The great popularity of "Rule Britannia" was owing to its entire consonance with the spirit of the nation, a popularity not even yet diminished. A further instance of its use in the celebration of a great national event is given in the Times, Nov. 7, 1805, in which is recorded the official account of the Battle of Trafalgar and the death of Nelson. At Covent Garden, where both the Kembles were then playing together with Mrs. Siddons, a "hasty but elegant compliment to the memory of Lord Nelson" was presented. It "consisted of columns in the foreground decorated with medallions of the naval heroes of Britain. In the distance a number of ships were seen, and the front of the picture was filled by Mr. Taylor and the principal singers of the theatre. [ [!-- Begin Page 185 --] They were grouped in an interesting manner with their eyes turned toward the clouds, from whence a half-length portrait of Lord Nelson descended with the following words underwritten, 'Horatio Nelson, Ob. 21st Oct.'" Mr. Taylor and the other performers then sang "Rule Britannia," verse and chorus. The following additional verse, written by Mr. Ashley, of Bath, was introduced and sung by Mr. Taylor with the most affecting expression. It was universally encored:—
| "Again the loud-toned trump of fame, Proclaims Britannia rules the main; While sorrow whispers Nelson's name, And mourns the gallant hero slain. Rule, brave Britons, rule the main. Revenge the God-like hero slain." |
NOTE 18, [page 37].
Can you wonder? ... shot at, etc.
The cruel treatment of the Loyalists, or King's Men, by the Continentals, as they called themselves, is one of the features of this painful time, records of which abound: the story of Moody is well known: another as authentic may be here quoted. The Rev. G. A. Anderson, late Chaplain to the Reformatory at Penetanguishene, in writing to the press with reference to the U. E. L. Celebration in 1884, says:
"My grandfather, Samuel Anderson, was born of Irish parents, near Boston, 4th May, 1736.... He joined the King's forces, serving under General Abercrombie ... then under General Amherst, ... and was at the taking of Ticonderoga.... In 1775 he was offered a captaincy in the Continental service which he peremptorily refused. Some time after he was offered the command of a regiment; this he also refused. He was at once suspected of being a King's Man, taken prisoner, and with several others, confined in Litchfield gaol, where he suffered almost death for two years. One morning, having heard that he and his fellow-prisoners were to be shot the following day, being a powerful man he wrenched the iron bars from the windows, and, with his companions, escaped to Canada....
A quotation from the "Boston Confiscation Act," Sept., 1778, ch. 48, speaks volumes as to the attitude of the new Republic towards the Loyalists: "In Massachusetts a person suspected of enmity to the Whig cause could be arrested under a magistrate's warrant, and banished, unless he would swear fealty to the friends of liberty; and the select-men of towns could prefer charges of political treachery in town meetings, and the individual thus accused, if convicted by a jury, could be sent into the enemy's jurisdiction. Massachusetts also designated by name, and generally by occupation and residence, three hundred and eight of her people, of whom seventeen had been inhabitants of Maine who had fled from their houses, and denounced against any one of them who should return apprehension, imprisonment and [ [!-- Begin Page 186 --] transportation to a place possessed by the British, and for a second voluntary return, without leave, death, without the benefit of clergy. By another law the property of twenty-nine persons, who were denominated 'notorious conspirators,' was confiscated; of these fifteen had been appointed 'Mandamus Councillors,' two had been Governors, one Lieutenant-Governor, one Treasurer, one Attorney-General, one Chief Justice and four Commissioners of Customs."—Lorenzo Sabine, Historical Essay prefixed to Biographical Sketches of the American Loyalists. (See further, chapters 39 and 41, vol. 2, Ryerson's Loyalists of America and Their Times. See also [Appendix].)
NOTE 19, [page 38].
"James Coffin is good."
The name of Coffin is famous in the annals, military, naval and civil, of Canada, and is scarcely less marked in the history of the earlier United States of America. Two branches of the family came, U. E. Loyalists, to Canada in 1775-78. One established itself on the St. John, New Brunswick, the other in Quebec. "Twenty years after the landing from the Mayflower, the first of the name put in an appearance from Brixton, near Plymouth, South Devon, England, at Newbury Port, in New Hampshire." James Coffin, mentioned above, was the sixth son of John Coffin, who settled in Quebec, and did such good service at the Près-de-ville, when Montgomery and Arnold invaded the Province. Like all the Coffins, James was of a genial and kindly disposition, and his appointment as a Commissary Officer permitted opportunities for consideration and courtesy to people of all ranks, which he did not fail to avail himself of. He died Assistant Commissary-General in 1835, at Quebec.