Lands of the Slave and the Free; Or, Cuba, the United States, and Canada

by Henry A. Murray

Montmorenci, with its frozen cone in winter, is one of the chief resorts for pic-nickers in their sleighs. The trackless path over the frozen snow during the season is as full of life as Windsor park was in the old Ascot days. Bright eyes beaming from rosy cheeks, and half buried in furs, anxiously watch for the excitement of a capsize, and laugh merrily as the mixed tenants of some sleigh are seen rolling over one another in most ludicrous confusion; the sun shines brightly, the bells ring cheerily, all is jollity and fun, and a misanthrope would be as much out of his element in one of these pic-nics as a bear in a ballet.

The falls of Lorette afford another pleasant excursion, not forgetting old Paul and his wife—a venerable Indian chief and his squaw—whom I visited, and the cleanliness of whose cottage I had great pleasure in complimenting him upon, as also upon his various medals, which extended from Château Gai down to the Exhibition of 1851. He appeared as much struck with my venerable appearance as I was with his; for, upon being asked my age, he bestowed a searching glance from head to foot, and then gravely replied, "Seventy-five." I rebelled against his decision, and appealed to his wife, who kindly took my part, and after a steady gaze, said, "Oh, Paul! that gentleman is not more than seventy-two." It was in vain I tried to satisfy them, that thirty summers would have to pass over my head before I reached that honourable time of life. However, it is not only Indians who miscalculate age, for a young lady, fresh from Ireland, having the same question put to her, said "Sixty;" and upon being told she was seventeen years out in her calculation, she replied, with painful coolness, "Which way?" I never felt a confirmed old bachelor till I heard that awful "Which way?"

The roads round about in all directions are admirable; not so if you cross the river to the Falls of the Chaudière; but the abomination of abominations is the ferry-boat, and the facilities, or rather obstacles, for entering and exiting. To any one who has seen the New York ferry-boats, and all the conveniences connected with them, the contrast is painfully humiliating. In the one case you drive on board as readily as into a court-yard, and find plenty of room when you get there; in the other, you have half a dozen men holding horses and carriages, screaming in all directions, and more time is wasted in embarking than a Yankee boat would employ to deposit you safely on the other side; and it would puzzle a Philadelphia lawyer to decide which is the more abominable, the exit or the entry. Nevertheless, the traveller will find himself compensated for all his troubles—especially if the horse and carriage be a friend's—by the lovely drive which takes him to the Chaudière Falls, a trip I had the pleasure of making in company with a jolly party of good fellows belonging to the 72nd Highlanders, then in garrison at Quebec, and whose hospitalities during my stay I gratefully remember.

If, however, an Englishman feels humiliated in crossing the Quebec ferry, he feels a compensating satisfaction upon entering the Quebec Legislative Council Chamber, which in its aspect of cleanliness, furniture, &c., has an appearance of refinement far superior to that at Washington. As they were not sitting during my stay in Canada, I had no opportunity of drawing any comparison on their different modes of carrying on public business. I had heard so much during my absence from England of the famous Rebellion Losses Bill, and all the obloquy which had been heaped upon the Governor-General in consequence, that I was very anxious to get some insight into the true state of the case, although perhaps the justification of the Earl of Elgin's conduct by Sir Robert Peel ought to have satisfied me.

I soon became convinced that in this, as in most similar cases, the violence of party spirit had clouded truth; and the bitterness of defeat, in minds thus prejudiced, had sought relief in the too-common channels of violence and abuse. However much to be deplored, I fear that the foregoing opinions will be found, on most occasions of political excitement, to be true. The old party, who may be said to have enjoyed the undisguised support of the Queen's representatives from time immemorial, were not likely to feel very well disposed to Lord Elgin, when they found that he was determined to identify himself with no particular party, but that, being sent to govern Canada constitutionally, he was resolved to follow the example of his sovereign, and give his confidence and assistance to whichever party proved, by its majority, to be the legitimate representative of the opinions of the governed, at the same time ever upholding the right and dignity of the Crown. This was, of course, a first step in unpopularity with the party who, long triumphant, now found themselves in a minority; then, again, it must be remembered that a majority which had for so many years been out of power was not likely, in the excitement of victory, to exercise such moderation as would be calculated to soothe the irritated feelings of their opponents, who, they considered, had enjoyed too long the colonial loaves and fishes.

With all these elements at work, it is not to be wondered at that a question which admitted of misinterpretation should be greedily laid hold of, and that, thus misinterpreted, the passions of the mob should be successfully roused. I believe there is little question that the Government brought forward the Rebellion Losses Bill in the Senate in a manner, if not arrogant, at all events most offensive, and thus added fuel to the flames; but, viewed dispassionately, what is the truth of this far-famed bill? It was framed upon the precedent of that for the payment of similar losses in Upper Canada on a previous occasion, and I believe the very same commissioners were appointed to carry out its provisions. It received the sanction of the Governor-General in the same way as all other bills, and was never smuggled through, as the irritated opposition and infuriated mobs would have us believe. The Governor-General clearly states that it never was intended in any way "to compensate the losses of persons guilty of the heinous crime of treason," and the names of the commissioners appointed to decide upon the claims of the sufferers might alone have been a sufficient guarantee that such an abominable idea was never entertained. Without mentioning others, take Colonel W.C. Hanson: schooled in the field of honour and patriotism, whose courage has been tried in many a bloody struggle during the Peninsular war, and is attested by the honourable badges that adorn his breast. Is a recreant rebel likely to find sympathy in that breast which for half a century stood unchallenged for loyalty and truth? What do his letters, as one of the commissioners, prove beyond the shadow of a doubt? I have them now before me; and, so far from claims being hastily admitted, I find the gallant old soldier constantly advocating the cause of some claimant whom the commissioners declined to indemnify, but never yet have I seen his name as opposed to any compensation granted; possessing that still more noble quality which is ever the lovely handmaid of true courage, his voice is raised again and again for mercy.

I could quote from numerous letters of this veteran, extracts similar to the following:—The claimants were inhabitants of St. Benoit, some portion of which population had been in arms as rebels, but upon the approach of the Queen's troops they had all laid down their arms. As to the facts of the case, Colonel Hanson writes to Lord Seaton, who replies:—"The soldiers were regularly put up in the village by the Quartermaster-General's department, and strict orders were issued to each officer to protect the inhabitants and their property; Lieut.-Col. Townsend to remain in the village of St. Benoit for its protection, the remainder of the troops to return to Montreal. The utmost compassion and consideration should be felt for the families of the sufferers plunged into affliction by the reckless conduct of their relatives; every house injured or destroyed at St. Benoit was a wanton destruction, perpetrated in defiance of guards placed to protect property." Thus writes Lord Seaton. Colonel Hanson, after quoting the above, proceeds to state that the evidence before the commissioners proves that "immediately after Lieut.-Col. Townsend assembled his regiment for the purpose of marching back to Montreal, the volunteers from the northern townships commenced plundering the village, carrying off the whole of the effects belonging to the inhabitants, burning the church, and nearly every house in the village ... wilfully and wantonly destroying houses, and in many instances burning valuable barns and granaries.... Therefore I humbly pretend that every such individual who thus suffered should be indemnified, as his loss was a wanton destruction of the dwellings, buildings, property, and effects of the said inhabitants." Yet such was the jealous way in which the commissioners excluded all doubtful claimants, that Colonel Hanson found himself in a minority upon the consideration of the foregoing claims, and, as a man of honour and anxious for justice, felt it his duty to address a letter to the Governor-General upon the subject, from which letter, bearing date January, 1852, the foregoing extracts have been taken.

I have very many of such complaints of justice being withheld from claimants, in the opinion of the gallant colonel, now lying before me, but "ex uno disce omnes." I have read a great portion of the Report, and the conclusion is irresistibly forced upon my mind, that everything which could possibly be brought to assume the slightest shade of rebellion was made fatal to an applicant's claim; but if anything were wanting to satisfy my mind that the vilifiers of the "Losses Bill" had not any ground of complaint against the measure, it would be found in the fact, that among its various opponents to whom I spoke, they one and all exclaimed, "Look at the case of Nelson, absolutely a rebel in arms, and his claims listened to!" This was their invariable reply; and, until I made inquiry, it looked very bad. But what was the real state of the case? Simply that Nelson, having been ruined by his rebellion, many loyal and faithful subjects to whom he owed debts suffered for his faults; and the money awarded for the losses sustained by the rebel went to pay the loyal debtors, except a small portion which was granted to his wife, who was well known to be strongly opposed to the course he had pursued, and who had lost considerable property which she held in her own right. I say that the fact of Nelson's case being always brought up as the great enormity carried more conviction to my mind of the utter weakness of the opponents' cause than anything else; and it also proved to me how ignorant many of them were of the truth, for several of them who vilified the Bill, the Government, and the Governor-General, had not the slightest idea, till I informed them, how the Nelson award was applied.

There is no doubt that the atrocities of which Montreal was the scene constitute the most discreditable features in modern Canadian history, and which, it is to be hoped, the instigators to and actors in are long since fully ashamed of; nor can the temper and judgment of the Governor-General on this trying occasion be too highly extolled. When it was imperative to dissolve the Parliament, he foresaw that his not doing so in person would be misconstrued by his enemies, and that he would be branded by them with that most galling of all accusations to a noble heart—cowardice. With a high-minded sense of duty, he put all such personal considerations aside. There were two courses open to him: one, to call out the military, and in their safe keeping dissolve the Assembly; the other, to depute the Commander of the Forces to perform that duty. The former must have produced a collision with the populace, and the blood of many whom he believed to be as loyal as he knew they were misguided and excited would have flowed freely; the latter, he foresaw, would be misconstrued into an act of personal cowardice, but he knew it would prevent a flow of blood, the remembrance of which would keep alive the bitterest elements of political animosity for years to come. With true patriotism, he sacrificed himself at the shrine of the country he was sent to govern, preferring to be the subject of the most galling accusations rather than shed unnecessarily one drop of the blood of those committed to his rule.

During the whole of Lord Elgin's able and prosperous administration, I can scarcely conceive any one act of his to which he can look back with more satisfaction, than this triumph of his judgment over his feelings, when he offered up just pride and dignity on the altar of mercy, and retired to Quebec. A shallow-pated fellow, who had probably figured personally in the outrages of that period, in talking to me on the subject, thus described it,—"he bolted off in a funk to Quebec;" and doubtless hundreds of others, as shallow-pated as himself, had been made to believe such was the case, and vituperation being the easiest of all ignoble occupations, they had probably done their best to circulate the paltry slander. Lord Elgin, however, needs no goose-quill defender; the unprecedented increasing prosperity of the colony under his administration is the most valuable testimony he could desire. It is not every governor who, on his arrival, finding a colony in confusion and rebellion, has the satisfaction, on his resignation of office, of leaving harmony and loyalty in their place, and the revenue during the same period increased from 400,000l. to 1,500,000l.: and if any doubt ever rested upon his mind as to whether his services were approved of and appreciated at home, it must have been removed in the most gratifying manner, when, upon a public dinner being given him at the London Tavern, 1854, all shades of politicals gathered readily to do him honour; and while the chairman, Lord John Russell, was eulogizing his talents and his administration, five other colonial and ex-colonial ministers were present at the same board to endorse the compliment; the American Minister also bearing his testimony to the happy growth of good feeling between the two countries, which Lord Elgin had so successfully fostered and developed. I cannot recal to my memory any other instance of so great an honour having been paid to a colonial governor.