The Rise of Canada, from Barbarism to Wealth and Civilisation. Volume 1

by Charles Roger

It is impossible to do other than admire the farsightedness of that great statesman, Charles Fox, with his blue coat and yellow waistcoat, in this manly, sensible, and telling address. Time has nearly brought round the state of things that he desired to see, and if disembodied spirits can take an interest in things earthly, it will be no small addition to his present state of bliss to discover almost the realization of suggestions made sixty years ago, before the Browns of this period were conceived, and while the Rolphs were puling infants.

Mr. Chancellor Pitt did not join issue with Mr. Fox, but did not consider it expedient to flash legislative freedom upon a people. He thought that if the Assembly were not rightly consolidated by the Bill, little harm was done, because there was nothing to hinder the Parliament of Great Britain from correcting any point which might hereafter appear to want correction. He did not like the elective principle of democratic governments, and with respect to the land appropriated to the clergy, like every thing else provided by the bill, it was subject to revision. Where land had been given in commutation of tithes, the proportion of one seventh had grown into an established custom. The Bill was re-committed. Next day the clauses of the Bill being put, paragraph by paragraph, Mr. Burke eloquently defended its provisions, ridiculed the "Rights of Man," and almost extinguished the light of the new lantern, which exhibited in the academies of Paris and the club-rooms of London, the constitutions of America and France as so much superior to that of Great Britain. The distinguished orator was certainly more declamatory than argumentative, and he was repeatedly called to order. It was alleged that Mr. Burke had no right to abuse the governments of France and America, as the "Quebec Bill" only was before the House. Nay, there was something like a scene. Mr. Burke complained of having been deserted by those, with whom he formerly acted, in his old age, and Mr. Fox, with tears in his eyes and strong emotion, declared that he would esteem and venerate Burke to the end of time. The same cries of "order," "order," "chair," "chair," "go on," "go on," that are heard in our most tumultuous debates, in the Assembly, were frequent in the course of the debate, and Mr. Burke was unable, on account of the tumult, to proceed with his account of "the horrible and nefarious consequences flowing from the French idea of the rights of man." The debating continued for a number of days, and the Bill was read a third time on the 18th of May. When the report of the Bill in Committee was brought up, on the 16th of May, the House divided upon an amendment by Mr. Fox, to leave out the clause of hereditary nobility, which amendment was lost by an adverse majority of forty-nine. It was then moved, in amendment to the Bill, by Mr. Chancellor Pitt, that the number of representatives in the Assemblies should be fifty instead of thirty, but that motion was also lost by an adverse majority of fifty-one.

The government of Upper Canada was assumed by General Simcoe, on the 8th of July, 1792. He carried out with him to Upper Canada the Act constituting it into a province, and on the 18th of September he was enabled to meet his Parliament. The capital of the Province was at Newark, now Niagara. The seat of Government, according to the Duke de la Rochefoucault Liancourt, who visited it in 1795, consisted of about a hundred houses, "mostly very fine structures." Governor Simcoe apparently did not occupy one of them, but a "miserable wooden house,"—formerly occupied by the Commissaries, who resided there on account of the navigation of the lake,—his guard consisting of four soldiers, who every morning came from the fort, to which they returned in the evening. It is difficult even to guess at the appearance of the Parliament building. Assuredly it did not require to be of great size. When the time arrived for opening the Session, only two, instead of seven members of the Legislative Council were present. No Chief Justice appeared to fill the office of Speaker of the Council. Instead of sixteen members of the Legislative Assembly, five only attended. What was still more embarrassing, no more could be collected. The House was, nevertheless, opened. A guard of honour, consisting of fifty soldiers from the fort, were in attendance. Dressed in silk, Governor Simcoe entered the hall, with his hat on his head, attended by his Adjutant and two Secretaries. The two members of the Council gave notice of his presence in the Upper House to the Legislative Assembly, and the five members of the latter having appeared at the Bar of the two Lords, His Excellency read his speech from the throne. He informed the honorable gentlemen of the Legislative Council and the gentlemen of the House of Assembly, that he had summoned them together under the authority of an Act of Parliament of Great Britain, which had established the British constitution, and all that secured and maintained it to Upper Canada; that the wisdom and beneficence of the sovereign had been eminently proved by many provisions in the memorable Act of Separation, which would extend to the remotest posterity the invaluable blessings of that constitution; that great and momentous trusts and duties had been committed to the representatives of the province, infinitely beyond whatever had distinguished any other British Colony; that they were called upon to exercise, with due deliberation and foresight, various offices of civil administration, with a view of laying the foundation of that union of industry and wealth, of commerce and power, which may last through all succeeding ages; that the natural advantages of the new province were inferior to none on this side of the Atlantic; that the British government had paved the way for its speedy colonization; and that a numerous and agricultural people would speedily take possession of the soil and climate. To this speech the replies of the Council and Assembly were but an echo. The seven gentlemen legislators proceeded actively to business. An Act was passed to repeal the Quebec Act, and to introduce the English law as the rule of decision in all matters of controversy relative to property and civil right; an Act to establish trials by jury; an Act to abolish the summary proceedings of the Court of Common Pleas in actions under ten pounds sterling; an Act to prevent accidents by fire; an Act for the more easy recovery of small debts; an Act to regulate the tolls to be taken in mills (not more than a twelfth for grinding and bolting); and an Act for building a Gaol and Court House in every district within the province, and for altering the names of the said districts, the district of Lunenburg to be called the Eastern District; that of Mecklenburg, the Midland District; that of Nassau, the Home District; and that of Hesse, the Western District.

Parliament was about a month in session, when it was prorogued by His Excellency. On the 15th of October he gave the assent of the Crown to the Bills passed, and in the prorogation speech, made on the same day, he intimated his intention of taking such measures as he deemed prudent to reserve to the Crown, for the public benefit, a seventh of all lands granted or to be granted; and he begged the popular representatives to explain to their constituents, that the province was singularly blest with a constitution the very image and transcript of the British Constitution! There being only thirty thousand inhabitants in the whole province, small as the Parliament was, the people, if not fairly, were at least sufficiently represented. It is somewhat doubtful, nevertheless, that a constitution which gave only a quasi-sovereign to Upper Canada, neither directly, nor, as the Governors of Canada now are, indirectly responsible to the people, could have been the very image and transcript of the British Constitution. There was a misty resemblance to that celebrated and unwritten form of government, in the erection of three estates—King, Lords, and Commons—and no more. But, as it is sometimes expedient to be thankful for small favors, it may have appeared to Governor Simcoe that the new constitution of the colony was superior to that of England before magna charta. Undoubtedly the Governor was an honest man, a good soldier, a prudent ruler, liberally educated, and of considerable mental capacity. He appears to have been a member of the Imperial Parliament at the time of the passage of the Separation Act, for when the report of the Bill was brought up in the Commons, on the 16th of May, 1791, it appears by the debate, that a Colonel Simcoe spoke in favor of the adoption of the report, pronounced a panegyric on the British Constitution, and wished it to be adopted in the present instance, as far as circumstances would admit. Aware of the advantages which such a colony as Upper Canada, if it attained perfection, might bring to the mother country, he accepted the government of a mere wilderness, to adopt means adequate for that purpose. Independent in means, high in rank, possessed of large and beautiful estates in England, Governor Simcoe, in the opinion of the Duke de la Rochefoucault Liancourt, could have had no motive of personal aggrandizement in view when he accepted the government of Upper Canada. The General, however, loathed the Americans of the United States. He had been with Burgoyne. He had tasted of that officer's humiliation. It was impossible for General Simcoe to speak of the "rebels" calmly. A zealous promoter of the American war, as well as participator in it, the calamitous issue of that unfortunate and most deplorable struggle increased the intensity of his bitterness. Although he did not hope for a renewal of the strife, he trusted that if it were renewed, he might have the opportunity of laying the country in waste, and of exterminating the canting, hypocritical, puritanical, independents. He soon perceived the folly of the Seat of Government being situated on the very frontier, the more especially as Detroit was to be surrendered to the very people whom he most detested. York, from its security, situation and extent, seemed, at first glance, to be the most desirable place. Determined, however, to do nothing rashly, General Simcoe weighed the matter well in his mind. It seemed to him that a town might be founded on the Thames, a river previously called De La Trenche, which rises in the high lands, between Lakes Ontario, Huron, and Erie, and flows into Lake St. Clair, which would be most suitable, and in process of time, most central. He even selected the site of a town upon the river, which he had named the Thames, and called the site London. Indeed it is somewhat astonishing that this excellent Anglo-tory, as the Americans, south of 45°, doubtless, esteemed him, did not call Sandwich, Dover; Detroit, Calais; and the then Western and Home Districts of the western section of the Province, which is almost an Island, England. The garden of Upper Canada, almost surrounded by water, Governor Simcoe did intend, that as England is mistress of the seas, so her offshoot, Canada, should be Queen of the Lakes. Whatever might have been, or may yet be the natural advantages of London, Canada West, for a seat of government, the Governor General of British North America, Lord Dorchester, not then on the best possible terms with General Simcoe, would not hear of it, and he, notwithstanding the boast of the Lieutenant Governor that Upper Canada had obtained the exact image and transcript of the British Constitution, exercised a powerful influence in the state. Lord Dorchester insisted that Kingston should be the capital of the Upper Province. He was determined, moreover, that if he could not prevail on the Imperial Government to convert Kingston into the provincial capital, that the seat of government should not be at the London of General Simcoe. He was not favorable to York. A muddy, marshy, unhealthy spot, it was unfitted for a city. Lord Dorchester, peevish from age, was, to some extent, under the influence of the Kingston merchants, and was inclined, by a feeling of gratitude, to grant the wishes of Commodore Bouchette, who resided at Kingston, with his family, and to whom Lord Dorchester was indebted for safe conduct through the American camp, after Montreal had fallen into the hands of Montgomery. Kingston, as a town, was then inferior even to Newark, but the back country was in a more advanced state, as far as cultivation was concerned. The number of houses in the two towns was nearly equal, but the houses in Kingston were neither as large nor so good as those of Newark. Many of the houses in Kingston were merely log-houses, and those which consisted of joiners work were badly constructed and painted. There was no Town Hall, no Court House, and no Prison. The trade consisted chiefly in furs, brought down the Lake, and in provisions brought from Europe. There were only three merchant ships, that made eleven voyages in the year. In the district, three or four thousand bushels of corn were raised, and the surplus of that required for the feeding of the troops and inhabitants was exported to England, the price of flour being six dollars per barrel. In 1791, a thousand barrels of salt pork were sent from Kingston to Quebec, at a price of eighteen dollars a barrel. In selecting a site for the seat of government, then, as now, local interests were brought into play, but General Simcoe ultimately succeeded in obtaining the permission of the Imperial authorities to fix it at York.

The revenue of Upper Canada, in 1793, was only £900, and the pay of the members of Assembly was $2 a day. There was a Chief Justice and two Puisne Judges, the members of the Executive Council, five in number, being a Court of Appeal; and the Governor, with an assistant, formed a Court of Chancery. Murders were of more frequent occurrence than other crimes, and were rarely punished. There were Quakers, Baptists, Tunkers, Presbyterians, and Roman Catholics without places of worship. The ministers of the Episcopal Church in connection with the Church of England, were the only clergymen paid by government.

Governor Simcoe's schemes for the improvement of the country and the development of its resources, are worthy of notice, as being "extremely wise and well arranged." The central point of the settlements he designed to be between the Detroit River and the plantations previously established in Lower Canada, within a square formed by Lake Ontario, Lake Erie, Detroit River, and Lake Huron. He conceived that Upper Canada was not only capable of satisfying all the wants of its inhabitants, but also of becoming a granary for England. He did not doubt but that the activity of Upper Canada, in agricultural pursuits, would operate as a powerful example in regard to Lower Canada, and arouse it from its then supineness and indolence. He conceived that the vast quantities of sturgeons in Lake Ontario would afford a successful competition with Russia in the manufacture of isinglass or fish-glue. The corn trade was, in his opinion, preferable to the fur trade, which threw the whole trade of a large tract of territory into the hands of a few. He detested military government without the walls of the forts. To the Lieutenants of each county he deputed the right of nominating the magistracy and officers of militia. A justice of the peace could assign, in the King's name, two hundred acres of land to every settler, with whose principles and conduct he was acquainted. The Surveyor of the District was to point out to the settler the land allotted to him by the magistrate. He did not care to enlarge his territory at the expense of the Indians. It appeared to him that a communication between Lakes Huron and Ontario might be opened, by means of the St. Joseph's river, which would relieve the fur traders of the Far West from the navigation of the Detroit River, of Lake Erie, of the Niagara River, and of a great part of Lake Ontario, and would disappoint the United States in their hope of receiving, in future, any articles across the Lakes, situated above Lake Huron. He was further of opinion, that a direct communication, the idea now entertained by the Honble. John Young, of Montreal, might be established between Lake Huron and the River St. Lawrence. Unfortunately for the Province, Governor Simcoe did not remain long enough in it to put his admirably conceived projects into execution. These schemes when conceived, could not be very easily brought under public notice. There was in all Upper Canada only one newspaper, and that very far from being an organ of public opinion. The Newark Spectator, or Mercury, or Chronicle, or whatever else it may have been, was but a loose observer of men and manners, printed weekly. Had it not been supported by the government, not a fourth part of the expenses of the proprietor would have been refunded to him by the sale of his newspaper. It was a short abstract of the newspapers of New York and Albany, "accommodated" to the anti-American principles of the Governor, with an epitome of the Quebec Gazette. It was the medium through which the Acts of the Legislature, and the Governor's notices and orders were communicated to the people. It was par excellence the government organ.

The Second Session of the First Provincial Parliament of Upper Canada was held at Niagara, on the 31st of May, 1793. There is no copy of the speech from the throne to be found, unless it may have been in the Newark Spectator, which is not within reach. Its contents may be gleaned from the nature of the Bills passed during the Session, and assented to by the Lieutenant Governor. An Act was passed for the better regulation of the militia; the nomination and appointment of parish and town officers were provided for; the payment of wages to the members of the House of Assembly, at a rate not exceeding ten shillings per diem, was authorized and provided for; the laying out, amending, and keeping in repair the public high roads was regulated, the roads not to be less than thirty nor more than sixty feet wide; marriages solemnized by justices of the peace, before the separation, were to be valid, and in future justices of the peace were empowered to marry persons not living within eighteen miles of a parson of the Church of England, the form of the Church of England to be followed; the times and places of holding Courts of Quarter Sessions were fixed; the further introduction of slaves was prevented, and the term of contracts for servitude limited; a Court of Probate was established in the Province, and a Surrogate Court in every district; Commissioners were appointed to meet Commissioners from the Lower Province, to regulate the duties on commodities, passing from one Province to the other; a fund for paying the salaries of the officers of the Legislative Council, and for defraying the contingent expenses thereof, by a duty of four pence a gallon on Madeira, and two pence on all other wines imported into the Province was established; the destruction of wolves and bears was encouraged by a reward of twenty shillings for a wolf's head, and of ten shillings for a bear's head; returning officers were appointed for the several counties; and a further fund for the payment of the House of Assembly and its officers was created, by an "additional" duty of twenty shillings to be levied on all licenses for the retail of wines or spirituous liquors. In the third Session of the Parliament, convened on the 2nd June, 1794, an Act was passed for the regulation of juries; a Superior Court of Civil and Criminal Jurisdiction was established, and a Court of Appeal regulated; a Court was established for the cognizance of small causes in every district; the Lieutenant Governor was empowered to license practitioners in the law; fines and forfeitures reserved to His Majesty for the use of the Province were to be accounted for; the Assessment Act for the payment of wages to the Assembly was amended; the militia was further regulated; horned cattle, horses, sheep, and swine were not to run at large; the Gaols and Court Houses Act was amended; a duty of one shilling and three pence per gallon was laid upon stills, and the manner of licensing public houses was regulated.

The Fourth Session of the First Parliament of Upper Canada having met for the despatch of business, on the 6th July, 1795, the practice of physic and surgery was regulated; an Act was passed to ascertain the eligibility of persons to be returned to the House of Assembly; the agreement between Upper Canada and Lower Canada, by which the latter were to collect all the duties on goods, wares and merchandize arriving at Quebec, giving the former one eighth of their nett produce, was ratified, approved, and confirmed; the Superior Court Act of the previous Session was amended and explained; and Registry Offices were established for the enregistering of deeds, lands and tenements. There were no private Bills. The measures for Parliamentary consideration were all of a public nature, and the legislation was eminently judicious and peremptory. Mr. Attorney General White was the great man in the Commons, and Mr. Speaker Chief Justice Powell in the Lords. The first Parliament died a natural death, and the members of it went quietly to their respective places of abode.

The second Parliament met at Newark, after a general election not productive of any very great degree of excitement, on the 16th of May, 1796, opened by the Governor in person, with the usual formalities. Certain coins were better regulated; the juries Act was amended; the Quarter Sessions Act was amended; the public houses Act was amended; the wolves and bears destruction Act was partially repealed, by the rewards for killing bears being withdrawn; the Lieutenant Governor was authorized to appoint Commissioners to meet others from the Lower Province, about duties and drawbacks on goods passing from one Province to the other; and the assessment Act was amended.

This Session of the second Parliament was hardly concluded, when Governor Simcoe was required to relinquish his Government and proceed to St. Domingo, in a similar capacity, the government of Upper Canada, until the arrival of a regularly appointed successor, devolving upon the Hon. P. Russell, President of the Council. Mr. Russell convened the second Session of the Provincial Parliament, at the new capital of York, selected by his predecessor, and in which a gubernatorial residence of canvass had been erected. The first Act passed during his very quiet reign of only three years, was one for the better security of the Province against the King's enemies. It provided that no person professing to owe allegiance to any country at war against the King, should be permitted to enter, remain, reside, or dwell in the province. The second Act was one to enable the inhabitants of the township of York to assemble for the purpose of choosing and nominating parish and township officers; an Act for securing the titles to lands; an Act for the regulation of ferries; an Act to incorporate the legal profession; the word "clergyman" in land grants to signify clergy; felons from other Provinces to be apprehended, and the trade between the United States and the Province to be temporarily provided for, by the suspension of an Act repugnant to the free intercourse with the United States, established by treaty of 1794. Several amendments to Acts and other Acts were passed, when the Session was prorogued in due form.