“This house is Governor Simcoe’s house. In it John Graves Simcoe, the first Governor of the U. E. Loyalists, himself a hearty, brave old colonel, who fought in the cause of these men, held his levee, on his first arrival in Upper Canada. Time hallows all. Young Canada has her antiquities—although she may be more prone to look forward to the future with hope, than back on the past with regret. Yet the house in which John Graves Simcoe reposed himself, and cast his martial eye over the gracefully curving bay, the sparkling river, and the dilapidated fortifications of the old French fort, built during the French ascendancy; on the point and islands below, may still be an object of interest to more than those who reside in the vicinity, in a Province, which owes so much of its present prosperity to the good commencement made by one possessed of his historic heroism, humanity, and noble self-denial in the cause of an exiled race. The house stood on a point of land formed by the bay, and a small stream which passes from the north westward, called formerly by the French, “Riviere de la Vielle Culotte,” which being translated, probably means “Old Breeches’ River.” Governor Simcoe had, but a short half-hour previously, taken his departure for Niagara, in one of the large bark canoes with which the passage on the St. Lawrence, and along the shore of the lakes, was then generally made. A brigade of smaller canoes and boats followed him, conveying his suite, and a few soldiers; and never since the year 1756, when Montcalm led his army upward to the attack of Oswego, had the swelling bosom of the wild forest river borne so glad a sight as on that sparkling morning.
“The old piece of ordnance, obtained from the island fort below, had ceased to belch forth its thunders from the clay bank; whereon, fort want of trunnions it had been deposited. The gentry of the surrounding country, collected together for the occasion, and looking spruce, though weather-beaten, in their low-tasselled boots, their queer old broad-skirted military coats, and looped chapeaux, with faded feathers fluttering in the wind, had retired to the inn, and were toasting in parting goblets, the “good old cause for ever,” previously to betaking themselves to their woodland path homeward, or embarking in their canoes to reach their destinations by water, above or below.
“Now I am content—content, I say, and can go home to reflect on this proud day. Our Governor—the man of all others—has come at last—mine eye hath seen it—drink to him gentlemen—he will do the rest for us,”—cried Colonel Tom Fraser, his face flushed and fiery, and his stout frame drawn up to its full height at the head of the table.
“We do—we do!” vociferated young Kingsmill, emptying his glass, and stamping to express joy. “Bonhomme” Tom Fraser then got on his legs, and shouted a brawny young soldier’s echo to the toast of his relative.
The mild, placid countenance of Dr. Solomon Jones, was lighted up by the occasion, and he arose also, and responded to the toast, recounting some of the services performed by the newly appointed Lieutenant-Governor in the late war.
Captain Elijah Bottum, a large portly person, having at his side a formidable basket-hilted claymore, then addressed them in brief military phrase, and gave one of the old war slogans. Major Jessup followed in the same strain, and proposed a sentiment which was received with vociferous cheers by the younger portion of the company. Captain Dulmage, Captain Campbell, Pay-master Jones, Commissary Jones, Captain Gid. Adams, Lieutenant Samuel Adams, Ephraim Webster, Captain Markle, Captain Grant, and numerous other captains and officers, managed to make themselves heard on the joyful occasion, until finally the meeting broke up, and the company separated not to meet again until the next fourth day of June, in the following year.
The first entry in the journals of the Executive Council of Upper Canada, gives an account of the induction of Colonel Simcoe into the gubernatorial office at Kingston. The event was made one of solemnity and religious observance, the proceedings taking place on a Sunday, in the old church of wood, which stood opposite the market-place. We quote an extract from the proceedings of the Executive Council.
Kingston, July 8, 1792.
“His Excellency John Graves Simcoe, Esq., Lieutenant-Governor of the Province of Upper Canada, colonel, commanding the forces in the said Province, &c., &c., having appointed the Protestant church, as a suitable place for the reading and publishing of his Majesty’s commissions, he accordingly repaired thither, attended by the Hon. William Osgoode, Chief Justice; the Hon. James Baby, the Hon. Peter Russell, together with the Magistrates and principal inhabitants, when the said commission appointing his Excellency (Grey) Lord Dorchester, Captain-General and Governor-in-chief, &c., &c., of Upper and Lower Canada, and also the commission appointing the said John Graves Simcoe, Governor of the Province of Upper Canada, were solemnly read and published.”
The oaths of office were then administered to his Excellency. According to the Royal instructions to Governor Simcoe, he was to have five individuals to form the first Executive Council. The five named were William Osgoode, William Robertson, James Baby, Alexander Grant, and Peter Russell, Esqs. The next day, Monday, Osgoode, Baby, and Russell were sworn into office, as Executive Councillors. Robertson was not then in the Province; Grant was sworn in a few days after.