nggascce< Pe wp remanence a Sid sad Ree Bites seat

Ee eR ge eae .

THE HISTORY

OF THE

COUNTY OF WELLAND,

ONTARIO,

ITS: PAST AND PRESENT,

CONTAINING

A CONDENSED HISTORY OF CANADA; A COMPLETE HISTORY OF WELLAND COUNTY: ITS TOWNSHIPS, TOWNS, VILLAGES, SCHOOLS, CHURCHES, SOCIETIES, INDUSTRIES, STATISTICS, ETC.; PORTRAITS OF SOME OF ITS PROMINENT MEN; DESCRIPTION OF ITS VARIOUS HISTORIC AND INTERESTING LOCALITIES ; MISCEL- LANEOUS MATTER ; BIOGRAPHIES AND HISs- TORIES OF PIONEER FAMILIES, ETC.

LLLUSTARATEL DO.

WELLAND TRIBUNE PRINTING HOUSE, 1887.

ATA NDI oiler Neiman aaa ein

Gieapeaer et

PREFACE.

Tao VIER surmounting many unlooked for obstacles and overcoming unex- pected difficulties, the publishers are enabled to present to the public the History of the County of Welland, which has been in preparation for several months, To procure the material for its compilation many

hundred pages of manuscript and written records have been explored,

and every other avenue of reliable information has been diligently searched. He who expects to find the work entirely free from errors or de- fects, has little knowledge of the difficulties attending the preparation of . work of this kind. So numerous are the sources from which the facts have been drawn, that no attempt has been made to indicate them in the foot-notes. ‘The data has been culled item by item, from sources widely scattered — in books, pamphlets, periodicals and newspaper files ; in manuscripts, church records, court records and justice’s dockets ; in local laws: charters, manuals and’ minutes of societies; in privat: letters, journals and diaries, especially of intelligent observers; in funeral sermons, obituary notices and inscriptions on tombstones ; in the memory of living persons of what they have themselves witnessed ; and last and least valuable of all, traditions where they could not be supported by some record or contemporaneous document : these have been received with the utmost caution. In matters of doubt- ful authenticity the writers have assumed, as a guiding principle, that the record of a false statement as the truth would bea greater evil than the loss of a true statement.

It is perhaps due to both parties to say that this work was arranged, and the copy largely prepared by the Historical Publishing Company, composed of Messrs. E. R. Langs, of Brantford, and A. B. Rice, of Welland, and that the publication was completed by their successor, Mr. J. J. Sidey, with Mr. Rice as editor of the departments. ‘The change ¢” medias res may account for possible omission of matter, or in style of arrangement. On the other hand, any credit which may be due for the production of the book is fairly divisible as indicated. Acknowledg- ments for valuable services rendered are due the many citizens of the county who

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PREFACE,

iv

have so kindly assisted us, by furnishing data from which the book has been com-

piled. ‘The friends from whom we have obtained information are so numerous, and

all have been so accommodating, that it would be invidious to particularize. We

therefore take this opportunity of thanking, collectively, the various public officials, clergymen and others, who have rendered us such valuable assistance. The biographical sketches were prepared fron: notes collected by the solicitors, and a copy of nearly every biography has been sent vy mail to the several subjects,

giving patrons an opportunity to correct any errors that may have crept into their

sketches. Where the copies were not returned, the publishers were obliged to print

the originals. In submitting their work to the public, the publishers trust that it will ke re- i ceived in that generous spirit which is gratified at honest and conscientious efforts, i and not in that captious spirit which refuses to be satisfied short of unattainable Hy perfection. 4 4

xX

Fh Lil RCE aS i

| com-

is, and . We fficials, CON TEN TS icitors, : ibjects, o their ———— oO print PART I. | be re- THE DOMINION OF CANADA, efforts, ‘ PAGk. | PAGe : Our Beginniny—Prehistoric.............0..... 1 ThewWiits Of WBLB si yeaa epeamontensas 38 ainable 5 The French Colony. .........6.. 0000 ccc e cece 4 The Family COMMON evi eeu eaie ssa cgeae 42 | The Indian Wars...... occ e reece 8 | Mackenzie's Revolt... fase f 47 4 The ae a Of Canaan esis vi cecn eee: 19 Lord 8) denham’s Ministry. hl bl : Canada during the American Revolution.... 27 | Epitome of Canadian History... ............ 62 The American Revolution.............. 00... 30 | Riel’s second Rebellion.......... 665. cree eee. 68 The Settlement of English-spenking Canada 33 | Statistics, ete ............. 70 vd dash Canadian Progress from 1792 to the war in The Six Nations Indians.. 82 PART II. COUNTY OF WELLAND. Cuapr. I. — Introductory — Pioneer Life— CHap, VIII, PFs (7 eabeaneisitso amehliR OS 144 Clearing the Land — Dw ellings — Horse- CHap, LX.—Political...,.... 06.06.00 ee ees 155-158 back "ravel—Character of the Pioneers Cuap, X.--The Pre: —Bench and Bart Be —Early Settlement—The Lot of the Pio- Medical Profession.............0..00 00s 159-166 DUSPB Ga Ci Sey ie eR NT EL Poh Cavlewun 87-92 | CHap, XI.--Location and Extent—The Soil— Cuav. IL.—The War of 1812..............0565 93-111 Crops — Markets — Railway and Wuater Cuap. II. — Reconstruction — The Welland Communication— Statistics — Assessment Canal—T urning the First Sod--Mr. Mer- Robe -Ounaiecmnale Act—The Jvil—Post ritt’s Speech—The “New Canal”...... 112-120 OMldes io. iss ee cie i conn ubaiceye Ceuhate 167-175 CuHap, IV.—Asiatic Cholera--The Rebellion CHap, XII, — The Townsend Trial —- The of B87 BY UBS Fay Kaweien ccck’ geeecelas 121-126 Dick Turpin of the Niagara Penin- Cuar. V.—The Fenian Raid................ 127-137 sulu--Greatest Identity Case on Record— CHAP. M 1. —Niagara District—-District Coun- Townsend or McHenry ?................ 176-233 cil—Provisional Council — County Build- Cuap, XII. — Notable Events — Desjardins ings—Final Separation—Special Sessions Bridge Accident—Visit of the Prince of —Registry Oftice—Marsh Lands........ 138-143 WHIGRY si py itcrncvincsedts ay bhi cen aatwaete cee Es 234-236 Cx sy, VIL— County Officers and Representa- tives to County Council................. 144-149 | PART III. a | TOWNSHIPS, TOWNS AND VILLAGES. CROWLAND .......-....5 DP LAR Fini svi En 239 HUMBERSTONE TowNsHIP—Continued. Settlement. 6.0.00 0... cece cece eee eee 240 Village of Stonebridge.................... 279 Municipal Organization......6...... ee 240 | PORT COLBORNE,........0 66. e cece cece eee eee 281 | WOOK BV IMR recs. Sp aatdnaatins sabieture neue 242 | PELHAM TOWNSHIP.............c0ceee cece cues 290 : | Crowland Churcie?...... 6. cece eee e ees 243 PHO-RORGE ores cer clea reesei famine sy . 201 Municipal ‘Attair. iMECTELE Gauche he eben 283 Date of the First Settlement..... ........ 291 Crowland Agricuiiural Society........... 244 POIWAM NG TRGB ss beers pemcure nares 292 ei PIGHOOIES: baa case as,. bene mney Oye tea ps 244 Mount Vernon Church.............5...05. 204 » | BERTIE AND FORT WRIE.........-6. 000000005 245 HON WIGK coor cciss che ian ee beaten Up ere 294 | Early Settlement........ ......-...:ee ee 246 Pelham Town Hall.................000.00 0. 295 i Municipal Organization.........-.....5.6+5 247 An Evangelical Church.................... 295 m pe PNW WH EN: 9. iv dichace ta ice ales aero rite Mek teed 247 pecnniee Graveyard........... ....4.005 . 295 g Stevensville,...........66 0. cece eee ees 270, 589 MCW Pecos sc feds coer cous ioh eee eS 295 f VADLORIG Sia haent aise sb eae ON EDEN SD 270 Tha Fonthill Churches............-......., 297 ; RIGROWAY Ca asic crt renee veers 270 Lodges, Societies and Bands.............. 298 In Memoriam... .........5666 000 se cece eee ee 271 The Medical Profession.................... 299 BOle Wee rca eee rdovans seGdtcee noes 274 Fonthill Cemetery............0.........004 299 HUMBERSTONE ‘TOWNSHIP. «.. 0.066 -...5 000655 275 The Fonthill Nurseries.................... 300 The Pioneers...........5. 0. cece eevee cee ee 276 Cook’s Corners... 2.2... 0... cess ccee ce eeees 301 } 6 ‘ ‘

¢ vi CONTENTS. PAGE, Paar. Tat) PELHAM TOWNSHIP ~Continued, THOROLD Townsiie—Continued, a Union Church. . Yat igavewer tem ROMS vee ee cr teceeertereceeeeceeens eee BOB i, A Tragedy... .-...seeee ees Nes ce eeee B02 BURUIBELOR yh cris decemoeherrseceewoanuceey bbb) 350 * Society of Friends. . fae hee Cake Chon ea ae Municipal Government...............656. 359 Municipal Government. Gs eget .. 803 TOWN OF THOROLD... cccccrccrcccecsvcceccece ie Schools...... Per eRe NT ar ei 303 First Settlement 363 ¥ Tow tunic! ov Br sii i pwas : edna a re fa a ORS Sore Papen ire unicipal Organization..... eevee e O08 Incorporation. ........ss+ssrseseerereseeeees Lundy's Lane...... Ee y eal teen nee aa The Ne ‘w Canal, 4 Statistics of Pro jress.... 0.0 oc. ec. ee ees BOG the Governor's Visit. ; is 365 Village of Stamford...........55 SE GE: 307 Thorold a 'Town..... .. 367 ; Ancient Churches, . Miputthiel ican ip amet I THCUBUPAGB ei iets ONT Crees ved ovocenebeees 367 vs i NIAGARA FALLS VILLAGE. vevereceees OOD CHUPCHOS «oes eee see tee ceee eee rene eens 369 Bs NIAGARA FALLS TOWN.....6000 ce0seeee eres 313 Thorold High School...............0..005 371 if Barly Glimpses.......0.0.00c000ceene ences . B13 Thorold Mechanics’ Institute.............. 462 ie The Niagara River. ........5. 6000000 e eee 318 Lo WORGs aks MOM KUM AMEN par ahiacerrcancees 372 i The Cataract.. vvccceveresecseceseee SLO) | WAINFLEET TOWNBHIP..........csccecsseeeee 374 : Tho Horse-shoe Fali........ 00.0.6 ceeee eens 320 Karly sottloment............. cece eee eee 374 Sf PADI HOOK sii ii iccbseccssecrey caren consi 821 Marsh 1:18. oe. s eee ee ccc ce ee ceeee ene eneee 376 i A Syncope of the Waters.. (beh osone tae Progress of ‘Vainfleet.................0005 379 A Narrow Escape..........055+: Gare unin 323 Villaxe of Marshville.................. 0065 d i Burning of the Caroline. .. ........5+5 $24 | TOWNSHIP OF WILLOUGHBY.,................. 381 Vessels sent over the Falls Forth: 5 Eurly Settlement. .... 00.0... eee cce cece ees 382 Whe Whirlpool.......... 0 cee c cece cece eae § BEAHIMELCO LG ii ruia Ci Ces coVnR bi Ney 383 ane Maid of the Mist...........- y New Germany...............005 Espace RE 384 “a Cantair Webb 3 BIBOW CROC aes bs co here ca cusbecackiesicene 384 Barre) ‘Trips VILLAGE OF CHIPPAWA.......-0... ccc cece ee eee 387 Kendalis ‘ Trip, 2 | TOWN OF WELLAND. ...cs cece reer teense eens 300 ) Niagars Falls in Winter.........6.-0+s0 00s 334 “The Aqueduct”. ..........cc cece cen eeee 390 ; International Park........:6:.0.066000 .. 385 Mrerritte villas cs ii ciscistvscicauieeerneneacne : j PRESB “COM si iri givcracedsccesevecudsecsy oy 336 Incorporation... .. cece cece cee n eee eens 391 ; Retroce jion of the Falls...... ........++ 339 Municinal History............. ccc cece eee 391 { Kros've power of the Horse-shoe Fall.... 340 The Weiland of to-day.................++ . 304 2 PHB UPA ars cadikela neers web eaenpae 341 THO BCHOO Guise Carts bedules Veubulncase f i Settlement of the Land .......-......+.0+ 341 Methodist Church ate Village of Elgin..... Eaihley. agin en 341 Presbyterian .. 06.6... .e cece & ‘town of Clifton ers. || Episcopal Church f ‘Town of Niagara Falls. . 313 Church of Christ... 5 Wesley Park. ... 0.06: . cece reer cece 344 Baptist............. } Churches and Religious Institutions...... 345 Roman Catholic. ............cceee cece ee enes ( KOGIGHMOMI crim c rath ie aiurs Cldekeae ts 317 TUGNOPAN clei as ciicens capi avaneccdinns 4 : THOROLD TOWNSHIP. ....... 0.000000. ce eene es 350 Salvation Army. , Phe Pioneers. ....... 2666 beeen eens 350 Mechanics’ Institute Building of the Canal.............. 0.0.00 353 DOOROE Ger carvem ket cause edie a nace d Rebellion Of 1837-8.....0....c0c000 veces ees 353 Tandustries ..6.sccsiscccecceeeccevecsccces,, 408 res BGUODNS Noth poh ceer pater cusses e by egeeon bee 353 Corner Stone of County Building......... 408 ‘ ry Port RODingON........ 6.66 c eects 354 Fenian Raid.... 6.0... ccc ccc cece ccc eseees 410 i a Port Robinson Churches................+5 356 Governor's Visit.......... 0c. cee eec eee eee 411 t TROD RER See chk eae hana peat ee leone « .. B57 Corner Stone of Orient Hall............... 413 r Allanburgh RE aR eT WEA er FORMA rere PUTAS $57 Notable Railway Accidents............... 414 » CUUTONGH Hr rsir sta enein ae cnmaecncaencanrens 358 Historical Notes.....0.....6. ce ceee cece 415 be Teh Gi) | aR a Ren eSCRy AUR Ar PBI RON 358 a : i PART IV. ; i BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. , Bertie and Fort Erie Thorold 'Tow ORO Vivi sata eb eeeates Rea ET, nship............... : ; 4 Crowland Township........... 00.1.5... tei Thorold Reig at atic Uee Wit BALD. Sui maisyTEY ioe ‘ i Humberstone and Port Colborne. . ne 4 Wainfleet Township....................0..... 537 ‘ : & Pelham Township..... ............05- 166 Willoughby Nownship.......................2 5Al q i } Stamford Powastitp and Niagara Falls Village 490 | Town of Welland:..........................., ; 547 ; { Niagara Falls Town........0...6..c cece cece eee F715 Al RR Sg ts lI RN AE ceo eed rc \ APPENDIX. 0.60.5 c cee ee eens 4 DE rn ANT RAPED sate EVAL Eagan An Tn Rh AREA HEAT aaRUa ey EMO TEN ALN Clair eo YS el rey mag th 587 . ERRATA... 0. ce ceeeesneeees Ere SIT bea PTH ELV ATAU EMEC OPER EER Ty on tnlmea LT Nee RM ARENT hs 592 e ei x if PORTRAITS. + § . D f ‘ ; r. Frazer, 6x-M. Po... cca esae ec eetees 97 | James E. Morin, M > ’ f f A. G, PRIUS ROBO Case c ce teed ic eichA AU CUA iad 195 Henr Cronmiller.. si ‘a MLS aN CRAG dels ri e Dr. Ferguson, M. Poo... ........cesceeneeeeee, 17) sl Feat G) b7:) a er rage nut as Seeen gL Sam AYE 493 : } Edwin Hershey ........:.......0.c scene eee 327 DE GMOW Rs ee eo a 543

PAGE,

DOMINION OF CANADA.

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ParT 1.—THE DOMINION OF CANADA.

Our BEGINNING.-—PREHISTORIC.

Ths history of Canada begins with its discovery by civilized man, For untold ages previous to this event our forests and rivers had held a sparse population of savages, who in the fifteenth century had not advanced beyond the manners of the age of stone. Of these there were three principal tribes: the Iroquois, which at that time, however, were settled on the region south of Lake Ontario, although they frequently invaded central Canada ; the Algonquins, who held the Atlantic seaboard and the St. Lawrence and Ottawa valleys; and the Hurons, from Montreal west- ward, previous to their utter extirpation by the Iroquois two centuries ago, ‘The Iroquois were the fiercest, and had the virtues as well as the vices of savage life most fully marked ; they have been called “the Romans of the West,” the most Indian of Indians, and they seem to have reached the nearest approach to civilized life among the red men, But they had not advanced beyond the prehistoric age: of stone, beyond the men who wrought the implements and drew the rude sketches of animals that we find in caverns among the bones of the mammoth and cave-bear. They formed a strong political organization, the Iroquois League, which drove every other tribe before it; in the wars between the white men the Iroquois were the most dreaded foes and the most valued allies, ‘Their force never amounted to more than 2,000 warriors, but they had tactics terribly effective in the dark and tortuous forests through which they followed the war-path.

Unlike the wandering hunters of the Algonquin race, the Iroquois lived in settled towns, surrounded with palisades, and containing a number of rude, rough, bark-covered dwellings. Along the sides of these were a number of bunks four feet in height, where the members of some twenty families slept promiscuously together ; provision for decency there was none. The building was perpetually reeking with a pungent smoke, a fertile cause of eye disease ; other annoyances were the filth, the fleas, the cries of children. Outside these “towns” patches of ground were laboriously, and after the toil of months, cleared by cutting down a few trees ; a laborious work, hard to be effected with stone hatchets. Then the squaws toiled with their rude hoes, pointed with stone or clam-shell, stirring up a little light earth to receive their crop of corn, tobacco, pumpkins or Indian hemp. ‘This the women

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2 HISTORY OF WELLAND COUNTY,

spun by the primitive plan of winding it around their thighs. There is no pleasant aspect in the life of an Iroquois woman ; her youth was wantonness, her after life drudgery. ’n the summer, at dances and religious festivals, girls who had never learned to blush went naked save for a skirt reaching from the waist to the knees. When permanently married, she was her husband’s slave ; “the Iroquois women,” said Champlain, “are their mules.” -

The chiefs, or sachems, fared no better than the humblest brave or hunter ; Tecumseh and Pontiac hunted and fished for their sustenance, and were as filthy, greasy and repulsive as any of their tribe.

Of metals they had hardly any use. Except for a few ornaments of gold or copper, the knives that carved the venison for Cartier, the arrowhead that whizzed past the ears of Champlain, were of chipped flintstone. One work of perfect art the Indian produced. Civilized man has devised nothing more exqu‘sitely graceful than the Indian birch canoe. A genuine offspring of the forest and tne lake, :t floats, an exquisite combination of symmetry and lightness, through scenes whence, like its builders, it is soon destined to disappear. So the Indian lived for ages amidst the works of nature without an effort to understand her laws : their religion not as some have explained it, a monotheistic cult of the Great Spirit, but a childish anémism at- tributing personality to all phenomena of the outwar) world. Life was supposed to pervade all nature, the silence of forest or lake, the thunder of the cataract. When tu the squaw, worn out with blows and drudgery, to the hunter marble-frozen in the snowdrift, Death, the deliverer, came, he brought neither terror nor hope. Good and bad, the dead passed unjudged into the shadowy hunting ground, each accom- panied by the ghost of his pipe, his moccasins, bis bow and arrows, his kettles and ornaments.

The discovery of Canada by Europeans was one of the many great results which spruig from the new birth of modern thought out of the darkness of the Middle Ages; it came when Greek literature arose from the dead after the capture of Con- stantinople. In June, 1497, seventeen months before Columbus set foot on the American mainland, John Cabot, sent by Henry VII. of England, discovered New- foundland and the Gulf of the St. Lawrence ; although there is every reason to be- lieve that the fisheries off Newfoundland had long been known to Basque and Nor- man fishermen.

In 1524, Francis I. of France sent Verazzani to America, He merely coasted along the country from Florida to Newfoundland, and named it ‘La Nouvelle France,” a name which was afterwards applied to Canada by the French. Hence both the French and English claimed the country, though for two centuries England paid no attention to a claim which was after ail a mere feudal quibble.

In 1534, Jacques Cartier, the true discoverer of Canada, sailing from St. Malo, circumnavigated Newfoundland, and scanned the dreary coasts of Labrador. He

seme

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results which

the Middle yture of Con- foot on ‘the covered New- eason to be- que and Nor-

erely coasted ‘la Nouvelle bnch, Hence uries England

rom St. Malo, abrador. He

ee

THE DOMINION OF CANADA. ° 3

entered a spacious bay, which, from the heat of the Canadian summer day, he called Baie des Chaleurs, and ascending the St. Lawrence till land could be seen on either side, erected on a commanding promontory a huge cross engraved with the /lewrs- de-lis of the French king, as a token of his sovereignty, in spite of the opposition of an aged Indian chief — an opposition which was a symbol of the ultimate failure of the red man before’ the white.

Once more King Francis, in May, 1535, sent out Cartier, better equipped for the voyage, with three ships, the largest named Za Grande Hermione, and 110 men. On the roth of August he entered the Gulf of the St. Lawrence, which he named after the Roman martyr, whose festival it was, for French colonization was from the first religious. Along the river’s course, with its banks of forest, he sailed past the sombre entrance to the Saguenay ; and in the hope, common to all discoverers of that age, to And a passage to the Indies, sailed on. He was told by Indian fishers that he would soon reach a country called CANAbDa or Canata, an Indian word sig- nifying “town ;” passing an island gay with summer birds and flowers, and covered with grape-vines, he named it “The Isle of Bacchus.” Near this, on the site of Quebec, was an Indian fort or town, Stadacona, where lived a chief, Don- nacona by name, whom the I|’rench, applying their own feudal ideas to the merely personal and very precarious dignity of an Indian chief, styled “The Lord of Canada. ”

Although the Indians tried hard to bar their further progress, this dauntless cxplorer sailed on through the unknown waters, till at length he anchored under a hill which he named Mount Royal. There, where is now a stately city, no unfit occupant even of that splendid scenery, was a rudely-built Indian town called “ Hochela,za,” where he and his men were welcomed by the Indians as superior beings, overwhelmed with feasting and presents, and intreated to heal a crippled invalid chief, over whom Cartier read the “ Passion” from the gospel ; but the age of miracles being past, the old chief’s rheumatism remained as it was! After three days’ stay, Cartier returned to his fort at Stadacona, where he had the courage to brave the rigors of the winter. ‘This was a severe one, and the garrison suffered terribly from cold, hunger, and the increasing ravages of scurvy. A friendly Indian told them the remedy, a decoction of spruce bark,

With the summer the explorers returned tc France, having kidnapped the friendly chief Donnacona and nine of his people, who were exhibited at Court, and baptized with great pomp at Rouen Cathedral, but who died in their exile. This action was not only a crime but a mistake ; it alienated the Indians, and was the first step in a long series of mutual wrong-doings between the white man and the red.

Cartier made two other voyages, whic.:i, however, led to no important results ; his search for the coveted precious metals and gems led only to finding some worth-

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4 HISTORY OF WELLAND COUNTY.

less crystals in that part of the Quebec promontory which has thence been named

“ Cape Diamond.” ‘These voyages, however, served the purpose of familiarizing the

French with the St. Lawrence region, and with the Indians. A considerable traffic

in furs and peltry was now carried on. Besides the voyage of Cartier to Canada, several French expeditions visited

Sable Island, a barren strip of land off the Coast of Nova Scotia... The first of these was by a nobleman named De Jaty, who landed some cattle ; as the island, other- wise sterile, was covered with a coarse grass, and had a small lake of fresh water, the cattle survived, and were the means of preserving the lives of a few out of forty con- victs landed there cighty years afterwards by the Marq::is de la Roche. Out of forty, twelve remained alive when a ship was sent tvelve years afterwards to ascer- tain their fate.

At the beginning of the seventeenth century Chauvois, a sea captain of Rouen, brought out sixteen settlers and established them for the winter in a small fort at Tadousac, where till lately the remains might be seen of a small house, built by him,

the first stone building in Canada.

THE FRENCH COLONY.

It was the custom of the French monarchs at that period to give some great nobleman nominal charge of Canada, with the title of Lieut.-Governor or Lieut.- General. One of these, De Chaste, conceived the idea of organizing a company of merchants who should undertake further exploration, and be given a monopoly of the fur trade. As his lieutenant in this enterprise he selected, in a good hour for Canada, Samuel de Champlain, a naval officer, who, though young, had already done good service in the West Indies and elsewhere. Champlain belongs to that type of essentially Christian heroes under which we class Columbus, and very many of Champlain’s succéssors, from Montmagny to Montcalm. For the gains of trade he cared nothing ; for the glory of France, or rather of its King, he cared much ; but his highest aim was the glory of God, by which he undeistuod the extension of the Catholic faith. For these two supreme objects there was no toil, no labor or danger, that he did not endure during more than thirty years devoted to founding the colony of New France, the germ of the Canada of to-day.

During this period he made many voyages between Canada and France to procure reinforcements, and to represent the result of his explorations and the prospects of colonization. In the first of them, in 1603, he ascended the St. Law- rence, being favorably received by the Algonquin Indians ; all was changed since Cartier’s visit. Where Stadacona and Hochelaga then stood, both town and people had vanished. He was arrested in his course by the Sault St. Louis rapids, to which, from the notion of the river being a water-highway to China, he gave the

1amed ng the traffic

visited f these _ other- ter, the ‘ty con- Out of O ascer-

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France to s and the e St. Law- nged since and people 5 rapids, to e gave the

THE DOMINION OF CANADA. 5

name of Za Chine, but fiom the summit of Mount Royal he looked forth over forest and river of this new land of promise.

In a second voyage from France soon after, being better equipped with men and i supplies, he sailed with a nobleman named the Sieur de Monts, first exploring the i coast of Nova Scotia; which De Monts preferred to Canada. A fort was built at ; Port Royal, now Annapolis, and leaving a small body of settlers, who, after enduring great hardships, were about to abandon the colony when a ship arrived with supplies from France. Acadia, as the colony was called, flourished for some years, but was under the disacvantage of repeatedly changing masters, according to the fortune of ' war between the French and English. It was finally ceded to the latter in 1713.

Champlain’s sagacious judgment perceived the superior advantages of Canada.

He was allowed to commission two ships, and on July 3rd, 1608, he founded the future capital of French Canada on the north shore of that part of the rivee which 4 the Indians called ‘‘ Quebec,” or “Strait.” There, beneath the now historic hill, he | raised a few huts, a magazine for stores, a wooden fort, and on the rocks above a 9 barrack for the soldiers. There he remained with his settlers for two years and a

half. During the winter all suffered severely from cold and scurvy. His men were

mutinous ; wretched Indians hovered about his settlement, ready to beg or steal ;

but Champlain’s firmness crushed rebellion ; his faculty for government held the : discordant elements of the little colony together ; the lofty piety of his nature seemed d like that of one of the old heroes of Christian romance, Godfrey or St. Louis, come 4 back to life again.

Languor was not in his work, Weakness not in his word, Weariness not on his brow !

But, saint as he was as well as soldier, the saintliness had some alloy of Loyola, }: teaching that the end justifies the means. The end, so persistently worked out by the politicians and Jesuits who succeeded him, was by taking sides with one of the hostile Indian races to subdue their opponents, and win both at last as subjects o: France and vassals of the Church. He chose the weaker and less organized tribe of 4 Algonquins, and in 1609 joined a party of their warriors in exploring the beautiful gs lake that bears his. name, and in attacking their foes, the Iroquois. The white man’s firearms won an easy victory ; but a false step had been taken, the wrath of the implacable Six Nations was once and forever aroused, to break out again and again in massacre and the torture of settler and priest, missionary and delicate maiden ; till at last the Iroquois, joining the foes of France, helped to conquer Canada for England !

In 1511 he marked out the present site of Montreal as a post to be occupied, and surrounded it with an earthen rampart, naming it Place Royale.

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As every me-

6 HISTORY OF WELLAND COUNTY,

morial of our earliest Canadian hero interests Canadians, it is well to note that St. Helen’s Island is named after Champlain’s wife.

Soon after this, guided by some Algonquin braves in their birch canoes, Cham- plain — first of white men — ascended the Ottawa. Alone with savages, whose friendship he could not trust, he passed day after day ascending that silent highway, with its unvarying fringe of primeval forest, inhabited only by wild beasts, now scarcely to be found but in museums. He followed the difficult portage where is the terrific cataract of the Chaudiere, the abode of a malignant spirit, to whom his guides were fain to throw their offerings of tobacco, a cataract which now mingles its voice with the tumult of a great city. ‘Thence through the clear stream of the Upper Ottawa to yet another /ortage, he saw stretching across the river the ridge of lime- stone precipice, over which the whole force of the Ottawa thunders. Thence over the broad Lake of the Wild Cats on to che Indian settlements, where the most diffi- cult of all the Ottawa portages stops the way at the Allumette rapids. Here Cham- plain was entertained by a friendly chief. Thence he returned to Quebec, and pro- ceeded to France, where the greatest interest was now felt in the new colony. Champlain was freely supplied with stores, arms, settlers and artisans for Quebec. On his return he found the colonists prosperous ; the Indians had been friendly, and the crops planted in the virgin soil had yielded an encouraging return.

Anxious for the conversion of the heathen around him, Champlain without dif- ficulty induced four priests of the Reformed-Franciscan Order of Recollet Friars to come as missionaries to the Indians ; they were received with enthusiam by the pious settlers, and the astonished Algonquins watched with wonder the vested priest, the altar with its mystic lights and crucifix, as the first mass was intoned and the strange- smelling incense 1aingled with the odors of pine and cedar in the summer woods. But a mightier Order than the Recollets was to be the seed of the French Church in Canada by the blood of its martyrs,

Champlain was led in 1615, by the importunities of his Algonquin allies, to re- peat his mistake of joining in the horrors of Indian war. Once more he ascended the Ot.awa, again laboring to drag canoe and baggage over the numerous portages, struggling for life amid rapids which are still dreaded by our lumbermen. At the difficult and tedious Allumette portage a storm had blown trees across the only track, the woods were blocked up, Champlain had to carry his baggage, much ot which he lost. A few years ago an ancient rapier, and an astrolabe or astronomical instrument then used by travellers, were found in this very place ; they are believed to be relics of the founder of Quebec. Thence they passed in their birch canoes, gliding through forests kindled by the touch of autumn into gold and crimson, or camping at night by watch-fires that might haply scare away the wolf and bear. At length they reached the region, still wild as in‘Champlain’s day, where now the locomotive of the new built Pacific Railway out-screams the eagle amid the lonely hills of Mattawa. By this

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THE DOMINION OF CANADA. 7

they took their way to Lake Nipissing, where they were welcomed by seven or eight hundred Nipissing warriors, who escorted them by canoe and portage to the great inland sea of the Hurons ; coasting this for some forty-five leagues, they struck into the interior, and Champlain at last beheld a Huron town, so different from the soli- tary huts of the Algonquin hunter. Here there was more comfort, better crops, plenty of vegetables, corn, and venison and bear flesh ; savage life in a better aspect, but still savage life. For three days Champlain witnessed with wonder ‘and disgust the interminable feast, the warriors as they gorged like vultures, the naked and painted braves, their black hair sleek with the oil made from sunflower seed, their faces hideous with war paint ; the leapings and gesticulations of the war dance, and the dances, not less disgusting to the pious Frenchman, of shameless and robeless wantons. At last it was over ; they marched against the foe, by whom at first they were repulsed, but through Champlain’s aid and advice they won a victory disgrace- ful and disastrous to the Christian colony. Champlain urged them to follow up the success by an immediate storm of the hostile camp, but he soon found that these savage warriors would only fight as it pleased themselves, velling their curses against the enemy, and firing their flint-pointed arrows at the strong wooden ramparts, Champlain received two wounds in tne leg; his allies were driven to retreat. In vain Champlain urged them to fulfil their promise of sending him home. He learned the value of an Indian’s friendship and promise, except as may suit the caprice of these grown up children, changeable as the wind. A friendly chief, however, sheltered him during the winter; he is believed to have crossed the isthmus now called “ Carrying Place” to the shores of the Bay of Quinte, where he could spend the winter in safety from the Iroquois. His host’s house fortunately was a more com- fortable one than those of most Indians, On the 20th of May he proceeded to Lachine, and got to Quebec by the end of June.

Again he proceeded to France, where he found divided counsels as to the man- agement of the colony from the internecine quarrel between the Huguenots of Rochelle, then. on the eve of rebellion against their country, and the Catholic French, Efforts were made to deprive Champlain of his position. The Fur Trade Company, which had promished to send out a large number of settlers, had neglected this part of the contract, and thought only of furs; this had been all along a great hindrance to the growth of Quebec. Worst news of all, Champlain learned that certain Huguenot traders from Rochelle had set the fatal example of selling firearms to the heathen foe. At this time two wealthy Huguenots named De Caen gained a position of authority in the colony, which they used to thwart Champlain’s plans and stir up religious dissension ; they cared little for the good of the colony, and only troubled themselves with the fur trade. Cardinal Richelieu, then all powerful in France, for this reason revoked their appointment, and organized a company, that of the ** Hun- dred Associates,” who undertook to furnish supplies, and in particular to send and

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8 HISTORY OF WELLAND COUNTY,

support a sufficient number of priests, who were to have lands and the necessary supplies of food and seed. Champlain was to be Governor of Canada, which was now named “ New i‘rance.”

But next year, 1628, war broke out between France and England, when the profligate Duke of Buckingham’s influence at Court caused aid to be sent to the rebels at Rochelle. A fleet was sent out under Kirk, who, in spite of a determined resistance by Champlain, gained possession of Quebec, which was forced to surrender by want of provisions. But neither England nor France cared much about the possession of Canada, and it was only Champlain’s representation that caused its restoration to be insisted on at the peace of 1632.

Champlain was now, at the end of his long and checquered life, rewarded by being appointed Governor, and still more by taking back with him a number of settlers of means and repute. With these were four Jesuits, setting out to join their Superior, Le Jeune, who had already sailed from Rouen with two companions.

These men, clad in long black cassocks, with rosary hanging from the girdle, and with broad looped-up black hats, were destined to illustrate the better side of Jesuitism — the Jesuitism of the martyrs ; their missionary work was to call all that was noblest and most chivalrous in France to a new crusade against heathenism, and to emulate the sufferings, the martyrdom, the love of souls, the patience of the first Christians.

To Champlain remained two years more of life, during which his rule, under the Jesuit keepers of his conscience, made Quebec seem like a inonastery. Thus piously and peaceably his last days ebbed away. He died — a fitting day and hour for such a life to close — while the bells were tolling for mass on Christmas Day, 1635.

THE INDIAN WARS.

To Champlain succeeded a governor of similar temperament, Charles de Montmagny, who as a member of the Order of Knights of Malta, was half a monk, half a soldier. The Jesuit regime in La Nouvelle France was well sustained. The Order was all-powerful. Meanwhile the mission work they had been at such pains to build up among the Hurons was swept away with the extermination of their con- verts by the ?roquois. The latter had purchased firearms from the Dutch and Eng- lish settlers of New York, and now fought with white men on equal terms. The Hurons were all but destroyed from the face of the earth; their fate had broken the courage of the Algonquins so much that they were useless as allies.

But in France, the sufferings of the Jesuit missionaries, as the story was spread throughout the land in the famous ‘ Relations des Jesuites,” published year by year, aroused a new enthusiasm. The age of faith seemed to revive the age of miracles. Men of wealth and good repute for worldly wisdom saw visions commanding them to establish a colony, and found religious houses “on an island called Montreal, in

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THE DOMINION OF CANADA. 9

Canada.” Stranger miracle still, these wealthy gentlemen gave up their bank accounts as readily as the early Christians who laid their all at the Apostles’ feet. A society of nobles and gentlemen was formed “to plant the banner of Christ in an abode of demons ;” that is, to found at Montreal three religious bodies : one of priests to teach, direct and convert ; one of nuns, to nurse the wounded and sick ; a third, also of nuns, to tend and teach the children, French and Indian.

Religion became for the day the fashion; money poured in; the sum of 475,000, according to some double that amount, was soon contributed. A free grant of the island was made to the founders of the new settlement, which, from its commanding position at the confluence of Canada’s two greatest arteries of naviga- tion, must in the future be the centre of commerce, and would at present serve as a second centre of defence against the Iroquois, and as a point of vantage for mis- sionary effort in the heart of heathendom. Their anticipations were based aito- gether on religious zeal, on visions, on apparitions and voices from heaven. They

_ have proved as true as if they had been the cool calculations of statesmen and capi-

talists. A rich young lady, Mademoiselle Jeanne Marie, was supernaturally called to join the settlers at Montreal, and devote her wealth to God. All Paris praised her, prelates and Jesuits made much of her. Forty soldiers were to accompany the band of enthusiasts. Paul de Chomechy, Sieur de Maisonneuve, a nobleman re- sembling Champlain both in devoutness and valor, was to be governor of Montreal. They were to be joined and aided by one who makes one of the most winning fig- ures in that marvellous group, Marguerite Bourgeoys, destined to labor for years among the little ones of the new colony. She was given a miraculous image of the Virgin. It still stands overlooking the river, in a gable niche of the quaint old seventeenth century church of Votre Dame des Bonnes Succours, in Montreal, and many a pious mariner and anxious mother find comfort as they invoke ‘* Our Lady of Gracious Help. ” .

In February, 1642, the associates, numbering forty-two, stood in the Church of Notre Dame at Paris, before the altar of the Virgin, after whom the town was to be named Ville Marie de Montreal.

When Maisonneuve, with the soldiers and the religious women, reached Que- bec, the approach of winter made it necessary for them to stay at Quebec till spring. Jealousy arose between Quebec and the new colony. Montmagny thought Maison- neuve’s appointment an infringement of his own authority. During the winter, however, Maisonneuve anc his men built boats to carry them to their destination, and in May they embarked, their boats heavily freighted, and passed. safely through their dangerous course of sombre forests and wooded isles; when, on May 17th, they came in view of Mount Royal, dark with woods against the sky, all voices joined in a hymn of praise. With them arrived a new accession to their ranks, the cele- brated Madame de la Peltrie, a French lady of fashion and wealth, whom a mirac-

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10 HISTORY OF WELLAND COUNTY.

ulous vision had sent across the ocean to Quebec, and who now desired to join the new and more perilous adventure in behalf of religion, An altar was raised, she and Jeanne Marie decorated it with faultless taste ; before it stood Father Vincent in his costly vestments, Maisonneuve in glittering steel amid his soldiers ; mass was sung, and the priest addressed them in words of promise that events have made seem prophetic. :

Montmagny erected a small fort, and secured it by a garrison so as further to hold the Iroquois in check. To this the great Cardinal Richelieu, then the real ruler of France, sent out supplies and forty men, a happy reinforcement, as 200 Iroquois soon afterwards attacked it. There was a gap in the palisades, and the savages were pouring in, when a corporal with a few soldiers held them in check till Montmagny came to their relief from his brigantine on the river.

The ‘“ Hundred Associates” had neglected their duties as much as the former trading companies, and in 1647 sold their rights to the colonists of Three Rivers, Quebec, and Ville Marie. A peace which lasted but a year was obtained by Mont- magny’s clemency to some Iroquois whom their Huron captors were about to put to death. There were endless feastings and speeches ; belt after belt of wampum was presented by the Iroquois chiefs, each belt symbolizing a separate clause of thc treaty of peace. At this time the Iroquois seem to have intended to maintain peace, but the credulous and capricious savages were excited against the Christian missionaries by their sorcerers ; a pestilence fell on their towns, a plague of cater- pillars devoured their corn ; all was brought about by the “ medicine” of “the men of the black robe.” The tribes were divided ; some clung to peace, but a band of Mohawks seized the Jesuits, Jogues and La Lande, whom they put to death with tortures as horrible as those mentioned in a preceding section. War was now raging again ; the lust for blood spread all through the tribes ; they plundered and destroy- ed Fort Richelieu ; on Ash Wednesday, while the garrison were at mass, they car- ried off all the property of the. neighboring settlers, which had been brought there for safety. ‘They then pursued and captured two large parties of Christian Indians, whom they put to the usual horrible tortures. One tried to escape ; they burnt the soles of his feet to prevent a second attempt. A little child they crucified by nailing it with wooden wedges to a cross of bark. Amid the torturesa Christian Indian exhorted them to be steadfast, and prayed aloud, all joining in the prayer. One woman, an Indian named Marie, escaped after incredible hardships, to tell the tale at Three Rivers. |

In 1648, Montmagny, who had done his duty well but had perhaps been para- lyzed by the breakdown of the Hurons and the insufficient means at his disposal to resist the Iroquois, was recalled to France; his successor was Louis D’Ailleboust, one of the Associates of Montreal, a brave soldier, and an enthusiast in religion. A change was now made by which the Governor-General, with the Superior of the

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THE DOMINION OF CANADA, Il

Jesuits and three of the principal colonists, formed a council in which was vested all the powers of government. A provision was made for the soldiers’ pay.

The Indian war went on with unexampled fury ; not an inhabitant of a single French settlement dared venture beyond the limits of the fort. Attack after attack was made on the Algonquins and the miserable remains of the Hurons, a few of whom found refuge at Lorette, a village near Quebec. De Lauson (1651) and D’Argenson were the next governors. The horrors of Indian war continued, So hard pressed was the garrison of Montreal that Maisonneuve, the Governor, went to France for reinforcements. He could only obtain a hundred men, whose arrival, however, was sufficient to make the Iroquois sue for peace. This was effected through Father Lemoine’s persuasive eloquence. In 1655 the Iroquois of Onondaga expressed a wish that a French settlement might be made in their country. Accord- ingly Captain Dupuis was sent with missionaries and an escort of fifty men. But this action aroused the jealous hate of the savages, and Dupuis was warned that their death was resolved on. Dupuis, by a pardonable stratagem, supplied the Iroquois with liquor, an thus he and his party managed to escape in canoes. De Lauson had neither energy nor firmness for the crisis.

The day that D’Argenson landed at Quebec, the Iroquois massacred a party of Christian Indians close to Quebec. ‘These wolves of the wilderness had now overrun New France, when Dulac des Ormeaux, a young Frenchman of Montreal, resolved at the sacrifice of life to check the advance that it was known the united force of the Iroquois was meditating on Montreal.

No more remarkable story exists in the chivalrous annals of French Canada. Dulac with the seventeen companions who volunteered to share his adventure, sol- emnly attended church for the last time. Well armed and with some fifty Hurons to support them, they took up position in an old palisade fort near the Long Sault Rapids. - Some six hundred Iroquois warriors surrounded their post, and again and again swarmed up to the palisade, to be as often repulsed by the brave defenders, The base Hurons deserted to the enemy who had all but destroyed their race, an , act of cowardice such as has never stained the record of the Iroquois! New rein- forcements at length enabled the savage hordes, after having been held at bay for ten days, to force their way within. Only four of the Frenchmen were left alive ; these shot the few faithful Hurons to save them from Iroquois tortures. The four died at the stake. But the Iroquois had lost enormously, and the moral effect of so great a check from eighteen Frenchmen prevented for the present any attack on Montreal. Surely Dulac deserves to rank with any hero of antiquity ; and the place where he died, within the roar of the Long Sault Rapids, is the Thermopyle of Can- adian history.

Baron D’Avaugour came to succeed D’Argenson. We do not dwell on these mere names of governors, to whom no national, and therefore no historical interest

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12 HISTORY OF WELLAND COUNTY,

attaches. However, it deserves record that D’Avaugour’s representations saved Canada from abandonment by France as a worthless burden. At this Governor’s urgent request the colony was now taken under the direct care of the French King, and a force of 600 men sent to Quebec. ‘Their arrival found the Governor engaged in a quarrel with M. Laval, whose name, surviving honorably in Laval University, survives with yet greater honor in his efforts to suppress by penal law the ruinous practice of supplying liquor to the Indians. Laval proceeded to France and urged his case ; as a result D’Avaugour was recalled, and on Laval’s representation, De Mesy sent in his place (1663), his year there occurred a succession of slight earth- quake shocks all over Canada, which caused no loss of life or property, but greatly alarmed the Indians, who thought that the bodies of their braves, buried unavenged, were reproaching their inaction !

The great Finance Minister, Colbert, had at this time turned his attention to the social and political condiuon of Canada.

The modern view of history is that it ought not, in order to be really instructive, to consist of mere lists of kings or governors, or the intrigues of statesmen, or the dates and details of battles. It should, above all, give a clear idea of the life of the people, and of all those causes, as far as we can trace them, which are factors in social and industrial progress. At this point, then, we shall place before the readers a few particulars as to the life and social condition of the Canadian people as they were when Colbert turned his attention to the subject.

The entire population of New France at this time did not exceed, by more than three or four hundred, some two thousand. These were scattered here and there, from the Quebec settlements to Montreal. The population grew slowly ; it continued massed to a great extent in Quebec, Three Rivers, and Montreal, from fear of the Iroquois.

The fur trade was still the chief industry, but its value had diminished, the market being lessened by two causes — the invention of a new fabric which took the place of the beaver skin, and the fact that the Iroquois of New York not only pre- ferred to sell to the English of New York and Connecticut, who gave better prices than the French, but even diverted the traffic of other Indians. Still a considerable quantity of peltry passed into the hands of the French traders.

In spite of all difficulties, agriculture had so greatly developed that De Mesy was able to tell Colbert that supplies of food need no longer be sent, as Canada could now raise all the grain needed. Trade must have been beginning to move in other directions than the fur export, for Colbert is told that what is required is specie, as there is no coin for purposes of exchange.

All land tenures were of the feudal kind, then in use in France. These practi- cally subjected the occupiers of land to the seigneurs, or lords paramount. All this has only been abolished long after the English conquest. The form of government

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THE DOMINION OF CANADA, . 13

which Louis XIV, consented that Colbert should institute was, in truth, an absolute despotism, First in rank was the Governor. With him acted a Council, including the Intendant, or Minister of Justice, the Bishop, and leading colonists. Owing to

the constant strife between the Governor and the Bishop, or Intendant, there might seem to be the elements of an opposition.

Such, however, was’ not the case in any true sense,

The exertions of the Jesuit missions, although seemingly so often quenched in blood, had by this time taken reot even among many of the Iroquois. It must be said to their credit that the French knew how to manage the Indians better than the two other great nations who came into contact with them, the Spanish and English. The Spaniard neglected the Indian and oppressed him; the Englishman neglected and despised him ; but the French took the Indian by the hand, made much of him, intermarried with the Christianized and educated Indian girls. The good nuns of the Quebec Ursuline convent, and those of Montreal, had not labored in vain. The Indian girl learned to be neat, thrifty, modest. ‘The story is told that a little Indian girl at one of these schools, when it chanced one day that a man had shaken hands with her, ran to wash her hands, as if touched by an unclean thing. Then, the French loved hunting, as the English colonist agriculture and trade, and the sourter des bots, and voyageur with his Indian wife, became in habits almost one of her people.

An example of this type of men was one whose tomb we have visited within the roar

of the Alumette cataract, on the Upper Ottawa. Cadieux was a mighty hunter, a

wise man too, the legend goes, and a composer and singer of the “ chansons” which New France has with such grace inherited from her Norman and Breton ancestors. One day as he and his companions were packing the large canoe which was to go on the yearly trip with furs to Montreal, the word was given that the Iroquois were at hand, Cadieux and a few others remained to keep the wolves at bay, while all the others launched their canoe down the terrible rapids, which rush from the height in a single shaft of water to break into a sea of foam below. It was a desperate chance ; but the wife of Cadieux was a Christian, and from her piace in the canoe she invoked the aid of St. Anne. And the legend tells how a foam-whi'e figure moved before the canoe, and wherever she glided the waves grew calm, and the canoe passed safely to the stream below. It was good St. Anne who came to save her votaries.

Poor Cadieux died in the woods of exhaustion. A “lament” of some poetical power was found written by him as he lay dying; we heard it sung by our Indian guide beside his grave. Such were many of the hardy French woodsmen ; we may

see their descendants in the gay and stalwart lumbermen of the Ottawa region at this day.

De Mesy’s constant quarrels with the Council, and his having exceeded his powers by sending back to France two of its principal members, led to his being re-

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14 HISTORY OF WELLAND COUNTY,

called. He died at Quebec, however, before the news of his deposition reached him,

Under Colbert’s influence a step was now taken of the utmost benefit to the French colony. ‘The Marquis de ‘Tracy, a nobleman of great wisdom and knowledge, was empowered to regulate the affairs of the colony as Viceroy, with ‘Talon, celebrated as a financier, as Intendant, and De Courcelles as Governor, to succeed the Viceroy on his return to France, De ‘T'racy’s extraordinary mission to ascertain the true state of the country resembled that afterwards undertaken by Lord Durham ; both were of the greatest benefit to Canada.

De Tracy was received at Quebec (July, 1665) with the warmest welcome from all classes. With him arrived a veteran regiment of the French army, which had fought under ‘Turenne, with their colonel, De Salieres. A number of settlers of the most valuable kind accompanied them — carpenters, blacksmiths, and other artisans. Live stock were also sent. ‘The Indians gazed with \onder on horses, never seen before in Canada,

In place of the old fort which the Iroquois had destroyed, three stone forts were erected and garrisoned on the River Richelieu. The Iroquois were intimidat- ed by these formidable measures, and the farmers of Canada that year enjoyed an unaccustomed security.

Talon meanwhile was proceeding with his measures of reform at Quebec. He found the country rife with complaints against the Jesuits, with whom, however, he judged it prudent not openly to interfere, except to lower the rate of tithes.

His method of settling the new colonists was to arrange the farm lands granted as closely together as possible, so that the people might help each other in case of attack. }

But the most important benefit which the colony received from this great administrator was being taken once for all out of the hands of the trading company, free trade being allowed to all, both with the Indians and France. Now for the first time in Canadian history was attention directed to our country’s mineral and lumber resources, spars and masts from our forests being sent to France for the King’s dockyards, An engineer sent by Talon discovered iron in abundance, also copper and silver, at the Bay of St. Paul. Near Three Rivers iron mines were con- structed, still yielding in large quantities iron superior to the best found in Sweden. Talon set on foot new manufactures and new improvements in agriculture. He started the seal and porpoise fisheries ; the latter—now scared away by the frequent passing of steamers—then abounded at the mouth of the St. Lawrence. This trade proved most lucrative. By the year 1688, 1,100 merchant ships anchored in the port of Quebec, and when the Viceroy left the colony its population had doubled.

Three out of five of the Iroquois nations now offered peace. Against the two

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THE DOMINION OF CANADA. 15

that held aloof Courcelles and De Tracy took the field in separate directions, although it was mid-winter, Courcelles in command of some Canadian militia. Our national soldiery, since then so often victorious, showed valuable qualities of patience and endurance in that trying march. But the Iroquois everywhere fled be- fore them, the villages being abandoned. De Tracy experienced the same thing, but found large stores of maize and other supplies, all which, except what was needed for the army, they destroyed, burning also the villages wherever they marched.

Terror-stricken at such a blow dealt in mid-winter, the Iroquois now made peace for eighteen years, As a further security, most of the Carignan regiment settled in Canada, the officers and men receiving grants of land, the former as seigneurs. De ‘Tracy returned to France in 1667, De Courcelles succeeding him.

It was now that serious difficulties arose between Canada and the colony which England wrested from the Dutch, and named New York. The English were per- petually intriguing to get the entire fur trade into their own hands, even that with the French Indians, whom they were able to influence through the Iroquois, now as always the firm allies of the New York English. ‘The latter even resorted to the expedient of underselling the French so as to divert the fur trade to New York.

It had become known through the Jesuit missionaries, who during this century had made their way everywhere, that a large portion of the tribes east of the Missis- sippi, and north of Lake Superior, had, through the influence of their priests, become favorable to the French, M. Talon, therefore sent a travelling merchant named Perrot, well skilled in Indian usages, to gather a great meeting of chiefs, which accordingly met at Sault Ste. Marie, at the foot of Lake Superior, where they were addressed by M. de St. Lussen as plenipotentiary for the King of France. The chiefs were flattered into acknowledging themselves the vassals of Louis the Great.

Before leaving Canada, on account of failing health, De Courcelles held another convention at Cataraqui (Kingston) with the Iroquois chiefs, whom he induced to consent to his erecting a fort at Cataraqui. ‘This he represented as a mere trading depot. The next Governor was Louis de Buade, Count de Frontenac, a hauglity but firm as well as prudent leader of men, to whom Canada owes much, He was struck with the grandeur of Quebec. ‘I have never seen anything which for beauty or magnificence could compare with Quebec,” he said. He found che colony prosperous, the Iroquois at peace. The population of New France was now 45,000. Frontenac had much trouble with the Jesuits and their partizans, the Bishop of Quebec and Perrot. ‘The latter he sent to France, where for a time he was imprisoned in the Bastile.

A report had reached the French Mission from their Indian converts of a “reat water” far to the south. Frontenac, induced by Talon, sent the famous explorers Joliet and Marquette on an expedition, which resulted in the discovery of

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16 HISTORY OF WELLAND COUNTY.

the Mississippi. This great event in the annals of mankind belongs, however,

to American or French rather than to Canadian history. The brilliant and

unfortunate La Salle was afterwards sent in the same direction, and ranks among the earliest explorers of the Father of Waters, La Salle’s expedition so far belongs to the scope of our history that, having been appointed Seigneur of Cataraqui, he rebuilt the Fort of Frontenac with stone walls. Ali trace of La Salle’s fortalice has long vanished, but in the barrack yard of the artillery barracks at Kingston some portion of an old bastion may still be He also built a fort at Niagara, and may be regarded A few miles above the Falls, then for the

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traced which marks its site. as the founder of the town of that name. first time gazed upon by civilized man, he built a vessel, the first constructed in

Canada, called the Grifin. She soon afterwards foundered in a storm. ‘The rest of this ill-fated exhibiticn, which resulted in the mutiny of the men and their

leader’s death, belongs to American history. Through the machinations of the Bishop and the Intendant, Frontenac was recalled in an evil hour fer New France. He could not have held his position so long but for the influence of the King’s mistress, Madame de Maintenon, to whom he had the doubtful honor of being related. ‘The new Governor-General, De la Barre, arrived in Quebec in 1682. He found that the Iroquois were about to make

| war on the Illinois allies of the French, and that the English Governor of New He wrote

York was using every means to incite the Iroquois against New France. home urgently for succor. He temporized with the Iroquois ; flattered them ; and let them see that he feared their power. A force of 200, and subsequently a much larger one, arrived from France ; but he had preved himself so thoroughly incompetent for his post at such a critical time, that he was recalled, and the Marquis of Denonville sent in his place (1686). He brought a reinforcement of 600 soldiers. He endeavored to conciliate the Iroquois chiefs ; they heard him with silent disdain, although fresh troops were sent from France, and De Denonville had thus an army with which he could have struck a crushing blow at the Iroquois confederacy. De Denonville had recourse to an act disgraceful to his nation, and certain to excite irreconcilable hatred in the Iroquois, Through the ayency of Father Lamberville, missionary in the Iroquois country, he enticed a number of

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4 Iroquois chiefs to a conference, had them seized, put in chains, and sent them to f France to serve as the king’s galley slaves. t | it : A savage hatred was thus aroused in the minds of the Iroquois. Far and wide f 4 [ they prepared to revenge this breach of faith. With a capricious generosity seldom i 4 reco:ded in their annals, they sent Father Lamberville, who they knew had been no i ' accomplice in the kidnapping, with the other ‘men of the black robe ” who had | i missions among them, safe to Montreal. King Louis was ashamed of the breach of . 4 4 international laws, and sent back some other Iroquois prisoners whom De Denon- ; it ae a

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THE DOMINION OF CANADA. 17

ville forwarded. | Denonville took the field but accomplished nothing. The colonists, knos ing that determined action alone could check the Iroquois, \.atched with angry discontent Denonville’s inaction. Meanwhile, as the eneniy seemed on their part to be inactive, it was hoped that rhe restoration of their chiefs had pacified them ; but the black clcud was gathering, soon to burst with the deadliest blow that had yet fallen on New France.

The summer evening had fallen peaceably on the meadows and gardens of Lachine ; the cattle had been driven home ; all was still in the little village, in whose quaint wooden cottages the hardworking farmers slept soundly, wife and children secure beside them. But late in the night a storm of rain and hail blew from the

lake, and during the storm, ‘ourteen hundred Iroquois, their faces smeared with war

paint, disembarked from their canoes. Silently they surrounded every house in the

village ; with morning dawn the war-whoop was raised, and the inhabitants awoke to their doom ; each house was set on fire ; the inmates, if they tried to escape, were captured for further torture. Women and children as they leaped from the flames were speared amid loud laughter. Then began the pillage of the stores, then a feast and orgies held around the opened brandy casks of the Montreal merchants. Had but a small force of Frenchmen come to the rescue, the drunken wolves might have been slaughtered like swine.

At nightfall they withdrew to the opposite shore, first uttering yells repeated ninety times to signify the number of prisoners they were carrying away for torture.

All through that fearful night the terrified inhabitants could see on the opposite shore the kindled fires and moving figures, for what purposes of nameless horrors they knew too well.

The colony seemed paralyzed by this massacre. French power seemed limited to Montreal, Quebec, Three Rivers, and a few fortified posts. The fort built at De Denonville gave

orders that no attack should be made in reprisal, though several opportunities presented themselves.

Cataraqui in Frontenac’s time was blown up as untenable.

Denonvilie was at once recalled, and, happily for New France, the Count de Frontenac was seut to replace him. On October 18, 1689, Frontenac landed at Quebec, and was received with the greatest joy, especially, sirange to say, by his old opponents the Jesuits, who had long been anxious for his recall. In the meantime, under William and Mary, England had declared war against France, so that to strike a double blow at the English, as well as the Indian enemies of France, Frontenac invaded their colonial territories with three bodies of

troops. ‘The first of these surprised and burned Schenectady on the border of New

York, and put the inhabitants to the sword, ‘lhe second marched from Three

Rivers upon New Hampshire, and on their return joined forces with the Acadian militia, who formed the third division. ‘They thén possessed themselves of Kaskebe,

a fortified town on the seacoast of Maine. 2

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18 HISTORY OF WELLAND COUNTY.

In reprisal the English sent out two squadrons: one took possession of Port Royal and Acadia; the other sailed from Boston with a considerable force of marines to attack Quebec. A land force marched from New York against Montreal. The land expedition, under Sir William Phipps, was a failure through want of supplies and from the vacillation of the Indian allies. But Count Frontenac showed such energy in defending Quebec, which was now the most strongly fortified place in the north, that the British had to retire baffled, leaving their cannon.

The Iroquois were now tired of fighting, and permitted Frontenac to rebuild the fort at Cataraqui without hindrance ; but to teach them a further lesson, another force was sent into their country to burn villages and destroy grain. The war with ingland, “King William’s War,” ended with the treaty of Ryswick in 1697, by which France retained Canada, Cape Breton and the Laurentian Islands: Newfoundland, Acadia, and the Hudson Bay territory were ceded to Britain. The loss of these latter was in no way attributable to the people of New France, but to the reverses which the ambition of King Louis had brought upon him in his contest with England and her allies. In the fullness of fame De Frontenac died, 78 years old, at Quebec, where he lies buried.

Under his successor, De Callieres, a general meeting of the Iroquois and other chiefs was held at Montreal. After the usual speeches and feasting, a treaty of peace and alliance was signed by the chiefs, who, as they could not write, made a picture of the animal which his tribe took for its sign or sofem, a wolf, a bear, or porcupine. ‘This took place in 1701.

{n 1703 the Marquis de Vaudreuil came to Canada as Governor, when although “Queen Anne’s War” broke out between England and France, Canada enjoyed all the blessings of peace. The Iroquois also ceased their incursions. It: was found necessary, however, to add considerably to the strength of the fortifications of Quebec and Montreal. An attempt was made by the English under General Nicholson to march from Albany to the Canadian frontier, but they returned home on hearing that the fleet sent from England to co-operate with their movement had been wrecked. Great was the joy of the Quebec people, who volunteered a large sum towards adding to the defences. ‘This war ended with the peace of Utrecht, by which Canada was, as before, retained by France.

In 1717 another tribe, the Tuscaroras, joined the Iroquois, who since then have been known as the Six Nation Indians. Many reforms were carried out by De Vaudreuil, and the colony under his rule grew in prosperity and population; he divided the entire country into 82 parishes, and did much to reform and facilitate the administration of justice. The population of Canada now amounted to 2 5,000, Commerce with France had very much increased, Canada sent furs, lumber, tobacco, grain, peas, and pork ; receiving in exchange wine, brandy, and dry goods. ‘There

THE DOMINION OF CANADA, 19

was no system of education, but the numerous convents to some degree supplied that deficiency.

In 1726 Baron de Beauharnois succeeded as Governor to Vaudreuil, who had died after a rule of twenty-one years. The Indians were now no longer formidable; they lived on friendly terms with the French settlers, and the labors and martyrdom of the missionaries were bearing rich fruit in the great change brought about in the conduct and manners of their converts. In 1731 some traders from -Montreal explored the region now known as Manitoba, and built a trading fort near where Winnipeg now stands. ‘They also went as far as the Rocky Mountains.

THE CONQUEST OF CANADA.

The Marquis de la Jonquiere, Admiral of France, having been defeated and captured in an engagement at sea by the English, tne Count de la Galissonniere was appointed until his release could be effected. Just before the peace of Aix-la- Chapelle, in 1748, ended the war which had broken out again between England and France in 1745, this Governor had the boundaries of the French colonial possessions defined by sending an officer, with three hundred men, who marked the limit from Detroit, running south-east as far as the Ohio River, leaded tablets, bearing inscriptions, being buried at intervals along che line. In 1745 this Governor succeeded in inducing many of the French inhabitants of Acadia to remove to Isle St. Jean, now Prince Edward Island. Their place was supplied by three thousand eight hundred colonists sent from England by the Earl of Halifax, in honor of whom the city then founded was called Halifax. In 1749 De la Jonquiere, being released, came out to Quebec as Governor. He was, unlike the noble-minded men who had preceded him since Count Frontenac, of a grasping and mean disposition. His last days were embittered by quarrels with the Jesuits, who transmitted such accounts of his unfair dealing to France that he would have been recalled but that he died at Quebec, where he was buried beside Frontenac and Vaudreuil, 1752.

In this Governor’s time, and as a military counterpois to Fort Oswego, acquired by the English, a fortified post was constructed on Lae Ontario, called Raioulle, after the French Minister of Marine, or by its Indian name, Zovontéo, “ the harbor.” Scarce any remains of it can now be traced, except 2 mound, where there was once a rampart. ‘Its site was west of the present city, near the Toronto Exhibition grounds.

The Marquis Duquesne de Menneville next held office. It was plain that war between France and England was imminent, and that the battle-ground would be either Canada or the New England. colonies. Munitions of war, artillery, and soldiers were sent from France in,abundance. It was the wish of Duquesne, as it had been of the ablest French politicians, since the rapid and vigorous advance to power of the English colonies, to connect Canada with Louisiana and the French

20 HISTORY OF WELLAND COUNTY.

possessions in the south, and thus prevent the English colonies from advancing westward.

With this view Duquesne sent a detachment of soldiers to fortify posts on the Ohio and the Alleghanies. The Governor of Virginia considered this an encroachment by the French on English territory, and with the aid of the Virginian House of Burgesses, raised a body of militia, which was sent to hold the forks of the Ohio and Monongahela. ‘They were under the command cf a young Virginian surveyor and soldier, who had several years before traversed all that region on a surveying expedition. ‘They had begun to work at constructing a fort, when the Fyench troops arrived in superior force and drove them away. The French finished the werk. and named the place Fort Duquesne. Washington then erected a post, which he named Fort Necessity, but from the small force at his command he was compelled to surrender it. Thus began what is called the “French War,” but as the formal declaration of hostilities broke out in 1756, it is known in English history as the Seven Years’ War.

The Iroquois Indians wavered much as to which side they would take, wishing, as usual, to take the part of the winners. Washington, on his surveying expedition shortly before this, had come into contact with these Indians, and had a narrow escape of his life. At length, however, the savages made up their minds that the sword of King George would weigh heaviest in the scale, and sided with the British.

Meanwhile preparations for war went on. The French were at a disadvantage because of the bankrupt condition of the treasury of Louis XV. The Iroquois would be a formidable addition to the English arms ; still, there weie sufficient troops in Canada, and a large number of the friendly Indians were reliable.

On word being sent to the colonies to prepare for hostilities, a congress of the colonials was held, at which Benjamin Franklin proposed a confederation of the colonies. His project was not, however, entertained ; but the colonial militia were armed and trained, and the Mother Country sent out subsidies, and two regiments under General Braddock, who had seen service in the late wars under the Duke of Cumberland.

Mortified at the annoyance caused by Bigot and others, Duquesne requested to be recalled, in order to re-enter the naval service. His successor, the last French Governor of Canada, was Pierre Rigaud, Marquis de Vaudreuil. His father, the Vaudreuil whose rule had been so beneficial, was very unlike the son. He al'owed wheat to he shipped off to the West Indies for the benefit of Bigot and other officials ; the fur trade was getting poorer, all the men in the colony were under arms, and in consequence agricultural work of the most necessary kind was left undone. There was not sufficient food ; what there was rose to starvation prices. The people not unjustly laid the blame of all upon the Government, and it was probably the English conquest alone which saved New France from a miniature French Revolution.

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THE DOMINION OF CANADA, 21

But news came that Braddock’s expedition, his two English regiments and the Colonial Militia, had been surprised amid the woods by a party of French and Indians. Braddock was killed, and the few who escaped were enabled to retreat only by the coolness and courage of Colon+’ Washington. ‘This gave heart to the French, and secured the support of their Indian allies. An English expedition failed to take Fort Niagara. ‘The French, on the other hand, when from their entrench- ments at Ticonderoga they attacked the English position on Lake George, were routed with the loss of their general. In 1756, Louis XV. sent out the Marquis de Montcalm as commander-in-chief for Canada. This gallant defender of a hopeless cause was the representative of one of the oldest families in the French noblesse: He had served with honor in many of the European wars. He brouvht to Canada a large body of reinforcements, with provisions and abundant supplies of arms and ammunition. With him came the Chevalier, afterwards Duke de Levis, also M. De Bougainville, who was destined to win fame in future years as 2 navigator. At the same time the British Government sent out, as commander-in-chief, the Earl of Loudon, with a force of regular troops. The first success was with Montcalm, who reduced and demolished the forts at Ontario and Oswego. It is to be regretted that the murder of many of the English captured on this occasion should stain an illus- trious name. All along the English colonial frontier now raged the horrors of an Indian war. No farm house, no village, on the border of New England or Maine,was safe from the scalping-knives of Indians, or of Canadians as savage as Indians. Fort Henry, too, was captured by Montcalm, and the Iroquois, false as ever to unfortunate allies, were on the point of deserting to the French. From this, however, they were restrained by the influence of Wiliam Johnson, afterwards so distinguished by the success achieved by the force under his command in the military operations on Lake George. This extraordinary man held a position with regard to the Indians without parallel among English-speaking men of any position in society. Among the French colonists it was common enough that a gentleman of good lineage should marry an Indian wife. Such marriages were, as a rule, happy, and from them are descended some of the best known families in French Canada. But most Englishmen would have thought it a degradation to admit a daughter of the red race to a higher posi- tion than concubinage. William Johnson, however, lived among the Iroquois, and had so perfectly assimilated their language and customs, that they regarded him as one of themselves, a great chief, a boid rider, a sure marksman, powerful on the war- path and in the council. He was to them a combination of Achilles and Ulysses. °

in order to protect the position he had won, Johnson built a fort, which he named Fort William Henry. But notwithstanding this success, it was felt that dur- ing the years 1755-1756 the advantage had been mainly on the side of France.

Meanwhile, distress increased throughout Canada. Bigot and his accomplices made the ruin of their countrymen the extortioner’s opportunity, ‘‘Bigot,” Mont-

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22 HISTORY OF WELLAND COUNTY,

calm wrote, “has got the whole trade of the colony in his hands. He orders from France whatever Canada is likely to need, and in the name of the ‘great society,’ which consists of himself and his creatures, he retails the public stores at whatever price he chooses to put upon them.” Meantime, famine was pressing hard the women and children whose bread-winners were fighting with Montcalm’s army. Even in the cities articles of food had risen in price a hundred and fifty per cent. In Quebec the whole population were put on starvation allowance, and it was a common thing to see people fainting in the city streets from the want of food. Meanwhile, the extreme scarcity of specie gave Bigot an excuse for issuing paper money, by which device he robbed the colony wholesale. It was repudiated by Louis XV. several years afterwards. In fact, everyone among the officials saw that the coming of the British armies was the beginning of the end, and made haste to get rich while there was yet time. It is satisfactory to know that Bigot, on his return to France, was thrown into the Bastile, and afterwards exiled.

A change of Government meantime was taking place in England. The unpop- ular Court favorite, Lord Bute, was displaced, and the great and liberal-minded statesman, William Pitt, became Prime Minister. ‘The public spirit of England, de- pressed by the late reverses in Canada, responded to his call, and the nation stood united as one man in the resolve that, cost what it would, the French should be driven from North America. Supplies were cheerfully voted, fleets and armies sent forth to conquer.

In France a very different spirit prevailed. The infamous Madame de Pompa- dour, the chief mistress in the French King’s harem, hated Canada. It’cost more than it was worth, she said. Moncy was sent out there which could have been more pleasantly spent in Paris. And here was the Governor of Canada again piteously asking for money and soldiers. He was refused, for Madame so willed it. That was the Reign of Prostitution, and it was succeeded by the Reign of Terror.

At this time a flee. was sent against Nova Scotia and Cape Breton under Admiral Boscawen, with General Amherst, and a young officer, whose genius Mr. Pitt’s sagacity had discerned under a modest, studious demeanor and a fragile con- stitution, They sailed for Nova Scotia and Cape Breton. Louisburg was taken after a determined resistance by M. De la Tour, the Governor. ‘The fortifications were in a state all but ruinous ; the walls between the bastions had crumbled away ; there was but a single bombproof casemate and one magazine. The chief defence of the place was the harbor, which could be easily barred against an enemy’s en- trance, while, even should an entrance. be effected, the difficulty of disembarking troops was great. The Governor took measures to avail himself of these natural advantages, but the British by a feint effected a landing. Wolfe, by a remarkable anticipation of his tactics at Quebec, with a hundred men scaled a height hitherto thought inaccessible, and undismayed by the waves that threatened to dash their

————

THE DOMINION OF CANADA, 23

boats on the rocks, and facing the storm of flame and lead, they effected an orderly debarkation, and took up a position commanding the town. For days the defenders of Louisburg returned the fire of the batteries erected by the English, and fought with determined courage in sortie after sortie. Madame De la Tour, a high-born lady, the Governor’s wife, passed and repassed among the batteries amid the storm of shot and shell to cheer her country’s soldiers. But in vain; the Governor, at the prayer of the town’s people, who feared a general assault by the English general, and that their homes would be given up to the horrors of a sack, consented to capitulate. Honorable terms were given to these brave men; and thus did Louisburg, with the whole of Cape Breton and Prince Edward, pass into the hands of Great Britain.

Meanwhile General Abercromby, who had succeeded the less capable Loudon, advanced on the chain of forts which were the key to the St. Lawrence. He had with him the largest army that had ever gathered in America, over six thousand regular troops and nine thousand militia. Montcalm, to meet the British advance, moved from Carillon towards Lake George. A skirmish took place in which the gallant Lord Howe lost his life. Montcalm, perceiving the intention of Abercromby to move on Canada by Carillon, defiled his troops in that direction —it was there he had determined to give battle. His force was much inferior in numbers, his men were ill ied and dispirited, yet, like the Spartan hero of old, he resolved not to give up the pass that protected his country without a struggle.

The outlet of Lake George, called La Chute River, and Lake Champlain, into which it flows, forma triangle, called Carillon, on the river side of which the banks form a steep precipice, while the land slopes gently towards the lake. At the apex of the triangle was a small fort commanding the water approach. On this position Montcalm entrenched his army; his men worked with a will; the front of their lines was defended by a line of felled trees whose truncated branches, stripped. of their leaves and pointing outwards, constituted a sort of natural chevaux-de-frise. On Abercromby’e observing Montcalm’s movement, he was misled by information received from prisoners into supposing that Montcalm’s object in thus entrenching his force was to gain time, as he expected large reinforcements. Under this mistaken impression Abercromby resolved to storm the entrenched position at once. He led the attack with four columns, supported by armed barges on the river. The British advanced, supported by a heavy fire, to which the French, by Montcalm’s order, did not reply till the enemy had come within three hundred yards. He was well obeyed. As the British line reached the appointed distance the deadly volley flashed upon the assailants, so that, brave as they were, their line reeled before it in disorder. Meantime the cannon from the fort had sunk the barges advancing to support Aber- cromby from the river. Again the brave English re-formed their ranks, and sprang to the attack, again to be repulsed. With the dogged courage that “ does not know

HISTORY OF WELLAND COUNTY.

24 when it is beaten,” the British twice returned to climb the slope ; later in the day, Abercromby advanced to the assault with his whole army, each time to be swept back by the deadly rain of bullets. At length the defeat was complete, great as had been the gallantry shown by the British, especially by the Highlanders under Lord John Murray, .. For Montcalm it was a glorious victory. With a force of 3,600 men he had beaten back in utter rout a well appointed army of 15,000. All through the battle he had thrown himself where the fight was hottest, supporting every weak point as it was hard pressed.

Abercromby’s defeat was in part redeemed to the British by the surprise of Fort Frontenac, successfully accomplished by Colonel Bradstreet about the same time. The fort was only held by 70 while the British force was 3,000, but the French Commandant, M. de Noyau, refused to surrender till shelled out by the British mortars. Bradstreet released his prisoners and demolished the fort, which was a most important acquisition, the key to Lake Ontario. During the year 1758, though the material advantages were on the side of the British, the military glory of Mont- calm was incomparably greater.

Meantime the shadow of famine and financial ruin grew darker over New France. Food became even more scarce than the year before. It is painful to read the description of the prevailing destitution, of the want of supplies for the men, of the patient courage with. which the soldiers of Canada fought, though unpaid and poorly fed. Montcalm passionately begged for more troops. In vain. The France to which he appealed was ruled by a harlot.

The British well knew the dissensions and destitution that prevailed in Canada, and wisely resolved to strike a blow at the centres of the French power. Already Fort Duquesne had fallen into the hands of General Forbes. It was well known to the French ministry that the British forces far outnumbered what France could possibly bring into the field. . Again and again did Montcalm plead with the selfish voluptuary who wore the crown of St. Louis the urgent need of help. ‘The Canadian colonists, to the number of ten thousand, stood to their arms in the face of famine, Neither men, money, nor food were sent from France.

Mr. Pitt had devised-a plan for a simultaneous attack on the three most vital points of New France — Niagara, Montreal and Quebec. General Amherst drove the French first from Ticonderoga, then from Crown Point, but was prevented by the approach of winter from attempting further operations. At the same time, Sir William Johnson, who had been knighted by the English king for his victory over the French in 1755, attacked Niagara. Here also the French were defeated, and the ancient fort, whose ruins are still among the sights of one of our pleasantest summer resorts, passed into the hands of the British.

In February, a fleet under the command of Admiral Saunders sailed from Eng- land for Quebec, the chief command being assigned, by Mr. Pitt’s special choice, to

RE teeter mene Snepeaennses re tet ne pan

THE DOMINION OF CANADA. 25

Major-General Wolfe. The latter was a young officer, the son of a distinguished soldier of the armies which had fought under Marlborough. Of thin, slight figure, with more of the student than the warrior both in his disposition and appearance, with a refinement and delicacy of taste only too alien to the manners of the “ army from Flanders” which he was called on to command, Wolfe had yet the instinct of genius, already tested at Louisburg, and appreciated by the great minister who re- deemed the future of English liberty. The fleet touched at Nova Scotia for rein- forcements, and on July 25th 8,000 men were landed on the Island of Orleans.

Within the city founded by Champlain, were Montcalm and 12,000 men. Everything was against them ; insufficient food, clothing and ammunition, and the enemy’s force so overwhelming that it was acknowledged by both Bigot and Mont- calm that Canada could not be held for another year. Already the English artillery had occupied Point Levis, and were cannonading the lower part of the city with their heavy ordnance. There is something touching in the loyalty of these French colonists to a country and a king who desired nothing better than to get rid of them.

The River St. Lawrence seems to dwarf everything else except Montreal and Quebec. But (Qpebec can assert its own individuality even against Canada’s mightiest river. On the evening of July 1, Wolfe sailed past Cape Diamond almost within musket shot of the city,enjoying the tranquil beauty of the scene,and from time to time reading a newly published poem by one Mr. Gray, of Cambridge, entitled “An Elegy in a Country Churchyard.” There were probably few officers under his command who could have shared his tastes.

For five weeks, Wolfe’s army lay inactive before Quebec. At last a most ill- advised attempt was made to force the French intrenchments above the Montmor- ency at Beauport ; it was a movement which had nothing but its audacity to recom- mend it. And lastly, a Colonel Townshend devised a plan of scaling the heights above Quebec by a narrow winding pass which had been discovered, and when Wolfe had risen from his sick-bed this plan was generally considered to be worth trying. It suited well with the General’s adventurous disposition. Had the geese that saved the Roman Capitol been on the scene when company after company climbed the narrow stairs that skirts the precipice, the English conquest might have been delayed though not averted. But this time Wolfe’s rash move succeeded. Regiment after regiment stood formed in battle array. The only question was, what were they to do? ‘They had no artillery wherewith to attack a fortified city, and were in fact at the mercy of Montcalm’s troops, and out of the reach of support from their own fleet, which was now at Cape Rouge. But by some inexplicable im- pulse, Montcalm played into the hands of the enemy by meeting them in open field. A desperate struggle ensued, fought mostly at the bayonet point ; at four in the afternoon it was found that the ammunition of the French was exhausted, and that the brave Montcalm was mortally wounded. Wolfe, too, was shot and died on the

26 HISTORY OF WELLAND COUNTY,

battlefield. Montcalm was carried to the convent of the Ursulines ; there, in the garden where Marie de I’Incarnation and Madame de la Peltrie gathered the white roses, the conqueror of Carillon rests.

The command of the French army now devolved on the Chevalier de Levis, an officer of great ability, who had been Montcalm’s most trusted lieutenant. His wish was to advance, under cover of the woods, on the English position, but this was frustrated by the sudden and unexpected capitulation of Quebec, now almost reduced to a heap of ruins by the long-continued bombardment. Thus closed the eventful campaign of 1759.

Four days after the battle on the plains of Abraham, Quebec was surrendered to the English. ‘The garrison were allowed to march out with the honors of war, and were conveyed to the nearest port in France.

Meantime the French force at Montreal, numbering upwards of ten thousand, moved upon Quebec, and General Murray, who had been left in command of the British army at Quebec, repeated Montcalm’s mistake of meeting a superior force in theopen field. ‘The result was that the English were defeated with great loss, but were able to secure their retreat within the city. The French were prgparing to besiege Quebec when the British fleet came to its relief. During tne night of May 16, 1760, the French army raised the siege of Quebec, having thrown its artillery into the St. Lawrence.

With the abandondment of the last siege of Quebec ended the resistance of French Canada to the English conquest. ‘The men of the Canadian Militia returned to their homes to share with the French soldiers billeted upon them the scanty food that was left. Not only had the French King refused to send soldiers, but his bankrupt treasury was even reduced to the meanness of refusing to repay the ad- vances which the Canadian colonists had made to the Government. ‘The paper money put into circulation by Bigot was worthless, and there was no other currency in circulation. ‘The French General, M. de Levis, wrote to King Louis XV. : ‘‘ The paper money is entirely discredited, and the people are in despair about it. ‘They have sacrificed their all for the conservation of Canada; now they find themselves ruined, resourceless,”

Even gunpowder had failed when three large armies were about to moye on Quebec, Montreal, and ‘Three Rivers.

The French Canadian colonists had loyally upheld the white flag of Bourbon France till food and the materials for fighting failed. While King Louis threw diamonds to the danseuses of the Parc au Cerfs, the descendants of the Breton and Norman settlers in Canada, amid starvation, the oppression of unjust taxes, and the presence of a rich and well-equipped enemy, upheld to the last the supremacy of the ungrateful Mother Country. At last even Bigot and Vaudreuil said that the time for capitulation had come.

THE DOMINION OF CANADA, 27

On September, 8, 1760, Canada passed under the rule of Britain, Madame de Pompadour laughed at the cession of a few thousand acres of ice. But never did a subjugated people receive better terms. ‘They were not only guaranteed im- munity from all injary or retaliation, but free exercise of their religion, and what amounted to a virtual establishment of the Catholic Church, with all its religious organizations. The officers of the French army who had been in charge of Detroit and other posts withdrew to Europe. The small number of these — 185 officers, 2,400 soldiers — shows how slight were the efforts made by France to retain a colony, of which, when leaving Canada, M. de Vaudreuil wrote: “ With these beautiful and vast countries France loses 70,000 inhabitants of a rare quality, a race of people unequalled for their docility, bravery and loyalty. ‘The vexations they have suffered for many years, more especially during the five years preceding the reduction of Quebec, all without a murmur, or importuning their King for relief, sufficiently manifest their perfect submissiveness.”

So Canada changed masters after a century and a half of French rule. The French clergy had conquered heathenism. ‘The French, or rather the native Cana- dian army, had for years held its own against the English troops, which outnumbered it tenfold, from Louisburg to Lake Erie.

The Chevalier de Levis returned with the remnant of Montcalm’s army to France, when he was created a Duke, and lived in great honor and prosperity. His letters to the French Minister pay a marked tribute to the soldier-like qualities of the native Canadian Militia.

Thus was virtually decided the question as to whether England or France should possess a country as large as half the European continent. Either nation was worthily represented by the opposing chiefs. It is to be hoped that war will be ban- ished from the future of our country. Should it be otherwise, there can be no nobler traditions of heroism than those associated with the names of Wolfe and Montcalm,

Great was the rejoicing in England over this important conquest, for although the contest was continued for some time in Canada, the decisive blow had been struck, and Canadian history has no further concern with the details of a lost cause.

CANADA DURING THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

The next twenty years were passed under a military government, which, how- ever, gave the Canadians a security and freedom from the evils of warfare and con- scription long unknown tothem. ‘The British rule became identified with peace and prosperity. Never before had the Canadian people enjoyed such advantages, Their numbers, on the capitulation of Quebec, were estimated at 69,275, and the Christian- ized Indians at 7,400. Now, at last, the fraudulent transactions of the late Govern- ment were brought to light ; frauds, it must be remembered, by which not the French King, who simply repudiated his debts, but every farmer who had used the paper

28 HISTORY OF WELLAND COUNTY.

money circulated in the French King’s name, had to suffer, The ruin, worse than that of war, inflicted on Canada by this royal fraud is estimated at £,3,000,000,

Shortly after the capitulation, and under the military rule of General Murray, some of the French officers left in Canada succeeded in persuading an Ottawa chief named Pontiac to attack the British posts at Detroit and the other frontier posts, Pontiac, like ‘Tecumseh and Thayendanegea, was one of those remarkable men who seem to have overstepped the gulf between savagery and civilization, In his plan for a simultaneous attack on every British outpost, from Lake Michigan to Niagara, he showed a power of combination and a faculty for planning extensive operations rarely exhibited by his people. His measures for supplying his army with provisions, his wisdom in protecting the farmers from his marauding followers, his issue of birch-bark currency, faithfully redeemed with its equivalent in furs, mark this wonderful savage as one of those figures which rebuke our civilized contempt for their race. But with all his gifts Pontiac was an Indian ; his tactics were those of his race. A combined movement was to be made on every English post, Pontiac to lead by surprising Detroit. Fortunately the English commandant had an intrigue with aff Indian girl, who gave him warning of the intended surprise. But many of the other forts were taken, with the usual atrocities. One English lady, the wife of an officer, was struck in the face with the reeking scalp of her husband. She escaped by some miracle, and returned to the ruins of her home to bury her husband’s body and then seek refuge in Detroit. Never in the history of Indian warfare was an attack on the power of the white men so ably conceived and so steadily carried out as that which the brilliant American historian, Mr. Parkinson, has well aesignated “The Conspiracy of Pontiac.” But it failed. ‘The Indian scalping-knife was no match for the British bayonet. Wherever the outposts were weak, where a few men and a few women could be surprised, the Indians succeeded. But Detroit, Niagara and Pittsburg repulsed every assault of the savages. In 1764, General Bradstreet relieved tie siege of Pittsburg. Pontiac lost credit with his followers and had to flee from Canada. He sought shelter among the Indians of Illinois, and this last chief of independent Indian warfare died at the hands of one of his tribe in a drunken quarrel.

The growing prosperity of Canada did much to reconcile the people to English rule, although there was some disconteni at the continuance of military government, and the substitution of English for French law. It is difficult to ascertain the true condition of public opinion in Canada during the latter part of the decade which succeeded the conquest. It is true that the first issue of the Quebec Gazette appeared on June 21, 1764, containing printed matter in English as well as French, but its publisher was enjoined to confine its columns to a mere summary of events, no editorial comment being allowed. The French Canadians were very much depressed by the heavy loss caused by the repudiation of Bigot’s paper currency.

THE DOMINION OF CANADA. 29

They also felt severely the abrogation of their language and of the native legal forms and courts, and the virtual exclusion of those professing the Catholic religion from office. In 1765 there were in Canada 70,000 Catholics to 500 Protestant English, ‘The latter from the first formed a party hostile to French interests, and indisposed to permit any measures of religious toleration. (General Murray, who may be regarded as the first Governor-General, uniformly sided with the cause of the French Canadians, and endeavored to secure them in the possession of what liberty the laws allowed. He represented to the English ministry the absurdity of choosing all th ublic officials from the ranks of a small Protestant minority, mostly traders and 1 ho were uneducated, and that allowing these persons to assume i supremacy as a privileged class must alienate the French, especially the seigneurs. Every year the influx of colonists of British blood continued to increase. In 1871, eh 471,000 bushels of wheat were exported, an amount double that of any former year,

The British colonists desired to Anglicize everything ; to force on the minority their own church, language and customs. Had England permitted they would have treated the Canadians much as the Anglo-Irish Protestants had treated the Catholic Celts, and with the same odious and bitter results. ‘Their policy of persecution was thwarted by the good sense of Governor Murray, who incurred thereby their bitter | hatred, ‘lo such a degree was this carried that the home authorities were forced to \} recall him. In one of the representative assemblies which were allowed to meet, as | occasion arose, on petition from the people, Murray allowed Roman Catholics to sit, whereupon fierce attacks were made on his personal character. He went to England, } where he triumphantly vindicated his policy before a committee of the Privy Council, ' but Canada was to lose his valuable services. He returned to our country no more. iS ik In 1766 Sir Guy Carleton was appointed Governor, and by direction of the English | ministry pursued Murray’s policy of :onciliation to the Canadians,

In 1770, reports furnished by Murray and Carleton were examined before a com- Re mission empowered to investigate the condition of Canada, ard such lawyers as the able and tolerant-minded Wedderburn pleaded:the right of Canadians to enjoy entire | Ba toleration in religion, the exercise of their own laws and customs-—except in criminal cases—-and the use of their own language in all public business.

In 1774, the celebrated ‘‘Quebec Act” was passed by the Imperial Parliament, by which the French Canadians were granted the jurisdiction of the old French law, as laid down in the edicts of the French Kings and of the Colonial Intendants. This law is founded mainly on the old Roman civil law, as codified by the Empercr joo Justinian, and is in many respects simpler and more in accordance with free institu- tions than the English common law, which is essentially feudal. Judges were hence- forth to be chosen from among the French Canadians as being competent to ad- ; minister these laws, and the French language was directed to be used in all courts of law. But in criminal trials the English criminal law was to be used,with its invariable

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3° HISTORY OF WELLAND COUNTY.

accompaniment, trial by jury. The Governor retained supreme executive power, but he was to be assisted by a council appointed by himself, of not more than twenty-three nor less than seventeen, All legislative power was given to the Gov- ernor-in-Council, except the right of taxation. Equality before the law, and the right of holding office, was given to Catholics as well as Protestants. ‘The feudal privileges of the seigneurs were expressly guaranteed to them. By this well-timed concession the British Government secured the support of the two ruling classes in French Canada, the priests and the seiyneurs, and Canada was retained as a strong-

hold for English power amid the rising flood of American revolution.

We of English speech cannot but regard the British Canadian colonists as in the right, in spite of their religivus intolerance. It will be good for Canada to be Anglicized and the day will come yet, we believe, when the change will accomplish itself by the infiltration of French Canadians with English-speaking settlers, and by the tide of modern ideas. But the time was not ripe for the change, nor were these the men to work it out. They wanted personal objects, not political, and sought to overthrow Catholicity not in the interests of modern enlightenment but of an estab- lished State Church. Before a genuine movement for liberty could take place, the great American revolution had to run its glorious course, and to bring with it to our country its consequence — the settlement of English-speaking Canada.

THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

The great political event of the century was the Revolution, which began with the meeting of the first Congress, in September, 1774, whose direct result was the French Revolution and the revolt of modern intellect ayainst feudalism through- out the world. ‘I'he Congress, among other addresses, sent one to Canada, inviting their co-operation. But England had secured the supremacy of the R. C. Church, and the clergy and colonial nod/esse adhered steadfastly to British connection. Their influence over the uneducated peasantry was such, that not even when later in the war their ancestral France sided with the Republic, not when Lafayette appealed ‘o their French loyalty and to the uld traditions, did any considerable section of them desire independence. One reason of this, no doubt, was the fact that Congress, among other statements of grievances against the British Government, had declaimed against the toleration granted to Catholicity by the Quebec Act, thus making an im- pression on the Canadian mind not to be effaced by any subsequent protestations of good-will. There were other minor causes — the power of Britain, the probable failure of the American armies, even the attempt to introduce a paper currency among the people, who had suffered a loss noi to be forgotten by Bigot’s fraud ; and tt re is evidence that the Americans, true to the self-assertion of our inglish-speak- ing race, were apt to deal in a somewhat peremptory manner with Canadian pre-

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THE DOMINION OF CANADA. 3f

judices. But of the English-born settlers in Canada a considerable number sided with America,

In viewing from the stand-point of the Canada of to-day the events of that great controversy, Our sympathies must be given, and given without reserve, to the men who led into the field the brave soldiers of New England, rather than to the dull- witted Hanoverian King, who tried to play in America the part of Charles the F ifth or Philip the Second.

Congress resolved on an invasion of Canada from two directions, Lake Cham- plain and the Kennebec River, The rash and impewuous Arnold, the Judas of American indpendence, offered to take all Canada with some ten thousand men, having by his seizure of Fort Ticonderoga secured the command of Lake Champlain and then of the entrance to the Laurentian Valley. ‘The Congress expected that the Canadians would be discontented with the British rule, and only too glad to exercise their well proved valor against the alien conquerors.

Three thousand men were gathered at Lake Champlain under the yallant General Montgomery, one of Wolfe’s old officers at Quebec. Montgomery was charged to pay every respect to the feelings of the French Canadians, and to pay for all supplies. The latter, however, was not in his power, as the Canadians refused to take the paper currency issued by Congress even at its depreciated value. Montgomery was a leader well calculated to win the confidence of the Canadians, whom he treated with the utmost courtesy, His first move was on Fort Chambly, in which parish the majority of the inhabitants sympathized with the Americatis ; this and Fort St. John he took after a determined resistance.

Meantime the Catholic Bishop of Quebec, true to absolutism even in a heretic king, fulminated a proclamation exhorting all Catholics to be loyal to England and to oppose the American invader. The seigneurs too, without exception, sided with the monarch who had secured to them their privileges. The Chambly parishioners, however, joined an American force under Brown and Livingston, which effected the reduction of the Fort of Chambly.

A daring attempt by Colonel Ethan Allen and Major Brown to surprise Montreal failed from want of sufficient force to effect it. Allen was takcn prisoner and sent to England in irons. In the meantime, Colonel Benedict Arnold marched from Maine by the River Kennebec wich over one thousand men. He was so insufficiently provided with supplies throughout the difficult and toilsome march, that his m 1 subsisted mainly on what wild fruit they could gather. They were even glad to make use of dogs as food. On November g, 1775, after some delay from want of transports to cross the river, and seeing that he could not surprise the Quebec garrison, and that Colonel Maclzan was fully prepared to resist him, he marched up the north shore of the St. Lawrence to Pointe aux Trembles. Sir Guy Carleton was, however, aawn by this movement of Arnold’s to repair at

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32 HISTORY OF WELLAND COUNTY.

once with the only force at his disposal to the defence of Quebec, on which Montgomery immediately took possession of Montreal. This brilliant success of the American arms was attained with small loss of men, and greatly raised the prestige of the armies, whom an English member of Parliament had described as * cowardly colonists.” From captured Montreal the victorious Montgomery march. ed east to effect a junction with Arnold. The united armies proceeded to’ assault Quebec.

Carleton had a very inferior force wherewith to conduct the defence ; still, he held the strongest fortress on the continent, and was weli supplied with provisions, The Americans lacked everything — food, clothing, artillery. ‘Those who are familiar with the soldier-like blue and grey uniforms of the United States army of to-day, will hardly realize the appearance in 1775 of the soldiers who invested Quebec. Uniform properly called they had none ; a branch of cedar worn in their hats, or a white kerchief tied round their necks, alone distinguished the soldiers of Congress. Their ranks were at this time thinned by an epidemic of small-pox, to meet which they had neither medical aid nor hospital accommodation, And in addition to other annoyances, Montgomery had to bear with the jealous and contentious temper of his subordinate, Arnold.

The night cf the last day of 1775 vas unusually dark, not a star visible, and a heavy snow-storm falling. ‘This was chose: by Montgomery for an attack on the city with the entire force of his army, _ w not numbering more than thirteen hundred available men. ‘T'wo divisions were formed, one led by himself, the other by Arnold. They were to send two detachments which should distract the attention of the garrison by a feigned attack on St. John’s gate, while they were to penetrate the Lower Town, and thence mount to the citadel. But deserters from their ranks had told the English governor that a sudden night attack was intended, and the garri- son were well on the watch. Montgomery had marched with difficulty over a narrow pass where but two men could walk abreast between cliff and strand; he had, however, reached the outer barrier of Pres-de-Ville, but on reaching the next found his way barred by a battery of seven cannons, each artilleryman expectant at his post with a lighted match. ‘There was but one hope: followed by his officers and men, Montgomery charged the foe. When they were bu: a few yards from the battery, the officer in command gave the word to fire, Facing the storm of grape-shot and flame, Montgomery rushed on sword in hand, But the terrible volley of grape-shot did its work, Montgomery lay dead, with his two aides-de-camp, and a number of officers and men. Most of Arnold’s divisions were compelled to surrender. It is pleasant to record that the English Governor had the remains of Montgomery interred with military honors,

Arnold was now appointed by “ Congress, to the chief command in Canada,” and with his diminished and almost starving troops continued to invest Quebec.

THE DOMINION OF CANADA. 33

The tactics of the British were those of Fabius ; they sustained the siege being cer- tain of reinforcements, which arrived early in May, when Arnold, who though a soldier of some dash was not able to play the part of Wolfe, hastily retired from be- sieging the capital of Canada.

When France resolved on aiding America with men and money, a French ex- pedition to Canada was contemplated ; but it never had any chance of succéss in I winning the support of the French colonists, who had ‘earned to appreciate the I freedom and prosperity which they enjoyed under the mild rule of England, as com- pared with the harsh military sway of a despotic monarch and his lieutenants. With the war which ended in the victories which established the freedom of the greatest of republics, Canadian history has no further connection.

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THE SETTLEMENT OF ENGLISH-SPEAKING CANADA.

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It may be truly said that English-speaking Canada had no existence before the |

immigration of the U. E. Loyalists, which began in 1783. Immediately after the a |

conquest of Canada small detachments of English soldiers, generally accompanied | | by their wives and children, were placed in charge of the outposts and forts about i} a the frontier. As far back as the attack on the British posts by Pontiac, we ‘have ; mi evidence that some thirty of such posts were held by English soldiers with their | 4 3 families. ‘These men invariably received grants of land, as sparse beginnings of i settlements were beginning to form around Fort Frontenac, at Niagara, and along the water-highway of the Ottawa. | |

But inland, and through the trackless forest Bae fe country north and west, the pioneer’s axe had yet to mark out the sites of the towns | “ and cities of to-day, most of which have arisen from the primitive grist mill and the group of log huts built within living memory. ‘The venerable William Ryerson, who . lately died at the age of ninety-six, informed us that when serving as aide-de-camp: es toa British general, he was sent on a message from the River St. Clair to “ Little York,” now Toronto, and his road through all that country was but an Indian track, d through unbroken forest... Of this settlement of English-speaking Canada by these is American refugees we possess ample details and family monographs of well-known authority, nor are the personal memories and traditions of those who accompanied the first settlers into the wilderness yet extinct in many parts of the Prevince. In- deed, it is one of the objects of a work like the “ History of Welland County” to a collect and conserve these and other invaluable materials for history. f Mf Among the wonds of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, along the winding re- ; cesses of the Bay of Quinte, by the promontvries and bays of Prince Edward County, where harvest fields and harbors lie close together on every farm ; westward along : 4 the Ontario shore wherever a good-sized river tempted settlement ; among the peach i orchards of Niagara, the emigration spread to the number of ten thousand families. oh

Thence the adventurous sons of the Loyalists pushed their way inland ; in almost 3

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34 HISTORY OF WELLAND COUNTY.

. ce hl ‘ every town that was founded we can trace their presence, They brought to Canada, They were a race peculiarly well

as it were, the materials for a nation ready-made. Unlike immigrants from the

suited for the work of settlement of the New Canada. Old Country, who have to get acclimatized to the conditions of life in America, these men were the very children of the soi!, possessing a common type of nation- ality already different from that uf the Old World, more versatile, more self-reliant, at home with horse and kine, with axe and rifle, and by no means weaned, oy the then condition of American civilization they had left behind them, from the primitive habits of pioneer life.

We are able to realize with sufficient distinctness the lives of these first settlers of our country. The British Government, under the wise directions of, Haldimand, a distinguished Swiss officer in the English service, gave grants of land to the new settlers, and endeavored to supply farming implements, seed and provisions, for the first two years to all who required it. But in many cases they were most scantily equipped for a settlement, every acre of which had to be won by their own labor from the forest. Years of hard toil were passed, in which wife and daughters often took part. Luxuries they had none ; food was often scant and always coarse ; game was brought down by the ancient ftint-lock pea-rifle, ‘or the use of a shot-gun was an effeminacy reserved for those more ambitious sportsmen of a later day, who were contemptuously designated “snipe-shooters.”. To have a mill within three miles distance was a godsend to the settler, who rejoiced to carry thither on his shoulder his sack of grain. In many cases recorded by early settlers much suffering was en- dured by actual want of food. Yet the American refugee was at home in the Canadian forest. Unlike the immigrant from the Old Country, he had not to. under- go the painful process of learning to shift for himself. He had nothing to learn of the secrets of woodcraft ; he understood the log dwelling, the snake-fence, the birch canoe, the first primitive furniture and cooking utensils. His wife could make moccasins and coats from the abundant supply of peltry. Soon the persevering in- dustry began to tell. Crops came in abundantly from what proved to be some of the finest wheat-producing land in the world; cattle, and the produce of dairy and garden, throve. Here and there the general store, of a type still to be seen in re- mote districts, arose beside the grist mill, and supplied finery for the girls’ go-to- niveting dress, and tea for the wife. Now and then some discharged soldier or other “waif and stray” would be engaged in teaching, and a log hut be built by common effort for a school during the winter. In some such humble shelter as the fragrant aisles of the summer woods, the almost gratuitous zeal of the Methodist missionary would supply an intellectual stimulant especially needful in the total absence of books or newspapers. Not seeking reward, these itinerant preachers have gained a rich one —a preponderating influence among religious bodies in our division of Canada.

In 1784, Governor Haldimand settled the celebrated Iroquois chief, Thayen- danegea, with his Indians, who had followed the fortunes of Britain in the war, on a reserve granted to them upon the banks of the Grand River. ‘The total number of inhabitants of Canadc, in 1783, is given as 125,000. Another reserve was assigned the Mohawk tribe of Iroquois on the Bay of Quinte. When Christianized and civilized, the descendants of these most ferocious of savages live in peaceful industry.

The last act of Governor Haldimand was to give to Canadians the inestimable privilege of a law of Hadeas Corpus. He was a stern and austere ruler, apt to sus- pect treachery in every one, but his management of the settlement of Upper Wanada ‘i in 1783-84 entitles him to be regarded with gratitude by all Canadians. i

He was succeeded by Henry Hamilton, next by Colonel Hope, and then by General Carleton (Lord Dorchester) ; indeed, our history for the next twenty years is nothing more than a list of governors and lieutenant-governors. The first terri- ha torial division of western Canada was made by Lord Dorchester, who made four dis- | tricts, named Lunenburg, Meciienburg, Nassau and Hesse, while to the settlement | of the American Loyalists in the Lower St. Lawrence was given the name of Gaspe. : Very soon the difference in habits, laws, and languages of the English-speaking and | 4 of the French colonists, made itself so strongly felt, that in 1791 a Constitution was | a framed under the title of the Constitutional Act, and ‘he old Province of Quebec y was divided into Upper and Lower Canada py an imaginary line running from a point on Lake St. Francis along the seigniories of Longueil and Vaudreuil to Point Fortune on the Ottawa. In each Province there was to be both a Legislative Coun- cil and an Assembly. ‘The Council was to consist of life members chosen by the Crown through the Governor-Genera! — in Upper Canada to consist of not less than

q seven, in the more numerously populated Lower Canada of not less than fifteen members, The division of the two provinces was made with the hope of each hav- ing a great majority in its own country. Representative institutions were introduced, at least in the germ, by the enactment that the laws in force should be alterable by each Assembly at pleasure. The Act contained also a clause as to the means of maintaining ‘the Protestant religion” by a permanent appropriation of certain portions of land. By the vague phrase “ the Protestant religion, ” the Act no doubt contemplated the Church of England, and thus a State Church, with all its attend- ant evils, might have been foisted on western Canada, more especially from the analogous position of the French Canadian Catholic establishment as guaranteed by treaty. This Act was the work of the younger Pitt. It was the result of the liber- alizing movement that assumed increasing weight in Europe just before the out- break of the French Revolution. Mr. Lymburner, a Quebec colonist, was heard at the bar of the House of Commons in behalf of some of the British settlers in eastern ee Bs Canada, who took exceptions to certain clauses of th» bill, especially to one clause |

THE DOMINION OF CANADA. 35 j

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HISTORY OF WELLAND COUNTY.

36

which contemplated the introduction into Canada of hereditary titles. To this they demurred because in an infant colony such titles were objectionable, and quite unsuited to the condition of Canadian life. That clause was therefore struck out. An Executive Council was also to sit in each Province, to consist of tiie Governor and eleven others nominated by the Crown. ‘Thus, of the three legislative bodies, one orcy was elective ; still a great advance had been made towards freedom, as great as the infant colony could bear. The work of that generation was practical, not political; the builders of the nation had to fell the forests, and the duty of electing members was discharged in a very primitive fashion. We cannot but be- lieve that Pitt framed the Act of 1791 with an honest desire to give the Canadians free institutions. But the Constitution he framed with such care became the in- strument of much wrong-doing in the hands of an unscrupulous oligarchy, for nearly half a century. In Lower Canada a clique of British aristocrats oppressed the dear- est interests of the French Canadians and of their own countrymen, while race and creed antipathies intensified and envenomed the contest to a degree never known in Upper Canada. But in our country, though evil days came, and the struggle for responsible government was a bitter one, these questions had not yet arisen before the minds of our peopie. It was the age of Ontario’s settlement, a work well forwarded by the successive governors ; and the more despotic the authority, the quicker and more directly was the parcelling out of land to new colonists effected. At the divi- sion of the provinces east and west of the Ottawa, the population of Lower Canada was 130,000, that of Upper Canada, 50,000.

On September 18, 1792, Lieut.-Governor Simcoe, one of those admirable ad- ministrators who are the foster-fathers of colonization, opened the first Parliament of Upper Canada, numbering sixteen members, which met in a hut within hearing of the mighty roar of Niagara. It was a gathering to which we may well look back with sympathetic pride. Around them lay the boundless forest, before them the majestic torrent, not yet profaned by the émpedimenta of vulgar tourists. They were met in the little town of Newark, now Niagara, which has been the scene of so many battles, in which the fortitude of their race has been proved. The pioneers of Upper Canadian legislation were earnest, laborious men. Their first act deserves notice ; it was to repeal that part of the Quebec Act which enjoined the supremacy of French law in civil suits, and that in all matters of legal controversy resort should be had to the laws of England. ‘The second session of the Parliament of Upper Canada was memorable for the abolition, by a unanimous vote, of negro slavery. By the 47th article of the capitulation the French Canadians had been allowed to retain their slaves, and the poison of this ever-accursed traffic might have continued in full play all through Lower Canada, but for the introduction, through the settlement of Upper Canada, of the emancipating spirit of English law.

Our Parliament, at a time when labor was priceless, when the forests had to

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THE DOMINION OF CANADA. 37

be fought against for dear life, determined to make the free air of their forests more tree, by ‘‘An Act to Prevent the further Introduction of Slaves.” Such was the first utterance of the voice of our national life, ever hereafter to speak with no un- certain sound where the interests of freedom and humanity demand expression.

UPPER CANADIAN PROGRESS FROM 1792 TO THE WAR OF 1812.

The Lower Canadian Parliament refused to follow the noble example of the Upper Canadian Parliament in abolishing slavery. ‘This was, however, effected by a decision of Chief Justice Osgoode that slavery in any part of Canada was contrary to law. As Niagara was too near the frontier to be secure, Governor Simcoe pro- jected a town of London on a river which he called the Thames. But Lord Dor- chester preferred the central position of Kingston, commanding the outlet of the lakes, and from its situation easily defended. At length it was decided to fix the seat of Government at York, a few miles east of old Fort Toronto. This was in 1796. A group of wooden houses rose near the banks of a muddy and _ tortuous stream called the Don, sufficient for the residence of twelve families. The first Upper Canadian newspaper, the Niagara Gazette, appeared at Newark at this period. As an Act of Parliament was passed offering a reward for killing off wolves and bears, it is evident that the number of these wild beasts was then great, Old people still live in our most settled districts, even in towns like Picton, who tell how the wolves used to howl round the farmer’s hut at night ; how the bears might be knock- ed on the head when they got stuck foot-fast in the ice; how lynx, and wildcat, and wolverine, warred against the good wife’s poultry.

In 1796 Governor Simcoe was recalled, Peter Russell acting as Governor ad interim. ‘There is no greater proof of the prosperity of a colony than the statistics of its trade. It is worthy of note that one-eighth of the revenues of the ports of Montreal and Quebec, which had been assigned to Upper Canada, as it was thought to equal her share of the export trade, which in 1796 amounted to £5,000, in thir- teen years’ time increased to £28,000, and Upper Canada’s share of the export trade was raised to one-fifth. Besides the trade with Lower Canada, a new and rapidly extending commerce had grown up between Upper Canada and New York. It was, therefore, advisable to open ports of entry from Cornwall on the St. Law- rence, along the shore of Ontario to Sandwich, opposite Detroit. The Upper Can- ada Gazette was published at York in 1800.

The social condition of the French Canadian seemed to have degenerated since the days of Montcalm. We read of official frauds that recall the vey¢me of Bigot, of judges drunk on the bench, and openly avowing their maladministration of justice. Society in Montreal saw everything belonging to the conquering race with jaundiced eyes ; their political history at that time is a series of disreputable brawls with the successive governments, from which neither party came out with any credit. But

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38 HISTORY OF WELLAND COUNTY.

the material condition of the Lower Canadian improved every year. New branches of industry were opened, the trade returns were much increased, slipping thronyed the noble harbors of Montreal. In November, 1809, the first steamer plied be- tween Montreal and Quebec ; she was called the Accommodation, and was built by

the founder of the well known Montreal firm of Molson.

The troubles between the Legislative Assembly and Governor Craig came to a head in 1810. A majority of the Assembly had resolved that judges should not be eligible to hold seats in the House, as being liable to be influenced by the Execu- tive Council ; and being thwarted by the conjoint action of the Governor and the Council, expelled Judge De Bonne from his place in the Assembly. In retaliation the Governor took high-handed measures: he abruptly dissolved the Assembly and forcibly suppressed the Canadien, a proceeding so arbitrary that the period in which it occurred was known as the “Reign of Terror.” It is pleasant to turn from these

scenes of mutual outrage to the very different picture presented by Upper Canada.

THE WAR OF 1812.

As war was now imminent between England and the United States, governors were chosen with a view to the military requirements of the crisis. Sir George Pre- vost, a veteran Swiss officer, who had been Governor of Nova Scotia, was appointed to govern Lower Canada, where he won golden opinions from the oppressed people, and reversed the arbitrary policy of his contentious predecessor. ‘The good effect of this was seen in the action of the Lowe Canadian legislature, which passed a bill to raise 2,000 militia ; it voted £12,000 to defray the expenses of these troops, £20,- 000 to provide for the security of the Province, and £30,000 more to meet emer- gencies. It also passed a motion for inquiry into the cause of the late troubles, the motion being seconded by a youthful member already known for his eloquence, named Louis J. Papineau.

In Upper Canada General Sir Isaac Brock succeeded TLieutenant-Governor Gore. Here, too, a Militia Bill was introduced and passed on a liberal scale. With the cause of the War of 1812 Canadian history has no concern ; our interests were directly in favor of peace, and we were as guiltless of the demand of the British for the right to search American vessels, as of the embargo by which a virtual war was waged against American commerce. But, as usual, our country was made the battle-field for the contending powers, and the war was mainly carried on by Canadi- an blood and treasure, Yet in the end the benefits derived from the war were great ; it drew the two races of Canadian settlers more closely together, and made each conscious of the good qualities of the other ; it brought a good deal of money into our country, and was the direct cause of the prosperity of much of Upper Canada, besides giving us some valuable acquisitions of military settlers when the war was

THE DOMINION OF CANADA. 39

over, This war led to the construction of that expensive but useless public work, the Rideau Canal, and hence to the foundation of Ottawa.

General Hull, with 2,500 Americans, invaded Canada from Detroit, taking pos- session of Sandwich. He issued a proclamation which displayed some ability. General Brock marched in pursuit with a somewhat inferior force, half of them Indians from the wilds of Ohio. Hull retired to Detroit. The Indians were led by a remarkable warrior, who, with ‘Thayendanegea and Pontiac, are the great historic figures of Indian warfare. ‘Tecumseh had some talent for military engineering ; be- fore the troops left the Canadian shore, he had traced, with sufficient accuracy, on a piece of birch bark, a plan of the fortifications of Detroit. After a brief resistance that town surrendered to Brock, and Hull and his entire force were sent captives to Montreal. Meanwhile Captain Roberts, operating in the west, had taken possession of Fort Mackinaw, or Michilimakinac.

The Americans resolved to strike a heavier blow on the Niayara frontier. On October 13th, Colonel Van Rensselaer commanded 6,000 men on the Niagara River. Of these he sent over a detachment of 1,000, who attacked the British posi- tion on Queenston heights and succeeded in forcing their way to the heights despite a heavy fire from the English cannon. Brock hastened to the scene of action, and rallying his soldiers, led them to charge the Americans, and the success of his attack was assured had he not been shot down in the moment of victory. Dispirited at his loss the troops received a check, but a force of 800 regular troops, militia and Indians came up under General Sheaffe. In the battle that ensued the Americans were defeated with a loss of 400 men ; the rest surrendered. The British loss was 70.

Near Black Rock, General Smythe, with 4,500 Americans, crossed the river, but was repulsed and withdrew from the enterprise.

In Lower Canada a force of 1,400 Americans, who had invaded the frontier, were defeated with much promptitude by Major De Salaberry. Disconcerted at this, Dearborn, the American Commandant, withdrew his troops from the Canadian frontier.

As Britain was now engaged in the heat of her gigantic duel with Napoleon, it was impossible for her to send an adequate number of troops till just before the con- clusion of this war, when the overthrow of the French despot set her armies at liberty. But her part was well sustained by the colonists, French as well as Upper Canadians, and the glory gained by such officers as De Salaberry did much to bring about a better state of feeling between the people of the two Provinces. ‘The Indian braves too were faithful te Britain, although it was a sinister alliance, the chivalrous soldier’s sword with the savage scalping-knife.

One Captain Macdowell having crossed the frozen St. Lawrence, made a raid on Ogdensburg, whence he carried to the Canadian side some artillery and supplies. The Americans had more success in naval warfare, but the gallant exploits achieved

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by their ships against those of the first naval power in the world do not come within

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In 1813 Colonel Proctor, destined to meet such a disastrous defeat at Thames ville, defeated the American General, Wilkinson, near Detroit. ‘lhe American plans now limited to the conquest of Upper Canada, for which purpose they built a

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naval armament at Sackett’s Harbor, in order to commence the labor. Dearborn had also a considerable land force, which in Apri! embarked in Commodore Chauncey’s fleet, and sailing to York, easily took a place that had no defences. ‘The garrison of 600 men retreated, an act for which Geueral Sheaffe was superseded, Some 200 militia surrendered, the cannon and _ stores were carried off, and most of the town was burned down. ‘The American force next attacked Fort George at Ni- agara, which they captured after a gallant defence, continued till the defences were destroyed, when the British General, Vincent, fell back upon the works at Queenston. Vincent then destroyed the defences of Chippawa and Fort Erie, and withdrew to Burlington Heights. ‘Thus the Americans were now masters of the whole Niagara frontier.

General Prevost, attended by Admiral Sir James Yeo, with a naval force and officers, planned an attack on Sackett’s Harbor, while the main force of the Ameri- can troops were away at Niagara. But the result was, from some bungle of the at- tacking party, a disgraceful failure.

At Detroit General Proctor attacked the American General, Harrison, who, how- ever, was able to intrench his troops, and Proctor could not dislodge him. Buta force of 1,200 men, advancing under General Clay, was attacked by Proctor, who took some 500 prisoners.

Generals Chandler and Winder were sent by Dearborn to dislodge the British from their position on Burlington Heights. Buta night attack by Colonel Harvey at Stony Creek caused a speedy retreat of this force, with the capture of both Gen- erals and 116 men; and 500 men, with Colonel Boerstler, at Beaver Dams, surrend- ered to Lieutenant Fitzgibbon, to whom a lady of the well-known Niagara family of Secord, by a great effort, gave warning of the approach of the Americans. Yet it was impossible to deny that the American army had in some degree gained the ad- vantage, since they had effected a lodgment on our soil, and had still possession of Fort George.

On Lake Champlain a slight success was gained by the British, who took two armed vessels, but a heavy defeat was sustained by the fleet commanded by Captain Barclay, on Lake Erie, every ship of which was captured by Commodore Perry.

Meantime Harrison moved on Detroit in such force that Proctor recrossed the river and retreated along the valley of the Thames. The pursuing army of Harrison greatly outnumbered Proctor’s force. ‘They were overtaken near a village of Mor- avian Indians on the banks of the Thames, between Thamesville and the village of

THE DOMINION OF CANADA. 4!

Bothwell. Here ‘Tecumseh’s Indians refused to follow the army any further from their village. A confused fight took place all along the valley ; as Tecumseh was about to attack an American officer with scalping knife and tomahawk, the officer drew a pistol and shot the redoubtable savage. ‘The rout was soon complete, and Proctor made the best haste he could to Burlington Heights. After this success, the Ameri- cans resolved to make a movement on a large scale upon Montreal. But their General, Hampton, with 6,000 men, was defeated at Chateauguay by Colonel De Salaberry’s skilful handling of his small foree of 400; a feat worthy of the com- patriots of Frontenac and Montcalm. ‘This gallant action saved Montreal, A drawn battle took place at Chrysler’s Farm, in which the Americans lost 200, includ- ing their General, Boyd, and were obliged to abandon their position.

The year 1813 closed with other successes for the British army. Niagara was once more retaken by Colonel Murray, and an English force under Riall gave to the flames Lewiston, Manchester, Black Rock and Buffalo, in retaliation for the burning of Niagara by the Americans. ‘The burning down of farm houses, villages and towns, of which both sides in this most unhappy war were guilty, caused the most bitter feelings, and gave the contest a sinister aspect of brigandage.

In 1814, the war operations consisted of an unsuccessful attack by General Wilkinson, with 5,000 men, against 500 British at Lacolle Mill; a second attack by the British fleet on Oswego, which was once more plundered of its stores, and the fiercest combat of the war, when 5,000 Americans under General Brown, while oper- ating in the Niagara region, were defeated with great loss by the British under Drummond, with 3,000 men, at Iundy’s Lane. In this battle the British loss was goo, that of the Americans, 1,200, In consequence of this defeat the latter with- drew across the river, having blown up Fort Erie.

England was now able to send large reinforcements to Canada. Sir George Prevost, with 11,000 men, marched to attack Plattsburg, But, as the English flo- tilla had been destroyed, he thought it best to withdraw from his design. For this he was severely censured in England. Prevost was inferior as a general, but as a governor had obtained great popularity in Lower Canada.

In Upper Canada the American General, Brown, had once more occupied Fort Erie, and for some time held General Drummond’s force in check at Burling- ton Heights. But Drummond receiving reinforcements of the newly arrived troops, had compelled Brown to retire across the Niagara River. ‘The sack of Washington, and the subsequent defeat of the British at New Orleans, are of course events out- side the scope of Canadian history. Peace came at last by the Treaty of Ghent, 1814.

So ends the weary record of this unhappy war, a w&r distinguished by no great military operations on either side. ‘The native Canadian troops fought bravely in both the Provinces, But the operations consisted of a number of marches and

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countermarches, mostly to gain petty forts and posts of no permanent importance. It may, we think, justly be said that equal courage, and on the whole equal success, may be assigned to Americans and Canadians ; and to those who look to this great and selt-sufficing continent becoming more and more removed from European poli- tics and quarrels, it is a comfort to know that never more will hostile sword cross

the line between the Canadian nation and the great Republic. HE FamiILy Compact.

The original settlers of 1783, forming a separate body, with distinct alliances and “tions of their own, kept aloof from the later immigrants from various parts of ( 3ritain. Such as the rudimentary governmental system was in Upper Can- ada, it ...w'ally came to pass that the representatives of some of the more distin- guished and successful of the U. E. Loyalist families held pubi © offices in their hands ; they formed a sort of aristocracy in the Province. And the Constitution of 1791 directed that the Governor should be advised by an Executive Council, whose members were chosen from those of the Legislative Council, members of a clique which, beiny non-elective, looked to the Government rather than to the people. Such men were the salaried officials ; the sinecurists — of whom there were not a few in either Province —- judges, and the military officers whom the war had left in Canada, and other waiters upon the providence which distributes the Government loaves and fishes. ‘These men were neither responsible to the Assembly — the only elective body of the Legislature —- nor to the people ; they ruled in both Provinces, forming an oligarchy known as the Family Compact. By their social position, and by the natural tendency of absolute rulers to favor those who support absolutism, they got control of governor after governor, till a tyranny as odious as that of Charles the First and James the Second drove our countrymen also to rebellion.

At the beginning of the war of 1812, Sir George Prevost was directed to use conciliatory measures, He assured the French Canadians of being secured in their religious and political rights, which the so-called British party —that of a small but influential minority in Lower Canada — incessantly endeavored to trench on and destroy. Hut when peace was restored, a reaction took place, and through the oli- garchic Exvcutive and Legislative Councils a steady encroachment on French Cana- dian rights was pursued. Again and again the Assembly, led by the eloquent and popular Papineau, pleaded for popular rights. A determined stand was made on the question of the right of voting supplies after—by Lord Bathurst’s acceptance, in 1818, of Lower Canada’s offer to defray the whole expenses of Government — the control of the grant of the supplies fell into the hands of the House of Assembly. This gave the popular party the power of the purse, and a means of checking, by their yearly vote, the unconstitutional acts of an Executive. And this the oligarchy

THE DOMINION OF CANADA, 43

of the Council opposed as revolutionary ; * dead lock ensued in the legislative ma- chinery, and public feeling became every year more bitter,

There were other grievances of an odiously oppressive nature. The judges were dependent on the Executive, to which many of them were notoriously subser- vient. No public official was held accountable to the popular Assembly ; in 1823 one Caldwell was found to have embezzled £96,000 of the public money, and es- caped unpunished. It was demanded that the Jesuits’ estates should be applied to purposes of public education, In 1814 a formal impeachment was brought in the Lower Canada Assembly against Chief Justice Sewell, of Quebec, for having given unconstitutional advice to Governor Craig to dissolve the Assembly. Another charge was complicity in the disgraceful secret mission of the spy, John Henry, to excite treason against the Union in certain northern States previous to the war, of which Henry’s mission was a leading cause. Similar charges were brought against Chief Justice Monk, another member of the oligarchy. Both these officials escaped justice ; the Tory aristocratic party were in possession of all power in England, and Sewell got highly recommended to Lord Bathurst, and to Sir J. C. Sherbrooke, who was made Governor in 1816,

Meanwhile in Upper Canada discontent was already a-tive against the tyrannic rule of the Family Compact. Robert Gourlay, a Scotchman of some literary power, was bold in calling attention to abuses, to which the Executive afterwards replied by imprisoning him in Niagara jail, where he was treated with extreme harshness, jourlay was supported by Peter Perry, member for Lennox and Addington, who had risen to considerable wealth by industry and shrewdness, and who is remem- bered in the Province as the founder of Oshawa and Port Perry. ‘These men drew public attention to the injustice of the Clergy Reserves, one-seventh of the whole Province being set apart for the ministers of one church exclusively. And these Clergy Reserves did not lie in one tract ; they were dispersed among the lots occu- pied by actual settlers ; and being left unreclaimed, full of wild beasts and untaxed, lowered the value of adjacent land. It was felt intolerable that the selfish claims of one church should thus exclude from one-seventh of our country the farmer’s plough and the axe of the settler. The remonstrances of these early pioneers of reform made no impression on the despotic Executive ; but with the Legislative Assembly it was otherwise ; and in 1817, when the Upper Canada Assembly resolved to take into their consideration the internal state of the country, Major-General Robertson, a staunch Family Compact partisan, imitated the evil precedent of Craig and other Lower Canada Governors by proroguing the Assembly. Thus began a contest be- tween the Assembly ¢ 1d the Family Compact, which did not slacken till the over- throw of the latter, and the establishment of responsible government.

Meantime the material progress of Upper Canada steadily advanced. The “Army bills,” a paper money issue during the War of 1812, were scrupulously

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44 HISTORY OF WELLAND COUNTY,

repaid. In 18rg a grant of £25,000 was made to construct the Lachine Canal, thus furthering the advance of Canada’s commerce by rendering the St. Lawrence nav’ ‘able for other craft than the clumsy éatteaux of former times, Liberal mea- sures were passed by the Upper Carada Parliament for relief of farmers who had

suffered in the war or from failure of the wheat crop. But the Province quickly

recovered these temporary checks. In Lower Canada the first banks were opened,

those of Montreal and Quebec, in 1817. ‘ The lumber trade now began to be a source of national wealth. In the year

1818 the first ship laden with Canadian lumber sailed for an English port. The rapid extension of this industry peopled the depths of our winter forests with the peaceful camps of the lumbermen, thus affording healthy and most remunerative employment for all men in our country who were willing to work. There was another important consequence, the stimulus the lumber trade gave to civilization. ‘The settler’s farm followed the lumber shanty in order to sell produce to the shantymen. The saw- mill sent up its steam beside the nearest river. Ottawa, which was selected by the late Duke of Wellington as a sufficiently out-of-the-way place where the seat of gov- ernment could be safe from invasicn, owes more of its growth to the mills that make its lumber than to the Parliament that makes laws. The lumber trade moved up the Ottawa, founding towns and villages at each ten miles. ‘Thus the settlement of the Upper Ottawa valley began about 1821.

In 1818 Sherbrooke’s ill health caused his recall. He was succeeded by tue Duke of Richmond, an impoverished participator of the profligacies of George, Prince Re- gent, who was glad to recruit his fortunes by coming to Canada as Governor. He treated the just grievances of the Lower Canada Assembly with aristocratic disdain, and his rule might have strengthened the Family Compact in our own Province ; Dut in 1819, having been bitten by a tame fox, he was affected with hydrophobia, and brcaking loose from his escort, ran violently along the river which flows by the village called after him, Richmond, near Ottawa. He died at the villaye, and was succeed- ed by Sir Peregrine Maitland.

In 1820 the Bank of Upper Canada commence J operations, and in 1824 the Welland Canal, between Lakes Erie and Ontario, was begun, a work due to Wm. H. Merritt, who designed it in 1818. ‘A detailed account of this work is given in our local history chapters. :

The trade in ship-building was greatly fostered by the growth of the luaber trade ; at Kingston, on the Bay of Quinte, and at Montreal and Quebec, it was car- ried on with vigor. In 1825 the rank of a University was given to Queen’s College, Kingston, In Upper Canada, as far back as 1816, an Act of our Parliament was passed to establish common schools, a grant of £6,000 being made for the purpose. Every effort was made to encourage immigration, grants of land and Government. assistance being given to settlers. A large number of Irish came out at this time,

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THE DOMINION OF CANADA. 45

many of them sent by a Government only too glad to sweep its surplus into an emi- grant ship.

In 1821, five new members of Council were added, among them the Rev. John Strachau, who afterwards became Bishop of the English Church in Toronto. He was our Canaan Laud, the only mitred statesman we have had or are likely to have. Of a somewhat arbitrary temper, he had also muclt shrewdness’and a kindly nature. He was a leader of the Family Compact obstructives, and for some time was the chief power in Upper Canada, At this time the population of Upper Canada had risen to 120,000, and the number of ‘members of the Assembly being for that reason doubled, its popular character and influence increased.

Attempts were at this time made by the Church of Scotland to secure a share of the Clergy Reserves, in which, after strong opposition from Dr. Strachan, they were at length successful in 1832.

In 1823. the Canada Trade Act of the Imperial Parliament became law. By it was established the claim of Upper Canada to £30,000, arrears of her share of the importation dues ; for the original share of one-eighth of the duties hd, by the growth of Upper Canadian commerce, risen to one-fifth. The two Provinces were also ad- vised to unite, but to this the Lower Canadians were vehemently opposed, as they dreaded that their race and customs might be superseded by the superior energy of English-speaking Canada. In 1827, King’s College, York, now our Provincial Uni- versity, was founded. It was then an English Church seminary on the Oxford lines, and was promoted mainly by Dr. Strachan. In the same year, Sir John Colborne came as Governor of Upper Canada. He was a stern absolutist, of few words and haughty demeanor.

AJ} this time the disputes between the Executive and the Assembly be- came more and more embittered. in 1823, a new official Gazetée was established under the direct patronage of the Governor, Lord Dalhousie, as a slight to the old Quebec Gazette, now edited by Mr. Neilson, an eloquent leader of the popular party. This unconstitutional use of public money gave just offence. Next session the Assembly reduced the mcaey granted for the Civil List one-fourth, An eloquent denouncer of these and other abuses was M. Papineau. The Governor tried to gain over this patriot by appointing him a member of the Council, but Papineau, knowing well that his influence would be powerless in that clique, never took his seat.

Sir John Colborne treated the Upper Canada Assembly with equal disdain. He would reply to their addresses in a few curt contemptuous words, and turn away to the more obsequious members. Hitherto the solitary advocates of popular rights had been crushed as Thorpe, Gourlay and S. Bidwell had been by the power of the Executive. But now the caustic eloquence of a new leader swayed the Assembly more than ever to resistance. William Lyon Mackenzie was one who, whatever his faults, knew no fear of wrong-doers in power. In the columns of his paper, the

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46 HISTORY OF WELLAND COUNTY.

ablest that had yet appeared in Canada, he handled the vices of the Family Compact without gloves. So keenly did the oligarchy feel his caustic criticisms, that a mob of their adherents attacked and wrecked the office of the Colonial Advocate, and threw the printing materials into the lake. But this outrage only increased Mackenzie’s influence with the Assembly, and above all with the earnest-minded haters of the prevailing tyranny who began to abound in all parts of the country.

Meanwhile in Lower Canada, in 1827, M. Papineau had been elected Speaker of the Assembly. Lord Dalhousie refused to sanction the appointment, and the As- sembly refused to eleci any other Speaker ; the Governor at once prorogued the As- sembly. ‘The trouble went on to such a degree that in 1828, 87,000 of the people petitioned the Crown, urging their grievances, and citing the tyrannical conduct of Lord Dalhousie and his predecessors. A committee of the English House of Com- mons emphatically asserted the constitutional right of the Assembly to control the pub- lic revenue of the Province, but decided that, to avoid collision with the Executive, the salaries of the Governor, Judges and Council should be secured to these officials. They also recommended that the Legislative and Executive Councils should be made elective. This was in 1828.

Lord Dalhousie being recalled, Sir James Kempt was sent to arrange the Lower Provinces in accordance with the recommendation of the committee. He accepted Papineau as Speaker, and assented to a provisional Supply Bill. Meanwhile Lord Goderich, the English Colonial Secretary, sent a statement as to his proposed bill. It seemed that in place of the Assembly getting the right to control the entire revenue, certain sources of income were excepted. When this was laid before the Assembly, the old discontents revived in full force, and they resolved never to accept less than the control of the entire revenue. For the next five years there were end- less disputes as to details of the revenue, now of no interest, all grievances having been long ago redressed. But they aggravated the distrust of the British Govern- ment, and fanned the fire of Papineau’s eloquence. At last an Act, seconded by Papineau and opposed by the more moderate Constitutionalists, was passed by the Assembly, known as the 92 Resolutions. It embodied, in somewhat inflammatory language, the popular grievances, and was widely circulated as the basis of an agita- tion which it was now fully contemplated might become an armed revolt. It is but just to Papineau and his colleagues to say that they did not resort to extreme meas- ures till, after the forbearance of years, it seemed plain tht there was no hope of redress.

In Upper Canada, the town hitherto known as York, more familiarly as “Muddy Little York,” became a city, of which William Lycn Mackenzie was elected the first Mayor. His popularity was increasing, especially ttiroughout that part of the country north of Toronto. Instigated by Dr. Strachan, the Council resolved to secure a large proportion of the Clergy Reserves by creating fifty-seven rectories of the Church of

THE DOMINION OF CANADA. 47

England, to be supported by the lands of the Reserves. This act, stealing a march beforehand on what the popular party hoped to effect, excited the greatest indigna- tion. Sir John Colborne being recalled, Sir Francis Bond Head took his place. There was at this time a commercial crisis which, however, the Upper Canada banks got over without any stoppage of payment. The population of Upper Canada then numbered 390,000.

About 1835, finding it vain to hope for justice by constitutional means, as far as the Upper Canada Government was concerned, and lacking patience to wait the action of Canada’s truest friends in the English ministry, Mackenzie resolved on

armed insurrection. For this purpose he communicated with Papineau and the Lower Canadians, who promised co-operation.

MACKENZIE’S REVOLT.

Meanwhile Sir Francis Head, who had been sent from England to conciliate, rather exasperated the popular party than otherwise. He appointed members of the Family Compact to high salaried positions of trust. He sought to gain popularity at the time by appointing three members of the popular ranks in the Assembly, Dr. Rolph, and Messrs. Baldwin and Dunn, to seats in the Council ; but as he never consulted them, they resigned. He was an impulsive man, but a fairly smart writer of magazine articles. At last, what had never occurred before in Upper Canada, the Assembly stopped the supplies ; this was in 1836. On this Head obtained a ma- jority of Tories in the Assembly.

Meanwhile, Mackenzie was holding meetings throughout those parts of Upper Canada where his following was strongest. He had many sympathisers among the more educated class in the towns, but his chief adherents were the sturdy Scotch and Dutch farmers in the “back townships.” Old flint-lock muskets and rifles were got ready, pike-heads were forged and mounted on stout ash poles, and it was resolved to march on Toronto and proclaim Canadian independence. Meantime, . ° F. Head had sent all the regular troops to Lower Canada, an outbreak having occurred on Novembur 6, 1837. A rising took place under Dr. Nelson at St. Denis, in Lower Canada. A proclamation had been issued declaring Papineau, Nelson and others, guilty of high treason. Papineau, however, was persuaded to escape to the States, Nelson was personally popular, and when the alarm-bell sounded 800 men answered it, only 120 armed with muskets, the rest with pikes and pitchforks. They were at- tacked by five companies of regulars under Colonel Gore, a Waterloo veteran. But Nelson being soon afterwards reinforced with some better armed insurgents, and posted in a strong position, after a fight of two hours the British retired. But the insurgents were afterwards routed with great loss by Colonel Weatherall, near St. Charles. The last stand of the Lower Canadian insurrection was at St. Eustache, when the Canadian fire was sustained with spirit while they had any ammunition,

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48 HISTORY OF WELLAND COUNTY.

but the houses where they had been posted were set on fire, and the parish church, : eee into which they were driven for refuge, caught the flames. Not one of Chenier’s

men escaped the slaughter that followed. The village was burned, as was that of

St. Eustache and of Benoit, where no resistance was offered. (Garneau, Vol. II.)

The Lower Canadian insurrection, although suppressed, was a more serious matter than that which took place in the Upper Province, It opened the eyes of the Liberal Government in England to the fact that the people of Canada had grievances which they were willing to risk their lives to get rid of. If prompt and full redress has been the result, some gratitude is due to men like Mackenzie and Nelson, who, to gain no personal object, took their lives in their hands to obtain the privileges we enjoy to-day.

Toronto being thus left without troops, it seemed quite feasible that Mackenzie’s force might surprise the Capital. In the first week of December, 1837, his adher- ents mustered on what is now Yonge Street, but which was then a road through the woods. ‘There were some eight hundred of them, armed with muskets and pikes ; but Dr. Rolph had sent contradictory orders to three of the other leaders about the day of outbreak, and the enterprise was thus checked at the outset. Their outpost on Yonge Street arrested Colonel Moodie, who was riding to give information of their advance, and he, attempting to escape, was most unhappily shot.

An advance was made on their position, whose central point was in a house on Yonge Street, called Montgomery’s Farm, where a fight, or rather a skirmish, con- sisting merely of an exchange of afew musket shots, took place. Although so-called histories of Canada state that thirty of Mackenzie’s men were killed, careful inquiry among old men who were present convinces us that at most one man, a Dutch farmer, was seen to drop as he stood firing on the Royalists.” The latter were volun- teers, not in uniform, armed with flint-lock muskets, like their opponents.

Mackenzie and his colleagues fled, a price being set on their heads, to the United States, whence they returned in after years, after receiving free pardon. Mackenzie resided in Toronto, and* lived to see most of the reforms for which he fought freely conceded.

In the counties of Middlesex, Oxford and Brant there had been a sectior: of the people prepared for revolt ; but Colonel MacNab fortunately prevented this, and exercised ¢* at clemency towards those implicated. Their leader, Dr. Duncombe, escaped to the States. A second atternpt was made by Mackenzie, in conjunction with the American, Van Rensselaer, who occupied Navy Island, above Niagara Falls, and fortified it with about 1,000 men from Canada and the States, But Colonel MacNab, with a force of more than double the number, prevented their landing, and a small steamer, the Caro/ine, employed in carrying supplies to the island, was surprised at ‘Schlosser’s Landing, N. Y., at night, and being set on fire, was sent down the Falls. There were other bands of insurgents gathered at

THE DOMINION OF CANADA, 49

Detroit, Sandusky, and Watertown. ‘These were not the movements of Canadian insurgents, but:of some restless spirits on the United States frontier.

Ina raid made on Windsor from the American shore opposite, Colonel John Prince captured four of the raiders, and, constituting himself ‘ judge, jury and exe- cutioner,” ordered them to be shot in cold blood, without even the form of a court- martial. ‘To use his own characteristic words, they were shot accordingly.”

A final attempt was also made about the same time to invade Upper Canada at Prescott ; the raiders seized a stone mill, such as in the old Indian wars were often used as fortresses. Here they were assailed by a force of militia far outnumbering their own and better armed, and, though they defended themselves while resistance was possible, they were overpowered, and at last surrendered.

A reign of terror prevailed in Moyne ; five hundred insurgents were crowding the prisons. ‘I'wo leaders, Lount and Mathews, died on the scaffold at Toronto, meeting their fate calmly.

Meantime Lord Durham was sent to Canada, to make a searching inquiry into the causes of discontent. For in England the Tory power, which had been unques- tioned since Waterloo, was virtually overthrown by the passage of the Reform Bill of 1834. ‘The Liberal Government of Lords Grey and Melbourne was destined to ac- complish many reforms ; amongst others the first great steps to popular government in Canada. The Imperial Government for a time suspended the Canadian Consti- tution in order that Lord Durham, aided by a special council of his own appoint- ment, might be empowered to adjust difficulties. ‘The new Governor acted in the wisest and most conciliatory spirit. He composed a report which ranks as a classic in Canadian political literature. It is mainly owing to this report, and to his impar- tial and luminous statement of the circumstances of the case, that the union of the two Provinces is owing, and above all, that the Legislature in every branch should be so constituted that a really responsible Government should result. Lord Durham pardoned the greater part of the insurgents ; their leaders, now in prison, he induced to put themselves unreservedly in his hands, so as to avoid the popular excitement attendant on a State trial, and exiled them to Bermuda. ‘The English Government, and the Parliament especially, urged on by Lord Durham’s bitter personal enemy, Brougham, considered this action unconstitutional, and set aside the sentence of banishment, thus giving the prisoners their liberty. On learning this Lord Durham resigned, and left for England in November, 1838.

A second insurrection now took place in Lower Canada, led by Dr. Nelson’s brother. It was, however, suppressed, Sir John Colborne routing Nelson’s force with great loss at Napierville. ‘The insurgents were again defeated at Beauharnois by the Glengarry Militia. Colborne made an unsparing use of his success over men in every respect at a disadvantage in numbers, arms and discipline. Twelve execu- tions neg place, and three Judges, who had the courage to condemn these butcheries

50° HISTORY OF WELLAND COUNTY.

as unconstitutional, were suspended from office. years afterwards they were reinstated in their offices by Lord Sydenham.

It being now the wish of Lord Melbourne’s Ministry to bring about the amal- yamation of the two races in Canada by the union of the two Provinces, it was

It is consolatory to know that ten

thought necessary to obtain the full concurrence of each Province through its Legis- lature. For the task of arranging this the ministry chose as Governor-General Mr. Charles Paulet Thomson, an English merchant trained in the strictest Toryism, yet one who had inclined in the Liberal direction, and was the friend and associate of Bentham and Mill. A Radical as Radicals were at that time, he was yet regarded as an eminently safe man, an adroit politician, and one eminently #tted to carry out the scheme outlined by Lord Durham. The Lower Canadian Special Council had been appointed by Sir John Colborne, and did not in any way represent the French Canadians. It therefore at once consented to a union of the Provinces, and to rend- ering the members of the Executive for the future dependent for their tenure of office on the support their policy might obtain in the Assembly, The French Canadians regarded the union as a measure intended to efface their nationality, but they had no legislative voice to express their sense of wrong.

In Upper Canada no trouble was likely to come from the Assembly, as it had already consented to a union of the Provinces, and had been for years endeavoring to win responsible government. But the Council, the last stronghold of the Family Compact, was also a part of the Constitution. How could they be asked to efface themselves ? Mr. ‘Thomson, however, managed this with great address, publishing in the Upper Canada Gazetfe a despatch from the English minister, in which the de- termination of the English Government that the Canadian Executive should be re- sponsible to the people was in unmistakable terms declared to be final. The Family Compact bowed to their fate, but they had not yet said the last word when the Union Act passed in 1840.

The next elections were the first battle-ground ; at least ten members were re- turned by illegal means, yet the new Governor found that a majority of the new members were pledged to support the changes he was sent from England to carry out. ‘Only seven inembers of the Compact had seats.” (Dent.) ‘The Assembly was to meet in Kingston in June.

At the time of the Union in 1846, the entire population of Canada was reckon- ed at 1,600,000, of which 470,000 belonged to Upper Canada. Although the people of Lower Canada had advanced in many respects, although in Montreal and Quebec new industries such as shipbuilding had arisen, still the Lower Canadian people, as compared with those of the Upper Province, were in a state of retrogression. Their agriculture was carried on with implements that belonged to the France of the 17th century. ‘The habitants had scarcely advanced beyond the modes of thought of the Middle Ages. ‘They were, as they are still, the devoted subjects of a medizeval

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THE DOMINION OF CANADA, 51

Church, Of the 87,000 signers of the petition sent to England from the Lower Canadians in 1828, Mr. Dent finds that 78,000 were unable to write.’ (“ Last Forty Years,” Vol. I., p. 54.) ‘The financial condition of the Lower Province as regards revenue was, however, better than that of the Upper. ‘There was little public debt, and in 1840 a surplus of revenue over expenditure.

But in Upper Canada the energies of its active and ambitious population were not confined to farming. Statistics show that while in a period of twenty years Lower Canada increased her amount of acres under cultivation by 1.9, the increase of those of Upper Canada was 4.5. The Upper Canadian agriculture was progres- sive, energetic, never satisfied with old, worn-out methods, ever eager to have in use the last improved appliances of England or the States. Wheat for many years was the main crop, for the reason that it was the readiest sold. ‘The entire wheat crop of the Upper Province in the Union year is estimated at three million bushels.

The towns of Upper Canada were at that time small, and with scant pretensions to beauty, compared with the two historic cities of the other Province. ‘Toronto was the best in 1840. ‘Then, as now, it was the intellectual centre of Canada. It had a population of 15,000, Kingston and Hamilton came next. London, since its foundation by Governor Simcoe, was the military station and most progressive town of the west, having eclipsed St. ‘Thomas. Bytown, the nucleus of Ottawa, was a lumber shanty by the Chaudiere. In 1840, the Victoria College, Cobourg, took rank as a university, and Queen’s College, Kingston, was founded. In care for edu- cation, as in all else, the Upper Province led Canada’s advance.

LORD SYDENHAM’S MINISTRY.

Mr. ‘Thomson had been raised to the British peerage as Lord Sydenham for his services in Canada, and summoned the first Parliament since the Union to meet at Kingston in June, 1841. It was the first Canadian Parliament which was represent- ative of the people. ~ The ministry included men of opposite politics, who agreed to act together for a time in order to enable the Governor to inaugurate the: new system. Draper as Attorney-General, though a Tory, was yet for a time the colleague of the leading constitutional Reformer, Robert Baldwin. But the latter from the first de- clined to consent to any sort of coalition with the Conservative members of the ministry, and on Lord Sydenham declining to reconstruct it in accordance with the wishes of the people, he resigned.

The first important debate drew from the Family Compact Attorney-General, Mr. Draper, the admission that his ministry ought to resign office if want of con- fidence in its policy were voted by a majority of the Assembly.

The Parliament met in a large stone building now used as the General Hospital, directly opposite the University of Queen’s College, the Governor-General residing

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52 HISTORY OF WELLAND COUNTY,

te on constitutional questions was followed by some practical legisla-

The deba lc municipal corporations, and public education, rhe latter

tion as to public works, sae ee subject was introduced by Mr. Day, and provided $200,000 for maintaining primary

schools throughout Canada. Although the provisions of this Act were insufficient, it was a good beginning of a work destined to be an inestimable blessing.

A disposition to evade the true spirit of the new Constitution being suspected on the part of the Government, this great question was unremittingly pressed by Mr. Baldwin, a Reform statesman to whose integrity Canada owes much. He entered on political life in 1829, as member for York, and was son of Dr. W. Baldwin, a gentleman of liberal and enlightened views. As a Reformer, Mr. Robert Baldwin’s career was marked by bigh principles, moderation, and the absence of mere party prejudice. He kept aloos trom the Mackenzie revolt, and, with Mr. Francis Hincks, was among the first to raise the depressed spirit of the popular party.

On September 4, while Lord Sydenham was riding up the hill leading to Ports- mouth, his horse fell, causing a fracture which brought on lockjaw, from which he died, much lamented in Canada. He was one of the last and best of our personally- governing Governors, a class of officials soon to become extinct with the growth of that responsible government which Lord Sydenham, like Durham, did so much to foster. His grave and monument are in the Church of St. George, Kingston. It was his own wish to rest in Canadian earth.

At the close of 1840 some trouble had been apprehended from the imprison- ment of one Alexander MacLeod, a zealous Loyalist, who had fought against Mac- kenzie at Montgomery’s Farm, and had hastened to join MacNab’s force at Navy Island. In the seizure and destruction of the Caroline, an act of a somewhat ques- tionable character, there seems evidence that he took no part whatever. But in the skirmish that took place with the Caroline's crew, one of the latter, Amos Durfee, had been shot through the head. MacLeod seems to have been a talkative brag- gart ; he was known to be fond of boasting that he “had shed the Yankee’s blood.” Not unnaturally, he was arrested at Lewiston, N. Y., on a charge of murder and arson. But happily, as the matter led to great excitement, and might have caused war, the United States authorities allowed him to escape.

The next Governor was Sir Charles Bagot, a descendant of Viscount St. John, the brilliant freethinker of Queen Anne’s reign. In English politics, Bagot had been known as a pronounced Tory, and the Family Compact clique calculated to gain his aid in wrecking the newly-granted and as yet scarcely established Constitution. But they had to do with a high-principled gentleman and an experienced diplomatist. He had been instructed to maintain the new Constitution of Canada, and he with- stood every effort to induce him to swerve from his duty.

In 1842 the Ashburton Treaty decided the various questions, which had been for some time under dispute, with regard to the boundary line between Canada and

Somers 89

THE DOMINION OF CANADA, 53

the United States. It also determined, what was perhaps of still greater importance to both countries, the extradition of criminals proved guilty of murder, piracy, arson, robbery, or forgery.

In this year Mr. Francis Hincks entered the ministry in charge of the Finance Department, for which this statesman has always shown such exceptional talent. The Conservatives were indignant against Bagot for permitting this. He was accused of a leaning towards radicalism. ‘heir papers, with the absurd vituperation which both parties then indulged in, called Hincks “a rebel.” Mr. Lafontaine, for many years leader of the French Canadians, and Mr. Baldwin, soon afterwards took office, the Draper Ministry resigning. The two political parties were now definitely form- ing on the lines of the new system of government, and the French Canadian mem- bers seemed likely on most questions to hold the balance of power between them. A most important Act was passed by the new Government, prohibiting bribery, treating, brawling, and the display of party badges at elections. The Tory news- papers railed at this as a treasonable measure intended to forbid the hoisting of “the Union Jack of Old England.” Sir Charles Bagot had left England with a weakened constitution and the germs of a malignant disease. ‘These were still mo:e impaired by the rigors of our winter climate, and the incessant calumnies of the Family Compact press. He bade farewell to the Canadian Ministers, who left his sick chamber,in tears. He died in June, 1843. ‘The Family Compact organ in Toronto called him ‘an imbecile and a slave” ‘There can be but one opinion among Canadians of all parties to-day as to his services to this country.

Sir Charles Metcalfe succeeded him in 1843. Although a Liberal in England, no sooner had he arrived in Canada than he formed a hard and fast alliance with the Family Compact Opposition, and did his utmost to wrest from the Baldwin-Lafontaine Ministry their constitutional right to the official patronage of Canada. ‘They resign- ed accordingly ; all but Mr. Daly, who has been called “The Canadian Vicar of Bray,” and was for some time the sole Minister in office. He was afterwards joined by Mr. Draper and Mr. Viger, a French Canadian, who, it was vainly hoped, would draw his compatriots with him. But such a Government could not last. In 1844 there was a new election, at which, in defiance of law, the Metcalfe party resorted un scrupulously to all kinds of violence to secure victory at the hustings. ‘They did succeed in obtaining a small majority, but by means that attach a sinister memory to the Governor-General and the elections of 1844. Never since have the Canadian people tolerated such interference with their rights as electors. A ‘Tory, or rather Family Compact, Ministry was formed under Mr. Draper and Colonel Allen MacNab. Mr. Hincks, who had given up his editorship of the Axaminer, and had assumed that of the Pr/o¢ at Montreal, was not now in. Parliament; having been defeated at Oxford.

An event in Canadian journalism occurred on March 4, 1844, when the first

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54 HISTORY OF WELLAND COUNTY,

issue of the G/ode appeared in ‘Voronto. It was conducted by Mr, George Brown,

then twenty-five years old, the son of Mr, Peter Brown, a builder and contractor in “dinburgh. Having been introduced at Kingston to several members of the Bald, win Ministry, he advocated the cause of responsible government with such vigor in the new journal, that it speedily became what it still remains-—a political power of no mean order.

Among the members of the new Parliament were John A. Macdonald, a young but rising lawyer of so-called Tory views, and Wolfred Nelson, so late the leader of the Lower Canadian insurgents. He had served as a military surgeon in the War of 1812, and so learned somewhat of soldiership, siding with Papineau in the long struggle for popular rights which preceded the insurrection of 1837-8. Nelson endea- vored to restrain the violence which he forsaw would end in revolt. He won by his personal integrity and magnetism the warmest affection from the French Canadians, and when the village of St. Denis, where he lived, was attacked by Colonel Gore with his troops, Dr. Nelson defended the place with a skill and resolution which compelled the soldiers to retreat. Dr. Nelson nursed with the utmost kindness the wounded whom the Royalist troops left behind them. He was now returned for Richelieu, defeating even so powerful an opponent as Metcalfe, President of Council. ‘The rest of his life was passed in honcr, and in the service of his country, In 1844 the seat of Government was moved from Kingston to Montreal.

Metcalfe was now as much attacked by the Liberal or Reform press, and with the same silly rodomontade of invective, as the Tory press had employed against his predecessor, Bagot. He was called “a false-hearted despot,” “Charles the Simple,” * Old Squaretoes,” as if such mud-throwing did not degrade those from whom it came more than the statesman attacked by it. But Metcalfe did not lack defenders. Dr. Egerton Ryerson defended the Governor in a series of articles in Zhe British Colonist, the servile tone of which would hardly at the present day suit the taste of any political party.

In 1844, howev ., the pamphlet had _ its effect on public opinion, and Dr, Ryerson was rewarded for his zeal with the valuable appointment of Chief Superin- tendent of Schools for Upper Canada. For many years he was the autocrat of our Public School system, in building up which, if he made some mistakes, mischievous enough in their. way, he was still of great and lasting benefit to our country’s. system of education. The management of the Common School system of the Province by Dr. Ryerson commenced in 1846.

The Draper Ministry continued during the governorship of Sir C. Metcalfe and his successors, Harl Cathcart and Lord Elgin. William Henry Draper. who with Sir A. McNab led the ‘Tory party in Upper Canada, was the son of an English clergy- man, born in 1801. He had run away to sea, and at last settled at. Little York ” asa lawyer. He had great personal magnetism and suavity of address, and_ his

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THE DOMINION OF CANADA. 55

musical and experienced voice added to the effect of his otherwise not brilliant oratory in the Assembly. He lived till 1877.

In 1845 one of those terrible fires, which seem peculiarly the curse of Canadian cities, visited Quebec ; twice in succession it swept over the city until twenty-four thousand people were made homeless, The English people generously subscribed #,100,000 for their relief, to which the Parliament of Canada added £35,000.

Lord Metcalfe—-for the Governor had been raised to the peerage— was a sufferer from that most terrible of all diseases, cancer, He was obliged to return to Eng- land, where, under sufferings borne with affecting fortitude, he died.

‘The most important political event of this Parliament was a bill introduced by the Draper Ministry, to pay all losses occasioned to the private property of Loyalists in Upper Canada. ‘This wos :... doubt intended as a bonus to the Draper party in the Province, and was to be defrayed from the revenues arising from tavern and hotel licenses. ‘The French Canadian members ayreed to this proposal provided that similar indemnification was given to the Loyalists in their own Province, Six commissioners were accordingly deputed to make an estimate of the bonus so in- curred in both Provinces. But they found their task a difficult one. It was in many instances impossible to determine whether the losses caused by military opera- tions had befallen loyalists or insurgents, and the amount of compensation claimed mounted much higher than the ministry had anticipated. When (1846) the commis- sioners sent in their report, it appeared that at least £1¢0,000 would be required. Mr. Draper endeavored to compromise matters by a bill proposing to issue, in Pro- vincial Debentures, £9,986, to be repaid by the duty on marriage licenses With this no one was satisfied.

Lord Elgin, the new Governor-General, relieved Lord Cathcart in 1847. The Draper Ministry were getting more and more unpopular ; the champions of respon- sible government were far abler men than any in the ministerial ranks, and such journals as the Montreal /#/o¢ and the ‘Toronto G/ode exposed the weakness and un- constitutional character of Mr. Draper’s policy. ‘The country was against them. The other burning question which the earlier Reformers had urged, the seculariza- tion of the Clergy Reserves, was now agitated anew. ‘The power of the amily Compact, which had been the bulwark of the Reserves, had by this time all but vanished. Dr. Strachan, who had wielded that power, was relegated from his place as a politician to his true position as a clergyman. :

During this year our countrymen did much: to give aid to the famine-stricken people of Treland, when a continuous stream of emigration set in to Canada as well as the United States. In 1847 fully 70,000 Irish emigrants had: landed at Quebec before August. ‘They were the least fit to survive cither the tropical summer or the arctic winter of Canada, and too often they were fever-stricken as they landed from the crowded steerage. Again and again as they wandered through the land, these

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56 HISTORY OF WELLAND COUNTY,

hapless sufferers carried the germs of death into the houses where they received shelter.

When Parliament met at Montreal in June, 1847, the Governor announced that the English Government was willing to put into the charge of Canada the entire control of the Post Office department, and he also made the important conmunica- tion that the duties which England had imposed on Canadian imports would hence- forth be removed, He advised, for military reasons, the construction of a railway between Halifax and Quebec. ‘l'his is the line now called the “ Intercolonial.” It has never yet paid its expenses and is likely to pay less now that a shorter route can he had.

4 dissolution of Parliament now took place, and as the election was this time held in accordance with law, the popular feeling found expression ; the Liberal or Reform members had the majority, and such men as Hincks, Robert Baldwin, Hume Blake and Malcolm Cameron, were returned, Louis Papineau, who, like the other leaders of the movement of 1847, had come back to Canada, was elected, with Dr. Wolfred Nelson, from Lower Canada, Accordingly, when Parliament met, Mr, Dra- per’s Ministry resigned, and the Baldwin and Lafontaine Cabinet assumed their place. Although Papineau reappeared in political life, he never regained the prestige which he possessed in the early part of his career. His undeniable eloquence did not com- pensate for a petulumt vanity and a certain lack of political common sense. Hence- forth he all bu! disappears from Canadian history, His memory is still revered among ompatriots, eed he rests, not without honor, in the shadow of the elm re 0.

ear measures were passed in connection with this Imperial renun-

atial duties which ensured to Canada entire freedom in controlling

her trace. ‘Thus early had respo: tule government brought with it a second

im)ortant step towards nationality. In the course of the following year the comple-

tion of the St. Lawrence Canal gave an immediate impulse to the Canadian export rade.

In January, 1847, | ment met again at Montreal, when the Governor deliver- ed an address of the c ulatory kind, vulyarly known as “taffy,” about the general prosperity of the count: with which we have been familiar since the titular Gov- ernor ceased to govern » d learned to flatter. Then the real Government work of the session began by Mr. Lafontaine bringing up the subject of the rebellion losses, and introducing a bill to pay the moiety of the Lower Canadian losses left unpaid by Mr. Draper's Bill. ‘This put a telling weapon, that of appeal to “loyalty,” into the hands of the ‘Tories. They loudly maintained that it was unjust to require Upper Canada to pay any portion of the Lower Canadian losses, but that the injustice became an insult to all they most venerated if they were to pay actual rebels. It was maintain- ed that now rebels like Drs, Russell and Papineau were in power — that Lafontaine,

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THE DOMINION OF CANADA, 57

who had been in prison as a rebel in 1837, was governing the country — was it to be expected that they would neylect this opportunity to reimburse their followers? ‘To this it was replied, and seemingly with truth, that the ministry were only carrying out the policy of their predecessors in office ; that the object of the bill was simply to pay for all dona fide losses incurred by non-combatants, and that the Upper Canada losses had been paid from a license fund, to which Lower Canada also had contributed.

But the Opposition had at last got hold of a good election cry ; all the loyalist feeling was enlisted on their side on a question which was not one of “ loyalty,” but of simple fair play. ‘The Orange body, in particular, were so mistaken at the time as to think Protestantism endangered by the Government doing a simple act of justice. In Pakenham, near Ottawa, a clergyman named Mulkins was known to have written in favor of the measure ; he was an Orangeman. ‘The feeling was so intense that he had to give up his parish. ‘I'he Government gave him in recompense the lucrative post of chaplain to Kingston Penitentiary. Worse still, the old race hatred broke out anew, and to be rid of Lower Canada, many of these ultra-loyal Tories demanded annexation to the States. However, all this was but the outery of a minority in Canada, and the Rebellion Losses Bill passed bya majority of sixteen ; and having, as a matter of course, passed the Upper House, received the formal assent of the Governor-General on April 26, 1849. A mob of the defeated faction had yathered around the Parliament House. As the Governor-General left the building he was insulted and pelted by these zealous * Loyalists ”; his life was at one time in serious danger. ‘The members of the Assembly were hustled and beaten. At last the Parliament House was attacked ; a zealous ‘Tory member from the “astern ‘Townships — alas! the disgraceful fact is historic — applied the torch ; the dry woodwork was soon in a blaze that threatened to fire the city. So the Parlia- ment House was destroyed ; with it perished a literary treasury never to be replaced, the library containing many hundred volumes bearing on the history of Canada. It was an act of sheer vandalism, of which men like Mackenzie and Wolfred Nelson would have been incapable. ‘The partisans of Mr. Draper repeated similar scenes elsewhere ; in ‘Toronto Baldwin and Lafontaine were burned in effigy, a practice derived from the witchcraft of the dark ages. In Montreal the troops had to be called out ; the mo} threw stones, were fired on, and one man killed. Disgusted at the insults of the ‘Tory * Royalists,” the representative of royalty wished to resign his position as Governor-General, but the authorities in England warmly approved of his action in thus sustaining constitutional government, and entreated him to remain in office. Addresses from all parts of Canada, especially from the Reform party, were presented to Lord Elgin, expressing their regret for the treatment he had re-

ceived from a minority of Canadians. In view of this outrage, it was resolved to re-

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58 HISTORY CF WELLAND COUNTY.

move the seat of Government from Montreal to Toronto for the next ten years, and

afterwards that Parliament should meet alternately in Quebec and ‘Toronto.

About this time Canadian farmers began to feel the depressing effects of the abrogation of the system of protection in England, for tie Canadian producer had also been protected against American and other grain. Now that this had ceased to be the case, the St. Lawrence trade was seriously damaged, and a depressing effect produced on business all through the country, But this was to a great extent remedied by a measure, first proposed in 1850, for reciprocity or partial free trade with the United States, In this year also an important municipal reform was carried, extendiny the principle of local self-government, both in Upper and Lower Canada. By this most salutary measure, each county and township was charged with the con- trol of its local taxation and expenditure. At this time our present county and town- ship system was formed, thus relieving Parliament of the care of a multitude of local details, and the general revenue from expenditure as to which the municipalities themselves could best judge. ‘I'he agitation on the Clergy Reserves abuse now be- came more intense ; it produced a difference though not a division in the Reform ranks, those who hela uncompromisingly to the abolition of the Reserves being known in political slang as ‘“ Clear Grits.” Meanwhile the prosperity of the country was being advanced by the construction of the Grand ‘Trunk, Great Western, and Northern Railways. ‘The first of them was projected by Sir A. MacNab, who had great persenal influence in the western part of Upper Canada, Numerous light- houses were also erected at various points on the Gulf of St. Le wrence. In the year 1851 Canada made a very creditable appearance at the Great Exhibition in London, the first of a series of such exhibitions which, held in the chief countries of the

world, have greatiy promoted international commerce.

All Cani da, and especially the English-speaking Province, was rapidly develop- ing her industrial resources. One of the foremost to use steam vessels on her lakes and rivers, she was now energetically intey;penetrating her vast plains with the great lines of railway above mentioned, which, in the course of thirty years, have branch- ed out in every direction, covering the face of the land with a network which con- nects with every industrial centre. In October, 1851, Mr. Hincks became Premier. His keen practical sense and financial tact led him to take great interest in the founda- tion of the Grand Trunk Railway, to which, in 1852, aid was giver. by Parliament ; the session of that year being known as the railroad session. The year 1852 is marked by a great fire in Montreal, 10,000 people being made homeless.

The year 1854 witnessed three remarkable events in Canadian politics. ‘The Reciprocity Treaty with the United States procured fgr our people the right to send most of the products of Canada free of duty to the United States; it was to be in

foree for ten years. Yet more important is the step made by this ‘Treaty to Canada’s

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THE DOMINION OF CANADA. 59

commercial independence ; for the first time we were allowed a voice in framing a treaty that concerned Canadian interests.

The long-vexed question of the Clergy Reserves was now set finally at rest. These wild and at the time unprofitable lands were to be sold, and the fund thus obtained to be at the disposal of the different municipalities, and to be used for the benefit of the local schools, or for any other purpose of municipal improvement, But in order not to act harshly, such portions as were already occupied for church use were to form a small fund for church endowment. And in Lower Canada the Seigniorial Tenures Act abviished the incumbrance, long felt as an obstacle to progress, of the feudal tenures of property. It was now arranged that each seigneur should receive a certain sum from his tenant, the balance being made up from a sum granted by the Canadian Parliament. England being this year at ‘var with Russia, Canada sent a (ift of £20,000 as a contribution towards the relief of the wives and children of soldiers and sailors killed in battle. It is to be hoped that such offer- ings of Christian charity may soon be all the share Canada will take in European wars.

In 1855 Sir Edmund Head come as Governor-General. The first regular volun- teer corps was formed in consequence of an amendment to the Militia Act passed this year. In 1856 a further advancement in the freedom of our institutions was made by applying the elective principle to our LegislativeCouncil. The change was to be made gradually ; the nominees of the Crown at the time living were to retain their position for life; as they dropped off their successors were to be elected. At this time our

-arliament subsidized a line of steamers between Montreal and Quebec and_ Liver- pool, to compete with the American line subsidized by the English Government. ‘The seat of Government was now proposed to be changed finally to Ottawa, a change made by suggestion of the Crown, and, for entirely military reasons, the suggestion of the Duke of Wellington at the conclusion of the War of 1812. This change was, for obvious reasons, unpopular with the people of the older and more central cities, and caused much opposition to the Cartier-Macdonald Ministry, now in power.

In 1857 a commercial crisis came over the country, and, together with a suc- cession of bad harvests, much depressed our commerce, To remedy this a new Customs Act was passed, imposing heavier duties on certain imported goods. In 1858 attention was turnec to the proper protection of our fisheries. The beautiful edifice of our Toronto University was now completed ; it is in the Norman wothic style, but treated with an elaborate luxuriance of rich decoration, The coinage was this year changed from the old cumbrous system of pounds, shillings and pence to the more facile decimal system.

In 1858 the removal of the seat of Government to Ottawa brought about the downfal) of the Cartier-Macdonald Ministry. Geo. Ff. Cartier, who had succeeded to Lafontaine’s influence in Lower Canada, was the ablest leader his compatriots

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60 HISTORY OF WELLAND COUNTY.

have yet known, Sir John A. Macdonald, the most notable of the Conservative téaderk whom this extraordinary ministerial movement brought into power, was born in Sutherlandshire, Scotland, in 1815, and came to Canada in 1820 with his father, He was educated at the Kingston Grammar-School, where

who settled at Kingston. At twenty-one he was called to

his chief tastes seem to have been for mathematics. the bar. As has been mentioned, he defended, with benefit to his own skill, in a cause where acquittal was hopeless, Von Schultz, the leader of the raid on Prescott in 1838. At the age of thirty-one he became member for Kingston in the Conser- vative interest. Fer some years we can find, in the old fyles of newspapers preserv- ed in the Parliamentary Library, ‘Toronto, but scant mention of J. A. Macdonald’s speeches in Parliament. He was biding his time, and maturing both the skill in constitutional law and the extraordinary knowledge of men, especially political men, by which he has been distinguished ever since. Political tact and adroitness in discerning the right moment and the right man are the chief characteristics of this statesman. He has passed through every office in the Administration. He was Receiver-General under Mr, Draper in 1847. Again he held a portfolio under the MacNab-Morin Coalition in 1854, which granted the abolition of feudal tenures and secularization of the Clergy Reserves. | Having superseded Sir Allan MacNab, whom age and gout had unfitted for active leadership, as the chief of the Conserva- tives, he was supported by the influence, all-powerful as long as he lived, of George K, Cartier, with the people of Lower Canada.

Mr. George Brown, editor of the Gode, was then called on to. form a ministry, as being leader of the party opposed to that of the late Administration. This was at length accompiished, Mr. Brown being Premier, with Mr..Dorion to represent the Lower Canadians. But, according to our constitution, ft’ ministers lost their seats in Parliament on accepting office until re-elected by the people ; their numbers in parliamentary strength were thus so much weakened, that on the Conservatives moving a vote of want of confidence, the Reformers were defeated. Of course the Reform Ministry would at once have appealed to the constituencies, but by a very arbitrary use of the power left wits a Governor-General, Sir F. Head refused to sanction this. In consequence of this action of the Governor, the Macdonald- Cartier Ministry were reinstated in power, the Brown-Dorion Government having held office only three days. Much bitterness was caused by this adroit but not very high-prineipled manceuvre.

In August the Atlantic cable was first laid, an event attended with great rejoic- ing in Canada, But in this, the first effort, the success was not permanent as yet.

On the 9th of September of this year that patriot, Robert Baldwin, died at the homestead his father had built at Spadina, in west Toronto.

In 1859, Parliament held its session in Toronto. It was now found that. there

was a continual deficiency in the revenues of the Province, and as it was considered

THE DOMINION OF CANADA, 61

inexpedient to reduce the expenditure on railways and othet public works, the duties on exports were considerably increased. On October 13th, the monument of General Brock on Queenston Heights was unveiled in the presence of a vast assemblage, in- cluding the volunteer corps, with whom were many veterans who had fought under Brock in his last battle. As the Victoria Bridge over the St. Lawrence was now ap- proaching completion, our Parliament sent an invitation to the Queen of England to visit Canada and preside at its opening, Next year she replied, declining the visit to Canada for herself, but intimating that the Prince of Wales would take her place at the opening ceremonies. It had long been felt that while in progress, education, and all intellectual and industrial results, Upper Canada was far ahead of the French Province, yet according to the constitutional arrangement, whereby the two Provinces had an equal representation in Parliament, the interests of the English-speaking Pro- vince were on all occasions made subservient to those of the French by the fact that, while in Upper Canada there were two political parties whose numbers were, as a rule, equaily balanced, the French members voted as a unit, and were thus enabled to hold the balance of power. ‘To remedy this a Reform Convention was held in Toronto this year (1859), in order to devise means for establishing the principle, on which all the late parliamentary reforms in England have been based, of representa- tion by population. But the French Canadians had always been successful in their opposition to this measure, which they knew would weaken their political importance. It was therefore proposed to establish a Federal Union between the Provinces, in place of the existing system of Legislative Union. ‘This suggestion, first proposed at the ‘Toronto Convention of 1859, was the germ of the great constitutional change since carried out so successfully in the Confederation of Canada.

In November of this year, Sir J. B. Macauley, who had so long held with honor the position of Chief Justice of Common Pleas, died, aged sixty-six.

The year 1860 opened with what was felt as a national calamity—as it tended to impair confidence already shaken by previous losses of our Canadian line steamers —the foundering of the mail steamer Hungarian cif Cape Sable. All on board were lost. Since that time increased vigilance has happily prevented the recurrence of such disasters, and the Allan line steamers have never forfeited public confidence. In August of this year the magnificent Victoria Bridge was opened by the Prince of Wales, who, on visiting this country and the United States, was received by both nations with the most generous hospitality. ‘The Victoria Bridge is one of the wonders of the New World. As a work of human art it is not unworthy of com- parison with the great works of nature amid which it stands, spanning our mightiest river, with its multiplied arches of massive granite. Such a work is a token of our national progress.

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62 HISTORY OF WELLAND COUNTY.

In the same summer the Prince of Wales also laid the foundation stone of the new Parliament Buildings at Ottawa, which, trom being, as a great writer resident in Canada has called it, “An Arctic lumber village,” was even then assuming the pro-

portions of one of our leading cities. In order to illustrate the vast growth of all Canada, and the greater relative growth of Upper than of the Lower Province, it needs but a glance at the census

returns of the population :

Census of 1841.—Upper Canada, 465,000; Lower Canada, 691,000 ss “ 1861. tt ** 1,396,000 ; us «I, 111,000

In October, 1861, Sir Edmund Head was replaced as Governor-General by Lord Monck. On August 28 the stormy and chequered career of William Lyon Mackenzie closed in peace in the city of which he had been the first mayor. Now that the Family Compact and the generation that upheld it are gone, it is increasing- ly felt that a debt of gratitude is due to this single-hearted patriot. ew other states- men can show a record so stainless as regards politica! morality.

In this year also began the calamitous war in the American Republic. At first and for some time the people of the North seemed scarcely alive to the importance of the situation. When awakened from inaction, army after army swept through the Southern States, and after many a hard-contested field — for there were no better soldiers than those of the South — peace followed the capture of Richmond. During the war there was in England a strong sympathy with the rebels. But in Canada, with exceptions, the good-will of the nation went with the armies of the North, and we rejoiced when a difficulty, caused by the seizure by an American commodore of two Confederate envoys on board the 7vené, was happily settled by their release. A considerable number of Canadians enlisted in the Northern army. ‘The demand for horses, grain, and food supplies of all kinds among our Northern neighbors led to the circulation of a considerable amount of money in Upper Canada, and. thus proved a stimulus to trade, the withdrawal of which, when war prices were no longer offered, produced a corresponding depression. While on the subject of the war, we may mention, although the occurrences took place some three years later, that Canada was well nigh involved in trouble with the United States by the lawless and ungenerous action of certain refugees from the South. ‘These men, while coming to our land as guests seeking a peaceful shelter, abused our hospitality by acts of brigandage, for which they attempted to make Canada their base. One piratical ex- pedition effected the seizure of two small craft in Lake Erie, which, however, were abandoned ; another, led by Mason, son of the Envoy, seized on the Zren¢ steamer, made a raid on St. Albans, a small town in Vermont. The Canadian authorities

apprehended the raiders, who, however, succeeded in obtaining their release on some

THE DOMINION OF CANADA. 63

legal technicality. In this year died Lafontaine, who had been the representative of Lower Canada in the Ministry of Robert Baldwin.

In 1864, a Convention of thirty-three representatives from both Provinces met at Quebec to discuss the question of Confederation. It was unanimously voted that a proposal for effecting this great measure should be submitted to the Legislature. In this year, the Sandfield Macdonald Ministry having resigned office, and that of Sir E. P. Tache, which succeeded, not surviving more than two months, overtures were made by the ministry to George Brown, leader of the Reform Opposition, that in order to get rid of difficulties which threatened a political dead-lock, a Coalition Government should be formed, of which three Reformers, including Mr. Brown, should represent the Opposition element. ‘This was agreed to, and the Coalition Administration was formed. ‘The principal members of the Coalition were John A. Macdonald, G. E. Cartier, and George Brown, with Messrs. McDougall and Galt. Mr. Brown then moved for the appointment of a Committee on Constitutional Diffi- culties, and very soon a scheme was brought before Parliament, which was based on that of the Reform Convention of 1859. In 1865 this proposal, embodied in seventy- two resolutions, was adopted by the Parliament of Canada, and by those of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. Newfoundland and Prince Edward Island, fearing to lose political importance by such a union, declined it for the time being. In ‘the same year John A. Macdonald, G. E. Cartier, Alexander Galt and George Brown, were sent as delegates to represent the wishes of the colonies to Lord Palmerston, then at the head of the Government. In England the scheme was received with full approval. As the Reciprocity ‘Treaty with the United States was now about to expire, Mr. Galt and Mr. Howland were sent to Washington to negotiate as to its renewal, in connection with which transaction a difficulty arose in the Cabinet, and Mr. George Brown resigned. ‘The negotiations for renewing the Treaty failed. In 1866 occurred the raid called the Fenian invasion. ‘The Fenians, an Irish organiza- tion for the purpose of achieving the independence of Ireland, very absurdly resolved to invade Canada, a country which was the home of thousands of their countrymen. ‘They did not consider that if Canada could be blotted from the face of the earth, it would not lead a step nearer to the independence of Ireland. But there is every reason to believe that this invasion was projected not from any patriotic motive, but to get up a sensation among the American Irish, and thus fill the pockets of the Fenian leaders. On June the first twelve hundred Fenians, well armed, and led by an ex-officer of the American army named O’Neil, crossed the Niagara River near Buffalo, to Fort Erie, and marched to a place called Ridgeway. A body of regular troops was sent to meet them with nine hundred volunteers, from Hamilton and Toronto, commanded by Colonel Booker. Too impatient to await the co-operation of the regulars, Colonel Booker advanced towards Ridgeway. Here the Fenians were found in a strong natural position ; a smart skirmish took place ; and upon a

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64 HISTORY OF WELLAND COUNTY.

false, and, under the circumstances, absurd alarm of cavalry, the order was given to form square. ‘This movement was of course suicidal, as it gave the enemy a consoli- dated vody upon which to concentrate their fire, and rendered it doubly effective.

The volunteers had to retire, No. 1 Company, Queen’s Own Rifles, Toronto, cover- ing the retreat with coolness and skill. Our force lost an officer, Ensign McEachren, of No, 1 Company, Queen’s Own, and six men killed, and four officers and nineteen men wounded, Fuller details of this Raid are given in our County History. Several attempts at a raid were also made on the Lower Canadian frontier, but the Volun- teer Militia were there in such force that the Fenians effected nothing, until the United States authorities took cognizance of the matter, and seized the arms of these brigands. ‘The Fenian prisoners were tried and sentenced to death, but this was commuted to imprisoument for life in the Penitentiary, whence, however, they were released after several years confinement. A public funeral was given to our brave volunteers, and a monument to their memory has been set up in the Queen’s Park,

‘Toronto.

*

On the 8th of June, 1866, our Parliament met in the new Parliament Buildings,

RN Se hen ROM TREE ae See ee ere

? Ottawa. This magnificent palace is a fit mansion for the true governing power of our country, and it is fitting that the free nations of the New World should erect for their Legislatures edifices as beautiful as any palace of Old World despotism. Our Parliament Buildings form three sides of a square, the central and largest being built in the twelfth century Gothic style. The stone is a cream-colored sandstone from the Ottawa quarries, and the arches of doors and windows are of a warm red sand-

stone. In the centre is a lofty tower of stately proportions, and the library, a circular

structure with flying buttresses, is one of the most beautiful features of all.

‘Two disasters befell Canada in this year. First, a terribly destructive fire oc-

failure of one of our oldest banks, the Bank of Upper Canada, took place. As. al-

| curred in Quebec, with loss of 2,500 houses and not a few lives, Secondly, the i most all the banks in the country had taken the Upper Canada Bank’s paper, quite

a panic ensued. However, the other banks stood their ground, and the crisis passed

over.

At the elections held in New Brunswick that year, it was found that a consider- able majority pronounced in favor of Confederation, in spite of a persistent Opposi-

tion to it, kept up in both the Maritime Provinces by the popular statesman, Joseph

Howe. An Act was now passed in the English Parliament determining the 1st of

July, 1867, as the date when the Confederation should become an accomplished

fact. ‘This was carried out amid gatherings of our Volunteer Militia corps, and

general festivities. And ever since that year, the 1st of July, the birthday of the

United Canadian Nation, is kept as a festival iy every true Canadian. By another

Act of the British Parliament, passed at the same time, a loan of £,3)000,000 was

THE DOMINION OF CANADA. 65

guaranteed for the Intercolonial Railway connecting the Maritime Provinces with Canada,

By this important change in our Constitution, the legislative power for Canada is vested in our Parliament, which meets at Ottawa, and consists of a Senate and a House of Commons. ‘The latter is the really governing body, and now consists of two hundred and fifteen members ; ninety-two from Ontario, sixty-five from Quebec, twenty-one from Nova Scotia, sixteen from New Brunswick, six from Prince Edward Island, six from British Columbia, five from Manitoba, and four from the North West Territories. “The Speaker is elected by the House, and the Premier and other ministers must be members. ‘The Government is conducted by a minister able to command the votes of a majority in the House. He, as representing the will of the people, is the true ruler of Canada, and if the House of Commons votes a want of confidence in his administration, it is the usual course to resign or dissolve Parlia- ment and hold a general election, so that the people may express their will. With the ministry rests the disposal of all patronage that does not belong to the ministry of each province. ‘The Senate consists of seventy-two members, appointed nominally by the Governor-General of Canada, but in reality by the administration for the time being. ‘The Speaker of the Senate is nominated by the Governor-General, and has a deliberative