and exposed to myriads of muskettoes; but huppily, they were both alive, though the poor old woman was in a deplorable state, quite exhausted and incapable of moving ; but she now seems likely to recover. The boy was tolerably active, and had collected a quantity of roots in his hat to support his feeble grandmotlier, in 288 FIFTY ITEMS. doing which he had worn the skin from his fingers. The highest praise is due to the inhabitants of Whitby and the adjoining towns, for their humane and unre- mitting exertions in the search, particularly as it was the most difficult season lor farmers to leave their work, being the midst of seed-time." GLENGARRY, UPPER CANADA. ♦ * * * Glengarry is composed, one-half of Presbyterians and one-half of Catholics — there are very few to be found either of Episcopalians, Methodists, or Baptists, among its 10,000 inhabitants, who are chiefly Highlanders and their descendants, speaking the Erse or Gaelic language fluently. At St. Raphael is a Catholic cathedral, and at William.stown, where the county meeting was held, a Presbyterian church and clergyman, the Rev. John Mackenzie. * * After the labours of the day were at end, some thirty or forty Highlanders sat down to rest themselves — and a merry night they made of it. There were Highland songs and lively choruses ; and Glengarry bards sang their own ballads to tunes themselves had invented. POLITICAL FRIENDSHIPS. *' If every one's internal care Were written on his brow, How many would our pity share, Who raise our envy now!" Trantt. Met astasia. » * * # ]Vlr. Huskisson, however, did nothing but suffer abuses to accumulaie. At his sudden and fori the all peas repr \ FIFTY ITEMS. 289 ers. itby nre- was kork, lalfof e very sts, or c\\iefly e Erse ;l is a pre the •cli and ,e thirty s — aiul hcrhland ids sang ted. htasio. nothing Iden and violent death — after sojourning for an age amidst tlie pomp and vanities of courts and cabinets, thrones and revokitions, he asked himself, " How have I acted ?" I wish his successors would oftener ask themselves that question in sincerity. Huskisson, in death, sighed to part with domestic, fireside happiness; but to the statesmen, the politicians, the men of the world, he made no allusions, nor sent them any remembrance. Than political friendships none are more cold, selfish and heartless. Read history — consult the memoirs of eminent men — enter the legislative hall and toil for your country the livelong day, week, month, or session, — the theory and the practice will alike declare the unstable character of all political connexions. METHODISTS AND CATHOLICS. By the way, the Methodists in America and the Roman Catholics of the continent of Europe unite in two very essential po'nts, the devotion of clergy and laity to their religious duties, and the equality observed within the walls of their churches and chapels. In the Methodist chapels in York and New York I perceived that all the seats wero equally free to all who chose to occupy them ; none being selected, as in the Presby- terian, Catholic, and Episcopalian churches in York, where the highest places are for the ich and the lowest for the poor. On the continent (in France, for instance) the Catholic places of worship are free at all times to all classes; and the poorest mechanic and meanest peasant may be seen placing himself, without fear or reproach, by the side of the greatest nobleman or high- o I ii 290 FIFTY ITEMS. born dame in the nation. " No distinction is there made between the high and the low-born in the house of God ; they pray upon a s! ...pie deal chair, and address up, side by side, to the throne of God a mutual prayer for forgiveness and protection." ROBERT GOURLAY. JSIr. Gourlay, who has been banished Canada under an anjust and obsolete statute, sent me out the follow- ing protest, dated Leith, June 18, 1830. — " Protest. — I acquired right to land in Upper Canada, 1807, by marriage — and, in 1810, paid for an equal quantity, making together 866 acres, to which I still have just and undisputed right. " I entered Upper Canada, June 1817 ; stayed there three months ; publicly declared that it was ' the country of my choice,' and after that did not sleep out of the province for ten months, during which time I was twice tried and honourably acquitted. I then hastened to New York, sent to England a power of attorney for winding up my affairs there ; returned to Upper Canada ; was imprisoned eight months because I would not go away, and banished for no other reason, while unable from effects of confinement to protest against the proceedings : I have petitioned the king and parliament of Great Britain twenty times in the space of ten years ; never have had the slightest re- dress ; nor has a single individual of the provincial parliament spoken in my favour, but the reverse. Against all this monstrous iniquity — this treatment illegal, unconstitutional, and unnecessary, I now pro- li'' i!i FIFTY ITEMS. 291 re se lid a test by this writing, to be carried to Upper Canada by my son, and published there by those who may. " Robert Gourlay." ider Lovv- jf.— f, by ntity, e just ep L there 5 'the out 1 was Lstened ney for Upper ause 1 reason, protest kirtg s in the test re- ovincial reverse, eatment ow pro- THE BALLOT. In the s«»ssion of 1831, Mr. Brown, a member of the House oi \ssembly of Upper Canada for the county of Durham, dishked, but elected through the workings of the system, (one of Sir Peregrine Maitland's justices, and a merchant,) — stated in the legislature that such was his influence in his county that he could return a negro if voting by ballot were adopted. Afterwards he boasted through the public press — " What I stated I again repeat, that if I had twelve smart fellows to join with me, I could return a negro from any county in the province by ballot." I wish they would exchange him for a negro. SPEECHES. January 19, 1826. — There are some very pleasant and powerful speakers in the House of Assembly of Upper Canada, and not a few dull prosers to balance against them. A member, who kept an accurate account of the number of times on which the different members spoke in the debate in committee on Friday week, — between the hours of ten a.m., and six p.m., — reports as follows : Names in favour of the resolutions, and number of speeches. — Captain Matthews, 7; Mr. Fothergill, 6; Mr. Perry, 2; Dr. Lefferty, 6; Mr. Rolph, 5; Mr. Hamilton, 9 ; Mr. Beardsley, 3 ; Mr. Randal, 1 ; o2 \ 5 292 FIFTY ITEMS. Colonel Ingersol,4 ; Mr. M'Bride, 3; Mr. Bidwell, 1 ; total, 47. Against the resolutions, and number of speeches. — Mr. Charles Jones, 5 ; Mr. James Gordon, 14; Attorney General, 14; Mr. Jonas Jones, 12; Mr. D. Jones, 3; Mr. Scolliek, 3; Mr. Morris, 3 ; Mr. Walsh, 2; Mr. Cameron, 2; Mr. M'Donell, 1 ; total 59. [Not having a Mirror of Parliament in Canada, I am unable to state the length of each speech.] SPRINGFIELD VILL.\GE. A friend, in a letter to me, thus describes this beau- tiful neighbourhood, about nineteen miles from York, Upper Canada. I very well remrm.ber when there was not one tree cut in its vicinity :•— " In the first place, I would wish to observe that, in point of location, strangers can be accommodated with situations either upon a pleasant hill or in a fertile valley : (a Hollander would probably prefer the latter, and a Swiss the former, both nearly equal in point of salubrity.) To men of business I would observe, that our farmers arc industrious and becoming rich ; and their wives and daughters (dear creatures) anxious to wear pretty calicoes, bonnets, &c., at meeting. To manufacturers, that we have an almost unparalleled water power extending for miles, above and below, and that it is rapidly coming into use ; that we have a fertile wheat country ; a constantly increasing influx of farming capital; and to industrious ladies I would say, that there may be broom corn enough raised next season for them all to use throughout the province; -I 1; •ney ,3; Mr. Lla, 1 beau- York, there ^at, ill >d with fertile latter, (oint of e, that ; and [iious to . To Iralleled »vv, and have a [nflux of dd say, ;d next Irovince ; FIFTY ITBMS. 293 and again to business, since that ours is now a thriving village, containing mercantile and mechanics' shops, mills, &c. &c. There is to be erected the present season many buildings, and some have already been put up at a cost so moderate that I almost fear to risk my veracity by mentioning it; but having all the ma- terials at our doors, I believe I may confidently assert, that building of every kind may be done as cheap as in any other part of this province. To those who desire to combine the manly exercises of hunting, fishing, &c., with the more arduous pursuits of business, I have only to say that birds of the air and beasts of the Held are here in abundance, and at their service. And for the latter amusement, the abundance of salmon our river aflbrds bears testimony of one of the greatest luxuries in the piscatory catalogue, and the name of trout, pike, eels, &c., would have enchanted even old Izaak Walton, the prince of anglers, and the only ichthyological writer I have ever perused with anything like a feeling of pleasure. Frequently at dawn of day the deer may be seen feeding or playing in the meadows of the valley ; soon with a majestic bound it is up the steep ascent, and is lost to the eye in the thicket; pursuing him a short distance, the ear of the huntsman is saluted by the hooting owl, the woodpecker, and the drum of the partridge." A MESSAGE FROM HIS EXCELLENCY. On the 3d of February, 1825, I thus sketched a scene of frequent occurrence in the House of Assembly of Upper Canada : — i«: '. p. 294 FIFTY ITEMS. Scene. The assembly's chamber. The house in debate. Three knocks are given, by Knott the door- keeper, pretty loud ones; the door is opened by tlio deputy sergeaut-at-arms. Deputy Sergf. — (with a profound bow to the chair,) A message from His Excellency the Lieut.-Governor. Speaker. — (touching his cocked hat,) Admit the messenger. Enter Major Hillicr, a neat little gentleman, in full <«iiHtary uniform, with sword, sash, epaulettes, &c. who makes two awfully profound obeisances at the bar ; is half inclined to make two more as he passes the stove pipe ; and when he gets before the speaker's chair. Lord Atterbury's reply to the Earl of Rochester, " Yours to the centre, my lord," is well imitated by two bows, so very low, so very long, and so very solemn, as almost to say, " Yours to the antipodes, Mr. Speaker," Honest John Wilson, of Wentworth, goes through this ordeal, and supports his part by corresponding incli- nations of the head, and touches of the cocked hat with the hand. The Major hands the speaker the precious documents from His Excellency, and then retires, after going again through the same routine of bows and obeisances. The speaker never moves a muscle — doubtless he atones for it by an inward chuckle ; other members, however, sometimes allow themselves the indulgence of a smile at the close of the ceremony, which is ended by the speaker reading the messages, the members standing the while. DEATH The Ja fair an( apples, choicest does the tionary- and Nia towns in although great Sr, Ontario's ''"try on Woth vill might, wi ment to the land r both sides locks, tre channel, a to throw accompanj member o\ to York; schemes made. L\ confines of Dr. DoddJ secret ! " on me at ai'gument :( < 295 ■\ DEATH OF COLONEL NICIIOL— STAMFORD COTTAGE. The Lands on the margin of the Niagara river arc fair and fertile ; the orchards loaded with peaches, apples, pears, quinces, plums, and other fruit of the clioicest kindi^ ; and the fields filled with j>rain — y(«t does the population in that district remain nearly sta- tionary — lands rise but slowly 'n value. Queenston and Niagara, two of the oldest, if not the two oldest towns in the province, cannot be said to increase, although the one is seated at the embouchure of the great St. Lawrence, where its waters mingle with Ontario's deeps ; and the other, the principal port of entry on the grand highway from the United States. Both villages are built in desirable situations, and might, with the country around them, give employ- ment to thousands of artisans. Close to Queenston the land rises rather abruptly, several hundred feet on both sides of the river, which is overshadowed by lofty rocks, trees, and shrubs, and confined to a narrow channel, across wliich Mr. Hall, the engineer, proposed to throw a chain-briJge. Early in May, 1824, I had accompanied Colonel Robert Nichol, a distinguished member of the colonial legislature, on a journey across to York; he was in fine health and spirits, full of schemes for public improvements thereafter to be made. Little did he think how near he was to the confines of eternity, to that dread moment when, w itli Dr. Dodd, he could exclaim, " Now for the grand secret ! " Towards the middle of the month he called on me at my home in Queenston, and we had a long argument upon colonial politics j the further discussion 296 STAMFORD COTTAGE. 'fl of which was to be continued at a future day at his place at Stamford. He was then a candidate for the town of Niagara, and on the evening of the 18th stopped late in tlie village. The road to Stamford is along the high bank of the Niagara, and so up the hill at Queenston ; and it appeared on the inquest, held on the 20th, that (probably, about midnight) he had driven his own horse- carriage fairly to the top of the hill, and instead of keeping to the right, had ob- liged the horse to drive towards the bushes which con- ceal the edge of the gulpli ; and that, on the animal getting entangled among them, one of the wheels of the carriage had gone over the bank, and the scat and rider tumbled out. Next day, man, horse, and carriage were found on the low bank of the river, dashed to pieces ; they must have been precipitated several hundred feet perpendicular from the summit of that fatal rock, over which the luifortunate gentleman had driven. There was some suspicion of foul play, for the colonel had many enemies ; but the coroner's jury, of which I was foreman, saw no ground for ascribing his death to any cause remote from the acci- dent. Stamford cottage is very beautifully situated a short half-mile north of the road which leads from Queenston to the Niagara Falls, and about mid-way between. If there is a healthy situation in Upper Canada, it is there. Placed higher by fifty or sixty feet than the top of the Falls, far removed from swamps, dense fogs, and unhewn forests. Sir P. Maitland, the proprietor, enjoys a pure atmosphere, and in two directions near the house an extensive and delightful prospect. In \ STAMFORD COTTAGE. 297 short ?nston . If it is Ml the fogs, rietor, near In front of the cottagfe are a few trees scattered here and there, in a midst of a thriving field of grain, over which, through his meadows, he can faintly perceive the world at a distance, as its inhabitants pass to and fro in the landscape, in gigs, coaches, chaises, waggons and carts, often enveloped in clouds of dust, to see the monument, the election. Col. Nichol's rock, Forsyth's wooden palace, the whirlpool, and last but not least, the cataract of Niagara. His Excellency purchased fifty acres only ; on this he built, and the building is said to be in a very odd taste. Some admire it, others don't. The design, it is understood, was drawn by Lady Sarah Maitland. If some of those loungers who are almost always to be found sketching a series of views of the Falls, would take a camera obscura to this spot and delineate its scenery faithfully, they would add to their portfolios one of the finest pictures Canada affords ; and if Mr. Forsyth would import some eight or ten dozen plain large mirrors, witli a few convex and concave ones, and build a hermitage, which from its front windows inside would (like the Duke of Alhol's on a branch of the river Tay) reflect the stupendous cataract of Niagara in all its beauty and in all the variations in which mirrors are capable of presenting it to the view, he would add another very powerful inducement to the curious to visit his en- chanted domains.* • Sir Peregrine has, since then, been appointed Governor of Nova Scotia; from the government of which colony he has often been absent. For many months past he has resided in England, thereby proving that his office is a mere sinecure, meriting abolition. o 5 ' J 298 THE PRESS TRIUMPHANT — A CONTESTED COUNTY ELECTION HELD ON THE SNOW IN JANUARY, 1832— FREE SPIRIT OF THE CANADIANS. '' We doubt very gravely, whether military men ouglit ever to be em- ployed as civil governors over any portion of a free people. They have, one and all, an instinctive jealousy of privileges which set their own power at defiance : they are liabituated to command, but not to pernuaile or reason — they dread freedom of speech, and hate a deliberative assembly. Their tone, therefore, is for the most part, that of haughty and uncompro- mising power,"— TTie Times, 31st Dec. 1827. " He required no such evidence to convince him of a fact wliicii all history confirmed— namely, that it was morally, politically, and, he might add, physically impossible fur two independent legislatures to co-exist under one executive. The more minutely history was examined, the more wotdd the conviction of this important truth be strengthened, and tlie more would all appearances to the contrary be deceptive. They could have, as of yore, a Parliament in England, and a Parliament in Ireland ; but it should be as up to 1782, when the whole actual legisla- tive power lay in the one, and all that the other had to do was to formally obey. Such was the case in the co-existent Parliaments of France, Bur- gundy and Brittany ; and more, in those mockeries of the name with which the house of Austria amused the people of Bohemia and the Tyrol. In all these cases there was no such thing as an independent legislature ; all the power lay in the hands of the crown ; and the Parliament was a mere pageant — a mockery — or means of rivetting the fetters of the con- quered. In fact, if history had one lesson which stood out more empha- tically than another, it was that which, indeed, reason would strike out for itself, the impossibility of two independent legislntures co-existing under the same ertecutivc head.'' — Mr. Alacau/ay's Re fit y to Mr. O'Con- neU. — House of Commons, Feb, 1833. The year 1832 commenced on a sabbath — the Mon- day following, being the first week-day of the year, was that fixed on by the governor and council as the day of election for the Metropolitan county, un- questionably to put the electors to the greatest possible inconvenience ; for on that day, annually, they must THE PRESS TRIUMPHANT. 290 3 Mou- un- meet in their respective townships throughout tlie colony, to choose their local officers for the year. On this occasion, however, every thing else was laid aside, and the landowners flocked in thousands to the seat of government. One bad act of a government generally leads to others. The violence used towards me in Upper Ca- nada, induced the legislative council in the lower pro- vince to attack the press and imprison the printers. The next step was the killing of the unoffending Cana- dians by the regular troops in the streets of Montreal. The accounts given of the election in the newspapers of the day were as follow : — " The Press triumphant ! — The morning of the 2(1 of January was clear and pleasant, the sleighing excel- lent, the weather mild and agreeable for the season, and the people of the gallant county of York fidly awake to the important duty they were about to fuliil in defence of those dear and valued privileges, the pos- session of which distinguishes the freeman from the slave. They had given Mr. Mackenzie a pledge on a former occasion, that they would never desert him in difficulty unless he abandoned their rights ; and nobly has that pledge been redeemed. By ten o'clock the electors had assembled in great numbers around the huntings ; and, soon after, ' the Yonge Street triumphal car,' carrying the ensign of the United Kingdom, and bearing aloft tv-o Highland pipers, attired in ' the garb of old Gaul,' passed towards the city, followed by the farmers in their sleighs. It was expected that Colonel Washburn v.ould be offered, on the part of the execu- tive ; but we heard the Colonel resign his interest, and H :i m 300 THE PRESS TRIUMPHANT. promise his r ipport to Mr. Street, who was introduced to the electors by Colonel Thompson of Toronto, a former county member. Mr. Mackenzie was proposed for the third time, by his friend, Mr. Joseph Shcpard of Yonge Street ; seconded, as usual, by Mr. John Bogart, senior, of Whitchurch. The returning officer, Mr. Spragge, behaved with great propriety. The freeholders *»xpressed themselves much satisfied with his conduct. Mr. Mackenzie addressed the people first, and at considerable length ; and afterwards read, as a part of his speech, the articles of impeachment against Sir John Colborne and the advisers of the crown, which occiipy the first five or six columns of this newspaper. The electors listened throughout with tlie utmost attention : the candidates were proposed — s, forest of hands were held up in favour of Mr. Mac- kenzie, and one hand (some say not one) for Mr. Street. The latter demanded a poll. It opened at half-past one ; and by three Mr. Mackenzie had polled 1 19 votes, and Mr. Street 1 vote. The latter, perceiving the unanimity of the people, and their spirit and deter- mination, said he would not further protract a hopeless contest. We presume that not less than 1000 voters stood round the hustings, or waited in town to give their votes; and even when the election had terminated, and until twenty-four hours thereafter, the freeholders continued to pour into the city from all quarters. Had the poll been kept open during the week, not less than 5000 votes would have probably been given for the old member, many of them from non-residents. " In the midst of the forests and snows of Canada, and for the first time since the country was reclaimed 11 THE PRESS TRIUMPHANT. 301 from a state of nature, the press was seen in free ope- ration, worked in the open air, on a sleigh, and sur- rounded by thousands of as bold, resolute, and warm- hearted men as ever met in America. The triumphant scene which followed, the address of the co\mty com- mittee; the reply ; the enthusiasm displayed by the people^ and by numbers of the gallant Highland regi- ment stationed in this town, will form the subject of an interesting article hereafter. There was no riot, no dis- order, no confusion, no intoxication, no open houses — all wa.v joy and gladness, friendship, good-will, and peace. The people carried their representative into his own house on their shoulders; and, next morning, assembled in such numbers at the Parliament House, as to cause much terror and aiiNioty to many of the members." Tlie following account of the proceedings appeared in the Guardian, and is interesting as a proof of the noble spirit of freedom which animates the people of British America. " Mr. Street was nominated by Colonel I'iiompson, a former coimty member, and, I understand, liad the promise of Colonel Washburn's interest. But as well might you uproot Mount Atlas as resist the people of the wealthiest and most populous comity in Upper Canada, when united us the voice of one man, and roused by an infringement upon their rights. The assemblage was !he largest that has ever been wit- nessed in the Home District on any occasion, notwith- standing it w as the day on which town meetings were held in every township. The assemblage at one time was generally estimated at between 2000 and 3000, and it is believed there would have been twice that 1 h 41 302 THE PRESS TRIUMPHANT. number had not the election been appointed on the day of the township meetings. Previous to the opening of the poll, about forty sleighs came through the town. and escorted Mr. Mackenzie to the hustinjjs. * * * After the close of the poll, a gold medal and chain were presented to Mr. Mackenzie by a committee appointed for that purpose, with an address, read by Mr. Charles Mackintosh, to which Mr. Mackenzie made a short reply. This medal cost 250 dollars, and is a superb piece of workmanship. On one side are the rose, thistle, and shamrock, with the words — ' His Majesty King William IV. the people's friend.' On the otlier side is inscribed — ' Presented to William L. Mackenzie, Esquire, by his constituents of the county of York, Upper Canada, as a token of their approbation of his political career. January 2, 1832.' A procession was then formed, in front of which was an immense sleigh, belonging to Mr. Montgomery, whicli was drawn by four horses, and carried between twenty and thirty men, and two or three Highland pipers. From 50 to 100 sleighs followed, and between 1000 and 2000 of the inhabitants. The procession passed by the Govern- ment House, from thence to the Parliament House, thence to Mr. Cawthra's, and then to Mr. Mackenzie's own house, giving cheers at eacli of these places. One of the most singular curiosities of the day was a little printing press, placed on one of the sleighs, warmed by » furnace, on which a couple of boys continued, while moving through the streets, to strike off their New Year's Address, and throw it to the people. " Over the press was hoisted a crimson flag, with the motto, * The Liberty of the Press. The mottos THE PRESS TRIUMPHANT. 303 on the other flags were — ' King William IV. and Re- form;' ' Bidvvell and the glorious Minority;' ' 1832, A good Beginning ;' ' A Free Press the Terror of Sy- cophants.' The proceedings were conducted with general order and sobriety, though with much spirit. No treats were given. I vvc>s told by some electors that a proposal to treat the electors would have been considered as a general insult. Thus has the county of York ten times more than undone in one hour what twenty-four vain inconsiderate men employed six days in doing, at an expense to the province of many thou- sands of doV I's. The responsibility of the conse- quences of these proceedings rests with those whose spleen and party spite originated them." A person was stationed at the hotel at the entrance of the iown, to count the sleighs as they passed, and he couuied 134, each sleigh being capable of containing from five to fifteen persons. Tlie soldiers and non-commissioned officers of the 79th took, many of them, a strong degree of interest in Mr. M.'s favovir ; not a few went to the hustings ; and a good many joined the procession, and actually cheered while the bagpipes were playing at the governor's house, and the yeomanry triumphing in their victory. But they paid dear for their exhibition of patriotism, and for manifesting their love of free institutions. Governor Colborne was enraged at their manly con- duct. Orders were given to read the articles of war, at the head of the regiment, for i ^veral successive days, and even on Sunday, after leaving church ; to provide additional supplies of ammvmition for each soldier ; to confine them within the walls of the fortress during the ;^ 304 THE PRESS TRIUMPHANT. great public meeting of the lOtli January; * and also for the whole week of the February election ; and condign punishment was to be the fate of that man among them who woultl dare to set his foot in a farmer's sleigh from tliat time forward, '('liese gallant men had followed Sir Neil Douglas to death or victory with unconcern, and this was their reward when they showed a natural feeling of sympathy with the worthy farmers who were in peace the champions of that freedom of which the military had been taught to believe themselves in war the defenders. * Although a conini\inity of proprietors anil cullivalors of tlie soil can have no interest in disorder, the Yor/i Courier, after complimenting the yeomanry with the epithet of " swine," thus announced the proposiiiou in Assembly of a dependant on tiie executive power :" — " Mr. Thomson pave notice of an address to His Majesty, praying him to remove the seat of government to some more safe and convenient po- sition. The subject is expected to be brought up to-day, and a consi- derable majority is expected in favour of tlie measure. Tiie principal reason assigned for this measure i«, that it is incompalible with the dig- nity and the freedom of deliberation of legislative bodies, to hold their meetings in a place in which they are daily liable to be annoyed, insulted, and overawed by a mob : or in the neighbourhood of a description of population, who arc so ignorant or infatuated as to become the ready tools for executing every species of violence and outrage to which any political demagogue may choose to incite them. And another reason assigned is, that a popuhiion of such a description, who arc incessantly labouring to annoy, embarrass, or ileslroy the government which is ail- ministered at the provincial capital, ought not in equity, or injustice to the better disposed part of their fellow-subjects in the rt st of the province, to enjoy the immense advantages which are necessarily ditlused through the neighbourhood of the provincial capital." I n 305 LAWS OF ENTAIL AND PRIMOGENITURE. RULES FOR TIIK DISTRIHUTION OF INTKSTATK ESTATES CASKS IN WHICH HALF-HLOOD INIIKRITS LANDS ALLOOIAL PERSONAL ESTATE OF INTESTATES MR. VIGNe's OIMNIONS ANECDOTE OF MR. BINKLKY EFFORTS TO CHANGE THE LAW OF DESCENTS IN UIM'ER CANADA. " He considered that the I-egisl:itivc Council was that institution which especially r.qiiircd revision and allcr.uion. They acted as pultry and impotent screens for tlie protection of the governor. In all instances they were opposed to the people, and were placcil as a substitute for an aris- tocracy, without |)()ssessing any of liie (lualilicalions of an aristocracy, according to our notions of tliat body in K.ngland, — imposing salutary checks, and exercising a judicious vigilmicc over the councils of the country. Indeed, the prevalence of (he French law respecting primoge- niture, according to coiitumc tie I'arix, preventeil the possil)ility of tliat hereditary descent of property hy which our aristocracy was preserved." — Speech of Mr. Secretary Stan/etj in the House of Commons, May 2, 1828 — Morning Chronicle report. " Elector of Mtddleiex. — What are your opinions concerning the law of primogeniture ? " Mr. Hume. — That a law which enriches one son at the expense of the rest of a family, must be injudicious and unjust. Its effects are to render younger sons beggars and dependant on the public. The late Sir Samuel Roniilly contemplated a reform in the law of descent of landed property, which the next parliament will no doubt carry into efl'ect; and thus a man will no longer be able lO invest his property in landed estates to descend uncloggcd to his children, to the ruin often of those to whom he is indebted." — Report in Morning Chronicle. The British Colonists (now the United States), in all cases where the law of primogeniture, half-blood, and entail prevailed, hastened to abolish these unnatural laws the moment they were freed from the restraints which the machinery of colonial government had im- posed upon their wishes and judgment. 300 LAWS OF ENTAIL AND PRIMOGENITURE. !'i" On the 12th of July, 1782, the legislature of the state of New York passed an act to abolish entails, to confirm conveyances by tenants in tail, and for the more equal distribution of the estates of intestates; and, in 1786, another act was passed, abolishing, in certain cases, the distinction between brothers and sisters of the whole and of the half-blood. As New York is the most populous of the United States, I shall briefly explain the law now in fore?? in that state for regulating the descent and distribution of the real estate of every person who may die without devising the same. Such real estate descends in the following order : — viz., first, to his lineal descendants ; secondly, to his father; thirdly, to his mother; and, fourthly, to his collateral relatives : subject, in all cases, to the follow- ing rules : — 1. If the intestate shall leave several descendants in the direct line of lineal descent, and of equal degree of consanguinity, the inheritance shall descend to such persons in equal parts, however remote from the intes- tate the common degree of relationship may be. 2. If any of the children of the intestate be living, and any be dead, the inheritance shall descend to the children who are living, and to the descendants of the children who shall have died ; so that each child who shall be uviug shall inherit such share as would have come to him if all the brothers and sisters, who shall have died, leaving issue, had been alive at the time of the intestate's death ; and so that the descmdants of each child who shall be dead shall inheri*, the share which their parent would have received if Lving. And m.\ 11 LAWS OF ENTAIL AND PRIMOGENITURE. 307 this rule is ordered to apply to all descendants of un- equal degrees of consanguinity to the intestate. 3. When the intestate dies without lawful descend- ants, and leaving a father, his father inherits, unless the inheritance came to the intestate on the part of his mother. In the latter case, the mother inherits for her life, and the property goes, at her death, to the brothers and sisters of the intestate. If he has no brothers and sisters, his mother inherits in fee. 4. If there be no father or mother capable of inhe- riting, the collateral relatives of the intestate inherit in equal parts, if of equal degree of consanguinity to the deceivsed, however remote that common degree may be. 5. If all the intestate's brothers and sisters are alive, the inheritance descends to them equally.' If some of them are alive, and some dead, leaving issue, the living take their shares, and the children of the deceased brothers or sisters inherit the shares their parents would have received if livintj. And this last described order of inli-nitance prevails as to the other lineal de- scendants ot every brother and sister of the intestate, to the remotest degree, where such descendants are of unequal degrees. 6. When there is no heir under the five preceding rules, the brothers and sisters of the father of the in- testate inherit equally if all be living, or to their descendants if all be dead, or to the brothers and sisters alive their shares, and to the children of the brothers and sisters who are dead the shares their parents would have received if they had been living. The descent in this case is the same as if the brothers 308 LAWS OF ENTAIL AND PRIMOGRNITURE. and sisters of the father had been tlie like relations of the intestate. 7. Brothers and sisters of the mother inherit in the next degree. 8. They take precedence of the brothers and sisters of the father and their descendants where the estate came to the intestate on the part of his mother. 9. Wliere the estate of the intestate did not come to him on the part either of his father or mother, the in- heritance descends to the brothers and sisters both of the father and mother and their lineal heirs. That is, of course, only when the intestate has no lineal descendants or brothers or sisters. 10. When an intestate who is illegitimate dies with- out descendants, his mother inherits. If she be dead, then her relatives inherit as if her deceased son had been legitimate. 11. Relatives of the half-blood inherit equally with those of the whole-blood of the same degree • and their descendants by the same rules ; mdcss the inheritance came to the intestate by descent, devise, or gift of some one of his ancestors; in which case all those who are not of the w hole-blood of such ancestors are excluded from such inheritance. 12. In cases unprovided for in these eleven rules, the inheritance descends according to the ordinary course of the Common Law of England. Where there is but one heir he holds solely ; where there are several heirs, they take as tenants in common, in proportion to their respective rights. Posthumous children and relatives inherit as if born before ♦heir parents' death. ;i!.l ,: I LAWS OF ENTAIL AND PRIMOQKNITURE. 309 No ])crson capable of inheriting as above is ex- cluded by reason of the alienism of any ancestor of such person. When any child of an intestate shall have been ad- vanced by him, by settlement, or portion of real or personal estate, or by both of them, the value shall be reckoned as part of the real and personal estate of such intestate, descendible to his heirs (for the pur- poses mentioned in this paragraph only), and to be distributed to his next of kin; and if such advancement be equal or superior to the share such child ought to receive, he gets no more; or if less than his propor- tion he gets the ditlerence. Maintenance, education, or giving money to such child for any other purpose than as a portion, not to be accounted. All feudal tenures are done away with in New York State. All lands are allodial; so that, subject only to the liability to escheat, fhe entire and absolute pro- perty is vested in the owners according to the nature of their estates. A general and beneficial power may be given to a married woman, to dispose, during her marriage, and without the concurrence of her husband, of lands con- veyed or devised to her in fee ; or a special and bene- ficial power may be given her to dispose of any estate less than a fee, belonging to her, in the lands to which that power relates. By virtue of such powers she may create any estate which she might create if un- married. A widow in New York State is endowed of the third part of all the lands whereof her husband was seised of an estate of inheritance, at any time during the mar- J 1 it !(. m^ 310 LAWS OF ENTAIL AND PRIMOGENITURE. ; >¥ I riage. And the widow of an alien allowed to hold real estate, if she be an mhabitant of the State, is entitled to her dower. In case of divorce women lose their dower. When a man marries a woman who has had lands conveyed to her as her jointure, with her consent, she has no claim after his death on the rest of his lands. A pecuniary provision made for an intended wife with her consent shall bar her claim of dower. In the distribution of the personal estate of intestates the widow gets a third, and the residue is equally divided among the children or their legal representa- tives, if dead. Where there are no children there are other provisions too tedious to be stated liere at length. With regard to the sale and distribution, or the care of the real estate of persons dying without making a will ; or the lease of a part to pay debts ; or the disposal of the proceeds of the proportion coming to minors until they come of age, the legislature have pro- vided ample, clear, humane, and salutary provisions, but it would exceed the limits to which I wish to carry this work were I to enumerate them. The surrogate has great power in such cases, but he is elected during the pleasure of his neighbours, who, of course, know his character ; he gives due security ; is removable, and responsible to the court of Cliancery, an efficient equity tribunal. Mr. Vigne, in his " Six Months in America," lately published, expresses himself in strong and decided terms in favour of the law of Primogeniture, and assures his readers that " a sale, not attended with sacrifice, takes place at the decease of nearly LAWS OF ENTAIL AND PRIMOGENITURE. 311 every person who dies in possession of landed pro- perty." He believes that a great part of the evils attendant upon drunkenness, as they exist in the Union, arise from the law of equal distribution. With regard to his first argument, not half the estates of in- testates are sold ; and as to his second, whiskey sells as well in Upper Canada, where entails, half-blood, and primogeniture, with the English statute-law up to 1792, are in force, as in Pennsylvania, where these laws have been lonjj discarded. Elsewhere, he informs us what a gloomy picture is drawn by the Americans of a divided estate, a dispersed family, and so forth. If this be true, they can alter the law any day; there are no foreign bayonets and colonial legislative councils to interfere with their sovereign pleasure. And, if a minority are dissatisfied, they can make their wills and disinherit nine of their children to provide for the tenth, until those of their way of thinking become more nu- merous. He tells us, that estates in England cannot be entailed and rendered inalienable for more than a life or lives in being, and for twenty-one years after- wards ; and that, for this and the primogeniture law, the Englishman feels a debt of gratitude to the consti- tution of his country. One part of h's story contra- dicts the other : in page 252 of his first volume, we are told that " an aristocracy is most inideniably springing up in every city of the Union." And that, " in the course of time, many large fortunes will be amassed, and opulent families will be distributed through the country." " These families," he says, " will beautify their places, and the head of the family will do his utmost to ♦ "i 312 LAWS OF ENTAIL AND PRIMOGENITURE. ' 1 I • keep the estate among them. — Many will do this. And," he continues, in a triumphant tone, " will not an hereditary aristocracy be produced in this manner?" Elsewhere, the friends of expensive kings, and some dozens of royal dukes and duchesses, princes and prin- cesses, as per order, are encouraged to stay on this side the great sea by the information that, " in Ame- rica, the stimulus of titled distinction being unknown, it must often happen that tlie finest talents are doomed to remain unemployed." Thus much for Godfrey T. Vigne, Esq., of Lincoln's Inn, Barrister at Law. Sometime in 182G or 1827, I read a paragraph in the Morning Herald, which went to state that the late General Scott had two daughters, to whom he be- queathed each one hundred thousand pomids, on con- dition that they did not marry peers of the realm ; of whom, in the course of his gambling speculations, he had seen quite enough : but in case any one of the sisters married in the aristocracy, her fortune was to go to the other. The eldest found a lover in the Duke of Portland, who, it seems, married her without the fortune, and Miss Joan Scott, the youngest, became Mrs. George Canning, and entitled to the 200,000/. Mrs. Canning had nobility of mind sufficient to do that justice to her titled sister which the will of their father had omitted, for she divided with her the inhe- ritance. An act not less amiable and honourable to the parties took place, not many years ago, at Dundas, in Upper Canada. A prudent and highly-respectable family of Germans, of the name of Binkley, with whose acquaintance I have been honoured since 1821, emigrated from Pennsylvania some thirty years ago, \ JOHN BINKLEY. 313 ph in ^e late ,e be- ll con- .m; of pns, lie of the was to Duke ut the )ecaine to do ff their le inhe- •able to >undas, lectahle with 1821, irs ago, and purchased, for ready money, a valuable and beau- tifid estate, between the villages of Dinidas, Ancaster, and Hamilton, to the extent of about a thousand acres of fertile land. They consisted of the elder Mr. Binkley, his wife, and their three sons and two daughters. They had capital, and commenced tanning, grazing, farming, &c. ; and, by steady and persevering industry, dail}^ added to their riches. The daughters were soon married. In process of time, the old man took his eldest son John aside, and fold him that he intended to divide the estate, by will, equally between him and his tv . i others, as also the farm-stock and personal pro- ; -' J . before, however, this intention was fulfilled, he died intestate, and left John Binkley his sole heir at law, and in possession of the whole. In such a case, many a man would have left his brethren to shift for themselves ; or, like the Earl of Q******, endeavoured to quarter them upon the public. Not so acted Mr. Binkley : he assembled together the whole family, informed his brethren of the private intentions of their deceased parent, and conveyed to each of them one full third of the real and personal estate, reserving a third to himself The three brothers are married, and have large families ; their lands are now of great value ; and the elder brother, living, as he does, in happiness and comfort with his kindred, and respected and esteemed by all his neighbours, has never once repented fulfilling the excellent intention of his venerable and worthy sire. I have mentioned in another part of this work, that bills, for distributing equally among the children, or heirs of eqiial degree, the real estate of persons who die without making a will, have passed the House of I i r 314 7.A\VS OF ENTAIL AND PRIMOGENITURE. s f Assembly of Upper Canada, in the present and every former parliament which has sat since 1824, generally by large majorities ; and that the legislative council, nominated by the colonial government, with members appointed for life by a mandamus from the king, has, with great regularity, frustrated the intention of the country, by negativing the bills sent up to it. In the three volume work, from which these sketches are chiefly a selection, I had added an argument in favour of the principle of equal distribution of real estate, but it is by far too long for insertion in this little book. ^ QUEENSTON COLUMN— DIGGING FOR LIBEL. " Sir Peregrine arrived here in Nov. 1828 ; and his period of three years will terminate in about four months. Should it please his Majesty to remove him, we are satisfied it would rank among the popular acts of the new ie\gn'*— Halifax Nova Scolian. Queension, Upper Canada, June, 1824. A TRIVIAL occurrence at this time, to which I shall here briefly advert, will do more to explain to the leader the character of a colonial government than would the most laboured essay. The country had determined to erect a column, 120 feet high, to the memory of General Sir Isaac Brock, who fell in the battle at these heights in 1813. The legislature, by an act, had named Thomas Dickson, Esq. the Hon. Thomas Clark, and Colonel Robert Nichol, commissioners to superintend the work ; and Mr. Francis Hall, now of the Shubenacadie Canal Nova Scotia, was chosen by them as their engineer. t ! iir QUEEN8T0N MONUMENT. 315 120 ,rocU, The kson, Robert I-, and 3ana\ leer. A few days before he tumbled over the rocks. Col. Nichol called at my house, to inform me that the foundation of this monument (which has been erected 400 oi' 600 feet above the level of the waters of the Niagara) would be laid with masonic honours, and that one or more lodges from York had promised to be present ; and when the workmen were nearly ready, Mr. Hall was asked if he would name a day, and thereafter told me that the foundation would be laid on any day the contractors pleased ; but that the proces- sion would be deferred until the 13th of October, being the anniversary of General Brock's death. It was suggested to Colonel Dickson, the only resi- dent surviving commissioner, that, out of respect to the deceased, under whom many of the townspeople had fought on the occasion about to be commemorated, the foundation-stone ought to be laid with the usual honours; and as he concurred in that opinion, I was requested to prepare a suitable inscription for a record, which I did, and then took it to the colonel, who corrected the date of the reign and some other inaccuracies in his own house, and approved of the proceeding, although lame with the gout, and, there- fore, unable to be present. Messrs. Kennedy, M'Arthur, and M'Naughton, the contractors, (natives of Scotland, and who had built the five stone locks on the Erie Canal at Lockport,) then appointed a day, and gave orders to excavate the foundation-stone, so that it might contain a glass vessel, hermetically sealed, enclosing the coins of the reigning sovereign, the official gazette and other newspapers, and the roll containing the record or memorial I had drawn out ; p2 I i 316 QURENSTON MONUMENT. which wa one. On the day appointed, I, being re- quested » 10 do, deposited the glass vessel and its contents in the hollow of the stone, covered it over with tlie fur of a beaver or otter, touched the stone with the trowel in the presence of those assembled, and James Lapraik immediately applied the mortar and covered the deposit with another large stone, beneath which it might have remained for ages, but for the rage into v.hich the whole transaction threw his Excellency the present Governor of Nova Scotia. James Lapraik, the mason, is cousin to James Lapraik, the Scottish poet, whom Burns celebrates : " ! for a spunk o' AUiin's glee, Or Ferguson's, the baiild and slee, Or bright Lapraik's my friend lo be," &c. The contractors, the masons, and others, spent the aifernoon in convivial mirth;* the particulars went the • oiuid of the newspapers from Sandwich to Quebec ; and it was tauntingly said by some, that while the governor of the province was traversing the country, laying the foundations of county gaols, (Sir Peregrine had just laid the foundation of that of Kingston,) * " The memory of Burns, Burns's Farewell toTarbolton Lodge, and Wolfe's Lament, were sung on the spot by James M'Queen, in fine style : he may well boast of being among the first vocal musicians this country affords. Coins of the reigns of James IL, Queen Anne, George III., and of the American llepublic, the Dutch United Provinces and Portugal, were deposited in the stone, as were also an Upper Canada Gazette, and No. I. of our loyal and patriotic ' Advocate.' The 1st of June ought to be dear to all good British subjects, being tlie anniversary of the day on which the gallant Lord Howe beat the French fleet off Brest. A meeting of freemasons took place at brother J. B. Cole's Queenston Hotel, a new lodge was formed, and thereafter the night was spent in great har- mony and with much conviviality.'' — Coionial Advocate, June, 1824. DIGGING FOR LIBEL. 317 Lapraik and I were doing the like honours to the memory of departed heroes (Brock and M'Donell) at Queenston.* Nothing could exceed the rage and in- dignation of Governor Maitland on his return from the lower province, some weeks afterwards ; he sent for Colonel Clark, who resided near him, and, being in a towering passion, ordered the column to be pulled down again, and the first number of " The Colonial Advocate" taken out of the foundation. It had fic- cused him of indolence, and of being the cause why Mr. Fothergill, the editor of his official gazette, had announced "that this fine country (meaning Upper Canada) has so long languished in a state of compa- rative stupor and inactivity, whilst our more enterprising neighboiu's are laughing us to scorn." It had a iserted that the causes of this stupor and inactivity on the part of the Canadians were, first, " that we were blessed with a governor who. after spending his earlier days in the din of war and the turmoil of camps, had gained enough renown in Europe to enable him to enjoy liim- self, like the country he governed, in inactivity ; whose migrations were, by water, from York to Queenston, and from Queenston to York, like the Vicar of Wake- field, from the brown bed to the blue, and from the blue bed to the brown — who knew our wants, as he gained a knowledge ofthe hour of the day, by report — * Queenston Monument is very like the column since built in memory of the Duke of York in Waterloo Place ; but the view from the summit of the former, five to six hundred feet above the surface of Lake Ontario, is infinitely superior in grandeur and extent to the prospect from the latter, with the metropolis of the universe at its base. 318 DIOGfNG FOR LIBEL. r.i V I in the one case by the N'agara gun, and in the other by the Gazette essays up *n stu;)or and inactivity," &c. The idea that such " recollections of the nineteenth century" might re-appear a thousand years hence quite overcame his Excellency's philosophy ; and after the pillar of hewn stone had reached (I think) forty- eight feet from the base, the Hon. Thomas Clark, and Mr. Hall the engineer, gave directions, and the work- men began cuttins into the foundation of the structure. After many hours' labour they succeeded in recovering an old pamphlet, sealed up in a bottle, wrapped round with an otter's skin, deposited in the heart of a sfone, at the bottom of a monument ! Mr. Grant, the justice of the peace, was called up, with the engineer, &c. to attest the " premature resurrection," and on the ensuing evening Sir Peregrine Maitland slept in peace. I was present when they recovered the treasure, and claimed and obtained the dreaded number one, which I have brought to London, and may probably present it to the British Museum. His Excellency gained " a mighty name " by this successful military exploit ; but the jokes cracked at his cost by the wicked w its who conduct the thousand and one journals of the great republic were innumerable. I was afraid they would never have done with him. I et this brief, but accurate, statement convince the most sceptical of the power of the press over the minds of those who most affect to contemn and despise its salutary influences. j ''■' 319 THE RIDEAU CANAL. loit; wits the they THE LOCKS — THE DAMS COMMERCIAL IMPORTANCE OF THE CANAL — MAJOR WALKER's TOAST — MILITARY VALUE OF THE CANAL A LOYAL POPULATION — FAL- LACIOUS ESTIMATES HUSKISSON's STRICTURES — DAM AT THE HOg's BACK VALUE OF LANDS AND MIl.l. SITES TWENTY-TWO MILITARY BLOCK-HOUSES GLORY REDOUBTS, POWDER MAGAZINES, BOiMB- PROOF STORIES NAVAL RESERVOIRS— FEVER PRO- POSED PASSAGE TO QUEBEC — CANAL COM! LETED. " The only way of keeping up the connexion of Canada with this country was, not by strengthening tlie fortifications, but by conciliating the people. That might be , Pr. Munro, and others, for lands through which the canal passed. If these lots shall not be quietly conveyed to court favourites, and the public kept noae the wiser until after the next twenty years have elapsed, large sums may yet be realized to the country by their sale. 1 hope that Lord Goderich''s plan to do away land- jobbing will be successful, but I doubt it. Among the expenses of the canal, military officers are a leading item ; — first lieutenants of the royal staff" corps have one shilling per day, extra pay, for Wa- i I* r '■ -'■r,v asni^i 324 THE RIOEAU CANAL. .1 terloo. How much extra for Waterloo have the pri- vates ? Among the military appurtenances to this naval and military canal, a charge of 61,000^. was made out as an extra, in 1830, for twenty-two military block- houses, land for ditto and defences, and a naval reser- voir. Soldiers would be wanted in due time to fill the block-houses, and defend the defences ; and officers, of course, to command the soldiers, and ships to bring the parties back and forward between Europe and America, and admirals and commodores to command them, and Spitalfields weavers and Manchester spinners to work sixteen hours a day, and starve the whole twenty-four, to keep this show up. " The insignificant force of 122,369 men," says a Jonathan newspaper, " is re- quired to keep John Bull peaceable in time of peace, prevent his purse from becoming too heavy, or his body over-corpulent by excessive eating. 122,369 ! What a pretty display ! What a gallant band ! Who says England is not the freest land upon earth? And in view of all this, is it not astonishing that America should arm but 6000? Is it not singular that she shoidd prefer good meat, bread, and wine, a comfort- able house, and a contented mind — to glory ! with its drum and fife, flag, sword, and musket ?" Why is it that the republicans seek no military defences for their canals — no corps of observation — no block-houses ? It is because a contented people are a nation's best de- fence. Colonel By, in his letter of 15th March, 1830, pro- poses his defences. 1st, He growls at the Canada ' 'I f -i THE RIDEAU CANAL. 325 pvo- knaJa Company for keeping the country in a state of wilder- ness ; next, he proposes fire-proof, and nearly bomb- proof stories in the block-houses ; square redoubts round each block-house ; tin-covered roofs, as tin-plate remains about sixty years free of rust in that climate ; the block-houses to be on a large scale, that they may serve as secure depots intimeof war; the magazine of each block-house to contain sixty-four barrels of gunpowder ; the upper floor to be the barracks of fifty men, and the port-holes to be lined with raw hides, well salted, and rolled tight, and jammed in while moist, to prevent the ports from being damaged by the discharge of their own guns at the Yankees. For the purchase of land required for military works. Colonel By puts down 20,000/. ! Then there is a sum of 8000/. for a reser- voir and defence, on the land of a Mr. Sparks, who asked 10,000/. only ! ! ! for eighty-eight acres, chiefly swamp, but in a position " one of the strongest in Canada." In the progress of the Rideau, Welland, and Bur- lington canals, there was a great deal of fever : the same was the case in the United States canals. Co- lonel By frequently alludes to " the dreadfully ofi*en- sive smell arising from the decayed vegetable matter in these evacuations," and which generated the fever. Among ^he projects of the military men in North America, I find it a favourite measure with Sir James Kempt, and Commissary-General Routh, to make the passage through the Rivitire des Prairies navigable, between the isle Jesus, and behind the island of Mon- treal. All the plans these people propose is to keep as far away as possible from the frontier of the United . I 326 THE RIDEAU CANAL. i f' II States with their improvements. Mr. Routh I pre- sume to be the wisest man among them ; for, while he admits the magnificence of the Rideau canal, he wishes all the canals and rivers to be made profitable in the way of trade, which is essential to the due maintenance of magnificence. By letters from Canada I learn that the Rideau canal is now complete ; that is to say, it is open from end to end, and may be navigated by vessels not drawing over four feet water. Steam-boats 110 feet long, and 33 feet broad across the paddle-boxes, can pass through the locks ; and steamers have begun to ply with passengers and merchandise. SCHOOLS— MECHANICAL LABOUR INSTITUTION. " Man becomes degraded in proportion as lie loses the right of self- government. Every effort ought therefore to be made to fortify our free institutions; and the great bulwark of security is to be found in educa- tion — the culture of the heart and the head — the liiffusion of knowledge, piety, and morality. A virtuous and enlightened man can never submit to degradation ; and a virtuous and enlightened people will never breathe in the atmosphere of slavery. Upon education we must therefore rely for the purity, the preservation, and the perpetuation of republican govern- ment. In this sacred cause we cannot exercise too much liberality. It is identified with our best interests in this wurld, and with our best des- tinies in the world to come." — De Witt Clinton. The number of school-districts and pupils instructed, in the state of New York, have increased since the last year. There are 9316 school-districts in the state, and 8818 of them have made returns according to the statute. The returns show 508,657 cliildren between the ages of five and sixteen years ; and that 505,943 have 11 I. SCHOOLS — MECHANICAL LABOUR INSTITUTION. 327 icted, le the [state, |to the jn the have been instructed in the schools from which returns have been received. The amount of money paid to teachers, derived from the public treasury, town taxes and funds, and voluntary contributions, is 605,729 dollars. There is an interesting experiment now in progress, in Rochester village, to combine mechanical labour with instruction in the sciences which appertain to a liberal education. The institution was founded in the spring of 1831 ; it numbered sixty-one pupils in Ja- nuary last, and is in a prosperous state. The pupils rise at four each morning, work three hours, and study ten, in the course of the day. I think the hours of study are too long; but when I call to mind the speeches I have heard Mr. Sadler and others deliver in the House of Commons, on the time, mode, and manner in which the children of " free-born Englishmen " toil in the factories, I count it an error on the safe side, as their studies must be often pleasant and agreeable, besides beinjj instructive. Mechanical labour is found to alternate better with study than farming work. One- third of the students at the academy at Rochester earned as much, nearly, by joiner work, coopering, and painting, as paid all the charges against them for board and education. An account is kept separately with each scholar ; and " the hope of reward sweetens labour." New York, April, 1832. % ■t Vi^^rwfc»tfww>wn,wfr. r 328 UNITED STATJ:3-\ CHAPTER ON GRIEVANCES!!! " Were Locke aiiu Sidney living in our day, they would regard the American government as a beautiful and successful experiment, uliich has solved diflSculties that had perplexed the wisest men, from the beginning of titne, and unfolded truths of incalculable value to mankind." — The Sc.ottmcn. " You, Parry, shall have a schooner built for me, or I will buy a ves- sel; the Greeks shall invest me with the character of their ambassador, or agent : — I will go to the United States, and procure that free and enlightened government to set the example of recognizing the federation of Greece as an independent state." — Lord Byron — (Z-i/e, A^ John GaU.) " The United States of America have a government, in my opinion, the very best in existence ; and the Americans think so too." — O. P. Q. In the preceding pages I have said several very good things in favour of the United States' govern- ment, because, after many years of continued personal observation, I felt justified in doing so. The Whigs call it a free and enlightened goverimient; so does Lord Byron ; Lord Brougham had his Westmoreland election medals struck for " the 4th of Jidy ;" and, as may be seen above, O. P. Q. and the editor of the Scotsman are in raptures with that ** beautiful and successful experiment'' which has solved so many difficulties, with which Locke and Sidney, with others, " the wisest men from the beginning of time," had been troubled and perplexed. I have travelled many thousand miles in the United States, in 1821, 1824, 1825, 1826, 1829, and 1832 ;— have seen the same places, and people, and sections of country, again and again and again — every new visit affording evidences more and more convincing to me, that I was in a land rapidly improving ; and satisfying my judgment. 'SVf,5 lany L824, Isame and ;nces in a knent. UNITED STATES — A CHAPTER ON GRIEVANCES. 329 humble as it is, of the capacity and fitness of a cheap and economical government and popular insti- tutions, when combined with almost universal edu- cation, to enable mankind to attain a high degree of happiness. I am every day more and mere convinced of the truth of Carnot's remark, — that, " in a free country, there is much clamour with but little suffering ; while in a despotic state, there are few complaints, but much grievance." The eternal ding-dong of administration and anti-administration papers in the United States — their plausible complaints of mismanagement and mis- rule, discontent, disunion, and what not, had great weight with me once, insomuch that I was led to doubt the stability of the federal government itself. I did not understand these matters then so well as I do now. Let a stranger travel in search of the elements of dis- union, of which he has heard so much in the daily prints, and he will soon find out the proper value of the doleful strains of pluce-hiuiting patriots iu a free republic. True, South Carolina has justly complained of the taritt", and New l^^ngland and N(;vv York are lifting up their voices against negro slavery — the Indians have been ill-used — and social order is perhaps not such as the best friends of our species might wish for; but, for all these things, the United States is, compara- tively speaking, a free and haj)py country ; and I rejoice that such a man as Mr. Stuart has at length come forward to acknowledge it. While I give the fair and comely side of the picture of the republic to the eye of the reader, it seems fit « 330 UNITED STATES — A CHAPTER ON ORIEVVNCrS, and expedient also to afford him a passing gU uoe at a view of society which is dark and unlovel)' ; and tor that purpose, I stlect a handl.ill isBiied d\xring the cholera last May, at Albany, the political capital of the first state of the Union, by " tlif officers of the church'* in that city, over whom the much ctlibrated and Very Rev. Dr. Daniel Wilson presides us ir,inisier. Tiie Rev. Dr. is at the head of a |'ariy of (I thin;. / Pri'sbytcrians, who profess an eJitraordinaiy degree of stricti*eo?s in their lives and conversation, and readily censuK- ;dl wlio come short of their adopted standard of thccretical perfection. Their handbill, during the progress of the cholera, seems to have c( ncentrated all the sins and grievances of the nation into a small com- pact space ; and aflforded full and sufficient cause for fasting and humiliation by the congregation. The official gazette of the state (the Albany Argus) quotes the greater part of the handbill, and it is to be regretted that it has left off at the close of the tenth sin, as the enemies of American institutions may despair of ever being able to obtain another blacker catalogue : — " Albany — Causes of Fasting, unanimously adopted by the Officers of the Church. " The Lord of Hosts has sent on our land a very long and severe winter, and a cold and tardy spring. Much grain, that would have furnished food for man, has been fed to cattle, thus diminishing the v.ealth of the nation. This is the true cause of the depression of business and of the complaints relative to scarceness of money. " The aboriginal nations of the west have confe- UNITED STATES — A CHAPTER ON GRIEVANCES. 331 a very spring, or man, ealth of ression rceiiess confe- derated together, and waged war upon our almost de- fenceless western frontier. Their savage modes of warfare render such an invasion peculiarly distressing. The tomahawk and the scalping-knife have been making frightful carnage, while the militia and regular troops have not been able to arrest their progress in bloodshed and desolation. The long winter had ren- dered provisions very scarce in thp new settlements ; and when the husbandman had prepared his ground and was about to commit his seed to the soil, he was compelled to fly from his home — pennyless. " Faction rages violently in the country. Honest labours for the good of the commonwealth, by men of talents and integrity, are not the high road to prefer- ment, but rather to proscription. Faction, not prin- ciple, sways too many : thus the good of the nation is sacrificed on the altar of party strife. The harmony of the republic, and even the \mion of these states, is in danger of coming speedily to an end, through the folly and selfishness of demagogues. We seem to be on the brink of a civil war, which is the most dreadful of all national visitations. " The plague of the cholera has invaded our land, and Death, riding on his pale horse, is filling the stoutest hearts with dismay, " It is now in the neighbourhood of our city. We have nuch reason to apprehend that ' these are the beginnings of sorrows.' The Lord is angry with us for our many and aggravated sins. *' Let us all acknowledge our transgressions before the God of Israel, and call upon him for mercy — * for the King of Israel is a merciful king.—' He will not "n.- gmei g 332 UNITED STATES — A CHAPTER ON GRIEVANCES. chide continually, nor keep his anger still.' The fol- lowing sins we confess before the Lord our God with fasting, humiliation, and prayer, and do beseech him to pardon these our iniquities, for the Redeemer's sake, and spare us and our city. '* The Duke of York, an Episcopalian, while the high church prelacy of England was persecuting Pres- byterians, made war on New York, then New Amster- dam, and conquered this Holland colony. After the conquest, large grants of land were made to Trinity and other Episcopalian churches. They are now of very great value, and employed in the propagation of prelatical hierarchy. They influence greatly the state government — though there are not ten Episcopahan churches in the state, yet the state-printei , the lieu- tenant-governor, and the governor are high church- men. Trinity is the richest corporation on this side of the Atlantic, except the United States Bank. Query : How much of the stock of that institution is held by the vestrymen of Trinity ? Do the demo- cratic Presbyterians of this state know these iiiings? If they do, will they not mourn over them before God, as public evils? Surely it is a great evil when monied aristocracies govern the commonwealth." Here follows a schedule of transgressions '* in the church," arranged under ten separate heads, each ending with a short prayer for " forgiveness in Heaven." We are then favoured with a summary of the sins " in the state," which we quote thus : — " In the state there are many sins. " 1. Drunkenness. — The corporations of the cities do not interpose to prevent this evil !i!i UNITED STATES — A CHAPTER ON GRIEVANCES. 333 with him sake, e the Pres- mstcv- er the Prinity low of tion of le state Dpalian le lieu- jhurch- lis side Bank. Lition is demo- ngs? If God, as monied '' in the Is, each ness in mary of he cities " 2. Whoredom. — Many public men keep harlots with shameless effrontery. " 3. Sabbath-breaking. — The mails still are carried, notwithstanding th? loud voice of Christianity, that was sounded, for two years, in the ears of Congress. Steam-boats, stages, grog-shops, taverns, hack-men, tide-waiters, closetted-ledgers, news-rooms, novel read- ing, and idleness, do, with many other sins, desecrate the Lord's holy day. The rulers are guiltiest of all. " 4. Factions. — The nuUifiers and others regard not the glory of God, nor the good of the nation. " 5. Slavery.— The United States' Constitution, and those of twelve states, are chargeable with this enormous evil — it debase'* the nation to hell. " 6. The nation refuses to obey the Lord Christ, notwithstanding all that God has done for us, through the covenant of his peace ; the nation rejects the Prince of Peace. " 7. Contempt of the ministry and Gospel ordi- nances. " 8. The press in the hands of the ungodly, in many instances. " 9. Popery and Pelagianism, under the names of riopkinsianism and Methodism, prevail and increase. ** 10. Tlie poor are greatly oppressed by opulent bankers and stock-jobbers." Here follows, (says the state printer,) a further enu- meration of sins, and another prayer ; and then " pre- ventives of cholera." The authors of the handbill would doubtless have supported Sir Andrew Agnew's Sab- bath scheme, or voted for the introduction of the blue laws of Connecticut into their state, almost to a man. 1 334 LIBEL LAWS. The true Christian would convince and convert by precept and example, while the intolerant and the hypocritical would return to the days of our Protestant and Catholic persecuting progenitors, persuade the un- believing by the power of the civil magistrate, and confirm the doubtful by means of bills of pains and penalties. LIBEL LAWS. " The legislative council was the cause of most of the evils, by con- stantly acting as the mere creature of the governor for the time being. From the year 1820 to the present time, the legislative council had agreed to, or had refused their consent to hills, according to the varying pleasure of each successive governor. He trusted that this would be altered, and that a more moderate system would be introduced." — Report of Mr, Slanlty^s Speech in the House of Commons on the affairs of Canada, June 5, 1829. Perceiving that much injustice was done to indivi- duals under colour of the libel laws, said to be in force m Upper Canada, I endeavoured to effect a change, and with that view introduced into the House of As- sembly, in 1830, the following bill to improve the law. It passed the representative branch unanimously, and was rejected in the legislative council by a vote equally decisive of the opinion of that body. There is nothing original in the proposition, which was again passed in the assembly, and again rejected by the council, some fifteen months ago. The Bill. *' Whereas it is expedient, that, in all trials for libel, the truth may be given in evidence, in justification, unless the same shall have been published maliciously. ti LIBEL LAWS. 335 ** Be it therefore enacted, &c., that the publicalion of the truth shall in no case be deemed or taken to be a libel, unless it shall be made with a malicious in- tention. " And be it further enacted, that upon the trial of any information or indictment for libel, any defendant or defendants may, under the plea of ' not guilty,' give in evidence the truth of the matter charged in such infor- mation or indictment as libellous ; and if the truth of the said matter be proved to the satisfaction of the jury, before whom such indictment or information shall be tried, they shall then and there acquit such de- fendant or defendants, \mless it shall appear to them, upon a consideration of all the circumstances attending the publication of such matter, that the same was published with a malicious intention." rials for ification, iciously. PROCESSIONS. The first public procession I witnessed in America was the Fete Dieu, a religious ceremony of the Catholics of Lower Canada. It was conducted with great splendour and suitable decorations through the streets and sq«iares of Montreal, the weather proving very favourable. The second was at the opening of the eighth provincial parliament at York. This last was intended as an imitation of the ceremony of the King going from St. James's Palace, in state, to open the session of the legislature of Great Britain ; and it struck my fancy as being one of the most ridiculous and grotesque exhibi- tions that could well be conceived by the mind of man. 336 PROCKSSIUNS. ^ The roads were bad, the weather very wet, and his Excellency Sir Peregrine Maitland moved slowly on in a coach, such as may be found at the Pantechnicon sometimes with the price marked 75/., or under ; next to him went the Chief Justice in an old-fashioned machine, the like of which no cockney ever cast his eyes on in England; a painted waggon, decorated with scarlet cloth, formed No. 3 ; No. 4 w as an old hnnbering vehicle, seemingly half cart, half chaise ; 5 I don't re- member; but the rear was brought up by a farm sleigh, drawn through the deep mud with great diffi- culty by a couple of horses; in this sleigh sat the Honourable Colonel Smith, who had been for some time the administrator of the government. His Honour was attired, like the others, " in the usual state," as the Gazette pompously announced. And thus did the cavalcade slowly proceed to the legislative council chamber, where Sir Peregrine took his seat upon the throne, and the commons were summoned by the usher of the black rod; next followed the command to choose a speaker, and the other formalities prescribed by Hatscll — and then the poor pageant returned by the way it came. I have lived to see such humble attempts at mo- narchical pomp as the above, wonderfully improved by superb coaches and four from London and New York, with waiting-men in gorgeous liveries, and sleighs built upon the most splendid and approved principle. With these alterations, a corresponding degree of magnificence has been introduced into the costumes of the grandees of whom our shows are composed ; and orders from the proper officer of St. James's Palace I his f on licon next ioned it his I with )ering i\'l re- , farm t aiffi- ,at the : some lonour itc," as did the covmeil pon the le usVier choose bed by [l by the at mo- iproved liul New sleighs principle, •ee of tumes of Led; aud (s Palace PROCESSIONS. 337 have been duly announced, prescribing the court dresses and laying down the various degrees of precedence from a colonial viceroy down almost to a wood-chopper. But I must own, that when I have called to my recol- lection what are the means by which this foolish pomp and parade are supported, I have wished for 1821 and its droll but economical procession back again. In 1821, the assembly was but for form's sake. I «aw them elect their speaker, a Mr. Levins Peters Sherwood, who trudged along for years under the burthen of official station as follows: — He was at one and the same time collector of the customs at Brockville and at Johnstown ; judge of the district court of two counties ; registrar of conveyances for Leeds county, for Granville county, and for Carleton county; surrogate judge, Johnstown district, M.P. for a county, and speaker of the I louse of Assembly. With these functions he united an extensive business as a practising barrister and attorney in all the courts, farming out such of his offices as he could not manage in person, and attending the annual militia musters as colonel of the county militia. He is a specimen of a numerous class. FATAJ. ACCIDENT ON THE NIAGARA. During the greater part of 1824 I resided with my family in Queenston ; and one Sunday forenoon, while I was walking on the high banks of the river, the ferry boat got into the vortex of one of the whirls and upset. Three ladies, who were passengers, were drowned, Q 5 1^ 338 FATAL ACCIDENT ON THE NIAGARA. They had been across giving orders to their milliner about some ball dresses, and the boatman succeeded in getting one of them (Mrs. Gordon, wife of Captain Gordon of the British army, and daughter of a former liigh sheriff of Niagara) placed upon the bottom of the capsized skiff, where she could have remained until assistance had arrived from the shore. But the un- happy lady saw her daughter's body floating in the stream near her, and, hjedless of herself, sprang for- ward into the fathomless abyss in the hopes of being able to reach her beloved child. That hope was vain — the beautiful girl (and few in Canada were fairer) mocked her mother's embrace; she instantly sank in the depths of the flood, and never rose again. Her body, and that of her comrade, were never more seen nor heard of. Mrs. Gordon's remains floated on the surface, and, after being but a short time in the water, were taken to the ferry-house, where every effort we could devise for her recovery proved fruitless. In that year I frequently crossed the Niagara here, (seven miles below the falls,) at the hour of midnight, and alone, the ferrymen on both sides having retired to rest. These dismal voyages I made in the days of the infancy of printing in Upper Canada, in consequence of a contract then subsisting, by which an Irish gentleman at Lewiston had agreed to print from 1000 to 1500 copies of my earliest numbers. I was detained from home, making selections from the British journals which were obtained via New York. On one occasion it was very dark, and I missed my way, going down the river a consi- derable distance towards Fort George, and being in the greatest danger of upsetting without knowing what NEWS, BUT NOT BY STEAM. 339 »able — the locked n the body, en nor iirface, *, were cowld t year miles ne, the These ncy of ontract wiston of my aking tained dark, consi- eing in g what course to take, and the river full of little whirls which change their place, and are not altogether free of danger. I have now in my possession a newspaper, one of the numbers of the 'Colonial Advocate ' for 1824, the paper for which was made at the Falls of Niagara ; the first side composed and printed off by an American and an Irishman at Lewiston, in the United States, on the south bank of the St. Lawrence ; and the second side set up and pressed off in Queenston, Upper Canada, on the northerly bank of that river. This number, so printed, was afterwards published and issued in York, north of Lake Ontario, and is probably the only news- paper-sheet that ever was printed in two nations. In those days there was no duty on paper, no stamps, no security required against libel beforehand ; the press was free ; and if a governor or other colonial functionary disliked its strictures, he had his remedy by digging out of the bottoms of the monuments the offending numbers, after the fashion of Sir P. Maitland. Q 2 # 340 THE CHURCH OF ROME— CORRUPT STATE INFLUENCES. . f i ' " The first (entitled to the place Of honour both by gown and grace) Who never let occasion slip To take right hand of fellowship ; And was so proud, that, should he meet The twelve Apostles in the street, He'd turn his nose up at them all, And shove his Saviour from the wall ; Who was so mean (meanness and pride Still go together side hy side) That he would cringe, and creep, be civil, And hold a stirrup for the devil. If in a journey to his mind, He'd let him mount, and ride behind." — The D'ielliat. " Could any thing, he asked, be more unjustifiable than that the Ca- tholics of Ireland should contribute one-tenth of their incomes to pay a clergy oflficiating for the sole benefit of a fraction of their countrymen — only one-sixteenth ? Even the Turks did not make the Greeks, when under their yoke, pay towards the maintenance of Mahomedanism." — Mr. O' ConnelPs Speech in Reply to the Address. House of Commons, 1833. In his examination before the House of Lords, March 21, 1825, the Right Reverend Dr. Doyle, in answer to a question about giving the crown an infltience in the election of Roman Catholic Bishops, remarks, tliat, " In general, the ministers of state in every country are rinxious to intermeddle in ecclesiastical matters, and (haw to themselves the patronage of the church, and thereby frequently lessen the liberties of the people." " I have observed," adds Dr. Doyle, " since I came to manhood, that there have been uninterrupted and stron^ eftbrts to subvert the Cptholic religion in Ireland. I have heard of private instructions being sent by the British government to their agent in Canada, to with- BISHOP MACDONKLL — STATK INFLUENCES. 341 ;ncks. D'ielliit. jl the Ca- s to pay a itrymen — ;eks, when anism." — Commons, , March nswer to ; in the LS, that, mtry aro ers, and rch, and j)eople." came to id strong land. I it by the to with- draw from certain places there Catholic missionaries, and substitute less :«ealous for more zealous men, as well as to diminish their number." The Catholic prelate offered to inform their lordships, next day, of the precise time when these instructions were sent. It will be seen, from the annexed extract of a Utter from Bishop Macdonell, lately elevated to the seat of a legislative councillor for life, with a pen- sion or salary, from the crown, of 400^. a year, during pleasure, that the same influence continues to be exer- cised. The Methodists, the most numerous sect in the colony, are insulted in that letter, in the grossest terms, by a person dependent on the fruits of their industry ; while at the same time they are obliged to maintain the ministers of their choice. Mr. Crevier, the missionary at Sand^^ich, had, it appears, been over-zealous, and therefore the mitred politician wanted to give him a broad hint that he had the civil authority (of the garrison) to send him boyond Lake Simcoe, to rescue the poor Indians from iL scension which we have received fram his present Excellency, Sir John Colborne, I should hope that he would have the goodness of furnishing you with such reconnmendation as would procure you sufficient support from the civil authority of the western district, in the event of your find* ing any insurmountable difficulties, on the part of Mr. Crevier or his party, in the execution of our orders. I should, however, be extremely sorry to resort to the civil power, except in case oi absolute necessity ; at the same time I should not be very backward in giving a broad hint to Mr. Crevier, that I was in pcsscs:;'.un of such a power, and should not hesitate to make use of it in rase of necessity. " I would advise you to take the Honourable Mr. Baby with you when y.-.w wait upon his LiXceilency on the business above-mentioned, as he \f. better acquainted than you or I with the characters and matters to be over- hauled in Sandwich. From what has already come to the kn<;wledge of his Excellency respecting Mr. Crevier's electioneering transactions, I should trust he would have the less objection th:<.t Se should be removed from Sandwich, if necessary, and placed in a situation more suitable t.i his peculiar talents and qualifications : being tolerably well versed in the Indian language, and a thorough-bred voyagtur, he would be admirably qualified to match the Yankee Methodists, nnd rescue the poor Indiana of Penetanguishine and Lake Simcoe from the fangs of these reptiles, '' I remain, with much esteem and regard, " Very Reverend and dear Sir, " Yours, aflectionately, " A. llKcioi -us." Viscount Howick appears to be opposed to the u])- holding of such persons as Bishop Macdonell at the cost of the people of Canada. Speaking of the annual grant to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, in July, 1830, in the House of Commons, this noble- man is reported to have said of the grant, that " he objected to it, as the devotion of a large sum of the public money to the maintenance of an exclusive and a dominant church, especially in a country circumstanced as Canada was, where one-seventh of the land w as de- voted to the maintenance of the church establishment, and where that exclusive and dominant church gave CORRUPT STATK INFLUENCES. 343 \tioH and id conde- Sir John furnishing it siippoii your find- his party, ly sorry to ,t the same Ir.Crevier, te to make you when d, as he i.^ to be over- cwledge of Inactions, 1 )e removed suitable t.) ersed in the admirably oor Indians cptiles. tely, 01 ,us." the up- 11 at the e annual i Gospel, is noble- hat " he n of the ive and a nistanced ;1 was de- lishment, rch gave great dissatisfaction. Tlic interests of religion in Canada would be much more effectually promoted by removing all invidious distinctions respecting tnatters of religion. If the goverimient desired to see that or any colony happy or prosperous, they would put down monopo?y, and prevent, as far as they could, all cause of jealousy." The Noble Lord further added, " that the missionaries sent out from the Methodist connexion were, he understood, highly efficient." Hear Sir George Murray, the Duke of Wellington's Military Secretary of the Colonies, on this subject : — " He was inclined to think, that, everywhere, the state derives strength l.om the stipport of religion ; and that rehgion acquires respectability in the eyes of the people by being connected with the state," No doubt it does, as witness the Honoun ble and Venerable John Strachan, Doctor in Divinity, President of tlie Board of Educa- tion of Upper Canada, member of the legislative council, rector and parish priest of York, missionary of the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge, member of the executive council or colcmial cabinet, a principal shareholder in the York Joint-Stock Bank, (and a late director,) member of the clergy (or clergy- reserve) corporation. President of the University of King's College, justice of the peace, college cotmcillor, land councillor, senior member of eleven district boards of education, commissioner under the Heir and Devisee Act, Archdeacon of York in the bishopric of Quebec, trustee of the Royal Institution, a first-rate land specu- lator, et ccBtera, et ct£tera. The Archdeacon of York, and Bishop Regiopolis, are of Sir George's selecting. How respectable ! ! ! t s 344 Si ON EMIGRATION TO AMERICA. " Does any man tell nie, that my full efforts can be of no service j and that it does not belong to my humble station to meddle with the runcerns of a nation ? I can tell him, that it is on such individuals as I ihat a nation has to rest, both for the hand of support and the eye of in* telligence. The uninformed mob may swell a nation's bulk, and the titled, tinsel, courtly throng, maybe its feathered ornament; but the number of those who are elevated enough in life iv reason and reflect, yet low enough i.t keep clear of the venal contagion of a court, — these are a nation's strength." — Robert Burns, ** The true sovereigns of a country are those who determine its mind, its modes of thinking, its tastes, its principles. In Euijpe, political and artificial distinctions have, mure or less, friumplicd over and obscured our common nature. Man does not there value himself as man. It is for his blood, rank, or some artificial distinction, and not for the attributes of humanity, that hu holds himself in respect.'' — Ckanning. Mr. Stuart, in his " Tliree Years in North America," give» the state of lUinois the preference over every other part of that extensive continent, as a place of settlement for emigrating farmers; and, after his candid and practical man" and may readily amend a first choice if he find that it would be to his advantage. :| i M'V ^^ if! 1::! fl^ h.:i -X 352 EMIGRATION TO AMERICA. I have often alluded to the climate of Upper Canada in the course of my remarks, and chiefly because an er- roneous notion had gone forth that it was very cold, and the winters gloomy, long, and harsh. I have not found it so. On referring to my note-book for 1831, 1 perceive that I " attended a public meeting of the towns of Cornwall and Roxborough, held in the King*s Bench Court-room, Cornwall, on Monday, October 31st, having left Williamstown in Glengarry at the lower extremity c: the colony on the 30th. The weather was agreeably warm and pleasant on the Sunday, but on Monday it rained all day. At 11 p.m. took my seat in the stage for Prescott; the post-roads were bad ; breakfasted comfortably at Williamsburgh stage-house on the 1st November; dined at Prescott; took a passage on board the good steamer Queen ston. Captain Meneilly, and met with very comfortable ac- commodation. Only 300 passengers on board ! (The humanity of the Hon. John Hp'^Uton had induced him to give a free passage tt arty of the poor creatures who had been wrecked in the Acadia by a drunken pilot on Green Ib!and. Some of our sapient legislators would prevent a similar act of humanity next year by taxing his bar-keeper 10/. for the good of the confraternity of tax consumers in York.) Took supper that night with a friend at Brockville ; on Wed- nesday the 2nd, had a pleasant sail to Kingston, where we arrived in the evening and stopped three hours ; on Thursday night we were off Cobourg, where the vessel waited some time; and on Friday forenoon I was for an hour at home attending to my affairs in York. At noon on that day (again in the Queenston) took a ! I : 1 ,j • ^v ' ^ I i a*»». EMIGRATION TO AMERICA. 353 passage for the head of Lake Ontario^ and passed up through the Burlington Canal at dusk in the evening. Mem. The work seems to be in good order. Took supper within a couple of miles of Hamilton^ the capital of the District of Gore. Next morning, Saturday, Nov. 5th, breakfasted off Grimsby ; took a lunch at Fort George, (Niagara;) dined with a friend at the beau- tiful village of St. David's ; and supped with an old acquaintance in the classical frontier town of Queen- ston. Rode down to Niagara, along the lovely banks of the St. Lawrence, on Sunday morning, November 6th; stepped over for five minutes into the United States of America to ascertain the fate of Warsaw and the Reform Bill; then bade adieu to Brother Jona- than, and, by the aid of the Canadian steamer, was home to York and laid up in winter quarters by three o'clock in the afternoon of the said 6th Novem- ber, my only damage being a slight hoarseness con- tracted on the night of the 29th October in Glengarry. Are not these favourable proofs of the mildness of our climate ?" If the reader will take a map of Canada and trace the above route, it will be seen that I travelled 500 miles with ease in November, in a short space of time — no frost had set in. My agent, Mr. Wixson, a native Canadian, and a practical farmer, wrote me on the 17th of January last, that during the first seven days of the new year, the weather at York had all the appearance of spring* that the grass in my garden had grown to the length of several inches, while the currant-bushes were bud- ding and almost ready to put forth leaves. Mr. T. ■;3 ''■ II ll 354 EMIGRATION TO AMERICA. 'i i \ ■ II; Mosher had seen a frog on the Saturday jumping about, lively and gay, as is usual in the spring of the year. Farmers in the neighbourhood were ploughing summer fallows, and the roads broken up. About the 8th of January, cold, frost, snow, and excellent sleigh- ing came round — noble, bracing weather for the human constitution, but rarely to be met with in Illinois, unless for a very short space. Again, on the 4th of April, Mr. W. wrote me from York, that "the spring had opened in good earnest, and that the grass on the plat in the garden was as green as a leek. The ice was nearly out of the har- bour, insomuch that a loaded schooner had left one of the wharfs for Prescott the day before. In short, the weather was finer at that moment, and had been for more than a week, than in the year 1832, in the middle of May. The roads were drying very fast, and the farmers* waggons revisiting the markets." Upper Canada, unfortunately, stands low in the estimation of many persons of liberal principles, be- cause of the intolerant and despotic character of its government; but that is a burden which only time and circumstances can remove. With all its faults, I would recommend the capitalist not to stand in fear of it, but to give Upper Canada the first trial. Men of 500Z., lOOOZ., and so on, up to 5000Z. fortune, with families, would, in most cases, find their circumstances greatly benefited, and their prospects in life much im- proved, by transferring their capital and enterprise from England to Upper Canada. There is abundant room for the safe and profitable investment of money, either by active men of business or by those who would I ' EMIGRATION TO AMERICA. 355 prefer a quiet and retired life. Living is cheap- society better than in the country parts of Britain, for the poor and the miserable are wanting. It should, moreover, be borne in mind that a settler in Upper Canada, in possession of 100/. annual income, is placed, in regard to pecuniary circumstances, in the same relative position to " the higher orders" of gentry and freeholders there, as he would be, with 1000/. a-year, or thereabouts, to the corresponding classes of society in this country, if he resided here. I entertain a lively expectation that many of the difficulties experienced in Upper Canada will be speedily removed by a prudent and judicious course of conduct on the part of Mr. Stanley, the new colonial minister. Lords Goderich and Howick did much to- wards conciliating the Canadian people ; and it was not to be expected that their able and experienced successor would change his principles for the sake of conciliating the monopolists of the colonies. Capitalists emigrating to America should not take their money with them in specie — they should leave it, and carry over a power to draw, at a short date, on their bankers here. Their bills of exchange will yield a good premium in any part of North America. In comparing Illinois, and the United States generally, with British America, I am far from de- siring to underrate the substantial advantages which have attended the emigration of many thousands of industrious settlers to the territories of the great re- public. Our farmers, instead of expending their capital in cultivating the lands of other men, with little profit to themselves, find the 600/. or 1000/. which they i- i i i J, ' 1 I,: Pt ■t> r '■ I i;'' •I;.i : .i I ^w^i } : 1 t ( 1 il 1 u ; ■ 1 li ik . % I- 356 EMIGRATION TO AMERICA. would have laid out in stocking the farm of some great lord or squire here, an abundant means of purchasing and stocking a larger and better estate of their own in the western territories, to descend to their heirs for ever in fee simple, in a land of few taxes well applied, and where no higher and more privileged because more useless class can unduly influence their attempts at obtaining honest and faithful lawgivers and a more equal code of laws. Moreover, the emigrant farmer in the United States has not inflicted on him the pain of seeing the hardy and laborious farm-servant toiling from generation to generation in hopeless poverty and privation, his ill-rewarded industry serving only to increase the countless luxuries of the drones of com- munity. In Upper Canada and the United States no ploughman need fear taking to himself a wife lest he should involve an amiable woman and her infants in want and poverty. There his children are his greatest wealth ; there no unnatural laws of entail, half-bloody and primogeniture, will long interpose to prevent their realizing all the happiness and felicity pictured by Scotia's favourite bard in the expressive lines, " O, happj love ! where love like this is found ! O, heartfelt raptures ! bliss beyond compare ! I've paced much this weary, mortal round, And'Sage Experience bids me this declare— ' If Heaven a draught of heavenly pleasure spare, One cordial in this melancholy vale, 'Tis when a youthful, loving, modest pair, In other's arms, breathe out the tender tale, Beneath the milk-white thorn that scents the evening gale.* *' 357 LEGISLATIVE RECREATIONS AT ALBANY. An income of 10,000/. a year is not necessary to a man*s happiness in the United States, even in the most exalted stations. Among the people of the state of New York, such a revenue would place its owner in a manner beyond society — the country would be suspicious of such a person, and would rarely trust him in any important public situation. Here, nearly all the members of parliament are chosen from the rich and powerful : the people of America can find poor men in whom they may safely place confidence. Let it not be imagined, however, that the legisla- tors of Albany are Itfss happy and contented because they are placed under a governor with an income of 900/. a year, instead of having a king and royal family at four hundred times the expense. Their parties and amusements may be less expensive to their consti- tuents in New York State, but they are, perhaps, quite as social. Take, for example, the following picture of the legislative recreations at Albany during the winter of 1829, as sketched in his happiest manner by Mr. Noah on the spot : — " Every other week there is a regular dinner laid out at the Eagle tavern and the Hill, alternately, to which all the choice spirits in Albany are invited by the residents of the two houses. The tables are spread out in the most elegant style. Ornaments pro- fusely cover the groaning mahogany. Printed bills of fare, on fine hot-pressed paper, are set down in the neighbourhood of each cover. Several courses are served up to the guests. On many occasions there, I V\ i : -J 1^ ■t. •| ;■ )i h \ i ■^ ' .(■' \r •rVt- 358 LEGISLATIVE RECREATIONS AT ALBANY. have seen the first course contain nearly twenty varie- ties, among which were to be found rich venison, fine mountain mutton, and ham boiled in champaign. On these occasions, many of the officers of the state go- vernment are present. Governors, senators, judges^ secretaries, and representatives, mingle together. All the wits and bon vivants, all that are distinguished for talents and accomplishments in the capital, generally take care to swell the company. The mirth and gaiety are managed with much decorum, for the master- spirit, the very Falstaff of the age, is not only a gentleman every inch of him (and where's the man that dares compete in inches with him, either across, round, or lengthwise ?) but an exquisite manager of men*s minds and faculties. He brings out the diffi- dent — he fills up conversational chasms — and when the company stagnates, he throws out new ideas, and conducts to admiration the whole machinery of knowing how to make the most of life. On another occasion, it might be an agreeable pastime to sketch the general features of other portions of society, which are distinguished for talents, accomplishments, wit, and beauty. The state government has its dinners and soirees t as well as the national. There is as much beauty in the females, as much gallantry in the males, although it is smaller in compass, more limited in numbers, and seldom got up like the famous jams of Washington. There are some dashing characters of both sexes, that might be touched lightly with the fairy pen of description in such a manner as to please and gratify the better and finer feelings of all," * * * * 'f: 359 POLITICAL CONDITION OF UPPER CANADA. " No government in the world possesses so few means of bestowing favours as that of the United States. The governments are the servants of the people, and are so considered by the people. They are chosen to m' ;age, for short periods, the common concerns ; and when they cease to ^ive satisfaction, they cease to be employed. If the powers, however, of the government to do good, are restricted, those of doing harm are atill more limited." — John Quincy Adams, "The people of Upper Canada had no agent, while Chief Justice Campbell, whose own conduct was deeply implicated in the state of things brought about in the courts by his absence from duty while receiving a very large allowance, was on the spot using his endeavours, and receiving the honours of knighthood for his exertions, against a poor people who had fed him in idleness for several years. In our opinion a change of policy must take place towards Upper Canada, or the evil can only be met by the exercise of power : loyal, but determined to enjoy the British constitution in practice, that country will have its just rights at any ex- pense." — Neihoni's Quebec Gazette. " As long as you have the wisdom to keep the sovereign authority of this country as the sanctuary of liberty, the sacred temple consecrated to our common faith, wherever the chosen race and sons of England worship freedom, they will turn their faces towards you. The more they multiply, the more friends you will have : the more ardently they love liberty, the more perfect will be their obedience. Slavery they can have everywhere: it is a weed that grows in every soil." — Burke on Conciliation with America. *' In this fcirin the first grand right is, that of the people having a share in their own government by their representatives chosen by themselves, and in consequence of being ruled by laws which they themselves approve, not by edicts of men over whom they have no control. This is a bul- irark surrounding and defending their property, which by their honest cares and labours they have acquired, so that no portions of it can legally be taken from them but with their own full and free consent, when they in their judgment deem it just and necessary to give them for public ser- vices; and precisely direct the easiest, cheapest, and most equal methods in which they shall be collected. The influence of this right extends still farther. If money is wanted by rulers who have in any manner oppressed the people, they may retain it until their grievances are redressed ; and thus peaceably procure relief without trusting to despised petitions, or '■ 1? 1 1' n I'i 3G0 POLITICAL CONDITION OF UPPER CANADA. t t disturbing the public tranquillity." — Aildreas of Ihe Old Colonie$ to the People of Quebec. London Annua/ ReyiUer, 1 774. "The legislative councils ought to be tutally free and repeatedly chosen. in a manner as much independent of the governor as the nature of a colony would admit : those, he conceived, would be the best. The go* vernments now established in North America were, in his opinion, the best adapted to the situation of the people who lived under them of any of the governments of the ancient or modern world j and when we had a colony like this, capable of freedom, and capable of a great increase of people, it was material that the inhabitants should have nothing to look to among their neighbours to excite their envy. Canada must be pre< served iu its adherence to Great Britain by the choice of its inhabitants, and it could not possibly be kept by any otK?r means."— CAar/«« Jamea Fox, Debate in the House of Commons, when giving the Canadas a new form 0/ ffovemment, /ipril%, 1791. " We think that the address of the legislative council of Upper Canada 8 as good a thing in the way of colonial addresses as any we have seen. It is in the right slave-holding spirit — minds corrupted with the long en< joyment of unbridled power over their fellow-men, which the colonial minister has endeavoured to bring within the limits of justice and consti- tutional right. How their dignity is ofTended at Lord Ooderich having listened to any complaints against them ! They touch his despatch as it were with a pair of tongs. It would defile the pages of their journals, and corrupt the chaste and pure documents preserved in the office of the clerk of the parliaments of Upper Canada. • • • • Perhaps his Majesty's Colonial Secretary might beneficially increase the public opi- nion of Iheir independence, by relieving some of them from seats held during pleasure."— -Qi«'6ec Gazette, April 10, 1833. I WAS introduced to his Majesty's Ministers, about twelve months ago, by Mr. Hume, member for Mid- dlesex> and Mr. Viger, agent for the House of Assembly of Lower Canada; and have had interviews with several members of the government, and been permitted to place under their consideration statements concerning the post-office department, the joint-stock-banks, the revenue, the legislative council, the administration of justice, the jury laws, the local magistracy, the state flwtN^. im^ POLITICAL CONDITION OF UPPKR CANADA. 3GI of the representation, church estaUishments, &c. To some of these remonstra»i?os the Colonial Department has paid great attention, and sought to redress many grievances of which the people have long complained. Now that the Earl of Ripon and Viscount Howick no longer control the Colonial Department, I may state my firm and settled conviction, that they did their best to remove every well-founded cause of complaint in Upper Canada^ of the existence of which they were made sensible. In a conversation I had with Mr. Stanley since he accepted the seals of the Colonial Department, I saw no reason to doubt his intentions of persevering in the kind, conscientious, and concilia- tory course of policy which, in Upper Canada, was be- ginning to produce such excellent results during the latter months of the administration of his predecessors. Lords Ripon and Howick. It is not, however, to be denied that the government of Upper Canada is a despotism ; a government legally existing independent of the will of the governed. Re- sponsibility to the people from their rulers is, in law, merely nominal ; and it is impossible in England to judge correctly in many cases of the conduct of the few who govern abroad. The persons who administer the government, and hold the most lucrative offices, continue to retain their situations, whether their conduct is, or is not, in unison with the wishes of the people. Public confidence is not by any means a necessary in- gredient in colonial rule. A great part of the revenue is disposed of secretly — very little of it is under popular control — and erroneous (false) statements of the in- comes of public functionaries are officially transmitted R ■ ;! m ■f I I 'M-^' 362 RP:VENUE8 of upper CANADA. f ■ ; J to the Colonial Office on the one hand> while equally unsatisfactory, and still more incomplete, accounts serve to delude the colonial legislatures on the other. It is inconsistent with the character of a transitory compilation like this to introduce many details ; but if any member of the House of Commons wishes to r^scertain particulars, let him taove the House for an address to the King for copies of the documents I have placed on the table of the Colonial Secretary within the last twelve months, together with the de- spatches that have been sent to the Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada during that period. The following revenues are not at the disposal of the House of Assembly, namely, the timber duties; sales of public lands; clergy land sales; permanent fees and offices (equal to 30,000Z. a-year) ; permanent (uvil list (equal to 16,000/. a-year) ; Canada Company's payments; timber sales; rents of public lands and ferries ; college funds ; fines and forfeitures ; crown fees; assessed and wild land taxes; post-office re- venues; Rideau and Welland Canal revenues; and the naval and military expenditure derived from England. The interest of the public debt absorbs, annually, 100,000 dollars, or thereabouts, and of the residue the voting is a mere matter of form. This system cannot last, and I would be neglecting my duty to the country of my birth if I did not attempt to expose it, ill order that it may be changed. I had placed a petition, of which the following, with some few omissions, is a copy, in the hands of Mr. Hume, for presentation in the House of Commons. When I learned that Viscounts Goderich and Howick |i POLITICAL CONDITION OF UPPER CANADA. 363 had set about the work of reform in Canada in right earnest, I then withdrew it. Knowing little or nothing of Mr. Hay, Lord Howick's successor, but presuming that he is placed over the northern colonies by Mr. Stanley, in consequence of his ardent attachment to the principles and usages of English liberty, I respect- fully invite his attention to the facts it contained, nothing doubting but that he will prove himself to Upper Canada a thorough reformer and a good Whig, attached to principle far more than to official station. The colonial secretary has an arduous task ; " ad- dresses, remonstrances, and complaints, pour into his department from the four quarters of the world ;'* and I agree with " the Quebec Gazette " in thinking, that there is no public situation ** in which a mild, well- educated, sensible and benevolent English gentleman, can be more shocked in his feelings and counteracted in his views." ' TO THE HONOURABLE THE COMMONS OF THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND, IN PARLIAMENT ASSEMBLED— " The Humble Petition of William L. Mackenzie, Printer ; Member representing the County of York, in the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada; (and deputed to this Country as the Agent for the Petitioners to the King and Parliament, praying for a Redress of Grievances :) ** Showeth, — ^That between the months of June, 1831, and April, 1832, the people of Upper Canada, having full confidence in the gracious disposition of his R 2 1 n <■ I 364 POLITICAL CONDITION OF UPPER CANADA. ^Ji ; .( , Majesty early to hearken to the just complaints of his subjects throughout his widely extended dominions, met together in their respective towns and counties for the purpose of petitioning his Majesty on the state of the province, and of laying their grievances at the foot of the throne. At upwards of a hundred general meet- inors of the landowners and other inhabitants of the districts, counties, towns, and townships into which Upper Canada is divided, memorials to his Majesty were adopted, and subscribed by between twenty and thirty thousand persons, — a considerable majority, as there is reason to believe, of the whole male adult population. And it was a request of tue memorialists, unanimously made at all their meetings, that your petitioner should proceed to England in charge of their memorials, and endeavour to obtain a favourable answer. " Petition fo the House of Commons^ 1832. " That your petitioner was the bearer of a memorial to your honourable House, agreed upon last year, and subscribed by ten thousand of the landowners and other inhabitants of Upper Canada, praying that an inquiry might be instituted into the state of the colony and relief extended ; said memorial was presented by one of the representatives for Middlesex a short time be- fore the close of the last session, but the investigation prayed for was not gone into. " Applications at the Colonial Office. "That your petitioner was introduced to the Secre- tary of State for the Colonies on the occasion of pre- senting the addresses from Upper Canada, last July, II ,i POLITICAL CONDITION OF UPPER CANADA. 365 and has had the honour to obtain several audiences of his lordship, and been permitted to address many com- munications on the state of the province to the Colonial Office; but * * * * *' Petition to the House of Commons ^ 1831. " That your petitioner is a member of the central committee of friends of civil and religious liberty, who forwarded the memorial of ten thousand of the freeholders of Upper Canada to one of the representa- tives for Middlesex for presentation in your honourable House^ in 1831. ITie petition was ordered to be printed, but there has been no inquiry. The memo- rialists have requested your petitioner to endeavour to obtain the attention of Parliament to the prayer of their memorial. «' Petition of 1828. " That your petitioner was a member of the pro- vincial committee who forwarded to one of the present representatives for Middlesex for presentation in your honourable House in 1828, the memorial of eight thousand of the inhabitants of Upper Canada, stating their grievances ; and that he has been required to act as their agent. " Petition of 1829. '* That about five thousand inhabitants of the county of York, of whom your petitioner was one, transmitted petitions for redress of grievances, for presentation in the Houses of Lords and Commons in 1829, but, be- cause of some informality in the wording, the legisla- ture would not receive or listen to them. *' Recommendations of the Canada Committee neglected. "That the recommendations made by the select - i ^-,i-' I ¥ t Jk>«1«-^ f"'' 1 1 ■i^' I ■^ ■ > 1 !M 6* 1 5:> 11^ 366 POLITICAL CONDITION OF UPPER CANADA. committee of your honourable House, to whom was referred, in 1828, the consideration of the state of the civil government of the Canadas, have not been com- plied with as far as Upper Canada is concerned. On the contrary, the abuses then complained of have greatly increased, and are increasing, with perfect im- punity to the wrong-doers. The attention of the pro- vince is anxiously turned towards the deliberations of Parliament, in the confident expectation that your honourable House will at length favourably listen to our humble prayers, cause inquiry to be made, and grant relief, " Persecution for Opinion, '* An opinion is very generally entertained in Upper Canada— and, as your petitioner believes, with good reason — ^that wherever the Government or its officers have an opportunity to injure in their business or prospects in life those persons whose names are at- tached to petitions calling the attention of his Majesty or your honourable House to the misconduct which prevails in the colonial administration, or who take a prominent part with the complainants, they seldom fail to use it. It is well known that for years to- gether the right of the people to meet and petition for redress of grievances was suspended, at the request of Sir P. Maitland; it was made a criminal act for any number of the landowners to assemble together to petition the king, within the limits of Upper Canada ; and the royal grants of public lands to Canadians, be- stowed as the reward of their bravery in defence of the province in time of war, were rescinded because they ventured to meet and petition Parliament for a redress of grievances, in time of peace ! ill POLITICAL CONDITION OF UPPER CANADA. 367 '' Difficulty of Petitioning, *' Petitioning England, and sending agents to London from year to year, is attended with much difficulty, trouble, and expense to a people 4000 miles distant from the supreme authority ; and it is a duty at all times un- pleasant to have to complain of the conduct of others. Although, however, the act of petitioning is unpleasant, the right is nevertheless dear to British subjects ; and I humbly request permission to recapitulate some of the grievances felt by the inhabitants of Upper Canada which have been embodied in their memorials to the King and Parliament, and to the lieutenant-governor and provincial legislature. Having been honoured with the confidence of the landowners, in whom is the right of suffrage, so far as to be five times successively chosen to serve as a member of the Legislative As- sembly for the most populous shire in the Canadas, that in which is the seat of the government of the Upper Province — ^having been unanimously elected last November while absent in this country, endeavour- ing to obtain the attention of the Colonial Depart- ment to the petitions of the freeholders, I may reason- ably be supposed to speak their sentiments. " The Quebec Act " Immediately afler the thirteen colonies, now the United States of America, had adopted their present federal constitution, an act was passed in the Parlia- ment of Great Britain, dividing the Province oi Quebec into two ; establishing a splendid and very ex- pensive system of monarchical government in an infant country, among a few agricultural settlers scattered over many hundred miles of a wilderness frontier; I'' i II '? 3 ■ I ^ : ! I' 368 POLITICAL CONDITION OF UPPER CANADA. providing for the creation of hereditary titles of honour, and establishing legislative bodies over whose proceed- ings the people could exercise no control, the repre- sentative of an imaginary aristocracy, in a portion of the American continent in which no class of persons possessed of large fortunes, and an illustrious name or ancient lineage, were to be met with. ** Government of Upper Canada. " As there are no materials in Upper Canada out of which to form an influential order of hereditary legis- lators, the whole authority of the state, civil and military, has usually been concentrated in the person of the officer commanding the forces, acting under such instructions as he may have received from time to time from the Colonial Office or the Horse Guards. The heads of departments in this country who thus exercise an influence over the internal government of the colony, cannot be the most fit to judge concerning the wants and wishes of a country they never saw. They must depend on their agents. And thus it is, that while in the adjoining states the chief magistrates are freely elected by the people from among their ablest and most patriotic statesmen, the colonists are under the necessity of submitting to the mandates of a person bred in the army, a stranger to their feelings, preju- dices, manners, and customs, ignorant of the country he is sent out to govern, having no permanent interest in common with its population, and being continually surrounded and advised by a body of self-interested counsellors, whom no popular vote of disapprobation can ever change. There is not now, neither has there ever been, any real constitutional check upon the POLITICAL CONDITION OP UPPER CANADA. 309 »i natural disposition of men in the possession of power to promote their own partial views and interests at the expense of the interests of the great body of the people. " Causes of the present Discontents. "The infancy of the country, the poverty of the first settlers, the command over the waste lands, (the disposal of which is regulated by no law,) and tlie civil and military expenditure derived from the taxes levied upon the people of these kingdoms, have left all the power in the hands of the executive government, and rendered the apparent constitutional check de- rived from the custom of electing a branch of the legis- lature altogether nugatory, or perhaps rather mis- chievous than otherwise, it serving as a cloak to legislative acts for promoting, in many if not in most cases, individual and partial interests at the sacrifice of the public good, and that, too, with an apparent sanction from the people through their representatives. Hence, immense tracts of waste lands, vested in the crown for the benefit of actual settlers, were granteil to individuals who kept them from actual settlers in the expectation of realizing fortunes out of them. Hence the very great neglect of the roads ; hence the general retardment of the prosperity of the province. Hence the interspersion of crown and clergy reserved lands among the lots to be granted for actual settle- ment. Hence the sale of those lands to the Canada Company, founded upon the principle that a revenue was to be derived from the labours of the first settlers in a wilderness, for the advantage of persons resident in England ; and in order to afford incomes to public R 5 '■'t 1 m: If •. I- ' 1 ..•^ 370 POLITICAL CONDITION OF UPPER CANADA. functionaries, pensioners, and favourites, over the amount and continuance of which the people or the representatives they might select could exercise no control. Hence high salaries, over-numerous offices^ pensions and perquisites for many persons living on the industry of the colony, without affording any ade- quate return for the advancement of the public pros- perity. Hence the extensive, insecure, and dangerous banking monopoly in the hands of the government and its officers. Hence the alarming increase of the provincial debt. Hence the secrecy with which a large portion of the revenues are expended, while information concerning the management and appro- priations is yearly refused to successive Assemblies in his Majesty's name. Hence the unequal and very imperfect state of the representation of the qualified electors in the House of Assembly ; in which, as at present constituted, a majority of the whole members are elected by places containing less than one-third of the whole population and assessed property in the, province. Hence also the very expensive, and at the isame time, inefficient system for the administration of justice, its great delays, and the want of confidence which the people have so often expressed in its dis- pensation. Hence, too, the attempts to maintain and support these monopolies, separate interests, and undue individual advantages, by preferences from government to particular religious denominations, pre- ferences in provision for the support of the clergy, preferences in the direction of education and schools, preferences in appointment to offices of trust, honour, and profit ; and preferences to those localities, classes. POLITICAL CONDITION OF UPPER CANADA. 371 and individuals who will give their support to this exclusive system. The undue advantages thus pos- sessed by persons in authority open a door to tlie practice of bribery and corruption in everj depart- ment of the state ; encourage in the people a servile spirit of dependence on persons in office, and have left their representatives not even the nominal control over a revenue, complicated and very unsatisfactory accounts of the receipts and expenditure of some part of which are partially submitted to their inspection and published as a mere matter of form. r " Judges — Juries — Sheriffs. " For forty years, ever since the establishment of the colony, our judges, sheriffs, and magistrates have been kept in abject dependence on the will of the officer ad- ministering the government ; and whilst in this state of complete subservience have been called upon to pass between the richest men in the country and the poorest and most unpopular ; between the government and the man opposed to its measures ; between the conflicting enactments of British and Colonial legis- latures ; between the pleasure of their patrons and the spirit of the laws. In apportioning the retiring allow- ances of these judges and other public officers, recourse is had, not to the people's representatives, but to the instructions sent out from the Treasury or Colonial Office, New and expensive, and useless offices are created, and the incumbents paid under the like au- thority. Our grand and petty jurors are selected or chosen at the discretion of sheriffs thus dependent on the government ; hence we are liable to be subjected in most cases to a mock trial by jury, and are conti- 'fi -i- ,»;■ H i !' il ¥i ■> I- -i k 372 POLITICAL CONDITION OF UPPER CANADA. nually dependent on the caprice of a body of the most violent partisans of the executive under the form of a grand inquest. ** Administration of Justice, *' The expenses of obtaining a decision in the law courts are enormous — at least seven-fold greater than in the adjoining republics : the people have no confi- dence in the administration of justice — they ought to have none. There is no tribunal established for the trial of cases of impeachment: when complaint is made to this country^ it is of no avail ; it is rather a means of promoting the delinquents to still higher honours. " Outrages by Government Officers. " Justices of the peace, and other officers of the go- vernment, are frequently proved guilty of the most criminal outrages against the peace of the community ; instead of meeting with disapprobation in the highest quarters, they are encouraged in their disgraceful career — advanced and promoted to places of greater power and trust, and the petitions of the landowners for their removal slighted and contemned. " Powers of the Magistracy, — Low Value of Landed Estate, '* The local magistracy, in the formation of whom the country has not the slightest influence, have assumed the sole control of a large and growing revenue, an- nually raised by the imposition of taxes on dwelling- houses, shops, lands, cattle, horses, grist-mills, car- riages, &c. Much of this money is squandered in the most profligate manner, and there are no means of redress. Within the last three years, the fee simple ! I »! POLITICAL CONDITION OF UPPER CANADA. 373 of nearly 700,000 acres of excellent land, chiefly in old settlements, the property of individuals, has been sold by the sheriffs, for taxes in arrear, at an average of about five-pence sterling per acre, and the proceeds paid over to these parties to expend, without their being subject to any efficient accountability for their proceedings. " Revenues and Character of the Official Priesthood. " About a fourth or a fifth part of the whole of the lands in the province are in the hands of the religious teachers of a small minority of the population, who are paid by his Majesty's Government for propagating among the colonies a great variety of doctrines, the most opposed to each other possible ; and a part of whose business it appears to be to interfere in the political discussions of the province, and sow dissension among its inhabitants. These favoured priesthoods receive large incomes besides from the colonial reve- nues and from taxes raised from the people of the United Kingdom, in opposition to the wishes of the local Houses of Assembly. '* PVar Claims. " The sufferers by the late war with the United States, whose claims have been acknowledged, have petitioned for redress long, and in vain — ^they are not recompensed. Part of the lands their opportune valour saved were sold to the Canada Company, for the purpose of raising a fund for their benefit ; but his Majesty's Government apply the proceeds to the pur- poses of patronage, pensions, sinecures, inconies to bishops and other priests, of a variety of churches : — the sufferers are forgotten. f J r^ t i 4 I ■■ f" f i I j I ■: I } ■ji- 374 POLITICAL CONDITION OP UPPER CANADA. ** Powers of the Legialative Assemblies. •* The Legislative Assemblies of the colony possess little or no power to redress the wrongs of the people they profess to represent. Sometimes they are almost exclusively composed of popular members, and at other times a majority is obtained to sanction many bad measures of the government, and increase the in- jurious enactments on the statute-book* In 1820 and 1830, their almost unanimous representations to his Majesty's Government, pointing out the abuses of the administration of affairs in the colony, appeared to be productive of but one effect — that of benefiting those whose misrule they exposed. ** Postmasters^ Reventie Officers, and Sheriffs in the Legislature, " Your petitioner is returned by a constituency of landed proprietors, nearly equal in numbers, and assessed value of property, with the United consti- tuencies, who return a fourth of the whole popular representation, consisting of fifty-two members. In utter contempt of the law, there are seven or eight postmasters, and three or four collectors of the customs and excise revenue, sitting in the present House of Assembly, for places where the^' ' .,^^i -» be peiiorm- ing other official duties ; also a principal sheriff holding office during pleasure, and representing the place of his own executive jurisdiction. Such persons wMHi btain their seats by undue influence ; and, when elected, ccmbine with other dependent persons to vote the constitution a dead letter. One of the most violent partisans of the government was made collector of the customs at the port of Brockville, while tae present POLITK AL CONDITION OF UPPER CANADA. legislature werr in session last year, and was not even sent back to his constituents, but continued to sit and vote as before. " Tcuxation without Representation. ** The largest portion of the taxes and duties levied on the people have been imposed without even the appearance of asking their consent ; and the proceeds, as well as the greater part of the other revenues, con- tinue to be appropriated contrary to their wishes, and to purposes they would never sanction. Even in cases where a tax or an appropriation of money is subjected to a vote of the House of Assembly, it is often carried by a majority of members representing a minority of the classes entitled to share in the representation, 'i he House is occasionally asked to grant a few thousand pounds for the support of the civil government, but this is merely for form's sake. Sometimes years elapse without any such request being made. Indeed, if the people would submit, the government could go on for a century, independent of a popular vote. " Standing Armies. " Standing armies are kept among us in time of peace, without the consent of our legislatures: the military is not only independent of and superior to the civil power, but also the chief stay and dependence of those who use a delegated authority to oppress and injure us. Late occurrences in Montreal, and else- where, give a colour of truth to the assertion often made in Canada, — that bands of armed men are up- UAd among us, less for the purpose of affording pro- tection to the people than of coercing them. Sup- ported by the military, the crown and the legislature ..I, t ■ ! J 376 POLITICAL CONDITION OF UPPER CANADA. f^' \', claim our allegiance, but neither afford protection to the lives and property, nor secure the liberty of the subjects. '* Education. " The progress of education is obstructed. The direction of public instruction is in general placed in the hands of those whose interest it is to keep the great body of the people in ignorance. «' Trade, " The trade of the colony with other parts of the world is subjected to a multitude of vexatious and im- politic regulations and prohibitions, enacted without any reference to the colonists, their wishes, or interests : — we are oppressed with a weight of commercial mo- nopoly, while our fellow-subjects in these kingdoms suffer great losses in their intercourse with foreign nations, in order, as some say, to promote Canadian interests. We are desirous to be delivered from the injuries, as well as the supposed benefits, attending these monopolies. " Inefficient Legislation, " Enactments, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good ; laws anxiously desired by the country, and calculated to promote the welfare of its inhabitants, are continually refused the sanction of the executive and of the councils dependent thereon. " Among the multitude of wise and salutary measures thus rejected since your petitioner first entered the legislature, may be enumerated, bills for securing to the people a fair and impartial trial by jury ; for ren- dering the administration of justice more effectual and less expensive ; for the encouragement of education j POLITICAL CONDITION OF UPPER CANADA. 377 for rendering the representative branch of the legisla- ture more independent of executive influences, and for procuring a more fair and equal representation of the people in the Assembly ; for abolishing the law of primogeniture, (which exists nowhere else in North America,) and providing for the more equal distribu- tion of the real estate of persons dying intestate ; for the better regulation of the 300 township incorpora- tions of the colony ; for the improvement of the roads ; for providing that no person should be liable to pu- nishment for publishing the truth from good motives and for justifiable purposes ; for allowing the accused, in all criminal prosecutions, the benefit of full defence by counsel ; and for appointing commissioners to con- sider important matters of mutual interest with Lower Canada. " The Legislative Council, " III these, and many other bills, the Legislative Council have served as a screen to take from the Co- lonial Office, and the general officer commanding the forces, the odium of continually balking the public expectation, and frustrating the wishes of the country. This council is composed of officers of the government , pensioners of the crown, priests of the churches of Rome and England, collectors of the Excise revenues, and other persons whose subservience has been suffi- ciently proved. It hr s never acquired the public con- fidence ; it has never deserved it. " British Colonial Expenditure, " The annual expenditure occasioned to England by the present mode of government in the North American colonies, has been estimated at about 3,000,000/. ster- ' i 4 i 1 i '-} :i 1 i • 1 "J I ■ '< k i 5? s > ^ft 378 POLITICAL CONDITION OP UPPER CANADA. ling, inclusive of the tax occasioned by the discrimi- nating duties on timber — this is in time of peace. Even i: no return were made to the colonists in mer- chandise, the whole exports of British America, to all the rest of the world, would scarcely amount to this sum; and as for the territorial revenue accruing to Britain, it is not worth naming. " The petitions of the people of Lower Canada to their government, and of the House of Assembly of that province to the king and parliament, show that most of the evils of which we complain they also are afflicted with ; and that they seek the same simple remedy — the power of * self-government.' The other North American provinces doubtless feel, in a greater or lesser degree, the pressure of a colonial system unsuitable to the liberality of the age in which we live. " The Colonies contrasted with the United States, " The majority of the North American colonists are neither of British birth nor descent ; nor are they mem- bers of the established churches of England or of Scot- land. British America furnishes no suitable materials for splendid, costly governments ; its inhabitants evi- dently have no wish for them. The people of Upper Canada are in view of the United States, in daily intercourse with its citizens ; they are the same race of men, speaking one language ; they see the people on their adjoining frontier thriving and contented under domestic governments instituted for the common be- nefit and protection ; and they are persuaded that it is the wish of the British nation that they should have no just cause to envy the condition of their neighbours. In Ohio, New York, and Vermont, the military (of POLITICAL CONDITION OF UPPER CANADA. 379 ;rimi- )eace. mer- toall this ing to their f that nost of flicted edy — North •lesser able to ates, sts are mem- P Scot- iterials its evi- Upper I daily le race people I under lon be- that it d have ibours. ry (of whom there are very few) are seen in strict subordina- tion to the civil power ; the laws are known to be a faithful expression of the pubHc will ; the penal code is humane and merciful ; the judiciary are independent, and the people satisfied with the administration of justice ; the taxes are raised, and public expenditures appropriated, only according to law ; the public func- tionaries require neither extravagant incomes nor bur- thensome pensions to induce them to fulfil their several duties; population, wealth well distributed, and the value of real estate rapidly increase ; to all the citizens are ensured the blessings of education ; and, without establishing any one sect over the others, a suitable maintenance is obtained for the ministers of religion from the voluntary contributions of their several con- gregations. " The best, if not the only means^ of promoting the prosperity of Upper Canada, " Your petitioner humbly submits, that, unless the people of Upper Canada shall be entrusted with an influence in the management of their own affairs, some- thing like that which prevails in the adjoining country, and the burthen of any disadvantageous comparison which they may draw thereby thrown upon them- selves, the difficulties which now surround the colonial government will speedily be multiplied. Under a frugal administration the value of landed estate in Upper Canada will be greatly increased, and the set- tlement of the country much facilitated, by a numerous and intelligent class of capitalists, who will neither entrust their property nor take up their abode in a land in which the settler is continually liable to be involved , i 1 " » ^: 'g 380 POLITICAL CONDITION OF UPPER CANADA. in the troubles attending a struggle for the possession of a government able and willing to protect persons and property, and secure to the community the blessings of civil and religious freedom. " Prayer of this Petition. " In laying their complaints, year after year, before your honourable House, the people of Upper Canada have constantly appealed to facts, and earnestly re- quested that an early investigation might take place, always reposing, as in duty bound, the fullest confi- dence in the wisdom and magnanimity of Parliament. And your petitioner, for the several reasons herein- before set forth, humbly prays your honourable House to cause an inquiry to be instituted into the condition of the province, so that justice may be done, and relief extended to its much-injured inhabitants. Your pe- titioner will ever pray. ** W. L. Mackenzie." " London, February 21, 1833." 1 1 I r ' ;■■■ 1 • 1 1 1 1'' '. 1 I \l i A STEP TOWARDS INDEPENDENCE. " Mjr maxims of Colonial policy, in (he present state of the world, are few and simple — protect the colonists, and suffer them to conduct their own internal affairs. They ought to be left to the reasonable adminis- tration oi' their own government, and should possess the control over their own money. These maxims form my creed." — Sir J. Mackintosh, ** The strte of the colonies of the Canadas is very different from those which contain a slave population dependent on the will of a few great proprietors, who look to the mother country as their ultimate place of refuge and enjoyment."— Afr. Alexander Baring^a speech in the Houae of Commontf in oppotition to a grant for building fortresses in Canada. " The province it rapidly advancing in wealth— her commerce is ex- ;v« A STEP TOWARDS INDEPENDENCE. 381 session ns and ings of before /anada tly re- ! place, t confi- ament. herein- House tndition d relief our pe- SIE. »» (Torld, are duct their adminis- trol over ckintosh. 'om those few great place of the Houae t Canada. rce is ex- tending, and her population increasing. With a good soil and a healthy climate — with great capabilities and valuable internal resources, her future destiny is easily seen ; and the fostering hand of an enlightened legislature will tend much to adrance the period when she will enter into comparison with the older countries of Europe, and take her place cmong the nations of the world." — The Montreai. Qazetle, by Royal autliority, 1830. '* The idem manebtU, tamen idem dicebatf was the rock on which Britain split, and lost America: we did not advert to the difference be* tween young colonies which wanted our protection, and grown-up colonies which were able to protect themselves."— JSmAoje) IVatton to Lord Moira. " The business of the mother country, as hitherto exemplified, has been to wring from the colonists whatever could be forced from them, for the use of the aristocracy at home. The business of colonists is to resist that wrenching ; and if by no other means, by separation. In what a state are the Canadas at this moment while we write ! They have in the eye of the Englishman little to complain of, their trade being in some degree favoured, and the form of a legislature allowed. But the favour shown to Canadian produce is not extensive enough, and the legislative power is not real. The Canadians, therefore, assert that if they governed them- selves, they would be much better governed : their internal improvements are checked by perverse rapacious appropriations of land ; the official patronage is too largely shared by natives of Great Britain ; the governor and his council assume too much power, and the inhabitants have a dangerous example at their door, in the shape of a successful prospect of emancipation."— 7%e Times, Sept. 11, 1828. " The colonial system, by which this whole hemisphere was bound, has fallen into ruins. Totally abolished by revolutions, converting colo. nies into independent nations, throughout the two American continents, excepting a portion of territory chiefly at the northern extremity of our own, and confined to the remnants of dominion retained by Great Britain over the insular Archipelago, geographically the appendages of our part of the globe. With all the rest we have free trade — even with the in- sular colonies uf all the European nations, except Great Britain." — JMeam sage of President Adams to Congress, December^ 1828. *^ * In peace, prepare for war,' is a maxim of our own : it is the maxim of all wise nations. We trust, war with Great Britain is at a great dis* tance ; but whenever it may come, unless the British interests be well fortified in the hearts of the colonists, not all the fortifications of stone and , 1 ! 'r I V i*r r 382 A STEP TOWARDS INDEPENDENCE. 1 ; 1^ '' 1*1 ■ i ! IS m Wood will prevent the Canadas from following the example set by our- selves in 1776." — Waahington Nationat Journai. " As for the colonies themselves, they would doubtless embrace with eagerness the opportunity of joining our Union, as free, sovereign, and independent States. Their grievances would be instantly redressed ; or rather, would cease, in the course of nature, to exist. They could form four States, with great convenience of natural or well-established boun- daries, and would send eight senators and thirty representatives to Con- gress," — Boston Daily Advertiser. ^' Most ardently it is to be wished, that the happy example which has so prosperously attached to our Union, on the south, the French colony of Louisiana, could effectually point the way to an equally auspicious junc- tion of the French colonies of the north : what privileges would it open for the Canadas ; what collisions would it obviate between Great Britain and the United States ; what relief would it afford to England ; what a noble accession would it constitute to our republic !*' — North American Review. " We know not that the accession of the Canadas would be of any ad* vantage to the United States, unless they should be converted into a depot whence the means of aggression should be directed against us ; or unless, a» some of our own and the British editors have insinuated, and even recommended, they should be made a rendezvous for those persons who may endeavour to realize an iniquitous opulence by the perpetration of frauds upon our revenue. It is easy to suppose a state of things in which it might be obviously advantageous to the United States to receive the adhesion of the Canadas, on such terms as she might prescribe ; but that state of things can only exist when Great Britain shall so far lose sight of (iignity and justice as to countenance measures which will allow the United States no alternative but to submit to a system of robbery, or to covet the possession of that territory which affords an asylum to the de- predators, and a depository for their plunder." — Nationat Journai. .'' Meantime, as to the Canadas, they are gaining strength and wealth by the expenditure which England is yearly making there ; and if, as seems not improbable, emigration thither on a large scale, from Ireland, shall be encouraged, there will be superadded a numerous, active, and not very loyal population, (for those who have only known the oppression of a government can hardly cling to it with much affection,) ready, on any change or chance, to assert for themselves, and in their own behalf, the doctrines of perfect equality and self-government, of which they daily witness the peaceful and successful operation within our borders. I A STEP TOWARDS INDEPENDENCE. 383 ■■« ■ with , and I " The Canadas must, in the nature of things, at some future day fall within the orhit of this Cnion." — New York American. " The same spirit of forbearance ought to govern us in all other acts of interference with the internal affairs of Canada. Where we cannot event- ually command, we should be content to know our own situation, and to act by the gentle ministrations of parental influence, addressed to adult and independent children." — Blackwood's Magazine. Review of 3PGregor'8 British America. " The times are past when great and populous regions might be ruled by inflicting on them a continual sacriflce of their own desires to the dic- tates of a remote supremacy. Intelligence is now too widely dispersed over the world for any such course of policy to succeed. The principles of every man's reasoning are confirmed and encouraged by every man's recollection and reading ; and the colonist finds the rights which he lays claim to, not merely illustrated by the rebellions of North and South America, but effectually vindicated by the independence of these immense countries, with just a lapse of a single generation between their respec- tive triumphs." — The Times. " The minister ought to have given earlier notice to parliament of the disturbances in America. They began in July, and now we are in the middle of January. Lately they were only ' occurrences ;' they are now grown to disturbances, to tumults, and riots. I duubt they border on re- bellion, and I fear they will lose that name in that of revolution."— ilfr. Grenvilie's Reply to Mr. Pitt, 1766. '^ Of tlie various constitutions that prevailed in our own colonies before we lost them, that which approached nearest to perfection had been that of Massachusetts, and yet the province rebelled." — Edmund Burke, " The loss of so important a limb as her North American provinces, would inflict a heavy wound upon the reputation of England, and the European estimate of her power. She would suffer ; but on them such a separation would fall lightly. They would soon manifest their self-suf- Hcing powers for repelling aggression, and for exercising all the functions of an independent state. Tc them no power could be really formidable, in a military sense, except the great republic on their frontiers." — Black- wood's Magazine. Review of M^ Gregorys British America. I ■ 5 i I i ' i I .;•■ ;]i With regard to the destiny of the Northern Colo- nies, it is prophesied by so...e that they will speedily unite with the great republic on their northern fron- i ! 384 A STEP TOWARDS INDEPENDENCE. f Vr- li S^l !«-':i tier ; others are of opinion, that the northern states of the Union (those free of slavery) will separate from the slave-holding states in the south, and join the colonies, under one federal and several state govern- ments. There are those also who look forward to the time when the coloni ts will seek strength and inde- pendence in their own resources, without joining any other power. A few seem to expect that the present system of government can go on for many years to come, without any very essential alterations. Without considering as to the probability of some of these speculations, I would remark, that I have long desired to see a conference assembled at Quebec, consisting of delegates freely elected by the people of the six northern colonies, to express to England the opinion of the whole body on matters of great general interest. No one colony can legislate for the whole concerning the post-office, post-roads, patents, public lands, a system of bankrupt laws, boundaries, inland naviga- tion extending beyond any one colony, &c. ; neither can the British government and parliament satis- factorily regulate these matters without the advice or consent of the parties most interested. Now, in time of peace, these things may be considered, by a con- ference, with advantage. It is within the power of the crown to call together such a council ; but many doubt that it would lead the colonists to seek an earlier independence, and, in so doing, to rely upon the friend- ship of the United States No such results need be anti- cipated, if England set about preparing the colonists, in right earnest, for taking that share in the manage- ment of their affairs which they ought to have had r • A STEP TOWARDS IND"'»ENDENCE. 385 J of •cm the ern- the nde- any isent .rs to thout these jsired isting le six lion of terest. rning (Is, a aviga- either satis- ce or ntime a con- er of many earlier friend- e anti- onists, anage- e had ere now, and which she cannot prevent their having. Sending representatives from Canada to the House of Commons will not answer, it would give no satisfaction in the colonies; and truly the Commons have enough to do without acting as a substitute for a congress for half North America. Without such a conference as I have named, many important interests in the colonies must and will be wofully neglected ; and clerks, and collectors, and paymasters of the public revenues will continue, as hitherto, to blunder on, regulating and auditing their own proceedings, with the notable aid of St. Martin's Le Grand and Downing Street official accountants, who know but little about the matters of which they are called to judge. Without such a con- ference, English statesmen may remain too long in ignorance of the feelings and wishes of the colonies and their leading men. It is unquestionably the desire of the present administration in England to secure a long continuance of that sincere friendship, affection, kind- ness, and good-will which ever ought to subsist between the northern colonies and the British people. British America will soon number three, five, seven, ay, ten millions of inhabitants ; and those, too, of an enterprising character, inhabiting a lovely free country, and justly proud of the enjoyment of liberal institutions. Let us then fondly hope, that the great Creator and Preserver of the universe will order affairs so that no cause may arise in our time again to plunge the North American continent into war; but that England, Canada, and the United States may long continue in harmony and peace with each other, striving to increase their ample means of bestowing comfort and happiness on the s \ 386 A STEP TOWARDS INDEPENDENCE. family of mankind^ remembering with satisfaction every act of national and individual kindness and for- bearance, and profiting by the experience of the past. A closer connexion with the United States would not be to the advantage of the North American Colo- nists. The people of the Union want little or none of their produce ; and if joined to the other states, they would be required to contribute their share of the naval and military expenses of the general govern- ment, — a burden they are now relieved from. The influence of the French part of the population of Lower Canada would be lessened by such a connexion, as would also that of the European emigrants in both provinces. Many profitable branches of trade now carried on would be annihilated ; and I am not sure that a free commerce would be gained. There might be a great deal said on this question, but I will not go into the merits of it. The facts I have placed on the table of the Colonial Secretary are, in my view, a sufficient ground for inquiry ; and there are some quotations,* * The following extract from an essay, first published in the Boston Palladium, was extensively circulated in the newspapers of Nova Scotia and the Canadas, in 1830. It is only one of a thousand similar articles I could have quoted from the American periodical press within the last twelve years ; and it is well that a British public should see such state- ments. Reflecting men, in both hemispheres, will easily judge of their probable effects : — [^Extract, copied into the " Halifax Nova Scotian" from the " New England Palladium."] " No one will deny that we have remained for a long time in ignorance of our neighbours in Nova Scotia; and all will admit, by this time, that the colonists have proved themselves no less ignorant of us, and the un- paralleled privileges which, as free citizens, we enjoy over them. We esteem it a task of no great difficulty to show that the people in Nova Scotia are essentially shackled, that they do not enjoy as much political liberty as the citizens tf the United States, and that they never can, while British culonists, rise to anything like an equality with the rights and privileges of free American citizens. A STEP TOWARDS INDEPENDENCE. 387 Ld .0- ne ley the jrn- rvie )wer ould nces. i on a free great o the He of picient fiotis,* e Boston a Scotia articles the iast h state- 5 of their \the Jignorance llimc, that nd the un- iem. ^® le in Nova Ih political lean, while Tights and statements, and stray remarks in this Httle volume, which the friend of Canada may peruse with advan- " In the first place, we know of no greater shackle than that which withholds from a people the privilege of electing their own political and civil magistrates. This is a privilege of which the inhabitants of Nova Scotia are wholly deprived. They have no voice in electing their own governor; but they must look to Lngland for their chief magistrate. It IS well known, too, that all the colonies are in the same predicament* Their governors are all appointed in England, and sent out to them, not as free gifts, but on loan. They are invested with such power as the policy of the British Government may dictate ; and must be acknow- ledged as the chief administrators of the provincial governments. Accept them, they must. Is tliis the political liberty of which ' A Colonist ' boasts? — Is this the liberty which, in his opinion, brings the citizens of his country and our son a common level ? Away with such freedom !— it deserves only the name of bondage. It is, we grant, all that we could once claim, but we want it no longer. " What ! have we no transcendent privileges over colonists ? Have we gained nothing by the struggles of our revolutionary heroes? Are we dependent on a foreign government fur our executive rulers.' Do we have Transatlantic bishops sent to us as the infallible promulgators of our religious doctrine ? Must we send to England and ask permission of a king, before we can obtain the charter fur any great internal improve, ment, founded on the general welfare of the country P These are a few of the many shackles which apply, with peculiar force, to every indivi- dual of colonial Nova Scutia; a country which, this late writer has toU us, is as free as any other on the face of the earth. Free of what ? — Like the slave of a plantation, — free of one thing, certainly, and that is free- dom. This we shall not pretend to deny. We want no better evidence than that which we have already cited, to confirm the truth of our former statements, and to show that our provincial neighbours are truly shackled, and are confined to the narrow sphere assigned them by the old govern- ment. Were it required, we might descend into more minute facts, and show that the poor, we would rather say the farmers, of Nova Scotia, are very severely oppressed by the high duties which the British Govern- ment have imposed on American articles; and particularly flour, and which, if we mistake not, amounts to the additional price of about one dollar on every barrel they consume. This is the origin of the whole system of smuggling which is carried on between the eastern part of Maine and the British provinces; and we are told it as a fact, that not a barrel of flour which has paid this duty is seen on the northern and western borders of Nova Scotia. " When, by common suffrage, the colonists voluntarily elect their own governors; when they appoint their own bishops; when they guard their coast with their own naval ships, manned with their own native seamen; when they erect costly barracks and armouries for an army composed of their own men ; in short, when they can carry on any system of internal trade and improvement, without requiring, as a preparatory and indispen- sable measure, a charter from the mother government; then, and not till then, can they boast of anything like national and political freedom. s2 ^ 3H8 A STEP TOWARDS INDEPENDENCE. * IJ m ,ii i I « i tagc. If a conference shaP be held inexpedient, what Then, without a libel on the free citizens uf this Republic, might a colonist compare his rountrywith ours. Nothing but presumption and false pride cuuld lead him tu do it at present ; and we can !«carcely conceive a greater insult on the character of our glorious institutions, and, indeed, on every individual that composes this union, tlian that of comparing a colony with the freest country in the known world. " The very name of colonirtt implies subordination and submission to superior rulers. This we regard as the true and concise meaning of the term. Experience has, in every instance, proved it so. And the most illustrious example of the truth of thin remark, is to be found in the his- tory of our own country, when we were a mere dependent colony, and were subject to the selfish and petulant restrictions of the F/ritish govern- ment. Connected with monarchical fjovernments, colonies are merely the nourishing branches of a corrupt vine, They are always held in servile bondage and submission to the superior power. The yoke which binds tlieni down, may, we grant, sometimes be loosened, but it is loosened o.ily to relapse again with new severity. It is idle, therefore, to talk of colonial liberty ; the man who asserts it, only deceives himself. *' We have made our remarks, not with any feelings of national prejudice towards our neighbours, with many of whom we are united by the strong ties of consanguinity and intimate friendship, but in the hope that they will press forward with energy worthy the enterprise, and openly assert their rights, and in the event obtain them. We are continually meeting with new evidence which convinces us that a change in the political con- dition of the British colonies must ere long take place. The people will not long be oppressed. Witness the spirit which now pervades all Canada. It bodes much good to the world, and we rejoice to sc^ human nature come forward and boldly assert her rights. It will again prove to the world that the spirit of political or civil, like that of religious liberty, prompts men to become free — to become free in spite of all opposing obstacles. We wish them success." In an editorial commentary upon an article on Canada affairs which was copied some time since from T/ie Scotsman into The Mortting Chro- nicle, tlie Washington National Journal takes occasion to observe as follows: — " But when the London editor refers to this as the only cause which has stirred up a spirit of disaffection to British supremacy, we think he is in error. Were we called on to assi<.;;n the great moving cause, we think we might point to the influence of our political example as having produced not a disaffection to the British Government particularly, but to all systemn of rule which practically deny that the sovereignty resides in the people. The proximity of Canada to the United Slates has given to her peculiar facilities for observing, understanding, and appreciating our j)olitical institutions. She has discovered their irresistible tendency to the promotion of human happiness, which is the Icgilimate end of all governriicnt. She has learned that, under them, citizens are protected in their equal rights, whether political or religious, that nothing is exclusive, and tha^ the operation of public opinion is direct and unavoidable. If she has been led to draw comparisons between her condition as a pro* vince, and the condition of those who are separated from her by a mere '•I \i^ A STEP TOWARDS INDEPENDENCE. 381) lat mist ride ,e a I, on )lony >n to )f the most J hia- f, and overn- riierely leld ui I which losened talk of rejudice le strong hat they i\y assert ' meeting lical con- iople vvili vades all human prove to us liberty, opposing irs which ling Chro- ob>erve as lusc which ,e think he cause, we . as having larly,<'"''« f resides tn las given to elating our Lendency to „ end ol" aU [protected in lis exclusive, roidable. ^ ,n as a pro- sr by a mere is there that can be substitufcd to transact tlie busi- ness proposed to bo left to it, and now neglected ? gcographiciil line, the result of the compaiisons cannot have been rcM- dered more favourable to Great Brit.iin by her p.ir ial appropriation t'f the bounty uf the legislature to one sect, and that a minority, perhaps di- miiiishinf? instead of incrciisinp, nor by the other acts of partial or op- firessive legislation which might be pointed out, and which are referred to ty the London editor. It is a decree of nature and of Providence, not to be abrogated by human codos, that man will seek to obtain the highest perfection of happiness. Wise governments will act in alliance with nature and Providence, in endeavouring to gratify this instinctive desire; and when governments so fir depart from the whisperings of wisdom as to forcet or slum that obvious path, iney have no reason to complain whv... a piiople shall begin to think for tht'mselves, and to place ihei • wishes in oj^^-^^ition to the will of those wiio constitute the governmer.r. Reasoning from these preuiises, we h;ive been led to the oonclu»ion tliat Canadii, in her dcsiie to mrMjIiorate her own political {"ondition, has beeti influenced in a great degrie by the knowledge she has acquired of tlu- superior tendency of our institutions to peifect human happiness; and if she has been the first to profit by this knowledge, it is to be attributed to the opportunity of obtaining accurate information which she possesses beyond any other nation or dependency. '* Time will give to the example of the United States a more extensive influence; not because she will labour to sow dissensions between go- vernments and subjects, but because the tendency-of her institutions will be more ditTusely known and valued." Tilt Baltimore Gazette made the following obsurvutions on the state of the colonies, in 18"28: — "There is, indeed, one respect, in which colonies will subserve, in fuUire times at least, the glory, the true glory, of Great Britain. It has been her noble destiny to give birth to the greatest republic that ever ex- isted ; and to record the fact with that indelible mark, identity of lati- guage. It has been her glorious destiny to sow more widely than any other nation, ihe seeds of free government. And, centuries hence, when she herself may have mouldered, as all other empires have, her monumf-iit will be ' America.' The present condition of the Canadas is very similar to ours at the beginning of the Revolution. They are divided into various provinces, (we include under the name all the British North American possessions ;) they have learnt to value and to manage the representative form of government ; and they are now as capable as we vvere 'if pro- viding for their own safety and prosperity. Let England do willingly at once what she must one of these days be compelled to do — -declare them independent, and establish them as a confederate republic. She may be assured that so far from our looking upon them with cupidity or dislike, there will not be an American whose heart will not exult, and who w ill not appreciate the grandeur of such an achievement. She herself may, by treaty, secure such commercial advantages as she might vainly hope to obtain after a violent separation." 'I 'I i '' . ( ^ ', 398 ATTEMPT TO MURDKR MR. MACKENZIE. 'I I U ! I ' i Mackenzie. This Hathaway, like Oliver, is a poor dependant on M*Nab, and likely to do any work for him. On this evening he called at the * Free Press' office and inquired earnestly for Mr. Mackenzie, where he boarded ? — Had he left town ? — ^Where could he be found ? He also came to Bayley's after night to buy bread. Oliver also was making diligent inquiries of the same kind at Mr. Sproule's the shoemaker and many other places, and using harsh and abusive language concerning Mr. Mackenzie; J. Hathaway and Oliver had also been both at Mr. Bayley's brother's shortly before the attack. Squire Matthew Crooks had been in Carey's with the party, and had also been trying to ferret out where Mr. Mackenzie could be found : Mr. Crooks may explain why — if he can, Mr. Ritchie (said to be on the new list of magistrates, and a fit selection) was speaking of Mr. Mackenzie in the most violent manner on the day of the meeting ; and as to Mr. Kerr, he was quite out- rageous. *' Some very important testimony, directly impli- cating persons from whom better things might be ex- pected, we judge it prudent to withhold for the present, until further private inquiries can be made. ** We really fear that Mr. Smith's life and property will be in danger in co.isequence of the manly ex- posures contained in the last * Free Press.' No man who knows the vile, worthless character of the Gore magistracy as a body will place the least confidence in them. *' This article is me^-ely a fresh chapter of *the pro- ,'! V CniME AND OUTRAGE REWARDED. 399 operty ly ex- o man Gore Mice in le pro- gress of misgovernment.' Wherever the honours and emoluments of society are bestowed as the reward of crime, crime will be committed. " Fraser, a vulgar coarse person, publicly threatened in the House of Assembly to horsewhip Mr. Mac- kenzie during the expulsion trial, and received from Governor Colborne, in twenty-four hours after, the pro- mise (since fulfilled) of the collectorship of Brockville. " Lyons and Richardson never did anything to merit the registership and clerkship of the peace in the Niagara district, except destroying Mr. Macken- zie's office, and breaking into his dwelling-house, armed with clubs. *' Heward, in the same case, succeeded to 4001. a year, as District-Court Clerk. " The editor of the Courier was a tar-and-feather rioter, and the executive have taken him by the hand. " The tar-and-feather rioters of Gore were high offi- cial men ; they came forward and gave testimony that they were criminals : — the House of Assembly required Sir John to do justice. Do they not hold their situa- tions — are they not favourites of this executive ? '^ Office-holders and expectants know these things ; and they know, that if Mr. Mackenzie had lain at this moment a corpse in Hamilton, the suspected persons would never be brought to substantial justice, but in a short time would perhaps be heard of, as succeeding to some of the highest and most lucrative offices in the country. " The official presses would sum up the affair with, ' It is wrong to kill anybody ; but if any one deserved to be put out of the way, it was Mackenzie.' ' i 1 • , i; H n 400 THE PROGRESS OF MISQOVERNMENT. ! I I' i •' This is a horrible state of things. It is, indeed, the progress of misgovernment.'" The above statement was copied so generally through the United States, that when on my way to New York, the foUowirig month, almost every person who heard my name mentioned knew me by the ac- counts they had read of the Hamilton outrage. On the morning after this attempt, the townspeople, who had, in a body, watched the premises all night, consulted what it would be best to do, and it was re- solved to take down the depositions of what those who had seen the transaction could swear to, and lay them before Mr. Rolph, an English barrister, living at Dundas, for his advice. Mr. Rolph, it will be remem- bered, had been tarred and feathered, a few years before, by some of the government officers, and after- wards elected by tlie landowners to represent the county he resided in ; but the law in Canada could yield him no redress, although a lawyer, and his bro- ther one of the most popular and estimable men in the colony. I was very unwell all next day, but able to sit up. I was a ghastly spectacle to look upon ; and for months after felt the effects of the blows and bruises. It was understood that Mr. Kerr and his friends had again met, and sworn to complete their work on the following night ; but the people of Hamilton sat up, well armed with weapons of defence, and the scouts the official party sent to M ;. Bayley's, informed them that we were too well guarc'ed. On the third day I was conveyed in a waggon to Dundas. Mr. Rolph examined the testimony, and ac- I, to on LC- ;ht, re- wlio liem y at lem- ^ears aifter- the couUl 5 bro- en in \i up. louths frienils )r.< on )n sat id the formed fcfon to ind ac- TIIE PROGRESS OF MISOOVERNMRNT. 401 knovvledged the strength of the case ; but the difficidty was how to obtain a remedy. The reader will here observe, that in Jamaica, the missionaries had the slaves and the Judges of the Supreme Court on their side; while, in Canada, the governor, judges, magis- trates, and public functionaries (having the troops at their control) were the parties who most dreaded my going to England ; and among them were those from whom I had most to fear. Had I stopped and attempted a prosecution, and been likely to succeed, my life might have paid the forfeit of my temerity ; and the object for which I was about to proceed to London would have been in part defeated. It had been as much as hinted from the catholic altar, by Bishop jMacdoncll, that I was " a wretch " unfit to live ; and Mr. Gurnett, in the demi-official journal of the government, held the following language to his readers : — *' Tills demonstration of public sentiment ha«, as it is eminently calcu- lated to do, thrown alarm and terror into the ranks of the revolutionists. They see the most numerous, ami intinitel)' the most respectable, part of the Protestant inhabitants on the one hand, and the whole Catholic po- pulation of the town on the other hand, rising, as it were, in arms against them ; and it is not surprising, therefore, that they should he terrified for the success of their diabolical machinations. The leading tools of the conspirators are consequently again on the alert, — they have ransacked the town to obtain signatures, and have succeeded in getting eighty or ninety to a requisition, calling a meeting of the inhabitants of the town of York on Friday next, for the avowed purpose of ' expressing the sen- timents of the capital of Upper Canada on the state of the colony,' &c.; but, in reality, for the purpose of bringing down their Yonge-street mob, to intimidate the town, or at least to give an appearance of strength and consequence to the faction, of which the present demonstration of feeling in this town has almost entirely divested it. * * * " For their own sakes, however, we would caution the faction against any attempt at deception or unfair play at the meeting; for if they do—. 1 ii i I 1 «l .*"■ c 402 TRIAL OF COLONEL KERR. in the present temper of the public mind towards the leading agitators, particularly in the Catholic body, who have been grossly insulted by them — we most assuredly would not insure the leading revolutionary tools a whole skin, or a whole bone in their skins, for the space of fifteen minutes." i ,1 ; lil. ■■..-■> ' f .: Colonel Kerr, the principal actor in this drama, is a strong and powerful man, possessed of property to the value of from 5000/. to 8000/. ; and the superinten- dent of the Burlington Canal. He is a justice of the peace, and an especial favourite of the colonial govern- ment. Some years ago he married the sister of Colonel Brant, the Indian chief, and will probably inherit the Brant estates. Who complained of him to the grand jury I know not ; but it appears they could not get the affair hushed up altogether, as the reader will see by the following extract from the Hamilton Free Press of last August. The magistrates on the grand inquest made it assault and battery ; and Col. Kerr's friend. Judge Macaulay, handsomely terminated the farce by fining the culprit 22/. 2s. 2d, sterling, without giving him the trouble of an hour's imprisonment ! His honour might as well have made the fine " two- pence." What is 22/. to a man of 400/. yearly income ? ( From the Hamilton Free Press.) « GORE DISTRICT ASSIZES. " Wm, Johnson Kerk, Esq. was tried/or Assault and Battery on Wm. L. Mackenzie, Esq. Fined 25/. " This trial grewr out of the events of the memorable 1 9th of March, in which the individual whose name graces the head of this paragraph pl.ved a very conspicuous part. Most of our readers will recollect the account we gave at the time of the proceedings of the day, and the pro- ceedings of the night — the latter of which we shall again advert to. It appeared in evidence, that Mr. Kerr, accompanied by one George Pettit, a strapping son of Vulcan, on the evening in question, about nine o'clock, entered itie lodgings of Mr. Mackenzie, at the private residence of Mr. TRIAL OF COLONEL KERR. 403 yon [arch, in jiragraph ilect the the pro- to. It ^e Pettit, o'clock, ke of Mr. i Matthew Baylcy, in thisi (own. The former pretended he had some private business with Mr. Mackenzie, and for the purpose of speaking together they both left the room. A few minutes after this, Mr. Mackenzie was heard to cry ' murder,'' on which Mr. Petlit and witness ran down stairs. Peltit got out of the door first: when witness arrived, Mr. Mackenzie was about two-thirds out of the door — some person or persons pulling him forward j witness with another person took hold of Mackenzie's coal to pull him back ; witness discovered Kerr to be one who assisted in pulling him forward ; they succeeded in dragging Mackenzie out, and he continued to scream and cry 'murder.* When the candle was brought, the door was thrown open, and Mackenzie discovered in the hands of Kerr, his face and clothes covered with blood. Mr. Kerr, when he saw that he was discovered, spoke very soothingly to Mackenzie, and said he should not be hurt ! " This is the evidence which went to convict Mr. Kerr. Mr. Pettit, the associate of the prisoner, was called on the part of tlie defence, who, after stammering and choking at some posing questions put to him, made out to say, that Kerr pro^-osed to him that evening to go to Bayley's bakery, where he said they would very likely come across Mackenzie and his bag of grievances. In reply to the question whether he knew if Mr. Kerr or any other person went there for tlie purpose of abusing Mr. "ftNckenzie, he said he himself did not — ^hich was not answering the question. It was put to him in several different ways, but he evaded it and did not answer it directly, at all. *' If it had been necessary, or if tlie Solicitor-General (Mr. Hagerman, now agent for the high church party in London) had felt as anxious to in- vestigate this affair as some others, much more important evidence could have been elicited. The outrage, however, was so glaring, aud the guilt of Kerr so apparent, that it was not necessary to answer the ends of justice. " The Jury, after hearing the Judge's charge, in which we must say he did not evince the least disposition to screen the prisoner — very soon returned a verdict of Guilty. "The Solicitor-General, in opening thecase, stated that Mr. Kerr is on the commission of the peace, which fact we were not before aware of; but which now suggests some very important queries and reflections. The first is, was Mr. Kerr on the commission at the time he committed the outrage .'* — if he was, will his Excellency so far disregard public feeN ing as to continue him in that capacity, after having been convicted of so flagrant a breach of the peace, which he is sworn to keep and watch over ? If he was not on the commission at that time, and has been put on since, it will go to show how little the characters, merits, or qualifications of persons placed to rule over us are called in question — and will be another proof of the corruption of our Colonial Government." m 404 A GOVERNOR BESIEGED ! The Rev. Isaac Fidler, now in London, was about this time a minister of the Church of England, resid- ing a few miles from York. I never heard of him until I saw his book the other day, from which I select an account he gives of the state of society. There must have been a great deal of discontent exist- ing in London, when his Majesty, in 1830, was afraid to partake of the hospitality of the chief city in his dominions ; and there must be a still more determined opposition to the measures of a colonial government where the chief magistrate has to fortify his dwelling- house against a population consisting almost exclu- sively of landowners living on their own farms, with their children and connexions. Mr. Fidler's version of the ceremony of presenting a petition, which Sir John Colborne never sent to England, is as follows : — From a work on America, by the Rev. Itaac Fidler, just published. " During the preceding winter, when Parliament was assembled in York, so great was the crowd of revolutionary rebels and American de- mocrats, and so strenuous their efforts to intimidate the governor, and compel him to surrender up the province to misrule, that apprehensions were entertained in that capital (meaning York, Upper Canada) of an overthrow of the government. The misguided men, instigated by factious demagogues, or by those supposed to be in American pay, entered York, armed for the most part with bludgeons or shillelas, and marched in tu- multuous procession, with menaces and threats, towards the government house, where the governor resides. His Excellency had timely notice of this outrageous insurrection, and having ordered the Riot Act to be read, caused some loaded cannon to be planted so as to command the principal streets which lead to his residence ; and the soldiers to be drawn out, and artillery-men with lighted matches to be stationed ready. The factious and tumultuous mob, amounting in numbers to many thousands, pretended, when they saw the reception prepared for them, that their sole object was to present a petition for redress of grievances." — pp. 227, 8, and 9. Although I was not present, I disbelieve the story of the bludgeons and shillelas. 405 UPPER CANADA— KING, LORDS, AND COMMONS. " It may easily be seen to what fate a colonial governor is exposed. He may become the instrument of the ambition or of the interest of those whose advice Iir is obliged to take. These latter escape as well censure as punishment, whilst he is answerable for errors and injui^ticc vvhich are the means of their acquiring honours and emoluments which should be the recompense of services, the reward of merit." — Letter — The Hon. D. B. Viger to Viscount Goderich in the matter of Attorney-General Stuart. " The (legislative) councils have also been employed as instruments for relieving governors from the responsibility they ought to have borne for their rejection of measures which have been proposed by the other branch of the legislature ; and have not seldom involved them in dissen- sions which it would have been more judicious to decline. * * * The council does not assume in the colony a position or an influence analogous to that of the House of Peers, because entirely destitute of that hold on public opinion which the property and independence of its mem- bers, as well as the antiquity of the institution itself, confer upon the peerage of tins cour.try." — Despatch, Fiscount Goderich to Governor Cochrane, 17 th Juty^ 1832. " It was in vain to attempt to carry on the government in the colo- nies in a proper manner, if all the orders were issued from the office at home, and were supported, without reference to circumstances, by the Legislative Council, who often acted in opposition to the wishes of the colonists, expressca, as they only could be expressed, through the House of Assembly. If the government meant to maintain their sway over that country, they must do it through the will of the people. It was to be hoped that the right honourable gentleman would not attempt to force an aristocracy^ in the form of a legislative council, upon a state where there were no natural materials for its existence." — Speech of Mr. Secretary Stanley on Canadian afnirs. House of Commons, June 5, 1829. story The following curious but accurate statement will convey to the minds of liberal Englishmen a tolerably fair picture of colonial rule. When I left Upper Canada last year, some of the offices, sinecures, and pensions of the government were divided as follows : — p 406 KING^ LORDSj AND COMMONS. if \ f- ;■ (•: >' h* ■■; t • No. I. jyArcvj Boulton, senior, a retired pensioner, 500^ sterling. 2. Henry, son to No. 1, Attorney- General and Bank Solicitor, 2400/. 3. DArcy, son to No. 1, Auditor-General, Master in Chancery, Police Justice, &c. Income unknown. 4. JVilliam, son to No. 1, Church Missionary, King's College Professor, &c., 650/. 5. George, son to No. 1 , Registrar of Northumber- land, Member of Assembly for Durham, &c. Income unknown. 6. John Beverly Robinson, brother-in-law to No. 3, Chief Justice of Upper Canada, Member for life of the Legislative Council, Speaker of ditto, 2000/. 7. Peter f brother to No. 6, Member of the Executive Council, Member for life of the Legislative Council, Crown Land Commissioner, Surveyor General of Woods, Clergy Reserve Commissioner, &c. 1300/. 8. William y brother to Nos. 6 and 7, Postmaster of Newmarket, Member of Assembly for Simcoe, Govern- ment Contractor, Colonel of Militia, Justice of the Peace, &c. Income unknown. 9. Jonas Jones, brother-in-law to No. 2, Judge of the District Court in three districts containing eight counties, and filling a number of other offices. Income about 1000/. 10. Charles, brother to No. 9, Member for life of Legislative Council, Justice of the Peace in twenty- seven counties, &c. 11. Alpheus, brother to Nos. 9 and 10, Collector of Customs, Prescott, Postmaster at ditto, Agent for Go- vernment Bank at ditto, &c. Income 900/. V KINGj LORDSj AND COMMONS. 407 ige of leigbt Icoroe ife of [enty- tor of ir Go- 12. Levius P. Sherwood, brother-in-law to Nos. 9, 10, 11, one of the Justices of the Court of King's Bench, Income 1000/. 13. Henry, son to No. 12, Clerk of Assize, &c. 14. John Elmsley, son-in-law to No. 12, Member of the Legislative Council for life. Bank Director, Justice of the Peace, &c. 15. Charles Heward, nephew to No. 6, Clerk of the District Court, &c. Income 400/. 16. James B. Macaiday, brother-in-law to Nos. 17 and 19. One of the Justices of the Court of King's Bench. Income, lOOOZ. 17. Christopher Alexander Hagerman, brother-in- law to No. 16, Solicitor-General, 800Z. 18. John M'Gill, a relation of Nos. 16 and 17, Legislative Councillor for life. Pensioner, 500/. 19 and 20. W. Allan and George Crookshanks, connexions by marriage of 16 and 17, Legislative Councillors for life, the latter President of the Bank. 500/. 21. Henry Jones, cousin to Nos. 9, 10, &c.. Post- master of Brockville, Justice of the Peace, Member of Assembly for Brockville. Income unknown. 22. Wm, Dummer Po welly father of No. 24, Legis- lative Councillor for life. Justice of the Peace, Pen- sioner, Pension, 1000/. 23. Samuel Peters Jarvis, son-in-law to No. 22, Clerk of the Crown in Chancery, Deputy Secretary of the Province,' Bank Director, &c. Income unknown. 24. Grant, son to No. 22, Clerk of the Legislative Council, Police Justice, Judge Home District Court, tl V. '' I 408 KINO, LORDS; AND COMMONS. ; I I;- i,-- >: I 14 Official Principal of Probate Court, Commissioner of Customs, &c. Income, 675/. 25. miliam M., brother to 23 High Sheriff Gore District. Income from 500/. to 800/. 26. William B., cousin to Nos. 23 and 25, High Sheriff, Home District, Member of Assembly. In- come 900/. 27. Adiel Sherwood, cousin to No. 12, High Sheriff of Johnstown, and Treasurer of that district. Income, from 500/. to 800/. 28. George Sherwood, son to No. 12, Clerk of Assize. 29. John Strachan, their family tutor and political schoolmaster, archdeacon and rector of York, member of the Executive and Legislative Councils, President of the University, President of the Board of Educa- tion, and twenty other situations. Income, on an average of years, upwards of 1800/. 30. Thomas Mercer Jones, son-in-law to No. 29; associated with No. 19, as the Canada Company's agents and managers in Canada^ This family connexion rules Upper Canada accord- ing to its own good pleasure, and has no efficient check from this country to guard the people against its acts of tyranny and oppression. It includes the whole of the judges of the supreme civil and criminal tribunal (Nos. 6, 12, and 16) — active Tory politicians. Judge Macaulay was a clerk in the office of No. 2, not long since. It includes half the Executive Council or provincial cabinet. It includes the Speaker and other eight Members of the Legislative Council. UPPER CANADA — KINO, LORDS, AND COMMONS. 409 of ore igh In- leriff jine, isize. ideal mber iident ,duca- on an 0.29; lany's tccord- check its acts ipreme 16)- a clerk mncial ibers of It includes the persons who have the control of the Canada Land Company's monopoly. It includes the President and Solicitor of the Bank^ and about half the Bank Directors; together with shareholders, holding, to the best of ray recollecdon, about 1800 shares. And it included the crow a lawyers until last March, when they carried their opposition to Viscount Gode- rich's measures of reform to such a height as per- sonally to insult the government, and to declare their belief that he had not the royal authority for his de- spatches. They were then removed ; but, with this exception, the chain remains unbroken. This family compact surround the Lieutenant-Governor, and mould him, like wax, to their will ; they fill every office with their relatives, dependants, and partisans ; by them justices of the peace and officers of the mi- litia are made and unmade ; they have increased the number of the Legislative Council by recommending, through the Governor, half a dozen of nobodies and a few placemen, pensioners, and individuals of well- known narrow and bigoted principles ; the whole of the revenues of Upper Canada are in reality at their mercy; — they are paymasters, receivers, auditors. King, Lords, and Commons ! Against such a phalanx, it is probable that at present the people, or any representatives they may select, can effect but little, unless supported in right earnest by Mr. Stanley and Mr. Hay. Their truly noble prede- cessors began to show a disposition to do what it had never entered into the mind of a colonial secretary to do before ; namely, to begin to place some real confidence T I ! ;! l! > I t ■ I l:i ir' P III 410 UPPER CANADA — KINO, LORDS^ AND COMMONS. ill the honour, generosity, gra.itude, and good feelings of the people, the landowners of the colony. Nor have I the lep reason to suspect that Mr. Stanley will show that he . ixS left any of his Whig principles at the gate of the Colonial Office, but the contrary. Of Mr. Hay, as I said before, I know nothing ; but there cannot be a doubt entertained of his being a very distinguished Whig ar ' thorough Reformer ; he would not have received or accepted office else.* The enemies of Canadian freedom say we want to quarrel with England. If that had been true, these pages had never seen the light — if that had been true, nothing would havo been more easy for the people than to have effected the change, f ** Of course the colonial reader must not for a moment Mistake the generous Whig-reforming Mr. Hay, of 1833, for an under-secretaiy, a name- sake of his, who held ofHce in the darkcti days of Toryism, and was and is, (as I well know and can prove,) as thorough and consistent aTory (i. e., an enemy to human freedom) as the Duke of Wellington himself. I'he North American colonists would have had very good cause for doubtmg the since- rity of any liberal and friendly measure, the execution of which had been intrusted to his (IVIr. H.'s) care, and they would have doubted it. r To show in the clearest point of view how little dependence can be placed on colonial functionaries, when checked by his Majesty's govern- ment in their career of injustice, I may here mention that when Mr. H.J. Boulton was dismissed by Lord Goderich from his office of Attorney- General of Upper Canada, he immediately sent a copy of the despatch and correspondence to his friend Mr. Gurnett, ct' the York Courier, for publication ; and the Courier, the organ of his party and their dependant, thus comments on the transaction in the number of May 1, 1833. — "No- body can tell what caper this political imbecil.; may next enact. * * The minJs of the well-affected people of the country begin to be unhinged. Their affections are already more than half alienated from the government of that country (England), and in the apprehension that the same insult- ing and degrading course of policy towards them is likely to be continued, they already begin to ' cast about' in ' their mind's eye ' for some new state of political existence, which shall effectually put the colony beyond the reach of injury and insult from any and every ignoramus whom the political lottery of the day may chance to elevate to the chair of the Colo, nial Office.*' This is quite intelligible— '< Allow us to pillage the Ca- nadians, or else!" 411 ! I 1 I of he lat :he aid ubt ar '. I or it to [bese true, than ake the a name- 8 and is, |(t. e., an le North jC since- lad been le can be govern- POLITICAL UNIONS IN THE COLONIES. " If there had been no display of physical force, or public opinion, I very well know that there would have been no reform bill.''— iWr. Hume*8 Speech at Manchester, Manchester Times, Nov, 3, 1832. ** When Charles the Tenth, and PoUgnac, Were forced to turn for sorts^ ?ir, They found the People chemists^ all, Provided with retorts, sir. And when to carry out their plan, They sent the press to winter. They found the People were a press, And every man a printer?^ — The Printers of Paris. " All America is in a flame ! Expresses are flying from province to pro- vince. It is the universal opinion here, that the mother country cannot support a contention with these settlements, if they abide steady to the letter and spirit of their associations." — Letter from America, by Mr. Eddis, Collector of the Customs, Annapolis, Maryland, May 2Bth, 1774. '' Silly jests and contemptible sneers were reiterated concerning the dastardly character of the colonists. All these were spread, felt, and remembered. The expedition to Concord refuted them al\." --Timothy Dwight, Profiting by experience, it is to be hoped that Eng- land will facilitate the formation of associations for the common good, benefit, and advantage of the remaining colonies, instead of harassing the two countries to prevent associations, conferences, and parliaments from assembling. Refusals to pay taxes; agreements to discourage the use of tea. West India produce, and British merchandise and manufactures ; and associa- tions to run down the banks, will, I trust, never again be found necessary to preserve the liberties of any por- tion of North America. " Old things are passed away, and all is become new." The Legislative Council of Upper Canada took the t rouble to address the Lieutenant-Governor last winter, to the extent of three yards, newspaper column mea- T 2 11 w f **li*,.,. 412 POLITICAL UNIONS IN THE COLONIES. t sure, filled with abuse and misropresentation of the writer of these sketches, and his proceedings, and those who generally act with him in political matters. They complain, pmong other things, of the establish- ment of *'politJ'al unions, which threaten alike the peace and liberty of the people," and seem greatly to dread their effects. When I left Canada, there were no unions, and I recommended that they should be deferred unless it be- came apparent that we had nothing to hope from the Whig government. Last fall, I erroneously judged that relief was hopeless, and a number of unions im- mediately sprang up through the province, ably organized and fit for corresponding with each other. Lord Goderich's despatch, of November 8th, was so kind and conciliating, and withal so honest and straightforward, that the jeomanry rejoiced, and the luiions began to be abandoned ; and last March I begged of the people to discontinue them, as there was a prospect tiiat the Colonial Department would set itself in right earnest to the task of considering and redressing our complaints. The unions are silent. We shall probably get a new House of Assembly, in which case the unions will be dissolved, and done away with entirely ; but as Burke said in his better days. Wherever there are abuses, there ought to be clamour, so that the injured may obtain redress. It is a remarkable fact, that the Enghsh Colonists, now the United States, have always been anxious to have Canada under the same government as them- selves. In 1759, they volunteered and fought bravely and successfully to effect that object, and their local assemblies granted large subsidies. In 1776, when POLITICAL UNIONS IN TIIK COLON1KS. 413 the inil ers. ish- the y to id 1 itbe- i the dged i im- ably other, vas so t and id the rch I re was Id set g and silent. bly, in done better to be ilonists, xious to them- bravely eir local 6, when s treated with rather more contempt than the great body of the people of Lower Canada have endured in order that a few trading houses might be conciUatcd, one of their first efforts was the subjugation of Canada, by trying to arouse the ancient prejudices of its inha- bitants against England. Again, in 1812, the pre- vailing discontents in Canada were an additional in- ducement for them to declare war.* * The Unions of 1832-3 were composed, almost exclusively, of the respectable hmduwners of the country, and their proceedings were con- ducted with great order, quietness, und moderation. Many measures the country desired have been conceded in the Earl of Ripon's despatch of the 8th Nov. ; and the following copy of a letter from his lordship to Sir J. Colborne, since published in the Canada papers, gives proof that his Majesty's government is to Lave no cause for the assembling of such associations : — " Downing Street, March 6th, 1833. ** Sir, — By the accounts I have lately rece ed of the proceedings of the Legislature of Upper Canada, 1 have learnt that the Attorney and Solicitor> CAPTAIN PUILLPOTTS. 415 proceeding. But Sir Peregrine was determined to prove the truth of Mr. Macaulay's principle, that colonial legislatures are a mere pageant : he therefore peremptorily ordered Colonel Coffin, the adjutant- general of militia, and Colonel Givens, the superin- tendent of the Indian department, not to obey the summons of the Assembly, nor give any evidence. These gentlemen, truly considering the military power to be the superior one, disobeyed the orders of the House, barricadoed themselves up in their dwelling, and, when at length brought by force to the bar of the Assembly, produced the orders of the general com- manding in justification. They were sent to gaol, and General Maitland immediately prorogued the legisla- ture and liberated them. The Surveyor-General, when summoned, said he was a membe^ of the Legislative Council and a high officer of the crown, and that he could not come to give evidence without General Mait- land's and the Council's leave. Of course lie gave no evidence. The complainant to the House obtained juc gment against Phillpotts, (and Leonard the military officer, selected by the military governor as a perma- nent high-sheriff, and who had taken a part in the affair,) but the high-sheriff, a party concerned, had the selecting or picking of the grand and petty jurors at his pleasure and discretion, and the thing went as the government wished it should. The whole of the proceedings were immediately transmitted to the Colonial Department, and his Majesty's government was pleased, in the most prompt and satisfactory manner, to manifest its high approbation at this and many other acts of a like nature done by Sir 416 CAPTAIN PHILLPOTTS. I- I- K Peregrine, by transferring him to the superior station of Governor and Commander of the Forces in Nova Scotia. The complainant petitioned his Majesty, but there was no reply, and the House of Assembly's Committee reported, among other things, that it ap- peared to them upon examination, " that some of the most daring outrages against the peace of the com- munity have passed unprosecuted, and that the persons guilty have, from their connexions in high life, been promoted to the most important offices of trust, honour, and emolument in the local government. It appears that the crown officers, who exercise an exclusive right to conduct criminal prosecutions at the courts of oyer and terminer and general gaol delivery, are in the habit, even in the first instance, of being retained and taking an active part in the civil action for the wrong, by which it is inevitable that prosecutors will be dis- couraged to apply to them for professional aid, and justice, therefore, in many cases, fail, unless the rights of prosecutors and of the bar are upheld as in England." Of this report the accused took no public notice, but the attorney-general addressed a secret communica- tion to Sir Peregrine Maitland, for the colonial office, which it duly reached, defaming the committee as dis- affected to the government, &c. Of this step, too, his Majesty's government expressed its approbation by exalting this attorney-general to the centre seat of the bench of justice, in open defiance of the sense of the Assembly of that day, almost unanimously expressed. I speak of the blessed reign of that distinguished friend of human freedom. Sir George Murray. Mr. Hume, in August last, obtained an address of CAPTAIN PHILLPOTTS. 417 tlie House of Commons for a copy of these proceed- ings, with a view, as it was understood, of inquiring into Sir Peregrine Maitland's conduct, as well as that of the other parties, but after an interval of nine months the returns were not forthcoming. Perhaps they have since been made out ress of CAPTAIN MATTHEWS, AND GENERAL MAITLAND, OR ESPIONAGE IN THE COLONIES. " A system of espionage assumes that there i; something which ought to be watched and to be prevented ; and as so I a system probably did exist in Upper Canada during the administration of Sir "*eregrine Mait- land, it may be said that, so far, his gov :i'ru) ent was led to act on false prin* ciples. • • * The report of th: apy is received in tecret, placed in the confidential archives of office, and referred to as a testimonial of character in which such set of testimonials can be applied with effect when the occasion arises."— A/acAu>oo<<*« Edinburgh Magazine^ 1829. " Your Majesty's officers, both civ I and military, are deliberately li- belled, as a combined faction, actuated by interest alone, to struggle for the support of a corrupt government, adverse to the rights and interests of the people." — Addreaa of the Legislative Council of Lower Canada to his Majeaty, Quebec^ 1833. " The ordnance department at London has ordered home to England for the purpose of taking ^-i« •rial there, Captain Matthews, a member of the Upper Canada House ot Assembly, who stands charged with having called for Yankee Doodle or Hail Columbia, in some provincial play- house. Truly there ss something very undignified in such vexatious stretches of authority." — New York Enquirer. " Scene. — Roxbury. " Band playing Yankee Doodle. " Lord Percy. — Why do you laugh. Sirrah ! " Jonathan.— To think how you will dance by-and-by to Chevy-Chace.^* Battle of Lexington. It was but lately that I comprehended the extent of the injustice practised by the government, in allow- T 5 ! '■! Ill 418 CAPTAIN MATTHEWS. Wi I i / I r ! 1 I f'' * " 1 I JL ^^' i ^k. te'^. ing old men to sell their half-pay in time of peace to young men, thus entailing many thousands of pounds in taxes upon the people for additional dead weight, and keeping dependent on them many noble families who have younger sons to be provided for at the ex- pense of a sort of jobbing not cognizable at the Old Bailey. Another means of influence is the opportu- nity of calling half-puj-^ officers from the colonies on some frivolous pretence or other, if they should, on any occasion, get into the popular branch of the legislature, and manifest a genuine British fellow-feeling with their constituents. On them, from that moment, the colonial spy fixes his eye ; their every action is watched, for evil, and not for good. Captain Matthews of the royal invalid artillery, an officer of nearly thirty years service, had been, as I have already stated, elected for Middlesex, along with Mr. Rolph, and he soon became a favourite with the freeholders, for he advocated just and liberal measures — for this he was hated by the local government, and his destruction sought for. He had " honourably re- fused to impeach by a ruinous admission the civil rights of the people he represented ;" and it happen- ing that a company of strolling players, being from the United States and in distress, solicited the patronage of the members of the Assembly by cards, many members went to their theatre, among whom was Captain Matthews. The spy was also there ! After the national airs of England had been played. Hail Columbia and Yankee Doodle were called for in banter, and the former air was played. A spy, be- lieved to be now high in office, addressed letters to an CAPTAIN MATTHEWS. 419 ;ters to two miserable sycophantic journals, the Quebec Mer- cury and Kingston Chronicle, accusing Captain Mat- thews of calling for these airs, which he had not done. But Sir P. Maitland, Lord Dalhousie, and their military divans, preferred a secret accusation against their brother officer to the military authorities here. It was adroitly managed, so that Captain Matthews received an order to repair to Quebec, there to spend the winter months preparatory to going to England to clear his character from accusations, by whom and to what extent he could not tell — this being the season when his absence was wanted, in order to give the local government a preponderance in the legislature against the people'*s rights. He asked leave of absence of the House of Assembly, and was refused, (32 to 1.) The Assembly than inquired into the affair, and they thus report : — '^ If every effervescence of feeling upon every jovial or innocent occasion is, in these provinces, to be mag- nified into crime by the testimony of secret informers — if there can longer exist a political inquisition which shall scan the motives of every faithful servant of the public — if the authorities in Canada shall humble the independence of the legislature by scandalizing its me'nbers and causing them to be ordered to Quebec and thence to England, to sustain a fate which, under such corroboration as Lord Dalhousie received, might cover them with ignominy, or bring them, however innocent, to the block ; — or if the members of our com- munity shall be awed into political subserviency by fear of oppression, or lured by the corrupt hope of par- ticipating guilty favours, then, indeed, will the pro- ii III' :' 1 ^ 420 CAPTAIN MATTHEWS. \.. V -il fffr spect before us lour, and this fine province become a distant appendage of a mighty empire, ruled by a few aspiring men with the scourge of power." The report is long and the evidence elaborate — I have no room for it. Let it suffice to say, that, in London, although it was sent to the military autho- rities, the captain's half-pay was instantly stopped ; that he was re-elected by the county of Middlesex, but re- duced to great pecuniary distress, and finally obliged to quit the representative chamber and remove to England, broken-hearted. His pay was long after- wards re-established through some private interest — for as to the Assembly's report, it did him more harm than good. The English government have a large body of half-pay officers stationed in Canada, and on them and the troops and fortresses I presume they were wont to depend against the country. The United States' papers made songs and jokes about Captain Matthews, the British Government, and Yankee Doo- dle, and kept up " Earl Bathurst " for a long time. Take Noah's edition of the thing :— " YANKEE DOODLE. " We have seen a report of certain evidence given on the trial of a Captain Matthews (member of the Canadian legislature) for having called for ' Yankee Doodle,' or * Hail Columbia,' in the theatre of York, (Upper Canada,) to the infinite compromise of his taste, loyalty, and patriotism. Much fuss has been made about the matter, and the English government sent out orders for the captain to return to England !I CAPTAIN MATTHEWS. 421 and answer for his crime. The examinations are unusually 'lengthy/ and beyond all imagination ludicrous. It seems a tribe of vagrant ' Yankee ' players had strolled into Upper Canada, and on one occasion a great many members of the parliament, and other public functionaries, attended the perform- ance. They forced these poor ' Yankees ' to sing * God save the king,' and ' other national airs.' Afterwards some of them called for * Yankee Doodle.' " This is the great pivot of investigation, the hinge \ipon which the guilt or innocence of Captain Mat- thews, M. P., turned. The deliberate result of the trial is, that it (and Hail Columbia) was called for ' in derision.' One witness (an M. P.) says, * the audience was, with few exceptions, all members,' and that they were full of mirth and levity. Colonel Beikie, Mr. Cameron, Mr. C. Jones and others, * danced while Yankee Doodle was played.' (Only imagine a platoon of members of Congress dancing in a theatre to God save the king!) Another witness says, ' Hail Columbia applies to all America, and Yankee Doodle to the United States only ! I ! ! This witness is Mr. Gordon, M. P. A third witness (M. P.) talks of one of his brother M. P.'s * showing fight;' and he adds that he has often heard God save the king, and Rule Britannia, played in the United States* theatres ; but he does not tell us they were received either with laughter, dancing, or contempt. One of the questions put to a witness is, ' What is the nature of this Yankee Doodle?' (It would puzzle us to answer, as much as it did the Canadian M. P.) A 1 M '-1 i 422 CAPTAIN MATTHEWS. t ; I f" Mr. Vankoughnett, M. P., tells the house that he stripped off his coat, and threatened to knock people down ! ^Vhat has been done in this vast momentous matter v e do not exactly know ; but it must be con- fessed, iha the evidence does not speak very strongly in favour of the amenity and decorum of the M. P.'s of Upper Canada. *' If calling for one of our national airs, in a time of profound peace, within a few miles of the frontiers, is regarded as an unpardonable crime by the British government, who shall wonder or complain that the British people are full of prejudice against us ? Yet no matter. Those things may have an unsalutary effect in one way, but they are serviceable in every otLer. — ^They teach us to confide solely in ourselves. It is idle to lament the misconceptions and useless to correct the misrepresentations of other nations. We know ourselves, and let that content us. W' may have our Squire Bunkers and our Yankee Doodles, though we should have thought that both Bunker and Doodle were ' unmu'sical to Volscian ears.' If these things should be remembered to our dis- advantage beyond the Atlantic hereafter, we have ourselves to blame for the miserables to whom we intrust the affairs of the colonies, and whose meanness sometimes produces unpleasant results. Hear the Halifax Recorder. — " It appears from the proceedings in the Upper Canada parliament that the House has refused to grant leave to Captain Mat- thews to leave his duties as a member, in order to proceed home and take his trial for imputed disloyalty. of CAPTAIN MATTHEWS. 423 he having called for Yankee Doodle at the play-houce. Really we think people must have their wits about them now-a-days, if such things as these are to be con- strued into disaffection. The Yankees played ' God save the king * for Captain Wallace, and gave him a dinner besides, but they will hardly be so civil here- after when they hear of their favourite tune being treated so scurvily. We may now alter the old song, and sing it in a new version. ** Thoughts, words, and deeds, the statute blamed with reason, When Yankee Doodle is indicted treason.'' Captain Matthews was a very pleasant man, in company or in the legislature — full of wit and humour. But the Bathursts, and Wellingtons, and Maitlands, and their associates, broke him down at last. Was it for such as them that our peasantry were to stand forth in support of entails, primogeniture, and half-blood laws ? Never ! m ii dis- have ^m we mness from kt that Mat- Ider to )yalty, THE CHAPLAIN TO THE JESUITS. When the accounts of the Jesuits' estates were exa- mined by the House of Assembly of Lower Canada, it was found that one of the church of England parsons residing in Quebec was in the habit of annually drawing a large income from these school funds, on pretence of being " Chaplain to the Jesuits ! " The Jesuits had been all dead many years before, and besides they were Roman Catholics. The parson's name was Sewell, a son of Jonathan the chief justice. il . '«'«■#■ 424 I>LOUGHING MATCHES. In both Canadas agricultural societies ore greatly encouraged. In the upper provinc«» ^iund plongiting matches take place from tim*^ to tiirit, in'.d *he jni les are contested with a great deal of spirit, and generally fairly awarded to the victors. Mr. Stuart's "Three Years in America" i? in my opinion, the best book lately written concerning the U/iited States : and, in regard io the , gricultiire, oomni(»rce, nnd manufacture of the British North AooT ican colonies, I would give the preference to Mr. McGregor's British America, a new edition of which, greatly improved, has just been announced by Mr. Blackwood of Edinburgh. Purchasers should ask for the newest editions. Mr. Gourlay's statistical work on Upper Canada gives more information to the far- *aer concerning that province than any other publica- tion I have ever met with. THE CITY OF THE FALLS. I LEARN that General Murray, (now about to return to America, as it is said,) and his partners, who have purchased the hotels and environs of the Falls of Nia- gara, are about to expend many thousand pounds in rendering that eighth wonder of the world yet more famous by the great works of art to be established on its banks. Few places are more susceptible of im- provement than the neighbourhood of the grand ca- taract. 425 at\y ling rally I my r the Uure, "«Jorth • Mr. vhich, f Mr. isk for . work le far- iblica- return 10 have >f Nia- inds in ;t more Ihed on of im- md ca- PETTY COURTS-LAW FEES. "■ Those too the tyrant serve, who skilled to snare The feet of justice in the toils of law, Stand ready to oppress the weaker still ; And, right or wrong, will vindicate for gold, Sneering at public virtue, which beneath Their pityless tread lies torn and trampled, where Honour sits smiling at the sale of truth." — Shelley. " He would ask t^e right honourable gentleman (Mr. Stanley), did he think that the bench of justice in Ireland was such as to deserve the con> fidence of the people of that country ? Did the rigbt honourable gentle- man know the history of that country, even for the last twenty or thirty years, and the manner in which the judicial situations had been filled up there ? Did he know that, during that period, the enemies of liberty and the enemies of Ireland were in power, and that it was with their own political supporters and partisans that they filled up the judicial situations in Ireland ?"—iS/?eecA of Mr. O^Connell on the Addren, House of Commons, February, 1833. To show the vexations and harassing nature of colonial government, as it is exhibited in Upper Ca- nada, I shall go into the walks of common life, and ex- hibit a case of daily occurrence. Thomas Meeks and Mathew Fenwick were carpen- ters and joiners. Englishmen, in partnership. They had a little shop and house of their own, in York, and were doing well, when one of them went security for a friend, and had to pay his friend's debt. This cir- cumstance threw them behind with their own debts, and some persons who had trifling claims on them em- ployed attorneys to collect them ; the result, as shown in the receipt by Sheriff Jarvis, now before me, was as follows : — Brazil v, Fenwick ; debt, 6/. 15s. ; costs, 6/. 7s. 3d Wells «. Meeks, &c. ; debt, 21. ; costs, 3/. 18s. 3d. I k I f 426 PETTY COURTS LAW FEES. h f.j !i ■ Gibbons v. Meeks ; debt, 21, 10s. ; costs, 5/. 16«. 1 d. Elliot V. Meeks and Fenwick ; debt, 2/. bs. ; costs, There were additional costs of 3Z. odds, and for these sums the little property of the two Englishmen was sacrificed, and the executions paid. It is not the selling of their property that forms the grievance, but the unjust legal system, whereby four petty debts, amounting altogether to 13/., are swelled up to 35Z. In the states of Ohio or Vermont, or in Scotland, the creditors would have obtained executic>ns promptly, but the law would have subjected the unfor- tunate debtors to an expense nearer to 21». than to the 21/. they paid in Upper Canada. Every attempt to rid the people of this nuisance, this robbery in the name of British law, will fail, un- less the Legislative Council shall be made elective, or removed altogether. That venerable body has so many cousins, uncles, brothers, and dependents to pro- vide for, as sheriffs, attorneys, barristers, law-clerks, &c., that it will resist " to the death," (as Mr. Stanley said,) all attempts to assimilate Ohio and T-ipper Canada law, in point of simplicity and expense. In- structions to the contrary, from the Colonial Office, would not be worth the paper they would be written on, unless committed to hands able and willing to execute them. In 1830, about six thousand lawsuits were brought in the lowest court. In the same year, about four thousand writs were issued from the district court, for trial of civil suits of 40/. and under. PETTY COURTS — LAW FEES. 427 i.U. costs, these n was ms the )y four welled :, or in cuticms unfor- :han to Liisance, fail, un- tive, or has so to pro- -clerks, Stanley }pper &e. In- Office, written ilUng to brought rits were suits of In the superior court, that year, two thousand six hundred and ninety-eight writs were issued, and of these introductions to lawsuits, judgment was entered up on seven hundred and sixty-seven cases. Law costs are enormous. WHEAT AND FLOUR TRADE IN THE VALLEY OF THE ST. LAWRENCE. " With respect to Canada, (including our other possessions on the continent of North America,) no case can be made out to sliow that we should not have every commercial advantage we are supposed now to have, if it were made an independent state. Neither our manufactures, foreign commerce, nor shipping, would be injured by such a measure." — Sir Henry Parneli, on Financial Reform. Fourth edition. 1832. " Ungrateful people of America ! Bounties have been extended to them. When I had the honour to serve the crown, while you yourselves were loaded with an enormous debt, you have given bounties on their lumber, on their iron, their hemp, and many other articles. You have relaxed, in their favour, the Act of Navigation, that Palladium of the British com- merce ; and yet I have been abused in all the public papers, as an enemy to the trade of America." — 3Ir. GrenviUe*s Speech in the Home of Commons. Paris edition. 1766. '' These northern colonies stand in a peculiar and dangerous relation to us." — C C. Cambreleng. By the new arrangements for the regulation of trade in America, the United States are gain^^rs. While the Canadian farmer has only one market, Quebec, which they may glut whenever it suits them, the republicans have three markets — ^first, the great domestic demand created by the manufacturing and southern states — secondly, the market of the whole world, via New York, ^c. — thirdly, the Upper and Lower Canada markets V i h V-' II 428 WHEAT AND FLOUR TRADE IN THE '^ i r n r \r i i for wheat, flour, and other produce, dutyfree. The wheat of the United States may also be imported into Upper Canada, ground there, and shipped to England upon the same terms as the flour of Canada. In his argu- ment before the House of Commons, on the 11th of March, 1831, Mr. Poulett Thomson said, (vide " Mirror of Parliament,") that " the greatest advantage which resulted from the ministerial plan in operation, called the ' April Trade Act,* in his opinion, was, that by the arrangement respecting the admission of flour, and salted provisions, duty free, into the Northern colonies, we destroy the whole range of custom- houses on the St. Lawrence, and open at once that vast outlet to the states of Maine and of the Ohio. He need scarcely dwell upon the advantages which must result, in a political point of view, from rendering these fertile provinces, daily increasing in cultivation, de- pendent on us for an outlet for their produce.'* All this is very fine, if he had added, that his project was an exceeding good one for rendering the Canadas anxious to obtain independence of a power which would thus consult its own interest at their cost, Mr. Pou- lett Thomson might have gone so far as to say, that it would be but fair to the Canadians to allow them to go to Maine and the Ohio for such articles as they might require, free of 15, 25, 30 per cent, or the other British prohibitory duties. Mr. Thomson forgot the choice of markets the Maine people have, which the colonists have not — he did not re- member that a tax of half a dollar a barrel is laid on the salt which is brought from the United States, to salt the pork raised in Upper Canada, to pay the VALLEY OF THE ST. LAWRENCE. 429 wheat Jpper upon argu- Ith of antage iration, s, that f flour, orthern jtistom- ce that 10. He 3h must [ig these ion, de- All ject was anadas ;h would [r. Pou- ay, that allow articles cent, or homson people not re- laid on kates, to 1 pay the Canada frontier war losses, while the lands that ought to have been sold to pay these losses are applied by suc- cessive ministers to the most unworthy purposes, and the United States farmer enabled to use the same salt, duty free, and then carry his pork to the Quebec and New- foundland markets on equal or more favourable terms than the Canadian. Mr. Thomson forgot that the Northern Colonies consume half as much West India rum as the British Islands, which the Ohio and Maine, with the rest of the Union to boot, do not do. I admit that it is unreasonable to oblige the people of New- foundland to come and buy a barrel of pork at Mon- treal, at three or four dollars a barrel more than they could have the same quality at New York ; and that it is wise and prudent to allow the people of Ohio to bring their pork and wheat to Montreal, to enable Canada to supply the fisheries, the lumbermen, &c., rather than to oblige them to take it to New York : but Mr. Poulett Thomson should have remembered that free trade means freedom to all the parties con- cerned, not to two parties at the expense of a third, who is kept down by one of them. Although the United Slates will not allow the im- portation of wheat-flour. West Indian colonial produce, or provisions from Canada, Great Britain, or the Southern Colonies, unless heavy duties are paid, (whe- ther it be in United States or English ships,) there is found a powerful party in the Union who condemn Messrs. M*Lane and Van Buren for that part of the late agreement which gives to the people of Britain the liberty of buying in the ports of the Union wheat and flour j paying for it, and carrying it away in their t 111 430 WHEAT AND FLOUK ^IIALE ' ii) Iti own ships, for the supply of their own colonies. A late series of letters, understood to be the production of Mr. Rush, are violent in their censures because Mr. M'Lane wrote to Mr. Van Buren — " It will generally be our interest, as it is that of every other nation, to allow the exportation of its surplus produce in the vessels of any other country." Who ever heard of a shopkeeper refusing to sell goods to a farmer ready to pay for them, because the farmer intended to employ his own waggon to convey them home, instead of paying for that of the shopkeeper ? Well has it been said by Mr. Hall, in his able and philosophical in- quiry, " Trade knows no friend ; avarice no compas- sion; gain no bounds." The United States ships enjoy nine-tenths of the carrying trade : they can clear out to Europe from the British West Indies, a privi- lege they never enjoyed before : they have, practically, a monopoly of that trade, and they oivn it, yet many complain. If a British ship buys and pays for a cargo of United States provisions, that payment puts in motion American industry both by sea and land; it furnishes the seller with the very sinews of foreign trade — cash, or its equivalent. A gentleman, connected with the trade of New York, wrote me from that city, dated Nov. 3, 1831, that during that year, up to that date, there were laden at that port, with flour and provisions, 57 British ships for the West Indies ; 56 to Halifax and other ports in Nova Scotia ; 44 to Newfoundland ; 28 to New Bruns- wick, and 3 to Quebec ; that several of these vessels were not fully laden, but that of the flour and pro- vision carried by United States vessels^ of which he n 1 IN THE VALLEY OF THE ST. LAWRENCE. 431 ;. A iction icausc t will other reduce heard r ready jmploy ead of it been ical in- :ompas- 18 ships an clear a privi- ictically, et many a cargo puts in land; it foreign jof New |3, 1831, ?re laden [ish ships ports in Bruns- ke vessels land pro- i^hich he did not obtain a return, the 188 cargoes woidd bo completed, and perhaps ten per cent, more, or sa\ rather more than 200 fidl cargoes. Last January, when the Clay party objected to Mr. Van Buren's appointment as Minister to Great Britain, the venerable Senator General Smith (of Bal- timore), who has been forty years in Congress, rose in Senate, and stated that *' the Senator from Kentucky (Mr. Clay) has charged Mr. M'Lane with having done injury to the navigating interest, by the opening of the St. Lawrence and the Northern ports to our free inter- course ; thus transferring, as he said, the carrying of the produce of Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, New York, Vermont and Maine to British ships, which would otherwise have been carried by our own ships. I believe the farmers of those States do not complain. They know that their produce, sold in Montreal, is received there free of duty, and is carried to England, Ireland, and the West Indies, as if it were the produce of Canada. It is of little importance to them who is the carrier, provided they get an additional market and a better price for their produce. * * * * 'pjjp Senator (Mr. Clay) has truly said that the wheat of the States bordering on the Canadas passes into Canada, is there ground, and the flour shipped to British ports, as if it were the produce of the wheat of Canada. This has been the spontaneous act of Great Britain, adopted for her own interest, and is most certainly highly beneficial to our farmers. An immense number of sheep, hogs, horses, and cattle are driven annually from Maine to Quebec and New Brunswick. The farmers and graziers of Maine differ in opinion with •! i I If ! S '( .: ; 432 WHEAT AND FLOUR TRADB. ^1 I * J; : M .' the Senator from Kentucky (Mr. Clay), aad are really so simple as to believe, that their free intercourse with Lower Canada and New Brunswick is highly bene- ficial to them. ******** We have for nearly half a century been claiming the free navi- gation of the St. Lawrence as a natural right. It has at length been gratuitously conceded to us uy Great Britain, and now the senator from Kentucky (Mr. Clay) complains of it as a grievance." I have read the new American tariff law with great attention. It is a boon conferred upon Canada, and a valuable one. It will either give us tea at the cheapest rate ; drugs, dyestuffs, and a thousand other things from the best markets, duty free ; or it will do better, it will force a free trade to China for the colonies. The cheaper the farmer buys, the cheaper he can afford to sell with a good profit. I like this tariff law. It may be said that no conscientious man will buy American tea which is prohibited. Did Canada consent to that prohibi- tion? Was our advice asked when the ports were opened to American provisions? Would it be just to let the American farmers compete with us in our own markets, while we were enriching a monopoly by pay- ing eighty cents for a pound of the tea we can have at half a dollar ? But I need not extend these remarks, for ministers appear to be disposed to do England and her colonies justice on the matter of trade. 433 jally with 3ene- bave navl- [t has Great (Mr. 1 great , and a tieapest gs from •, it will cheaper sell with be said a which prohibi- ts were ie just to our own by pay- have at remarks, land and THE CANADA TIMBER TRADE. ** They would, through their representatives, have a voice in the dis- posal of all monies raised from them by taxation ; as they cannot per- ceive that to be justice, which condemns one to the eternal drudgery of filling a purse for another to empty."— iWr. T. Dalton to Sir G. Murray. I WILL here relate a few facts illustrative of the real principles of those gentlemen who profess to be friendly to freedom in trade. On the 4th of February, 1831, the House of As- sembly of Upper Canada unanimously agreed to the following resolution, which they forthwith communi- cated to the Legislative Council for its concurrence :«^ " Resolved, that besides the long and expensive voyage and the high rate of wages which operate so in- juriously against the Canadian timber, the recent regu- lation, which imposes a duty of one penny per foot on timber cut from the waste lands of the crown, in this province, is not the least of the many discouragements which fetter and blight the efforts of those who prose- cute this interesting trade." What, think you, was the opinion of the Legislative Council with regard to this just and reasonable re- solve ? Its members were as unanimous in their opposition to it as the Assembly had been in its favour ! But the Assembly did not let the matter rest here : they immediately addressed the lieutenant-governor, requesting that the persons engaged in the timber trade with these kingdoms might be allowed to cut timber on the waste lands of the colony, free of the tax, thereby to enable the timber merchants " to furnish a regular u l\ 434 THE CANADA TIMBER TRADE. li .1 ( « ( 1/ J, I I t supply of all kinds of timber at the port of Quebec, without involving them in great pecuniary difficulty and loss." His Excellency, who is tied down by strict instructions, transmitted the address to the government in England, and the government in England replied a few months ago, that they were very sorry they could not alford to part with the proceeds of this inland penny a foot, and that it must remain just as their predeces- sors had laid it on, — a tax upon Old England ! And so the matter ended. I will now explain the nature of this tax, which was laid on by the Tories, a few years ago, in order to obtain thereby a little more plunder for their friends from the national industry. The greater part of the red and white pine brought froni America, also many feet of deals, some spars, thousands of oak-staves, and a considerable quantity of oak, are obtained in the unsurveyed and unsettled British territory back of the Chaudiere Falls on the river Ottawa ; rafted down that river to the St. Law- rence ; and thence shipped to these kingdoms, and a part sent to the British West Indies. Until very lately tlie persons concerned in this trade were allowed to cut down this timber without molestation, but a duty of a penny a foot on some qualities and three half-] ence a foot on others has been imposed of late — not by any legislative act, but in virtue of an order from Downing Street. What becomes of tiie proceeds is a state mystery whicli few of our House of Commons' financiers could unravel — but no one will question its being a tax upon the merchants, shipowners, builders, and still more on the householders of Britain and Ireland, for it adds ;' fii THE CANADA TIMBER TRADE. 435 Lty •ict ent d a .uld nny ces- was er to Lends nigVit pars, ntity lettled n tlie Law- nd a lately to cut y of a lence a y any )wning lyslery could Lx upon liore on it adds materially to the first cost of a great part of the timber used jn this nation, in a trade, too, which labours under many natural disadvantages. By an order of the Wellington ministry, an office was set up at the Chaudiere Falls, and a couple of Scotch gentlemen of the names of Charles and Robert Shirreff, installed as its managers, with an establish- ment of measurers, assistant measurers, clerks, and other servants. Here every raft is stopped, the rafts- man hindered, the timber examined and measured, and the odious tax collected. From the returns of the collectors I estimate that, since the commencement of 1828 to the present time, a duty or impost of upwards of a penny per foot has been collected on skven millions of feet, afterwards shipped at the port of Quebec. If, therefore, 3d., 4df., or bd.f is the pric .here, this impost hath augmented it 20 to 30 per cent,, most of which falls upon the British consumer and manufacturer, and injures the trade. What becomes of the money ? This is the next question. I think it will be found, that when the far-famed finance committee of the House of Commons sat in 1828, the Tory government of that day withheld from them the Upper Canada Blue Books of 1824, 1825, 1826, and 1827, and sent an old one, as far back as 1823 — several years antecedent to the principal nart of the jobbing now carried on. I have examined the printed documents in the Commons' library, and could find no other Upper Canada Blue Book than that of 1823. 2 u <^ •II 436 TRIFLING WITH THE HOUSE OF COMMONS. • i I W 1 '• \' When, at any time, the House of Assembly of Upper Canada attempts to obtain, through the lieute- nant-governor, an accurate account of what the whole revenue is, and how it is disposed of. Sir John and his council pretend that they have secret orders from the Colonial OtHce not to afford the information required. In 1829, Sir John pledged his word in a message to the House that they should know what had become of the militia fines, Quaker penalties, &c. ; and up to this hour has been worse than his promise. When the Earl of Ripon's despatch of 8th Nov. last took away the pretext of the " secret orders,*' by denying that any such had been given, Sir John and his government pretended that the accounts could not be got ready that session to lay before the House ? Will the Colonial Office uphold this juggling ? When, on many former occasions, the local assem- bly of Upper Canada have endeavoured to acquire something like a guess-work knowledge of the incomes of the innumerable public functionaries, they have ob- tained a part, through the medium of the government. Some of the incomes were palpably unfairly stated. Dr. Strachan and several other dignitaries gave in no returns at all. In short, the truth could not be come at. Will the government allow this irresponsibility to continue i* In the hopes of obta'ning what the colonists had failed in getting at, namely, /acf.9, Mr. Hume, last T^ \ TRIFLING WITH THE HOUSE OF COMMONS. 437 I of ute- hole I his I the ired. isage come jp to Yhen took nying ^ his ot be Lssem- .cquire icomes Lve ob- [iment. istated. |e in no ie come ility to August, moved for addresses of the House of Commons to the King, for returns of places and emohiments held by members of the House of Assembly, and of the executive and legislative councils, with Iheir pen- sions, &c. also of the grants of public land made to them by government, and the titles of bills on which the legislative councils and assemblies had differed in opinion during several years last past ; together with the payments made to priests of the churches of Rome, England, Scotland, &c., out of the revenues of Upper Canada. The House of Commons passed addresses. Viscount Howick fully concurring, and despatches were transmitted to Lord Aylmer and Sir John Col- borne the same month (August.) The information sought for might have been in London in November, for it takes very little time t(» prepare such papers. But December, January, antl February came, and no returns. Again, on the 6th of February last, the reformed Parliament renewed the addresses to the King ; and again were despatches sent to Lord Aylmer and Sir John. But March, April, and Ma^ have elapsed, and the colonial exe- c\itives still decline to comply with the wishes of Par- liament. No returns have yet come to hand. How long is this trifling with the country to be endured ? But this is by no means the blackest part of the story — that forms the subject of another sketch, as follows : — ^ Ists had , last 438 I! I I 1 j j ',' ■ II; ! i ! FALSE AND DECEPTIVE REVENUE RETURNS— THE BLUE BOOK. " If any public officers can be named, who are guilty of an abuse of their power, and of remissness in their duties, his Majesty would not be slow in removing such persons from his service. If it can be shown that the patronage of the crown has been exercised upon any narrow or ex- clusive maxims, they cannot be too entirely disavowed and abandoned. His Majesty can have no desire that any such invidious distinctions should be maintained." — Despatch of the Eatl >f Ripon to the Governor of Lower Canada. <' By giving the Canadians the entire control over their expenditure, we shall certainly do away with all the jobbing which has hiiherto existed. The jobs and extravagance of those connected with the govern- ment of Canada hive been the stepping-stones to grosser jobs and greater extravagances, for which the people of England have suffered."—- FitcQunt Howick, Feb. 18, 1831. Vide " Mirror of Parliament:^ *' I appeal to the House, whether the colonial administration of the country has not been for years one system of jobbing." — Ibid. " A base, a wicked and u.i feeling government imparts its bad qualities in time to the great mi>ss cl the people." — George Canning. Not content with trifling with his Majesty's Ministers and the House of Commons, with regard to the time of traii:miiting revenue and other returns, the execu- tive government of upper Canada deceive the Colonial Secretary and the English nation, by sending home accounts, which, on the face of them, are calculated to mislead. In plain English, they send home false statements, knowing them to he so. I'^p to the middle of February, 1833, the detailed accounts of the receipt and expenditure of the public revenue, &c., commonly called '^ the Blue Book," for he year 1831, had not, as I am informed, reached % THE BLUE BOOK. 439 isters time xecu- onial lome ,ed to false tailed t^ublic ' for jached the Colonial Office from Upper Canada 1 but the offi- cial return for 1830 had been received. It so happened that, early in 1831, 1 moved in th;.^ House of- Assembly a resolution for an address to Governor Colborne, requesting accurate statements of the incomes, fees, salaries, and other emoluments of the officers of the civil government, for this same year 1830. Many persons made their returns within two or three weeks to tlie executive government, under their own hands. These returns were immediately printed, and I brought copies to England with me, and compaj'ed them with " the official return of the civil establishment of the colony." The executive council are the board of audit, and when his Majesty's Ministers make any appointments, or confirm, or reject those made iu Canada, these official returns are their guides, wiih regard to the incomes attached to the office. To the local assembly, partial statenients, calculated to confuse the understanding, are sent down ; and to the House of Commons no statement at all. So far back as 1823, the Assembly, after voting such supplies as were asked of them, addressed Sir P. Maitiand, complaining that the public accounts were sent them in a state so confused and perplexed, as to be utterly beyond their comprehension. But it was of no use. Year, 1830. John Henry Dunn, Receiver General. Salary 200iJ. No other income, fees, or allowances. — Blue Book. Emolument, 1006/. besides a salary of 200/. — Mr. Dunn's own account sent to Sir J. Colborne. Zachariah Mudije, Private Secretary, Income, f 440 THE BLACK BOOK. 182^. lO^.j and no other fees and emoluments. — Blue Book, Income, 182/. 10s., and other 347Z. of fees and emoluments. — Account signed by Mr. Mudge, and sent to the Assembly, [It is worthy of remark, that before the official return for England was made out, Mr. Mudge had shot him- self, as is elsewhere stated in this book, and his place was filled up pro tern, by a dependent on the local au- thorities. Mr. Dunn also, the Receiver-General, a plain straightforward Englishman, whom they disliked, talked of returning to Europe. Of course I cannot know that these circumstances influenced the Council in the deception they practised upon Lord Goderich.] I Thomas Kirkpatrick, Collector of Customs, Kings- ton. Income, 282/., and no more. — Blue Book, Income, 506/. — Account signed and sent to Sir John Colborne by Mr. Kirkpatrick. Duncan Cameron, Secretary and Registrar. Salary and fees, 936/. 1 Is. 4c/., and no more. — Blue Book, In this statement 258/. 12s., paid to him as addi- tional fees, have been omitted. (See ''Assembly's Journal," 1831, for accounts of 1830, p. 117.) The accounts of his Deputy are also very incorrectly given. George Savage, Collector of Customs, York. In- come, 122/. — Blue Book. Income, by his own state- ment to the Assembly, 200/. I believe neither statement. They are, doubtless, under the truth ; but there are no comptrollers, nor any other check upon collectors, who give in any accounts they think lit. THB BLUE BOOK. 441 Mahlon Burwell, Postmaster, Port Talbot. — This person is described in the " Blue Book" as holding the offices of County Registrar and Collector of Cus- toms, and no other, while, in truth, he had been also Postmaster for many years. The " Blue Book " professes to give an account of all public offices, but it omits the Postmasters of York, Kingston, Niagara, Brockville, and fifty or sixty others. [The " Blue Book " for Lower Canada, 1826, gave the Deputy Postmaster-General's salary at 500^, and said there were no fees or other emoluments. What a mockery such accounts must be !] given. In- state- The returns of Alpheus Jones, Collector of Customs, Prescott ; James Fitzgibbon, Clerk of Assembly ; Grant Powell, Clerk to the Council, &c. &c. to the Governor, are, all of them, different from his returns to England, as shown in the *' Blue Book." There are eleven masters of district schools, with salaries of 901. each. Some of them charge six and even eight guineas a day-scholar besides, and they all take fees. The *' Blue Book " says they take " no fees." The Executive Council omit giving any returns of the eleven Deputy Clerks of the Crown, the Clerks of Assize, &c. Of these, and district treasurers, and many other officers, the '' Blue Book " says nothing at all. The " Blue Book " misleads us with regard to the two judges' incomes; 233Z. 6s. Sd, are altogether omitted. The account of education and of monies paid to teachers is imperfect, and calculated to mislead. u 5 442 A WONDERFUL OGE ! ': 1 1 ;#] 1 ■ ^ f ' 1 : ■ , h h »■ i:' ■'« 1 :: 111 Archdeacon Stuart's return it is omitted to in- clude his salary as a minister of what they call ** the Established Church." fFilliam Hands — The " Blue k" takes care to forget to tell ministers that William was treasurer of the counties of Kent and Essex, surrogate and post- master. William, at one and the same time, filled the offices of — 1. Judge in civil cases for the counties of Kent and Essex. 2. High Sheriff of the said counties ! 3. Treasurer of the said counties ! 4. Surrogate of the said counties ! 5. Ganger, Collector of Excise, and Inspector of Shop and Tavern Licences for said counties ! 6. Postmaster of Sandwich ! 7. Collector of Customs at Sandwich ! I think he has since allowed a friend (Mr. Berczy) to take his office No. 1. I might go on, even to weariness, in the cases which show the deceptions that are practised on the British government by the Upper Canada authorities, but it cannot be necessary. My attention was more espe- cially drawn to " the official return of the civil establishment of the colony," in the " Blue Book " for that year, from the fact of Lord Gode rich's having re- ferred to it for the amount of certain salaries, as stated in his despatch of the 8th of November last. The moment I saw the book I was made aware of the de- ception practised ^nd fully enabled to vindicate the statements I had reviously made, and which the ,i ) in- *the ire to rer of post- ;dthe Kent ctor of inties ! ferczy) which Jriiish but it espe- civil Ik " for tng re- stated The Ihe de- Lte the :;h the THE BLUE BOOK. 443 local authorities pretended to consider an insult of the grossest nature on my part. I am not fond of making rash assertions; but 1 would like to ask Sir George Murray why thr ( jper Canada ' lue Books " of 1824, 5, 6, ar^5 7 w^re withli'-'l ^ie Finance Committee of xS2S, md that ot It? That year's return was calcu- lated to uusiead them many thousand pounds as to the revenue in 1828. I understand that the MS. *' Blue Books " and those printed by the Finriitce Committee do not agree. Why are there omissions in the latter in certain cases ? In conclusion, it may be asked. Can any Colonial Minister, under the plea of a " pressure of business,"*' or under any other plea, longer suffer the Governor and Council to transmit such accounts, and insult His Majesty's Ministers, when the colony complains of such jobbing? The recent proceedings of Viscount Goderich and Mr. Stanley serve to show that they will not be disposed to throw the broad mantle of the state over such proceedings. I would, at the same time, not be understood for an instant as setting myself up for a paragon of perfection. My firm belief is, that all men, when they get the fingering of the public money in colonies, have much need to repeat the Lord's Prayer — " Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil ! '* I dare say I am naturally as proud, overbearing, vain, and careless as this colony-government ; and all the punishment I would award them would be removal from office, and a substitution of publicity and real responsibility from their successors to those who produce the wealth and N IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) // 1.0 ! I.I ■-IM |50 "^ I- la i t lil 12.0 2.5 12.2 1.8 1.25 1.4 1.6 5= ^ fj> — » Photographic Sciences Corporation 33 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 873-4503 f 444 THE BLUE BOOK. pay the taxes. In colonies, the people are usually considered fair game ; placemen too often look upon public plunder as ** quartering on the enemy." Mr. Andrew Stuart (of Quebec), in his late volume of a '* Review of the Legislature of Lower Canada," for 1831, tells us that " the remaining part of the loyalists consisted of the placemen of the different colonies. They, their descendants, and their friends have been found, since the year 1774, and are now found, in all the principal offices of His Majesty's colonies. In the struggle which followed, these men were not found in the field ; their loyalty vented itself in extravagant professions, in addresses, and in representations to the Colonial Administration and the British Government. The war depriving them of their places, they assailed the British Government with petitions for new ones." Mr. Stuart goes on to show the consequences, thus : — " It is not here as it is in England, where a ministry comes in and goes out ; and the mischiefs of this colo- nial abuse (the patronage of the Governor) are there- fore perpetuated from Governor to Governor. The new Governor is obliged to use the instruments which his predecessor has left him ; and these, sometimes bad enough, selected perhaps by a Governor, who, with the best intentions in the world, has converted his pa- tronage into an eleemosynary fund for decayed widows, and for men whose only claim to be provided for is, that they cannot provide for themselves." ^ ^ 445 IS, PENSIONS AND SINECURES. ! " A side I chose, and on that side was strong, Till time hath fairly proved me in the wrong ; Convinced, I change ; (can any man do more P And have not greater patriots changed before ?} Changed, I at once, (can any man do less?) Without a single blush, that change confess ; Confess it with a manly kind of pride. And lit the losing for the winning side." The Candidate. " Was it consistent with that unsullied purity which ought to belong to the judicial character, that judges should have their families quartered upon the public purse, and that, as regular as the quarter came round, their ap- plications should be made to the treasury for payment?" Mr, (yConnell'a speech on the Jddrets, House of Commons, Feb. 1833. The following pensions and sinecures, besides others we know nothing of, are paid in Upper Canada, yearly without the consent of the province, and contrary to its wish plainly expressed, except those marked thus.* Pension, Sir W. Campbell .... i:i200 Sterling. do. W. D. Powell 1000 do. do. D. Arcy Boulton 500 do. do. Sir D. W. Smith, Bart. . . 200 do. do. John M'Gill 450 do. do. Thomas Talbot 400 do. do. Colonel Smith's family . . . 200 do. Pensions Five persons 631 do. Pension Bishop Regiopolis 400 do. Sinecures C. C. Small , . . . £ 900 Duty by dep. do. D. Cameron 1100 do. do. John Strachan .... 750 No duties. do. Provincial Agent . . , 200 do. do. Archdeacon Stuart . . 300 do. ' ..,' - w rtr' 446 PENSIONS AND SINECURES. Sinecures Samuel Ridout .... do. Officers Land Grantingl Department . . . . ( do. do. do. £200 No duties. 2566 do. 245 do. 100 do. ). Dr. Phillips 200/., 45/.* Naval Officer .... Clerk Executive Council 820 Duty by dep. Colonel Coffin .... 325 do. There are many other pensions and sinecures, but this specimen may suffice. " The numerous appeals in support of pretensions to office in the colonies, on the ground of charity, poverty, &c., would almost per- suade us that the public offices are regarded as poor- houses, where people are to be maintained at the public expense, because they are unable to procure a living any where else." i i r ' 'J l\ \ , ■ ::! fi ■i 1 '• 'i ii ) t Ai ! !! i. ** ' ''s , t 1 h ■j^' :"' ' |ta|L !-i \ 1 1 i fe ■#.! .1 : BRITISH NORTH AMERICAN DEPARTMENT. T-OFFICE I HAVE long been of opinion that one way by which to unite two countries togetrer, where the people or a majority of them speak o:ie language, and carry on an extensive trade with each other, is by a safe, cheap, and expeditious post communication, and lines of post roads judiciously laid down. This very obvious method of connecting the Canadas with England has hitherto been greatly neglected, or rather prohibited, for the restrictions have amounted to a virtual prohibition. But the present is a good time to change these things for the better, and if we would even now take iities. lo. lo. lo. by dep. lo. res, but appeals ^nies, on lost per- as poor- L at the rocure a CE y which or a on , cheap, of post pie [Carry ICanadas ?cted, or Imounted ise these 1 Low take BRITISH AMERICAN POST-OFFICE. 447 the hint from our republican descendants of the Ame- rican Union, letters might soon be passing from the most distant parts of Ireland or Scotland to the westernmost corner of Upper Canada for a postage of only a shilling or fifteen pence, and newspapers that have been stamped, duty free. If it can be done, or if a better means of conveyance is not suggested, a line of packets should be made to run twice a-week between Halifax and Liverpool; the swiftest-sailing ships that can be built and the safest and most obliging captains. From Halifax the post- road should be improved, no matter at what expense, to Quebec, and settlements encouraged at every point where they can be begun with advantage. To im- prove such a road for such a piupose, the legisla tures of the two Canadas would doubtless contribute most liberally and with great cheerfulness. Careful, experienced, trusty men should be chosen to oversee the road made. We would thus accomplish a speedy, safe, cheap, regular, and expeditious post communica- tion with the whole of British America at all seasons of the year ; and the Montreal or Quebec merchant, or the Upper or Lower Canada emigrant would receive his letters as soon and at a price as reasonable as if he had employed the New York packets and L^nited States' mails. Pamphlets, magazines, reviews, and all other periodicals should also be allowed to pass by this conveyance between England and her colonies, and it should be an unalterable part of the post-office- law to allow no fees, perquisites, or jobbing. At pre- sent the whole concern is a job from beginning to end. \\i i ■ ' k li 1 i! 3 448 BRITISH AMERICAN POST-OFFICE. t I I ' ii Whenever you talk to the people at St. Martin's Le Grand about reduced post-office rates, and a clear well-defined law, they tell you a long story about the magnitude of the national debt. What has that to do with the matter ? Here we are, a first-rate commercial nation, the first navai power in the world, justly de- sirous to keep up our influence beyond the Atlantic ; yet with excellent means in our hands, arising out of the control of the post-office, we employ a code* of laws which drives the whole of the colonial correspondence into the hands of the United States, to enrich their treasury, while the British monthly packets capsize once or twice a year, and charge such a price for the letters they carry, that it would seem as if their owners wished the 6anadas beyond the Rocky Mountains. Why expend millions on wars, and canals, and de- fences, and be pennywise about the postage of letters, pamphlets, and newspapers ? If the good folks of the colonies are wanted to be kept together, the more they know of England .and English affairs, and the more England knows of them — the better for the connexion. The post-office is "one of a very few monopolies that may be turned to great national advantage, if the rulers of the nation are not too busy to attend to such matters. But, as I have already stated, it is made a scanda- lous job of; and until Viscount Howick took the matter up in earnest, there was really very little pro- spect of a change for the better. The first address to the king from Upper Canada on the post-office was in consequence of a petition of BRITISH AMERICAN POST-OFFICE. 449 rtin's Le a clear bout the tiat to do tnmercial justly de- A.tlantic ; \g out of ie-of laws pondence •ich their s capsize e for the sir owners fountains, and de- of letters, ks of the nore they the more jonnexion. lolies that re, if the 1 to such a scanda- took the little pro- r Canada petition of mine to the Assembly, in 1823. Neither the Post- master-General nor Earl Bathurst so much as conde- scended even to acknowledge the receipt of that address. In 1829, I moved the House for another select committee, and obtained it ; we went fully into an inquiry, and reported at great length. But the De- puty Postmaster-General at Quebec (Mr. Stayner) evaded giving us information of the revenue raised, or of his own income. He either had or pretended to have an order from the British government to keep the amount of the revenue a perfect secret from the country. Our report and the evidence were printed and duly forwarded to the general post-office and colo- nial department, but they remained unnoticed and un- acknowledged. Soon after this. Lower Canada took the question up, and a select committee of the House of Assembly made a very sensible report, in which, among other things, they state that Mr. Stayner gave vague and unsatisfactory answers on revenue questions, under his injunction of secresy from London. Lower Canada addressed the king, but there was no answer. Again there was a committee, and a report, and an address, but no answer from London. At length a third address has been despatched to London, and I believe that the post-office will be reformed. * Nor has Upper Canada been idle ; there have been a plentiful supply of additional reports, bills, and ad- dresses to the king from that quarter also. When in the library of the House of Commons one day last July, I found, on examining the official re- turns of Lower Canada salaries, made to this govern- I II ii ' 450 JOBBING IN THE COLONIES. n'l -Ml' ■ t. ?; a: t! I S--; ■ I ment from Quebec, and printed by order of the Fi- nance Committee of 1828, that the deputy postmaster- -general's emoluments were thus returned. *' Salary 500/." " Amount of fees during the year 1826, in sterling value, none." " Holds no other office, and is never absent." This return was to blind this government. So far from a 500Z. salary being the income of the incumbent, he knew he was pocketing, as fees, all the newspaper and printed paper postage of the colonies, and not even as much as accounting for the amount. Of this money he had no right to a single shilling. It never could have been intended to allow the agent for packet- boats at Quebec to raise, at his pleasure, the postage on a weekly journal, from Is. Sd. to 2s. 6d. ; then up t(\ 3s., and finally to 4s., and afterwards put the money collected quietly into his pocket, without ac- counting for it in any way. Complaint was made to Sir F. Freoling, but he justified all things without the least inquiry. In fact, there is no real check on this department ; the deputy does just as he pleases. Finding that all hopes of obtaining information of the post-otFice revenue from documents published in Britain were vain, and that Mr. Stayner had foiled the colonial assemblies and the periodical press, I laid the petitions before Mr. Hume, who carried an address through the House of Commons last August, and again last February, calling for information of the state of'the post-office revenue, in such detail as would have been useful. Many of the papers asked for could have been furnished in a few days from the general post-office, but the order of the house has now t „ ii«. r t,-; ,;«, A HUNGRY TAX-GATHERER. 451 ' the Fi- stmaster- " Salary • 1826, ill cc, and is . So fin- iicumbent, lewspaper , and not Of this It never for packet - le postage ; then up s put the itiiout ac- s made to I'ithout the ck on this ises. rmation of blished in foiled the 1 laid the in address Ligust, and ion of the il as would asked for from the se has now remained nearly ten months a dead letter, Mr. Stayner being, doubtless, very willing to keep the affair a profitable secret, as long as the carelessness of his superiors shall permit him to do so. TJie colonial office have asked for the returns, but where are they ? Although Mr. Stayner's name does not appear in the list of incomes over 1000/. a year, he well knows that it ought to have been there. It is a burning shame to tax each newspaper that goes by mail 4s., or the value of an acre of waste land per an:ium, and pay couriers to carry the new? and postmciaters to collect the revenue, for no other purpose than that of making a fortune to a young man who married the late deputy postmaster-general's daughter, and then quietly stept into his father-in-law's shoes as a part of the dowry. Mr. Stayner receives between 300/. and 400/. a year postage from the * Christian Guardian' newspaper alone, and pockets every shilling as per- quisite. Tliere are, besides my newspaper the Advo- cate * — the St. Thomas's Journal — St. The >i?'s Liberal — Brockville Recorder — Cornwall Observer — Grenville Gazette — Kingston Spectator — Kingston Chronicle — Kingston Herald — Cobourg Reformer — Cobourg Star — Hallowell Free Press — Hastings Times — Canadian Freeman — Antidote — York Courier — York Correspondent — York Patriot — York Official Gazette — York Magazine — Hamilton Free Press — Gore Mercury — Niagara Gleaner — Canadian Wes- leyan — London Sun — St. Catherine's Journal — a pa- ♦ Of course, all the newspapers send as many newspapers by other conveyances than the mail-bag- as they can, but for the remainder, they must pay into Mr. Stayner's private treasury. 452 A PAGE OF THE BLACK DOOK. ■ : per at Perth, and others, the names of which I do not remember. All these are in Upper Canada, and Mr. Stayner employs his deputies in collecting the whole postage, which he quietly pockets as his fee. Then in Lower Canada, there are the two Official Gazettes — the Quebec Gazette, Mercury and Canadien — the Ami du Peuple — Montreal Minerve, Herald, Courant, and Vindicator, with many other journals. Mr. Stayner devours the postage of them all. lie also retains a share of all United States letter- postage, and the whole of the newspaper, pamphlet, and printed paper postage; the amount of which the public will never learn. I have no doubt, but that if a really accurate statement could be got from him, his income, (nominally 500/.) exceeds 3000/. a year, y^-this is, and this has been British government in America, from the very beginning ; although the proof that the colonists themselves are excellent checks upon official extravagance is before the nation, in the ' His- tory of the Last Five Years of the Legislation of the House of Assembly of Lower Canada,' as compared with the fifty-five years that were before that era. Will the postmaster- general of England publicly own to the world that, from year to year, in the face of the addresses and reports of the representatives of the Canadians, and the complaints of the press, he persevered in commanding his deputy Mr. Stayner to withhold all information of the revenue from the Houses of Assembly, while he pocketed his thousands a year from the industry of the people, and accounted to nobody ? — I think not. I rather imagine it will turn out, as in the case of the attorney and solicitor- ■v :l* TUG COLONIAL OFFICE. 453 i I do not , and Mr. the whole ee. Then jiazettes — idien — the I, Courant, als. Mr. lie also ostage, and nd printed public will if a really his income, ernment in xh the proof ;hecks upon I the ' His- ation of the s compared lat era. nd publicly in the face sentatives of le press, he ■. Stayner to le from the is thousands id accounted agine it will ind solicitor- general of Upper Canada, who protected for years the pockets of their partisans, by professing to have an order of s* i*esy about the revenue accounts, which Lord Goderich nobly and promptly disclaimed all knowledge of. In my letters to America last year, I began to find much fault with his Majesty's ministers for their care- lessness and inattention, and for protecting colonial abuses. I now come forward to acknowledge that I did them very great injustice. Never did any depart- ment exert itself more earnestly, faithfully, and suc- cessfully, for the removal of colonial abuses, than that of the colonies under Lords Goderich and Howick, The latter was unwearied in his attention to North American affairs, and anxiously and successfully inte- rested himself on behalf of the Canadians, with re ird to the post-office question. I understand that the result of his and Mr. Stanley's inquiries will be the immediate removal of all cause of complaint, so far as they have the power without a new act of parliament. It has been said, that as the colonists have no repre- sentatives in parliament, every member of the legisla- ture is, in a manner, bound to assist them when they complain. In several cases I have seen, that when the Canadians wished to transmit addresses or peti- tions to the care of Mr. Hume, a heavy postage was chargeable. If you wisli to know their complaints, take that charge off as speedily as possible — let their grievances get a ready vent — do not seek to bottle them up — it is bad policy. I have ijpoken with some severity of Mr. Slayner's conduct, but certainly not with a view of injuring him. U n lil .1 a. I 454 RRFORM IN THE POST-OFFICE. r ■ 1 Let him keep all he has already got ; let him keep his oOIce too ; let him be paid in i'uture a handsome salary, for he is a competent person to perform the duties of his station; but let the people of the country know what he does, and have some check upon his proceedings — away with the mercenary sys- tem of fees, perquisites, per centages, secrcsy, and jobbing — have done with it for ever, as well in his case as in every other. On behalf of the petitioners from Canada, I was permitted to present a report of my views on the post- office, to the department for the colonies. I would only wish to make one alteration, to say that I hope the wishes of the two colonial assemblies, as expressed in their unanimous addresses to the King, of this year, concerning newspaper postage, may be complied with, and that Mr. Stayner will cease his opposition to their views. As for the returns moved for by Mr. Hume, they might have been on the table of the House six months ago. Like the answer to the Canadian ad- dresses, they will surely arrive some time ; either this year, or the year following. A great deal of needless mystery has been intro- duced into the colonial post-office revenue accounts collected here ; it surely cannot be a matter of diffi- culty for Sir F. Freeling to keep the receipts for Ca- nada and the West Indies distinct from the others. So limited are the post-office accommodations of the colonies, that about 10,000/. a year are transmitted to England, after maintaining the provincial offices. There are, besides, very large sums obtained here, both of colonial, ship, and inland revenue, from colonial DEPARTMENT IN CANADA. 455 m keep andsome ibrm the of the le check [lary sys- rcsy, and II in his la, I was the post- 1 would at I hope expressed • this year, plied with, ion to their 'r. Hume, louse six ladian ad- either this een intro- accounts er of diffi- )ts for Ca- the others, [ons of the nsmitled to ial oflBces. here, both m colonial correspondence. In the United States, they give ample post accommodaliotis, and think the revenue suppose England issistance that war, utry, to lice of the lat can a e to fear ntimcnts .n British ter quiet 111 a body [ice, says, ;)mote, in both of ll the law restric- tions of the system which that law contained, what it was avowedly intended by the legislature to be, namely, a law to give perfect freedom of trade to the colonies, and thus get rid, in toto, of the colonial monopoly.'' This is also my opinion. With Mr. Huskisson I would say that " companies of all kinds are now-a-days out of fashion.'* But would it not be expedient for the states- men of England to obtain the sentiments of an united representation of the colonists themselves on a point of such vital importance ? Would not a great deal be gained by the publicity of the debates of a conference held to consider such matters as this in the St. Ste- phen's of Quebec ? It is admitted on all hands, that Canada can only be preserved in friendship, amity, and intimate con- nexion with England, for any length of time, with the consent of its inhabitants. Why then hesitate to ascer- tain their collective wishes? Are the proceedings of the agents of the English crown eminently calculated to conciliate the colonists ? Are Mr. Alexander Baring's boasted advantages in a West India monopoly possessed by the dwellers on the banks of the St. Law- rence the surest supports of far-extended empire ? If (as Lord Althorp tells us) "the English House of Commons should be under the influence, not of the aristocracy, the government, or the crown, but of the great body of the respectable and intelligent people of the country,"* is it just, is it politic, is it expedient to prevent " the great body of the respectable and intelli- * Vide " Mirror of Parliament," page 574, Debates, House of Com- mons, March 1, 1831. I 'I I f it i H \ 464 England's thue policv. I t r gent people" of British America from stating their views through a similar constitutional channel ? That man must be a driveller and a fool who can for a moment imagine that I am influenced in these remarks by a desire to see the representatives of the northern colonies legislating in the capitol at Wasliington, in the midst of freedom overshadowed by negro slavery, even within the ten miles square. The great republic is too extensive already to suit my ideas of liberty ; and although I have expressed my admiration of its insti- tutions in many essential respects, (for I care not to conceal my opinions on any subject connected with governments,) yet it would be to me a source of satis- faction if I could perceive a still clearer prospect of Canadian independence of that republic than is now before me. Therefore it is I agitate this question now. I have quoted many authorities as indicative of con- flicting opinions with regard to the future destiny of Canada, and will own that I myself have held different views on the subject from what I do now. When the Duke of Wellington and Sir George Murray were in office, it appeared to me that their policy was quietly delivering British America into the hands of the adjoin- ing nation ; but when they were driven from power, I began to see a more cheering and enlivening prospect in the distance. The Whig ministers wish to be guided by public opinion, and hence appear to desire that public opinion should have every possible opportunity of being enlightened. An union of the Canadas is talked of, but the thing is impracticable, and desired by neither province. Hereafter a new state may be formed on their western 1%. l! ENGLAND S TRUE POLICY. 465 ng tlioir ? can for a remarks northern )n, in the ery, even jlic is too rty; and its insti- ire not to cted with ! of satis- rospect of in is now stion now. ve of con- Icstiny of I different Vhen the y were in IS quietly le adjoin- power, I rospect in 36 guided sire that portunity the thing province, ir western boundary, with municipal powers to regidate its do- mestic concerns. The great object now required is a conference of all the colonies, not a consolidation of the two largest of them into one state. Are you to regulate the currency, patents, the post- office, boundaries, immigration, naturalization, bank- ruptcy, defences, public lands, the Rideau Canal, inland trade and canals, revenue for general purposes, the navigation of the St. Lawrence, &c., by orders issued from this side the sea, without even an accredited agent from Upper or Lower Canada ? Will that be a means of pronioting '* the common welfare ?" Do you expect to depend upon information derived from those states- men who usually act as agents to tliis government abroad? or upon the little juntos of executive and legislative councillors whom you have placed above the representative houses to thwart and coerce them ? or upon the military officers who serve on foreign stations? Experience shows that such dependence would be vain and futile. Again, — are there those who (Hke Mr. Macaulay, foreseeing the probable difficulties of two independent legislatures acting under one executive head) would give the northern colonies thirty representatives in the House of Commons, to sit beside the hundred Irish members, and then expect from such an union happy results? They would be mistaken. I came to this country favourable to a proposition of this kind, but a closer examination of the working of the House of Commons satisfied me that it would not answer any practical purpose. Who, that is happy and comfortable, in the midst of X 5 i I 1 ' > \l m ■ 466 ENGLAND S TRUE POLICT. Si >:> m 1 i ■; his family, friends, and connexions, on the other side of the Atlantic, would sacrifice the society in which he had been accustomed to live, for the sake of a seat in a legislative body which turns day into night and night into day ; which begins in earnest its nocturnal legisla- tion at an hour when the labourers and mechanics of America retire from the toils of the day ; and has its sittings 4000 miles distant from the constituency whose wishes and interest it would be his duty to study ? The project would not answer, even if it were not a fact that the House of Commons has already more mem- bers than are suitable for a representative house, and more business on hand than all those members can do as it ousfht to be done. I must return then to the principle, that an union of measures between England and British America can only be based upon the v/ill of the people of both countries fairly expressed ; and that, to be permanent, it must be founded on nmtual goodwill, and regulated by justice and forbearance. A colonial secretary, wearied out with details of minor measures, may desire to put oft* the consideration of such a question " to a more convenient season." Let me remind him that it may be put off a day too long. Many persons with whom I have conversed in England talk rather slight- ingly of our colonies in North America, but it is be- cause they are unable to appreciate the advantages they possess above other highly-favoured lands. The amiable and pacific Mr. Stuart resided three years in the United States, but was unable, with all his powers of observation, to give a consistent opinion with regard to the policy of that government towards •f -u ler side hich he L seat in id night legisla- lanics of I has its ry whose I study ? ot a fact 'e mem- Lise, and s can do union of ?rica can of both rmanent, egulated ecretary, ay desire m "to a na that it 5ons with er slight- it is be- ages they led three th all his opinion towards ENGLAND S TRUE POLICY. 4G7 Canada. In one part of his work he says •* he is thoroughly convinced that there is no people with whom the American government and nation desire so much to be at peace, and on friendly terms, as the British ; and that the American government desires no extension of territory from the British, either iu Canada or the West Indies." This opinion is rather at variance with the details of the history of the Maine boundary question, and still more so with Mr. Stuart himself, for he elsewhere quotes the observation of Henry Clay, that " We have the Canadas as much under our command as Great Britain has the ocean. I would take the whole continent from them, and ask them no favours. God has given us the power and the means." And then adds — •• For such a change we ought some day or other to be prepared, and to have our minds made up." See also his argument, chap. 9 of vol. i. The truth is, if the farmers of the United States see their brethren in Canada happy in the enjoy- ment of free institutions, all attempts of the place- hunters and manufacturing monopolists will not be able to persuade Congress to interfere. War may be the game of the statesman, but it is the destruction of the peaceful agriculturist. Why should the farmer ou the one side of the Niagara leave the plough to go to war with the farmer on the other side ? What is there that is seemly in a contest producing animosity and strife, death and destruction, ruined villages, weeping widows, and fatherless orphans ? "!^W* 4GB AULD JAMES LAIDLAW. Il- James Laidlaw, of Ksqtiesinor, cousin and corre- spondent of James Hogg, the Ettrick J*hcj)lierd^ died on the I3th of January, 1829. The readers of Blackwood's Magazine will probably remember him as a contributor to that amusing miscellany. Hu carried the shepherd's crook on the Caledonian moun- tains for many years, until the time when he emi- grated with his family to Canada. In Esquesing he sustained auld Scottish hospitality; to the weary tra- veller his door was ever open, and his plentiful board and cheerful fireside ever bade the stranger welcome. James was a man of bright intellect, and kept up a correspondence with me from year to year, through The Colonial Advocate. One of his letters, descriptive of America as he found it, I subjoin, preserving his mode of spelling : " Esquislng J any 8 1827 " very Dear Sir, — i have taken upon me to write you a few Lines to let you kno that the Scotts Bodys that Lives heare is all doing Tolarabley well for the things of tl\is world but I am afraid that few of them thinks a bout what will Come of their Soul when IXalh there days doth End for they have found n thinn tl;py Call Whiskey and a great many of them da u bales and drinks at it till they make themselves worce than an ox or an ass for they Differ among them Selvs and men that meets good freinds before they pairt is Like to cut one ano- t'jorr hvoX% Burns Speaks of the Barley Bree Sement- ing the qurfill but the ray Bree hear is almost sure to / l;> Al;l JAMES I.Aini.AW. 4C9 1 corrc- opherd, idors of Der him f. He I moun- he emi- csing he ary ira- ul board velcome. 'pt up a through scriptive vinff his vrite you )dys that le things n thinks alh there ^ Call id drinks or an ass lat meets one ano- Sement- it sure to mak a Qiirall for since tlie Budys turnd Lairds Every one is for being Master and they never consider that their Neighbour is as far \ip in the world as them- selves, but AMerica is a good Contry for a poor man if he is able to work but is a Contry that is full of Rougs that is what I like it worst for for there is very few but will Cheat you if they can if I had known it to be what it is it Should never have seen me but times being bad in Scotland after the War and old Sheperds Like me being not Much thought of when we get old I thought of coming to America and there was an Advertisement in one of the Edinburgh News Papers in the year 18 IG that ony Body that wished to go to Canada Government wold take them out free of Ex- pence and they were to Write to a Mr Cami)ble in Edinburgh so I Wrote Mr. Campble telling him what famiely I had that I had five sons and told him there age and I wanted to know houw much land each of us ould get, so he wrote me that I was a very fit hand to go to America having so many sons and that I ould get Two hundred accrs for my self and Like ways for Every one of my sous that was come of age but I could not get away as stock was so low and it could not be turnd into money but times was better in Two years so I sold all tUat I had and came away 1818 and I had to come out on my own Expcnce for by this time there was no word of Bringing ony to Canada So I came toyork and went through all there otlices acortJing to acte of parle- naent J sopose and aye the other Dolor to pay but they ould gtve us oidy one Hundred acers Each, — and that was ti > 1)0 drawn by Ballat if it was good I^and we wei\ the bett«^r of it and if Bad we bid Haud with it 470 AULD JAMES LAIDLAW. M.. i '. if there Map said it was capable of cultivation I belive the Cribblers in york ould tak the last Shilling that a poor man has before they ould do anything for him in the way of getting land for in one cf their offices they were crying it is five and Sixpence five and Sixpence and only Marking Two or three words, but I will pas them for they are an avericeous Set. I am Realy feard that the Deil get the must part of them if they do not bethink them selves in time, I sopose that they never read the tenth commandment or they ould not covet there niboures money — the folke hear is for geting a Liberery and we have got Mr Leslees Catloge of Books for 1825 the Nixt Catloge he prints he would do well to Let people kno the price of his Books, but he is got into the yankee fashin but when among us a Book that he ould Like to have and knows the price he knows whither he can purchas it or not and ould Send for it with some of his Nibours I never saw a Catloge of Books in Scotland but the price was marked at the tail of it. Now Sir be so good as not put me in your News papers or I will stand a Chance of getting the Lake to keep where they put your Types ; if you let theys fellos away without punishment ye should be whiped with a road of Birks it would be well dune to take them and dip them Twise or Thrise a day in the Lake this col'd wether it ould Cool them and let them find that Douking in the Lake is No Joke, Now Mr Mcanzie I ould not have taken this Liberty I hope that you will not take it ill I am afraid that you will not can read it as I am a very Bad Writer but I was never at th(? School a quarter of a year in my Life. Now Sir I cowld tell you Bits of Stories but I am I J ESQUESING. 471 i I belive Iff that a 3r him in Sees they Sixpence will pas m Realy n if they that they ould not 11" is for s Catloge prints he le of his but when ,nd knows it or not s I never price was IS not put I'hance of r Types ; iment ye d be well rise a day m and let )ke. Now ty I hope you will >ut I was Life, but I am afraid that you put me in your Colonial Advicate I do not Like to be put in prent I once wrot a bit of a letter to my Son Robert to Scotland and my friend Jas, Hogg the poet put it in Blackwoods Magzine and had me through all North America before I New that rnv letter was gone Home. Hogg poor man has spent must of his life in coming Lies and if I read the Bible right I think it says that all Liares is to have there pairt in the Lake that Burns with fire and Brimston But they find it a Loqarative trade for I Belive that Hogg and Walter Scott has got more money for Lie- ing than old Boston and the Erskins got for all tlie Sermons ever they Wrote, but the Greatst Blessings in this warld is set must Light by for people is fonder of any Book than the Bible altho it is the greatest Blissing that Ever the warld saw. " Now my the Blessing of God rest on you and on all Loers of his name is the sincer prayer of your Loving Contry man old " James Laidlaw." " ESquising." ESQUESING. " Encamped by Indian rivers wild, The soldier, resting on his arms, In Burns's carol sweet recalls Tiie scenes that blest him when acliild, And glows and gladdens at the charms Of Scotia's woods and waterralls." E SQUESiNO (an Indian name) is one of *ho most spirited and thriving townships north of Dundas Street, and is ii 472 KSQVESING. m- ? I i 1 d.l i' ! I (' '.i! i I. * 4 ' 11 well settled, containing already upwards of 1600 in- habitants. The seventli line and town-line between this town and Chinguacousy are the best travelled, and the latter is usually taken to go into Erin. Toronto is famed for its oxen; ^^larkham for its horses; and in Esquesing (which, with the Trafalgar- road leading to it, is rather scarce of horses) there are, perhaps, 250 pairs of oxen. Tlie Scotch and Baptist Blocks of Esquesing are composed of choice land : the former contains about 350 souls, the latter under 200. Some very useful road improvements have been lately made with the public money ; but there are only two schools, although, perhaps, 400 persons are of an age between six and sixteen. There has been a goodly accession of settlers during the present season ; and of the pre- sent inhabitants the origin is, first in numbers, Scotch; second, Canadians ; third, Irish ; fourth, English ; fifth, Americans. Of the latter there are very few, I examined the assessment-roll at Mr. Thompson's hotel (and a very good hotel [ found it), and found Edward Leonard, a Canadian, highest ; he being 507Z. : the next was Benoj ah Williams, an American, 350/.; then Charles Kennedy, Canadian, 292/. ; Thomas Stephens, Esq. Irish, 233/. The owners of the greatest number of acres of cultivated land, are : — 1. Irish: Wilham Kent, 85 acres; Thomas Ste- phens, 80 ; William Early, 60; Arthur Graham, 80 ; William Cootes, 50; George Crawford, 60. — 2. Ca- nadian : Cliristian Barns, 85 ; INIorris Kenedy, 58 ; Charles Kenedy, 50. — 3. Scotch : Thomas Fyfe, Esq. and John Stewart, 80 acres each ; Alexander Robert- son, John Fisher^ Duncan M'Kinnon, and Alexander ESQUESING. 473 1600 in- Avecn this lied, and roronto is 5; and in leading to luips, 250 Blocks of he former D. Some tely made \o schools, e between accession f the pre- ■s, Scotch ; English ; ly few. I son's hotel d Edward >07/. : the bOl.; then Stephens, st number omas Ste- iham, 80 ; -2. Ca- ►nedy, 58 ; Fyfe, Esq. er Robert- Alexander M'Nab, 50 each ; Donald M'Kinnon, 60 ; John Barns, 65; Robert INIurray, 55, — 4. Americans: Adolphus Atkins, 80 ; John Smith, 80 ; James Bessy, 50 ; John Bessy, 60 ; Hiram Bedford, 50. — 5. English : John Atkinson, 50 ; James Thornton, 50. Squire Fyfe was the firsl settler; the second was Mr. Donald M'Kinnon. There are 5 grist-mills ; 9 saw-mills ; 8 asheries ; 4 distilleries; 2 carding and fulling machines; 1 wool- len cloth weaving establishment. It is about eleven years since I first visited this town- ship, and that was within a year of the commence- ment of the settlement. Now there are about 300 families, nearly all of them in comfortable circum- stances, consuming in abundance the merchandise and manufactures of old England, and furnishing employ- ment to her shipping. And, if Upper Canada had had fair play, 500,000 additional human beings would now have called her fertile valleys their happy home ; en- riching Britain with their commerce, employing tens of thousands of her mechanics, and sending hundreds of thousands of barrels of flour and pork to Montreal for her use and the use of her West India colonies. — Even this advantage has been sacrificed to encourage the growth of produce on the Ohio, and fatten a thank- less, heartless race of idle good-for-nothing priests, placemen, pensioners, attorneys, loyal paupers, &c. &c. The above was written when I visited the township in September, 1831 . I have often gone to spend a few days in the Scotch settlement. The language and the people being familiar to my early recollections, it was like going home. Esquesing is an oblong body of « rii 474 ESQUIJSING. the most fertile land in America, twelve miles by nine, about twenty-five miles from York, and the same dis- tance from Dundas (Upper Canada.) In naming good books for information about the new townships, I ought not to forget Mr. Gait's excellent novel of " Lawrie Todd." I remember that I rose from the perusal of it filled with a sense of gratitude to the distinguished author for the rich mejital repast his genius had placed before me. The graphic descriptions of Western scenery, and the lively and/rti7///uZ sketches of " life in America," with which the work abounds, are certainly not among the least of its many attrac- tions. ! I I EMIGRATION TO CANADA AND NEW SOUTH WALES. 1832. " The first settlers of all the colonies were men of irreproachable cha- racters ; many of them fled from persecution ; otiiers on account of an honourable poverty; and all of them with thpir expectations limited to the prospect of a hare subsistence, in freedom and peace. All idea of wealth or pleasure was out of the question. A set of men more con- scientious in their doings, or simple in their manner, never founded any commonwealth. It is, indeed, the peculiar glory of North America, that, with a very few exceptions, its empire was originally founded in charity and peace." — Henri/ Brougham, On the motion of Mr. Wolryche Whitmore, the House of Commons addressed the King, not long ago, for copies of certain official papers relative to emigra- tion lo New South Wales and Canada, which papers have since been sent down and printed, communicating many interesting particulars : — Mr. Buchanan, agent for settlers, in a report mado by nine, same dis- t the new excellent it I rose atitude to repast his scriptions I sketches abounds, ly attrac- H WALES. oachable cha* account of an ns liiniteJ to All idea of en more con- founded any kHfierica, that, led in charity nore, the long ago, o emigra- ch papers lunicating port mado EMIGRATION TO CANADA AND NEW SOUTH WALES. 475 at Quebec, 12th December, 1832, to Lord Aylmer, states that, " In 1832, about 54,000 souls arrived and settled in the Canadas. " Of these, 10,200 remained in Lower Canada, and 13,500 settled between Kingston and York, in the Home, Newcastle, and Midland districts of Upper Canada. " 3346 persons are believed to have removed into the United States, and a greater quantity of emigrants to have arrived in Canada from England, &c. via New York. *' Among the settlers, by way of Quebec, came many respectable and wealthy families from all parts of the United Kingdom, bringing, in specie and property, from 600,000Z. to 700,000/. sterling. On the week ending the 29th September, a credit of 16,000/. was fixed at the Quebec bank by a London house, in favour of one emigrant. " The deaths of emigrants by the cholera, which they brought from Europe, were estiniaved at 2350 persons. So alarmed were the Canadians, that " the poor strangers, with money in hand, could not prevail on the inhabitants of Montreal to give them shelter." Mr. Buchanan directed about three-fourths of the entire number of emigrants during the season to Upper Canada, in which province they experienced a hearty welcome from all classes, and are prospering. These emigrants are now sending money home to assist their friends to follow them. Mr. B. had made a tour through the districts and settlements in Upper Canada, and did not meet with 476 EMIGRATION TO CANADA AND 'i. J! ; J •■ i I. one industrious settler who could not obtain employ- ment. The number of that class, arrived in 1832, was not adequate to supply the demand created by the more wealthy emigrants ; and the demand for all classes of working people had never been exceeded in the Canadas. In every part of Upper Canada settlement was fast proceeding ; and the numerous villages forming, and the great extent of buildings goir.g on in all directions, was a satisfactory testimony of the advantages that colony was beginning to enjoy. Even in Quebec, a very general difficulty had been experienced by mastcr-tiadesmen and contractors in getting hands to carry on their work at an advanced rate of wages. Among other settlers, 1700 commuted pensioners had arrived; and about 5000 emigrants had been aided by their parishes and landlords to come to Canada. But the funds of many poor settlers had been shamefully misapplied by the captains and others to whom they had intrusted them when going out to America. I see no reason to question the correctness of Mr. B.'s statements as above given ; nor do they involve a contradiction of the opinions I have published in the preceding pages. But it ap})ears that the Earl of Ripon and some of the colonial authorities in New South Wales are at issue with respect to the class of settlers most fit for that part of the world. La- bourers, according to Mr. Spode of Van Dieman's Land, would be a beneficial emigration, " provided these labourers were not the scourings of the work- houses and parishes, but were really industrious, hard- NEW SOUTH WALES — 1832. 477 employ- in 1832, Dated by id for all exceeded Canada numerous buildings testimony ; to enjoy, had been Factors in advanced pensioners had been I come to t tiers had tains and hen going ?ss of Mr. involve a led in the le Karl of in New le class of Id. La- Dicman's ' provided the work- ious, hard- working men." And Governor Arthur objects to the encouragement of free-labourers by the parish authorities, " because the parishes would probably send habitual paupers, and the worst characters they could select." This question has been much canvassed by the press and in the legislatiires of the Canadas; and I own that the reasoning of the Earl of Ripon, in one of his despatches, in reply to the Australian authorities, carries with it to my mind a refutation of the objec- tions made against pauper emigration. " It has been found," says his lordship, " that the idle and worth- less paupers have frequently been rendered so by the hopelessness of their situation, and when enabled to find constant employment at fair wages, a great change has almost invariably taken place in their conduct. * * * The worst characters are not willing to go. * * * It is the active-minded, en- terprising, and industrious labourer, who cannot endure to be reduced by the want of employment to the humiliating condition of a parish pauper, and who is on that account anxious to emigrate. He wishes to live on the fruits of his own industry, not upon the weekly pittance doled out by the overseer ; and there- fore gladly accepts the offer which is made to him of going to seek in a new country that independence and that fair field for his exertions which he cannot find at home."* All the Earl of Ripon s despatches, from the bureau of the colonies, are considered to be among the finest * Vide Viscount Godericli's Despatch to Governor Arthur, 27th Jan. 1832. a ' [i\ g 478 EMIGRATION TO CANADA AND I ir I \ 3 ' a* specimens of official correspondence ; but it is such passages as these, where his lordship proves that wealth has not hardened his heart, and where he con- vinces the reader that he can enter into the feelings of the humblest peasan , sympathize in his distresses, and seek a remedy for his griefs, that I admire the most. I sincerely regret that I should ever have doubted his lordship's friendship to the Canadians, or under- valued his unwearied zeal for the welfare of the lowliest of his coimtrymen. The Australian official correspondence is another proof of the accuracy of conclusions in favour of Ca- nadian emigration, in preference to going a journey of 17,000 miles round the world to New South Wales. In Governor Bourke's despatch of 24th September last, we are told, that "labourers in and near Sydney do not now receive above 2s. 6d. a day, without food or lodging; or in the country more than 12/. to 14Z. per annum, with board and lodging." And again — " The Colonial interest of money at Van Dieman's Land is now FIFTEEN per cent." ! ! (p. 40.) Not the least curious of these state-papers is a sort of wholesale account-current of money expended, or au- thorized so to be, by the Earl of Ripon's orders, on account of emigration from these kingdoms. Sir John Colborne sends the account to London; Mr. Peter Robinson (No. 7. of the sketch in " King, Lords, and Commons ") furnishes the cash, from sales of lands made valuable by the people's industry ; and the most violent political partisans in the colony are carefully selected by his Excellency to expend about 40,000 dollars in aid of the emigrants. Who audits the I NEW SOUTH WALES- •1832. 479 is such )ve8 that e he con- eelings of distresses, the most. »ubled his >r under- e of the s another our of Ca- journey of ith Wales, ember last, Sydney do lut food or to I4i. per iin-"The I's Land is ( is a sort of ed, or au- orders, on Sir John Mr. Peter ,ords, and es of lands id the most •e carefully ,out 40,000 audits the accounts ? who directs the expenditure ? What proof have we that this, like the rest, is not converted into a mere job, and turned, as usual, to account of Parson Strachan and the other members of the Upper Canada royal family, or their dependents ? Let it be supposed that Lord Ripon himself is the auditor. If he were, and if Upper Canada were part of his estate, what could he know of the accounts of Roswell Mount, Wil- }" n Chisholm, James Fitzgibbon, or the'r friend Ga.nble ? Just as little as he knows of the men them- selves. The real objection to give any real power to the representative houses in Upper and Lower Ca- nada, on the part of the authorities, is exactly the same which the peers of England had to the Reform Bill — it would introduce a wholesome economy and retrenchment, and interfere with the venerable prac- tice of the aristocracy of enriching and upholding their order by doing injustice to those whom they ought to have protected. Lord Ripon, in his despatches, seems to have a great anxiety for the increase of that species of revenue in the colonies which is neither under the control of the imperial nor local parlia- ments. Why not trust it to a free legislative audit ? Why not only recommend, but also ensure publicity of accounts ? Why manifest anxiety for the augmen- tation of a revenue, which, in Upper Canada, is be- yond all doubt the means of corrupting the govern- ment and the legislature of the colony, and of render- ing the representative houses unfit to express the sen- timents of the manly and honest yeomanry who return them as their watchmen ? In a late memorial of the General Assembly of Mr. Stuart's favourite democratic i 480 EMIGRATION TO CANADA AND state of Illinois, addressed to the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States, they tell Con- gress, that " it is impossible for any assembly of men, so far removed from the theatre in which their legis- lation operates, fully to understand and appreciate the situation and wants of their constituents. The land legislation of Congress is annually becoming an evil of enormous magnitude, threateninjj to absorb its atten- tion, and withdrav/ it in a great measure from its appropriate duties." In like manner I affirm, that the ever-varying land legislation of the Colonial Office, although well meant, is "an evil of enoiTTious magni- tude," preventing the colonies from inquiring into abuses and negativinor bad measures, which their local knowledge well qualifies for doing, if permitted to have one voice (out of three) in such matters. Passing to another part of tJ^e subject, I beg to state that I heartily agree with the ii^arl of Ripon in the opinion he expresses in his despatch to Sir J. Col- borne, dated 7th March last, that " no circumstance could have contributed more powerfully to accelerate the progress of Upper Canada to wealth and import- ance, than the strong direction which emigration has taken within the last few years towards this province ;" and I most earnestly invite intending emigrants to give it a trial in preference to any other country to which the attention of the nation is now directed. I cannot, ought not to doubt the sincerity and determination of the ministers of the crown to interpose no opposition to colonial reform ; and I verily believe that, if that reform, at length so happily begun, shall be soon carried into full effect. Upper Canada will be one of the r / NEW SOUTH WALES 1832. 481 [1 House tell Con- j of men, heir legis- eciate the The land an evil of its atten- B from its firm, that .vial Office, lus magni- pring into their local rmitted to irs. beg to state pon in the Sir J. Col- rcumstance accelerate nd import- gfration has province ants to give ry to which I cannot, [•mination of opposition that, if that all be soon )e one of the »> most desirable places of residence to bo found on the face of the earth for that class of persons who, like me, iirc lovers of a fine, fertile country, and plenty of free- dom. Tliis opitiiou is not at variance with the sentiments I have expressed in private to thousands of persons, (among them many of my own relatives,) since my return to the United Kingdom. But they should keep in mind, every man and mother's son of them, to shake the dust of Toryism from off their feet before they croiss the ocean ; and to enter upon their farms in tlie Canadas, "Whigs of the old school," that is to say, " radical reformers, whether in or out of office." If thev «^-onie thus, whether Englishmen, Irishmen, or Scotsmen, wlietlicr Catholic or Protestant, whether poor or rich, they will be heartily welcome ; and, if blessed with health and habits of temperance and industry, they will probubly have as little reason to regret their journey to the Canaan of the west, as had the humble author of these pages. I'liere is not room in a little book like this to enter into an argmnent on the subject, but I am prepared to prove that if all the duties charged on British and British Colonial produce were taken off at the port of (Quebec — the duties on spirituovis liquors excepted — England and Canada woidd be benefited, and revenue enough left for every purpose of good government. i. Il 482 .? / .- I I I LOWER CANADA.— MR. VIGER. " By tlieir original constitution, the Colonies were independent of the Parliament. They were not represented in that body, Tliey had no khare in the election of ti;e House of Commons. The levying uf taxes upon them by Parliament was precisely the same usurpation as the levy- ing of ship-money had been in Cliarles I.'" — Ju/m Quincy Adamt' Om- lion, J j/y At ft, 1831. •'Men, hovvever, who tan, with the minds of great statesmen, appre- ciate the present value of these colonies, will clearly anticipate andjustly estimate their future grandeur, their importance in maintaining the influence of England over the whole of the VVe>tern world, and their consequence in preserving British power in Europe." — MGreyor's British America. "There is no power in this country which can maintain a struggle even for a twelvemonth against the Commons of England, within doors and without, the first of which holds the purse, while the second fills or sUrves Hr—Tfie Timet, June 6, 1833. '* All these (meaning the Bank, East India, West India, and Tithe questions), or any of them, may be decided by a majority of factious, place-hunting lords, in a way the mo»t adverse to the votes of the Com- mons, to the wishes ot the Crown, and to the resolute wilt of the entire nation. Then let us ask, in our turn, the (piestion, shall the House of Lords be the dominant, paramount, supreme, nud bestriding power? Shall it be a mere Venetian senate ?" — Iliiil, " As against, that is to say above, the opinion of the House of Com- mons, ascertained by its votes ; and those of the country generally, as- certained through the accustomed channels of meetings, petitions, andtiie public press, the po\\ers and prerogatives of the House of Lords are abso- lutely nothing." — Jbid. " Injustice may repair its wrongs, time may efface them from the me- mory of the injured; but contempt is engraved in indelible characters, Tlie wound heals— the scar reniJiins. What Government can think itself interested in degrading a people— in provoking their hatred?" — Mr, Viger to Viscount Guderic/i, in the matter of Sluart. The province of Lower Canada has felt the yoke of the conqueror for many a long year. First, it was placed entirely under military law ; next, in 1770, it 3'' Si LOWER CANADA. — MR. VIQER. 483 received a constitution, which was jxistly execrated from the one end of North America to the other, and formed an additional reason for distrusting the British Govern- ment of that day by the colonists. In 1791, when old France was trying to rid herself of the mean, proud aristocracy by whom she had ber n sro long tyrannized o.w', and at a time when the machiaations of the despots of hiUicpe had failed in preventing a federal union of the thirteen colonies, now the United States, it was judged expedient to give the Canadas more popular institutions, and the 2nd Quebec Act was passed. In Lower Canada, however. Government studiously kept the people as ignorant as possible ; and, in order that the press might be held in check, and the spirit of freedom repressed, the Habeas Corpus Act was kept suspended almost continually from 1793 to 1812. In 1810, some members of the Assembly showed a spirit of independence, and were instantly sent to gaol. A free press had spoken out pretty freely, and it was promptly sent to the dungeons of the King's Bench, types and all. In the war which fol- lowed, the Canadians behaved nobly; but being after- wards unwilling to be burthened with a host of expen- sive and useless persons translated from England to fatten upon their industry and sneer at their igno- rance, their revenues were applied without their con- sent, and in defiance of all law, and the Governor in Chief and his advisers were justified by the Tory Government for having done so. The journals pub- lished by authority turned the people into ridicule, and applied to them every abusive epithet which court- paid wit and ill-directed ingenuity could invent or re- Y 2 If ' »'■*'■ '^ 484 LOWER CANADA. — MR. VTGEB. Ja i P ,': 'I ! ■1;; ; member. Their Receiver-General failed for 100,000/., and continues to this day a first-rate court magnate, as if no such mistake had happened. Persons obnoxious to them personally, as having been among their bit- terest revilers and enemies, continuod to engross manv offices of trust and confidence ; and to this day nine- tenths of the public functionaries are persons whom the ])opulation of the country have no confidence in what- ever. In 1828, 88,000 persons petitioned the House of Commons; an inquiry was gone into, and it ter- minated in their favour. The Government then reme- died some abuses, and Viscount Goderich, who suc- ceeded Sir George Murray, applied himself in right earnest to remove many more. A greater share of the public funds were placed at the disposal of the Assem- bly, and the Jesuits' estates mismanagement, and some other scandalous jobs, done away with. But still thp grand difficulty remained — ^judges they disliked, and executive and Ic gislative councillors in whom they had no confidence, continued to mar their harmony and oppose their wishes; and although the Govern- ment of England admitted the evil of an unpopular Legislative Council, they continued to preserve the screen as a convenience for their officers. Several un- popular persons found refuge in the Legislative Council wlien worsted in their attempts to get into the Assem- bly. The riots, disturbances, discontents, and troubles are so like those of Upper Canada, that it would be a vain repetition to enumerate them. The Council and the Assembly are now at open war ; and if the Whig doctrines of the " Times " of the 6th instant, which I have chosen to place over this article, were " a truth" 11 L00,000/., agnate, as obnoxious their bit- ross many day nine- whom the 3 in what- he House nd it ter- len reme- who suc- if in right lare of the he Assem- uent, and But still (Ushked, vhom they harmony e Govern- unpopular eserve the everal un- ive Council 10 Assem- id troubles vould be a ouncil and the Whig int, which " a truth" LOWER CANADA. — MR. VIGKR. 485 in Canada, the Council would liave to succumb. As it is, the result is not so certain ; for the home-policy ot the Home-Government may not be altogether suitable to the case of the 600,000 people of Lower Canada, who have been governed, thus far, " Irish-fashion." I have not room to enumerate the several monopolies under which Lower Canada suffers, but they are many and grievous, and have, doubtless, tried the temper of the Legislative Assemblies. One of them, the Bank of Montreal, operates very unfavourably to public liberty ; its managers are chiefly merchants, connected with houses here and in the United States, and the President a shrewd and intelligent commission-mer- chant from Vermont ; he does a very great b\isiness, and has just been made a Legislative Councillor for life. Others of the Directors are also of the Council, and magistrates of Montreal, and of the province. The whole capital stock of the incorporation was 250,000/. on the 15th of November, 1830; and at the same time the Directors had borrowed 181,043/., or nearly three-quarters of the whole capital stock ; leaving to the 600,000 people of the colony a chance of borrow- ing the other quarter ! ! Jobs like this were formerly done in New York ; but the Legislature there passed a law to restrain all such unfairness and partiality. The Montreal Joint Stock Company is upon the delu- sive system of " no real responsibility by the direc- tors or stock-holders ; " and all profits, bonuses, and dividends to be divided among these irresponsibles. Their charter is near its close ; and I think the British Government will prevent, in time to come, the passage of all such improper and dangerous Bank Acts. In i -n: 1 f ; vi ! !■■ ■f' i V: i: ^.^ 48G LOWER CANADA. MR. VIGER« ! 1831, the Assembly sent home to England the Hon, D. B. Viger, a popular and deservedly influential member of the Legislative Council, to obtain a redress of grievances. Thrice by annual votes, almost unani- mously given, the representative branch of the Legis- lature have manifested their unshaken confidence in this appointment; and the Legislative Council, and the other placemen, and Quebec and Montreal traders, have still oftener condemned it. Instead of cultivating the good-will of the Assembly, and, through them, of their constituents, it appears to me that most of the appointments to office in the colony, since Mr. Viger has been here, have been men whom the Canadians would not have trusted. Something like contempt has been shown for the opinion of the people; and the knot of merchants and placemen who insult Mr. Vi- ger through the Morning Herald have gained many of their points at the expense of his countrymen. I must call this bad policy on the part of the Colonial Office : for if ever England had a strong tower on the continent of America, it was in the affections of the Lower Canadians; a people differing in maimers, and customs, and language, and religion from the New Englanders ; a people desiroi's to keep up these distinctions, so important to the influence of this nation, but a people who also desire, and will have, a cheap domestic government. I would much rather see a colonial conference called at Quebec than witness an extra-session of Congress held in New York or Phila- delphia. His Majesty's Government may refuse or neglect the former, until they render the latter in- evitable. ^■r I': i, LOWER CANADA. MR. VIGER. 487 1 i]. the Hoik influential n a redress ost unani- the Legis- ifidence in )uncil, and eal traders, cultivating jh them, of nost of the Mr. Vigor Canadians ntempt has e; and the lit Mr. Vi- lined manv try men. I ne Colonial tower on iffections of n manners, 1 from the p up these this nation, re, a cheap ther see a witness an c or Phila- refuse or latter in- With all its faults, the Legislative Council of Lower Canada is a far less blameable body than that of Upper Canada. It has been made to pass many good laws, through the perseverance of the other house; but this year refuses the Supply Bill, because the As- sembly have assumed the control of the whole public revenue, and incorporated many useful reforms in the bill they sent up. The Assembly has also (to use the lansuage of the Council) " ventured on the darinsf step of addressing his Majesty to render the Legisla- tive Council elective;" and their Address will test Mr. Stanley's consistency of character. We will see whether he, the most powerful and eloquent declaimer of all the Wliigs against these petty juntos, the Colo- nial Councils, will promptly redeem his pledges and promises to the Two Canadas, by sweeping the Councils away. I think he will try, Mr. Blanchard (of Pictou), member of the General Assembly of Nova Scotia for the county of Halifax, not long since made the following remarks : — *' In this and other North American colonies, there is the eager prosecution of those very measures which forced into rebellion adjacent sections of the empire ; and we rejoice to see the loyal province of Nova Scotia aroused to counteract a system of misrule, which has for its basis the aggrandizement of a few ; who, first, by their oppressions create discontent, and then assail the oppressed with the shout of disatlection to Govern- ment. In these provinces, councils, as they are at piesent constituted, without affording the least advan- tage to the Crown, are a dead weight upon the prosperity of the subject ; and it cannot be otherwise. Custom-house officers, officers of excise, treasurers. b i 488 LOWER CANADA COMPANY. judge', attorney-generals, bisliops, &c. &c. are there; and they are there, not because they possess either in- telligence or capacities of legislation, but because their friends, having foisted them into lucrative offices, give them an additional lift into what they conceive to be honour." \\ \ i i !■ 1 \ .1 I , t, J'/ LOWER CANADA COMPANY. " Know then, that we consider ourselves, and do insist that we are and ought to be as free as our fellow-subjects in Great Britain ; and that no power on earth has a right to take our property from us without our consent. ♦ * * We will never submit to be liewers of wood and drawers of water for any ministry or nation in the world." — John Jay. " The mode of settlement upon seigneuries, the desire to be near their church, the plain, sociable, kind-hearted character of the Canadians, all conspire to make them ding together, as long as subsistence can be got. Not only the external customs,^but the politeness of old France is distin- guishable at once among these simple peasants."— /itr/3o>7 hi/ Mr. Richards, to Lord Goderich, on Canada Waste Lands, " The price paid by the settler for his land is not in fact lost to him, it is applied in diminishing the burthen of taxation, by defraying part of the necessary expenses of the Government ; and it will also, it is to be hoped, afford the means of opening roads, of erecting schools and churches, and of making other local improvements. Indeed, for one of these purposes more particularly, the opening of roads, I think there would be considerable advantage in demanding a higher price for land than is i:ow usually paid." — Despatch, the Earl of Ripon. I woi'LD have written at more length concerning these speculations, had I not supposed they were at an end. It appears, however, by a communication from the local government to the merchants of Quebec, that the scheme of a Lower Canada Company is about to re- ceive the sanction of ministers, and that 500,000 acres are to be immediately disposed of to the monopoly. Jf I mistake not, there was a pledge from England LOWER CANADA COMPANY. 489 are there; s either in- ?cause their officesj give iceive to be that we are and II ; and that no IS without our od and dmwers lay. lo be near their Canadians, all ice can be got. 'ranee is distin- leport by Mr. act lost to him, fraying part of ilso, it is to be g schools and eed, for one of I think there price for land rning these at an end. from the jc, that tlie 30ut to re- ),000 acres monopoly. mi England that this would no; be done ; and Mr. Stanley has before him the petitions of 20,000 persons in Upper Canada, complaining of the present Canada Company, as also the opinion of the representative branch of the legislature of Lower Canada, and of many public meetings of counties and other places, against the new scheme. This induces me to think that there must be a mistake in the matter ; for, if not, it wovdd be a proof to the inhabitants of that province, that their opinions, when weighed against the interesl^s of Messrs. Nathaniel Gould and his mercantile friends, were as nothing. This would lead to unfavourable compari- sons with the United States, who now allow no such scandalous and disgracefid jobs to exist. General Simcoe, the agent for the crown in Upper Canada, pledged himself, and stated to the legislature during its first session, that he had the royal authority for stating to them, that the seventh of the public lands reserved by his Majesty had been reserved for the public uses and the general benefit. This pro- mise was openly violated, however, for, after the farmers had made these lands very valuable by their labour, in settling on and around them, government made a job of the whole by selling them to a knot of specida- tors on Change. Then the farmers were obliged to buy lands they had improved from the agents of these persons, at high rates. The Canada Company paid in 111. p'M share, and divided 4 per cent. These 17/. shares now fetch b\l. each, in the city; and it is said that the Company have cleared in one year 34,000/., besides expenses. All this is out of the sweat and toil of the labourer ir» Upper Canada, and he knows it. y5 I i I 1 490 LOWER CANADA COMPANY. As for the application of the money paid to govern- ment, it is in many, if not in most cases, used for the most unworthy purposes, and in all cases without ♦he sanction of the people of the country from whom it is raised. S , J- UNSKILFIL PLYSICIANS. IcNorANT doctors, who have "Ne'er toiled an hour in physic's cause, Or given one tliought to Nature's laws," are far worse than none, and with these America is cursed. Some veil their incapacity in a solemn manner and polite address ; others dash boldly on, and trust to ignorance, when backed by matchless impudence, Drs. Telfer and Stuart assured me that even the Niagara frontier, in ivhkh ihere are no crown and clergy reserves, was, in the fall of 1825, very unhealthy. Many cases of dysentery proved fatal, and lake fevers and intermittents abounded : children suffered much. An unlicensed quack, whose name has escaped my memory, gave an infant child twenty-five drops of laudanum, and it fell asleep and slept for ever. Another self-taught surgeon and his assistant took a half-pay officer, from Kent, in tow for a stricture in the urethra; and had not Dr. Flanagan of the British Army, and Dr. Telfer, been sent for, they would have sacriiiced their patient's life through gross ignorance. Three poor fellows, who were working on the Welland canal, came to a doctor for a cure for fever and ague, and received bark with a strong dose of laudanum in it, to slop, as he said, the Cholera Morbus : only one of to govern- ed for the ithout ♦he vhom it is \merica ia iin manner ind trust to mpudence. t even tlie crown and unhealthy. lake fevers red much, scaped my e drops of t for ever. ant took a stricture in the British ivould have ignorance, lie Welland r and ague, ludanum in only one of UNSKILFUL PHYSICIANS. 41)1 them took his dose, and he slept soundly, and departed this life at three the following morning. The other two had doubted, and they missed the draught. Quacks come into the Western States of the Union and into the Coloni.^3 pennyless — gull the public, and actually acquire no little practical skill by experience at the expense of their clients' lives : of these not a few live in a fine stylo, and realize competent fortunes. The law, of late years, has been more strict and more strictly enforced against such pretenders to " the art divine, to heal each lurking ill ;" and, moreover, skil- ful practitioners, natives as well of America as of Ev jpe, are become far more abundant. I knew a case of a doctor who took six pounds of blood from one of his patients at one time! Dr. Tclfer (who served his apprenticeship with Dr. Graham, of Hawick) told me of a cure in which anotlier Ill^^pocrates was sent for to an old gentleman in agony with a suppression of urine, caused by paralysis of the bladder : the man of medicine prescribed saltpetre and other diuretics, which caused a plentiful secretion of urine, but his patient void-'d not one drop. When Dr. Telfer was called in, the smell from the uufortiuiate man, who had been in that painful state for four days, was exceedingly offen- sive. The lighter parts of the urine oozed through the pores of his skin, and the bladder was swoln to its greatest possible extent. Dr. Telfer immediately made use of the catheter, and the full contents of the bladder, of excessive fuetid urine, were voided. In- stant case was the co> sequence, and the paralysis was afterwards removed. Poor settlers who go forty or fifty miles back in the woods with their families, have ruu I .' li \( II : i 1 ! ■*-■ 492 UNSKILFUL PHYSICIANS. the risk of ill health, the absence of competent physi- cians, distance from markets, bad (or impassable) roads for half the year, and undergo many other priva- tions. All this they might surmount ; but the cruel and unfeeling conduct of the local government, in de- livering th?m up to heavy fees, Canada Company monopolies, costly law, (which soon strips a man of his farm,) and bad rule in every possible shape, is a cho- lera morbus ending in many cases only with their lives. The cholera of infants carries off great numbers of children in the cities during the summer months, but comparatively few die in the country. The young of the human species, as well as of the brute creation, re- quire pure air. The Zoological Gardens in the Regent's Park, Lon- don, are very judiciously placed in a high situation, at a distance from the positive insahibrity of the "Chaos of eternal smoke An J volatile corruption from the dead, The dying, sickening, and the living world." J s 1 f tl ! f GUARDIANS OF THE PUBLIC PURSE. The Upper Canada Finance Committee of 1833, in the House of Assembly, were — 1. The Postmaster of Nelson, Chairman! — 2. The Solicitor General! — 3. The Collector of Customs at Port Dalhousie, and Postmaster and Toll-collector at St. Catherine's I — 4. The Postmaster of Newmarket ! — 5. The Attor- ney General! — With (6 and 7.) Messrs. Morris and Samson. This is colony government. 493 ent physi- Tipassable) )thcrpriva- t the cruel lent, in de- Company man of hifi ?, is a clio- iheir lives, lumbers of lonths, but e young of •eation, re- !*ark, Lon- ituation, at le 3E. f 1833, in itmaster of jreneral ! — ousie, and lerine's I — rhe Attor- lorris and MONOPOLIES IN UPPER CANADA. '' Culoniai and provincial countries are misgoverned, so as to become proverbial for arbitrary rule, caprice, and mismanagement. Sometimes tlie yoii^ LEGISLATIVE COUNCILS, A SOLEMN MOCKERY ! " I really do believe (hat where society is constituted as in Canadj, any attempt on the part of the government to appoint the f.egi.shitive ('ouncil is the merest delusion. I have ever been of opinion, (hat the only possible way by which you can give to that body the weight and respectability which they ouglit to possess, is by introducing the princi|)le of election." 7l/r. Labouc/iere, House of Cominons, Ftb, 18, 1832' Mirror of Parliament. " Why, every step of these Tory tyrants is a direct step towards reve- lation. Let them move onwards: we cannot prevent them. — nothing (.an prevent them ; they are galloping full tilt at the precipice, and the abyss yawns for them below." Dines, June 14_ 1833. Observa- tions on the manoeuvres of the Tory Chiefs in the House of I'eers. As a proof of the sycophancy of the legislative coun- cils of the Canadas, I will here relate what took place on the passage of an obnoxious bill desired by Sir Peregrine Maitland's government in Uj)per Canada some years ago. The legislative council were almost inianimous against making the temporary act prema- turely permanent ; and the Honourable James Jiaby, the Honourable John A. Dunn, and Chief-justice Powell, opposed the passing of the bill. — For a whole week they argued and spoke against the bill; and at length arrived the ever-memorable day for its final passing. I'he legislative council met, every member adhering to his opitiion ; and it was certain the measure would be negatived. But the enemies of the constitution prevailed upon the pious Sir Peregrine Maitland to believe that he would be doinsr God an acceptable service if he would oblige those members dependent upon the government for their yearly sub- sistence, to change their conduct and vote in favour of the very measure against which thf y had been speak- LEGISLATIVE COUNCILS. 495 C'KKRY ! IS in Canada, le I.egiiiliitive nion, that the le weight and the principle ;6. 18, 1S32. towards revc- hem. — nothing pice, and thL* V3. Obseria- ' I'efrs. itive cotm- took place •ed by Sir er Camulii ere almost ict prenui- nies 13abv, 'hid'-justice ^or a whole ill ; and at 31' its final ly member lertain the iiies of the Peregrine \g God an 3 members yearly sub- 1 favour oC leen speak- ing, arguing, and voting for a week before. Accoriling to the evidence of the Honourable William Dickson, the business of the legislative council was suspended ior hours, while his Excellency and the executive council consulted about the expediency of intimidating certain members into a tame submission to the opinion of others at the sacrifice of their own. While the Honour- able James Baby was sitting in the council-chamber by the side of the Honourable William Dickson, with all the imaginury importance of an independent law- giver, a message was delivered to the former gentleman stating that Secretary Hillier wished to see him. He obeyed — he returned — not with his former countenance beaming with pleasure, and smiling over the honest discharge of his duties, but with a face marked by chagrin. He was evidently much confused and agi- tated. His sympathizing friend next to him inquired what was the matter : the humbled peer replied — " 1 must vote for the bill ! " And when the same inquiry was made of the late Chief-justice Powell, he answered — " I must vote for it also; I have received a new light upon the subject within the last ten minutes." — The Honourable John H. Dunn, though in good health, tvas sick and could not attend the council ; and the Honourable John M'Gill walked through the rain as far as to the Parliament House, to inform a friend that he too was sick and could not attend the House that day. When the measure was carried and the House adjourned, the Honourable Mr. Dickson said to the Honourable James Babv, " This is unaccountable con- duct ;" in answer to which the unhappy man put his hand upon his heart, and said, " My Children ! my Children ! " expressing his regret at the necessity which i'i I? 1 { I Ml Ml 49r» LEGISLATIVI-: COUNCILS. # I'fi 1 - » ■■J"'/ drove him to the abamlonmont ol' the course lie hud pursued. In answer to a question whetlier the same influence was exerted on other occlusions, tlie Honour- able Mr. Dickson says — •* I firndy believe it. 1 know that the Honourable John H. Dunn as well as myself and the Honourable Thomas Clark entered our protest on the journals against the bill entitled an act to make permanent and extend the provisions now iu Ibrce for the establishment and regulation of common schools throughout this province, and for granting to his Ma- jesty a further sum of money to promote and encourage education within the same; but his (Mr. Dunn's) name has since been erased, and the erasiu-e appears on the journals, and I have also reason to believe that the late Chief-justice Powell was unduly injiuenced on a similar occasion." Such is the testimony of the Honourable Mr. Dick- son, corroborated by the Honoiu*able Thomas Clark, gentlemen whose veracity cannot be disputed. I have already named nine placemen and pensioners in the council; to whom may be added. Bishop Mac- donell, pensioner, 400/. ; Sir W. Campbell, pensioner, 1200/. ; G. H. Markland, Inspector General and Executive Councillor, 600/. ; Joseph Wells, Executive Councillor, Registrar of King's College, and Treasurer of the Board of Education ; Duncan Cameron, Secre- tary of State and Registrar General, 1000/.; John H. Dunn, Receiver General, 1000/. ; Neil M'Lean, Gau- ger. Excise Collector, Surrogate, Inspector, and Trea- surer, E. D. ; A. M'Donell, Ganger, Inspector and Collector of Excise, and pensioner, H. D. ; Thomas Talbot, pensioner, 400/. ; Bishop Stuart, 3150/. ; Zac- cheus Bumham, Treasurer, N. D„ 200/.; A. Baldwin LEGISLATIVE COUNCILS. 407 rse he hud '!• the 8ame 10 Honour- it. 1 know ?U as myself I our protest let to make iu Ibree lor lion schools to his Ma- il encourage r. Dunn's) ure appears believe that tjiuenced on J Mr. Dick- >mas Clarke ?d. d pensioners ishop Mac- 1, pensioner, jeneral and 1, Executive id Treasurer sron, Secre- !. J John H. Lean, Gau- , and Trea- spector and ). ; Thomas WbOl. ; Zac- A. Baldwin and P. Adamson, half- pay ; and some other persons of their way of thinking, selected of late years to keep up appearances. The lame, the deaf, the bed ridden, and the superannuated, form a part of the actors in this legislative farce; but the people have a mind to change the scene. The legislative council of Lower Canada is the counterpart of ours. THE MORNING HERALD. The Times was angry with the Paris journalists a few weeks ago for giving a bombastic, high-coloured de- scription of the Cold Bath Fields meeting, and exalt- ing Messrs. Lee and Mee to a place in the first class of the agitating politicians in this metropolis. It is of no use to find fault A.itli such descriptions, for they will continually occur where foreign newspaper writers speak of what thf know nothing about. Of this T/m Morning Herald is a proof, as I shall show. Tliis print, during the twelve months in which I have been residing here, has given an extensive circulation to an inconceivable quantity of slander, misrepresentation, and abuse of the people of Canada, chiefly in para- graphs, or pretended foreign letters, or extracts from letters, placed under the City head. A son of the late Judge Bedard of Lower Canada, (a member of the legislature, and the brother of the present mayor of Quebec,) seeing one of these scandalous productions when in London, on his return from a tour in Switzer- land, sent them his name and a brief and very modest 1 i: f 498 THE MORNING HERALD. .1. sii ; I M f- ■/%' ' i letter in explanation, but they would not insert a syllable of it. Nay, more, his letter was publicly used and referred to next day, in that newspaper, to the in- jury of the Canadians. I wrote a short explanation some time last winter, but, upon pretence of leaving no room for further discussion, it was suppressed, and then the misstatements complained of were steadily repeated. Not even as an advertisement would they allow their misrepresentations to be corrected and the truth told about Canada ! I state these facts, to warn the few whom these pages may reach how little the statements of one of the highest class of English joiu*nal- ists is to be depended on in cases where the interest of some party with whom they may be connected in making the worse the better cause is concerned. On those matters to which the attention of this nation has been widely awakened, the " Morning Herald" is often one of the most candid, sensible, and temperate of journals. But when the abuse of a province or its agent, of whom the public think but little, will answer a purpose with Downing Street, the " Herald" will stoop to conduct which I think very discreditable, and which the humblest journalists in Canada would be ashamed of. It will lend its columns to attack and in- jure individuals and communities, and afterwards shut out all opportunity for reply or explanation. Surely this must be the work of a miserable i.nderling, and not of the editor ! I have observed that the " Times " pursues a very different course. I 499 ot insert a jblicly used r, to the ill- explanation f leaving no ressed, and ;re steadily would they ted and the cts, to warn w little the ish joiuMial- s interest of nnected in erned. On > nation has lid" is often ?mperate of vince or its will answer erald" will litable, and a would be tack and in- r wards shut an. Surely Jerling, and e" Times" ANECDOTES OF LAKE ONTARIO. One day, in the summer of 1831, the fine steam-shiji Great Britain anchored a mile out from the harbour of Port Hope, in Lake Ontario, and I had the pleasure of witnessing the process of landing a span of horses by a method not much in use in England. These fine animals were severally backed over the vessel's side and sent head-over-heels into the water. On coming up they made for the middle of the lake instead of striving for the shore. They swam with considerable speed, and the steamer's boat, which was instantly lowered, made after them. The seamen contrived to turn their heads when out two or three miles from land, and the moment they saw the shore they made for it. At length we had the satisfaction of seeing them get to land, one of them, however, much exhausted. I did not witness the accident detailed in the follow- ing extract of a letter from Niagara, of date the 16th Sept. of that year, but was assured of the accuracy of the statement by a friend who was on board the Great Britain at the time : — " An incident of unusiio,! interest befell a little girl last evening, between the landing wharf of the steam- boat Great Britain and the Youngstown ferry. She was of the number of poor Scotch emigrants who had just disembarked from the boat and huddled their utensils on the wharf. By some accident she was pre- cipitated into the depths of the river and sank, ap- parently to rise no more. Never was more confusion, and never such inconsiderate remissness, in adopting '■ 1 t 500 VOTK OF THANKS TO THK EARL OF RIPON. Ul means of recovery. Tlie men stood motionless on tlio fatal spot, as though expecting to attract the child by the intensity of their gaze. Fortunately, at this mo- ment a strange gentleman appeared, and, moved by the heart-rending shrieks of the mother, slipped oti' his coat, watch, and shoes, and plunged to the bottom in pursuit. lie soon re-appeared, bringing up the little Highlander, swam with her to the shore, and ran witii her to an adjoining out -house, where the means of resuscitation were immediately and successfully adopted. In less than two hours the child had en- tirely recovered, and was delivered over to the mother. The deliverer is an entire stranjjer. All that the cmi- grants knew of him was, that he embarked on board the Great Britain at Oswego, bound for the westward ; that he spoke to them very kindly while on board, and gave some crackers to the children." VOTE OF THANKS TO THE EARL OF RIWON. On the 9th of February last, Mr. Perry moved a reso- lution for an address to his Majesty, expressing the gratitude of the House of Assembly of Upper Canada for the vctluable concession made to the public will by the Earl of Ilipon and the ministers of the crown. Mr. Hagerman the Solicitor-general, and Mr. Boulton the Attorney-general, with the other persons in the House holding public offices, violently opposed and defeated the motion. They insulted the government by refusing the Colonial Secretary's despatch a place ON. VOTE OF THANKS TO THE EARL OF RIPON. 501 ess on the ,e child by t this mo- nioved by ped oti' his bottom in p the little , and ran the means luecessfully Id had en- he mother, at the emi- 1 on board westward ; on board. )ved a reso- ressing the per Canada public will the crown. /Ir. Boulton 5ons in the pposed and cjovernment eh a place on their journals, and the legislative council went still farther — they sneered at the despatch and its author, and sent it back from whence it came. Mr. Perry's resolution is well worth the perusal ; it was as follows : — " That an humble address be presented to his Majesty, thanking him for the prompt attention that his Majesty has been most graciously pleased to pay to the representations and petitions, not only of his faithful Commons, but also of his Majesty's faithful and loyal people in this pro. vince, and to express to his Majesty our sincere gratitude for the many valuable measures that his Majesty has been most graciously pleased to suggest and recommend to the government of this province, which are eminently cclculated, if acted upon, to render his Majesty's loyal subjects n this provin're more happy and contented, and which .^re contained in le despatch of Lord Goderich, his Majesty's Secretary of State for the Colonies, dated Downing-street, Sth Nov., 1832, and transmitted by his Uxcellency Sir John Colburne to the House of Assembly, on the 12th day of January, 1833, viz,, the passing of a bill for the amendment of the Election Laws; the aiter.uion of the Charter of King's College in such a manner as shall agree witii tlie wishes of the people; the placing the Town Members of the Assembly on the same footing, in respect to wages, as the County Menibers; the allowing all the members of religious deno- minations, who cannot conscientiously take an oath, the privilege of the Elective Franchise ; the interdiction of the disposal of Crown Lands to favourites, and rendering them the subject of public competition ; the repeal of the law which excludes British subjects from voting at elections, and being elected, until the expiration of seven years after their return from a residence in a foreign country; the non-ip.terference of all persons holding official situations in tlic province at elections; the strong recom- mendation of his Majesty for a universal diffusion of Education, especially amongst the poorest and most destitute; the desire expressed that the most ample and particular information should be given to this House of the avails and disposition of the casual and territorial revenue ; the jdis- position expressed by his Majesty, that the ministers of religion should resign their seats in the Councils, aod that no undue preference should be given to preachers of the Cliurch of England ; the reducing tiie cost at elections; the respect expressed for our constitutional rights; the pass- ing of a bill for the independence of the judges; and the passing of a bill limiting the number of persons holding office to seats in the House of A.si'mbly. fli ■1: ■I I 1 i ■''\ i i ' , 502 VOTE OF THANKS lO THE EARL OF RIPON. :i. ' W ■' ■! " That this House, emboldened by the kind and attentive reception and consideration whicli the proper representations of his Majesty's faithful people have always received from iiis Majesty, most respectfully beg leave to represent to his Majesty, that a large share of the financial resources ot the province accrues from the payment annually made by the Canada Land Company — the leases and sales of crown lands — licenses to cut timber on the said lands — leases and mill-sites, ferries and other property, seizures, fines, forfeitures, &c. known and called by the name of the Casual and Territorial Revenue ; and that ilie said revenue is raised, col- lected, appropriated, and expended by the government without the know- ledge, approbation, or sanction of the legislature of the province, and that the Land-granting department in tills province is entirely conducted with- out the control or sanction of any law for its regulation. " That many inconveniences and disadvantages are likely to arise from a refusal to allow the revenue to be under the control and management of the legislature, who have the exclusive application and direction of other public funds. Several public offices of the province are employed in tins collection and management of all these monies ; and it is diiBcuIt to de- termine what proportion each fund should contribute towards the ex- penses of these offices, while it is manifestly unjust that the whole sum should be paid out of the money which is admitted to be under the control of the Provincial Parliament. " That this House is persuaded that all public monies will be collected with greater economy, and applied more usefully and faithfully, if the col- lection and expenditure are subjected to the direction of the representa- tives of the people ; and cannot but be apprehensive that if the large and increasing revenue adverted to is allowed to be raised and expended by those who may be intrusted by his Majesty with the administration of our provincial government, in such a manner as they may deem best, without any check or responsibility to the legislature, it will give them a dangerous influence, incompatible with the genius and spirit of our free constitution, which requires, as we believe, that all monies raised from the people should be expended for their benefit, in such a manner as their representatives may direct. " That this House has the greatest confidence in his M^ijesty's paternal regard for the improvement, prosperity, and liberty of his Majesty's domi- nions, and therefore trusts that his Majesty will be pleased to listen gra- ciously to its representations, and to give such directions that the collec- tion and application of all public monies raised in this province, as well as the management of the Land-granting departm.ent, may be left to the legis- lature of this province." I i »ON. reception and jesly's faithful ully beg leave d resources ot )V the Canada licenses to cut jther property, » name of the 5 is raised, col- lout the know- 'ince, and that onducted with- ly to arise from management of ection of other mployed in tiic difficult to de- towards the ex- the whole sum nder the control vill be collected iiullyjif the col- the representa- if the large and d expended by dministration of [lay deem best, will give them a spirit of our free nies raised from manner as their Iijesty's paternal Majesty's domi- sed to listen gra- 3 that the coUcc- jvince, as well as 5 left to the legia- EXPLANATIONS. Some of these sketches were written at York in Upper Canada; others were addressed, as the gossip of the day, news, politics, or varieties, from various places, to friends at York. A few remarks have been added in London. In page 20, line 15, for 1831 read 1832. Observes (page 8). A word used in Scotland to denote the divisions of a sermon. The Sloop (page 9). The porch and seats in front or rear of a dwell- ing house. A Dollar is a coin worth only 4s. 2d. sterling, but accounted of the value of 4«. Gd. sterling in the northern colonies. Halifax Currency is the money of account in tlic colonies. Four dollars make a pound, and a dollar is accounted as five sliillings. A Cent is an American copper coin of the value of aa English half- penny. A Tory — Tories. All over North America the friends of civil and re- ligious freedom are understood to be good Whigs, while, on the other hand, the appellation of a Tory serves on both sides of the Niagara to dis- tinguish a supporter of despotic and arbitrary power. It is in this sense I have used the term, and not in a sense personally offensive to any one. Tories are often excellent neighbours and kind friends, but having been unfortunate in their political education, they " have a natural alliance with the enemies of mankind in every part of the world." The King's Representative. Although we are in the habit of bestow- ing this title upon colonial governors, it is misapplied. They are simply agents of the British government for the time being, and as such re.«pon- sible to it. A friend who has read my borrowed sketch of Mr. Attorney. General Archibald, (page 143,) assures me that he is much less of a courtier than that description would imply. With respect to those parts of this volume which are taken up in the exposure of colonial jobbing, it seemed to me fair and reasonable, that as li'.e late Attorney and Solicitor General of Upper Canada, with the aid of Doctor Strachan and the Chief-juslice, had contrived to defeat the Earl of Ripon's purpose of publishing my statements within the province, a specimen of the facts offered to the consideration of the Colonial Office might be very properly introduced into this volume, and reference made to the remainder. Messrs. Boulton and Hagerman are now in London, and may disprove the facts alleged — if they can. How is it that these two men, of a weak and feeble capacity, mean acquirements, and no ii n If n u •li! l^' 504 EXPLANATIONS. ■I ' , f>er.soiiaI influence with the people of Upper Canada, have contrived for a number of years to keep possession of the offices of Attorney and Soli- citor General, in defiance of public opinion ? — It is because character has not been essential to political success in life in that part of the world, where a dark and gloomy military despotism required suitable instruments to lio its work. The colonial rotten-borougli system has interfered with tiie usefulness of the Assembly; but wlicn the new elections are over, I imagine tluit the Morning Herald will have no further occasion to regret the dissatisfaction of the province on account of the ejection of its two Tory friends. Of tlie many animadversions made in America upon the I onduct of the late crown lawyers, last winter, in the legislature of the colony, tiie following, by Mr. John Neilson, Member for the county o* (Quebec, is the best : — " This is faction ; and faction availing itself of the < ons'itutional privileges of anotlier branch of government to fill their porkets at the expense of the people, bring the government into contempt, and produce a state of anarchy in the power instituted for the preserva- tion of order andthe etecution of the laws." I would willingly have moderated some passages in which Sir .lohn (^olborne is mentioned, but cannot do so without a disregard to truth. At tlie same time I admit thit Sir John (a gallant and brave officer'^ was necessarily placed in the midst of a class of persons who were interested in misleading him; and that when colonial governors see that the people can uphold ihem, they will probably bCgin to treat them with more con. sideration than Sir John Colborne has ever yet shown for the feelings and opinions of the people of Upper Canada. ^ Courtier. In using this term I mean to include many cleve;, intelli- gent men, in dependent situations, wiio want to thrive in a colony. Doctor Dunlop, for instance, the slirewd and i'.umorous auihor of the " Backwoodsman," recorded his opinion of the Methodists of Canada in the highest strains of unminglcd approbation, on the journals vi the legisla* lure: but tlie moment he found they were the objects of Sir John Col- boriie's hatred, he turned round and sneered at, traduced, and ridiculed them. Tills it is to be a courtier. Diycjing for Librl (page 314). I was present one day in Colonel Pmkson's, when a grand quarrel ensued between the two commissioners about Sir Peregrine and the digging up of the bottle. Colonel Clark in. sisie> that it was their duty to obey " his Excellency " in such a ;;ase ; but \.\.i colleague told him in reply, tliat before he would have acted as he (Chirk) had, he would have stood lo be shot at. A Span of Horses (page 499) means a pair of horses. ^lamrt i\l-Htrct't, i k NEW, USEFUL, AND VALUABLE BOOKS, PUBLISHED BY EFFINGHAM WILSON, 88, ROYAL EXCHANGE, LONDON, i$oo&5{eUev to tj^e IQmpetov of all l^t ^uMiw* — - --..■■ ~ A NEW HISTORY AND SURVEY OF THE CITIES OF liONDON AND WESTMINSTER* AND THE BOROUGH OF SOUTHWARK ; 1 With authentic Graphic Illustrations of their Antiquities : the Man- ners and Customs of their Inhabitants, and the Progress of the Arts from the earliest Period. By W. smith. 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It is, in short, a worli of most extended u-ifrulncss, '.'qually free fiijrn iKfi.ioal niysti- cism on the one hand, and the impontion dtut can' of quackery on the ovI.eT. We can «afely rcflomraend it i" im to hypofiior.dria;asine. Second Edition, One Vol. time, I'iice 6s. IP(2)lTK¥u i ; A TALE OF TUCUMAN. WITn DIORESSIONS, ENOLISil AND AMERICAy. By JUNIUS REDIVIVUS. Stat nominis umbra. Meaning, that I my name will tell you some day. " Passion !" cried the phantom dim ; « I loved my country, and I hated him !" " Our author is one of the right thinkers ; and wiiat he thinks well, he speaks boldly, and without pausing to consider whether he is, or is not, wounding the esta- blished prejudices of our amour propre." — Examinw. In Post 12mo., price 5s. AN INDIAN TALE, and other poems. By benjamin GOUGH. Dedicated, by special Permission, to the Right Hon. 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ENGLAND: ur of a German their Mansions, k Ilaues ; — and I.: ARTS ot ENG- \NCE. Englishmen, since it ble uf judging, really are to liave carefully ' the impressions arc fA, are his pictures, and the partakers Ds. VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. 17 THE ITALIAN IN ENGLAND. (I^bsecbatfons of an Jaxilt in ISnglanb. By COUNT PECCHIO. " He ii occasionally satirical, but he has not the asperity of Miiabeau, or the Ger- man Prince. Driven from his native land by a despotic government, the Count found in England a safe and agreeable asylum, and he has not shown himself ungrate- ful i the errors into which he has fallen are such as every Englishman will excuse in a foreigner, whose k tmiration of England and her people breaks out in almost every page of the v/<'.k. We have been delighted with the good temper of this author, and refer out leaders to the work as a most agreeable fire-side companion." — Morn- ing Chronicle. " We scarcely know how to extract, where almost every sentence contains obser- vations and remarks conceived and expressed in a manner must creditable to the mural feelings of the authi>^" — (Quarterly Review. '• His observations ate altogether the moat intelligent, discriminating, and instruc- tive that we have ever seen from the pen of a foreigner." — Ei;l*ctie Review. One Volume, Post 8vo., Price tOs. 6d. THE FRENCHMAN IN ENGLAND. Never Infore publi*hed in any Language. MIRABEAU'S LETTERS DIJRING HIS RESIDENCE IN ENGLAND. With Anecdotes, Maxims, &c., now first translated from the original Manuscripts. To which is prefixed, an Introductory Notice of the Life, Writings, Conduct, and Character of the Author. 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" After the vapid or impertinent course of observation which we have been accus- tomed to encounter in American tours, it is especially agreeable to- meet with a sen- sible and unprejudiced traveller — and such is Mr. Ferral. He gives us all the advan- tage of a cool, impartial, and astute observer." — Esaminer. In One Volume, with u Coloured Map, price 10s. 6d. IP ; 18 WORKS OF FICTION. MURAT'S EIGHT YEARS IN THE UNITED STATES. NORTH AMERICA; A MORAL AND POLITICAL SKETCH. By ACHILLE MURAT, Son 0/ the late King nf Naplee. With a Note on Negro Slavery. By Junius Redivivus. The United States have attracted very general attention of late : the conflicting opinions of recent travellers in this enteresting quar- ter of the Globe are somewhat perplexing. In the last Number of the Monihlt/ Review is given an able analysis of the several writers, which concludes in these words : — " We think the volume of M. Murat (Mtval and Political Sketch of the United States) by far the best. 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It may be studied by a very large dau of the extravagant and luxuriantly vicious, with salutary effect." — Morning Ut- raid, Junt 9th, In Three Volumes, Price 1/. lis. 6d, THE REFORMER. A Novel. " It is not often that we have met with a novel to please us more than this i the story is full of interest, and the attention is kept alive by the rapid detail, at once pro- bable and unexpected."— Gent/eman'« Magazine, In Three Volumes, Price 27s. Don Quixote complete in 3 Volumes, with Eighteen Illustrations, Price IBs. THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF DON QUIXOTE; Comprised in Three Vols., being an uniform Continuation of 3Ro£(we's{ ^belis^t'sJ Eiljvarp, WITH FIFTEEN ORIGINAL ILLUSTRATIONS BY GEORGE CRUIKSHANK. AND THREE IMAGINARY PORTRAITS BY MEADOWS. " This is the only edition of Don Quixote, in three volumes, with illustrations by .'■eorge Cruikshank. These illustrations keep up their high character ; they are ad- mirable. We have this further to add, to what we have already said in praise of this edition in a former number, that it is freed from those impi.)ltie$ which have hitherto rendered it all but a sealed book to female readers, and this too without, in any one single instance, trenching upon the humour of the story. We oan now safely recom> mend it to the most delicate lady." — Cowt Magazine. " A series of neat and portable 12mo.'s recently started by a judicious editor, and copiously illustrated with etchings from the hand of an exquisite humorist, in truth a great original master in his art — Mr. George Cruikshank." — Quarterli/ Review. Gil Bias, complete in 2 Volumes, with Twelve Illustrations, Price lis. GIL BLAS DE SANTILLANE, WITH TEN ILLUSTRATIONS BY GEORGE CRUIKSHANK, AND TWO IMAGINARY FORTBAITS BY MEADOWS. 20 TnAUE AND COMMERCE. IJ I I ij A SUITABLE PRESENT FOR YOUTH. TALES OF OTHER DAYS. ILLUSTRATIVE OF HISTORY. By J. Y. A. WITH ENORAVINOS, AFTER DESIGNS BV OBOltOa OliVZXBKAWX. "This U one of the most attractive publicationi we have lately seen; itconiiits nf a lerle* of remarkably well-wrlttcn and Interesting Tales of the olden time, with Illustrations by George Cruikshank. Of these Illustrations it is scarcely possible to speak in any other than terms of unqualified praise — they combine so much of the ludicrous and the terrible, and are so completely in Cruikshank's best style, that we feel Justified in expressing an opinion that this publication will even add to that unrivalled artist's fame. The volume Is altogether well got up — the printing is remarkably neat, and the Tales are of a pleasingly varied character." — Weekly Uhpatvh. See also lAtemry Gazette, Athenaum, La Belle Auemblie, Sunday Timet, S/c. •Jr. In a handsome Post 8vo. Volume, I'rice 9s. cloth. *a* A few Impressions of the Illustrations are taken oil' on India Paper, Price 5s. NOTRE DAME; A Tale of the " Ancien Regime," from the French of Victor Hugo. By the Trantlator of "Lafayette, Louis Phillipe, and the Revolution of 1830." In Three V^ols., with a Portrait, and biographical notice of the Author. i ! I'-v l!J' NEW CAMBIST. MANUAI. OF FOREIGN EXCHANGES, In the direct, indirect, and cross operations of Bills of Exchange and Bullion ; including an extensive Investigation of the Arbitrations of Exchange, according to the practice of the first British and Foreign Houses, with numerous Formulae and Tables of the Weights and Mea- sures of other Countries, compared with the Imperial Standards. By WILLIAM TATE. " This Manual ought to have a place in every Merch.int's Counting-house, and in every School where Youth is educated for mercantile pursuits. The author is a man of undoubted ability, and has been employed, we understand, to make the Bullion Calculations for the Royal Mint." — Mercantile Journal. In One Volume, 8vo. Price 8s. cloth. TRADE AND COMMERCE. 21 3 I O N S B V THE LONDON OOMMEROIAIi DICTIONARY AND SEA-POllT GAZETTEER, Exliibitinuj a clear and comprehensive View of the Productions, Manufactures, and Commerce of all Nations ; the various Moneys, Weights, and Measures, and the proportion of each to those of Eng- land ; a description of all Articles of Merchandize, with their Mark> of Excellency and Names in every European Language. By WILLIAM ANDERSON. A New Edition, corrected to 1826. In One large 8vo. Volume, Price 21s. boards. A FAMILIAR COMPENDIUM OF THE I!S AND STATEMENTS RELATIVE TO THE TRADE BETWEEN GREAT BRITAIN AND THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA; Containing useful information for the practical Merchant and Ship Owner on the subjects of the Commercial Intercourse between the two countries ; the Revenue Laws of the United States ; Currency, Precious Metals, Weights and Measures, Exchanges, Inspections, established Rates and Usages, &c., accompanied by copious Tables of the Exchanges Arbitrations, the corresponding net prices of the principal articles of Import and Export, and of the Statistics of the Commerce, Navigation, Produce, Manufactures, and Joint Stock Companies of the United States. By W. F. REUSS. y " We have reason to rely upon the industry and conscientious correctness of the author."— T