The Rise of Canada, from Barbarism to Wealth and Civilisation Part 2

At this time there were five papers in Lower Canada. The Quebec Gazette, the Quebec Mercury, Le Canadien, the Montreal Gazette, and the Courant. The three former were published in Quebec, the other two in Montreal. The Gazettes were organs of the government, the Mercury and Courant were "namby-pamby," and the Canadien was as the voice of le peuple.

The elections were, in the month of March, again about to take place, and the government conceived the magnificent idea of carrying a printing office by a.s.sault. When everything was prepared, then was the time to act. Headed by a magistrate, a party of soldiers rushed up the stairs leading to the Canadien printing office. The proprietor received them with a low bow, and much annoyance was felt that no opposition was offered. The premises were searched. Some ma.n.u.scripts were found, and, "under the sanction of the Executive," the whole press, and the whole papers of every description, were forcibly seized, and conveyed as booty to the vaults of the Court House. In this action one prisoner was made. The printer was seized, and "after examination," was committed to prison. And, as if an insurrection were expected, the guards at the gates were strengthened, and patrols sent in every direction. The public looked amazed, as well it might. The Mercury did not know whether most to admire the tyrannical spirit or the consummate vanity of the Canadians, and of No. 15, of the Canadien, which contended that the Canadians had rights. As a striking proof of Canadian tyranny, the Canadien would not allow any but the members of the a.s.sembly to be a judge of the expediency of expelling Judge DeBonne! and it was even said that of all those who signed the address to His Excellency, presented in the name of Quebec, not one was capable of understanding the nature of the question. In a dependence, such as Canada, was the government to be daily flouted, bearded, and treated with the utmost disrespect and contumely? "He" expected nothing less than that its patience would be exhausted, and energetic measures resorted to, as the only efficient ones. From any part of a people conquered from wretchedness into every indulgence, and the height of prosperity, such treatment, as the government daily received was far different from that which ought to have been expected. But there were characters in the world on whom benefits have no other effect than to produce insolence and insult. The stroke was struck, the Mercury would say no more. The greatest misfortune that can ever happen to the press is for it to be in the possession of invisible and licentious hands. It said no more, because "the war was with the dead!"

Sir James was not very sure that he had acted either wisely or well. He thought it necessary to explain. Divers wicked and seditious writings had been printed. Divers wicked and seditious writings had been dispersed throughout the province. Divers writings were calculated to mislead divers of His Majesty's subjects. Divers wicked and traitorous persons had endeavoured to bring into contempt and had vilified the administration, and divers persons had invented wicked falsehoods, with the view of alienating the affections of His Majesty's subjects from the respect which was due to His Majesty's person. It was impossible for His Majesty's representative longer to disregard or suffer practices so directly tending to subvert His Majesty's government, and to destroy the happiness of His Majesty's subjects. He, therefore, announced, that with the advice and concurrence of the Executive Council, and due information having been given to three of His Majesty's Executive Councillors, warrants, as by law authorised, had been issued, under which, some of the authors, printers, and publishers of the aforesaid traitorous and seditious writings had been apprehended and secured. Deeply impressed with a desire to promote, in all respects, the welfare and happiness of the most benevolent of sovereigns, whose servant he had been for as long a period as the oldest inhabitant had been his subject, and whose highest displeasure he should incur if the acts of these designing men had produced any effect, he trusted that neither doubts nor jealousies had crept into the public mind. He would recall to the deluded, if there were any, the history of the whole period during which they had been under His Majesty's government. It was for them to recollect the progressive advances they had made in the wealth, happiness, and unbounded liberty which they then enjoyed. Where was the act of oppression-where was the instance of arbitrary imprisonment-or where was the violation of property of which they had to complain? Had there been an instance in which the uncontrolled enjoyment of their religion had been disturbed? While other countries and other colonies had been deluged in blood, during the prevalent war, had they not enjoyed the most perfect security and tranquillity? What, then, could be the means by which the traitorous would effect their wicked purposes? What arguments dare they use? For what reason was happiness to be laid aside and treason embraced? What persuasion could induce the loyal to abandon loyalty and become monsters of ingrat.i.tude? The traitorous had said that he desired to embody and make soldiers of twelve thousand of the people, and because the a.s.sembly would not consent, that he had dissolved the Parliament? It was monstrously untrue, and it was particularly atrocious in being advanced by persons who might have been supposed to have spoken with certainty on the subject. It had been said that he wanted to tax the lands of the country people, that the House would only consent to tax wine, and that for such perverseness he had dissolved the a.s.sembly. Inhabitants of St. Denis! the Governor General never had the most distant idea of taxing the people at all. The a.s.sertion was directly false. When the House offered to pay the civil list, he could not move without the King's instructions. But in despair of producing instances from what he had done, the traitorous had spoken of that which he intended to do. It was boldly said that Sir James Craig intended to oppress the Canadians. Base and daring fabricators of falsehood! on what part of his life did they found such a.s.sertions? What did the inhabitants of St. Denis know of him or of his intentions? Let Canadians inquire concerning him of the heads of their church. The heads of the church were men of knowledge, honor, and learning, who had had opportunities of knowing him, and they ought to be looked to for advice and information. The leaders of faction and the demagogues of a party a.s.sociated not with him, and could not know him. Why should he be an oppressor? Was it to serve the King, the whole tenor of whose life had been honorable and virtuous? Was it for himself that he should practice oppression? For what should he be an oppressor? Ambition could not prompt him, with a life ebbing slowly to a close, under the pressure of a disease acquired in the service of his country. He only looked forward to pa.s.s the remaining period of his life in the comfort of retirement, among his friends. He remained in Canada simply in obedience to the commands of his King. What power could he desire? For what wealth would he be an oppressor? Those who knew him, knew that he had never regarded wealth, and then, he could not enjoy it. He cared not for the value of the country laid at his feet. He would prefer to power and wealth a single instance of having contributed to the happiness and prosperity of the people whom he had been sent to govern. He warned all to be on their guard against the artful suggestions of wicked and designing men. He begged that all would use their best endeavours to prevent the evil effects of incendiary and traitorous doings. And he strictly charged and commanded all magistrates, captains of militia, peace officers, and others, of His Majesty's good subjects to bring to punishment such as circulated false news, tending, in any manner, to inflame the public mind and to disturb the public peace and tranquillity.

Could anything have been more pitiable than such a proclamation? The existence of a conspiracy on the part of some disaffected persons to overthrow the King's government was made to appear with the view of covering a mistake. The proclamation was the apology for the illegal seizure of a press and types used in the publication of a newspaper, in which nothing seditious or treasonable had in reality been published. It was true that the Canadien upheld the a.s.sembly and criticised the conduct of the Executive, with great severity. It was true that the Canadien complained of the tyranny of "les Anglais." It was true that the Canadien strenuously supported the idea of the expenses of the civil list being defrayed by the province and not by the Imperial government. And it was true that it contended for "nos inst.i.tutions, notre langue, et nos lois." It did nothing more. No hint was thrown out that Canada would be more prosperous under the American, than under the English dominion. It was not even insinuated that Canada should be wholly governed by Canadians. All that was claimed for French Canadians was a fair share in the official spoils of the land they lived in, freedom of speech, and liberty of conscience. Governor Craig asked the inhabitants of St. Denis or any of the other inhabitants of the province to remind him of any one act of oppression or of arbitrary imprisonment. And at that very moment the printer of the Canadien was in prison. Nor was he there alone, there were Messrs. Bedard, Blanchet, and Taschereau, members of the recently dissolved House of a.s.sembly, together with Messrs. Pierre Laforce, Pierre Papineau, of Chambly, and Francois Corbeille, of Isle Jesus, to keep him company, on charges of treasonable practices, concerning which there was not, and never had been, even the shadow of proof, on charges which the government did not attempt even to prove, and on charges which were withdrawn without the accused having ever been confronted with their accusers. Base and daring fabricators of falsehood! Francois Corbeille, an innocent man, the victim only of unjust suspicions, on the one hand, and of diabolical selfishness, on the other, died in consequence of the injury his health received in that prison where tyranny had placed him. But he could issue no proclamation. His voice was not loud enough in the tomb to reach the Court of St. James, surrounded as that Court was, by an impenetrable phalanx of Downing Street Red-tapists. Canada was only mis-governed because England was deceived, through the instrumentality of Governors, honorable enough as men, but so wanting in administrative capacity, as to be open to the vile flattery and base insinuations of those who were, or rather should have been at once the faithful servants of the Crown and of that people who upheld it, who were virtually taken possession of, on arrival, by the "gens en place," and held safely in custody, until their nominal power had ceased. And when power had pa.s.sed away, then only did many of them perceive, as Sir James Craig is reported to have done, the deception, the ingrat.i.tude, and the almost inhumanity of man. There is some excuse to be offered for the extraordinary course of policy pursued by Sir James Craig; and an apology even can be made for the crooked policy of those voluntary advisers who had hedged him in. Great Britain was at war with France. The name of a Frenchman was unmusical in the ears of any Englishman of that period, and it sounded harshly in the ears of the British soldier. It was France that had prost.i.tuted liberty to l.u.s.t. It was France that had dragged public opinion to the scaffold and the guillotine. It was France that held the axe uplifted over all that was good and holy. It was France that was making all Europe a charnel-house. It was General Buonaparte of France, who only sought to subdue England, the more easily to conquer the world. Many an English hearth had cursed his name. Many a widow had he made desolate, and many an orphan fatherless. The "conquered subjects" of King George spoke and thought in French. They held French traditions in veneration. There could only be a jealousy, a hatred, a contempt entertained of everything seeming to be French, in the heart of an Englishman. And these sentiments were doubtless reciprocated. But, still the French of Canada, were only, now, French by extraction. They had long lost that love of the land of their origin, which belongs to nativity. Few men in the province had been born in France. Few Canadians knew anything about the new regime, or took any interest in the "Code Napoleon." And few even cherished flattering recollections of Bourbon rule. The Canadians wanted English liberty, not French republicanism. The Canadians wanted to have for themselves so much liberty as a Scotchman might enjoy at John O'Groats, or an Englishman obtain at Land's-End. And for so desiring liberty they were misrepresented, because of English colonial prejudices, and because of official dislikes and selfishness. When the first Attorney-General of Canada, Mr. Mazzeres, afterwards Cursitor Baron of the Exchequer, in England, of whom Mr. Ryland was but a pious follower, proposed to convert the Canadians to Anglicism in religion, in manners, and in law, a.s.suredly little opposition could have been made to the scheme. Then, the pursuance of Cardinal Richelieu's policy would, in after ages, have exemplified that the pen had been mightier than the sword. Then the whole population of the province could have been housed in one of the larger cities of the present time. But when the province had increased in numbers to 300,000, partially schooled in English legislation, the exercise of despotism was only as impolitic as it was obviously unjust. It was feared by the officers of the civil government of Canada, when this despotism was practised, that the legislature might have the power, which has since been conceded, of dispensing with the services of merely imperial officers, and of filling, with natives to the manor born, every office of profit or emolument in the province. It was feared if the exclusive power were granted to the Colonial Legislature of appropriating all the sums necessary for the civil expenditure of the province, that it would give the Legislature absolute control over the officers of the empire and of the colony, and annihilate, if not actually, potentially, the imperium of Great Britain over her colony. A distinction was drawn between the privileges of a colonist and of the resident of the United Kingdom. While every munic.i.p.ality in the latter was permitted to pay and control its own officers, the voice of a colonist was to be unheard in the councils of the nation to which he was attached, and he was to have no control over the actions of those who were to make or administer the laws, under which he lived. He was patiently to submit to the overbearing a.s.sumptions of some plebeian Viceroy, accidentally raised to a quasi-level with the great potentates of the earth, and inclined to ride with his temporary and borrowed power, after that great impersonage of evil, which, it is alleged, the beggar always attempts to overtake when, having thrown off his rags and poverty, he has been mounted on horseback. It is admitted that at this time the province was controlled by a few rapacious, overbearing, and irresponsible officials, without stake or other connection with the country, than their offices,[14] having no sympathy with the ma.s.s of the inhabitants. It is admitted that these officials lorded it over the people, upon whose substance they existed, and that they were not confided in, but hated. It is admitted that their influence with the English inhabitants arose from the command of the treasury. And it is admitted that, though only the servants of the government, they acted as if they had been princes among the natives and inhabitants of the province, upon whom they affected to look down, estranging them from all direct intercourse, or intimacy, with the Governor, whose confidence, no less than the control of the treasury, it was their policy to monopolise. To the candidates for vice-regal favors, their smiles were fortune, and their frowns were fate. The Governor was a hostage in the keeping of the bureaucracy, and the people were but serfs.

Nothing has been left on record to show that when Sir James Craig issued his absurd proclamation, treason was to have been feared, unless it be that the clergy were required to read the proclamation from the pulpits of the parish churches, that Chief Justice Sewell read it from the Bench, that the Grand Jury drew up an address to the Court and strongly animadverted upon the dangerous productions of the Canadien, and that the Quebec Mercury expressed its abhorrence of sedition, and chronicled the fact that 671 habitants had expressed their grat.i.tude to the Governor, for his "truly paternal proclamation."

In the April term of the Court of King's Bench, the release of Mr. Bedard from gaol, was attempted, by an attempt to obtain a writ of Habeas Corpus. But the Bench was not sufficiently independent of the Crown. The writ was refused. The State prisoners were compelled to remain in prison, indulging the hope that whatever charges could be preferred against them would be reduced to writing, and a trial be obtained. It was hoping against hope. Some of the imprisoned fell sick, among whom was the printer of the Canadien, and all in the gaol of Quebec, with the exception of Mr. Bedard, were turned out of prison. Mr. Bedard refused to be set at liberty without having had the opportunity of vindicating his reputation by the verdict of a jury. Conscious of the integrity of his conduct, and of the legality of his expressed political opinions, he solicited trial, but the September session of the Criminal Term of the King's Bench was suffered to elapse without any attention having been paid to him. Three of the prisoners were imprisoned in the gaol of Montreal, and were not only subjected to the inconveniences and discomforts of a damp and unhealthy prison, but to the petty persecutions of a relentless gaoler. They were one after the other enlarged without trial, Mr. Corbeil only to die.

In the course of the summer the government had been occupied with the regulation and establishment of a system of police, in Montreal and Quebec, and, with that view, salaried chairmen were appointed to preside over the Courts of Quarter Sessions. The government also determined upon opening up a road to the Eastern Townships, which would afford a direct land communication between Quebec and Boston. Commencing at St. Giles, on the south sh.o.r.e of the St. Lawrence, that road to the township of Shipton, which still bears the name of Governor Craig, was completed by a detachment of troops.

On the 10th of December, Parliament again met. The House of a.s.sembly re-elected Mr. Panet to the Speakership, and the Governor approved of his election. In his speech from the throne, Governor Craig had never doubted the loyalty and zeal of the parliaments which had met since he had a.s.sumed the administration of affairs. He was confident that they were animated by the best intentions to promote the interests of the King's government and the welfare of the people. He looked for such a disposition in the tenor of their deliberations. He called their attention to the temporary Act for the better preservation of His Majesty's government, and for establishing regulations respecting aliens or certain subjects of His Majesty, who had resided in France. No change had taken place in the state of public affairs, that would warrant a departure from those precautions which made the Act necessary. He did not mean that it should be supposed that he meant to divide the interests of His Majesty's government from the interests of the public, for they were inseparable. But the preservation of His Majesty's government was the safety of the province, and its security was the only safeguard to the public tranquillity. He therefore recommended those considerations together with the Act making temporary provision for the regulation of trade between Canada and the United States to their first and immediate consideration. He entreated them to believe that he should have great satisfaction in cultivating that harmony and good understanding which must be so conducive to the prosperity and happiness of the colony, and that he should most readily and cheerfully concur, in every measure, which they might propose, tending to promote those important objects. And he further intimated that the rule of his conduct was to discharge his duty to his sovereign, by a constant attention to the welfare of his subjects, who were committed to his charge, and these objects he felt to be promoted by a strict adherence to the laws and principles of the const.i.tution, and by maintaining in their just balance the rights and privileges of every branch of the legislature. Sir James Craig's attempts at maintaining a balance of power were the chief causes of all his blundering. He did not himself know the proper balance of power between himself and the governed. He could not possibly perceive when his balance-beam was out of its centre, and if he had seen a slight leaning to one side, and that side not his own, he could not have conceived that the scales of justice would have been very much affected. It never occurred to him that the displacement of it, only to the extent of one-sixteenth half of an inch, on the side of Government and Council, would weigh a quarter of a century against the a.s.sembly, the people and progress. But so it was. The beam with which Sir James Craig would have and did weigh out justice, was one-sided, and, to make matters still worse, the Governor threw into the adverse scale a host of his own prejudices, and of the prejudices of his secret councillors. He would have been glad, had the House expelled Mr. Bedard, one of its members, on the plea that it was prejudicial to its dignity that a representative of the people should be kept in durance, while the House was in session, and still more discreditable that that member should be charged with treason. Hardly had he delivered his speech, and the a.s.sembly returned to their chamber, when the Governor sent a message to the House intimating that Mr. Bedard, who had been returned to Parliament, as the representative of Surrey, was detained in the common gaol of Quebec, under the "Preservation Act," charged with treasonable practices. The House most politely thanked the Governor-in-Chief for the information. The House resolved that Mr. Bedard was in the common gaol of Quebec. The House resolved that Pierre Bedard was, on the 27th day of March, returned to Parliament, as one of the Knights Representative of Surrey. The House resolved that Pierre Bedard, was then one of the members of the a.s.sembly, for the existing Parliament. The House resolved that the simple arrest of any one of His Majesty's subjects did not render him incapable of election to the a.s.sembly. The House resolved that the Government Preserves Act, guaranteed to the said Pierre Bedard, Esquire, the right of sitting in the a.s.sembly. And the House resolved to present a humble address to His Excellency, informing him that his message had been seriously considered, that several resolutions had been pa.s.sed, which they conceived it to be their duty to submit to His Excellency, and that it was the wish of the House that Pierre Bedard, Esquire, Knight Representative for the County of Surrey, might take his seat in the House. The vote in favor of the resolutions was expressively large. There were twenty-five members present, and twenty voted for the resolutions. Messrs. Bourdages, Papineau, senior, Bellet, Papineau, junior, Debartch, Viger, Lee, and Bruneau, were named a committee to present an address to the Governor, founded on the resolutions, but they managed to escape that honor. When it was moved to resolve that an enquiry be made as to the causes which had prevented the messengers from presenting the address, as ordered by the House, Mr. Papineau, senior, moved that nothing more should be said about the address, and the motion was carried. Nor was anything more said about the unfortunate gentleman who was imprisoned, as the Governor himself afterwards stated, only as a measure of precaution, not of punishment, until the close of the session, when he was released. He was kept in Ham because he might have done mischief, on the principle that prevention is better than cure, and, when Mr. Bedard desired to know what was expected of him, the Governor sent for his brother, the cure, and authorized him to tell Mr. Bedard that he had been confined by government, "only looking to its security and the public tranquillity," and that when Mr. Bedard expressed a sense of that error, of which he was ignorant, he would be immediately enlarged. Mr. Bedard replied courteously, but declined admitting any error, which he had not made, or of confessing to any crime of which he was not guilty. The Governor had heard of the resolutions of the House, and expected the presentation of the address embodying them, when he received an application from the elder Papineau, one of the committee, requesting a private conference on the subject of the resolutions. That conference only drew from His Excellency the remark that:-"No consideration, Sir, shall induce me to consent to the liberation of Mr. Bedard, at the instance of the House of a.s.sembly, either as a matter of right, or as a favor, nor will I now consent to his being enlarged on any terms during the sitting of the present session, and I will not hesitate to inform you of the motives by which I have been induced to come to this resolution. I know that the general language of the members, has encouraged the idea which universally prevails, that the House of a.s.sembly will release Mr. Bedard; an idea so firmly established that there is not a doubt entertained upon it in the province. The time is therefore come, when I feel that the security as well as the dignity of the King's government, imperiously require that the people should be made to understand the true limits of the rights of the respective parts of the government, and that it is not that of the House of a.s.sembly to rule the country." And Mr. Bedard, sensible of having done no wrong, remained in gaol until the Parliament was prorogued, as an example to the people that there was no public opinion worth heeding, in the province, and that the power of the Governor was something superior to that of the a.s.sembly. The a.s.sembly went to work after having made the fruitless attempt to liberate Mr. Bedard, and pa.s.sed as many bills as were required. The "gaols" bill was temporarily continued: the repairs of the Castle of St. Lewis having cost 14,980, instead of 7,000, as contemplated, the additional outlay was voted; 50,000 were voted towards the erection of suitable parliament buildings. The Alien Act and that for the Preservation of the Government were continued, together with the Militia Act, to March 1813; the bill to disqualify judges from being elected to the a.s.sembly pa.s.sed both Houses, and to these the Governor a.s.sented, proroguing the Parliament afterwards with great pleasure. Communication with Europe had been difficult during the winter, on account of the impediments thrown in the way of American commerce. The Princess Charlotte had died, and the sovereign himself had become alarmingly indisposed. A new Act of non-intercourse had been pa.s.sed in the American Congress. He had seen among the Acts pa.s.sed, and to which he had just declared His Majesty's a.s.sent, with peculiar satisfaction, the Act disqualifying the judges from holding a seat in the House of a.s.sembly. It was not only that he thought the measure right in itself, but that he considered the pa.s.sing of an Act for the purpose, as a complete renunciation of the erroneous principle, the acting upon which put him under the necessity of dissolving the last parliament. The country was becoming luxuriantly rich, and he hoped that all would be harmony and tolerance. He would be a proud man who could say to his sovereign that he found the Canadians divided and left them united.

On the 19th of June, 1811, Lieut.-General Sir James Craig embarked for England, in H.M.S. Amelia. Previous to his departure he received addresses from Quebec, Montreal, Three Rivers, Warwick, and Terrebonne, and when he was about to leave the Chateau St. Louis, the British population, who admired the old General more perhaps than they did the const.i.tutional ruler, exhibited considerable feeling. The mult.i.tude took the place of His Excellency's carriage horses and popularly carried away, to the Queen's wharf, His Majesty's representative. Nay, the old soldier, who really had a heart, almost wept as he bade farewell to men, some of whom he had first met with in the battle field, and had since known for nearly half a century. Sir James too was ill. It was not indeed expected that he would have lived long enough to reach England. His dropsy was becoming not only troublesome but dangerous.[15]

Sir James was succeeded in the administration of the government of Canada by Mr. Dunn.

The Canadians had, during the administration of Governor Craig, earnestly pursued Junius' advice to the English nation. They had never, under the most trying circ.u.mstances, suffered any invasion of their political const.i.tution to pa.s.s by, without a determined and persevering resistance. They practically exhibited their belief in the doctrine that, one precedent creates another; that precedents soon acc.u.mulate and const.i.tute law; that what was yesterday fact becomes to-day doctrine; that examples are supposed to justify the most dangerous measures, and that where they do not suit exactly, the defect is supplied by a.n.a.logy. They felt confident that the laws which were to protect their civil rights were to grow out of their const.i.tution, and that with it the country was to fall or flourish. They believed in the right of the people to choose their own representatives. They were sensibly impressed with the idea that the liberty of the press is the palladium of the civil, political, and religious rights of a British subject, and that the right of juries to return a general verdict, in all cases whatsoever, is an essential part of the British const.i.tution, not to be controlled, or limited, by the judges, nor in any shape to be questionable by the legislature. And they believed that the power of the King, Lords, and Commons, was not an arbitrary power, but one which they themselves could regulate. In a word, they believed that, whatever form of government might be necessary for the maintenance of order, and for putting all men on an equality in the eye of the law, the people themselves were the source of all power, and they acted accordingly.

Mr. Peel, (afterwards Sir Robert Peel,) Under Secretary of State, condemned the conduct of Sir James Craig, as Governor of Canada. Mr. Ryland, himself, informed Sir James, by letter, from London, whither he had been sent with despatches, that when he observed to Mr. Peel that Sir James Craig had all the English inhabitants with him, and, consequently, all the commercial interest of the country, Mr. Peel remarked that the Canadians were much more numerous, and he repeated the same remark more than once, in a way that indicated a fear of doing anything that might clash with the prejudices of the more numerous part of the community. And when Mr. Ryland ventured to suggest that the decided approbation of the Governor's conduct could not fail to have a desirable effect on the minds of the Canadians, and that the best way of expressing such approbation, was by suspending the const.i.tution, as Sir James Craig had recommended, Mr. Peel thought that a reunion of the provinces would be better than a suspension of the const.i.tution of Lower Canada. Lord Liverpool thought that it was not very necessary to imprison the editors of the Canadien. He quietly asked if they could not have been brought over to the government? Mr. Ryland said that it was not possible, that Mr. Bedard's motive for opposing the government, was possibly to obtain office, but he had acted in such a way as to make that impossible. At dinner with the Earl of Liverpool, at Coombe Wood, Mr. Ryland seems to have had a combing from Mr. Peel. He writes to Sir James Craig that, in a conversation with Mr. Peel, before dinner, concerning the state of things in Canada, he was mortified to find that he had but an imperfect idea of the subject. He expressed himself as though he had thought that Sir James Craig had dissolved the House of a.s.sembly on account of their having pa.s.sed a bill for excluding the judges. He endeavored to give Mr. Peel a clear and correct conception of these matters, but G.o.d knew with what success! He recollected Governor Craig's advice, and kept his temper, but it was really very provoking to see men of fine endowments and excellent natural understanding, too inattentive to make themselves masters of a very important subject, which had been placed before them, in an intelligible manner. When Mr. Peel asked him if the English members of the House were always with the government, Mr. Ryland said that in every case of importance, with the exception of Mr. James Stuart, formerly Solicitor-General, the English members always supported the views of the government. And, indeed, the Attorney-General of England, Sir Vicary Gibbs, reported against the despotic intentions of Sir James Craig, and, at the suggestion of his secretary, further expressed his official opinion that the paper published in the Canadien, and upon which the proceedings of the Executive Council of Canada had been founded, was not such as to fix upon the publishers, the charge of treasonable practices, and that it was only the apprehensions that had been in Canada entertained, of the effects of the publication of the paper in the Canadien, that might have made it excusable to resort to means, not strictly justifiable in law, for suppressing antic.i.p.ated mischief. The truth was simply that a stupid old man, filled with the most violent prejudices, against change of any sort, had been sent to govern a new and rapidly rising country, and knew not how success was to be obtained. His mind was full of conspiracies, rebellions, and revolutions, and nothing else. When he retired to rest, and had drawn the curtains of his bed, there sat upon him, night after night, three horrible spectres:-the Rebellion in Ireland, the Reign of Terror in France, and the American revolution. He slept only to dream of foul conspiracies, and he was dreaming how they best could be avoided, when in broad daylight he was most awake.

Upper Canada had not yet become sufficiently populous to require much legislation. Indeed, the legislature of that province hardly transacted any business more important than now devolves upon some insignificant county munic.i.p.ality. There was as yet no party. There were as yet no grievances. Parliament was annually a.s.sembled by Governor Gore, rather because it was a rule to which he was bound to attend, than because it was required. He met his parliament again, on the 1st of February, 1811, and business having been rapidly transacted, the royal a.s.sent was given to nine Acts, relative to the erection and repair of roads and bridges, to the licensing of petty chapmen, to the payment of parliamentary contingencies, to the regulation of duties, to the further regulation of the proceedings of sheriffs, in the sale of goods and chattels, taken by them in execution, to a.s.sessments, to bills of exchange, and to the raising and training of the militia.

On the 30th of September, in the same year, Lieutenant-Governor Francis Gore resigned the government into the hands of Major-General, Sir Isaac Brocke, and returned to England, Mr. Dunn, having, on the 14th of the same month, been relieved of the government of Lower Canada, by Lieutenant-General Sir George Prevost, Baronet, the Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia, and now appointed Governor General of British North America, in consideration as well of his administrative ability, as of his distinguished reputation as an officer in the army. No sooner had Sir George arrived at Quebec, than he set out on a tour of military observation. War was now more than ever imminent. Another difficulty had occurred at sea. A British sloop of war, the Little Belt, had been fired into by the American frigate, President, and, in the rencontre which followed, had suffered greatly in her men and rigging. The British Orders in Council had not been rescinded, American commerce was crippled, the revenue was falling off, and there was that general quarrelsomeness of spirit which, sooner or later, must be satisfied, pervading the middle States of the American Union. Congress was a.s.sembled by proclamation, on the 5th of November, and the President of the United States indicated future events by a shadow in his opening "Message." Mr. Madison found that he must "add" that the period had arrived which claimed from the legislative guardians of the national rights, a system of more ample provision for maintaining them. There was full evidence of the hostile inflexibility of Great Britain. She had trampled on rights, which no independent nation could relinquish, and Congress would feel the duty of putting the United States into an armour and an att.i.tude, demanded by the crisis, and corresponding with the national spirit and expectation. Congress did as they were recommended to do. Bills were pa.s.sed having reference to probable hostilities, one of which authorized the President to raise, with as little delay as possible, twenty-five thousand men.

In Canada every man held his breath for a time.

CHAPTER III.

General Prevost was the very opposite of Sir James Craig. While the latter considered force the only practical persuasive, the former looked upon persuasion as more practicable than force. He was determined to be conciliatory, to throw aside unjust suspicions, to listen to no tales from interested parties, to redress such grievances as existed, and to create no new causes of discontent if he could avoid it. He was made acquainted with all the steps that had been taken by his predecessor, and he entered on the administration of the government of Lower Canada, with a determination to pursue a very opposite policy. A few weeks after his a.s.sumption of office he remodelled, or rather recommended to the Imperial ministry, the expediency of remodelling the Executive Council. He caused seven new members to be added to it, and he further offended the officers of the princ.i.p.alities or departments, by preferring to places of trust and emolument, some of the demagogues persecuted by Sir James Craig. Sir George Prevost met the parliament on the 21st of February, 1812. He congratulated the country on the brilliant achievements of Wellington, in the deliverance of Portugal and the rescue of Spain from France. Notwithstanding the changes, so astonishing, which marked the age, the inhabitants of Canada had witnessed but as remote spectators the awful scenes which had desolated Europe. While Britain, built by nature against the contagious breath of war, had had her political existence involved in the fate of neighboring nations, Canada had hitherto viewed without alarm a distant storm. The storm was now approaching her. The mutterings of the thunder were already within hearing. All was gloomy, still, and lurid. It was necessary to be vigilant. To preserve the province from the dangers of invasion it would be necessary to renew those Acts which experience had proved essential for the preservation of His Majesty's government, and to hold the militia in readiness to repel aggression. The renewal of the "Preservation Acts," was not that which the a.s.sembly very much desired. They had had enough of such "Preservation" of government Acts already. They would much rather have been preserved from them than be preserved with them. On the principle of self preservation, the a.s.sembly would rather be excused from continuing any such Act as that which had been so abused as to have afforded a licence for the imprisonment of three members of the a.s.sembly, on vague charges, which the ingenuity of the public prosecutor could not reduce to particulars. Had it not been from a conviction of the goodness of the new Governor, the a.s.sembly would not have renewed any such Act. Sir George regretted that the Parliament had thought it necessary to revert to any of the proceedings of his predecessor, under one of the "Preservation Acts," and he earnestly advised the gentlemen of the House of a.s.sembly to evince their zeal for the public good, by confining their attention solely to the present situation of affairs. But the House thought it due to the good character of His Majesty's subjects that some measure should be adopted by the House, with the view of acquainting His Majesty of the events which had taken place under the administration of Sir James Craig, its late Governor, together with the causes which such events had originated, so that His Majesty might take such steps as would prevent the recurrence of a similar administration, an administration which tended to misrepresent the good and faithful people of the province, and to deprive them of the confidence and affection of His Majesty, and from feeling the good effects of his government, in the ample manner provided for by law. Nay, this was not all. It was moved that an enquiry be made into the state of the province, under the administration of Sir James Craig, and into the causes that gave rise to it, and the resolution was carried, two members only voting against it. A committee was appointed, but no report was made. The bill for the better preservation of His Majesty's government, and the Alien bill were both lost, not by ill intention, but by awkward management. But the loss of these bills was amply compensated by the militia bill, authorizing the Governor to embody two thousand young, unmarried men, for three months in the year, who, in case of invasion, were to be retained in service for a whole year, when one-half of the embodied would be relieved by fresh drafts. In the event of imminent danger, he was empowered to embody the whole militia force of the country, but no militiaman was to be enlisted into the regular forces. For drilling, training, and other purposes of the militia service, 12,000 were voted, and a further sum of 30,000 was placed at the disposal of the Governor-in-Chief, to be used in the event of a war arising between Great Britain and the United States.

Sir George Prevost prorogued Parliament on the 19th of May, well satisfied with the proofs which had been exhibited to him, of the loyalty of the parliament and people of a country so very shortly before represented to be treasonable, seditious, disaffected, and thoroughly imbued with hatred towards Great Britain. He shortly afterwards re-instated, in their respective ranks in the militia, such officers as had been set aside by Sir James Craig, without just cause, and indeed spared no exertion to make the people his friends, well judging that the office, or place men would, of necessity be so. On the 28th of May, he levied and organised four battalions of embodied militia; and a regiment of voltigeurs was raised, the latter being placed under the command of Major De Salaberry, a French-Canadian, who had served in the 60th regiment of foot.

There was need for this embodiment of troops. Already, dating from the 3rd of April, the American Congress had pa.s.sed an Act laying an embargo for ninety days on all vessels within the jurisdiction of the United States. The President, Mr. Jefferson, had recommended the embargo. He had long intended to gratify the lower appet.i.tes of the worst cla.s.s of the American people, who were now more numerous than that respectable cla.s.s of republicans of which that great man, Washington, was himself the type. The measure was preparatory to a war with Great Britain. And war was very soon afterwards declared. On the 4th of June, a bill declaring that war existed between Great Britain and the United States pa.s.sed the House of Representatives by a majority of seventy-nine to forty-nine. The bill was taken to the Senate, and there it pa.s.sed only by the narrow majority of six. The vote was nineteen voices in the affirmative and thirteen in the negative. Mr. Jefferson a.s.sented to the bill on the 18th of June. The grounds of war were set forth in a message of the President to Congress, on the 1st of June. The impressment of American seamen by British naval officers; the blockade of the ports of the enemies of Great Britain, supported by no adequate force, in consequence of which American commerce had been plundered in every sea, and the great staples of the country cut off from their legitimate markets; and on account of the British Orders in Council. The Committee on Foreign relations believed that the freeborn sons of America were worthy to enjoy the liberty which their fathers had purchased at the price of much blood and treasure. They saw by the measures adopted by Great Britain, a course commenced and persisted in, which might lead to a loss of national character and independence, and they felt no hesitation in advising resistance by force, in which the Americans of that day would prove to the enemy and the world, that they had not only inherited that liberty which their fathers had given them, but had also the will and the power to maintain it. They relied on the patriotism of the nation, and confidently trusted that the Lord of Hosts would go down with the United States to battle, in a righteous cause, and crown American efforts with success. The committee recommended an immediate appeal to arms. The confidential secretary of Sir James Craig was not a little to blame for the terrible state of fermentation into which the representatives of the sovereign people of America had wrought themselves. Without the knowledge of the Imperial government, Mr. Secretary Ryland had received the concurrence of Sir James Craig to a scheme for the annexation of the New England States to Canada. A young man named Henry, of Irish parentage, and a captain in the militia of the American States had come to Montreal with the view of remaining in Canada. He studied law and made considerable proficiency. Indeed, he was a young man possessed of some talent and of great a.s.surance. And as there was another suspicion haunting the minds of Sir James Craig and of Mr. Secretary Ryland, Mr. John Henry, late captain in the American service, and now Barrister-at-law, was introduced to Governor Craig, as a gentleman likely to inform the government of Canada, whether or not, the suspicions of the Governor and of the Governor's Secretary, were correct, these suspicions being that the North Eastern States of the American Republic desired to form a political connection with Great Britain. Mr. Henry appeared to be the very man for such a mission. He was immediately employed as a spy, and went to Boston, where he did endeavour to ascertain the public mind, in those places in which it is most frequently spoken. He lingered about hotels and news rooms. He visited the parks and the saloons. He went to church, or wherever else information was to be obtained, and he sent his experiences regularly to Mr. Ryland, who furnished him with instructions. But Captain Henry required to be paid for all this trouble. He applied to Governor Craig to find that excellent gentleman had no idea of their value. He then memorialized Lord Liverpool, asking for his services only the appointment of Judge Advocate of Lower Canada, to which the salary of 500 a year was attached. The n.o.ble Lord, at the head of the government, knew nothing about Captain Henry, and recommended him, if he had any claim upon Canada, to apply to Sir George Prevost, the Governor General. Captain Henry would do no such thing. He went to the United States, and, for the sum of fifty thousand dollars, gave up to the American government a very interesting correspondence between the Secretary of the Governor General of Canada, Mr. Ryland, and himself. Congress was so transported with rage, at the attempted annexation, that a bill was brought into the House of Representatives, and seriously entertained, the object of which was to declare every person a pirate, and punishable with death, who, under a pretence of a commission from any foreign power, should impress upon the high seas any native of the United States; and gave every such impressed seaman a right to attach, in the hands of any British subject, or of any debtor to any British subject, a sum equal to thirty dollars a month, during the whole period of his detention.[16] The federalist Americans were somewhat favourably disposed towards England. The minority in the House of Representatives, among which were found the princ.i.p.al part of the delegation from New England, in an address to their const.i.tuents, solemnly protested, on the ground that the wrongs of which the United States complained, although in some respects, grievous, were not of a nature, in the then state of the world, to justify war, nor were they such as war would be likely to remedy. On the subject of impressment they urged that the question between the two countries had once been honorably and satisfactorily settled, in the treaty negotiated with the British Court by Messrs. Monroe and Pinckney, and that although that treaty had not been ratified by Mr. Jefferson, arrangements might probably again be made. In relation to the second cause of war-the blockade of her enemies' ports, without an adequate force, the minority replied that it was not designed to injure the commerce of the United States, but was retaliatory upon France, which had taken the lead in aggressions upon neutral rights. In addition it was said, that as the repeal of the French decrees had been officially announced, it was to be expected that a revocation of the Orders in Council would follow. They could not refrain from asking what the United States were to gain from war? Would the gratification of some privateers-men compensate the nation for that sweep of American legitimate commerce, by the extended marine of Great Britain, which the desperate act of declaring war invited? Would Canada compensate the middle States for New York, or the Western States for New Orleans? They would not be deceived! A war of invasion might invite a retort of invasion. When Americans visited the peaceable, and, to Americans, the innocent colonies of Great Britain, with the horrors of war, could Americans be a.s.sured that their own coast would not be visited with like horrors. At such a crisis of the world, and under impressions such as these, the minority could not consider the war into which the United States had, in secret, been precipitated, as necessary, or required by any moral duty, or any political expediency. The country was divided in opinion, respecting either the propriety or the expediency of the war. The friends of the administration were universally in favor of it.

That there was no just cause for a declaration of war on the part of the United States, it may be sufficient to state that the news of the repeal of the obnoxious Order in Council, reached the United States before England was aware of the declaration of war. But the American government wanted a war as an excuse for a filibustering expedition to Canada, which was to be peaceably separated from Great Britain, and quietly annexed to the United States. Then existing differences would have been speedily patched up to the satisfaction of all parties, the Lower Canadians being, in the language of Sir James Craig, treasonable, seditious, and attached to the country with which the United States was in alliance, France. The United States were not prepared for war. While Great Britain had a hundred sail of the line in commission, and a thousand ships of war bore the royal flag, the Americans had only four frigates and eight sloops in commission, and their whole naval force afloat in ordinary, and building for the Ocean and the Canadian Lakes, was eight frigates and twelve sloops. Their military force only amounted to twenty-five thousand men, to be enlisted for the most part, but the President was authorised to call out one hundred thousand militia, for the purpose of defending the sea coast and the Canadian frontiers. The greatest want of all was proper officers. The ablest of the revolutionary heroes had paid the debt of nature, and there was no military officer to whom fame could point as the man fitted for command. With means so lamentably inconsiderable had America declared war against a country whose arms were sweeping from the Spanish Peninsula the disciplined and veteran troops of France. It was marvellous audacity. And it was a marvellous mistake. Canada, it is true, had only 5,454 men of all arms, who could be accounted soldiers, 445 artillery, 3,783 infantry of the line, and 1,226 fencibles. She had only one or two armed brigs and a few gun-boats on the lakes, but the Upper Canadians were not prepared to exchange their dependency on Great Britain for the paltry consideration of being erected into a territory of the United States, and the Superintendent of the Church of Rome, in Lower Canada, hardly thought it possible that a new conquest of Canada would make her peculiar inst.i.tutions more secure than they were. The militia of both sections of Canada were loyal. They felt that they could, as their enemies had done before, at least defend their own firesides. There was no sympathy with the American character, nor any regard for American inst.i.tutions then. Those feelings were to be brought about by that commercial selfishness which time was to develop.

The declaration of war by the United States was only known in Quebec on the 24th of June. A notification was immediately given by the police authorities to all American citizens then in Canada, requiring them to leave the province on or before the third of July. But Sir George Prevost afterwards extended the time to fourteen days longer, to suffer American merchants to conclude their business arrangements. Proclamations were issued, imposing an embargo on the shipping in the port of Quebec, and calling the legislature together, for the despatch of business. Parliament met on the 16th of July. The Governor-in-Chief announced the declaration of war, expressed his reliance upon the spirit, the determination, the loyalty and the zeal of the country. With the aid of the militia, His Majesty's regular troops, few in number, as they were, would yet gallantly repel any hostile attempt that might be made upon the colony. It was with concern that he saw the expense to which the organization and drilling of the militia would put the province. But battles must be fought, campaigning had to be endured, and true and lasting liberty was cheap at any cost of life or treasure. The reply was all that could be desired. While the House deplored the hostile declaration that had been made against Great Britain, and seemed to shrink from the miseries which war entails, they a.s.sured the Governor that threats would not intimidate, nor persuasions allure them from their duty to their G.o.d, to their country, and to their king. They were convinced that the Canadian militia would fight with spirit and determination, against the enemy, and would, with the aid of the tried soldiers of the king, sternly defend the province against any hostile attack. As far as spirit went there was no deficiency, but Canada was worse off for money than the United States was for soldiery. There were forty thousand militia about to rise in arms, but where was the money to come from necessary to keep them moving? Congress intended to raise an immediate loan of ten millions of dollars. It was essential Canada should immediately replenish her exchequer, as those not being the days of steamships, funds from England could not be soon obtained. Sir George Prevost resolved to issue army bills, payable either in cash, or in government bills of exchange, on London. The House of a.s.sembly a.s.sented to the circulation of any bills, and granted fifteen thousand pounds annually for five years, to pay the interest that would accrue upon them. Bills to the value of two hundred and fifty thousand were authorised to be put in circulation; they were to be received in the payment of duties; they were to be a legal tender in the market; and they were to be redeemed at the army bill office, in any way, whether in cash or bills, the Governor-in-Chief might signify. Nothing could have been more satisfactory to Sir George Prevost. He prorogued the Parliament on the 1st of August, with every expression of satisfaction. And well he might be satisfied. The men who were, according to the representations of his predecessor, not at all to be depended upon, in a case of emergency, had most readily, liberally, and loyally, met the demands of the public service. The men who feared martial law, and could not tolerate the withholding of the Habeas Corpus, came forward n.o.bly to defend from outward attack the dominions of their king. The whole province was bursting with warlike zeal. A military epidemic seized old and young, carrying off the latter in extraordinary numbers. Montreal, Quebec, and even Kingston and Toronto teemed with men in uniform and in arms. The regular troops were moved to Montreal, and Quebec was garrisoned by the militia. At Montreal, even the militia turned out for garrison duty. And on the 6th of August, the whole militia were commanded to hold themselves in readiness for embodiment. A little of the zeal now began to ooze out. There never yet was a rule without an exception. In the Parish of Ste. Claire, some young men, who had been drafted into the embodied militia, refused to join their battalion. Of these, four were apprehended, but one was rescued, and it was determined by the able-bodied men of Pointe Claire to liberate such others of their friends as had already joined the depot of the embodied militia at Laprairie. Accordingly, on the following day, some three or four hundred persons a.s.sembled at Lachine. They had not a.s.sembled to pa.s.s a series of resolutions censuring the government for illegally and wantonly carrying off some of the best men of the Parish of Pointe Claire, nor did they express any opinion favorable to Mr. Madison and the Americans, but they had a.s.sembled to obtain, by force, the liberty of their friends about to be subjected to military discipline. It seemed to have been a misunderstanding, however. The infuriated parishioners of Pointe Claire, who would not be comforted, on being appealed to, to go to their homes, frequently raised the cry of "Vive le Roi." It might be supposed that the Ste. Claire people meant to wish a long and happy reign to His Imperial Majesty Napoleon, as Mr. Ryland shrewdly suspected. But that supposition was not entertainable for any considerable length of time, inasmuch as the people without any prompting intimated that they had been informed that the militia law had not been put into force, but that if the Governor should call for their services they were ready to obey him. The magistrates a.s.sured the people that the militia law was really to be enforced, and advised them to disperse. They refused to budge. Two pieces of artillery and a company of the 49th regiment, which had been sent for, to Montreal, now appeared at Lachine. Still the mob would not disperse. Accordingly, the Riot Act was read, and the artillery fired a ball high over the heads of the stubborn crowd, which, of course, whizzing harmlessly along, produced no effect upon the crowd, except that the eighty, who were armed with fusils and fowling pieces, somewhat smartly returned the compliment, proving to the satisfaction of the soldiers the possession of highly military qualities, in a quarter where it was least expected. In reply, the troops fired grape and small arms, but without any intention of doing mischief. The rioters again fired at the troops, but not the slightest harm resulted to the troops. It was a kind of sham battle. The military authorities began, however, to tire of it, and the mob was fired into, when one man having been killed, and another having been dangerously wounded, the mutineers dispersed, leaving some of the most daring among them, to keep up a straggling fire from the bushes! The military made thirteen prisoners and, as night was setting in, left for Montreal. Next day, four hundred and fifty of the Montreal militia marched to Pointe Claire, and from thence to St. Laurent, which is situated in the rear of the Island of Montreal. There, they captured twenty-four of the culprits, and brought them to head quarters. Thus, there were thirty-seven rebels, prisoners in Montreal, when the United States had declared war against Britain, and the first blood shed, in consequence of the declaration of war in Canada, by the troops, was, unfortunately, that of Canadians. But the Pointe Claire habitants bitterly repented the resistance which they had made to the militia law, and many of them came to Montreal, craving the forgiveness of the Governor, which they readily obtained. The ringleaders alone were punished.

Hostilities were commenced in Upper Canada. No sooner had General Brocke learned that war was proclaimed, than he conceived a project of attack. He did not mean to penetrate into the enemy's country, but for the better protection of his own, to secure the enemy's outposts. On the 26th of June, he sent orders to Captain Roberts, who was at St. Joseph's, a small post, or block house, situated on an island in Lake Huron, maintained by thirty soldiers of the line and two artillerymen, in charge of a serjeant of that corps, under the command of the gallant captain, to attack Michillimackinac, an American fort defended by seventy-five men, also under the command of a captain. He was further instructed to retreat upon St. Mary's, one of the trading posts belonging to the North West Fur Company, in the event of St. Joseph's being attacked by the Americans. General Brocke's instructions reached Captain Roberts on the eighth of July, and he lost no time in carrying the first part of them into execution. Communicating the design, the execution of which he had been entrusted with, to Mr. Pothier, in charge of the Company's Post, at St. Joseph's, that gentleman patriotically tendered his services. Mr. Pothier, attended by about a hundred and sixty voyageurs, the greater part of whom were armed with muskets and fowling pieces, joined Captain Roberts with his detachment of three artillerymen and thirty soldiers of the line, and in a flotilla of boats and canoes, accompanied by the North West Company's brig Caledonia, laden with stores and provisions, a descent was made upon Michillimackinac. They arrived at the enemy's fort, without having met with the slightest opposition, and summoned it to surrender. The officer in command of the American fort at once complied. He had indeed received no certain information that war had been declared. Very shortly afterwards two vessels, laden with furs, came into the harbour, ignorant of the capture of the fort, and were taken possession of, though subsequently restored to their proprietors, by Major-General DeRottenburgh, the President of the Board of Claims. Unimportant as this achievement was, it yet had the effect of establishing confidence in Upper Canada. It had an excellent effect upon the Indian tribes, with whose aid the struggle with the Americans, was afterwards efficiently maintained.

Upon the declaration of war, the government of the United States despatched as skilful an officer, as they had, to arm the American vessels on Lake Erie, and on Lake Ontario, with the view of gaining, if possible, the ascendancy on those great inland waters, which separate a great portion of Canada from the United States. The American army was distributed in three divisions:-one under General Harrison called "The North Western Army," a second under General Stephen Van Rensellaer, at Lewiston, called "The Army of the Centre," and a third under the Commander-in-Chief, General Dearborn, in the neighbourhood of Plattsburgh and Greenbush. As yet the armies had not been put in motion, but on the 12th of July, General Hull, the Governor of Michigan, who had been sent, at the head of two thousand five hundred men, to Detroit, with the view of putting an end to the hostilities of the Indians in that section of the country, crossed to Sandwich, established his head-quarters there, and issued a proclamation to the inhabitants of Canada. He expressed the most entire confidence of success. The standard of union, he alleged, waved over the territory of Canada. He tendered the invaluable blessings of liberty, civil, political, and religious, to an oppressed people, separat