Sir George Arthur and His Administration of Upper Canada

by W. N. Sage

"In Upper Canada, the same pretensions to patriotism—the same assertions of republican Principles—the same accusations against the Government of Tyranny and Corruption—were put forth as the ground and justification of the Rebellion as in the Lower Province. In Lower Canada, the right was insisted on, of the popular Branch of the Legislature sullenly to refuse acting as a legislative Body, and to bring to a complete stop all beneficial operations of Government, and to assert a supremacy inconsistent with the relations of a Colony with the parent state.

"In Upper Canada arms were taken up with the avowed purpose of assisting the Lower Canadians, and of asserting the same principles as applicable to this Colony. In Upper Canada the majority of the Assembly were attached to British Institutions; but this Majority was asserted to have been brought about by unconstitutional means on the part of Government, and the use which the revolutionary Party had made of a majority in Parliament when they had it, was precisely the same here as in Lower Canada: namely, to coerce the Government by a refusal to grant the necessary supplies. The Revolutionists in neither province hoped by themselves to overthrow the Government. They alike solicited foreign aid, and by its means expected to accomplish those designs...."

It may easily be seen from the above quotation that Sir George Arthur misunderstood the political situation in both Upper and Lower Canada. He failed entirely to appreciate the aims of the Reformers and considered them a grave menace to the security of British rule in Canada. So imbued was he with the point of view of what he terms the "Constitutional Party" that he believed the rebel leaders, including Lount and Matthews, had proved "not only that they were determined, with their own hands, to execute the foulest deeds in furtherance of their project of subverting the Government; but they had encouraged a class of dissolute and vagrant Foreigners to join in their enterprise, who, they well knew, would not hesitate to inflict upon the inhabitants of this Province, if they could have subjugated them, the most barbarous atrocities."[[15]]

Under such circumstances, if the British connexion was to be preserved and law and order firmly re-established, it was necessary, Arthur considered, that several public examples should be made. Lount and Matthews had pleaded guilty of the heinous crime of rebellion against authority and were convicted of high treason. The penalty was death and it made no difference to Sir George Arthur whether eight thousand or thirty thousand[[16]] persons signed petitions for their reprieve. He could not understand that Lount and Matthews were in the eyes of a very large section of the province merely political prisoners who had been unfortunate enough to appeal to arms and be defeated by their opponents of the Tory party. The fact that the Lieutenant-Governor and the Executive Council were adherents of this Tory party did not, in itself, mean that Lount and Matthews were traitors. High treason is a very serious thing and so is armed rebellion, but the skirmish at Montgomery's Tavern could hardly be called a battle and there had been great provocation.

In refusing to reprieve Lount and Matthews or even to postpone their execution until he had had an opportunity to confer with the Colonial Office, Sir George Arthur made the chief blunder of his career as Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada. To be sure he acted in complete harmony with his Executive Council, whose advice he took in the matter, but he did not understand the real feeling of the province. It is doubtful whether any but the most rabid Tories favoured the exaction of the death penalty. The ends of justice could have been secured either by transportation or banishment. Nor did the Colonial Office entirely favour the executions of these men. On May 22nd Lord Glenelg wrote to Arthur as follows:

"I have received your despatch of the 29th March, No. 1, reporting your proceedings up to that date, and the measures which you proposed to adopt with reference to the militia and volunteers, and stating that two of the most active of the persons engaged in the late revolt, having been brought to trial, had pleaded guilty and been sentenced to death, and assuring me that the most merciful consideration would be shown towards the prisoners generally.

"I have laid your despatch before the Queen, and have to convey to you Her Majesty's approbation of the proceedings which you have reported. Since the receipt, indeed, of your despatch, intelligence has appeared in the public papers of the execution at Toronto of Messrs. Lount and Matthews, the individuals, as I presume, alluded to in your despatch.

"I have every confidence that before consenting to such a means, you devoted to the cases of these persons a calm and dispassionate consideration, but as I have hitherto received from you no report of these executions or of the grounds on which you decided to let the law take its course, I abstain for the present from any further comment on them.

"I am happy to learn, through the same channel of information, that no further executions were likely to take place."[[17]]

Eight days later, on May 30th, 1838, after receiving Sir George Arthur's despatch of the 14th of April, Lord Glenelg again alluded to the execution and this time one feels that, in his own mild way, the Colonial Secretary is seeking to restrain Arthur: