Sir George Arthur and His Administration of Upper Canada

by W. N. Sage

But however great the opposition to Governor Arthur in Van Diemen's Land may have been, the Australian Commonwealth to-day owes him one debt of gratitude. According to his biographer Arbuthnot, Arthur was the first person to suggest the advisability of a federation of all the Australian colonies. In this he was years in advance of his time. Still it is to be doubted whether any scheme of federation brought forward in Arthur's time could have been so complete and satisfactory as that consummated in 1901.

After his return to England in March, 1837, Colonel Arthur received the Hanoverian Order of Knighthood. At the close of the same year he was appointed Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada and at the same time given "the military rank and command of a major-general on the staff." Sir George Arthur was now nearly sixty years of age and had been for over twenty-two years a colonial governor. During that period he had wielded almost despotic power. It was not at all likely that he would be inclined to look with favour upon the demands of the Upper Canadian Reformers for "Responsible Government."

On his arrival in Upper Canada Sir George Arthur was faced by a situation of the utmost delicacy. The rashness and wrong-headedness of Sir Francis Bond Head and of William Lyon MacKenzie had brought on the Upper Canadian Rebellion. The skirmish at Montgomery's Tavern occurred on Thursday, December 7th, 1837, and at the close of the day W. L. MacKenzie was a fugitive with a price on his head. The affair of the "Caroline" took place on December 29th. The destruction of this American steamboat resulted in considerable excitement in the United States and relations between the British and American governments became somewhat strained. The arrest and trial of Alexander McLeod on the charge of murdering Amos Durfee, an American citizen, who was killed during the raid on the "Caroline", further complicated the situation. It was not until 1842 that the incident was finally closed by a letter of apology addressed by Sir Robert Peel to Daniel Webster.

Shortly after the destruction of the "Caroline" by the Canadians, MacKenzie's sympathizers, who had seized Navy Island in the Niagara River near the Falls, were forced to abandon their post, and the centre of disturbance shifted westward to the Detroit River. On this frontier an attack was planned by American sympathizers and disaffected Canadians against Fort Madden which was situated sixteen miles from Windsor, Ontario. The attempt proved disastrous and resulted in the capture of "General" Theller and other American sympathizers, who were sent to Toronto for trial. On the 3rd of March, 1838, Pelee Island in Lake Erie was captured by another band of invaders who were driven off by a Canadian loyalist force under Colonel Maitland. This was the last serious attempt made from the United States before the arrival in Upper Canada of Sir George Arthur.

The new Lieutenant-Governor then found himself involved in a peculiar international situation. Were these American sympathizers foreigners who were levying open war against the province committed to his charge, or were they merely marauders to be classed as pirates? This problem complicated another question of the utmost and pressing importance which was, in what way were the leaders of the late rebellion to be treated? The Family Compact men and the Tories generally thirsted for their blood. Two of the leaders of MacKenzie's rebellion, Lount and Matthews, were already in prison and were shortly to be put on trial for their lives. The problem which Sir George Arthur had to settle was whether or not the extreme penalty of the law should be exacted.

It was not to be expected that the ex-governor of a penal colony would show much mercy towards these men who had taken up arms against constituted authority. Nor did he. Lount and Matthews pleaded guilty and were on March 29th sentenced to death. The execution was to take place on April 12th. Sir George Arthur had, of course, no part in sentencing them to death. That was done by Chief Justice John Beverley Robinson, who, Kingsford tells us, pronounced sentence "with that felicity of language ever at his command, but its tone was merciless."[[12]] Sir John Beverley Robinson's son and biographer, Major-General C. W. Robinson, quotes from the Law Journal of Upper Canada for March, 1863, to show that "of the three individuals concerned, the Chief Justice was most certainly the most painfully affected." But whatever his private feelings may have been the Chief Justice was unbending in his determination that no mercy be shown. He refused to advise the Lieutenant-Governor that Lount and Matthews be either pardoned or respited.[[13]] In this opinion of the Chief Justice the Attorney-General, Hagerman, concurred, and although there was great excitement in the province and "petitions signed by not less than 8,000 persons"[[14]] were presented, a reprieve was not granted and the two rebel leaders were executed on the day set.

Two days later, on April 14th, Arthur penned a long dispatch on the subject to Lord Glenelg. This document shows clearly how completely the new Lieutenant-Governor was in sympathy with the Family Compact and how entirely he failed to understand the point of view of the Reformers.

The despatch professes to deal with the cases of Samuel Lount and Peter Matthews, "with a general view of the course to be taken with respect to persons committed for High Treason." Arthur begins by combatting a statement made by Lord Glenelg in a despatch dated January 6th, 1835, addressed to Sir John Colborne and marked "separate," to the effect that,

"Her Majesty's Government could not fail to notice the wide difference which exists between the circumstances which have taken place in Lower Canada, and the recent events in Upper Canada. So far as can be collected from the information now before me, the chief motive which influenced the instigation of the disturbance in Upper Canada appears to have been the view of plunder, and the offences which they perpetrated, seem to bear comparatively little of a political character."

Lord Glenelg's grasp of the situation in Upper Canada may be inferred from the above passage and Sir George Arthur proceeds to enlighten him. Several sentences from his despatch deserve quoting in full, since they show how readily Sir George Arthur had embraced the Tory point of view.