Public School History of England and Canada/Canada/Chapter 5
CHAPTER V.
THE STRUGGLE FOR RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT AND THE REBELLION OF 1837-38.
1. Growth of the Colony.—The war of 1812 brought no territory or glory to the Americans, save the victories they won en the lakes and the high seas. They had been defeated in most of the battles on land; their trade and commerce had been greatly injured by British vessels, the New England States had threatened to leave the Union, and a very heavy public debt had been contracted. Canada, too, suffered by the farmers being taken away from their farms to serve in the militia, many of them never returning to their homes, and many others returning wounded and crippled. To the latter the Government gave small pensions for life; and the widows and orphans of the killed received small grants of money. The country was too peor to pay heavy pensions, or to recompense families for the loss of their bread-winners. During the war the British Government had spent large sums in the colony, and this for a time seemed to make it prosperous. But when the struggle was over, and the expenditure ceased, the effects of the cruel conflict began to be felt. For afew years there were hard times, and these were made worse by the failure of the wheat crop in Lower Canada. So great was this failure that the Governor, on his own authority, took the public money to help the farmers to buy seed, and the Lower Canadian Parliament, the next year, voted a still larger sum. But the colony soon recovered its prosperity, for the soil was fertile and the people were hardy and industrious. Efforts were made to bring in settlers by offering free passages across the ocean and one hundred acres of land to each man, besides giving him help the first year of his settlement on a farm. Very unwisely Americans were not allowed to become citizens of Canada, the Government fearing and disliking them. ‘This was one of the bad effects of the recent war. The years from 1815 to 1820 saw a great many people settle in Canada from Great Britain and Ireland. The county of Lanark was settled about this time by immigrants from Scotland, and the failure of the crops in Ireland brought in 1820 many Irish to Canada.
There was a growth not only in population but also in trade, commerce, and manufactures. In the absence of good roads, grain and other products of Upper Canada had to be taken down to Montreal and Quebec by water. The rapids of the St. Lawrence prevented vessels from coming up, so large flat-bottomed or “Durham” boats floated down the river from Kingston to Montreal, laden with goods. These boats were then sold as it did not pay to bring them up the rapids. After a while, as the trade grew larger, canals were built between Kingston and Ottawa, and along the St. Lawrence below Prescott. These we know as the Rideau and Lachine Canals. Further west a more important work was begun in 1819. This was the building of a canal between Lakes Erie and Ontario to overcome the obstacle to navigation caused by the Falls of Niagara. Hon. W. H. Merritt, of St. Catharines, had the honor of proposing and carrying out the project, which was finished in 1829. Very early in the century steamboats came into use on the lakes and rivers, the credit of which must be given largely to the Hon. John Molson of Montreal. Quebec became noted for shipbuilding, and a brisk trade in timber with the Old World sprang up at this port. The manufacture of potash and pearlash was a profitable industry; but grain crops, in the absence of good roads, could not find a ready market. Then, as now, there was a good deal of smuggling along the frontier between Canada and the United States, and in consequence the revenue suffered considerably.
To meet the demand for money to carry on the growing trade of the country, Banks were founded, among the earliest being the Banks of Montreal, Kingston, and Quebec; and a little later the Bank of Upper Canada. The population, and therefore the trade, of Upper Canada grew more rapidly than that of Lower Canada, and this led to disputes between the Provinces. After the Constitutional Act of 1791, it was arranged that Upper Canada was to have as her share one-eighth of the customs duties collected at the chief ports of Lower Canada. Thirteen years later the proportion was changed to one-fifth, and then, in 1822, there still being dissatisfaction, the British Parliament passed the Canada Trade Act, which gave Upper Canada £30,000 of arrears due by Lower Canada, and arranged for a more just division of the revenue in the future.
Education was improving very slowly. Governor Simcoe had planned the founding of a college in his time, and for that purpose brought from Scotland John Strachan, a young but clever school teacher, to be its head. When Strachan arrived he found Simcoe had left the colony, and he started a grammar school at Cornwall, where many of the most noted men of Upper Canada were educated. In 1807, the Parliament of Upper Canada voted £500 for the support of eight grammar schools; and in 1816, common schools were granted £6,000 to help in paying teachers and buying books. In 1823, McGill University in Montreal was organized for teaching, and four years later we have the beginning of King’s College at York. In 1829 Upper Canada College was founded to prepare pupils for the coming University. Few people, at that time, could afford to give their sons a college education, so these young universities for many years had but little to do.
2. Political Abuses and Troubles.—Canada had no more wars with foreign nations, and her history, save for political troubles, since 1814 has been the history of growth in wealth, in population, and in enterprises for opening up the country for settlement, and for utilizing her natural resources. But, of political struggles, from the day she became a British colony yntil the present, she has had her full share. The war of 1812 had hardly ceased when a political struggle began which ended in rebellion and bloodshed; also, fortunately, in better and freer government. We have now to tell very briefly the causes of this strife, and how it resulted.
In Lower Canada, as already stated, great discontent was aroused by the action of the Governors and the Councils in refusing to allow the Legislative Assembly to control the expenditure of the revenue arising from timber and mining dues, the sale of Crown lands, and the taxes collected at the Custom-houses. The Assembly offered, if it were given the control of all the revenue, to provide for the necessary expenses of the Province, including the payment of the salaries of judges and other civil officers. This offer, however, the Governors and their advisers would not accept, and the Assembly then tried to stop the supplies. But the Governor took the money from the treasury, without asking permission, to pay the necessary salaries and expenses. The British Parliament was petitioned to redress these grievances, and to pass an Act giving the Legislative Assemblies the control of the expenditure of all public money. Little heed was given in England for some time to these complaints, as the Governors and their Councils generally succeeded in keeping their side of the case well before the British Government. Besides this trouble about the control of public money, there was the more serious difficulty due to the difference of race, religion, and language in the population. The British element disliked the French, and sided! with the Governors and their Councils; while the French elected the most of the members of the Assembly. The Councils were mainly British, and the Legislative Assembly, French. In 1828, an effort was made by the Home Government, by a half-measure, to settle the difficulty arising from the control of the revenue. This measure proposed to give the Assembly the control of the duties on goods, in return for a permanent support of the judges and other officials. It did not grant the control of the other revenues, nor did it make the Legislative Council elective, and therefore subject to the control of the people. So this effort to conciliate the people failed, and the discontent was increased by a harsh measure passed by Lord-John Russell in 1837, which refused the just demands of the people.
Turning to Upper Canada, we find much the same troubles and abuses as in Lower Canada. There was, however, for some time, an important difference in the political situation. In Lower Canada the Assembly was bitterly opposed to the Government; but, in Upper Canada the Assembly contained so many Government officials, such as postmasters, sheriffs and registrars, that the majority of the members snpported the Governors and their advisers. A small but increasing number of the members complained of the abuses of the time, and were treated by the ruling body as malcontents and traitors. It was not safe to say anything in the press or on the floor of Parliament against the Government and their management of affairs. The men who for many years really controlled the province were known as the Family Compact, on account of the closeness of the alliance they had formed to get and retain the offices of the Government. Many of them were U. K. Loyalists, who prided themselves on their loyalty to British institutions. Others were emigrants from the mother country, who, unwilling to make a living by hard work on bush farms, managed through the influence o. friends in the Old Land to get office in or under the Government. Very soon this Compact of office-holders came to believe that it had a right to manage the affairs of the Province, fill all the offices, and make profit out of the wild lands for themselves and their friends. The management of these lands was one of the great grievances of the settlers. Not only were large grants given to the friends of the Compact for purposes of speculation, but a company of British capitalists, called the Canada Land Company, bought up large tracts which it held without making any improvements. The County of Huron suffered more than mostsplaces from this bad policy, as for many years this fine, fertile district was left uncleared and unsettled. Then, land had been set aside in each township as Clergy Reserves and for the support of common schools, So much uncleared land coming between the farms of settlers made it difficult to construct roads and fences, and separated the farmers so much that they could not form school districts without a great deal of trouble and inconvenience.
Then again, there was great discontent because the English Church clergy claimed that they alone were entitled to share in the Clergy Reserves grant. The Church of Scotland also claimed a share, as it was the Hstablished Church of Scotland, and after some dispute its claim was recognized. This left out the Methodists, Baptists, Roman Catholics and other denominations, and, therefore, did not mend matters much. In 1836, Sir John Colborne the Governor, and his Executive Council, endowed fifty-seven rectories of the Church of England with a part of these church lands. This was done because the Reform party (the party opposed to the Family Compact) was in the majority in the House of Assembly, and it was feared something might be done to prevent the Church of England from getting the benefit of the endowment. As already stated, for a time the Family Compact controlled the Legislative Assembly. This did not last long, for the abuses of power were so great that the people began to elect as members men who tried to remove the evils from which they were suffering. In 1824 this Reform party elected a majority of the members, and chose one of their own number as Speaker, or Chairman of the Assembly. The most prominent members of this party at this time were Dr. Rolph, Peter Perry, and Marshall Bidwell. At this time also the noted William Lyon Mackenzie began to make his influence felt. Mackenzie was 2 Scotchman who had emigrated to Canada a few years before—had been a storekeeper in different places—and then had come to Toronto to start a newspaper. His paper, “The Colonial Advocate,” attacked the abuses of the Family Compact so fiercely that a gang of ruffians seized his press and threw it into Lake Ontario. This made Mackenzie and his paper more popular than ever, and he.was elected member of the Assembly for the County of York, the most populous county in the Province. On the floor of the Assembly he made himself very troublesome to the Executive Council, and was continually unearthing frauds and scandals in connection with the public accounts, and the management of such works as the Welland Canal. Another man of a higher character and better judgment was elected, a little later, in the town of York. This was the fair-minded and moderate patriot, Robert Baldwin. In 1830 the elections resulted in favor of the Family Compact, and it used its majority in the Assembly to have Mackenzie expelled from the House for a breach of parliamentary privilege. Mackenzie was relected, and again expelled, and once more elected. He was then sent to England with petitions to the King for a redress of grievances. In 1835 the election gave a majority to the Reform party, and next year the Governor, Sir John Colborne, resigned his position and left the Province.
3. The Rebellion in Lower Canada, 1837-38.—Meanwhile matters were hastening to a crisis in Lower Canada. The French were much under the influence of M. Papineau, an eloquent speaker and writer, who had the power to stir the feelings and passions of the habitants. There had been a deadlock in Parliament, as the Assembly had refused to vote money for the payment of judges and other officials, and the Governor had taken what was needed out of the treasury without the consent of the Assembly. As soon as it was known that Lord John Russell had carried through the British Parliament resolutions opposed to granting the Canadian people their rights, the excitement in Lower Canada was very great, and broke out in a revolt, under the leadership of Papineau and Dr. Wolfred Nelson. The rebels were poorly prepared for a rising, and the revolt was soon suppressed by Sir John Colborne and his regulars. Engagements took place at St. Denis on the Richelieu, where Lieutenant Weir was shot by the rebels while attempting to escape from his captors; at St. Charles, where the rebels were defeated; and at St. Eustache, on the Ottawa, where many of the rebels were burned in a church.
The constitution of Lower Canada was now suspended, and a Special Council, half of the members of which were Hnglish and half French, was created to govern for the time being. Lord Durham, a nobleman of great intelligence and fair-mindedness, was sent out from England to examine into the cause of the rebellion, and to report to the Home Government. On his arrival, he at once began to inquire into the true state of affairs in both Provinces, and corrected several abuses in the management of the Crown lands. He found a great many political prisoners in the jails, and not thinking it wise to try them before the ordinary courts, or by courts-martial, he released the most of them, and banished Nelson and eight others to Bermuda. He forbade Papineau, who had fled to the United States, to return to Canada, under pain of death. In doing these things, Durham acted without authority, and he was blamed by the British Parliament, which annulled his sentences. Durham was so chagrined at this seeming insult that he resigned his position and returned to England in broken health. His important work was, however, the drafting of a Report on the state of Canada, containing a great many valuable suggestions about the best way of governing colonies. He advised that Canada should be given Responsible Government, that is, the Governor should choose for his advisers the men having the confidence of the people’s representatives. Besides, he recommended that Canada should have only one Parliament instead of two, and suggested the Union of all the British provinces in North America under one Parliament. Later on, it will be seen that this Report had a very great influence. After Durham had left Canada, Sir John Colborne became Administrator. The people of Lower Canada despairing of justice once more broke out in revolt, and a few sight engagements took place. Once more the rebellion was crushed—this time with considerable loss of life and property. Twelve of the leaders were tried by court-martial, and executed at Montreal. This ended the rebellion in Lower Canada.
4. Rebellion in Upper Canada, 1837.—After Sir John Colborne’s retirement in 1836, from the Governorship of Upper Canada, the British Government, by a curious mistake, sent out as his successor, Sir Francis Bond Head, a man who had never taken any interest in politics, and who was quite ignorant of the state of affairs in the Province. At first the Reformers thought Sir Francis would be friendly to their cause, but, like all preceding governors, he soon came under the influence of the Family Compact. He invited leading Reformers to join the Executive Council and the invitation was accepted. But he would not listen to the proposal that the Council should be responsible to the Assembly, and, in consequence, the Reform members of the Council resigned. Soon after this there was a general election, and Sir Francis threw himself into the contest with great zeal and effect. He made the people believe that their loyalty was at stake, and succeeded in having Mackenzie and other Reform leaders defeated at the polls. Mackenzie and some of his associates now despaired of having the grievances of the people removed by peaceable means, and unwisely listened to the suggestions of Papineau to join a revolt. As if to encourage them, Sir Francis Head sent all the regular troops from Upper to Lower Canada to aid in suppressing the rebellion there, leaving York and its armory wholly unprotected. Mackenzie began to stir the passions of the people by articles in his paper, and by violent speeches. Soon the disaffected began arming and drilling throughout the western part of the province, and, although warned of what was going on, Sir Francis refused to take any steps to stop these dangerous proceedings. In fact the Governor acted as if he wished to hasten a revolt. Finally it was arranged that a rising should take place on the 7th December, that York should be surprised, the government buildings and armory seized, the Governor and Council taken prisoners, and then a republican form of Government established. It so happened that the leaders of the revolt in York, Dr. Rolph being the chief, changed the time for attack from the 7th to the 4th, without informing all the leaders outside of the change.
On the day appointed, about four hundred men gathered at Montgomery’s Tavern, four miles from Toronto. They were badly armed, worn with travel, and disappointed at the mistake in their plans. Still, had they marched at once to York, it could easily have been surprised and captured ; but Rolph, either through fear or treachery, counselled delay until more men arrived. Before this could happen the rebels were discovered, and steps taken to defend the town, the armory and the government buildings. It was now too late to attempt a surprise. The next day Mackenzie wished to attack at once; but Rolph still counselled delay, promising support from friends in the town if the attack were delayed until after dark. The night attack was a failure, and the following day Colonel McNab having arrived from Hamilton with a number of loyalists, a force of nine hundred men was sent against Mackenzie, who with four hundred men stood his ground near Montgomery’s Tavern. The conflict was brief and decisive—the few rebels, without proper arms or support, being easily defeated and scattered. Mackenzie, with a reward of £1,000 on his head, escaped with great difficulty; and after many exciting adventures in travelling from York round the head of Lake Ontario to the Niagara frontier, crossed the Niagara river, and found refuge on American soil.
5. The “Patriot” War, 1837-38.—Besides Mackenzie, Rolph and some other leaders thought it prudent to leave Canada. Still others were taken prisoners, and during the administration of Sir George Arthur, who succeeded Sir Francis Bond Head, Lount and Matthews were hanged at Toronto, an act of severity for which there was but slight excuse.
Mackenzie, unfortunately, did not rest content with the failure of his schemes. He now gathered together, at Buffalo, a number of ruffians and sympathizers from the slums of American cities, promising them land and bounties after they had liberated Canada. These men took possession of Navy Island, about two miles above Niagara Falls, fortified it, and made preparations to invade Canada. Colonel McNab defended the Canadian shore with a number of militia and Indians. A little steamer, the “Caroline,” was used by the “Patriots” to carry supplies from Buffalo to Navy Island, and McNab determined to capture and destroy it. This he did by sending a party of men under Lieutenant Drew across the river at night, who cut the vessel from her moorings, set her on fire, and allowed her to drift- over the Falls. This act of violence greatly incensed the United States Government, but an apology by the British Government smoothed over the difficulty. A little later, Navy Island was abandoned, and the frontier at Detroit and on the St. Lawrence, became the points of attack. A number of Americans crossed at the former place, took possession of Windsor, and marched on Sandwich. Colonel Prince met them with a body of militia, defeated them, and shot four prisoners without a trial. On the St. Lawrence the most important event was the landing of a number of Americans at Windmill Point, a little below the town of Prescott. They took possession of a strong stone windmill, from which they were driven with some difficulty. The garrison, about one hundred and thirty in number, surrendered; about fifty were killed—the Canadians losing thirteen killed and a number wounded. The leaders of this raid, Von Schultz and nine of his companions, were tried and executed. The ‘‘Patriot War” was over, and Mackenzie was an exile. After many years of hardship and suffering, he was pardoned and allowed to return to Canada, and once more entered political life.