Sir George Arthur and His Administration of Upper Canada

by W. N. Sage

In the matter of the Clergy Reserves, Sir George Arthur had shown himself the uncompromising ally of the Family Compact. He was to show it once more in his attitude towards the reunion of the provinces and the introduction of Responsible Government.

The reunion of the provinces was urged by Lord Durham in his Report and was favoured by a large majority of the inhabitants of Upper Canada. It was opposed by the Family Compact, supported as usual by Sir George Arthur. But the feeling for union was so strong that on March 23rd, 1839, three resolutions in favour of the reunion of the provinces were carried by the Upper Canadian Legislature. Four days later, on March 27th, fourteen qualifying resolutions were passed by the Assembly. These resolutions, if embodied in the Act of Union, would have placed the balance of power in the hands of the British population of the united province.

A committee of the Legislative Council was appointed at the same time to inquire into Lord Durham's Report and to put forward their side of the case. This was very ably done in a document dated May 11th, 1839, and approved by the Legislative Council. In this report on the Report Lord Durham's "great panacea for all political disorders 'Responsible Government'"[[42]] was attacked and certain inaccurate statements were challenged. The blame for the recent troubles in Upper Canada was cast entirely upon the Reformers and the question propounded: "Is it because reformers, or a portion of them, can command the sympathies of the United States, and of Lower Canadian rebels, that the internal affairs of a British colony must be conducted so as to please them?"

With these sentiments Sir George Arthur heartily concurred. He was entirely opposed to "Responsible Government" and still feared disaffection in the provinces. During the early months of 1839 the trials of the political prisoners had continued and had attracted much attention on both sides of the border. There was still considerable excitement in the province and riots occurred in some places. In one of these which took place at Stone's Tavern, Percy Township, Northumberland County, on June 5th, 1839, the reformers carried "a red flag on which were written or printed the words, 'Lord Durham and Reform.'"[[43]] Incidents such as this increased Sir George Arthur's mistrust of Lord Durham's schemes for the better government of Canada, and on July 2nd we find him writing to the Marquis of Normanby, Lord Glenelg's successor, as follows:

"I have all along informed Her Majesty's Government that it is absurd to think of Upper Canada as containing a whole community of loyalists. There is a considerable section of persons who are disloyal to the core; reform is on their lips, but separation is in their hearts. These men having, for the last two or three years, made a 'responsible government' their watchword, are now extravagantly elated because the Earl of Durham has recommended that measure.

"They regard it as an unerring means to get rid of all British connexion, while the Earl of Durham, on the contrary, has recommended it as a measure for cementing the existing bond of union with the mother country."

These few sentences throw great light on Sir George Arthur's attitude on the question of 'Responsible Government.' As usual, the Reformers are annexationists. It was the usual tactics of the dominant party to call them so and to include as disloyal all those who favoured the cause of Reform. Of course Sir George Arthur, from the nature of his position, was supposed to be moderate in his political views, but he does yeoman service for the Family Compact in trying to impress upon the authorities in England that the Reformers were disloyal. It is impossible to state what percentage of the Reformers were actually disloyal, but it must be remembered, as Egerton Ryerson has told us, the great body of the Reformers took no part in MacKenzie's Rebellion except to suppress it. The bulk of moderate opinion in the province sided neither with the annexationists nor with the Family Compact, but readily embraced the suggestions set forth in Lord Durham's Report. With these moderate reformers Sir George Arthur was soon at variance.

In the month of August, 1839, Sir George received a series of resolutions supporting Lord Durham's Report and Responsible Government passed at a meeting of freeholders and inhabitants of the Gore District held on July 27th. This meeting resolved that the House of Assembly did not represent the wishes or sentiments of the province "particularly in its late Report of its committee, purporting to be the Report of the House of Assembly in answer to Lord Durham's Report on the State of the Province." It also resolved "that the Report of the Earl of Durham, in all its material points, has been received by an overwhelming majority of the people of Upper Canada with the most abundant gratification" and "that this meeting is of opinion that a responsible government, as recommended in Lord Durham's Report, is the only means of restoring confidence, allaying discontent, or perpetuating the connexion between Great Britain and this colony."[[44]]

All this was wormwood and gall to Sir George Arthur, who hastened to reply to this address. In his answer he attacks Responsible Government and states "that the proposed plan would lead to a state of things inconsistent with the relations of this colony, as a dependency of the British Crown." This was a bold statement for the Lieutenant-Governor to make and it was soon to land him into difficulties since the British authorities were prepared to carry out Lord Durham's schemes. Mr. Poulett Thomson was selected as Governor-General and under him Sir George Arthur was once more to act as a subordinate Lieutenant-Governor.[[45]]

It was a curious arrangement, since Arthur was known to be opposed to the very scheme of government which Poulett Thomson was being sent out to initiate. But Sir George Arthur was not unwilling to co-operate with the new Governor-General. He met Poulett Thomson at Montreal on October 25th and conferred with him on the subject of Upper Canada. It was decided that the Legislature of that province should be summoned for December 3rd and that Poulett Thomson would visit Upper Canada about the 18th of November. The Governor-General was determined to open the session of the Legislature in person. This determination on his part was largely the outcome of his conversations with Sir George Arthur, who strongly urged upon him the desirability of so doing.