Occasionally notices of a reverse order appear. A homely article picked up on the Common was judged to be of sufficient importance to its owner to induce the finder to advertise as follows in the Oracle of Saturday, Aug. 14th, 1802:—"Found lately near the Garrison, a Cow-bell. Whoever has lost the same, may have it again by applying to the Printer hereof, on paying the expense of this advertisement, and proving property. York, Aug. 7, 1802."
Again, in the Oracle of Feb. 25, 1804:—"Found on Saturday last, the 11th instant, a Bar of Iron. The owner may have it again, by applying to the Printer hereof. York, Feb. 8th." And again: "Found on Friday, the 5th instant, two silk handkerchiefs. The owner can have them again by applying to the Printer, and paying the expense of this advertisement. York, Oct. 12th, 1804." In October, 1806, an iron pot was picked up: "Found, on Sunday last, the 12th instant, on the beach opposite Messrs. Ashbridge's, an Iron Pot capable of containing about two pails full. Whoever may own the above-mentioned Pot, may have it again by proving property, and paying charges, on application to Samuel Lewis or to the Printer hereof. York, Oct. 16th, 1806."
A barrel of flour was found on the beach near the Garrison in 1802, and was thus advertised: "The Public are hereby informed that there has been a barrel of flour left on the beach near the Garrison by persons unknown. Whoever will produce a just claim to the same may have it, by applying to the Garrison Sergeant-Major, and paying the expense of the present advertisement. J. Petto, G. S. Major, York, March 22, 1802."
Once more: in the Gazette of Dec. 3, 1803: "On the 26th ult. the subscriber found one-half of a fat Hog on the Humber Plains, which he supposes to be fraudulently killed, and the other half taken away. The part which he found he carried home and dressed, and requests the owner to call, pay expenses, and take it away. John Clark, Humber Mills, Dec. 2, 1803."
Peter Russell's name became locally a household synonym for a helluo agrorum, and not without some show of reason, as the following list in successive numbers of the Gazette and Oracle of 1803 would seem to indicate. Of the lands enumerated he styles himself, at the close of the advertisement, the proprietor. We have no desire, however, to perpetuate the popular impression, that all the said properties had been patented by himself to himself. This, of course, could not have been done. He simply chose, as he was at liberty to do, after acquiring what he and his family were entitled to legally, in the shape of grants, to invest his means in lands, which in every direction were to be had for a mere song.
The document spoken of reads thus: "To be sold.—The Front Town Lot, with an excellent dwelling-house and a kitchen recently built thereon, in which Mr. John Denison now lives, in the Town of York, with a very commodious water-lot adjoining, and possession given to the purchaser immediately. The Lots Nos. 5, 6, and 7 in the 2nd, and lots No. 6 and 7 in the 3d concession of West Flamboro' township, containing 1,000 acres, on which there are some very good mill seats; the lots No. 4 and 5, in the 1st concession of East Flamboro' with their broken fronts, containing, according to the Patent, 600 acres more or less; the lots No. 1, 3 and 4 in the 2nd, and lots No. 2 and 3 in the 3rd concession of Beverley, containing 1,000 acres; the lots No. 16 in the 2nd and 3rd concession of the township of York containing 400 acres; the lots 32 and 33 with their broken fronts, in the 1st, and lots No. 31 and 32 in the 2nd concession of Whitby, containing 800 acres; the lots 22 and 24 in the 11th, lot 23 in the 12th, and No. 24 in the 13th and 14th concessions of Townsend, containing a 1,000 acres; the lots No. 12, 13 and 14 in the 1st and 2nd concession of Charlotteville, immediately behind the Town plot, containing 1,200 acres; the lots Nos. 16 and 17 in the 1st concession of Delaware township, on the river Thames (La Tranche) containing 800 acres; the lots Nos. 1, 3, 4, 5, and 7 in the 10th; No. 1, 2, 4, 6, and 7 in the 11th, and Nos. 3, 4, 5, and 7 in the 12th concession of Dereham, containing 3,000 acres, with mill-seats thereon; and also the lots Nos. 22, 24, 25, 26, and 28 in the 1st, Nos. 22, 23, 25, 27 and 28 in the 3rd, Nos. 22, 24, 25, 26 and 28 in the 11th, and Nos. 22, 24, 25, 26 and 28 in the 12th concession of Norwich, containing 600 acres, with mill-seats thereon. The terms are either cash, or good bills of exchange on London, Montreal and Quebec, for the whole of such purchase, in which case a proportionably less price will be expected, or the same for one moiety of each purchase, and bonds properly secured for principal and interest, until paid, for the other. The prices may be known by application to the proprietor at York. Peter Russell."
Clearly, an idea of the prospective value of property in Canada had dawned upon the mind of Mr. Russell in the year 1803; and he aimed to create for himself speedily a handsome fortune. His plans, however, in the long run, came to little, as in another connexion, we have heard already.
Survivors of the primitive era in Upper Canada have been heard sometimes to express, (like Lord Clive, after his dealings with the rajahs,) their surprise that they did not provide for themselves more largely than they did, when the broad acres of their adopted country were to be had to any extent, almost for the asking. But this reflection should console them; in few instances are the descendants of the early very large land-holders much better off at the present hour than probably they would have been, had their fathers continued landless.
Mr. Russell died at York on the 30th of September, 1808. His obituary appears in the Gazette and Oracle of the following day. "Departed this life on Friday, the 30th ultimo, the Hon. Peter Russell, Esquire, formerly President of the Government of the Province, late Receiver General, and Member of the Executive and Legislative Councils: a gentleman who whilst living was honoured, and sincerely esteemed; and of whose regular and amiable conduct, the Public will long retain a favoured and grateful remembrance."
Of the funeral, which took place on the 4th of October, we have a brief account in the paper of Oct. 8, 1808. It says: "The remains of the late Hon. Peter Russell were interred on Wednesday the 4th instant with the greatest decorum and respect. The obsequies of this accomplished gentleman were followed to the grave by His Excellency the Lieut. Governor (Gore) as Chief Mourner; with the principal gentlemen of the town and neighbourhood; and they were feelingly accompanied by all ranks, evincing a reverential awe for the Divine dispensation. An appropriate funeral sermon was preached by the Rev. Okill Stuart. The Garrison, commanded by Major Fuller, performed with becoming dignity the military honours of this respected veteran, who was a Captain in the Army on half-pay." The editor then adds: "deeply impressed with an ardent esteem for his manly character, and the irreparable loss occasioned by his death, we were not among those who felt the least at this last tribute of respect to his memory and remains." (The Major Fuller, above named, was the father of the Rev. Thomas Brock Fuller, in 1873 Archdeacon of Niagara.)