CHAPTER XVI. (1840.)
THE CHIEF'S REPLY—PERSECUTION OF MR. PARIS—THE LIBEL SUIT AGAINST MR. HINCKS.
A copy of Mr. Allan's report was sent to the Laird by the order of Lord Sydenham. He sent a characteristic mass of answers and explanations which were manufactured for the purpose and had existence only in the fertile imagination of the writer. That they were plausible, any person who has carefully perused the reply in a preceding chapter must at once admit.—But many of the charges were left unanswered, some slightly glanced at, others entirely passed over, and some of the graver charges he attempted to extenuate. Lots of land either sold or given away to his friends, or for private reasons not suited now to publish, were set down as grants for carpenter-shops, school institutions, ferries, blacksmith shops. Donald Fisher, to whom one of these grants were made or sold, was a tailor and knew about as much about carpentering as the writer does about the literary institutions of Timbuctoo. Again, John McCallum received his lot, according to the Chief, for "erecting a school establishment," and his acquaintance with erudition was of such a profound nature that he could scarcely spell his own name properly. It is true the people of Goshen built a school-house on another lot about a half a mile from his house. This suggested the scholastic idea to McNab, and he improvised it for the purpose.—David Bremner is stated to have received his land for a "blacksmith establishment." Mr. Alex. McDonald for "putting up an inn," and McNab himself a lot bounded by the very centre of the roughest rapids of the Madawaska (the Flat Rapid), when in fact Bremner's lot was sold to him by McNab for clearing 40 acres of land at the Chief's White Lake farm, McDonell's for hard cash, and Mr. Roddy's for a similar consideration. These representations might serve a temporary purpose and hoodwink the authorities at a distance, but Lord Sydenham was not so verdant as the Chief imagined, as his remarks were treated as mere gasconade. Mr. Allan's truthful report was made the basis of the future operations of the Government, and was their guide in dealing with the settlers. McNab's aim in making his remarks upon the report was to preserve his £4,000, and to induce the Executive not to curtail it in the slightest. There is one case narrated by both parties of peculiar hardship, and the Government of the present day, late as it is, should make the necessary restitution. Donald McIntyre had paid upwards of £100 to the Chief for his passage money. McNab gave him a bond for his deed. The bond and receipts were placed in Mr. Allan's hands. They were by some unaccountable accident mislaid, and Mr. McIntyre had a second time to pay for his land (a lot of 100 acres) the sum of $50 and was never remunerated for his loss. We will now dismiss the subject of the report and reply. While the former was all that truth, facts and justice could sustain, the latter was a tissue of wild inventions, fabricated for the occasion, and had as much real existence as the "slate quarries"—mineral productions never heard of before until their locality was fixed in the Chief's bouncing remarks. Slate is not to be found anywhere in the township, and the whole tenor of the reply may be judged from this one assertion. All the inhabitants know that there is no slate in McNab, and when they read the Chief's remarks they cannot refrain from sending forth ejaculations of astonishment and surprise. The Chief had completed his saw mill, and had erected it and a portion of his dam on the 4th concession line, in the very place where the main road to Renfrew and Pakenham now passes. No one could yet define his object for fixing it in that particular locality. There were plenty of mill-sites on Waba-Brook without interfering with the public highway; but this did not suit his purpose, and he appropriated the public road and made another way round it, which his convenient friend, Manny Nowlan, surveyed. About the time of its completion, Mr. John Paris, a young man from Ramsay, located in the township. He had been invited thither by Mr. Duncan McLachlin and a number of the settlers, to erect a grist-mill. The settlers had to travel to Pakenham or to Horton to get their wheat to mill. The Arnprior mill was in ruins, and there was not a single grist-mill in McNab. The inconvenience of the settlers was in this respect very great. Many had to travel between sixteen and seventeen miles to procure flour for their families. At length Mr. McLachlin induced Mr. Paris to select a site on a clergy-lot near the Lake, over which the Chief had no control. Mr. Paris set to work energetically, and notwithstanding every discouragement and opposition on the part of the Chief, had the mill in operation by the fall. McNab had leased his saw-mill, and he forbade his tenant to sell any boards or planks to Mr. Paris; yet, notwithstanding these obstacles the mill was built, and this great boon was finally afforded to them by the exertions of Mr. Paris. The Chief's enmity did not end here. As soon as the winter had finally set in, he caused fresh planks to be nailed on the dam, so as to prevent the lower mills from getting any water. Fortunately for the country that year the water was high in White Lake and a sufficiency flowed over the dam to drive the grist-mill. The Chief did not stop at this. His persistence in endeavoring to ruin Mr. Paris are the events of a subsequent period; and the persecution on one side, and the resistance on the other culminated in a lawsuit, which will be rendered in its proper place.
The settlers in August of this year drew up a narrative of their sufferings, and the hardships and injustice they had endured under the Chief. It was prepared by Mr. D. C. McNab, and forwarded to Mr. Hincks for publication in the Examiner, at Toronto. Mr. Hincks, with all the ardor of a warm Reformer, not only published it, but called public attention to the township of McNab and its grievances in a series of well-written editorials. He entered into the question with commendable zeal and warm-hearted enthusiasm. These articles exposed the whole management of the affairs of McNab at the very seat of Government. Simultaneously with Mr. Allan's report, it struck the Chief's moral standing as the battle axe of a puissant knight would fell his mailed antagonist, crashing through shield and helmet and prostrating the foe. The Chief now trembled for his position. It is true he had received £1,000, but £3,000 were remaining in the background. The damaging articles in the Examiner, were opening the eyes of the Government as well as the people. Even the Family Compact were amazed that such things were permitted under their regime. They hitherto were indifferent—careless of the poor settlers' interests. These searching and vigorous attacks roused them to action. So long the aggressors on popular rights, they were now put on the defensive. No longer able to oppress or to dominate over their fellows, they were now compelled to defend their own acts, which in law and justice and morality were in themselves indefensible.
McNab resorted to his usual weapons. He commenced, by the Hon. H. Sherwood, one of the principal members of the oligarchy that had for years ruled Canada, an action for libel against Mr. Francis Hincks, the editor of the Examiner. If the articles before the commencement of the action were severe, those published afterwards were doubly so. The Chief's private and domestic life was attacked with no sparing hand. The settlers backed up Mr. Hincks, and the trial was fixed for April, 1841. Mr. Hincks justified the alleged libel; there were eight pleas of justification placed upon the record, and everything was prepared for bringing the issue to trial, when McNab, not being prepared, countermanded notice, and the case was delayed till the Fall Assizes.
All improvements were now stopped in the township. The people were awaiting the action of the Executive. Until their affairs were decided, all systematic labor was paralyzed. The spirit of enterprise was chilled, and the stupor and numbness of despair seem to be fast settling over them. They had petitioned over and over again. Favorable replies were transmitted. A commissioner was sent to investigate their complaints. He had espoused their cause warmly; yet no definite decision had been made. Lord Sydenham was absorbed in constitutional changes. The union of Upper and Lower Canada was occupying all his attention, and towards the close of this year (1840) he had effected his object. The Union was proclaimed. The Chief pressed for a settlement of his claims. The settlers urged for their final emancipation. At length in May, 1841, they sent another petition, praying for a decision; and the reason of the delay is fully explained in the following letter to Mr. Allan Stewart:—
[copy.]
Secretary's Office, Kingston,
24th June, 1841.} Sir,—I am commanded by the Governor General to acknowledge the receipt of a petition signed by you on behalf of the inhabitants of the township of McNab, praying for a decision on their petition of June, 1840, preferring complaints against Mr. Archibald McNab, the Township Agent.
In reply, I am to inform you that the petition alluded to was referred, by command of Sir George Arthur, for the consideration of the late Council of Upper Canada; but it appears that no decision had been come to on the subject previously to the re-union of the provinces. I have, however, been directed by His Excellency to refer your present petition to the Hon., the Executive Council, with a request that the matter may receive their early and attentive consideration.
I have the honor to be, etc.,
(Signed)S. B. Harrison.
Allan Stewart, Esq.,
Township of McNab.}
| Secretary's Office, Kingston, 24th June, 1841. | } |