The Last Laird of MacNab Part 8

But any news springing from that quarter was disbelieved, for they knew that Lord Durham's special commission had reported against the Chief, and in their favor; and they also were aware that a more sweepingly radical reformer than his lordship was appointed Governor-General. The Chief still claimed the timber of the township, under the Bond Head patent. That had not as yet been given up. He gave licenses as usual to cut timber. Not only on the unlocated lots had he done so, but he had given liberty to Mr. Michael Roddy to cut timber on the lands of some of his settlers, princ.i.p.ally upon those of Mr. Robertson, Daniel McIntyre (Paisley), and John Stewart. Roddy proceeded to the work of cutting down the trees. The parties came to the writer, and at once acted on his advice. They forbade Roddy to trespa.s.s on their lands. Roddy told them he was indemnified by the Chief, and he would go on in defiance of all they could do. Mr. D. C. McNab and Mr. Daniel McIntyre went immediately to Perth, and commenced suits in the Queen's Bench against Roddy, on the part of the three, for trespa.s.s. The three writs were simultaneously served upon Roddy. He immediately hastened to the Chief. McNab laughed him out of his fears, and scornfully exclaimed "When did any of the scoundrels prevail against me?" Although ostensibly carrying matters with a high hand and a proud bearing, the Laird was inwardly uneasy. He sent for Robert Robertson, because he was pretty well-to-do, and could carry the matter into court; and settled with him by paying the whole amount of his claims and the costs. He imagined that Mr. McIntyre and Stewart could proceed no further. Little did he foresee the consequences. "We will become the a.s.sailants; we have acted too long on the defensive," exclaimed Mr. D. C. McNab, who then about nineteen years of age, threw all his youthful energies into the struggle. Both suits were carried into court, and in both verdicts were rendered for the plaintiffs. Poor Mr. Roddy was the sufferer. McNab never paid him a single farthing of the damages. Although he had paid the duties to the Chief, and he, by word only, had indemnified him, not one farthing of the duties was returned, not one penny of the costs paid. Mr. Roddy was nearly ruined. His misplaced confidence in McNab had led him on. He regarded not the wrongs of the settlers--McNab's word was his _aegis_, and it proved but a sorry protection. To the settlers this proved a great triumph. The Laird could be vanquished. The awe of his invulnerability was dispelled. The charm was broken. Onward was the word. Fresh attacks were planned. New methods of a.s.sailing their opponents were prepared and successfully executed. It was a beautiful morning early in June. The day was balmy and mild. The lovely songsters of the grove warbled forth their notes of delicious music in joyful harmony. From all parts of the township hors.e.m.e.n and pedestrians were wending their way to one particular spot. This was the residence of Mr.

Allan Stewart, in the very centre of the township, about a quarter of a mile distant from where the Town Hall now stands. It was then a romantic and sequestered spot, attractive by its lonely beauty. The stumps had nearly all decayed through age. A large barn in the midst of a level green pasture was the place of rendezvous. It was surrounded on all sides by the forest. The towering pine overtopping its less exalted fellows, in the dark sombre green of the Canadian livery of the woods, added a picturesque charm to the scene. At the foot of this plateau rolled the never-ceasing Madawaska, on its way to the ocean. The sullen roar of the surging billows of the Long Rapids was distinctly audible as they lashed the sides of its banks, and poured in continuous swells over the rocks and shoals that partially impeded its irresistible progress.

The Piper of the Township and of the people, Murdock McDonald, was there betimes, and the loud swelling notes of the martial music of "Auld Gaul" calling the people together in the _pibroch_ of the "Gathering of the Clans," were heard for miles reverberating through the woods, and echoed and re-echoed by the rocky ridges of the mountain heights surrounding the deep sunk Madawaska. All the settlers of the township were there a.s.sembled on that momentous day, with the exception of the Chief's Cabinet-Council of _Five_ (Anderson, Fisher, McCallum, Roddy and McDonnell). They believed in the Chief. They saw no grounds for the discontent of the settlers. They looked upon the people as disloyal and ungrateful. The Chief had been to the cabal all that was generous and n.o.ble. From him they had received favors in lavish abundance. To them he was a faithful friend and steadfast ally. Grants of land he had given to them with no sparing hand.

These henchmen of the Chief had no cause of complaint--no grievance to lay at the foot of the Throne; and they truly believed that the grievances of the people were exaggerated or imaginary. The old, the middle-aged and the young--those who had hitherto kept aloof from fear or from interest--joined in that day's a.s.sembly. The venerable Donald McNaughton--the oldest settler in the township--was called to the chair.

There he sat in all the glory of h.o.a.ry old age, mildly tempered by the pious feelings of pure Christianity. His thin silver locks adorned a brow of no mean intelligence. His presence was august and serene. Virtue sat enthroned in n.o.ble and august benignity. Beside him the earthly majesty of monarchs paled. His was the n.o.bility of integrity--the majesty of virtue. He had suffered and came out scathless. His deed he had lately obtained. His pa.s.sage money, with law expenses, was paid in full. His share of Miller's bond was liquidated. His three stalwart sons had made the forest subservient to the demands of law. By the prostration of the king of the woods--the mighty pine--they had achieved independence and freedom.

This was a momentous meeting--the most vitally great ever held in the Township of McNab. Two important questions had to be discussed: a fresh appeal to the Government, and the distribution of the statute labor. In March, the Chief and Mr. John Ritchie of Fitzroy had held a session as magistrates, at the inn of Mr. Duncan Anderson, Burnstown, to apportion the statute labor for the year. Due notice had been given to Mr. Peter Campbell, the Town Clerk, to attend. All the pathmasters a.s.sembled, and a large number of the settlers were there also. However, notwithstanding the remonstrances of the Town Clerk and the people, they were ordered to perform their labor on two roads--the Arnprior road, leading to Duncan Anderson's; and those on the east side of the Madawaska, on a road from the White Lake to Baker's mills, far away from their own roads. The average distance from each settler's residence to where work was to commence, in both cases was about eight miles. The meeting took this case up first and resolved to send the writer and Mr. James Morris, jr., the present Sheriff of Renfrew, to Perth to attend the Quarter Sessions, and lay their grievances before the bench of Magistrates; and Mr. Donald Mohr McNaughton was to procure a sum of money, by subscription or otherwise, to defray their expenses.

The next and most important matter was the state of the township. Mr.

Alexander McNab, one of the Laird's martyrs, had just arrived from the west. He first addressed the meeting in a fiery speech, replete with vengeance and vindictiveness, urging the people to take up arms, bring him before the meeting at once, try him, and execute him on the spot. He cited the case of Charles I. and Louis XVI as examples. Mr. John Forrest then arose, and in a mild and sensible address urged upon the people to use pacific measures, and try all const.i.tutional means to obtain redress. Mr. D. C. McNab and others followed in the same strain, and it was finally resolved to send Mr. D. C. McNab as a special delegate to Lord Sydenham at once, with a pet.i.tion signed by all the settlers; that a sum sufficient to defray expenses should be immediately subscribed and paid; and that the delegate after returning from Perth should proceed to Toronto. A sum of fifty dollars was collected on the spot, and more promised, to carry out the views of the meeting. The writer drafted the celebrated pet.i.tion for the meeting, which is worded as follows:--

To the Right Honorable, His Excellency Charles Poulett Thompson, Governor-General of British North America, etc., etc., etc.

The Humble Pet.i.tion of the Settlers in the Township of McNab,

RESPECTFULLY SHEWETH:--

That your Pet.i.tioners approach Your Excellency with feelings of loyalty to Her Majesty, our most gracious Queen, and with sentiments of the utmost respect towards Your Excellency as Her Majesty's representative.

That your Pet.i.tioners sincerely hope that the object of Your Excellency's great mission to Canada may be speedily and successfully accomplished.

That for the last fifteen years your Pet.i.tioners, as settlers under the Laird of McNab, have been persecuted, hara.s.sed with law-suits, threatened with deprivation of their lands, and subjected to threats by the McNab, of being driven from their present locations by the Government, for disobedience to the Chief.

That the said Chief has impoverished many families, and completely ruined those of Alex. McNab, Peter and John McIntyre, whom he brought out to Canada.

That there are now sixteen families still remaining in the township whom his friends sent out to Canada as settlers under him, who are willing to pay to the Chief any reasonable sum as pa.s.sage-money, that Your Excellency in Council may deem just to impose; but on the other hand your Pet.i.tioners have hitherto resisted, and will continue const.i.tutionally to resist any attempts to impose the feudal system of the Dark Ages upon Your Pet.i.tioners or their descendants.

That whatever representations the McNab has made to the Government about the expenditure of money for the improvement of the Township, Your Pet.i.tioners beg leave to a.s.sure Your Excellency that the said McNab has never expended a single shilling of his own money for such a purpose on their behoof.

That Your Pet.i.tioners beg to a.s.sure Your Excellency that the Chief has received since he first came to the Township about 30,000 from the dues of timber cut on the Township, besides what he has plundered off the lands of the settlers.

That he has received money from lumberers for pa.s.sing rafts as made in the Township of McNab, the timber of which was manufactured on the Bonnechere and in Westmeath.

That Your Pet.i.tioners have sent Mr. D. C. McNab to Your Excellency as their accredited delegate, who will fully explain to Your Excellency the condition of the Township and the state of the people, and give Your Excellency detailed information respecting the rents the Chief has exacted from them and of every matter connected with the Township of McNab.

That Your Pet.i.tioners therefore pray that Your Excellency will send a special Commissioner to investigate the truth of this pet.i.tion, and be pleased to carry out the original Order in Council, which made a FREE GRANT of the lands of the township to those settlers who had come out at their own expense, and also to grant their patents to the first settlers upon paying a reasonable amount for their pa.s.sage money, and not the exorbitant sum charged by the Laird. And by acceding to Your Pet.i.tioners' respectful requests, Your Excellency will do an act of justice as great and n.o.ble as it is imperatively necessary.

Dated 3rd June, 1840.

{ANGUS McNAB, (Signed) {DONALD McNAUGHTON, Sr.

{JOHN FORREST, And 130 others.

Township of McNab, 4th June, 1840.

T. A. Murdoch, Private Secretary.

Sir, I herewith enclose, to be presented to His Excellency the Governor-General, the pet.i.tion of the inhabitants of the Township of McNab. I have taken the liberty to forward it by mail, as the Laird of McNab is quite unscrupulous as to the means he may adopt to frustrate the end in view, and prevent a personal interview with His Excellency.

I beg leave also to request that His Excellency will appoint a time for an interview, so that I may have the honor of laying the grievances of the settlers of McNab personally before His Excellency, with such doc.u.ments and paper as may substantiate the allegations made in their pet.i.tion.

I have the honor to be, etc., DUGALD CAMPBELL McNAB.

[COPY.]

{ Government House, { Toronto, 11th Jun 1840.

SIR,--I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter enclosing the pet.i.tion of the settlers in the Township of McNab, complaining of the conduct of the McNab, and in reply beg to state that I have laid it before His Excellency, the Governor-General.

I am commanded by His Excellency to state that free access to His Excellency is permitted by any of Her Majesty's subjects at all times upon public matters; and that no private individual has the right to interfere with, or prevent the exercise of this privilege.

I am further directed to state that the memorial and complaint of the McNab settlers will receive His Excellency's immediate consideration, and that in the meantime it has been referred to the Lieut.-Governor and Executive Council of Upper Canada.

I am, Sir, etc., (Signed), T. A. MURDOCH.

D. Campbell McNab, Esq., Township of McNab, Bathurst District.

CHAPTER XV. (1840.)

MISSION TO PERTH--THE LAIRD PRESENTED AS A PUBLIC NUISANCE--MR. FRANCIS ALLAN SENT TO INVESTIGATE GRIEVANCES.

The week after the great meeting described in the foregoing chapter, Mr.

James Morris and the writer proceeded to Perth, to attend the Quarter Sessions, with the people's pet.i.tion respecting the Statute Labor. The Court opened in due form.--There sat the Hon. William Morris, as Chairman, the apparent impersonification of stern integrity. On his right was seated Capt. Joshua Adams and Mr. John McIntyre, of Dalhousie; and on his left was supported by the half-pay military magnates of Perth.--The pet.i.tion was presented through the Clerk of the Peace, Mr.

Berford, to the Chairman. Its prayer was strongly advocated by the writer and by Mr. T. M. Radenhurst. It was useless. The Hon. Chairman and the magisterial wiseacres who surrounded him scouted the idea of yielding to the settlers' wishes. "We have appointed two of our number to apportion the statute-labor, and that appropriation must be final."

Only one gentleman advocated the prayer of the pet.i.tion, and worked long and strenuously for its adoption, and that gentleman was Mr.

McIntyre, of Dalhousie. It was futile. It was out-voted, and the pet.i.tion was thrown under the table. Not satisfied with the decision of the Bench, the writer and Mr. Morris went before the Grand Jury, and laid the case before them. That popular body, feeling for the settlers, at once perceiving the justice of their claims, brought in the following Presentment:--

[COPY.]

The Grand Jurors of Our Lady the Queen on their oaths present. That having fully investigated the complaints of the inhabitants of the Township of McNab, they on their oaths say, that Archibald McNab of McNab and John Richey, of Fitzroy, Esqs., have not apportioned the statute-labor of the township of McNab for the present year equitably or according to justice; that the said Archibald McNab has acted tyrannically and oppressively, and is a nuisance to the public at large, and especially to the people of McNab; and they recommend that the statute-labor be laid out according to the wishes of the settlers of McNab, as represented by the Pathmasters of the said Township.

(Signed), JOHN KING, _Foreman_.

When this Presentment was read by Mr. Berford, the Chairman, Morris, turned almost purple with rage. Even his immobile features were moved.

The cast-iron lineaments gave way to anger at the presumption of two young men questioning the decision of that august Court, and at the temerity of a Grand Jury for making such a Presentment. "File that away, Mr. Berford," exclaimed the Chairman; "but take no action upon it. The Bench will not interfere with action of magistrates out of session."

The writer and Mr. Morris finding they could get no further satisfaction, and having done all that it was possible for men to do under the circ.u.mstances, returned home and met the settlers, to whom they related all that occurred. A bright idea struck the writer.--A law had pa.s.sed the Legislature of Upper Canada appointing Town-Wardens for each township. Among their other duties, they had the power of commuting each ratepayer's statute-labor for five years. It was resolved instantly to take advantage of this clause of the Act.--The writer pointed it out, and advised this mode of procedure; and it was at once put into execution. The three Wardens, with the writer, proceeded through the whole Township, and gave written contracts and commutations to all the settlers for four years. McNab was foiled. The arbitrary conduct of the military magistrates and the fossil-Tory abettors was set at naught.

They were ridiculed and mocked at. The law had rendered their power for evil nugatory and void. The people of McNab that year performed their labor on their own concessions and side-lines. The Chief was incensed; the magistrates were furious. They wrote a letter, embodying the whole facts of the case, to the Hon. W. H. Draper, then Attorney-General. The reply they received was that the Wardens and the people had acted strictly in accordance with the law. The benchers of the Solomon's Temple at Perth, had to "grin and bear it." Their oppressive dicta and autocratic propaganda were treated with contempt. Two mere youths had circ.u.mvented the legal and military sagacity of the sages of Perth.

Their maxim was to keep down the people, to trample intelligence under foot, to protract the reign of semi-military despotism, to extend the influence of the Family Compact, and to crush anyone who dared to advocate the rights of the people; but Canada was on the eve of a bloodless revolution which in less than two years would deprive the magistrates of all munic.i.p.al power, and leave the management of local affairs in the hands of the people alone.--Their support of the Chief was carrying out and extending the principle of ultraism, and at its shrine they were prepared to sacrifice truth, justice, integrity and honor.

This was the year of the great battle, and it was a year of signal triumph to the settlers. Threats were made of indicting the leaders for conspiracy. Threats could not now intimidate, or stay their proceedings.