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Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mdthode. srrata to pelure, in A n 32X 1 2 3 t 2 3 4 5 6 - « t The after-math of A REVOLUTION BY GEORGE STERLING RYERSON, M.D. Member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontaria, Deuutij Surgemi-General af the Militia of Canada, President of the I'nited Empire Loyalists Association of Ontario, Canada. BEING THE INAUGURAL ADDRESS AS PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED EMPIRE LOYALISTS ASSOCIATION, DELIVERED NOVEMBER I2rH, 1896. TORONTO : William: briggs 29-33 Richmond Street West. 1896 THE AFTER- MATH OF A REVOLUTION. DR. RYERSON'S ADDRESS ON ACCEPTIN(i THE PRESIDENCY OF THE UNITED EMPIRE LOYALISTS ASSOCIATION OF ONTARIO, NOVEMBER PM, AV.'W. Ladies and Gentlemen,— The honor which you have done me in electincr me to this position is one of which any Canadian may be proud, for not only is it an honorable distinction to be the official head of so important an historical society as ours, but it is especially so in succession to our first president, the late Honorable John Beverley Robinson, of whose services we were able to avail ourselves for so short a time when he was called hence. He was a man in praise of whom I need say but little. His eminent public services, his amiable and manly character are familiar to everyone. He is regretted as much as he was esteemed. He was a Loyalist and a Canadian whose name will live in the history of our country beside that of his distmguished father. In forming tliis association, may it not be well for us to pause a moment to consider who and what manner of men were the Loyalists whom we to-day represent, what were the pnnciples for which they suffered and lost, and for which they risked hearth and home and all that men hold dear, what are the results of the contest in which they were engas of life, unable to obtain em- ployment or to hire help, harassed in every way that the malignant vengeance of a successful and ungenerous enemy could suggest, ostracized and forced to make a long, painful, weary and heart-breaking joiu'ney of weeks' or months' duration to what was then a great unknown wilderness to the north- ward, for Upper Canada was entirely uninhabited by white men at tliat time, while through the unbroken forests roamed the scalp-hunting Indian and countless wild animals. Is it any wonder that many died of hardship and exposure ? Is it remarkable that their descendants should treasure as their deai'est possessions their relics of those" tlays, and that they should teach their children's children to love the grand old flag for which their forefathers suffered so much, and beneath whose 10 folds thoy preferrer; liberty and suffering rather than ignoble comfort beneath the shade of a flag which was to them the emblem of rebellion and injustice ? If there is a British power to-day on this North American continent, it is because of the harshness, the cruelty, the fanaticism of the Secessionists of 1775. Had the moderation and conciliatory methods adcjpted in l(S()o been \ised in 1783 there might have been no Loyalist out-wandering, no British Canada; as it is, owing to the short- sightedness of the fathers of the American Republic and the deeply rooted love of British institutions by the Loyalists, Canada is here and will remain as an integi'al portion of the British Empire. We have abundant reason to thank God for it. If further evidence in justification of the personal character and argumentative position of the Loyalists were w^anted, nothing could be written more conclusive than Mr. Tyler s own conclusions. He says: ''First, it is an error to represent the Tories of the American Revolution as a mere party of negation and obstruction. They did not deny, they did not obstruct ; but they had positive political ideas, as well as precise measures of creative statesmanship, to offer their fellow-colonists in the place of tlieir ideas and measures to which they madeobjection^ and which they would have kept from prevailing if they could, " Secondly, it is an error to represent the Tories of the American Revolution as a party opposed to any reform in the relations of the colonists witii the Mother Country, or the exten- sion of human rights and liberties elsewhere. . . . They frankly declared that the constitutional relations of the colonies with the Motlier Country were in a crude state, were unsatis- factory, were in need of being carefulb/ revised and recon- structed. There was a substantial agreement among all Americans that thei'e was a wrong, that there was a danger, that there should be a reform. ... It was as to the method and the process that the Americans broke asunder. " Thirdly, it is an error to represent the Tories of our Revolu- tion as composed of Americans lacking in love for their native country or zeal for its liberty, or in willingness to labor or 11 fight, or even die, for wliat they conceived to be its interests. Those Americans who failed in their honest and sacrificial championship of measures which would have given us political reform and political safety, but without civil war and without an angry disruption of the English-speaking race, cannot be justly regarded as having been, either in doctrine or in purpose or in act, an unpatriotic party." Can a inore complete refutation of the slanders on the Loyalists be possible ? Having thus shortly noticed what were the immediate effects of the Revolutionary war upon the fortunes of the Loyalists, let us consider from facts adduced by the United States census and congressional and other State papers, what is to-day the effect of the doctrine of force and the resort to arms in the settlement of private and public controversies. The tenth annual report of the Connnissioner of Labor of the United States (1 894) throws much light on the relations of capital and labor in that country. It shows that the huge trusts, com- bines and monopolies are making a mockery of Republican insti- tutions. Men may be born equal in the United States, but they don't stay so. A painful feature of the strikes and lockouts is the resort to force, attended in many instances by serious loss of life and destruction of property. But did not the Revo- lution teach Americans that if your neighbor does not agree with you, you may shoot him, confiscate his property, and injure him to the utmost of your ability ? Why then should Ameri- cans complain of the latter-day application of their own theories and practices ? Now as to the strikes. From January 1st,. 1881, to June 80th, 1894, there were 14,889 strikes, involving G9,l()6 establishments, while 3,714,231 employees were thrown out of work: add to the.se 0,067 lockouts. The number of strikes has gradually risen from 2,928 in 1881, to 5,1.54 for the first six montiw of 1894, and the number of emjiloyees from 129,521 to 482,003 for the same period. The bill of loss to employees and employers is as follows : wage lo.ss of employees, $1(53,807,057; assistance to employees by labor organizations, S10,914,406; loss of employers, 882,589,780: lockouts, wage loss of employees, 820,085,510 ; assistance to employees by 12 I other labor organizations, $2,524,298; loss of employers, $12,- 235,451. So that there has been lost directly as the result of strikes and lockouts, not to mention the indirect losses, in the United States in thirteen and a half years, the enormous sum of $298,757,112, a loss which exceeds the net debt of the Dominion of Canada by $50,000,000. I do not propose to weary you with the details of these strikes, but it will contribute to the understanding of the social situation in the United States if I refer to a few facts relating to the Chicago strike of 1894. The loss to the railroads in property destroyed and incidental expenses was $685,308, in earnings $4,678,916 ; loss of wages of employees, $1,339,143; number shot and fatally wounded, 12; troops and police required to suppress riot, 14,186. I might also refer to the Homestead, Brooklyn and Buffalo riots, but time will not permit. From the facts adduced, it will be seen that the relations of capital and labor are of the most unsatisfactory character across the line, and that the right of rebellion is being asserted. Now, contrast the relations of capital and labor in Canada. In five years, to 1893, there were but 35 strikes, involving less than 5,000 persons. There have been no armed strikes and no bloodshed. The Canadian workingman is, in general, a sober, law-abiding, industrious person, who, while firmly holding to what he considers to be his just riglits, is not minded to burn, kill and destroy those who do not see as he does, but is willing to submit his grievances to a properly constituted board of arbitration and conciliation, believing rightly that his fellow-citizens and fellow-subjects will do him justice. It may possibly be that the American is not as law-abiding as the Canadian because he is not really prosperous. I find it stated in the Areyya, page 49, 1892 : " In 1890 the figures for New York were twenty-three thousand eight hundred and ninety-five evictions, while the grand total for Ireland was only a little in excess of five thousand . . . Evictions in New York City simply mean that there is in the heart of America's money-centre a poverty as appalling, as hopeless, as degrading, as exists in any civilized community on earth. 13 From September 1st, 1891, to August 31st, 1892, the evictions had increased to twenty-nine thousand seven hundred and twenty." There were one hundred and forty-eight thousand outcasts, yet within a few blocks on or near Fifth Avenue no less than two hundred millionaires reside whose aggregate wealth reaches the astounding total of $30,000,000,000. We have thus the contrast of the very rich and the wretchedly poor. But the country population is very little better otf. Extra Census Bulletin No. 3 states, " We have now on file in Washington, as the result of their labor (2,500 clerks), the abstracts of about nine million mortgages." There are a little over twelve million families in the Republic. Comment is unne- ceh,oary. " These figures are not pleasant to contemplate," says the Arena. " They are disquieting as they are suggestive, and the apprehensions of those who study them will not be lessened because they are taken from sources which are official and con- servative." (Page 207.) The census does nothing with chattel mortgages. On page 204 we read : " Let us now look at some suggestive figures published in Census Bulletins Nos. 3, 16, 20, 22. The number of mortgages on real estate in five States in force, January 1st, 1890, are given as follows : "Illinois 297,247 mortgages, aggregating $384,299,150 00 Iowa 252,539 " " 199,774,17100 Missouri 192,028 " " 214,609,772 00 Kansas 298,880 " " 243,141,826 00 Nebraska 155,377 " " 132,902,322 00 1,196,071 §1,174,732,241 00" Do you wonder that repudiation is seriously proposed and that political charlatans have millions of followers ? The Arena (New York) says : "The rich and the poor are further apart than ever. Labor to-day is poorer paid than ever before ; more discontent exists, more men in despair. If a chanjie is not soon devised trouble must come." There has recently been fought a great battle across the line which was largely a social or class fight. It ended in the defeat of the west and south. They will be heard from again, for the late 14 ! I election Is but the first round of the struggle against the monopolies and combines. "The fight of the people of the United States will some day be against the money lords, and, while tlie time has been deferred, the revolution has not been averted." Every voter for Bryan was a discontented and dissatisfied man. The Revolution taught the people that it is right to assert with arms in hand principles which cannot otherwise be maintained. If it is right for bodies of men to murder, wliy should not individuals commit murder also ? It would seem to be so, for according to the Chicago Tribune, they murdered, in the United States, 3,567 in 1889, 4,290 in 1890, o,906 in 1891, and 6,792 in 1892. In 1890, of the 4,290 murders only 102 were brought to legal execution, while 126 were lynched. In 1891 there were 195 lynchings, and in 1892, 236. There has never been a case of lynching in the Dominion of Canada. We are a law-abiding people, and leave the administration of justice to the officials charged with its execution, well knowing that justice will be done, for our judges are not elected. But the great exemplar of the Right of Rebellion was shown to the world in 1861, when certain of the Southern States believing in States' Rights determined to separate from the North because they could not agree upon a great question of public policy. It was then held by the New England and some other States that these rights did not extend so far as separation, and we were treated to the interesting sight of the descendants of the secessionists of 1775 opposing the seces- sionists of 1861. The "patriots" were the Unionists, the Secessionists were the " rebels," whereas formerly the Seces- sionists were the patriots, and the Unionists were the rebels. It mattei's so unich whose ox is gored. The Unionists were this time successful and their leaders have become deified; the Unionists of 1775 were unsuccessful, and they, their leadei's, and their families have been cast into outer darkness for all generations to come by the rebels of 1775. The .seed sown in 1775 has yielded a bloody crop. How long before the next after-crop will be mown ? 15 ist the of the is, and, )t been }d man. rt with itained. iild not so, for in the 91, and )2 were [n 1891 ,8 never Je are a istice to ng that s shown States om the tion of nd and far as of the seces- ts, the Seces- rebels. leaders jscessful, Lst into ibels of IV crop. We, safe under the British flag, removed from the coming strife, can regard with cahnness, if not with indifl'erence, the working of tlie yeast. Will the coming rebellion dissolve the Union, for or against which a million of men lost their lives \ Is not a disruption of the South and West probable ? How long will their people endure the tyranny of combines and trusts while hemmed in beyond hope of escape by an impassable tariff wall ? From the facts adduced my conclusions are : 1. That the American War of the Revolution was a war between political parties. 2. That it could have been settled without bloodshed by the adoption of Galloway's plan of Home Rule, which was in sub- stance the plan upon which the Canadian provinces were con- federated nearly a century later. 3. That the majorit}' was driven l)y an active and un; crupu- lous minority into a position from which it could not retire, and with which it did not sympathize. 4. That the American Revolution taught the doctrine of the Right of ReVjellion of the subject against the State, and of the individual against the law. 5. That the logical consequences of this pernicious doctrine have been the great rebellion of 1861, the Homestead riots, the Chicago riots, the Buffalo and Brooklyn riots, and other armed strikes -in which citizens were shot down, and individually, the carrying of arms, numberless murders and lynch ings. 6. That application of the principle of the Right of Rebellion of political parties, and of resistance to law by force of arms, will eventually disrupt this North American republic, as it has those of South America. In conclusion, let me say that it is difficult to overestimate the influence upo.i public sentiment of the Canadian people of the example of unswerving loj'alty, of steadfast devotion to jirinciple, of tenacity of purpose, of the fathers of British Canada. To them is due the fact that we have a British power on this con- tinent ; from us is required that we preserve inviolate the prin- ciples for which they suffered. We should aspire not merely to 16 record their deeds, their sufferinfjs and their loyalty, but we should hold their example ev^er before the youth of the country as a practical lesson in patriotism and eniluiviuce under trial, and thence derive from a (fjorious and honorable past, lessons for the upbuililinf,' of a great and prosperous future. It is no incon- sidei'ableherita<;e we, in common with all Canadians, have received. A fair and smiiint; land stretchini^ from ocean to ocean, fertile plain and valley alternatin<.j with ru<.j(,fed mountain rich with earth's hidden ti'easures, lakes and streams of vast extent alive with finny wealth — these and other sources of national strength havj come to us as the result of the faithfulness of our fore- fathers. But beyond and besides these physical advantages we have inherited the precious privilege of citizenship in the British Empire, a share in Britain's glorious past, a fellowship in her literature, a kinship with her i)eo[)ie, and a riglit to call the true and royal lady who sits upon her throne. Our Queen. We, the descendants of the men and women who risked and lost their all that they might live under the broad folds of the Union Jack, that they might enjoy civil and religious liberty and the blessings of British citizenship, humbly return thanks to Almighty God that He has been pleased to spare that great and good woman to her subjects to reign over them in righteousness, truth and justice for sixty years. May God save the Queen.