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This work would not have appeared—at least in its present form—but for the diligent and successful researches of the late John Ross Robertson. My own investigations, pursued for some years, into the early history of Upper Canada, brought us together on many occasions. We found a common object of interest in John Graves Simcoe, our first Lieutenant-Governor. Mr. Robertson frequently urged me to write a life of Simcoe and I as often replied by urging him to do so. On almost the last interview we had, it was agreed that we should undertake the task together, he to write concerning Simcoe out of Canada and I concerning him in Canada. His lamented death prevented that project being carried into execution; but his son, Mr. Irving E. Robertson, has generously placed his collection of correspondence, &c., at my disposal that I might alone write what we had intended to write in association.

For the following pages I am alone responsible. Although the documents collected by Mr. Robertson have been utilized to the full, no use has been made of the chapters he wrote.

Much of the material is found in the Simcoe and Simcoe-Wolford Papers procured by the late Mr. Robertson; much collected by myself from the Canadian Archives and elsewhere, appears now in convenient form in three publications by the Ontario Historical Society—The Correspondence of Lieut.-Governor John Graves Simcoe, edited by Brigadier-General E. A. Cruickshank, LL.D., F.R.S.C. The Canadian Archives and those of Ontario with their many treasures, have been drawn on freely, as have the Parliamentary Library at Ottawa, the Reference Library at Toronto, the Riddell Canadian Library at Osgoode Hall, Toronto, and the Congressional Library at Washington. To those in charge of these institutions my sincere thanks are due and are here given for their unfailing courtesy and attention to what must have seemed at times almost unreasonable demands. Miss M. I. Sivers, who for years was closely in touch with Mr. Robertson and his work, has been of inestimable service in suggestion, criticism and correction.

While it is not to be expected that the following chapters are wholly without error, I have in practically every case given my authority, so that the error, if important enough, may be corrected.

Full credit has been given in the instances in which other accounts of Simcoe’s life have been quoted. I have in all cases gone to the original sources and owe nothing to any previous biographer.

No attempt has been made at fine writing: the facts of Simcoe’s life have been plainly stated and conjecture has been avoided.

The chapter on Simcoe as a Freemason has been added out of respect for Mr. Robertson’s well-known love of the Craft.

I venture to hope that the present work will do something to make Simcoe better known in his public and private career.

John Graves Simcoe who was to become the first Lieutenant-Governor of the Province of Upper Canada, was born, February 25, 1752, at Cotterstock, a hamlet in Northamptonshire ^[1], about ten miles from Peterborough and a mile and a half from the old town of Oundle.

His father was Captain John Simcoe ^[2], whose ancestry has given trouble to some biographers; it may now be stated with certainty that he was the only son of the Reverend William Simcoe, Vicar of Woodhorn, Northumberland, who had been Curate of South Shields, Durham.

Born in 1710, John Simcoe was a man of the highest character, well read in the classics and general literature and specially skilled in mathematics. He obtained an appointment as Midshipman in the Royal Navy through the influence of his father in 1730: the name of the ship is unknown.

In 1737, he was appointed Lieutenant and in 1743, Captain. We find him in 1746 in command of H.M.S. Falmouth, employed about Jamaica in the unnecessary war with France which Pelham had declared in 1743; he was ordered by Vice-Admiral Thomas Davers of the Red Squadron, June 20, 1746, to take to England in his ship certain Spanish Privateers who had been captured by British ships in the Caribbean Sea ^[3]. He was placed in command of the second of the two divisions into which the home-bound fleet was divided, and arrived in due time at the Downs ^[4]. In the following year, 1747, we find him in command of H.M.S. Prince Edward in King Road, a roadstead in the estuary of the Severn ^[5]; and in the same year he was granted a coat of arms by the Garter and Clarencieux Kings of Arms—he was then described as of Chelsea, Middlesex.

In 1747, August 8, while still Commander of H.M.S. Prince Edward, he married Catherine Stamford; and after the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748, settled in Cotterstock, where four sons were born to them, Pawlett William, John, John Graves and Percy William: the first and second died in infancy and the youngest was drowned in 1764. In 1749, he was involved in litigation arising out of his conduct as officer in the Navy; but he received the commendation of Chief Justice Willes at a trial at Guildhall ^[6]. He was an intimate friend of Samuel Graves, afterwards (1770) Vice-Admiral, and later (1778) Admiral; and the infant son received his second name in honour of this friend who became his godfather ^[7]. Simcoe hoped to be sent as Engineer in charge of the Forts and Settlements on the Coast of Africa, but the Committee of Merchants to whom was entrusted the choice selected another; he remained for a time in command of the Prince Edward, stationed at King Road, but in 1755 was looking for a command with little prospect of success; he applied to be permitted in case of war to serve as a volunteer with Sir Edward Hawke, and his request was granted by the Admiralty. But he almost immediately received the command of the St. George at Portsmouth—the Seven Years’ War, which broke out in 1756, demanded the services of all men so well qualified as John Simcoe. It was on board the St. George that the Court Martial for the trial of Admiral Byng was held, Simcoe being a member of the Court ^[8].

An expedition to North America being in prospect, Simcoe applied for and received the command of the Pembroke, a new 60-gun ship launched in April, 1757; he said that he had the seizure of Quebec so much at heart that he could “almost resolve to go as a volunteer”^[9]. He was ordered by the Admiralty, November, 1757, to put himself in command of a number of ships and proceed with them and the Pembroke to join Sir Edward Hawke; he had sealed orders, but the Fleet was to join the Rochefort expedition, which proved unsuccessful.

The following year finds him at Halifax under the command of Admiral Edward Boscawen and later at Louisbourg, in the siege and capture of which he took part ^[10].

There has been some confusion as to the movements of Simcoe during the winter of 1758-9: it seems now clear that being on the Pembroke he was attached to Rear-Admiral Durell’s Squadron which wintered at Halifax.

This Squadron was intended to cruise off the mouth of the St. Lawrence, to block the entrance and cut off all aid from and intercourse with France. Durell, however, remained at Halifax and gave as an excuse when Wolfe and Saunders arrived, April 30, that he was waiting to hear if the ice would permit him to sail up the St. Lawrence. Saunders ordered him to sea, and Simcoe went with the Squadron with his ship, but he did not reach Quebec, as he died, apparently of pneumonia, on board the Pembroke, off Anticosti, May 15, 1759 ^[11].

He had strong views of the importance of the conquest of Canada, and its incorporation in the British Empire. In a letter, June 1, 1755, to Lord Barrington, Secretary at War, he points out the insolence and aggressiveness of the French and adds:—“Such is the position of Quebec that it is absolutely the key of French America, and our possession of it would forever lock out every Frenchman, be the signal of revolt to the Indians—Our seizure of Canada would undeniably . . . . . . . give us the monopoly of the fur and fishery trades, open to us so many new and vast channels of commerce as would take off our every possible manufacture especially of woollen and linen, whilst it poured in every growth and every material at so cheap a rate as would make us necessarily the mart of foreign exportation and most amply compensate for even the extinction of all our other foreign trade of importation—a circumstance . . . . . . . to be wished as it would reunite and fortify all our colonists and the exclusive possession of that continent will fill each ocean with British shipping without depopulating this Country . . . . . . .” He recommends a plan of campaign and future conduct in considerable detail, and urges again and again the ease and importance of the conquest ^[12].

Lord Barrington recognized the importance of the project, for we find him writing to Simcoe, “desiring to know what force of ships and troops would be sufficient”^[13]. Simcoe’s answer does not seem to have been preserved; but it is known that his son, the Lieutenant-Governor, always considered that it was his father’s plans which were followed in the conquest of Canada, 1759-1760, and that the conquest was undertaken by reason of his representations. Later in the year 1755 or in 1756, Simcoe sends to a Lord of the Admiralty, an elaborate scheme “for forming a body of seamen into a regular disciplined corps to answer all occasions of service in peace or war”—“a marine brigade”^[14]. The Admiralty in 1755 revived the Marine force which had disappeared after the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748: it has been continuously sustained since the revival and for many years without change from Simcoe’s scheme.

In 1756, he urges the formation of a “well regulated national militia”: he urges the repeal of the Game Laws, and permission to the people to shoot game—saying to the “Freeholder” whom he supposed to object, that “it is better to participate with a good grace your monopoly of wild birds to those whose labour feeds and clothes you and whose bravery . . . . . . . will defend you, your wife, your children, your estate and your real property, civil and religious, than have with a very bad grace your all exposed to be ravished from you by every merciless, rapacious invader . . . . . . . Let the destruction of game be but by fire arms . . . . . . . of the militia and its sale be absolutely prohibited and the contraveners impartially punished and the game will rapidly increase”. He points out that the “Buccaneers, the Negroes and the Indians who carry their guns for subsistence are the best marksmen and most dangerous partisans in the world and only want to be broken to the art of war to be the best regulars. So will the English prove when allowed the exercise of firearms, the prohibition of which by the Game Laws has broken that British spirit, and extinguished that bravery heretofore the terror of the French nation”^[15]. A National Militia was indeed organized in 1757 to continue with little change until 1908; but the Game Laws remained practically the same.

In 1757, he urges the possession by British of a fortified harbour on each side of the Isthmus of Panama—the advantage “would be immense and surprising; nothing less . . . . . . . than the entire trade and dominion of the South Sea would be the natural consequence—here would be a vent for all the woollen, linen and silk manufactures of Great Britain . . . . . . . with an advanced price, we could sell every commodity infinitely cheaper than the Spanish Merchant could afford . . . . . . .”^[16].

His last extant letters are insistent upon the necessity of conquering France by way of Quebec; he had, when Braddock was appointed in 1755 to carry on the war in America, pointed out to Hugh Percy, Earl (later Duke) of Northumberland “that France could not be advantageously attacked in America but by a direct seizure of Quebec”. This he repeated in 1759 to Northumberland; and also that “a peace on any other terms but the absolute dominion of North America will destroy us . . . . . . a peace which leaves an inch of ground in North America to France will undo Great Britain . . . . . . . We have now in our power by a vigorous attack on Quebec to become masters of all North America at one blow.”

To Admiral Boscawen about the same time he wrote: “The reduction of Quebec will at a blow give us the dominion over North America”; and to Lord Ravensworth: “Another war will ruin Great Britain . . . . . . in a few years if any temporary delusive peace now leaves an inch of Canada in the possession of France. We have it in our power now to ruin her there forever if we take Quebec this next year”^[17].

In 1754 he wrote for the guidance of young officers in army and navy an admirable paper, “Maxims of Conduct”, or “Rules for Your Conduct”^[18].

Captain John Simcoe was evidently well educated. He had read and could aptly quote Cicero in the original and was familiar with Plutarch (perhaps in Bryan’s Latin version of 1729): his style was clear, his logic convincing, his terminology accurate, his conclusions generally sound and always plausible—his writings were admirable in their vigor and force; if we cannot always agree with him we must at least recognize his candor, persuasiveness, utter loyalty to King and country, and devotion to their interests as he saw them.

It has been thought worth while to give the foregoing particulars of Captain Simcoe to indicate that many of the best traits of the Lieutenant-Governor were inherited. Of his wife, Catherine Stamford, little is known except that she was a model wife and mother.

On the death of her husband, Mrs. Simcoe removed from Cotterstock to Exeter, devoting her life to her two boys until the younger was drowned in the River Exe in 1764, and then to her sole surviving child, John Graves Simcoe. In 1766, her death took place at Newcastle.

NOTES

ADDITIONAL NOTE

A statement of the Admiralty Records concerning Captain Simcoe, and an account of his services extracted from Charnock’s “Biographia Navalis” are subjoined. These I owe to the courtesy of the Secretary of the Admiralty.

Note.—Passing Certificate cannot be found; for his Services before being appointed Lieutenant the name of a ship on which he served previous to 1739 would assist in a further search being made.

John Graves Simcoe was a little over seven when his father died and the family removed to Exeter; he had already received the rudiments of an education and shortly after removal to Exeter he entered the Free Grammar School in that Cathedral City. He was attentive and studious, an apt but not a brilliant scholar; what he learned, he learned thoroughly and retained permanently; at an early age, he read Homer in Pope’s translation, and as a boy, he took part with his companions in a play portraying the scenes of the Iliad. He attained proficiency in the branches of knowledge taught in the school and was among the first, if not the first in his standing; he was also well versed in modern history, not as yet taught in schools, and he eagerly read every tale of war. Active, filled with a spirit of emulation, he was foremost in all games of boyhood—his standing on the playground equalled that in the schoolroom.

No myths have grown up about him, he seems to have been a hardy, active, well-bred English boy of the best type, and he was likeable and ever on good terms with his fellows.

In 1766, he was sent to Eton, and three years afterwards he entered at Merton College, Oxford. He took a high place in both Colleges in his studies—there is reason to think, also in sport—but there was nothing phenomenal in either. Extant examples of his English and Latin verses in manuscript indicate diligence, accuracy and ability; and volumes of ancient and modern history with annotations in his own hand sufficiently evidence his devotion to that study.

He does not seem to have taken a degree ^[1]. The reason is not known, but it has been said that it was due to ill-health ^[2]. Whatever the reason, he remained at Merton for only one year and returned to Exeter, where he studied military science under a tutor ^[3], having been promised an Ensign’s commission by friends of his mother.

All was not going well with the Empire; George Grenville’s theory of Colonies that they existed for the advantage of the Mother Country had resulted in 1765 in the Stamp Tax; the American Colonies resisted; and although Grenville lost power almost immediately, Townshend continued Grenville’s policy. America still resisted and the King, George III, urged the use of compulsion. Whatever might otherwise have been the result, when the King succeeded in 1770 in making Lord North Prime Minister, an open war of force was inevitable.

This is not the place to treat at large of the merits of the controversy resulting in the Declaration of Independence and the destruction of the old British Empire ^[4]. It is, however, certain that men like Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, Adams, never contemplated separation from Great Britain until 1775, nor could any wish so to do until that time be discovered among the people of the Thirteen Colonies—that Chatham in 1773 said that the “New Englandmen feel as Old England should feel”^[5]—that it was only when a bungling Ministry aided by a conscientious but ill-unbalanced King who had been as badly educated as he was badly advised, insisted on crushing by military and mercenary force all aspirations of a free people to free self government that Independence was declared.

A very large proportion of the Colonists did not recognize the necessity for severing connection with the Mother Country; but they were overborne, and the result we know.

There is nothing to indicate that Simcoe ever saw any merit in the contentions of the Colonies—he says “the late war in America . . . . . . he always considered as forced upon Great Britain, and in which he served from principle . . . . . . Had he supposed it to have been unjust he would have resigned his commission, for no true soldier and servant of his country will ever admit that a British officer can divest himself of the duties of a citizen or in a civil contest is bound to support the cause his conscience rejects”^[6].

All his education and the example of his father tended to impress him with certitude that the King and his Ministers were right, and he never wavered in that conviction. In 1770, he entered the Army as an Ensign in the 35th Regiment of Foot ^[7], in which his intimate friend Edward Drewe served.

He was not sent to America with the first detachment of his regiment but remained in England until May, 1775; he arrived on the last ship of the fleet at Boston on June 19, 1775, two days after the famous battle of Bunker Hill ^[8]. His god-father, Vice Admiral Samuel Graves ^[9], was in command of the North American fleet charged with enforcing the Act closing Boston Harbour to commerce; and Simcoe was entrusted by him with certain services, the performance of which brought him into acquaintance with many of the American Loyalists—“from them he soon learned the practicability of raising troops in the country whenever it should be opened to the King’s forces; and the propriety of such a measure appeared to be self-evident. He, therefore, importuned Admiral Graves to ask General Gage that he might enlist such negroes as were in Boston and with them put himself under the direction of Sir James Wallace who was then actively engaged at Rhode Island and to whom that Colony had opposed negroes: adding to the Admiral, who seemed surprised at his request, ‘that he entertained no doubt he should soon exchange them for whites’^[10]. General Gage, on the Admiral’s application, informed him that the negroes were not sufficiently numerous to be serviceable and that he had other employment for those who were in Boston.”

Simcoe continued with the 35th Foot in Boston when the City was besieged by the Revolutionary troops ^[11]; during this siege, he purchased a Captaincy in the Grenadier Company of the 40th Foot ^[12].

Washington, as Commander-in-Chief of the American Forces, assumed command of the siege of Boston, and, taking advantage of an oversight on the part of General Howe, the British Commander, he, early in March, 1776, seized and fortified Dorchester Heights and placed the besieged Army in a most critical position. On March 17, the Army set sail for Halifax, which was speedily and successfully reached.

On June 11, 1776, the Army left Halifax for Sandy Hook, where it arrived June 29; then proceeded to Staten Island, where it disembarked July 3; here reinforcements were met, and the 40th was formed in Brigade with the 17th, 46th and 55th under Major Grant—the Grenadier Companies with those of other Corps were formed into Grenadier Battalions.

Considerable operations took place during the summer of 1776; Long Island was reduced, the American Army retiring in boats across the East River to New York and abandoning their fortifications—subsequently New York was captured, the 40th taking an active part in the operations.

The Americans took up another position, and General Howe, to separate them from New England, embarked a portion of the British troops, including the Grenadier Companies of the 40th, in boats, and landed them at Chester, October, 1776. Six days later, Howe re-embarked this detachment and landed at Pell’s Point, near which a sharp engagement took place.

Washington, on evacuating New York, took up a position at White Plains, where Howe was about to attack him in force, October 31, when the Americans retired to the New Castle Heights. Howe then reduced Fort Washington. The Regiment then joined the forces of Lord Cornwallis, who, November 18, crossed the North River, and he pursued the Americans for three weeks through New Jersey, until they crossed the Delaware. The weather becoming cold, the British troops went into winter quarters at Brunswick.

During that winter, Simcoe went to New York expressly to solicit the command of the Queen’s Rangers: “the boat he was in being driven from the place of its destination, he was exceedingly chagrined to find that he had arrived some hours too late, but he desired that Col. Cuyler, Sir William Howe’s Aide-de-camp, would mention his coming thither to him as well as his design”^[13].

The American Army, recrossing the Delaware, marched towards Trenton; Cornwallis, recognizing the design, marched out to meet them, leaving the 40th and other regiments behind at Princeton under Lieutenant-Colonel Mawhood, January 3, 1777. Mawhood, in obedience to orders, marched from Princeton for Maidenhead, a village about half way to Trenton; he met American troops almost immediately on the beginning of the march and a sharp engagement, the Battle of Princeton, took place, the 40th being driven back to that place with serious loss ^[14].

Brunswick was not attacked, but during all the winter and following spring there were continual skirmishes with more or less loss on both sides: Amboy was the headquarters for the 40th, but the Flank Companies, including Simcoe’s, were stationed at Brunswick.

Howe determined to change the seat of war, and, in June, embarked his army for the Chesapeake; arriving, August 24, at Elk Ferry, a few days thereafter he marched on Philadelphia, but Washington, taking prompt advantage of Howe’s dilatoriness, also moved his troops and was able to interpose them at Brandywine. There a sanguinary battle took place, September 11, in which the British had decidedly the advantage. Simcoe, who was with the 1st Battalion Grenadiers, was wounded in this battle; Captain Wemyss, of the 40th, was in command of the Queen’s Rangers, who greatly distinguished themselves during the engagement ^[15]. Simcoe, by reason of his wound, missed the Battles of Concord and Germantown: on October 15, 1777, his cherished hope was realized, when Howe gave him the command of the Queen’s Rangers, upon which he had long set his heart—he received the Provincial rank of Major, and joined the regiment the following day ^[16].

NOTES

The Queen’s Rangers was a partisan corps ^[1] originally raised in 1776 by Colonel Robert Rogers in Connecticut and the vicinity of New York—its functions being to range over or scour the country, surprise the outposts and foraging parties of the enemy and the like. It was composed at first of American Loyalists only and at one period mustered over 400 men; the members of this corps were men of the greatest activity and daring, firm loyalty and devotion to the King and to their duty as they saw it; and they had profound contempt for the rebels, whom they looked upon as rascals and traitors.

After considerable service under Rogers, the command was, in 1777, given to Colonel French and afterwards to Captain Wemyss of the 40th with the rank of Major: by this time the personnel had changed; many Southern gentlemen who had joined Lord Dunmore and distinguished themselves under his orders received commissions in the Queen’s Rangers in place of those who had been found incompetent. Moreover there were added some volunteers from the British Army; the numbers were kept up by the circumstance that to this corps was given the exclusive privilege of enlisting “Old-countrymen” and deserters from the Revolutionary Army. The Loyalists formed at all times the mass of the Regiment and were the source of its discipline and chief value, while those recruited from the army and otherwise were well aware of the arduous and dangerous work in which they would be engaged and joined only from love of the service and desire to distinguish themselves in it ^[2].

Sir William Howe in consequence of their behaviour at Brandywine had promised that all promotions should go in the Regiment; and this had the effect of still further stimulating their zeal.

Shortly after Simcoe assumed command, the Regiment was increased by the addition of a company under Captain Smyth, making eleven companies which were equalized—the eleventh under Captain McKay being formed of Highlanders chiefly from North Carolina. This company was furnished with Highland dress and a piper—it was stationed on the left flank of the Regiment. The Regiment had its Grenadier and Light Infantry Companies and its eight other companies—the ordinary uniform being green for the purposes of concealment.

Simcoe, declining the proposition of Sir William Erskine to add dragoons to his Regiment, formed a mounted body from his own men; such men were selected for this service as the officers recommended for spirit and presence of mind and they were put under the direction of Kelly, a Sergeant of distinguished gallantry; they proved of great service in reconnoitring and outpost work.

Simcoe paid the greatest attention to the discipline ^[3] and internal economy of his command and saw to it that the ordinary course of rotation (except in ordinary duties) should not prevail but that those officers should be selected for any service who appeared to be the most capable of executing it. The men were relieved of most of the mechanical manual drill so dear to the regular army officer: a few motions of the manual exercise were considered sufficient, but the men were carefully trained in firing; and above all, attention was paid to the use of the bayonet—an almost total reliance upon that weapon being taught and insisted upon. Sergeant’s guards were in a manner abolished, Simcoe holding the vigilance of a gentleman and an officer transcendently superior to that of any non-commissioned officer whatsoever—and it is to this that he attributes in great measure the striking fact that no sentinel or guard of the Queen’s Rangers was ever surprised—they moreover never gave a false alarm, and only one of their patrols was ever taken and that because a Cavalry Captain neglected Simcoe’s principles.

Towards the end of October, the Rangers were ordered to patrol beyond Frankford, then four miles from, but now a suburb and substation of, Philadelphia; and for some time, they ranged the country in front of Philadelphia.

In a skirmish in which the Rangers, as part of General Gray’s column were engaged, December 8, one of these mounted men was shot by a Hessian Yager by mistake, as he was wearing a helmet taken from a rebel patrol some days before; this determined Simcoe to provide high caps for his mounted men, making them Huzzars, their number being soon increased to thirty. Many recruits were obtained from deserters from Washington’s army at Valley Forge, and the corps kept up its numbers though constantly employed in arduous and dangerous operations.

When Sir William Howe resigned his command in 1778, Sir Henry Clinton, who succeeded, gave Simcoe the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel, antedating his commission to those of all Provincial Lieutenant-Colonels.

Simcoe took part in Abercrombie’s expedition against the Americans under General Lacy near Crooked Billet; his march and a stratagem whereby he saved his command received the warm approbation of his superior officer, and are mentioned with admiration by the historian ^[4].

The Army evacuated Philadelphia, June 18, 1778; and on the 27th, Simcoe received a slight wound in the arm in a skirmish, causing him excruciating pain and compelling him to retire to the baggage. He therefore missed the Battle of Monmouth, June 28, in which his Rangers were led by Captain Ross. He was able to resume command, July 1, and he marched with Sir William Erskine to Sandy Hook forming the rearguard—they then went to New York, went up to Morris’s house and encamped there.

It seemed to Simcoe likely that the British Army would leave America and the war would be carried on in the West Indies; he accordingly applied for permission with his Corps and other Loyalists to join Colonel John Butler who, with his Rangers and Indians, was busy on the upper parts of the Delaware—but the Commander-in-Chief told him that ^[5] “he much applauded his spirit but thought he would find sufficient employment for him in his army.”

Simcoe fell ill and was unable to resume his command until July 14—Washington being at White Plains, the Rangers had no rest. His favourite Sergeant Kelly being taken prisoner, and threatened with death as he had formerly been in the rebel service, Simcoe offered in exchange a Sergeant lately taken, and threatened that if Kelly were executed he would leave to the mercy of his soldiers the next six rebels who should fall into his hands—this soon brought about Kelly’s release.

By reason of Lord Cathcart being given the rank of Colonel of Provincials, and Simcoe’s feeling at Cathcart’s ranking him, Clinton, while declining to give him the same rank as Cathcart, offered to make him Colonel—this Simcoe declined, to his own lasting regret.

In an engagement, August 20, Simcoe was again wounded—by Nimham, an Indian Chief, who had been in England, but had joined the enemy with some of his tribe: Nimham was killed by Simcoe’s orderly huzzar. The wound was slight and Simcoe did not require to give up his station.

When General James Grant, who had been appointed to command the expeditionary force sent from New York to the West Indies (which captured St. Lucia in December, 1778), was about to embark, he offered Simcoe to take him and his corps among the picked troops selected for that purpose; but Simcoe declined this very advantageous offer which carried with it a certainty of British rank, because he thought it would not be just “to the many very valuable native Americans who were among their non-commissioned officers and soldiers”; he was allowed to remain in the Rangers although the 40th Regiment, in which he was Captain, sailed with Grant.

He received orders to take up his winter quarters at Oyster Bay on Long Island, which he did. Recruiting was slow and the Rangers were handicapped by the greater bounties given for Regiments then being formed than the Government would allow the Provincials; Simcoe organized a recruiting fund to add to the government bounties and thereby make it possible to obtain recruits. To this fund, he and his officers contributed liberally, and recruiting became very effective ^[6].

May 2, 1779, the Commander-in-Chief in General Orders announced that as a reward for the faithful service and spirited conduct of the Provincials, His Majesty had decided, inter alia, that the officers of the Provincial Corps should rank as juniors of their rank and if disabled in service should receive the same gratuity as the officers of the established army—that with the recommendation of the Commander-in-Chief their rank should be made permanent in America and on the reduction of their regiments they should be allowed half pay as in the case of officers of the British reduced regiments. The Queen’s Rangers were recommended by Clinton and were styled the First American Regiment.

The Rangers, then consisting of 360 rank and file, left their cantonments, May 18, 1779, and after minor engagements joined the army of Lord Cornwallis in October. Not long afterwards Simcoe fell into an ambuscade: seeing some men concealed behind logs and bushes and trying to evade them his horse was killed and he fell: when he recovered his senses stunned by the fall he found himself prisoner. When he was lying senseless on the ground a boy had been prevented from bayonetting him, by a statement, “Let him alone, the rascal is dead enough”, and another person regretted that he had not shot him through the head, as he would have done had he known him to be a Colonel, but he “thought all Colonels wore lace.”

He was in great danger of violence on account of the fury of the populace of that district aroused by the death of Captain Vorhees, who had been killed a few days before by one of the Rangers; but Governor Livingston intervened and he was sent to Brunswick. October 28, he was removed on parol to Bordentown “to a tavern kept by Col. Hoogland of the Jersey militia, by whom he was treated with great civility”, but the principal people of Bordentown were very violent. Many unfounded stories were current of Simcoe’s cruelties, and some rebel Justices anxiously endeavoured to obtain affidavits to support them, but failed—many of their party in Pennsylvania offered to give evidence of his humanity and spoke most favorably of his conduct.

He was, however, made a vicarious sufferer in November. John Leshier had murdered a Loyalist and was confined in irons in New York: Captain Nathaniel Randal, the skipper of a vessel, was also in prison in New York—in retaliation for the sufferings of these two persons, it was ordered by the Council of the State of New Jersey that two British Officers should be put in close confinement and ironed. Col. Billop, Colonel of Staten Island Militia, and Simcoe were selected as the victims: they were sent to the Common Jail at Burlington; Billop had irons put on his hands and feet and chained to the floor in a close room; he received only bread and water—all to “teach Britons to act like men of humanity”; Simcoe was used as an ordinary prisoner.

Simcoe moreover was informed that if Lieutenant Hele (then imprisoned at Philadelphia awaiting the fate which should befall Cunningham, imprisoned for piracy in England) should die—and he was dangerously ill—he was talked of as a proper substitute for the Lieutenant; and he was at midnight removed from the room he had occupied to the felons’ cell. He found means of receiving the earliest information of Cunningham’s fate; and determined in case of news of Cunningham’s execution arriving at Philadelphia, instantly to make his escape. His plans were all made: but he decided to apply to Washington himself through Major André. No answer was made by Washington to his application, but in a few days Billop and he were exchanged ^[7], Simcoe leaving the Jail at Burlington, December 27, 1779.

He was not yet safe: on October 26, he had been engaged in an operation with his Huzzars and pretended to be of the American Forces—one of the Huzzars took “some thousand pounds of paper money . . . . from a passenger”, and Simcoe told the man “that he would be answerable to give him the money that night at Brunswick, where he would quarter”; but, unfortunately, an inhabitant knew Simcoe and sent word to Governor Livingston as soon as Simcoe’s party marched. When Simcoe was released from Jail, it was reported that the person from whom the money had been taken had applied to the Governor to confine him until the money was returned, he having promised to pay it at Brunswick. “The promise of paying any debt by the laws of New England rendered the person who gave it liable for the payment; but this custom had never prevailed in the Jersies”^[8]. However his apprehension proved without foundation and Simcoe left Brunswick: he was received with great joy by his friends at Richmond (now part of New York City) on the 31st and found that Clinton had reported to Lord George Germain, the Secretary of State, that he was dead ^[9].

He applied to Clinton and Cornwallis to be allowed to join the Army to the southward, but did not succeed; and he was engaged in military operations until obliged to go to New York to recover his health, June 25-July 19, he rejoined his corps and with it crossed at Flushing to Staten Island. Next month, Clinton augmented the Rangers by two troops of dragoons and appointed Simcoe Lieutenant-Colonel of Cavalry, and the following month removal was made to Jamaica. Clinton entrusted him with full knowledge of the ill-fated negotiations through André with Benedict Arnold and told him what service his Rangers would be employed on in case these negotiations were successful. When André was captured, Simcoe offered to attempt his rescue “not doubting to succeed in whatever a similar force could effect”: he protested in letters to Col. Henry Lee against the “useless murder of Major André which would almost annihilate . . . . . the wish of a reconciliation and speedy reunion with . . . . . revolted fellow-subjects in America”^[10]. He ordered that the Rangers should “be provided with black and white feathers as mourning for the late Major André, an officer whose superior integrity and uncommon ability did honour to his country and to human nature”.

December 11, 1780, the Rangers embarked under General Benedict Arnold in his successful raid on Richmond, Virginia—the next year, 1781, they joined Cornwallis and saw some severe fighting ^[11]. The British Army under Cornwallis being stationed at Yorktown, Virginia, at the end of August the advance ships of the French Fleet blocked up the York River and the British Army was in great danger. Cornwallis asked Simcoe whether he thought he could escape with the cavalry and Simcoe answered “without the smallest doubt”; but he was not allowed to try. Washington invested Yorktown, September 23. The health of Simcoe began totally to fail under the incessant fatigues, both of body and mind, which he had undergone for years; but when it was reported that Tarleton had suffered a defeat, he went himself to the redoubt occupied by the Rangers although he had to be carried from his bed to his horse. However he was soon obliged from total want of health to give up his command of Gloucester to Tarleton.

Cornwallis capitulated, October 19, 1781, refusing to allow Simcoe to endeavour to escape with his corps in some of the boats built by Arnold: the “corps consisted of Loyalists, the objects of the enemy’s civil persecution”. Simcoe himself by reason of his dangerous condition of health was permitted to sail for New York in the Bonetta, the sea-voyage being, in the opinion of the physicians, the only chance of saving his life; and with him sailed as many of the Rangers and of other corps, deserters from the enemy, as the ship would hold.

On arriving at New York, Simcoe was permitted by Clinton to return to England; December 19, 1781, he was made Lieutenant-Colonel in the Army, thereby giving him in the Regular Army and in the whole British world, the rank which had been made permanent for him in America in 1779 and the duties and title of which he had performed and enjoyed from 1777.

When Simcoe left for England, Captain Saunders arriving from Yorktown took command of that part of the corps which had come to New York in the Bonetta: Sir Henry Clinton, who resigned his command, was succeeded by Sir Guy Carleton, afterwards Lord Dorchester; Carleton does not seem to have had a high opinion of the usefulness of the Corps for we find him, March 31, 1783, directing their commanding officer to encourage his men to enlist in a Regiment then being recruited—a direction probably without precedent and certainly humiliating. Later, Carleton blaming the Rangers for plundering and marauding on Long Island, where they were cantoned with other troops, refused their officers their just promotions—and it was in vain that Capt. Saunders protested against “the falsehood and malevolence of the representations and requested an enquiry so that the officers might meet their accusers face to face.” Fortunately a Court Martial established that the depredations had been committed by soldiers of the Legion and not by the Rangers. Clinton made representations to the Home Authorities and, December 25, 1782, the rank of the officers was made universally permanent and “The Queen’s Rangers, cavalry and infantry, were honorably enrolled in the British Army”^[12].

At the Peace, the Corps was disbanded and many of the officers and most of the soldiers settled on lands in Nova Scotia.

The conduct of Carleton in respect to the Queen’s Rangers seems to have been the beginning of the personal ill will between him and Simcoe which had marked effect in their future lives.

The whole story of Simcoe and the Queen’s Rangers proves him to have been an indefatigable and able officer, with great skill and judgment, always awake to opportunities afforded by the negligence of the enemy and never affording such opportunity to the enemy; courteous and humane, he was nevertheless firm and even ruthless when circumstances called for severity. His frequent ill-health did not prevent his efficiency being apparent: he was a credit to his country and her Army and he well deserved the praise of the Duke of Northumberland: “He is possessed of every good quality which can recommend him to your friendship. He is brave, human, sensible and honest”^[13].

The Colours of the famous Queen’s Rangers were for many years in the main hall at Wolford, the home of John Graves Simcoe. When after the Great War, his great-great-grandson, Linton Simcoe, found it necessary to sell the family heirlooms, including even the war relics of his distinguished ancestor, the Colours and swords carried by Simcoe during the Revolutionary War were purchased and formally presented in February, 1924, to the Toronto Public Library. No more fitting place could be found for them; in the Reference Library are documents relating to the activities of the quondam commander of the Queen’s Rangers as the first Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada; in the J. Ross Robertson Historical Collection of Pictures are a life-size portrait of Simcoe in regimentals, and many reproductions of drawings by Mrs. Simcoe, the originals of which are in the King’s Library, British Museum, and which portray Canadian scenes and settlements in the closing years of the eighteenth century.

We shall see later in the Text that another corps called the Queen’s Rangers was, at Simcoe’s suggestion, organized in England and arrived in Canada in 1792; it was disbanded in 1802, having done no actual fighting but having been engaged for the most part in clearing the forest and in constructing roads and bridges.

Still a third Queen’s Rangers came into being during the troublous times of 1837. It was commanded by Col. Samuel Peters Jarvis, whose father, William Jarvis, had served in the original corps. This force took part in the encounter at Montgomery’s Tavern, and afterwards was sent to guard the Niagara Frontier. Subsequently returning to Toronto, the corps was disbanded in 1838, except the Toronto City Guard which remained organized for some years thereafter.

The Queen’s Rangers again came into existence in 1925 through the merging of the West Toronto Regiment and the 2nd Battalion York Rangers, when the King “approved of the proposed formation of a new regiment at Toronto to be known as the Queen’s Rangers”.

NOTES

Simcoe was in bad health when he arrived in England, “equally the result of excessive fatigue from his arduous services and of vexation at the inglorious fate of his cherished soldiers”, as he himself says.

He was a great favorite in society and well-received in the best circles, while the War Office always listened with respect to him though it did not always approve his suggestions.

He spent a short time in London in consultation with the War Office; and, early in 1782, he went to Exeter, his old home, and began the quiet life with perfect rest prescribed for him; it was not long before he thought himself quite recovered, though it is impossible for anyone to read of his after life without seeing that he never again had very robust health ^[1].

The Administration of the Marquis of Rockingham who had been Prime Minister from March, 1782, was consistently conciliatory not only toward the American Revolutionaries, but also toward the French; but it lost its head by the death of Rockingham in July, 1782. For some time there was a division in the Ministry, some favouring Shelburne, the other, largely under the lead of Fox, putting forward the Duke of Portland. Shelburne was selected by the King: he had been determinedly opposed to the grant of American Independence and asserted that “to nothing short of necessity would he give way on that head.” It was determined to press more vigorously against the ally in Europe in the hope of detaching him from the American alliance: and Simcoe’s friend, Charles Stuart, who had served with him in the American wars, was selected to go to Gibraltar. He wanted Simcoe to accompany him as second in command: this request was refused by Conway but he persisted—and in August made a written request to Simcoe. The parole was in the way; and all his efforts for an exchange were fruitless—he could not serve against the French and was compelled, much to his own disappointment, to decline the request.

At Hembury Fort, near Honiton, Devonshire, there lived Admiral Graves, his god-father, whose wife was sister of the widow of Colonel Thomas Gwillim of “Old Court” near the Town of Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire. After the death of Colonel Gwillim, his widow gave birth, 1766, to a posthumous child, who was christened Elizabeth Posthuma; the mother died shortly after the birth and the infant was taken by her aunt, Mrs. Graves, and tenderly nurtured by her as her own child, at Hembury Fort.

Simcoe on his visit to his godfather met the young girl of sixteen and mutual love was the result; they were married, December 30, 1782, at Buckerell Parish Church, with Admiral and Mrs. Graves as witnesses ^[2]. The young people lived for a time in Exeter, Simcoe being relieved of his parole early in 1783.

The fierce struggle between the influence of the Crown and that of the great houses attracted the attention of all Englishmen above the lowest station. Fox’s India Bill, opposed in violent terms by Pitt, passed both Houses of Parliament, although the King authorised Earl Temple to state in the Upper House that he should regard everyone as his enemy who voted for it—December 19, 1783, the King dismissed Fox and his Coalition Administration and appointed Pitt, First Lord of the Treasury—a Prime Minister before he was twenty-five. The Commons received the announcement with derisive laughter, and Pitt, not being able to secure a suitable Member of the House to act as a Minister, had to fight single-handed—and his fight is historical.

Throughout the country, sentiment was divided—some taking the part of the King and his Royal Prerogative and others contending for what were called the rights of the Commons, but in fact the rights of the nominees of the great houses.

In this contest, there was no doubt of the position of Simcoe—he was before all else a supporter of the King—and he issued an Address to the Freeholders of Exeter in that sense ^[3].

Parliament was dissolved: Simcoe, however, did not stand for Exeter or other constituency in that election.

In 1784, Mrs. Simcoe, who was a considerable heiress, purchased Wolford and the surrounding estate near Honiton, Devonshire, and the young couple went there to live ^[4]. In this and the following year, he was in correspondence with Anna Seward, the “Swan of Lichfield”, the friend (or enemy) of Dr. Johnson, in reference to Major André. Simcoe was the means of securing for her a copy of the drawing made by André of himself when about to be executed, an engraving of which appeared in her Monody on his fate ^[5].

Simcoe spent the next few years as a country gentleman, improving his estate, building a Manor House at Wolford, laying out roads, &c. He was not neglectful of literature; he prepared and had printed, (1787), the Journal of the Operations of the Queen’s Rangers so often referred to, and he was the author of some verses not without merit. Some of these disclose very clearly the trend of his mind. In a “Fragment”, he writes:

Simcoe never was satisfied that Cadiz should remain in Spanish hands, and, January 10, 1788, he laid before Pitt a plan for its surprise and capture. He said that “the genius of the great Earl of Essex forced from the Councillors of Elizabeth to permit him to undertake the capture of this City. He succeeded and nothing but the selfishness of those who acted with him prevented him from keeping possession of it. He reluctantly quitted it after offering to remain with an adequate force in its garrison which would become, to use his own expression, ‘a thorn sticking in the King’s foot’ . . . .” The information which enabled Simcoe to formulate his plan was given him by Lieutenant Spencer who had served with him in the Queen’s Rangers. Spencer was the son of a Spanish merchant and Spanish was his native language; Simcoe at the Peace procured him recommendations which enabled him to live in Cadiz two years; he was a good engineer and made accurate observations; he was now in the 73rd Regiment and about to sail for the East Indies; this could be prevented by making him a Lieutenant of Cavalry or a Captain of Infantry. Simcoe was anxious for honorable, active, dangerous and responsible service such as he had been used to, and would be glad to accompany Spencer to Cadiz if further information was required. The plan was secret, no one knew of it except Simcoe and Spencer ^[6].

Nothing came of this; and, indeed, Pitt was having on his hands at home all he could attend to and sometimes more ^[7]. Then the King lost his reason, largely through grief over loss of the American Colonies; and the contest over the Regency Bill began and continued until stopped by the recovery of the King.

A few days after the King’s restoration to health, Simcoe sent to him a copy of his Journal (still in the British Museum), in support of a petition to be permitted to raise “a corps to consist of one troop of Hussars, four troops of Dragoons, eight battalion companies, two Grenadier companies and two light companies”. This was sent, as he said in his autograph letter, “to confirm in some measure by actual experience what otherwise might appear to be too theoretical”^[8]. The petition was unsuccessful.

Later on in the year, he presented a copy of his Journal to Evan Nepean, Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department ^[9].

The minds of many thinking men were turned to the northern part of this Continent, and Simcoe’s was naturally turned in that direction from the part he had taken in the war and from believing his father to have been the principal cause of Quebec being attacked. He wrote to Nepean, December 3, 1789, urging the abolition of every vestige of military government and the “miserable feudal system of old Canada”; and said, “I should be happy to consecrate myself to the service of Great Britain in that country in preference to any situation of whatever emolument or dignity”^[10].

This seems to be the earliest suggestion of his appointment to a post in Canada; and thereafter it seems to have been certain that he would receive an appointment at the proper time.

Precisely how, when and by whom, Simcoe’s appointment was arranged is not quite certain. Lord Dorchester, who was Governor at Quebec, recommended Sir John Johnson, March 15, 1790, hoping that “his zeal and fidelity in the King’s service from the first beginning of the late war, the sacrifice of a very considerable property and the advantage of a high degree of confidence among those loyalists will point him out to His Majesty as the Properest Person for the Government of Upper Canada”^[11]. This encomium was well deserved; Sir John had been very active in the cause of the Loyalists and beyond question his appointment would have been most acceptable to them. But before the receipt by Grenville of this despatch, he had selected Simcoe for the place in case the division of Quebec should take place, had submitted his name to the King and received the King’s approval. Sir John had not been forgotten or his services overlooked, but it was not thought desirable to have a person belonging to and possessing such large property in the Province to be Lieutenant-Governor especially in the formation of the new Government. “The disadvantage to His Majesty’s Service which might be expected from the effect of local habits, connections and interests appear to me to be more than sufficient to counterbalance those benefits which may be stated as arising from the same circumstances ^[12].

At the succeeding General Election, October-November, 1790, Simcoe was returned a Member of the House of Commons for St. Mawes ^[14] in Cornwall, his colleagues being Sir William Young, a political writer, afterwards Governor of Tobago, and always a man of influence and capacity.

The House was called for November 25; before it met, Simcoe laid a proposal before the Government to raise a corps of twelve Companies, each to consist of a Captain, two Lieutenants and one hundred rank and file, with two Majors, and two troops of similar number, he, of course, to be the Colonel. The Government was asked to allow the usual bounty of five guineas, the “Ensigneys” to be sold and the money applied to recruiting. The corps was to be sent to Canada, and the men were to be employed two days in the week on the Public Works, two in Military exercises and two for their private advantage—the land they should thus clear should be sold at a stipulated price to emigrants and thus the pay of the soldier increased; and “when he should be dismissed he would acquire that Habit of Industry which instead of a Burden as is too generally the case at present would render him highly useful to the community”^[15]. The scheme, as we shall see, was afterwards elaborated.

The House met, November 25, 1790, and after the formal debate on the Address, the first matter taken up was the Impeachment of Warren Hastings. Simcoe made his only reported speech, December 23, on the question of the state in which the Impeachment was left at the dissolution of the late Parliament; he supported Pitt and rebuked Burke—a rebuke to which Burke made an immediate, trenchant and effective reply ^[16].

It cannot be said that Simcoe made any impression on the House: and, indeed, it appears that he was not versed in the arts of persuasion—he was a soldier and believed rather in force.

Simcoe, bearing in mind the condition of the Colony, wrote, December 24, 1790, to Lord Grenville, Secretary of State, asking him to instruct Nepean, the Under-Secretary, to furnish “a Canvas House similar to that sent with the Governor of Botany Bay”, as it “might be highly convenient, if not necessary, in the various expeditions ’twill be proper that I should make in order to be an eye witness of the situation of the new proposed Government and a faithful reporter to Your Lordship thereon”^[17].

Already the scheme had been decided upon to form two Provinces out of the enormous territory made into the Province of Quebec by the Quebec Act of 1774; but it was not till February 25, 1791, that the Royal Message of His Majesty’s intention to divide Quebec into two provinces was presented by Pitt to the House of Commons ^[18], and the Order in Council actually forming the two Provinces was passed, August 24, 1791 ^[19]. Simcoe could not be formally appointed to the Lieutenant-Governorship of the Province of Upper Canada until this Order in Council, and he waited somewhat impatiently for all arrangements to be completed that he might sail during that year. At length everything that prevented his sailing was arranged, and, Monday, September 26, he set sail from Weymouth in the Frigate Triton, 28 guns, with Mrs. Simcoe, their youngest daughter Sophia and their four months old son Francis ^[20].

The voyage was uneventful, but there was considerable apprehension that it would not be possible for the ship to reach Quebec; as it was so late in the season, it was feared that the river would be closed by ice and the Triton be compelled to sail for the Barbadoes. Simcoe seems to have been sanguine throughout, and he was not disappointed: October 28, the Triton made Sable Island; two days afterwards, Louisbourg was passed; November 1, the Magdalen Islands were sighted and, Friday, November 11, at one o’clock in the morning the Triton anchored at Quebec ^[21].

Simcoe was disappointed at not seeing the Harbour of Louisbourg “so often mentioned in his father’s papers” and at not seeing the Gut of Canso “as his father . . . . . proposed to the Admiralty to carry large ships through it and would have gained much time in so doing”. He had hoped to sail through this passage and proposed to the officers to do so, but they objected as they were afraid to take the risk ^[22].

It is now time to say something of the country to which Simcoe came and of the problems and difficulties before him.

NOTES

ADDITIONAL NOTE

In 1787, Simcoe wrote a criticism on the Marquis de Chastellux’s “Voyage dans l’Amérique”, which he read in the English translation, “Travels in North America in the Years 1779-82”, published in two volumes, 8vo., in 1787 (an edition appeared in London and another in Dublin the same year). Chastellux had served in the Revolutionary War under Rochambeau with some credit; and this work was largely an account of men and things as he saw them there. He was not complimentary to the Americans, and his book never was a favourite in the United States: he was still less complimentary to the British and the Hessians; and Simcoe thought he should take him to task.

Simcoe’s work is very rare (the last price I have seen quoted is £3 3s.): it bears the title—Remarks on the Travels of the Marquis de Chastellux in North America. London. Printed for G. and T. Wilkie, in St. Paul’s Church Yard. MDCCLXXXVII. (Price Two Shillings) Cr. 8vo., 2-80 pp.

In the “Advertisement” prefixed, the critic says:—“On reading the Travels of the Marquis de Chastellux I offer some remarks upon them to the public: his account of America strengthens many assertions relative to the late War that have hitherto been disbelieved; points out who were the enemies of Great Britain; what instruments separated her from her colonies; and produces the most ample evidence in favour of the military talents of the British Generals.”

The critic says of the Marquis what the Marquis said of Lafayette:—“He was a Gascon as well as the rest of them”. He agrees with Chastellux in his criticism of Washington’s course at “German Town”; and disagrees with him as to the conduct of the Hessians for “even the Allied Army when it drove the French marauders from Hesse pillaged the Hessians more than the Hessians or British did America”. It sounds strange, but the critic and the Marquis agreed that Washington’s Army “was composed of all nations, not of native Americans . . . . under a more severe systematic and uniform mode of discipline . . . . than any European potentate in the time of war can avail himself of”.

“The American buzzard should be stripped of the eagle’s plumage . . . . the capture of Lord Cornwallis’ army was the effect of joint operation and French cannon. The surprize of Washington at Brandywine and defeat of German Town have not added to his reputation, and the terming his repulse at Monmouth a defeat of the British Army . . . . the army knew . . . . to be a dishonorable gasconade.”

Lafayette’s claim to any military reputation is absolutely denied: “General Wayne was indefatigable, active and brave”: “As an American soldier, Lee was the most injured man in the universe”: “General Gates . . . . is no hypocrite but real in his love for liberty”; “Boston, Philadelphia, Newport and Charles Town acquit them (the British Generals) of unnecessary destruction.”

“There is in general but one sentiment relative to America throughout Great Britain: she regrets only her national debt and not the loss of her colonies. Some are not wanting to say that even that debt is cheaply purchased if Great Britain is wise enough to attend to her internal advantages and to prefer the certainty of their cultivation to all foreign and precarious emoluments . . . . the sole object of the inhabitants of Great Britain is the preservation of peace.”

A very modern touch concludes the book. “As far as the interests of nations are superior to those of Kings, a Family Company in greater lustre and more extensive meaning would be created by an union of force and of commerce between Great Britain, Ireland and America. No unnecessary wars would disturb the world at this junction . . . . Away then with the remembrance of the late war and its individual miseries . . . . let all retrospect be avoided: let all harsh and aggravating expressions cease and such incendiaries as the Translator of the Marquis de Chastellux’s Memoirs be treated with deserved contempt. This conduct, religion recommends and history points out in the most forcible manner to Britons and their American descendants.”

As indicating the esteem in which Simcoe was held by those who knew him, may be read Dr. Hugh Downman’s tribute. Hugh Downman, M.D., (1740-1809), physician and poet, was born in Exeter and educated in the Exeter Grammar School. He entered Balliol College, Oxford, in 1758, and after taking Holy Orders in Exeter, studied medicine in Edinburgh University. After graduating there he “walked” the Hospitals in London and in 1770 after taking his M.A. in Cambridge settled down to the practice of medicine in Exeter. He wrote plays published in 1792 at Exeter in 8vo., Tragedies by H.D., M.D., and many poems of some merit, amongst them Poems to Thespia, Exeter, 1781, 8vo. In this volume appear the following lines:

Canada as a province of France after having in 1759 suffered the loss of Quebec, became wholly British de facto by the surrender of Montreal in 1760 followed by the delivery of the Upper Posts. The rule was military but generously considerative of the laws and customs of the French during what has received the name of Le Régime Militaire or Le Règne Militaire ^[1].

When by the Treaty of Paris of 1763, Canada was ceded to Britain, it was determined to form a “Government” of Quebec reaching a little west of the Ottawa River, and to reserve the western country for the Indians and fur trade. In 1764, civil administration was established and took the place of military rule. At the time of the Conquest and for some years thereafter, it was the confident expectation of the British authorities and the American Colonists to the south, that Quebec would speedily become Anglicised in race, language and religion: it was believed that most of the French-Canadians would leave the country, that English-speaking Protestant immigrants would come in from the British Isles and American Colonies and that the few French-Canadians who remained would be absorbed into the English mass.

This expectation proved vain: few of the French-Canadians left Quebec, few settlers came in from English-speaking countries, and the French-Canadians then, as always, were tenacious of their race, language and religion.

By the Royal Proclamation of 1763 issued after the Treaty of Paris the King specifically promised “for the security of the Liberties and Properties of those who are or shall become Inhabitants” of the Province, that until there should be a General Assembly elected to make laws for them, “all Persons Inhabiting in or resorting to one said” Colony “may confide in our Royal Protection for the Enjoyment of the Benefit of the Laws of our Realm of England”. It was also stated in the Proclamation—and truly—that express power had been given to the Governor to summon and call a General Assembly as soon as the state and circumstance of the Colony should admit. Few if any of the French-Canadians wanted an Assembly—such a body had been unknown in the French regime—none wanted the English civil law—the criminal law was not objected to except by some of the noblesse.

Guy Carleton (afterwards Lord Dorchester), who was Governor of Quebec from 1768 to 1778, used all his great influence to have the promises, express and implied, of the King brought to naught: and after much discussion and wrangling the famous Quebec Act of 1774 was passed. This extended the Province of Quebec, south to the Ohio (west of Pennsylvania) and West to the Mississippi ^[2]: it put an end to the project for a General Assembly, leaving the Province to be governed in the old way by a Governor and a nominated Council; and it reintroduced the French-Canadian law in civil matters. This breach of faith with those—they were few indeed, but there were some—who came to Quebec on the strength of the representations contained in the Royal Proclamation of 1763, can be excused if at all on the ground of high reasons of state. Opinions vary, sub judice lis est, and this is not the place to discuss the question.

The Thirteen Colonies to the South made great efforts to bring Canada into union with them as the Fourteenth. The indefatigable energy and military skill of Carleton coupled with good fortune foiled the armed invaders while Bishop Briand, ever faithful to Britain, prevented the persuasive arguments of Benjamin Franklin and his colleagues, delegates to Canada from the Continental Congress in 1776, from being effective: Canada remained British and on the Peace of 1783, there was no thought of giving her up.

The Old British Empire was rent in twain, in time to be replaced by a greater and more admirable New British Empire.

What the united Empire failed to bring about, a disrupted Empire effected in some degree.

During, and more especially after, the Revolutionary War, many loyal British subjects left the rebellious territory and made their way northward into the loyal British territory: some into the southern part of what is now the Province of Quebec, and some further west to the left side of the Great Lakes and connecting rivers. These were, in general, English speaking and had lived under English law and custom: French-Canadian law and custom irked them, and many were their complaints. No remedy wholly satisfactory, could be found: that which was adopted was inadequate and it did some injustice; but it is hard to see how a better one could be suggested under the very peculiar circumstances. It was decided to divide the Province of Quebec into two Provinces, those of Upper Canada and of Lower Canada, and to give to each a Legislature with power to make such laws as should be thought proper for the particular Province.

The Upper Province was expected to be almost wholly English-speaking and Protestant: the Lower it was known would be for a time at least French-speaking and Catholic, but the hope was not wholly extinct that in time it also would become largely English and Protestant.

Accordingly a Royal Message was presented to the House of Commons by the Prime Minister, William Pitt, February 25, 1791, stating the King’s intention to divide the Province of Quebec into the two separate provinces and recommending the matter to the consideration of the House. A long and acrimonious discussion took place (resulting, inter alia, in the well-known rupture between Burke and Fox); and ultimately the Canada or Constitutional Act was passed and it received the Royal Assent, June 10, 1791. This Statute did not, as is so often said, divide the Province of Quebec nor did it authorize the King to divide it—that was for the King under his Royal Prerogative—but it provided for the government, &c., of the two Provinces at a date to be fixed after they should be formed.

The Order-in-Council which actually effected the formation of the Provinces of Upper Canada and Lower Canada was passed “at the Court of St. James’s, the 24th of August, 1791”. The Act having provided that it was to begin at a day to be fixed by the King on the advice of his Council or by the Governor or Lieutenant-Governor of the Province of Quebec or the person administering the Government there authorized so to do by the King on the advice of his Council, the Order in Council of August 24 directed Dundas to prepare a warrant to be passed under the Royal Sign Manual to authorize the Governor, Lieutenant-Governor or Person administering the Government there, to fix a day not later than December 31 of that year. This was done, the Warrant was executed and in the absence of Dorchester, Governor of Quebec, Major-General Alured Clarke, Lieutenant-Governor, issued his Proclamation at Quebec, November 18, fixing December 26, 1791, as the day for the commencement of the Canada Act.

It is impossible not to recognise that Simcoe was disappointed at the position he was called upon to fill—there can be no doubt that he had originally supposed that he was to be the Governor of Upper Canada with no overlord but the King and the Home Administration: but it was otherwise decided: Dorchester, who had been Governor of Quebec, received a Commission, September 12, 1791, as “Captain General and Governor in Chief of our . . . . Province of Upper Canada and of our . . . . Province of Lower Canada”, while Simcoe the same day was constituted “Our Lieutenant-Governor of our Province of Upper Canada” and authorized “in case of his death or during the absence of Our Captain General and Governor in Chief of Our . . . . Province of Upper Canada . . . . to exercise and perform all and singular the powers and directions contained in our Commission” to him. The Royal Instructions accompanying the Commission were given to Dorchester, “Our Captain General and Governor-in-Chief in and over Our Province of Upper Canada”: none were given to Simcoe except that his Commission directed him to act “according to such Instructions as he (i.e., the Governor-in-Chief) hath already received from Us and such further Orders and Instructions as he or you shall hereafter receive from Us”. In a word, Dorchester was the Governor and Simcoe but the Lieutenant-Governor with the powers of the Governor only in case of his death or absence from the Province. As it was intended that Dorchester should continue to reside at Quebec, Simcoe’s authority was expected to be generally exercisable. But there was another difficulty, that is, the Command of the Forces—that was given to Dorchester, and Simcoe had but to carry out his orders. The relation of Lieutenant-Governor to Governor in the absence of the latter from the Province was a somewhat puzzling question.

As to the extent of the territory, included in his Province, there was a difference between the Province of Upper Canada de jure and the same Province de facto.

When by the Treaty of Paris, 1783, it was agreed that the United States should have the territory to the right of the Great Lakes and connecting rivers, it was also agreed that “Creditors on either side shall meet with no lawful impediment to the recovery of the full value in sterling money of all bona fide debts” theretofore “contracted ^[3]: certain of the States had legislation which prevented British creditors receiving the amounts due to them from American debtors, and refused to repeal this obnoxious legislation. The loosely knit United States admitted inability to compel the carrying out of the stipulation; and Britain retained possession of the Posts at Michillimackinac, Detroit, Niagara, Oswego, Oswegatchie, Point au Fer and Dutchman’s Point with some adjoining territory as security for the fulfilment of the Treaty. Upper Canada, therefore, in fact contained some territory now part of the United States: this continued during nearly the whole term of Simcoe’s regime; negotiations for their surrender had been successfully carried through and the surrender made a few days only before he left Upper Canada.

The inhabitants of his Province were mainly United Empire Loyalists or their descendants: the Loyalists had during the Revolutionary War or on the conclusion of peace crossed into British territory and were mainly on the north side of the River St. Lawrence from the eastern boundary of the Province to the River Trent, on the west side of the River Niagara from a little north of the present Niagara-on-the-Lake to Lake Erie, and stretching along the north shore of Lake Erie to the East side of the Detroit River, up this river and the St. Clair to a short distance north of Lake St. Clair. Detroit was inhabited chiefly by French, although it had a number of English-speaking merchants. The nuclei around which the settlers were gathered were the present Cornwall, Kingston, Niagara and Detroit; and except in the last named practically all were English-speaking.

The numbers have been variously estimated: probably 10,000 is not far from the correct number.

The Indians constituted a difficulty, sometimes a menace: and it was never safe to count on the Colony being left undisturbed by these tribes—not, of course, the Six Nations on the Grand River, but the tribes which had not been closely associated with the British.

At this time, there were serious troubles between the United States and the Indians of the North Western Territory, i.e., the present States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin. This Territory was formed by the Ordinance of 1787 and Arthur St. Clair became its first Governor: the Indians resented the invasion of their territory and early insisted that the white settler should not cross the Ohio: when Treaties were made, there were many complaints that they were not kept. War broke out, and General Josiah Harmar, with regular troops and militia, was badly defeated by the Miamis in 1790. Dorchester was very anxious over the situation: the Indians had been in general friendly with the British and there seemed at least a chance of Britain being brought into the war, especially as there was a well-defined sentiment in the United States in favour of attempting to take possession of the retained Posts by force. The Indians, too, bitterly complained of being betrayed by the British in the Peace Treaty. Dorchester gave specific instructions to the Commandants of the Upper Posts that while “We are at peace with the United States and wish to remain so”, “Common prudence requires a constant vigilance and readiness on our part to meet” a war begun by the United States “however improbable”^[4]: St. Clair was placed in command of a larger army in 1791, and, November 4 of that year, he suffered a still more disastrous defeat at the hands of the Miamis; and it was not until “Mad” Anthony Wayne overthrew them at Maumee Rapids, August 20, 1794, that peace was assured.

NOTES

The Canada or Constitutional Act of 1791 which, with a few amendments, was the written Constitution of Upper Canada as well as of Lower Canada for forty years, is an admirably drawn piece of legislation.

Simcoe in the Speech from the Throne on opening the First Parliament of Upper Canada, September 17, 1792, said: “I have summoned you together under the authority of an Act of Parliament of Great Britain . . . . which has established the British Constitution and also the forms which secure and maintain it in this distant country”: and in closing the Session, he said that the Constitution of the Province was “the very image and transcript of that of Great Britain”.^[1]

As representing the King there was to be a Governor, Lieutenant-Governor or some Person appointed by the Sovereign to administer the Government within the Province—all laws to be effective must be assented to in His Majesty’s name by such representative. The same form was followed at Westminster; but the Royal veto had been long obsolete and the Royal Assent had always been given to a Bill which had been passed by Parliament from the time Queen Anne refused it to the Scotch Militia Bill of 1707 ^[2]. But the Governor ^[3] in the Province had the right and the duty when a Bill was presented to him for the Royal Assent, to exercise his discretion subject to the Instructions he received from the Home Administration, the so-called “Royal Instructions”: he might give the Royal Assent, whereupon the Bill became law and a copy was transmitted forthwith to the Secretary of State—the King might then within two years of its receipt, disallow it, and it would then become null and void from the time the Governor made the disallowance known by Proclamation or Message to the Houses of Legislature. Or the Governor might withhold the Royal Assent: or he might reserve the Bill for the signification of the Royal Pleasure—if a Bill was reserved, it was not to become law until the Governor signified by Proclamation or Message to the Legislature that it had been laid before the Sovereign and assented to ^[4].

The Act contemplated Instructions in this regard to be given to the Governor: and in fact, Royal Instructions were given to Dorchester, and Simcoe was directed to conform to them. He was to see to it that certain rules should be followed in the form of the Bills and “no Bill in any other form shall be assented to by you in our Name”. Each different matter was to be dealt with in a different law; no clause to be used in any law, foreign to its title: no perpetual clause in any temporary law: no existing law to be modified by general words, but to specifically named: all laws for raising money, or imposing fines to state that the money, &c., is for the Sovereign for the public uses of the Province and to be accounted for through the Commissioners of the Treasury ^[5]. Assent was to be refused to all Bills for Naturalising Aliens, for Divorce, for allowing Aliens to hold or inherit land: also to laws enacted for less than two years except in cases of imminent necessity or immediate temporary expediency: also (without express leave granted for the purpose) to any law containing provisions previously disallowed by the King, and to Bills creating Paper Bills or Bills of Credit to be legal tender ^[6]. If any Bill respecting private property should be passed without having the rights of the Sovereign and all persons and corporation not mentioned in it saved, Assent was to be withheld, and the Bill reserved for the Royal Pleasure, as also every other Bill considered by the Governor to be of an extraordinary nature or requiring the special consideration of the Home Authorities ^[7]. There was another case of great importance in which Bills must be reserved for the Royal Pleasure—that is, those relating to exercise of any form of religious worship, or penalties or disqualification for that same, or the dues of the Clergy, &c.^[8].

It will be seen that the position of the Colonial Governor was not the same as that of the King: he had a discretion, the King had none, but he was limited by his Instructions, the King had none ^[9].

In Westminster, there were two Houses: and the analogy in the Colony was not very remote. The Upper House was the Legislative Council: this in Upper Canada was to consist of not fewer than seven members of at least twenty-one years of age, and British subjects by birth, naturalization or cession. They had a life tenure of office subject to vacating the seat by taking any Oath of Allegiance to any foreign Power or residing out of the Province for four years without leave of the Sovereign or for two years without leave of the Governor or by being attainted of Treason ^[10]. They were to be summoned by an Instrument under the Great Seal of the Province by the Governor on his being authorized so to do by the Sovereign by an Instrument under his Sign Manual ^[11].

The most interesting provision concerning the Legislative Council is one that was entirely novel in Colonial Constitutions—authority was given to annex to any hereditary title of rank, honour, or dignity in the Province, the hereditary right of being summoned to the Legislative Council. This was, of course, in analogy with the House of Lords in England, and it contemplated an hereditary peerage.

This provision was probably not due to the suggestion and influence of Simcoe; but that he approved of it is clear. In a letter to Sir Joseph Banks, President of the Royal Society, written, January 8, 1791, he says:—“I hope to have a hereditary Council with some mark of nobility”. We find him later when speaking of “the just Aristocracy which the Canada Bill has provided for”, saying:—“I have always estimated this power as barring the avenues to disaffection and sedition by making a Constitutional provision against those turbulent talents which may otherwise with great facility gain a more than aristocratic ascendancy over a people composed as are the generality of Colonists and who by the possession of such means may be capable and desirous of disturbing the operations of the Government . . . . I have always contemplated this aristocratic power as being the truest safeguard of the Sovereignty against such machinations particularly in a Province where the direct weight of the Executive is as a feather and it possesses none indirectly . . . .”^[12]. At another time, we find him writing in an official despatch: “It has been justly considered that the principal cause of the American Revolt was the want of an aristocratic power which might afford a legal provision for the fair claims and just ascendancy of honourable ambition and not suffer it to waste its energy in dissatisfaction and discontent”^[13]. The Government had been considering for some time the Constitution to be given the Canadian Provinces and, at least as early as 1789, had concluded that an aristocratic part of the Constitution was necessary—they said: “To the want of an intermediate power to operate as a check both on the misconduct of the Governors, and on the democratical spirit which prevailed in the Assemblies, the defection of the American Provinces may perhaps be more justly ascribed than any other general cause that can be assigned”: moreover, “a respectable aristocracy” they considered “a support and safeguard to the monarchy”. While it was thought that a mark of honour or distinction might be annexed to the station of Legislative Councillor even with descent to their families, it was always to be “understood that the station itself was not descendible”^[14]. It was, then, the intention to confer upon the persons called to the Legislative Council, “some mark of Honour such as a Provincial Baronetage either personal to themselves or descendible to their eldest sons in lineal succession”: but no provision to that effect was included in the Draught of the Bill proposed ^[15].

Dorchester thought that “many advantages might result from an hereditary Legislative Council distinguished by some mark of Honour, did the condition of the country concur in supporting this dignity: but the fluctuating state of property in these Provinces would expose all hereditary honours to fall into disregard”^[16]; and no hereditary Honour was provided for in the Draught Bill prepared by him with the assistance of the Chief Justice of the Province of Quebec, William Smith ^[17].

Precisely when and by whom the clause in the Bill as passed was introduced, does not appear—there were many opinions. Lord Thurlow thought that an hereditary aristocracy “placed in hands unequal to it, will only be despised, but if lodged with families of permanent consideration will grow . . . . into an independent interest”^[18].

Grenville had the somewhat odd scheme already noted of forming an hereditary aristocracy without the actual right to be summoned to the Legislative Council ^[19].

When the motion came up in the House of Commons for leave to introduce the Bill, March 14, 1791, Pitt said that it was proposed to “annex the dignity of a member of Council to every title of honour that might be conferred on the inhabitants of each Province”^[20]. The Bill being reported, in the debate on its recommittal, Fox objected to hereditary powers and hereditary honours for these Colonies—“It seemed to him peculiarly absurd to introduce hereditary honours in America, where those artificial distinctions stunk in the nostrils of the natives . . . . these powers and honours (were) wholly unnecessary”^[21].

The debate when the consideration of the Bill was resumed, took an extraordinary turn, columns of speeches were made on the French and American Constitutions, &c., and little on the Bill—Pitt, however, said that he “had suggested his intention to propose as the Bill in fact did propose, an hereditary Council in imitation of our House of Lords, whereas the Right Honourable gentleman (Mr. Fox) had suggested that an elective Council would be preferable”: Fox urged an elective Council—he had not made up his mind whether the Members should be elected for life or a term of years—with an electorate of “persons of property”, as he believed that “property was and had ever been held to be the true foundation of aristocracy”. The House divided on the clause providing hereditary legislators and it was carried by a vote of 88 to 39. In the Lords, Lord Rawdon thought that “the experiment of hereditary nobility which the Bill set forth . . . . could not be attended with any good effect but would rather be a dangerous and unnecessary scheme”: but the clause was adopted ^[22].

It is one more instance of the irony of history that the clause which brought more and more acrimonious discussion than any other turned out in the event to be wholly academic; no Governor and no Government ever thought of acting upon it ^[23].

In the Legislative Council, the Speaker was appointed by the Governor under the Great Seal of the Province: this was in analogy with the practice at Westminster where the Speaker of the Upper House was the Lord Chancellor ^[24].

The popular House was in the Act styled “Assembly”: power was given to the Governor to summon an Assembly, to divide the Province into “Districts or Counties or Circles and Towns or Townships” and to declare the number of representatives for each—also to nominate Returning Officers, the whole number of members to be elected not to be less than sixteen. Writs for the election were to be issued, the voters to be British subjects by birth or naturalization or cession, over twenty-one, who had freehold lands in the constituency ^[25] of the yearly value of Forty Shillings sterling if the constituency were a “District or County or Circle”, or in the case of a “Town or Township”, who were possessed of a dwelling house and lot of ground in the constituency in freehold of the yearly value of Five Pounds Sterling or being resident for twelve months before the Election, had paid one year’s rent, for the dwelling house in which they resided, of Ten Pounds Sterling or upwards. This corresponded to the well known division in England of constituencies into County and Borough—or, as we now say, Rural and Urban. Persons attainted of Treason or Felony were disqualified.

In the House of Commons, Fox strenuously protested against what he considered the excessive qualification required of electors. “In England a freehold of forty shillings was sufficient: five pounds were necessary in Canada . . . . the qualifications on a house . . . . still higher . . . . ten pounds.” This he said was part of “an attempt to undermine and counteract the professed purport of the Bill, namely, the introduction of a popular government into Canada”: he did not, however, press this objection so far as to call for a Division on it: nor did he do so in the matter of the number of members which he said was entirely too small. “Sure he was that sixteen was a good number for an aristocracy, but by no means for a democracy”^[26]. There was no qualification for Member of the Assembly provided for in the Act; but no “Minister of the Church of England or . . . . Minister, Priest, Ecclesiastic or Teacher . . . . of the Church of Rome or . . . . any other Profession of Religious Faith or Worship” could be a member nor could a Member of the Legislative Council. Members were required to take an oath in the form prescribed before being permitted to sit or vote in the Assembly ^[27].

By analogy with the House of Commons at Westminster, the Speaker of the Assembly was always in fact elected by the House: but there is no provision in the Act for such election. Other provisions of the Act will be left for discussion in the proper place.

NOTES

Above and permeating all else Simcoe held “it to be determined upon and incontrovertible that Great Britain” was “to maintain her possession of Canada”^[1].

There was at the time no little truculence on the part of many Americans manifested towards Britain for whose military prowess some did not hesitate to express contempt: Canada had not ceased to be a land to be desired as part of the new Union and an attack on her was by no means beyond possibility. Much irritation was felt and given expression to, that the Posts on the right of the Great Lakes and connecting rivers in territory awarded to the United States by the Treaty of 1783 should still be held by Britain: and this irritation was not lessened by the fact that the reason advanced for this retention was the failure of the United States to implement the promise that creditors should meet with no lawful impediment to the recovery of the full value of bona fide debts ^[2].

Simcoe thought that if the Posts should be “given up, the loss of Canada ultimately and not very remotely must follow”.

To retain the Posts he thought impossible without an alliance with Vermont, and he urged an alliance, defensive and commercial, with this State—the inhabitants of which were “a brave, virtuous and English race of people, descendants of the best families in the Country: the Pierponts, Seymours, Stanleys, &c., Episcopalians and enemies to the New Yorkers and Congress”. Moreover, “they claim the territories on which Michillimackinac and Detroit now stand, and are disgusted with the United States, whose policy has allotted them to Connecticut”^[3].

To understand the matter, we must take into account some facts of the situation. The Colonies of New Hampshire and New York both claimed the territory now Vermont, and there was long a dispute as to the validity of Land Grants from each Colony: before the Revolution the inhabitants, the “Green Mountain Boys”, had claimed to be independent in respect of both. In January, 1777, they declared themselves a free and independent jurisdiction under the name of New Connecticut alias Vermont: the Continental Congress did not recognize them but they were not deterred; and they proceeded to organize the new State.

Even after the Peace of 1783, Vermont carried on negotiations with Britain for navigation of the St. Lawrence, &c., independently, as she was not recognized as one of the Thirteen Colonies or as independent by the Revolutionary authorities: the negotiations went so far, indeed, as that it was suggested that Vermont should become a Royal Colony. Vermont was again refused recognition by the Congress, and after much controversy—and almost war with New York—it was admitted as a State of the Union early in 1791 ^[4].

Simcoe kept himself well informed on affairs in Vermont and urged upon the British Government the importance of keeping on good terms with that independent State ^[5]. Its admission to the Union frustrated all hope of Canada benefiting by an independent and separate State of Vermont, but Simcoe never wavered in his view of the necessity of retaining the Upper Posts, Michillimackinac, Detroit and Niagara ^[6].

The hostilities between the United States and the Indians were a matter of great anxiety to him. He said, August 12, 1791, “The Indian War is so detrimental to commerce and uncertain in its events that I am anxious to be permitted (if it were possible) to mediate for its termination”^[7]: and he urged the advisability of his going to Congress, to mediate for the Indians, on his way to Upper Canada ^[8].

The necessity of a competent Military force to produce settlement of the Province was early in his mind: and indeed the circumstances of the Colony were such as to make some military force an absolute necessity. Recognizing the difficulties of the Government in the matter of finance and otherwise, he, November 12, 1790, laid before Dundas, proposals for a Corps of over 1,200 men for service in the Colony. “If there should be peace, the new Colony will certainly require an additional body of Troops. If it be a combined Corps, the best of all military arrangements, regiments or even some independent Companies now raising, Lieut.-Col. Simcoe is most anxious to be the Chief, that he may adopt the tactics and discipline of the Troops to the country and as far as possible render them of essential utility to the Colony”.

Another means of ensuring that Canada should remain British, he thought out with great care. He remembered the Roman system of settling the outlying parts of the Empire with soldiers: Coloniae, Colonies, were made in many places composed of veteran soldiers, Coloniae Militares, which answered a double purpose of furnishing an outpost for observation and protection and providing for a class which might prove troublesome at home ^[9].

He proposed to raise a Corps of 1,200 men: “Some officers added to it would speedily instruct a number of young men in their several employments; in particular, a few boat builders would teach a sufficient number a competent bill in that very necessary branch of military labour”. He proposed to employ the Corps on Public Works two days in the week, two days in military exercises and to allow two days for the private advantage of the soldier—the lands thus cleared were to be sold to emigrants and the pay of the soldiers thus increased, but the main object was to cause the soldier to acquire that habit of industry which “instead of a burthen, as is too generally the case at present would render him highly useful to the Community”^[10].

These proposals in 1790 were not accepted by the Government: but Simcoe returned to them again and again.

In conversation with Grenville, he urged his scheme and, February 10, 1791, he wrote that his idea was “that the temporary Barracks of the Troops (and their attendant Artificers) be built by the Head of Navigation of the Rivers, whilst the Troops shall be employed in opening the different Roads of Communication”; and he adds the very novel suggestion that these Barracks “should be so erected as to be converted into publick Houses to become the property of the Government to be let by Auction for the purpose of revenue and that an Act of Assembly should pass to prevent the licensing of any publick Houses but in similar circumstances and for erecting them where it may be thought expedient”^[11].

In June, 1791, we find Simcoe moderating his estimate of the strength of the proposed Corps: he submitted to Dundas a revised plan which he urged as the “quickest, easiest and cheapest” way to facilitate settlement: it was “that there should be a Corps of Troops raised independent of the Line . . . who should be employed to the civil purposes of the colony, in the construction of the various Public Works, of buildings, roads, bridges and communication by land and on the waters, that this Corps should also take upon itself as soon as it shall be duly instructed therein, the navigating of the King’s Vessels on the Lakes for the various purposes for which they may be required; and it should be carefully taught the duties of sailors on those fresh water Seas. The establishment of this Corps to consist of four Independent Companies of an Hundred each, Rank and File. Three officers only and the usual staff to each Company. To these Companies it is essential that a body of Military Artificers should be added . . . . . The Military utility of this Corps, though a very secondary object, remains to be separately and cursorily treated upon”. He points out the necessity of an additional military force for the personal security of the officers of the Government even if they should not depart from Cataraqui (Kingston): if the Capital should be erected in the central part of the peninsula between Lake Huron and Lake Erie, the communications must also be preserved. Then the Indians, at that time federated against the United States, would in any event of that war remain in a confederacy and they were an enemy to be “dreaded by any infant Colony as their warfare is by surprise, devastation, torture and destruction”. “The United States are governed by a set of men who, divided as they are in parties and separated in their interests by their own declarations, find no such bond of union as pretended dread or real enmity to Great Britain”^[12].

The proposition for Independent Companies and artificers, he returns to again, August 12, 1791: he considers “them as the vital principle of the Colony” having “the firm hope that they on soldiers’ pay shall be able to execute those works which either by subtracting from the labours of the peasant or by requiring additional allowances from Government have hitherto been a burden on the country. Following the great Masters of the World, the Romans of old, I propose to consider the winter stations of these Companies as the germs of so many well-affected Colonial Cities. There I propose the disbanded soldiers shall have their allotment of land; and I should be inclined to discharge them early in life, provided that without expense to the Crown they should be able to procure substitutes from the Americans, who might be disciplined by similar employments to British attachments and ultimately might attain to equal provisions. And to execute this purpose I am happy to have it in my power to propose officers who mean to become settlers with their families in that country: and who are second to no men whatsoever in their knowledge of the substance of service, and who had greater opportunities of exemplifying their talents in separate commands and self dependent action, than in the course of long lives fall to the share of the greater part of the General officers in Europe”. He recommends Captains David Shank and John McGill for Captains; Captain Aeneas Shaw and Lieutenant Spencer as Captains-Lieutenant; Adjutant McGill of the 16th as Ensign and Adjutant, and Leonard Browne, “the son of an old officer with a large family and who had the good fortune to save the life of a particular friend of mine”, for the Second Ensign. He also asks for the appointment of Surgeon McCaulay, late of Lord Cornwallis’ Regiment, who had resigned from the “Botany Bay Corps”, as surgeon of the Garrison, and Mr. Burnes as Surgeon of the Independent Companies.

He proposed that the Independent Companies or part of them should be composed of drafts from the Regiments at home and of such description of men as might be useful ^[13]. Having a conference with Grenville, in which he was given to understand that no such Independent Companies were to be raised for Canada, he thought his duty again to urge “a . . . . Colonial Military establishment Independent of the Troops of the Line . . . . For Public Works, buildings, roads, bridges and communications as well by land as on the water”^[14]. Now he was successful: Dundas “explained fully to the King the utility and importance of this Corps, and he was impressed with the propriety of it. And while Dundas “felt that it was not likely to be popular at the War Office” and “that there would be difficulty in obtaining the draughts of a few soldiers to answer for non commissioned officers”, it was decided that a Corps of Infantry should be raised to be so employed, consisting of two Companies each of 207 non-commissioned officers and men, officered by a Captain, a Captain-Lieutenant, two Lieutenants and two Ensigns: and with a staff of an Adjutant, a Surgeon, a Surgeon’s Mate and two Sergeants commanded by a Colonel Commandent without pay. Simcoe was asked to submit a plan (with the officers proposed) for “raising the Corps in such manner as may best answer the purpose”^[15]: he did so, referring to his former suggestions but deferring a list of officers, as there had been a change in the establishment from that proposed ^[16].

It will be seen that no provision was made in the plan adopted, for artificers: the Duke of Richmond, Master General of the Ordnance, pointed out that while, no doubt, a Company of Artificers would be extremely useful, the cost would be £1,924 per annum and that sum with £500 for raising a new Company would have to be charged to Upper Canada ^[17].

This was the Corps called the Queen’s Rangers which came to the Province in 1792: it was, of course, called after Simcoe’s old command in the Revolutionary War: it was disbanded in 1802, most of the officers and men remaining in Upper Canada.

He had in view also other settlers: thousands of the inhabitants of the United States he thought had their affections “centred in the British Government and the British Name, who are positively enemies of Congress and to the late division of the Empire, many of their connections have already taken refuge in Canada”. “The contest of the natives of Great Britain with the subjects of the American States was decided by arms and terminated by treaty. That of the American with the American still exists under all the injurious remembrances of open and covert vexation under the taunts of triumph, taxes and family confiscation”. The dissatisfied, he thought, would be attracted by the form of Government granted to the new Province. Other classes of Americans he expected to emigrate to better their fortunes and hoped to make them zealously attached to the Province when they felt the advantages of the beneficence and wisdom of the Government, the equality of its laws and security from foreign invasion—he also expected “emigration of hardy, industrious and virtuous men . . . . from the northern parts of Great Britain”. He recognized the value of such immigrants “to promote the cultivation of the land, to give power and energy to civilization, efficacy to just government and to combine a force whose appearance may prevent the very meditation of hostility”^[18].

He expected also a considerable number of the Loyalists in England to proceed to the new Province and as a fact, the Reverend Dr. Peters, to be more particularly spoken of later, handed to Simcoe’s officer a list of fifty-one Loyalist families ready to embark for Upper Canada ^[19].

He urged the necessity of a Capital being established in some central situation and as soon as possible, and that “almost instantaneously, a great body of immigrants should be collected in its vicinity, so as to become the very transcript and image of the British people and to transfuse their manners, principles and attachments thro’ the whole Colony.” This Capital he thought would be best placed in the Peninsula surrounded by the Great Lakes and this for various reasons; some, financial—there were very few Indians, most of the land had been bought and the rest should be acquired before the Indians recognized its value: some, from the point of view of population—its soil, climate and situation were better adapted to allure Americans than those of any other British territory, and its peninsular position would be likely to prevent emigrations till the country was filled up: some, commercial—it would produce a large quantity of raw materials which Britain now procures from foreign countries and increase the commerce of Great Britain ^[20]. As he expressed it in another place:—“For the purpose of commerce, union and power, I propose that the Site of the Colony should be in that great peninsula between the Lakes Huron, Erie and Ontario, a spot destined by nature sooner or later to govern the interior world”. He intended to call the Capital Georgina and to settle there Loyalists from Connecticut ^[21]. We shall see that to the end he retained the opinion that the Capital of the Province should be in the Peninsula, that he recommended the site of the present London for its locus, but that his proposal did not become effective, largely, it would seem, from the opposition of Lord Dorchester.

The protection of the Province from the United States and the Indians caused him much thought. He intended the Independent Corps, the Queen’s Rangers, to provide much of that but he recognized that a considerable body of Regular Troops would be necessary. He desired to have the command of them in the Province but this, to his great mortification, was denied him. He suggested that he should have the local rank of Major-General in the Province only, but that rank was not given him; nor could he be made a Brigadier-General as that would rank him above the King’s son, Prince Edward (afterwards Duke of Kent and the father of Queen Victoria) who was Colonel of the 7th Foot, then at Quebec, and his request to be a full Colonel was granted, to be exercised only on the arrival of some part of The Queen’s Rangers from England ^[22].

A matter, in his opinion, of vastly greater importance was the establishment of a Church. There is no reason to doubt that Simcoe was sincerely religious; but it is quite certain that he looked upon the Church as a political and police institution whatever else it was.

He believed that “the Episcopalians were all Loyalists” and held “it to be indispensably necessary that a Bishop should be immediately established in Upper Canada”—“the State propriety of some form of public worship, politically considered, arises from the necessity there is of preventing enthusiastic and fanatick teachers from acquiring that superstitious hold of the minds of the multitude which persons of such a disposition may pervert, and are generally inclined to pervert, to the establishment of their own undue consequence in the State and often meditate and not infrequently turn such an ascendancy to its injury and destruction.” He had no doubt that the Church of England was the Church that should be established and hoped that a Bishop would be sent—“an Episcopal Church without a resident Bishop seems to be an absurdity in fact as well as a contradiction in terms”—and also that the Bishop would have a seat in the Legislature, “which it is to be hoped while there is an Establishment, the wisdom of this country (England) will always insist upon”. He had in view a clergyman for the office, the Reverend Dr. Samuel Peters, who, by reason of his Loyalist principles, had been compelled to leave Connecticut and was then in England: he did not “expatiate on his Loyalty and his sufferings, his ability and integrity”, but set out some political considerations why he thought he would be useful in the new Colony. Connecticut was so populous that she sent out many emigrants every year; Simcoe proposed that Dr. Peters, having been appointed Bishop, should go to Connecticut and invite six loyal Churchmen or Puritans, “who would embrace the doctrines of the Church of England, to settle and to form with their parishioners and such settlers as they might engage, in the proposed Capital—to their Clergy . . . . should be given the stipend which Government and the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel allow to their Missionaries”^[23]. So much was he set on having a Bishop that he said, if the expense stood in the way, that he “would most readily and cheerfully offer to give up five hundred pounds per annum which with two hundred taken from the usual allowance may be a competent salary”^[24]. This request was not acceded to; it was not till 1839 that a Bishop of the Church of England was appointed in Upper Canada: and Dr. Peters never had any preferment in the Province.

We shall see that Simcoe never forgot to advocate the establishment of the Church of England for reasons of State.

NOTES

As we have seen, Simcoe arrived at Quebec, in the Triton, November 11, 1791. Lord Dorchester, the Governor-in-Chief of the two Provinces, was still in England, and General (later Sir) Alured Clarke, the Lieutenant-Governor of Lower Canada, was the actual Administrator of the Government, Simcoe having no official power outside of Upper Canada.

He delivered to Prince Edward, a very warm friend, a private letter entrusted to him by the King: also to General Clarke, he delivered his own Commission, together with the Commission and Instructions of Dorchester which latter he was by his Commission directed to follow. A less agreeable act was the delivery to General Clarke of Sir John Johnson’s Commission. Sir John was a man of much influence in Canada; he had expected to be Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada, and Dorchester had recommended him for the position; but his new Commission gave him jurisdiction only over the Indians. Moreover, Sir John had recommended certain persons as Councillors, Executive and Legislative, and his recommendations had been almost ignored in the actual selection. To anticipate a little, Simcoe succeeded in his anxious endeavour to placate Sir John; he recognized that “Sir John Johnson’s interest if he chuses to exert it, will be very great in the Election of the members of the Assembly and it appears to me of the utmost consequence to the future well being of the Colony that no ill-humour should appear at its outset”; and he made a special trip to Montreal to meet him, explained away the misunderstandings and “produced every expression of good humour on his side”^[1].

In order to be guided by the best legal advice available, he placed himself in communication with William Smith, Chief Justice of Quebec ^[2]: a very short study of the Canada Act and the Royal Instructions revealed what might be a somewhat serious state of affairs in the Upper Province.

As soon as the Proclamation of Clarke should render effective the Canada Act, the provisions of the Act would put an end to the former administration of the Province of Quebec as a unit. The Commission of Clarke gave him jurisdiction over Lower Canada only and he had nothing to do with the civil administration of Upper Canada, that being reserved for Simcoe. The Royal Instructions required Simcoe to cause his Commission to be read before the members of the Executive Council, and then to take the oaths prescribed, as a preliminary to exercising his office. The Instructions named four persons as the Executive Councillors, William Osgoode, William Robertson, Alexander Grant, and Peter Russell ^[3]—at the Common Law at least a majority of any Council, &c., were required to be present in order that a quorum should be made and the Council, &c., properly constituted. Alexander Grant was the only Executive Councillor in Canada and three were required: Simcoe could not be “sworn in” and Upper Canada was therefore without a Governor. No “representative of the Crown” lawfully existing, mercy could not be exercised in the remission of fines or forfeitures and justice could not be “exemplified in executing the sentence of death”^[4]. The opinion of the Chief Justice to that effect became known to the lawyers of Quebec and Montreal.

A similar difficulty arose as to the Administration of Justice, the Commissions of all magistrates were issued by the old Province of Quebec, and much doubt arose as to their competency to act after the division of this Province, no one having the power to continue the Commissions in Upper Canada as Clarke did in Lower Canada.

An information was laid by Thomas Golden, in the Township of Augusta, against Rice Honywell and Thirby Cromwell for “treasonable talk”^[5]. Justus Sherwood, J.P., had them apprehended and admitted them to bail: when the General Quarter Sessions of the Peace met in January, 1792, the Magistrates thought that the accused could not be tried by the Sessions jury, but could not be admitted to bail; they were accordingly sent to the Garrison at Fort Oswegatchie for safe custody. A prominent Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, John Munro, communicated with the authorities at Quebec in the matter: Simcoe caused the prisoners to be removed to Kingston and, approving the conduct of the Magistrates, told them that by the spirit of the Constitution they would be protected and indemnified by the Government and Parliament of Great Britain. Munro found that “the lawyers had infused an idea throughout our District (of Luneburg) that we had no law; and as many wished to take advantage of it . . . . sent advertisements all over the District”: he sent a copy of Simcoe’s letter to Judge Macdonell of the Court of Common Pleas of the District, and it had the desired effect ^[6]. In the meantime, Simcoe was cheered by the information that the Courts of Common Pleas and Quarter Sessions of the District of Nassau were performing their usual duties ^[7]: it is known that the same was the case in the District of Hesse, and there was no complaint from the District of Mecklenburg.

In addition to these which may be called permanent Courts, there was another Court sitting in each of the four Districts into which the territory which afterwards became Upper Canada, had been divided by Dorchester in 1788: this Court was known as the Court of Oyer and Terminer and General Gaol Delivery, Commissions for which were issued, from time to time, as was found necessary: this Court tried all serious cases of crime but had no civil jurisdiction. William Dummer Powell had received a Commission of Oyer and Terminer and General Gaol Delivery to sit at Kingston; two men, William Robertson and another, soldiers of the 26th Regiment, had been charged with the murder of an Indian Chief, called The Snake, and the trial was to be had in that Court. It was feared that Mr. Justice Powell would raise objections to proceeding on the authority of the former Quebec Commission, and it was suggested that a Proclamation should issue: but Chief Justice Smith was able to assure Simcoe that he should hear nothing from Powell on the subject. The Chief Justice was right: for, although by the arrival of Chief Justice Osgoode and Peter Russell before the time for the sitting of the Court at Kingston, it became unnecessary to call on Powell to act on the Quebec Commission, he was quite prepared to do so without objection ^[8].

It was feared with justice that if Powell should refuse to act, the inferior magistrates would follow his example: the common sense, for which Powell was always noted, saved the situation, and no trouble, in fact, ever occurred in reference to these Courts.

Simcoe would have been in a quandary had Powell refused to act, thus making it known that there was in his opinion no Civil Government in Upper Canada. It was suggested he might issue a Proclamation in any case leaving it to the general conjecture that he had the power usually found in Colonial Commissions to create an Executive Council for the purpose—this, of course, would be a grave step and one likely to lead to serious consequences both to Simcoe and others ^[9].

Another suggestion was that he should fill up the blanks left for Canadians with the names of two other persons who would understand that their appointment was only for the particular occasion—then send for Mr. Grant to come to the eastern limit of the Province at Point au Baudet and with the three as a quorum thus supposed to be obtained, be sworn in as Lieutenant-Governor within the Province. It does not seem to have occurred to Simcoe that this course would be equally illegal for want of a quorum, the addition of two to the four already appointed would make the number six and three would not be a majority ^[10]. It was, however, seen that it might be invalid on other grounds; but Simcoe suggested that “if it shall appear to his Majesty’s Ministers to be necessary, a future Instruction or Act of Parliament . . . . may legalize it”.

However, neither of these plans was it necessary to follow, and Simcoe was able to turn his mind in another direction.

He made particular enquiry concerning the Indians and their lands in the vicinity of Detroit—that region he and the Home Government always considered to be the place from which danger was to be anticipated, and he was anxious as to the Indians and their disposition towards British rule. He received reassuring letters from Major Patrick Murray of the 60th Foot “Commanding Detroit and its Dependencies”^[11].

It was because of the fear that trouble might come from the Detroit region that even before Simcoe left England, it had been decided not to fix the capital at Kingston, as had previously been practically determined, but further up at “a situation which seems likely to afford him a convenient access to Detroit, the spot where . . . . discretion appears now most necessary to be exercised”^[12]. He also made careful enquiry into the topography of Lake Huron, Matchedash Bay, &c.^[13], and he never forgot the great object to be attended to in securing a barrier against American aggression by the intervention of the Indians.

Simcoe recognized the necessity of a Navy if the Upper Country was to be kept; and he had not failed to press the matter on the Government: in Quebec, he did not allow this to escape his attention—we find him making enquiry of Commodore Alexander Grant as to “the depth of water in Toronto Harbour, the depth at the mouth of Tobicoak (Etobicoke) River and how far navigable for batteaux, the depth of water in the Harbour northward to Long Point and at the back of Grand River, how far navigable for boats . . . . the depths of water and how far navigable for batteaux on the River La Tranche or Lake St. Clair, what harbours we have on the north-east side of Lake Huron”^[14].

He issued a Proclamation (without legal warrant, indeed,) February 7, 1792, “to such as are disposed to settle on Lands of the Crown in the Province of Upper Canada”, each applicant to receive a Farm Lot of not more than 200 acres, the Governor to be at liberty to grant to any person not exceeding 1,000 acres more, one-seventh of every Township to be reserved for the support of a Protestant Clergy and another seventh for a Crown Reserve, the applicants to take the oath of allegiance, while coal, gold, silver, copper, tin and lead were reserved to the Crown ^[15].

He decided that Toronto was the natural arsenal of Lake Ontario, and the Head of Navigation of the La Tranche the proper site for the Capital. Of course, this selection was in accordance with his views long previously formed and never departed from ^[16].

To one matter which now would be considered somewhat trivial but which was then of very great importance, Simcoe gave much attention. Before the utilization on this Continent of salt springs and salt beds—and it was not until 1788 that the manufacture of salt from these began—practically all the salt used was obtained from seawater by evaporation; and the price depended upon the distance from the ocean and the cost of carriage. At Montreal, in 1788, the price was 25d or 50 cents a bushel for crude salt, at Kingston 15s or $3, and at Detroit 40s or $8 (the latter place being supplied with salt smuggled through Niagara from the salt licks in the United States, sometimes at £5, York Currency, $20, a bushel). The working of a salt spring was of enormous advantage to its neighbourhood; and Simcoe made enquiry as to the existence of such springs. He was early cheered by a report from Mr. John Collins, the Deputy Surveyor-General, that, there was a salt spring which he had seen and tasted, which fell into the Trent above the “Lake of Quinty” and which, according to the inhabitants, yielded a gallon of salt to every three gallons of water—it was not more than twenty miles from Lake Ontario, and was reserved for the Crown ^[17].

His suggestion that a Post Office should be established did not meet with favour ^[18].

On June 2, Chief Justice William Osgoode and Receiver-General Peter Russell arrived at Quebec, thereby making a quorum of the Executive Council: John White, the Attorney-General, accompanied them ^[19].

Simcoe supplied himself with a Private Secretary in the person of Thomas Talbot of the Malahide, near Dublin, a relative of the Marchioness of Buckingham, to whose husband he had been Aide-de-Camp along with Arthur Wellesley, afterwards Duke of Wellington, when the Marquis was Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, 1787-9. At this time Talbot was a Lieutenant with his Regiment, the 24th Foot, at Quebec, and the Marquis requested Simcoe to take Talbot “into his family”: Talbot remained in the position of private and confidential Secretary until he was, in June, 1794, summoned to join his Regiment in England ^[20].

Simcoe also appointed two Sheriffs—one, Alexander Macdonell of Collachie, who had been in Colonel John Butler’s Rangers, and whose half pay was saved to the Public Chest by this appointment, the other, William Coffin, brother of the Comptroller-General, who had been a Lieutenant in the Royal Regiment of New York ^[21].

Shortly after the opening of navigation, and on June 8, 1792, Simcoe left Quebec for the West, embarking with Mrs. Simcoe in a large batteau with an awning—Lieutenant Thomas Gray of the Fusiliers, or 7th Regiment, who had accompanied them in the Triton from England, and Thomas Talbot being with them. A second batteau carried the children, and a third, the servants and baggage ^[22].

NOTES

For the organization of the Government, a legally constituted Executive Council was necessary; and before continuing the narrative, something may be said of that body.

Before the Canada Act of 1791 came into effect and while the Quebec Act of 1774 was in force, the Province had a “Council for the Affairs of the Province of Quebec”, not more than twenty-three or less than seventeen in number, appointed by the Crown: and to this Council was given the power of legislation with the consent of the Governor. This Council is called in certain sections of the Act the “Legislative Council”, but it also acted as an “Executive Council”.

It was one of the objects of the Canada Act to disassociate the Executive from the Legislative functions: and accordingly, as we have seen, a Legislative Council was provided as one of the Houses of the Legislature—but without any executive duties or powers. Another body, the Executive Council, was also in contemplation, corresponding to the Ministry at Westminster, but with the all-important difference that it was in no way responsible to or under the control of the popular House—its sole responsibility was to the Governor or, in the ultimate analysis, to the Sovereign and his Ministry at Westminster. Nothing of the kind was mentioned in the Canada Act, of course, but the fact was perfectly understood: it was not intended by the Act that Responsible Government should have any footing in Canada—indeed, such an idea would have been considered self-contradictory and ludicrous in the extreme.

The Executive Council was to have no part in legislation after the first meeting of the Legislature ^[1]. The Governor and Executive Council were to be a Court of Civil Jurisdiction for hearing appeals as had for some time been the practice in the Province of Quebec ^[2].

The Sovereign was by the Act empowered to authorize the Governor with the advice of the Executive Council to erect Parsonages or Rectories “according to the Establishment of the Church of England”, and to endow them with land—the Governor alone to present the Incumbent, a clergyman “of the Church of England”^[3].

Beyond the temporary and the judicial and quasi-ecclesiastical functions given to the Executive Council in the Act, nothing is said of its powers and duties—but these were well known in Colonial administration—they gave their advice with or without previous request to the Governor, but he was not bound to take it; he, not the Executive Council, was responsible for the Administration of the Province—responsible not to the Colonists or their representatives in the Legislature, but to the King alone. The final judges of the administration were not Canadians but Britons in the Ministry at Westminster on their responsibility to the British, not in any way to Canadian, electors.

No other method of Colonial administration entered the mind of anyone except a few theorists without power or influence; and the true lesson of the American Revolution had not been learned, its causes being misconceived and misunderstood.

As the members of the Executive Council were paid, that position was more desirable even than the life position of member of the Legislative Council; but the latter position was honourable and one to be desired. It will be convenient here to treat of the appointment of Executive and Legislative Councillors at the same time.

Dorchester, who was naturally consulted by the Home Administration as to the personnel of the Councils, had not an intimate personal knowledge of the prominent persons in the Upper Country: he consulted Sir John Johnson, who had, and Sir John furnished him with a list of names.

Dorchester submitted “Lists . . . . composed of persons pointed out . . . . by Sir John Johnson, whose intimate knowledge of the principal characters of that country renders him particularly competent to such a discrimination”. It has been supposed that he did not send in Sir John’s lists as given but made changes in them: the fact is that Sir John sent in a second list. Dorchester’s lists were as follows:

and he added at the end of each list: “It will be advisable to add one or two Canadians from Detroit, but I am not sufficiently informed at present to make the selection”^[4].

Sir John’s original list of suggested Legislative Councillors corresponded with Dorchester’s; except that he named James McDonell instead of George Farley. In his original list of Executive Councillors, he omitted Dorchester’s first five and also James McDonnell; and he added George Farley ^[5].

Having before him Dorchester’s list, Dundas consulted Simcoe. Simcoe copied the list in the Treasury ^[6], and after consideration was able to recommend only two, Alexander Grant, who was “generally spoken of as an old and faithful servant of the Crown”, and William Robertson, who was then in London with whom Simcoe had some slight acquaintance, who had been in favour of the formation of the two Provinces and who seemed to him to be “a person of very good manners and good sense”. He advised that not more should be appointed than should be necessary to “give birth to the functions of the new Government . . . . without a more particular enquiry”—he had no particular wishes as he had but little information on the subject ^[7].

His advice was followed in that regard ^[8], and only four persons were named, that is William Osgoode (appointed Chief Justice), William Robertson (still in London), Alexander Grant and Peter Russell (appointed Receiver-General), leaving a blank for one or two Canadians ^[9].

There is no provision in the Act or the Royal Instructions as to the number of Executive Councillors: the Royal Instructions directed the Governor in case of a vacancy to transmit “the Names and characters of such three Persons, Inhabitants of . . . . Upper Canada, whom you shall esteem the best qualified . . . .” To avoid the inconvenience arising from want of a quorum, an Executive Councillor was to vacate his seat if he were absent from the Province for six months without the Governor’s leave or one year without leave under the Sign Manual of the King ^[10].

For the Legislative Council, Dorchester’s list was not followed exactly—the name of William Dummer Powell, “the First Judge” at Detroit, was omitted, probably because the Chief Justice of the Province, William Osgoode, was to be appointed; Richard Duncan, William Robertson, Robert Hamilton, Richard Cartwright, Jr. and John Munro were named, but for Nathaniel Petit and George Farley (who Simcoe advised should be left out) were substituted Alexander Grant and Peter Russell. It will be seen that thus all the members of the Executive Council were also Legislative Councillors ^[11].

When Simcoe came to Canada, he sent, November 21, 1791, to Sir John Johnson a list of the Executive and Legislative Councillors who had been appointed: Sir John was very angry; he said that it was with some reluctance and great diffidence that he had undertaken the unpleasant task of making the lists for Lord Dorchester, that he had given the matter the attention it deserved, but that the selection made from the lists was ill advised and partial as almost all had been left out of “the principal characters, particularly those who from the commencement of the late unhappy War distinguished themselves by their loyalty, zeal and exertions in His Majesty’s service and who have been the humble but sole promoters of the settlement now the Upper Province ^[12].

Johnson was particularly interested in Richard Duncan, and when he found that Simcoe had omitted his name by mistake in the list sent and that he was a Legislative Councillor, he was placated ^[13].

NOTES

Kingston, the former Cataraqui and Frontenac, was at the time a thriving town with over fifty houses, only one of stone.

Simcoe was given a small but very airy house near the Barracks: and at once began preparations for his Government.

Alexander Grant had been summoned but was not yet present ^[1]: Osgoode and Russell ^[2] had, however, arrived the previous Friday (June 29), and Simcoe filled in the blank left for the French-Canadian gentleman from the Detroit District with the name of James (Jacques) Baby, so that a quorum was present of the Executive Council—three being present and only two, Grant and Robertson, absent.

Simcoe appointed the Protestant Church (St. George’s) as a suitable place for opening the Royal Commissions, and on Sunday, July 8, 1792, repaired thither, accompanied by Osgoode, Russell, Baby and White, the Attorney-General, together with the principal inhabitants—the Commissions were read and Simcoe took the required oaths ^[3]. The Executive Council did not function until the following day, July 9, when Simcoe, now fully clothed with his office, formally appointed Osgoode, Robertson (still absent), Baby, Grant (still absent) and Russell, Executive Councillors—Osgoode, Baby, and Russell took the oaths required: Littlehales was appointed Clerk, and William Jarvis, Secretary of the Executive Council, and they took the oaths required ^[4]. A Proclamation was issued continuing the Judges and other civil officers in their positions: the Militia returns were taken into consideration and then the Council proceeded to divide the Province into Constituencies: the following day, July 11, Grant appeared and took his seat, and the business of forming the Constituencies continued each day until the plan was completed, Sunday, July 15. A Proclamation was ordered to be prepared concerning the Constituencies, and another to call together the Legislature.

On July 16, the Proclamations were issued: William Osgoode, James Baby, Richard Duncan, William Robertson, Robert Hamilton, Richard Cartwright Jr., John Munro, Alexander Grant, and Peter Russell were summoned by writ to the Legislative Council, David Burns took the oath as Clerk of the Crown and Court of Common Pleas, and Richard Pollard and Alexander Macdonell as Sheriffs ^[5]. On July 21, an additional Proclamation was issued respecting the continuance of civil officers in Judicial and ministerial employments ^[6]; no further Council business was done at Kingston.

But Simcoe did not waste his time—he inspected Carleton Island, where the extensive fortifications had been dismantled: he examined the harbour and also the flour mills, the “Kingston Mills” about five miles from Kingston (at the present first lock on the Rideau Canal), which had been some ten years previously built for the Quebec Government by Robert Clarke.

He had from the beginning been anxious that none but those of undoubted loyalty should have any part in the affairs of the Province. He was always in favour of halfpay officers, men who had fought for British connection. On his way from Montreal to Kingston he had found “that the general spirit of the country was against the election of half-pay officers into the Assembly, and that the prejudice ran in favour of men of a lower order, who kept one table, that is, who dined in common with their servants”. Attorney-General John White had a desire to be in the Assembly, and spoke to Simcoe about offering himself for the County—Simcoe decidedly approved, and as he says: “It was by great good fortune that the temporary residence I made at Kingston created sufficient influence to enable me to bring the Attorney-General, Mr. White, into the House”. White made an active canvass, and although for a time it looked as though Elizabethtown, in the County of Leeds, would present a candidate of its own, in the long run he was returned by acclamation—but no one can doubt that the influence of the Governor was potent. Simcoe also did all possible to secure the return of Lieutenant David William Smith (afterwards Sir David William Smith), son of Major John Smith of the 5th Regiment, from Essex and Suffolk, and prevented some others from setting up, so that Smith would have no opposition from them ^[7].

The Province was divided by the Proclamation into nineteen Counties, Glengary, Stormont, Dundas, Grenvil, Leeds, Frontenac, Ontario ^[8], Addington, Lenox, Prince Edward, Hastings, Northumberland, Durham, York, Lincoln, Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, and Kent. There were, however, only sixteen members to be elected for the Assembly:

The Constituencies named in the Proclamation give evidence of the relative settlement of the Province, as we know from the official Records that substantially equal numbers were given to each representative and the Militia returns were taken as a basis. The present Glengary was well settled and settlement continued fairly good on the water front up to the River Trent—west of that River there was practically no settlement up to the Head of the Lake Ontario: the Niagara country was well settled and there was a sprinkling of inhabitants along Lake Erie and the Detroit River. Inland there was practically no settlement except along the River La Tranche (Thames).

The anomalous position of those in the Detroit country did not escape the attention of Simcoe, and he insisted that the British subjects on the west side of the River should vote, although the territory which de jure belonged to the United States, just as later he insisted that they should be treated in all respects as of Upper Canada ^[9].

Simcoe embarked on the Onondaga, Commodore Beaton, on Monday, July 23, for Niagara, having reluctantly given up his original plan of rowing along the North shore of the Lake and around the Head of the Lake to his Capital. He was able to resist the arguments of the Kingstonians that Kingston was the proper place for the Capital, that there was a dearth of houses and provisions at Niagara as well as the certainty of ague, &c., &c.^[10]. He arrived at Niagara, Thursday, July 26. But he left behind the Chief Justice and Attorney-General White, who had serious work to do in Kingston.

A Commission of Oyer and Terminer and General Gaol Delivery was issued to Osgoode, thereby superseding the Quebec Commission to Powell; and Osgoode presided at the ensuing Court. When White arrived at Kingston, June 30, the murder of the Indian Chief, The Snake, had already been committed: the papers were placed in White’s hands by the Coroner, which proving imperfect, he directed a new Inquest: this was held and the verdict charged William Robertson and another, soldiers of the 26th Regiment, with murder. White communicated with Simcoe and Simcoe with General Alured Clarke, Commander-in-Chief of the Forces in the absence of Lord Dorchester. Clarke directed Colonel Gordon to send the soldiers under guard to Kingston: he did so, and the two charged, after being examined before Mr. Cartwright, were fully committed for murder.

The Court sat, August 23, 1792; and the next day, the two soldiers were tried and acquitted ^[11]. Osgoode and White left Kingston for Niagara on Sunday, September 2, by the Onondaga, Russell having preceded them on the same ship, Thursday, August 3 ^[12]; and the whole official family were united at Niagara early in September.

NOTES

At nine o’clock in the morning of Thursday, July 26, 1792, the Onondaga anchored off Navy Hall on the West bank of the Niagara River and opposite Fort Niagara on the east bank, which, still British, commanded the mouth of the River.

Navy Hall was a wooden building, or rather group of four buildings just below which Fort George was built in 1796: the building was originally for the use of the Commanders of the armed vessels on Lake Ontario, not only as a temporary residence but also to store supplies of various kinds, a sort of local or branch marine storehouse, the chief place for such supplies being Kingston. When Navy Hall was fixed upon for the official residence of the Governor, it was recognized that it must be added to and have much-needed repair—Simcoe calls it “an old hovel”. The repairs not being completed, Simcoe ordered three marquees ^[1] to be erected on the hill above the Hall on very dry and well drained ground, in parts covered by small oaks. In one of these he lodged the Attorney-General when he arrived, while he took into his own house the Chief Justice, whom he found a very agreeable companion as well as a competent and careful legal adviser.

He seems to have abandoned some part of his project as to the stationing of the Queen’s Rangers: “Upon mature deliberation”, he says, “I have found it most advantageous to hut the Queen’s Rangers at the New Landing (Queenston) upon the Niagara River, and early in the spring, I hope to occupy a Post near to Long Point upon the Lake Erie, another at Toronto upon the Lake Ontario”—but he still considered Niagara a mere temporary Capital, for he adds:—“and to set myself down on the River La Tranche.” He intended to make a personal investigation if possible before the onset of winter ^[2].

Not long after his arrival at Niagara, Simcoe had to deal with an atrocious crime of what was afterwards known as lynching. A Chippaway Indian, Wawanesse, attempted to stab three persons at Michillimackinac, June 28, 1792: one, Myers Michel, in taking away his knife, was wounded, but overpowered him and tied his hands behind his back—the Sergeant of the day took him in custody, but a large number of people, English and French, attacked, stabbed and tomahawked the Indian until he was rescued by the Captain in person and some seven assailants were arrested: he died from the brutal treatment which he had received. A Coroner’s jury declined to particularize anyone: and the Magistrates admitted the seven prisoners to bail. The Captain, Edward Charlton, reported to Col. England, commanding the Detroit District: England reported to Simcoe, Simcoe consulted Mr. Justice Powell, who could see nothing to be done but wait the action of the Grand Jury at Detroit. As showing how such a killing of an Indian was looked upon, it may be said that in the meantime sixty-three traders of Michillimackinac “in consequence of the unhappy and disagreeable affair which has caused the imprisonment of our fellow citizens,” petitioned Captain Charlton to interfere with the magistrates so that those concerned in the “death of the Indian, who was yesterday unfortunately killed,” should not be imprisoned in the Fort but left at large in the Town. As was to be expected in such a state of public opinion, the murderers of the Indians escaped punishment ^[3].

During this summer, Prince Edward, the future Duke of Kent, visited Simcoe at Niagara, arriving August 21, visiting the Falls, and on August 26, setting sail for Kingston. Simcoe was not well enough to see the Prince or his companions, Lord Garlies, afterwards Earl of Galloway, and Captain Markham, more than once: he kept his room for a fortnight, suffering from a violent pain in the head, supposed to have been occasioned by the concussion of a cannon firing a salute for the Prince. Later on he walked to Burlington Bay and again to Fort Schlosser above the Falls. The first Legislature was called for September 17, 1792, to meet at Niagara, the name of which Simcoe during the summer changed to Newark in honour of Newark, New Jersey, with which he had been acquainted during his campaigns in the Revolutionary War. By his Proclamation of July 16, 1792, he changed the names of the Grand River to the Ouse and that of the La Tranche to the Thames.

Before giving an account of this Legislature, it will be well to mention the arrangements made for the administration of the affairs of the Province.

Simcoe believed that Upper Canada would pay, would “if encouraged to attain its natural dimensions . . dilate itself into an increasing and majestic support of the British Empire,” that it was not only sentimentally but financially the interest of Britain to give it all reasonable support ^[4]: but the Province had no means to pay for its own administration and money must be provided by the Mother Country. He had the satisfaction of learning that Parliament voted for the year 1792 as expenses attending the Civil Establishment of the Province the sum of £6,565 7s 0d—of this, indeed, £465 7s went for fees to officers at Westminster for the Patents of Dorchester and Simcoe and £200 for an agent in London. One of the items showed an ignorance of the state of the Province, as there was an appropriation for two Judges of the Common Pleas at £500 each ^[5]. The remainder was assigned as follows:—

Moreover, Simcoe was notified by General Clarke, Commander of the Forces, that the Lords of the Treasury authorized him to grant Simcoe a credit on the Military Chest for a sum not exceeding £5,000; and Clarke very thoughtfully sent him a remittance of £2,500 without waiting for a formal requisition ^[6].

Simcoe complained that no Surveyor-General had been provided for, but it was explained that it had been thought wise that no Surveyor-General should be appointed for Upper Canada, and that the Surveyor-General of Lower Canada should fill the same situation for Upper Canada without any additional salary ^[7].

In addition to the Civil List there was a Military List, of less amount of course, as that was specially under the supervision of the Commander of the Forces at Quebec. Simcoe, however, had a small staff provided for:

The Civil List, too, was partially relieved by the payment of salary in advance for part of the year (i.e., up to April 30, 1792) of William Dummer Powell, the only Judge of a Court of Common Pleas paid by salary and not by fees from litigants ^[9].

Simcoe did not call together his Executive Council until the Legislature had met and was well under way: he received many Addresses, loyal and flattering, none of which calls here for any notice; and many Petitions of more or less importance, some of which will be mentioned in their proper place.

The summer was spent in agreeable social intercourse, visits to the Falls and other places, but the curse of mosquitoes and the inevitable fever and ague—the connection between mosquito and malaria, though already suspected, had not been established—made Niagara less agreeable than it otherwise would have been.

NOTES

The First Legislature met at Newark on Monday, September 17, 1792. During the summer, preparations had been made for the Session; and the Houses, or at least the Legislative Council, met in Freemasons’ Hall ^[1], at the northwest corner of King and Prideaux Streets, next door to Wilson’s Hotel. The Hall had been erected in 1791 on the authority of the Land Board of the District of Nassau; it had an upper and a lower chamber, the former for the Craft and the latter for public meetings.

In the Legislative Council appeared the Chief Justice, William Osgoode, who produced an Instrument under the Great Seal of the Province, appointing him Speaker of the Legislative Council; there also attended James (or Jacques) Baby, whose name had been inserted in the list by Simcoe, Robert Hamilton, Richard Cartwright, Jr., John Munro, Alexander Grant and Peter Russell. The absentees were William Robertson and Richard Duncan. Robertson was in England; he did not return to Canada and soon resigned his seat in both Councils ^[2]. Duncan did not take his seat until 1793; he was a man of great prominence in Dundas County, but afterwards returned to the United States for business and pecuniary reasons.

In the Assembly appeared John Macdonell of Glengarry (Second Riding) and some others the number of whom is not certainly known, but tradition has it that there were seven in all—the Attorney-General, John White, was certainly one. All present were sworn in by William Jarvis, and John Macdonell was elected Speaker.

During the Session, in addition to the Speaker and the Attorney-General, there appeared Ephraim Jones of Grenville, David William Smith of Suffolk and Essex, Hugh Macdonell of Glengarry, (September 18), William Macomb of Kent, Jeremiah French of Stormont, Alexander Campbell of Dundas, (September 21), Benjamin Pawling of Lincoln (Second Riding), Nathaniel Pettit of Durham, York and Lincoln (First Riding), Hazelton Spencer of Lenox, Hastings and Northumberland, Francis Baby of Kent, (September 24), and Isaac Swayze of Lincoln (Third Riding), (October 4)^[3]. There is no record of the attendance during this Session of Joshua Booth of Addington and Ontario or Parshall Terry of Norfolk and Lincoln (Fourth Riding); and Philip Dorland, elected for Prince Edward and the Township of Adolphus, had a peculiar fate which will now, somewhat anticipating, be told.

Philip Dorland, a man of prominence and high character, had been elected, August 21, as “knight girt with a sword”, to represent the County of Prince Edward with Adolphustown; and he was duly so declared by the Returning Officer, John Peters. But he was a Quaker and could not conscientiously take the Oath of Allegiance required by section 29 of the Canada Act to be taken before sitting or voting. He accordingly made a written statement of the facts and handed it in to Mr. Jarvis. Jarvis presented it to the House, and the House ordered the Speaker to issue a new writ of election, “Philip Dorland, Esquire, being declared incompetent to sit or vote in the House without having taken . . . . the Oath set forth in the Act of Parliament . . . .”^[4]. A new writ was issued; but the election did not take place in time for Peter Van Alstine, who was elected, to sit in the House till the following Session ^[5].

The Lieutenant-Governor, in his Speech from the Throne, said that he had summoned the Legislature “under the authority of an Act of Parliament . . . . which has established the British Constitution and all the forms which secure and maintain it in this distant country”, and he hoped that “the blessings of our invaluable Constitution thus protected and amplified” would “be extended to the remotest posterity.” The House, in answer, asserted its determination “to strengthen our union with the present Kingdom and add our mite to its splendour and glory”; and the Legislative Council was equally loyal.

The first measure to come up in either House was a Bill introduced in the Council by Mr. Cartwright to legalize marriages theretofore contracted within the Province.

The law of marriage was not absolutely clear. The English law for a regular marriage required the presence of a priest or deacon episcopally ordained (before the Reformation, a priest was necessary), and it was generally assumed that a Church of England clergyman could validly marry in any country, settled or unsettled, under British rule and even in unsettled territory not British. But there were remote places where a Church of England clergyman was not available, and the Commanding Officer, Adjutant or Surgeon of a Post performed the ceremony from the Prayer Book: sometimes Justices of the Peace officiated. Where there was no clergyman present, the common view was that marriages were irregular and invalid and the children illegitimate in English law. Sometimes, when the couple came to a place in which there was a clergyman, they had the ceremony repeated and thereby the marriage validated; and, indeed, it was manifest that the people generally desired regular marriage. Cartwright had himself contracted such an irregular marriage at Niagara in 1784 and had three children, the issue of it. It was natural that he should desire to validate his marriage and legitimize his children. Robert Hamilton, who was his partner and personal friend, seconded him with all his power, and Alexander Grant who, too, had contracted a marriage of this kind, was also assisting.

The precise form of Cartwright’s Bill is not known, but Simcoe calls it “hasty and ill-digested.” Simcoe saw him about it and persuaded him to withdraw it on the express promise that a Draft Bill should be prepared for the opinion of the Home Government and sent to London during the coming winter ^[6].

Although by the Royal Proclamation of 1763, the English Law was introduced sub modo into Quebec as then constituted, in 1774 the Quebec Act, which extended Quebec so as to include all of the subsequent Province of Upper Canada, reintroduced the former French-Canadian Law as the rule for decision in matters of Property and Civil Rights: the Canada Act of 1791 left the law in this state, so that Upper Canada began her career under the French-Canadian civil law.

Simcoe and the legal officers, the Chief Justice and the Attorney-General, were English to the core, and the Executive Council also were almost a unit; the Province at large was populated almost wholly by English-speaking people, and there could be no doubt that English Law was sincerely desired by practically all. A Bill prepared at Simcoe’s request by Chief Justice Osgoode was introduced in the Legislative Council; it rapidly passed its various stages and was sent down to the House, which speedily concurred, nemine contradicente. This was the first Act of the Legislature of Upper Canada; it enacted that “in all matters of controversy relative to property and civil rights, resort shall be had to the Laws of England as the rule for the decision of the same”^[7].

The English Criminal Law, introduced by the Proclamation of 1763, was not interfered with by the Quebec Act, and was in force in Upper Canada without further enactment ^[8]. As an almost necessary consequence of the change in the civil law, an Act was passed introducing trial by jury of all issues of fact—juries having been allowed in only a few cases under the existing law ^[9].

In 1788, Dorchester divided the territory which was to become Upper Canada into four Districts: Luneburg from the East to the Gananoque River (then called the Thames); then Mecklenburg westward to the Trent; Nassau westward to Long Point, Lake Erie, and Hesse further west. Each District had its Court of Common Pleas, all but Hesse with three laymen as Judges; Hesse with a lawyer, William Dummer Powell, as First and only Judge with the powers of three. Litigants, in no matter how small a case, must needs go to Cornwall, Kingston, Niagara or Detroit; this in small cases was a hardship; and it is known that often a magistrate or an officer was called in to decide. The Legislature passed a Bill (originating in the Assembly) which gave to two Justices of the Peace in a “Court of Requests” the power of trying cases involving not more than 40 shillings ($8): these are the original of our present Division Courts ^[10].

In this Act, an innovation was made in the rules of evidence for such Courts of Requests; quite contrary to the rules of the English Law, the Parties themselves were allowed to give evidence on their own behalf, which was not allowed in England till 1846 or in other Courts in Upper Canada until later still ^[11].

A trifling change was made by another Act in the practice in cases under £10 sterling in the Courts of Common Pleas ^[12].

The names of the Districts were changed: Luneburg became Eastern; Mecklenburg, Midland; Nassau, Home; and Hesse, Western; a Gaol and Court House were to be built in each District—at New Johnstown (Cornwall), Kingston, Newark (Niagara), and for the Western District, “as near to the present Court-House as conveniently may be”^[13].

The Winchester measures, the standard of His Majesty’s Exchequer in England, were adopted and the use of “any other Weight, Measure or Yard whereby Corn, Grain or other thing is bought or sold” was forbidden under penalty, while grist-millers were limited to a toll of not more than one-twelfth, the toll which is to this day still in force ^[14].

A somewhat curious difficulty arose as to Detroit. The merchants of that prosperous town were desirous of fire protection, but there was an objection to legislation specifically naming Detroit, for Detroit de jure belonged to the United States, and to mention it in the Legislature of a British country as in British territory might stir up trouble. However, D. W. Smith got over the difficulty by introducing a Bill in general terms, enabling the Magistrates in every District to make fire regulations, &c., in any town or place “where there may be forty store houses and dwelling houses within the space of half a mile square”^[15].

In all these measures, there seems to have been practical unanimity, as also in the appointment by the Assembly of a Clerk of the House, Angus Macdonell, at a salary of £91 5s Currency, (say $365), a Sergeant at Arms at £55 12s 6d, (say $222.50), and a Doorkeeper at £10, (say $40)^[16]; the Legislative Council also appointed officers with an equal wage-bill.

The expense of Gaols, Court Houses and Officers of the Legislature was not provided for in the vote of the Parliament at Westminster; and provision had to be made for it in the Province itself. And here we find the first clash between the Houses—not indeed in the first proposal to levy a small tax upon the land: Smith proposed a tax of a farthing per acre on all holdings above 200 acres; but all the Members of the Council were land-owners; they all insisted that the smallest tax on real property would prevent immigration, and were deaf to Simcoe’s suggestions and Smith’s arguments; and Smith’s Bill was not proceeded with ^[17].

The real difference arose over the proposal to levy a duty of 6d per gallon on all spirits and wine brought into the Province, which duty it was expected would produce a revenue of £1,500. A Bill to that effect passed the Assembly, (October 4), but it was thrown out in the Council on its Second Reading. Various reasons were adduced, but the actuating one was that three-fourths of the spirits passing through the Province was the property of the merchants of Montreal and such an impost would raise a misunderstanding and perhaps vindictive measures between the two Provinces ^[18].

This was the only measure which caused irritation between the Houses, and this soon subsided.

There was another measure which elicited a great difference of opinion in the House itself.

The Members of the Assembly were generally from the American Colonies in which they had been accustomed to local municipal institutions—local Home Rule by persons elected at the Town-meeting or meeting of similar character. They were desirous of having such institutions established by law, as they had been in a few instances already established by custom. This was not the English way, and many of the English looked upon all such popular institutions as levelling and subversive of English principles; they thought that such meetings had been, to a considerable extent, the cause of the American Revolution and that they must always be attended with riot and confusion; that the people should not be called together except to choose their Representative in the Assembly.

A Bill was proposed for the choice of Parish and Town officers by the inhabitants and another to give the nomination altogether to the Magistrates; neither was proceeded with “under the Idea that Town Meetings should not be too much encouraged,” and the suggestion of Smith to give the power to the magistrates was distasteful ^[19].

Before the end of the Legislature, the Executive Council held a Session—the first at Newark. The Reverend John Stuart, who was Chaplain to the Legislative Council, produced his appointment by the Bishop of Nova Scotia as Commissary; he claimed the right as such to issue Marriage Licences under the English Common Law; but it was pointed out that while the Royal Instructions directed the Governor to give all proper support to “the Right Reverend Father in God, Charles Inglis . . . . Bishop of Nova Scotia . . . . in the exercise of his jurisdiction, Spiritual and Ecclesiastical . . . in . . . . Upper Canada,” they reserved the granting of Marriage Licences to the Governor ^[20].

This was the first open attempt on the part of any official of the Church of England to claim in Upper Canada for that Church the same rights which it had in England.

Certain clergymen of the Church of England had been supported in part from the public chest of the former Province of Quebec, but no provision was made in the Parliamentary vote for continuing this support in Upper Canada. The Clergymen or Missionaries for a time had to rely upon the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel for their support. Naturally they expected—and in a short time obtained—a continuation of their allowance.

The Church of England did not stand alone in the desire for support at the public expense.

The celebrated Alexander Macdonell, then recently from Scotland, a Roman Catholic Priest, later to be the first Roman Catholic Bishop in the Province, sent in a petition to Simcoe, dated at Montreal, June 20, 1792. He thought it “a circumstance pregnant with the most happy consequence that” Simcoe had “this great Province to settle at an epoch where religious toleration, balanced liberty and sound philosophy risen at first on the glorious horizon of Great Britain, shine with gradual emanation and brightening splendour all over the world.” At the same time, he apprehended “there may be some danger of missing those benefits and of falling into error opposite to ancient bigotry and superstition if no mode of religious worship be immediately encouraged and if the various tribes of husbandmen pouring into the new country be left without a form to which they may be, from the principles where they were bred from infancy, inclined to accede.”

He conceived that from the spirit of levelling lately gone abroad, “it would be a very judicious measure in order to insure subordination in a country daily receiving swarms of republicans into its bosom to establish the Church of England, that guardian of aristocracy and firm support of the throne on a stable and splendid footing and also the Church of Rome in a degree suitable to the extensive views of Government. . . . For whatever other articles discriminate the tenets of both those great Churches, in this they agree, that they strenuously uphold subordination of civil ranks, monarchy and ecclesiastical monarchy (?)”.

“That indeed the gross ignorance and blind errors of many of the Romish scholastics, the avarice, luxury and tyranny of many of the Prelates and, above all, the ambition and usurpation of many of the Popes have for ages, not undeservedly, caused the Roman system to be generally considered in the British nation as subversive of society and inimical to sovereignty and for fear of a renewal of the same dangerous opinions or a remainder of the maxims of such pernicious tendency, the Petitioner thinks every precaution should be taken to exclude or extirpate them entirely out of the Province . . . .” He thought it necessary “that an Archpriesthood, Deanery or some such thing should be created with a competent appointment and conferred upon a priest possessing the confidence of” Simcoe, “who should, in order to set an example to the Romish Clergy of the sister Province and to future generations, give sufficient assurance of fidelity towards the Sovereign, the Constitution, the Empire under the most sacred sanctions.” Himself aspiring to the dignity, he solemnly engages, if appointed, “to renounce and abjure by oath every kind of temporal power ascribed to or claimed by the Roman Pontiff within any part of His Britannic Majesty’s Dominions, which power is by some writers called direct, by others indirect only, in either of which meanings the Petitioner is equally ready to abjure it. By the same Oath the Petitioner is ready to acknowledge the King . . . . of Great Britain as political head of the Church or churches within His Majesty’s Dominions and by his supremacy entitled to exercise every legal authority over the temporalities of every denomination of Clergy. In short, your Petitioner confines his obedience to the Pope and dependence on His Holiness to matters that are merely spiritual.”

He asked Simcoe to revolve in his great mind a plan for erecting a sufficient number of schools to prevent the youths of those who spoke only Gaelic from becoming a “race of barbarous, unconnected and useless savages”^[21].

Simcoe’s answer, if any, does not seem to have been preserved, but he had no power in the premises—his Instructions were always to remember that it was tolerance, not establishment, to which the Church of Rome was entitled—“The powers and privileges of . . . . an established Church . . . . being a Preference which belongs only to the Protestant Church of England”^[22].

As little could he help the Lutherans of Williamsburg, Matilda and Osnabruck, who, June 29, 1792, petitioned for an allowance to their Minister, the Reverend Mr. Schwerdfeger, formerly of Albany County, whom they had at length, at a great deal of cost, obtained to live amongst them. He was “a man of approved loyalty to the King and British Government, whose sufferings in that cause during the American Rebellion were such as gave unquestionable evidence of his principles, and whose moral character and abilities as a preacher will . . . . bear the strictest scrutiny.” “The Lutheran Church . . . is, and always has been, in communion with the Church of England, embraces her as a Sister Church and approves of her doctrine and discipline”^[23].

The Presbyterians were not behind in asking for support from Simcoe. The congregation of Glengarry and Stormont sent in a petition supported by Major James Gray. The Revd. John Bethune of the Kirk of Scotland, coming to Canada from North Carolina in 1783 with the United Empire Loyalists, was stationed at Montreal, at a salary of over £100; but he gave up that cure to take charge of the Highlanders to the west who did not understand English. Before Upper Canada became a separate Province, the Government allowed him £50 per annum, but of course that allowance ceased with the old Province of Quebec. He had gone on in his ministerial functions without pay except a few bushels of wheat given by his poor parishioners—they were not able to support him and he asked Simcoe for aid; he was the only clergyman of English or Scottish Church in the Luneburg (Eastern) District ^[24].

Simcoe could do nothing, except pay Mr. Bethune the first year—and this he did.

NOTES

One of the first acts of Simcoe after the Legislature rose, was to appoint Lieutenants of Counties as in England—this he did on his principle of making Upper Canada as nearly as possible “an image and transcript of Britain.” He selected some of the Lieutenants from the Legislative Council in order to increase the importance of the Councillors; and he gave to the Lieutenants the recommendation of Justices of the Peace and the nomination of officers of the Militia ^[1]. The Duke of Portland, the Secretary of State, unequivocally disapproved of this scheme; and, while not cancelling the appointments already made, he directed that none should be made in future. The Secretary deprecated the view “that by assimilating the modes of the Government of the Province to the modes of the Government of England, you will obtain all the beneficial effects which we receive from them. Whereas to assimilate a Colony in all respects to its Mother Country is not possible, and if possible, would not be prudent”^[2]. The time had not come for such an experiment.

The pressing question of the irregular marriages, Simcoe took up without delay. Cartwright, deeply interested personally, made a careful Report to him just before the Legislature was prorogued: he pointed out that the two lower Districts, the Eastern (Luneburg) and Midland (Mecklenburg) had had since 1785 one Church of England Clergyman; the Home (Nassau) District had received one only a few months before, but the Western (Hesse) District never had one. The state of the Church of England (to which he himself belonged) in the Province was not flattering:—a very small proportion of the inhabitants belonged to it, and the immigrants from the United States were for the most part sectaries or Dissenters—in the Eastern District there was no Church of England Clergyman, the Presbyterians had one minister, who had been paid £50 per annum by the Government—there was also a Lutheran Minister, but the Dutch Calvinists had not yet succeeded in obtaining a pastor: in the Midland District were two clergymen and many itinerant Methodist preachers: in the Home District, one Clergyman since July, 1792, but many Presbyterians: in the Western District, no Clergy but those of the Church of Rome, the Protestants being generally Presbyterians ^[3].

Simcoe directed Chief Justice Osgoode to draw up a Bill concerning the irregular marriages with provisions for future marriages—which he did; and Simcoe transmitted it for the consideration of the Home Administration: this the Home Government submitted to the Law officers of the Crown for their opinion: the Law officers suggested some amendments to Osgoode’s Bill; but there was so much delay that before the opinion reached the Colony, another Bill had been passed and assented to by Simcoe ^[4].

If there had been any doubt as to the position of the inhabitants of Detroit and other places which were held by Britain, although given by Treaty to the United States, it came to an end, Dundas specifically instructing Simcoe that they were subject in all respects to the laws of Upper Canada. This agreed with Simcoe’s own view about which he never had any doubt ^[5].

During this winter, Simcoe carried out the plan he had long had in contemplation and personally explored the Peninsula in some part of which he had determined to fix his Capital.

On Monday, February 4, 1793, he left the hut which he had had constructed for himself and hung with tapestry from Stowe; he was accompanied by his Private Secretary, Major Littlehales, Captain Fitzgerald and Lieutenant D. W. Smith of the 5th Regiment, then stationed at Fort Niagara across the River, Lieutenants Talbot, Gray and Givins, travelling in sleighs. The winter was an open one and the roads were wet; much of the long journey was made on foot. The little expedition passed through the present Grimsby, across the mountains to Seneca Township and the Mohawk Indian Village. Joseph Brant joined them with twelve Indians: they passed on to the La Tranche, succouring a starving traveller (who turned out to be a thief) on the way—to the Delaware Indian Village and a Council meeting of the Six Nations—the Moravian Village—the Forks of the La Tranche and on to Detroit, where they arrived, February 18; leaving Detroit, February 23, they arrived at Newark, March 10, by way of Ancaster and Burlington Bay ^[6].

By this inspection of the La Tranche country, Simcoe was confirmed in his opinion as to the proper place for the Capital of the Province, the Forks of the Thames; and he chose the name, “New London”, for it. He also selected Oxford (now Woodstock), “the head of the carrying place between Lake Ontario and the Thames” to become a Town, and Chatham, nearer the mouth of the River “which has so many advantages that may make it the Capital of the Lower District”^[7].

In May, Simcoe visited Toronto, going round the Head of the Lake in a batteau with seven officers; he was much pleased with the Harbour, and picked out a fine site for the town he determined to build—this was a little removed from the Bay-front, east of the present George Street, and reaching as far east as Berkeley Street.

In August, he changed the name of Toronto to York in honour of the Duke of York, the King’s son, who had defeated the French in Holland.

At the first meeting of the Executive Council, March 21, 1793, after his return from Detroit, a shocking story was told which had important and almost immediate results. A Negro, Peter Martin, in the service of Col. Butler, informed the Council, composed of Simcoe, Osgoode and Russell, that one Fromond, near Queenston, had bound Chloe Cooley, a Negro girl in his service, and delivered her across the River to some person unknown. William Grisley said that Fromond had told him he was going to sell his Negro Wench to some persons in the States, and that in the evening he saw her tied with a rope and carried off in a boat across the River, and, screaming and resisting, delivered to a man on the bank. He had seen another Negro tied thus and had heard that many people intended to dispose of their Negroes in the same way. It was resolved by the Council that it was “necessary to take immediate steps to prevent the continuance of such violent breaches of the public peace, and for that purpose that His Majesty’s Attorney-General be forthwith instructed to prosecute the said Fromond”^[8].

The Attorney-General, John White, received the instructions; but he was a lawyer, and knew that the master had the same right to bind, export and sell his slave as to bind, export and sell his heifer, and that what happened was no more a breach of the peace than if Chloe Cooley had been his heifer instead of his Negro slave ^[9]. No proceedings were ever taken in the matter; but it is probable that it was this incident which caused Simcoe to press for legislation on slavery, which he did at the succeeding Session. To anticipate a little—at Simcoe’s instance, the Attorney-General, John White, drew a Bill respecting Slavery and had it introduced in the Assembly, he “debated the Slave Bill hardly, met much opposition but little argument”: the Bill passed both Houses and, being assented to, became law. It was, however, not such as had been intended, but was a compromise. Much plausible argument was made, based upon the dearness of labour and the difficulty of obtaining servants, the discouragement of immigration, &c.; some possessing slaves were for defeating the Bill altogether, others wished two years’ grace to obtain them by importation. The compromise finally effected was that all slaves then in existence in the Province should remain slaves, but that all persons thereafter born or brought into the Province should be free ^[10].

Simcoe used all his influence to have as favourable a Bill passed as was possible, and incurred a great deal of unpopularity for that reason; and John White’s career as a member of the Assembly came to an end with the existing House ^[11].

During the spring and summer of 1793, Simcoe suffered from gout; but was able to attend to affairs with slight interruptions.

In May, the three Commissioners appointed by the United States to treat with the Indians arrived at Newark, John Randolph, Benjamin Lincoln and Timothy Pickering ^[12]. There was much disquiet among the Indians over the encroachment by the Americans on Territory considered by the Indians their own. The Treaty of Paris, 1783, it was contended by the Americans, gave them all the territory to the right of the Great Lakes and connecting rivers, but the Indians denied the right of the King to give away their territory without their consent.

At a General Council of several Indian Nations held at the Glaise in September, 1792, it was agreed that an offer should be made to the Americans if they wanted to make peace to meet them in the spring at Lower Sandusky to settle the boundary line. This proposition, communicated to a representative of the United States at a Council held at Buffalo Creek, November 13, 1792, was accepted by the United States Government. The meeting was expected to be about the first of June, 1793; the Six Nations and the Buffalo Creek Indians, however, had a preliminary meeting, April 20, at Niagara, which was attended by Simcoe at their request. It was agreed that Joseph Brant should proceed to the Indian Council which was to be held at Lower Sandusky preliminary to the meeting with the American Commissioners. At that preliminary Council, it was decided that the meeting should not take place as agreed, but that a Deputation should first meet the Commissioners and obtain some satisfaction as to the armed forces in their territory and as to the powers of the Commissioners to agree upon a boundary. The Commissioners were informed at Fort Erie that the Indians desired to meet them in presence of Simcoe and that the Indians would at another time give their reasons for not holding the meeting which had been agreed on. The Commissioners agreed to meet Brant and his Indians in presence of Simcoe; and a Council was accordingly held at Freemasons’ Hall, Niagara, Sunday, July 7, and the following two days when Simcoe attended with his Staff. Brant and the Deputation of Indians also attended as did the American Commissioners. Brant explained why the Indians had decided not to hold the meeting as arranged, the chief reason being that many armed Americans had far advanced into their territory. After much talk and some explanation, the Commissioners expressed their intention of attending the Indians at a place of meeting which had been agreed upon, hoping that there would be a termination to the existing disputes on terms equally advantageous and satisfactory to all parties. The Indians had desired Simcoe to be present at the coming Council, but the Americans did not concur and consequently Simcoe declined the request.

The Commissioners were entertained at Navy Hall by Simcoe from the time of their arrival, Sunday, May 12, despite their courteous expostulations.

Lincoln speaks in the highest terms of Simcoe’s courtesy and hospitality; and also of his deep regard and consideration for the happiness of the people of the Province ^[13].

There can be no doubt that Simcoe was sincerely desirous that the mission of the American Commissioners should be successful. He even, at the request of the Indians, gave orders that they should be amply supplied with provisions—as he told them, “in order to enable you to meet the United States” and “to enable you to prosecute so good a work as the establishment of peace in your country”^[14]. At the request of the Commissioners, he detailed to go with them, Captain Banbury and Lieutenant Givins. He also, at the request of the Indians and with the assent of the Government of the United States, directed Cols. John Butler and Alexander McKee, Deputy Superintendents of Indians, to be present at the meeting; he made it clear to them that they were to consider themselves in the light of mediators and not advocates, and directed them to act with the utmost caution and circumspection, warning them that unwise language or conduct on their part might impress the people of the United States with the belief that it was not the injustice of the Federal Government or the obstinacy of the Indians, but the interposition of the British agents which prevented the restoration of peace. He directed them, also, in case the meeting was unsuccessful, to prevent as far as possible, insult or injury to the Commissioners, adding: “I most earnestly entreat and recommend . . . . that you exert all your power and influence to this effect in a far greater degree than you would do, should I have been at the Council, for my personal protection and safety.”^[15]

The Commissioners freely consulted with Simcoe over their objects and took occasion to deliver a formal protest against the arts of a few unnamed “Bad men”—not unobscurely hinting that Simcoe was one of them—who were spreading reports adverse to the United States amongst the Indians. Simcoe answered with dignity.

Simcoe was in no way responsible for the failure of the negotiations. The determination of the Indians to have the Ohio River as the limit of the territory of the United States and the equally strong determination of the Commissioners that it should not be, made a rupture inevitable ^[16]. He had sent the Commissioners forward from Fort Erie on a Government vessel; he had advised the Indians strongly to make peace and he was undoubtedly much disappointed at the failure.

Nevertheless, he could not blame the Indians for insisting on the boundary they claimed or the Americans for refusing.

He must have been touched by the Address of the Indians: in reporting the failure, they cordially acknowledged that all his promises had been faithfully performed; they considered that his heart was placed in the centre of the Indian Confederacy, and concluded:

NOTES

During the recess, Simcoe had caused additions to be made to Butler’s Barracks for the meeting of the Legislature; and these additions—“sheds”^[1] Simcoe calls them—were used for the Sittings of the Legislature during all the remainder of his Governorship in the Province.

War having broken out with France, now in the throes of revolution, Simcoe in his Speech from the Throne, called attention to the necessity of a Militia Bill. The Houses made a suitable Reply, and at the earliest moment, the Bill which the Attorney-General had, at the instance and with the assistance of Simcoe, drawn up, was introduced into the Assembly. The Bill passed without much opposition and became law.

This authorized the appointment of a Lieutenant in each County—the disapprobation of the Home Government had not yet been expressed—the Lieutenant to appoint a Deputy Lieutenant and a sufficient number of Colonels, Lieutenant-Colonels, Majors and other officers to superintend and conduct the training. The Militia was to be composed of all male inhabitants from 16 to 50 and liable to serve in any part of the Province; it was to be divided into Regiments, Companies, &c.; Quakers, Mennonists and Tunkers were excused from serving but to pay each per annum 20 shillings (say $4) in time of peace and £5 ($20) in time of actual invasion or insurrection ^[2].

We have already seen that a Bill respecting Marriage was passed during the Session without awaiting the views of the Home Administration. This validated all marriages theretofore contracted between persons not being under any canonical disqualification, publicly contracted before any Magistrate or Commanding Officer of a Post or Adjutant or Surgeon or any other person in any public office or employment. For the future until there should be five parsons of the Church of England in any District, a Justice of the Peace could perform the ceremony, using the ritual of the Church of England ^[3].

This Bill was satisfactory to no one. The Assembly amended the Bill which Cartwright had introduced into the Council, by giving power to Ministers of every sect and denomination, of which there were not a few, to solemnize matrimony. In the Council, Cartwright and Grant, the two personally interested, were appointed with Russell (who was not married) a Committee to confer with a Committee of the Assembly upon this Rider. Macomb, Campbell and Van Alstine were appointed by the Assembly. The Commissioners met and a compromise was effected: the Councillors agreed to support a Bill of any latitude to be introduced next Session by Hamilton, the Assembly in the meantime to withdraw the rider.

Simcoe was placed in a predicament: there was a general cry for the Bill and, as he says, he could no longer withhold the Royal Assent under the pretence of consulting any opinion in England, having already availed himself of that excuse for delay: he, therefore, could not refuse the Royal Assent, but he gave it grudgingly ^[4].

The desire of the common people for Municipal Home Rule could no longer be resisted; and an Act was passed authorizing the inhabitant householders of every Parish, town or township to elect a clerk, assessors, town-wardens or church-wardens, high constables, fence-viewers, &c.—the beginning of our Municipal System ^[5]. Simcoe did not approve of such an unEnglish measure, but he thought it “advisable not to withhold such a gratification to which they (i.e., the people) had been accustomed, it being in itself not unreasonable and only to take place one day in the year”^[6].

As a natural result of a municipal system followed a system of assessment (the first of our myriad Assessment Acts), most of the provisions of which may here be passed over. But there is contained in it a provision for the payment of Wages to the Members of the House of Assembly—a practice that had been dead in England for a century. The amount of wages was not startling: a Member was entitled to demand from the Justices of the Peace of his District 10 shillings ($2) per day, the amount to be paid out of the rates.

In the First Session, Simcoe reported “Many of the Members were not averse to Parliamentary Wages” and it was intended to pay them out of the proposed Duty on Spirits—but the scheme was deferred.

The plan of making the Member ask for his pay from the Justices of the Peace, Simcoe thought a good one—it had already caused some disgust and would probably lead to offers of unrewarded service from the Candidates at the next Election ^[7]. Dundas did not approve of paying Members, wages at all—the receipt of wages from their constituents would tend to make them view things as local and not as connected with the welfare of the Province at large, a narrow and contracted policy; but he did not write in time for Simcoe to refuse the Royal Assent and did not think it proper to annul the Act, already assented to ^[8]. Members of the popular House have been paid wages to this day, but now they dignify it with the title of “Indemnity.”

Ways and Means, Money and how to raise it, must always be the most pressing matter in the popular House. Fortunately much of the expense of the Province was paid by the Mother Country—a vote of £6,700 was passed for 1793—but there were Gaols, Court Houses, Officers of the Legislature, &c., &c., to be provided for. And again a Duty upon Spirits was proposed—a Tax on Land then was an abhorrent thing as it always has been and is to-day. The Assembly again passed a Bill for levying a duty of 6d a gallon upon all Spirits entering or passing through the Province: the Legislative Council again rejected it, “in the firm persuasion that Lower Canada must have recourse to the same article as the most fitting and productive subject of taxation”^[9].

But revenue had to be raised somehow—and intoxicating liquor was the readiest article to hand to provide money.

By an Imperial Act of 1774 it had been provided that a duty of £1.16, sterling, should be paid for every licence in the Province of Quebec for keeping a house of public entertainment or for retailing wine, brandy, rum or other spirituous liquor. But it was considered that such licences would stand a higher tax. The Committee of Ways and Means in the Assembly recommended that all retailers of spirituous liquors and wines should pay £3 currency, £2 currency (the £1.16 sterling of the Imperial Act) to be paid into the Imperial Exchequer as usual and the remainder for the Provincial Legislature. This finally passed after somewhat vigorous opposition; and sale without licence was forbidden.

But the further recommendations that persons keeping an open shop for the sale of merchandise must take out a licence and pay £2.5 currency ($9), and that all persons going into the Indian country to trade must do the same were negatived ^[10].

Most of the non-Canadian goods which were imported into Upper Canada came through Lower Canada and it was to the interest of Lower Canada that nothing should act as an interference with that trade. It was clear that such a result would follow if Upper Canada placed duties large or even small upon goods coming through the other Province: at the same time Upper Canada should have a revenue from such goods. It was thought prudent that Upper Canada should refrain from imposing such duties upon receiving a part of the duties the other Province levied upon them. The Legislature, therefore, passed an Act authorizing the Governor to appoint “three able and discreet persons to treat” with an equal number from the other Province to establish regulations concerning duties, drawbacks, &c., on goods passing from one Province to the other and the proportion each Province should receive—the Act to be in force until April 1, 1795 ^[11].

A Court of Probate was erected for proving wills, &c., which was wholly unnecessary under the former French-Canadian law in which a will has validity as such whereas in English law it derives its validity as to chattels from the Letters of Probate ^[12].

An Act concerning the Courts of General Quarter Sessions of the Peace calls for remark as indicating that Detroit and Michillimackinac were to be considered as in the Province—it was provided that the Court for the Western District should sit in Detroit and that a special Court should sit in July every year in Michillimackinac ^[13].

Other Legislation was for the appointment by the Governor of Returning Officers and for Bounties for destroying Wolves and Bears, which requires no special comment here—the Act respecting Highways introduced the evil system of local administration which kept the roads of this Province a disgrace to civilization for a century.

There was no money to pay the salaries of the officers of the Legislature and contingent expenses; and the Governor was asked to lend the amount necessary, which he did after receiving the authority of the Executive Council ^[14].

Already a great difference was manifest between the Houses of Parliament at Westminster and the Houses of Legislature at Newark—in the Province there was nothing corresponding to Government and Opposition. As Simcoe says: “It does not appear that there is any disposition in either House to oppose the measures of Government by system . . . . the only debates that have taken place have been upon the detached clauses . . . . No adverse party seems hitherto to have formed itself. But sooner or later it seems to be the natural result of all political institutions. If I were to indulge in a spirit of conjecture I should be induced to think it may sooner take place in the Upper than in the Lower House altho’ many of the Members are pleased to express a strong attachment to Government . . . . Upon the whole, tho’ there be no direct and systematic opposition to Government it is apparent that on the other hand there is no direct support of its measures . . . .”^[15].

By “Government” Simcoe meant himself as Governor and his servants—they had the administration of the affairs of the Province and the spending of the £6,700 sent from England—no Opposition could have anything to say about that and money is the root of all parliamentary opposition.

His suspicion as to the Upper House arose from the prominence of two of the Legislative Councillors, Robert Hamilton, who, he said, was “an avowed Republican” (with him a term as black as “pro-German” was during the recent war) and his friend and partner, Richard Cartwright—these men, he said, from the ascendancy which they must acquire from being agents for the contract to supply the King’s Troops, would have “nothing to prevent them from exercising it to the detriment of the Government if they have any particular object to promote that may gratify their avarice, ambition or vanity.”

Cartwright and Hamilton, it must be remembered, were most active in the Marriage legislation which Simcoe disliked; and they were opposed to his plan for a Capital on the Thames which they thought—and Cartwright said—was “a complete piece of political Quixotism.” They were independent and that was something which Simcoe reprobated and could not forgive. He urgently asked for the appointment of Aeneas Shaw to the Legislative Council so as to be sure of a majority for his measures and so be relieved from exercising the Prerogative in refusing to assent to Bills.

Cartwright correctly estimated the so-called independency of the Legislative Council supposed to be secured by giving the members a life tenure of their seats—the spirit of the Act had been evaded by making the majority of the Legislative Council consist of “Executive Councillors and officers of Government dependent for their salaries on the good pleasure of the Governor”^[16].

So far there had been no open break between Simcoe and these independent-minded Councillors; but it was not long in coming ^[17].

We should not omit to note here a vigorous assertion of the rights of the Members of the Legislative Assembly. W. B. Sheehan, Sheriff of the Home District, had the temerity to serve a Member of the House with a Writ of Capias during the Session. This being brought to the attention of the House, it was resolved that the Speaker should inform him that the House entertained a strong sense of the impropriety of his conduct and that it only dispensed with bringing him before the Bar to be further dealt with from a conviction that his obnoxious act proceeded from want of reflection and not from contempt of the House ^[18].

NOTES

At the first news of the war with France, which arrived at Newark, May 4, 1793, Simcoe issued a Proclamation offering Letters of Marque or Commissions of Privateers to British subjects; he also determined to withdraw the Queen’s Rangers from Queenstown where they were hutted—an unhealthy place, he said—and to remove them to Toronto, which he intended to fortify; and shortly after the Assembly was prorogued, (July 9), Captain Shaw with 100 men set off in batteaux, followed a few days later by another detachment in schooners. They were encamped at the present Old Fort. Simcoe followed shortly afterwards with the remainder of the Rangers, arriving July 30; Mrs. Simcoe and the children went with him. They lived in “the Canvas House”^[1] erected near the encampment of the Queen’s Rangers, and on a rising ground east of the present Old Fort. Opposite on the Peninsula, now the Island, was what we call Hanlan’s Point, and to which Simcoe gave the name “Gibraltar Point” because he thought that, although the land was low, the sand banks were so formed as to make the place capable of being so fortified as to be impregnable. He gave its name to the Don River; apparently St. John’s Creek retained its old name a little longer, before it became the Humber ^[2].

Simcoe desired to build a Block House, “Cavelier or Stone Redoubt”, on Gibraltar Point to defend the mouth of the harbor of York which he designed to make the chief naval station of the Province. He asked the sanction of Lord Dorchester, the Commander in Chief, to the scheme; although General Alured Clarke, who was Acting Governor during Dorchester’s absence, had expressed his approval, Dorchester, who returned to Quebec in September, 1793, answered that he could not approve of any fortifications being erected there at that time. These two men, Dorchester and Simcoe, were in general perfectly antagonistic, and Simcoe was quite justified in his complaint that “Dorchester’s opinions are . . . . entirely opposite to every view in which I have contemplated the situation of the Province of Canada”^[3].

Simcoe also wished to make an establishment at Long Point, Lake Erie, to counteract that made by the United States at Presqu’Isle (now Erie in Pennsylvania) across Lake Erie; but this project also came to nothing, although the Surveyor found an admirable harbor at the place.

It was only want of means that made him postpone fortifying a post on the Thames which was of more importance in his view than garrisoning Detroit. He thought that all the garrison at Detroit except one Company should be removed to London and Chatham, the garrison at Niagara reduced and the troops stationed at Long Point and York, especially as the vicinity of the United States encouraged desertion ^[4].

London, he consistently and persistently urged as the site of the Capital; that was the only plan he could devise to form a union with the Indians and prevent them from being turned against the British Colonies; he considered that the great means of keeping the Indians friendly was to bestow upon them the King’s bounty with every possible ceremony at the Capital ^[5].

With a view to connecting the proposed Capital and the valley of the Thames with Lake Ontario, he sent Captain Smith with a hundred men to open a road from the Head of Lake Ontario westward—this was the well-known Dundas Street.

“The definite location of Dundas Street is uncertain in some parts of it. It is mostly shown as leading from the forks of the Thames to the crossing of the Grand River, just below the forks (Paris) and from there to Dundas, leaving Ancaster somewhat to the south. The forks of the Thames, where he mentally located London, which, however, did not begin to take form as a settlement centre until about twenty-five years after his time, was Governor Simcoe’s . . . . choice as the capital for Upper Canada . . . . Dundas was the main landing-place at the end of the lake, afterward, and especially in the decades before railway building, developing into a flourishing lake port, the main Lake Ontario port for the south-western part of the province. From Dundas the location of the road was inland to Waterdown, and from there, always well back of the lake shore, on to York. This part of Dundas Street is characterized by sunken water-courses, in wide ravines, deep below the generally level surface of the country, entailing abrupt descents and ascents slanting transversely down to the stream and up again. The road later fell into disuse as a main road of through travel, as in fact did most of the old road west of Dundas also. Only in recent years have these deep ravines, on the Waterdown-Toronto section, been crossed by high viaduct bridges, constituting a great improvement, bringing the road back to main use, and making it an important relief passage for inland travel which had been going out of its more direct course to the lakeshore highway. Topographically the road from Waterdown westward might well have remained above the Niagara escarpment. There is a steep descent from the west into Dundas; and the ascent out of Dundas again, proceeding northward and eastward, is a long and difficult climb; but Dundas was too important to pass by. Location by the lake shore eastward from Dundas appears to have been avoided mostly on account of the insecurity of the marshy surface. The lake shore between Dundas and York was largely occupied by the Mississauga Indians in the earliest days of the new province.

The location of Dundas Street through the city of Toronto is another point on which the authorities differ, including the present city street authorities. The old location from the west is the present one as far as Ossington Avenue. The present Dundas Street recently extended east of Yonge Street by cutting through the solid block, is not the original Dundas Street”^[6].

A circumstance which afforded Simcoe great gratification was the appointment of the Bishop of Quebec, Jacob Mountain, to be a Legislative Councillor of Upper Canada—a Warrant to the Governor or Lieutenant-Governor to summon him to the Legislative Council being incorporated in the direction to issue his Patent as Lord Bishop of Quebec ^[7]. The Bishop’s enormous Diocese included all of Upper Canada; Simcoe had a strong desire and hope that there might soon be a Protestant Bishop of the Church of England for Upper Canada alone.

During this Second Parliamentary recess, Simcoe formulated a plan which had been in his mind from the beginning of his connection with Canada as part of the Anglification of the Province.

To understand the measure in question it may be well to mention again the existing condition of the Courts.

In 1788, Dorchester, as we have seen, divided the territory which afterwards, late in 1791, became Upper Canada into four Districts; in each of these Districts was erected a Court of Common Pleas with full civil jurisdiction. In three of the Districts, the Court was presided over by three laymen, in the fourth, Hesse, by a lawyer, Judge William Dummer Powell. The system of local Courts with full civil jurisdiction was that adopted in the old Province; and it is still in force in the Province of Quebec. The English system was, and is, to have one (or more than one) Court for the whole Country; trials were not as in the provincial system held in the Court itself (except in very rare instances); but a convenient number of times each year, Commissions of Assize and Nisi Prius for the trial of civil actions were issued to persons named, one being a Superior Court Judge, to try the issues joined in the Superior Court. The Judges in the Provincial system lived at the District Seat or Chef-Lieu; in the English system, in or near the Capital.

Simcoe determined to have the system in his Province assimilated to that in England, and he brought the matter up in the Executive Council. He admitted that he had the power under his Commission and Instructions ^[8] to erect the Court himself by Prerogative act; but he preferred that it should be done by the Legislature. He had, therefore, directed Chief Justice Osgoode to draw up a Bill for the purpose and Osgoode did so—it was considered in the Executive Council—at least in form—and directed to be brought down to the Legislative Council at once ^[9].

During this recess, Simcoe gave orders that a Council House should be built at the Government’s expense at the Mohawk Village on the Grand River (the name of which river he had in vain changed to the “Ouse”)^[10].

It is quite certain notwithstanding many statements by Canadian and other writers to the contrary that Simcoe did not intend that Toronto should be the permanent capital of the Province; but he intended it as a naval station, a winter station and refitting port in place of Kingston.

He expected that it would be the seat of Government for a time and that, becoming a flourishing mart of trade, it would be the rendezvous of most of the Indians on the north of Lake Huron, who at that time went to Michillimackinac ^[11].

He had, even before arriving in the Province, considered Toronto “the natural arsenal of Lake Ontario”^[12], and he never wavered in that opinion. As we have seen, not long after reaching Newark, he named it York in honour of the Duke of York, son of King George III ^[13]. On August 26, 1793, Simcoe having received information of the success in the Low Countries of the Duke of York with his command, ordered that on the raising of the Union Flag at noon the following day, “a Royal salute of twenty-one guns be fired to be answered by the shipping in the Harbour in respect to His Royal Highness and in commemoration of the naming of this Harbour from his English title, York”^[14].

Kingston, the existing Naval Station, he considered absolutely indefensible, and being near the United States, liable to be destroyed at least in winter when it was constantly frozen up ^[15].

The failure of the negotiations between the United States and the Indians north of the Ohio was a matter of deep concern to Simcoe; the renewal of hostilities must necessarily be of serious consequences to the Province. Already the trade at Detroit and Michillimackinac had suffered; and it was to be apprehended that, however the conflict should terminate, British interests would suffer. If the Indians should be successful they would be still more arrogant in their charge that Britain abandoned them, her faithful allies, and in claiming more valuable and abundant presents, “till the first refusal of any extravagant request will be interpreted as injury and will be avenged by predatory excursions that must terminate in open war.” If the United States conquered, the Indian Tribes would almost certainly flee to British territory and thence continue a perpetual warfare which would sooner or later involve the Provincial Government with the United States. If it were determined to refuse the Indians shelter in His Majesty’s Dominions or the protection of his fortresses, the Indians could in an instant destroy the settlements and massacre the unfortunate inhabitants of Upper Canada; “and the untutored savage in the first impulse of his resentment and the last deliberation of his Council would reconcile such an attempt to his general mode of reasoning, and to which opportunity and necessity would powerfully urge him, without it being prompted by the Indians or White Emissaries of the United States who in any case are a ready and formidable engine, fully prepared to turn the views of the Indians to their own purposes, and gradually to alienate their minds from the King, their Father, and to dispose them to Hostility against His Subjects”^[16].

Desiring an accurate acquaintance with the country to the north of York and with the harbours on Lake Huron, Simcoe, toward the end of September, made an expedition to the Lake by horse as far as the Holland River and down the river in canoes to Lake La Claie, which he called Lake Simcoe in memory of his father—then crossed the Lake and down the Matchedash or Severn. He was accompanied by three army officers, a Land Surveyor, a dozen soldiers and some Indians. After a careful examination of the harbours he concluded that there were several good roadsteads or havens on the southern side of Gloucester Bay—he had an especially high opinion of Penetanguishene. Then, provisions running low, the party made for York, where they arrived after twenty-seven days’ absence: the party had divided, and those with Simcoe became lost and were put on the right way by his compass. When they had remaining provisions for one day only, they caught sight of Lake Ontario—this the Governor declared was the “most delightful sight” he had ever seen.

During the Autumn, he selected a lot of 200 acres on the west side of the River Don for his young son Frank; and in the following spring, he built a log house on the brow of a steep, high bank overlooking the River—the well known “Castle Frank.”

Simcoe determined to remain all the winter, 1793-4, at York with the Queen’s Rangers; the soldiers were hutted, while Simcoe and his family occupied the Canvas House and a couple of huts until Castle Frank was made habitable shortly after the New Year and then Castle Frank was sometimes occupied.

He planned to go with Mrs. Simcoe and his family to Detroit and reside there for six months to reconcile the inhabitants “as much as possible to the King’s interest”^[17].

A somewhat curious mistake arose as to Simcoe’s view concerning the inhabitants of Detroit and certain other Posts and their vicinity; and it may be well to speak somewhat at length of their position.

We have seen ^[18] that some part of Upper Canada de facto was American territory de jure during practically all of Simcoe’s governorship; he never had any doubt, however, that the inhabitants there were in precisely the same position as though their territory were British de jure. We have already seen how he viewed the question of their right to vote.

In November, 1792, Captain Stevenson, one of his staff and much in his confidence, being called to England on his family affairs, was entrusted by him with Despatches; and Simcoe wrote to Dundas that he was “perfectly capable of communicating any information you may require relative to this Government”—obviously, information relative to the Province was meant ^[19].

Stevenson seems to have considered himself charged to deliver himself on other matters, and he gave to Dundas a number of “Requisitions” (which were really suggestions), one of which raised the question as to the position of the settlers at Detroit and the other Posts. Dundas rather sternly wrote Simcoe: “there cannot be a doubt but that the settlers at Detroit and at the other Posts are subject to the Laws of the Province in like manner with the other inhabitants, and nothing can be more disadvantageous to His Majesty’s interests and to those of the Province than to raise or countenance any doubts on this head. So long as these Posts are in our possession all Persons resident within the same must be considered to all intents and purposes as British subjects”^[20]. Simcoe was able to say with truth: “I have never intimated a doubt but that the settlers at Detroit are amenable to our Laws”^[21].

But he was informed by Col. McKee, who knew the inhabitants at Detroit and vicinity well, that they were not to be trusted; he knew that those in the town, as was to “be expected in trading communities”, were “divided into parties full of petty emulation and trivial jealousies”^[22]; he was very anxious to induce them to cross the river into what was British territory, de jure, but could not succeed. He recognized, however, the wisdom of attaching them to the side of the King.

He did not go and reside at Detroit as he intended. Gen. Anthony Wayne was reported to be threatening to advance within nine miles of Detroit ^[23]. Dorchester was alarmed at the project and determined to build a Fort on the Maumee, to prevent, if possible, an incursion by the Americans upon territory in possession of the British.

He sent specific instructions to Simcoe to build a fort there. Simcoe had very decided opinions against the advisability of such a proceeding; he believed it would be construed into hostility to the United States; and he did not hesitate to express his views both to Dorchester himself and to the Home Authorities ^[24].

But Dorchester was his military superior and had the right to command: Simcoe’s duty was to obey. He urged upon Dorchester the necessity of occupying Matchedash and Long Point; he considered it impracticable to defend Detroit against Wayne, and these were the only ports in which British shipping could find shelter if “the Army of the States should occupy Detroit.” Moreover, he continued to insist on strengthening the Provincial Navy. Partly in that view he recommended that Captain Alexander Grant, the Senior Officer on the Lakes, should be placed in the Executive Council, both that he might be “stamped with eminence and respectability in his professional situation and that the Government might avail themselves if necessary of his experience therein”: he advised that Grant “should have the General Superintendency of the Marine Department of the Province . . . . with a new Commission and Rank”^[25].

He had also intended to form a Battery on the ruins of the old wharf on the east side of the Niagara River. This was to be built by the Queen’s Rangers, but sickness in that Corps prevented it being done ^[26].

He received orders to go to the Maumee, March 14; it was necessary to wait until the existing cold weather should cease so that he might pass up the Lake to Burlington Bay ^[27]: he left for Detroit with Talbot, March 18, having in the meantime directed Lieutenant Pilkington, who was an engineer, to be ready to attend him. Going to Niagara by the Head of the Lake, he sent Talbot to Joseph Brant’s on the Grand River, to order the preparation of the necessary canoes. Simcoe himself followed soon after; and, the Thames opening, the little group left for Detroit, March 26, made their way to Detroit and then to the Maumee.

At Detroit, he ordered a Detachment to accompany him with such ordnance as was available—not very satisfactory it must be said: he arrived at the mouth of the Maumee, April 16, and there he established the detachment of troops. He directed a log fort to be erected on Turtle Island, and another on the River Raisin; but did not build the fortification which he had been instructed to build. He came back to Niagara with Pilkington to get together all the artificers of the 5th Foot, then at Niagara, such soldiers of the Queen’s Rangers as he should think proper and all the civil artificers he could procure—they had found great difficulty in obtaining workmen and proper tools at Detroit ^[28]. Accordingly, immediately after his return to Newark, he gave orders to the Officers Commanding at the various stations “to furnish Lieutenant Pilkington of the Engineers with such artificers as he may require from the Garrison under your command and in every respect facilitate the service he is directed upon, the fortifying the Miamis River on Lake Erie”^[29].

Pilkington gathered a body of artificers and, returning, completed his task. Some of the merchants of Detroit offered to build other fortifications and to garrison them, supplying small arms and ammunition upon terms mentioned ^[30].

All this caused bitter comment in the United States, and there seemed every danger of actual war ^[31]; fortunately, the nations agreed: before the year was out, Jay’s Treaty was signed and the trouble came to an end ^[32].

It is time now to turn to Niagara and the Third Session of the Provincial Parliament.

NOTES

The Third Session of the Legislature began, June 2, and continued until July 7, 1794. The House sat at Newark, now a town of fifty or more houses and rapidly increasing in population, extent and importance ^[1]. Simcoe congratulated the Houses on the successes in the West Indies which promised the Province material benefit—but the fear of war was prominent in his mind and he urged that the law relating to the Militia should be amended so “as in case of emergency to give efficiency to the natural defences by land and water.” The Houses replied most loyally and sympathetically ^[2].

The Militia Act of 1794 was passed without opposition: it made the Militia liable to serve as well upon the lakes and rivers as upon land, and authorised the formation of troops and cavalry; military age was made from 16 to 60 instead of 16 to 50 as theretofore, and certain provisions for regulating the turn of duty were laid down ^[3].

It will be remembered that the Marriage Act of 1793 had been assented to by the House of Assembly on the agreement by the Commissioners from the Legislative Council that they would support a Bill to be introduced in the Session of 1794 by Mr. Hamilton: it was an implied agreement that this Bill would extend the right of legally solemnizing marriage to the ministers of several denominations. During the recess, the opinions of the Law Officers of the Crown at Westminster on the Act of 1793 had been considered and Osgoode had prepared a Bill containing some amendments. But on the opening day of the Session, petitions were presented to the Legislature from Menonists, Tunkers and others, praying that their ministers might be empowered to solemnize matrimony. Effect was not given to these petitions but it was obvious that if any change should be made, all the denominations would press their claims and probably have them allowed. This was thought by Simcoe and those of his way of thinking, to be too radical—they desired the unique position of the Church of England to be continued; and were willing to relax so far only as they must to avoid arousing strong feelings of protest and perhaps legislation calling for refusal of the Royal Assent. As Simcoe says:—“It was thought most advisable to suspend all proceedings on the subject till it should be known whether it was thought expedient that the power requested should be extended to the ministers of any other religious description (than the Church of England) in order that opinion may be sounded and previous measures taken to effectuate if possible what may be thought most beneficial for the Province in such behalf”^[4]. What he thought about the matter is best shown by his official attitude when, in 1796, the Reverend John Bethune and the Presbyterians of Grenville petitioned the House that ministers of the Church of Scotland should be empowered to marry. Although Mr. Bethune had been chaplain of Sir John Johnson’s Corps and was drawing half pay; although he had been paid £50 a year by the former Province of Quebec, and Simcoe was still paying the salary on the direction of Lord Dorchester, Simcoe “thought it proper to say in the most decisive terms to the purport that the Petition was the product of a wicked head and most disloyal heart”^[5].

The most important measure during the Session was the Judicature Act intended to introduce the English system of Courts. We have already seen ^[6] that the Province was divided into four Districts, each with a Court of Common Pleas, which in the District, had unlimited civil but no criminal jurisdiction. This was the system in vogue in the old Province of Quebec and in most of the American Colonies; but it was quite different from the English system in which the Superior Courts had civil jurisdiction throughout the Kingdom. The Court of King’s Bench in England had unlimited criminal jurisdiction as well. Simcoe, apparently of his own motion, but certainly encouraged by the Chief Justice, William Osgoode, and the Attorney-General, John White, determined to have the Court system in Upper Canada made to correspond to that in England.

At his request the Chief Justice drew up a Bill for the purpose: Simcoe called the Executive Council together “to communicate his wishes that a Supreme Court of Judicature might be established in the Province and that altho’ he was empowered by his commission to establish from his own authority such Courts of Justice as he may see necessary, it was notwithstanding, his desire that this measure should be carried into Execution by an Act of the Legislature, and that the Chief Justice had in consequence of his request drawn up a Bill for that purpose which would be brought into the Upper House this day”^[7].

It might have been, and probably it was known in advance, that two of the Executive Councillors, Cartwright and Hamilton, would oppose the Bill: they were Judges of the Courts of Common Pleas at Kingston and Niagara respectively: moreover, Cartwright had been promised a Judgeship by Sir John Johnson when he expected to be Lieutenant-Governor,—it was not to be expected that they would willingly support a measure depriving them of a position of honour and some emolument.

The Legislative Council was at the time composed of seven members, Osgoode (Speaker), Russell (who introduced the Bill), Baby, Shaw, Munro, Cartwright and Hamilton. Munro was in the same case as Cartwright and Hamilton, and it was believed that he would vote with them against the Bill: Russell, Baby and Shaw were to be relied upon to support anything Simcoe should desire—it, therefore, was expected that the result would depend on the vote of the Speaker, Chief Justice Osgoode.

Russell, having obtained leave on June 9, introduced the Bill, Wednesday, June 11: the Assembly expecting a field day, rose and attended the Council in a body to hear the debate. “The arguments used against the Bill were founded on general topics of expediency in the present condition of the Province while the population was scattered and the communications uncertain. The Bill was supported as a measure expected by the public as one of the first objects of every civil establishment and as a benefit enjoyed by every colony connected with the British Dominions.”

The vote on the First Reading was 4 to 2, Munro unexpectedly voting for the Bill. The House of Assembly, curiously enough, was a unit in favour of the measure: this may be explicable by the dissatisfaction which was undoubtedly felt by many at the decisions of the Judges of the Courts of Common Pleas, laymen as they were, it being thought that lawyers would not have given the same opinion ^[8].

The Bill was in the Council eight days and finally it passed by 4 to 2, and was sent down to the Legislative Assembly. There, there was difficulty in preventing the House from giving it all three readings the same day it was received. However, it was kept till the next day and was then passed unanimously and without debate. Cartwright and Hamilton entered a Protest on the Records after the manner of the House of Lords at Westminster, setting out their reasons ^[9].

This measure, which introduced the English system of Courts, had a curious by-product—so long as the Courts were presided over by laymen, they were rather informal, the practice was simple and litigants could conduct their own cases or have non-professional agents conduct them ^[10]. Lawyers were not needed, and indeed there were only two resident lawyers in the Province, the Attorney-General and Walter Roe of Detroit. But with the English system it was intended that, as in England, lawyers should be appointed to the Bench and the practice become technical. There was, indeed, no such abstruse mystery about the practice that an intelligent and diligent layman could not master it by careful study; but it would not pay the ordinary litigant to devote the requisite amount of time to such study simply for his own case or cases. It was, therefore, thought necessary to form a class of professional lawyers; and a somewhat amusing expedient was adopted. That was to qualify “by another Act, certain persons to the number of sixteen . . . . to be nominated by the Governor, to act as lawyers; who, without any previous study or training and by the mere magic virtue of the Privy Seal”, were “at once to start up adepts in the science of the law and proficient in the intricate practice of Westminster Hall”.

Says Cartwright: “This Bill was hurried through in a manner not very decent. My proposal to have it printed previous to discussion was overruled with some warmth and blustering and you will be astonished to hear that a law of such importance and, in conversation at least, disapproved by several of the Members of the Lower House should be passed through that House without debate and in a single day”^[11].

Another by-product of the Judicature Act was the appearance for the first time of what might be called an Opposition—at least what Simcoe thought was “formal and regular opposition”—for thus he reported the position of Cartwright. Apparently he did not intend to suggest that this was “a formal and regular opposition” to the Government and its measures, but only to the Judicature Act. But he had in an earlier report said that there would be no opposition to the Militia Bill and “none except on the part of Mr. Cartwright to the general measures of Government and he has thought fit to give notice that he shall oppose the preamble of a Bill”, (i.e., the Judicature Bill). This ambiguous language led the Secretary of State to infer that Cartwright was in general opposition to the Government; and Simcoe himself was so embittered that he wrote to Lord Dorchester concerning Cartwright’s opposition apparently in the hope that Dorchester would punish Cartwright in connection with his sub-agency for Army supplies; “but his Lordship, as usual, took no notice of that letter.” However, Simcoe afterwards did full justice to Cartwright’s patriotism and ability ^[13]. It is plain that Simcoe, looking upon himself—as he was—as the Government, expected the appointed Legislative Councillors to support every scheme proposed by him, and he had no hesitation in injuring financially and otherwise, one who disappointed that expectation.

Cartwright, while doing full justice to the disposition of Simcoe to consult the welfare of the Province, resented the idea that he should be a mere tool and pay implicit respect to the caprice of the Governor—“in the intercourse of private life, I am disposed to be as accommodating as any man, but in the discharge of a public trust I must follow my own sense of duty and propriety.” He properly asks for what purpose he was given a seat in the Legislative Council, and he thinks it was not merely to show his complaisance to the person at the head of the Government; and he declines to approve of or be silent upon measures which are totally inapplicable to the country and inconsistent with its geographical situation.

He accurately sums up Simcoe’s character:—“He is a man of warm and sanguine temper that will not let him see any obstacles to his view: he thinks every existing regulation in England would be proper here. Not attending sufficiently perhaps to the spirit of the constitution he seems bent on copying all the subordinate establishment without considering the great disparity of the two countries in every respect”^[14].

The seriousness of the change made in destroying the Court of Common Pleas in the chef lieu of each District to which access was reasonably easy, and in erecting a single Court with its offices at the Capital had been stressed by Cartwright and Hamilton both in speech and Dissent—“in the Province with a thin population scattered over so immense an extent of territory . . . . divided . . . . by inland seas and large tracts of waste lands of from two to three hundred miles in extent, shut out from all communication . . . . for nearly five months in the year . . . . such an arrangement from the expense, delay and embarrassment that must necessarily attend it appears to us highly to operate in many instances as a denial of justice . . . .”^[15].

The hardship was in part removed by the institution in each District of a District Court with jurisdiction from 40/ ($8.00) to £15 ($60.00) in cases of contract only ^[16]; all cases of tort, such as negligence, trespass, &c., had, however, to be brought in the Court of King’s Bench. These District Courts were for long presided over by non-professional gentlemen without legal training.

The “wages” of members of the Assembly were more specifically provided for to be paid by their constituents ^[17].

Public revenue was becoming more and more necessary: a duty was laid upon every still and a licence required to be taken out by every distiller, distillers being forbidden to sell by retail; Public Houses as authorized by the Magistrates in each Division, had to take out a licence ^[18].

NOTES

The Judicature Act had provided for a Court of King’s Bench for the Province of Upper Canada, presided over by the Chief Justice and two Puisné Justices.

William Osgoode, the Chief Justice, had earlier in the year been appointed Chief Justice in Lower Canada; but Simcoe had persuaded him to remain in Upper Canada to put through the Judicature Act. Forthwith after the Session, Osgoode left for his new sphere of labour: Simcoe felt his loss very keenly and asked the Home Authorities to send him an English barrister to take his place ^[1]. He was doomed to be disappointed, for John Elmsley, Osgoode’s successor in the Chief Justiceship of the Province, did not arrive until after Simcoe’s departure.

A very capable lawyer, William Dummer Powell, First (and only) Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of the District of Nassau, residing at Detroit, was selected as a Puisné Justice of the Court of King’s Bench. The Second Puisné Justiceship remained vacant during Simcoe’s time and until Henry Allcock’s appointment in 1798 ^[2]. Until the appointment of a Second Puisné, from time to time, Hon. Peter Russell, the Receiver-General, received a temporary Commission to sit as a Justice, a practice wholly unsatisfactory in theory and in practice ^[3].

Shortly after the Legislature was prorogued, Simcoe was given five thousand acres of land, not in his capacity of Lieutenant-Governor but as having been Colonel of the original Queen’s Rangers in the Revolutionary Wars ^[4].

The staff of Law Officers of the Crown in the Province was completed by the appointment by Simcoe of Robert Isaac Dey Gray as Solicitor-General. This was done on the recommendation of the “Gentlemen of the Law Department”; and Gray proved a valuable public servant until his tragic death in the waters of Lake Ontario ^[5].

During the whole of this period, there was much alarm on account of the American General “Mad Anthony” Wayne’s actions in the region of the Miami fortifications: more than once war seemed imminent and it is certain that armed attacks by Wayne would have met vigorous armed resistance. There was much public outcry in the United States for war to enforce the territorial claims under the Treaty of 1783. The Federalists, on the other hand, used all their efforts and influence to avoid war which they believed, and with reason, would be disastrous. Washington was urged to send a Special Envoy to England to effect a peaceful settlement, and at length in the summer of 1794, he appointed John Jay, the Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court: Jay left in May, arrived in England after a trip lasting thirty days and proceeded to his task without delay. Simcoe was cheered by receiving reports of the probable success of this mission ^[6]. He was too wise, however, to place much dependence on such assurances, and until the Treaty was finally ratified and made public he did not relax his vigilance in the Western and South Western districts ^[7].

A source of anxiety arose in the settlement by many persons claiming under the State of New York, at Sodus about thirty miles W.S.W. of the present Oswego at which was the British Fort, Ontario. Not only was there much smuggling past the Fort, but permanent settlements were made in territory which though de jure in the United States, Britain continued to hold. Fears were expressed by the Commandant at Fort Ontario of actual hostilities; and there was real peril that an armed conflict might ensue ^[8]. This did not escape the notice of Dorchester: he directed Simcoe to protest against the settlement, and Simcoe obeyed the instructions ^[9]. He commissioned Lieutenant (afterwards General Sir Roger) Sheaffe of the 5th Foot, then at Niagara, to proceed to the place and make a formal protest after conference with the Commandant at Fort Ontario. He was directed to make enquiries as to settlements said to be forming at Salmon River (some twenty-eight miles below Oswego), Hungry Bay and elsewhere: and if he thought it advisable, to leave a protest at these places ^[10]. Sheaffe took with him a subaltern and a guard, a boat’s crew of eight or ten men, rowed along the south shore of Lake Ontario from Fort Niagara, delivered his formal protest—and was laughed at by the settlers ^[11].

The situation in the West became very alarming. Wayne defeated the Indians and came close to the Fort at Miami. For a time it looked as if actual war would begin, but Major Campbell, the British commander, was dignified and resolute, and Wayne prudently did not attack notwithstanding his somewhat truculent language ^[12].

Simcoe thought it necessary to have the militia in readiness and to order a detachment of the Queen’s Rangers and other troops to Miami. The victory of Wayne over the Indians at the Battle of Fallen Timbers, August 20, 1794, he thought an evil omen and disagreed with Major Campbell’s view that it would prevent a war ^[13]. He determined to visit the scene himself, and leaving Niagara, arrived at Fort Erie, September 13. Mrs. Simcoe, who accompanied him that far, sailed on the 18th for Kingston en route to Quebec where she was to remain until danger of war should blow over ^[14]. After a delay of a week from contrary winds he succeeded in setting sail up Lake Erie to the fortifications. On a thorough inspection of these, he found too few men fit for duty and ordered an immediate reinforcement of one hundred and thirty rank and file with proper officers from the 24th Foot ^[15]; he went on to Detroit on horseback. There he stayed four days and set off for the Huron Village of Brownstown for a Council with the Indians. At the Council were many Indians, amongst them Joseph Brant: there were many angry demands that the British should send them assistance against the “Long Knives” which they claimed had been promised them by Dorchester. He promised to transmit the request to Dorchester, but carefully refrained from making any promise of his own.

After four days of somewhat acrimonious discussion, Simcoe crossed the River to Detroit, and, October 18, he arrived back at Navy Hall ^[16].

About this time an appointment was made, which is little known, and the circumstances of which illustrate the anxieties and watchful care of Simcoe.

The French settlements in the “Upper Country”, Detroit and Michillimackinac, with the dependencies and adjoining territory were not much enamoured of British rule. In Detroit there was little trouble, there being a strong leaven of English and Scottish traders: in and near Michillimackinac some suspicion was aroused by the conduct of French priests, but the settlement at the River Aux Raisins caused the greatest anxiety both on account of its geographical position, about midway between Detroit and Miami, (as its loss would imperil the safety of Detroit) and its relative populousness. There appeared at that place from time to time emissaries from the south who tampered with the loyalty of the French-Canadians. Some of these intruders came from France, clothed with clerical authority: some were French-Canadians in the service of the United States. Simcoe, August 1, suggested to Dorchester “whether some trusty, loyal clergyman might not be of use in the Settlement . . . . to counteract . . . . improper opinions and transactions if such a person can be found in Lower Canada.” Dorchester applied to the Roman Catholic Bishop of Quebec, Right Reverend Jean François Hubert, who selected the Reverend Edward Burke, priest of St. Peter’s and St. Lawrence in the Isle of Orleans, and sent him. It was none too soon; the settlers had already resolved to refuse obedience to the militia law and were in an ugly mood. The efforts of the priest, “as good a subject as the King” had, were successful in suppressing the flames which had broken out ^[17].

Simcoe determined to make a tour round Lake Ontario and along the north bank of the St. Lawrence: he left Niagara, November 13, and after being snowbound at Burlington Beach, he arrived at York. There he examined the fortifications and inspected the improvements in the nascent town—then to boat again, past Presqu’ Isle, and arrived at Kingston, December 3 ^[18]. He carefully inspected all the public works and property in and near Kingston, laid plans for roads, including one to the Forks of the Rideau. He made full enquiry into the lands which had been surveyed, and arranged as much as possible for their speedy settlement. He also considered the feasibility of communication by water with the River Ottawa, a scheme brought to fruition many years later by the Rideau Canal.

When in Kingston he expressed to the Home Authorities, plans for still further assimilating Upper Canada to England, his principle being, as he often repeated, to make the Province as nearly as possible an image and transcript of the Old Land.

We have already spoken of the appointment of Lieutenants of Counties ^[19]. Simcoe now suggested another scheme of assimilation. He proposed to Portland that the Towns of Niagara and Kingston should be incorporated as Cities with maritime jurisdiction over the Lakes and River St. Lawrence—so far as Lake Ontario was concerned, the intermediate port of York was to have its share. These special jurisdictions were wholly disapproved of by Portland, who stated in the plainest language that neither the scheme of Lieutenants of Counties nor the Corporation scheme was proper in the existing condition of the Colony; and he declined to assent to the proposition that the Colony should be like the Old Land ^[20]. This was the first real check that Simcoe had met at the hands of the Home Authorities, though he had experienced many a rebuff from his military superior, Lord Dorchester.

He had already secured a house in Johnstown and he made a tour along the north bank of the St. Lawrence as far as that place, where he remained for a fortnight, expecting Mrs. Simcoe. He went half way to Pointe au Bodet, the boundary of his Province, and met her, February 11th. They then returned to Johnstown and shortly after to Kingston, where they were lodged in the Barracks ^[21].

Simcoe was relieved of some financial anxiety by the report that the Commissioners appointed under the Act of 1794 had come to an agreement with the Commissioners of Lower Canada. The account and consideration of this is however postponed to the chapter on Provincial Finance ^[22].

He had a meeting with the Oswegatchie Indians at Oswegatchie, February 2, and recommended gratifying them with trifling presents and an appropriation to build their church ^[23].

He also urged complete reformation of the Indian Department; practically powerless to interfere or to do anything but recommend, he saw many abuses and more errors of judgment in those charged with the conduct of Indian affairs; his prayers fell on deaf ears and the reorganization of this Department had to wait for many years.

His activities were interrupted towards the end of March by a very serious illness which confined him to his room at Kingston for several weeks: a constitution weakened by the toils of the Revolutionary War had not been fully reinstated. The anxieties of the situation in the west and southwest, the physical labour and discomfort of the journeys to Miami, Detroit and the St. Lawrence, proved too much for him; and to these must be added the harassing coldness, not to say contempt, with which he was treated by Lord Dorchester, and what he thought to be indifference of the Home Administration.

Partially recovering, he set sail from Kingston, May 15th, and arrived at York, May 17th, 1795. After staying there four weeks, he completed his journey to the Capital with Mrs. Simcoe by canoe, arriving, June 16th. Simcoe was able to resume his duties by the end of May, but it is impossible not to see that he was seriously shaken.

The arrival of an official copy of Jay’s Treaty, as finally approved, relieved him, however, of fear of aggression from the United States.

NOTES

The Fourth Session of the Legislature met at Newark, July 6, 1795. Before it met, Simcoe was visited by the celebrated Duc de La Rochefoucault, but any account of the visit may be deferred for the present ^[1].

The Session was very short and unexciting. No Record of the Proceedings in either House is extant, and we must to a great extent rely upon the Despatches of Simcoe and the Statutes themselves.

The first matter obtaining consideration was the Practice of Medicine. The Act authorized the issue by the Lieutenant-Governor of a Licence to any person found duly qualified by a Board composed of the Hospital Surgeon, the Surgeons of the Regiments and duly licensed practitioners, or any two of them. It also provided a penalty for those practising without a Licence ^[2].

The first of our Representation Acts followed. It was found necessary by reason of the influx of Americans, lured by the cheap land rather than by what is given as the inducement in the Preamble of the Act, “the excellence and lenity of his Majesty’s Government to become inhabitants of the Province.” Many of these became loyal British subjects and peaceful citizens, but many were open and more were underhand propagandists for separation of Canada from Britain and its union with the United States. A claim was made by and for them that having been born in the Colonies before the Treaty of 1783, they were “natural born British subjects” and consequently entitled to a vote and to be elected Members of the Assembly under the provisions of the Constitutional Act of 1791 ^[3]. This right was claimed even for those who had taken the oath of allegiance to the United States ^[4]. The loyal part of the population were alarmed at the prospect of an increased number of such immigrants, their attaining political power and electing disloyal representatives.

The Representation Act of 1795 recited that “many natural born subjects of His Majesty who had sworn allegiance to other States and powers and been resident in the dominions of the same have been induced or may hereafter be induced . . . . to become inhabitants of the Province” and that it was “inexpedient that such persons should be immediately admitted to all the privileges of British subjects.” It then provided that to be elected to the Assembly a person must have been under His Majesty’s government at the passing of the Act and for seven years previously a bonâ fide British subject. The consideration of the third Act concerning duties and an agreement with Lower Canada is deferred for the present ^[5]. Chapter IV gives the Court of King’s Bench jurisdiction over contraband goods—the amount of smuggling going on was enormous ^[6].

The next Act is one of the most important and most useful passed at any time. We who have a system of registering deeds and other evidences of titles to lands have little conception of the inconveniences attending the want of something of the kind—the constant care to be taken of deeds, &c.; their production on every change of title and the like were necessary in all parts of England except two Counties ^[7]. The Act of 1795 established a Registry office in every County and Riding in the Province for memorials of deeds, &c., affecting lands. These offices have been continued and added to up to the present time and have saved hundreds of thousands of dollars ^[8].

These five Acts constitute the whole legislative grist for this Session; no record is extant concerning any other legislation proposed: Prorogation took place, August 10.

NOTES

While La Rochefoucault arrived at Newark June 22, before the opening of the Session, he remained within the Province until after the Session had well begun, and it seems convenient to speak here of his visit.

François Alexandre Frederic La Rochefoucault-Liancourt, born in 1747, the son of la Rochefoucault, duc d’Estissac, Master of the Robes to the King of France, became an officer of Carabineers; but losing the favor of Madame du Barry, he left the Court for his estate at Liancourt. President of the National Assembly, it was he who warned the King of the seriousness of the situation in Paris: “Non, Sire, c’est une révolution” he answered to the King’s remark as to a revolt. His friendship for the unfortunate Louis Seize brought him into disfavor with the Revolutionists and in 1792, he went to England. In the winter of 1794-95, he crossed to this Continent on a “journey for philosophical and commercial observation”: he left Philadelphia, the capital of the United States, in May and arrived at Fort Erie in Upper Canada, June 20, and at Newark, June 22.

He was most courteously received by Simcoe, was invited to stay with him and to consider the house as his own. La Rochefoucault was a careful observer and his account of the Province is of great value. Dorchester forbade his entering Lower Canada and we are consequently deprived of an account by him as an eye witness of that Province ^[1].

He does full justice to Simcoe’s detestation of military rule, to his love of all that is liberal and fair and his ardent desire for the good of his Province: he recognizes how Simcoe was embarrassed by the attitude of Dorchester and the impossibility of carrying out his own plans.

La Rochefoucault, however, exaggerates Simcoe’s dislike for the United States, which he more than once calls hatred, “haine.” That Simcoe did dislike the United States is true, as was natural in one who had fought on the Loyalist side during the Revolutionary Wars. But that dislike, increased as it was by the truculent bearing of some Americans, was no greater than (say) that of prominent Union men after the Civil War toward those of the South, or than that of the Cavaliers toward the triumphant Roundheads. No doubt he cherished the hope that the United States would come back to the ancestral allegiance, but it is a calumny to charge him, as La Rochefoucault by implication at least does, with “assisting last year the Indians by all the counsel and all the means he could without too much compromising himself, having as much as he could provoked a war the success of which, certain in his view, would flatter at the same time his love of glory and his sentiments of hate and of vengeance”^[2].

This is quite inconsistent with Simcoe’s constant assurance that more than anyone else he desired peace with the United States for he saw, “with reason in that, one great means of success for his new Colony.”

Justice is done to his character:—“In private life, Governor Simcoe is simple and straightforward; he lives in a miserable little wooden house formerly occupied by the Commissioners for the navigation of the Lake. He is guarded there by four soldiers who come from the Fort in the morning and return in the evening. There he lives generously and hospitably without ostentation: his mind is facile and enlightened; he speaks well on all subjects, more willingly on his projects than on anything else . . . .”^[3].

Notwithstanding that Jay’s Treaty had been concluded, there was still fear of trouble with the Americans—the Treaty had not been ratified by the Senate until June 24, 1795, and there was a strong sentiment against it in the United States, so much so indeed that the Republican Party for a time succeeded in preventing the grant of the appropriation necessary to carry it into effect ^[4].

The situation south of Lake Erie continued to be disquieting. Simcoe heard that a Pennsylvania detachment of three hundred men was at Presqu’Isle with the design of building a fort at the mouth of the river, and determined to make a semi-military settlement in the vicinity of Long Point. He thought Turkey Point the best place and asked leave from Dorchester to send a hundred rank and file of the Queen’s Rangers there without delay. Being firmly of opinion that military establishments should precede settlement in that district he had consistently refused to authorise settlements near the centre of Lake Erie and the time had come to make an immediate move, while the half-pay officers would favor a proper basis for settlement. Before the close of the Session he had made up his mind himself to visit the intended settlement ^[5], and soon after the close he carried the project into effect.

After attending an Indian Council of the Six Nations at Fort Erie, August 28, 29 ^[6], he left for Long Point: there, notwithstanding his wretched state of health he made a careful examination of the locus, with which he was very much pleased: he fixed a place for a town, which he called Charlotteville ^[7] in honour of Queen Charlotte, also for a barracks; he selected a suitable position for a pier and block-house to give safety and protection to the shipping, and where ships might, if required, be built. He confidently expected that his scheme would be advantageous and hoped for the building of saw and grist mills in the vicinity of Long Point and on the Thames, and so reported to Dorchester. In view of the change in the situation, Dorchester had already withdrawn his objection to Simcoe making use of such part of the Queen’s Rangers as he should think proper so long as the transport of military stores and provisions should not be interfered with.

Portland approved of the scheme and thought that it could not fail to lay the best foundation of attachment to the Crown and Constitution. Simcoe thought that Dundas had previously approved of it, but now Dorchester repudiated any responsibility and asserted that he would continue the present military communication until one more convenient and less expensive could become practicable. He intended on the evacuations under Jay’s Treaty becoming a realized fact to withdraw all the troops from Upper Canada but the Queen’s Rangers and as many of the Royal Artillery as should be necessary to take care of ordnance stores. He could not prudently consent to any change in the existing disposition of the troops—and once more Simcoe was blocked in his plans ^[8].

Some Gun Boats had already been begun at Chatham. Simcoe still considered that the shipyard at that point should not be given up as he was convinced that vessels could be built there more cheaply than at Detroit ^[9]—but that scheme also came to naught.

On November 13, the family went by ship to York: the Governor’s health not improving, he made application for leave of absence. He stated that he had been suffering for some months from a severe bilious disorder and that the medical men had advised him to leave the country as he had no longer the power to contend with the autumnal heats here. His condition was such that if leave of absence could not be given he would be obliged to resign his commission ^[10].

He did not receive leave for some time and his health appreciably improved, but by no means was it perfect ^[11].

The family returned to Newark, April 29, the Legislature opening, May 16. Simcoe intended to dissolve it before June 1, when it was expected that the Fort at Niagara would be given up to the Americans under Jay’s Treaty. He had determined to remove the capital to York and was preparing the necessary buildings there ^[12].

NOTES

The First Legislature of the Province met in its Fifth and last Session at Newark, May 16, 1796.

The Lieutenant-Governor congratulated the Houses on the ratification of the Treaty with the United States and said that the Governor-General was making the preparations necessary to carry it into execution—it could not help to be beneficial to the Province. He suggested that the local knowledge possessed by the Members might enable them to devise some remedy for the scarcity of grain in the Province. The Houses made a dutiful reply and promised to consider regulations in respect of the scarcity of grain. This, however, was beyond “the application of Legislative wisdom” and they did nothing in that regard ^[1].

During the Session, Simcoe for the first time submitted to the Legislature his General Accounts Current for the Civil Expenditure from the first establishment of the Province until December 31, 1795 ^[2].

The first Act was for the better regulation of certain coins current in the Province and the amounts for which they should be legal tender. The coins current give us some conception of the difficulties of business transactions at the time. We find in gold not only the British Guinea fixed at £1.3.4 and the American Eagle, £2.10, but also the French Louis d’Or, £1.2.6, and Pistole, 18/, the Spanish Milled Doubloon or four Pistole piece, £3.14, and the Portuguese Johannes, £4 and Moidore, £1.10. Of silver we find the British Crown, 5/6, and Shilling 1/1, the American Dollar, 5/, the Spanish Pistareen, 1/0, the French Crown, 5/6, piece of 4 livres 10 sols Tournois, 1/8, piece of 36 sols Tournois, 1/1, and piece of 24 sols Tournois, 1/1, and the Spanish milled Dollar, 5/ equal to 4/6 Sterling ^[3].

A penalty of one year’s imprisonment and one hour in the pillory was provided for anyone counterfeiting or uttering any of these coins; a second offence to be a felony without benefit of clergy. The amount of copper money to be legal tender was limited to one shilling currency.

The next Chapter regulated Public Houses and the next was in respect of Courts of Quarter Sessions of the Peace and District Courts. This was rendered necessary by the impending abandonment of Detroit and Michillimackinac, and is the only statutory recognition of that important event.

The Act of 1793 directed the Court of General Sessions of the Peace for the Western District to sit in the Town of Detroit and provided that a Special Court should be held every year in the Town of Michillimackinac. The Act of 1794 directed that the District Court of the Western District should sit in the Town of Detroit. That of course would be impossible after the delivery of these places to the Americans fixed by Jay’s Treaty as not later than June 1, 1796. Accordingly the sittings at Michillimackinac was abolished, and instead of Detroit the Courts were directed to sit in the Parish of Assumption (now Sandwich) until the Magistrates should decide to remove the place to nearer the Isle of Bois Blanc.

Bois Blanc itself was for long in dispute; although from the soundings Simcoe himself thought it within the American lines, it was not surrendered with Detroit in 1796, and in fact it was allotted to Britain by the Utica Award of 1822. In Simcoe’s time many merchants in Detroit were anxious for a town to be laid out as near as possible to the Post which Dorchester had directed to be established on the Island and it was at this proposed town that the Courts were expected to sit ^[4], but in fact they continued to sit at Assumption.

The reward for killing bears and wolves was cancelled—“it is found to be no longer necessary to encourage by a public bounty the destroying of bears in any part of this province”^[5].

Commissioners to frame new arrangements with Lower Canada in respect of the difficult matter of the share of duties to be paid to each Province, were authorized ^[6].

And last came a new Assessment Act with a new and, it was believed, more satisfactory method of raising the money to pay the wages of the Members of the Legislative Assembly.

The Legislature was prorogued, June 3, with a Speech replete with emotion, urging the members “to recommend our Public acts to our fellow subjects by the efficacy of our private example and to contribute to this tract of the British Empire to form a Nation obedient to the Laws, frugal, temperate, industrious, impressed with a steadfast love of justice, of honor, of public good, with unshaken probity and fortitude amongst men with Christian piety and gratitude to God.”

“Conscious of the intention of well-doing, I shall ever cherish with reverence and humble acknowledgment the remembrance that it is my singular happiness to have borne to this Province, the powers, the privileges, the principles and the practice of the British Constitution. This perpetual monument of the good will of the Empire, the reward of tried affection and Loyalty can best fulfil the just end of all Government as the experience of ages past proved by communicating universally, protection and prosperity to those who shall make a rightful use of its advantages.”

Just before prorogation, the welcome news had come of the final ratification of Jay’s Treaty ^[7].

NOTES

It was not many days after Prorogation that Simcoe received a positive refusal in respect of his plans to form semi-military settlements at Charlotteville and Penetanguishene, Dorchester stating “No more military Posts appear to me to be necessary”^[1].

He went with his family on June 16, 1796, by boat to the River Credit and thence to York: there he awaited with anxiety the answer to his application for leave of absence, having been advised by his physicians that he could expect to re-establish his health only in Europe. He felt, too, the extra burden cast upon him by the removal of Osgoode and the omission to send a successor ^[2].

Leave reached him at York, July 14,^[3] and he was notified that the Pearl, sailing on August 10, would carry him from Quebec to England.

Wednesday, July 20, he and his family took leave forever of Castle Frank and the next day boarded the Onondaga for the east: on the following Monday they arrived in Kingston and on the 30th at Montreal. From that place he took occasion to communicate with General Prescott and to assure him that should any circumstances arise requiring his presence in Upper Canada he should not hesitate to risk his remaining therein in proof of that duty and attachment which he bore to the King’s interests ^[4].

Leaving Montreal, August 2, they arrived at Quebec on the 5th. Detained there by reason of the absence of the Pearl, they embarked on the 10th September and set sail next day.

There was some fear of French Cruisers ^[5], but fortunately this fear was not justified by the event and, October 13, they were safely landed at Deal. After spending a few hours there, they went to Dover and Canterbury, then to London and finally by coach to Exeter and Wolford Lodge.

When Simcoe arrived home he expected a long rest. He busied himself with the management of his estate; but he was still Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada and he kept his hand upon its affairs. Both he and those he had left behind fully expected an early return ^[6].

Peter Russell, the Receiver-General, had become Administrator of the Government in the absence of the Lieutenant-Governor ^[7]: and he kept Simcoe en rapport with affairs in the Province and continually asked his advice.

All the Posts had been given up to the Americans ^[8]: the seat of Government had been ordered to be removed to York, where brick buildings were being prepared for the Houses and for the Court of King’s Bench. Russell was preparing to go to that place ^[9], notwithstanding the severe loss he had sustained in the burning of the residence he had nearly finished there. The troops were mostly removed from the Province despite Simcoe’s strong protest to Dorchester that in “dismantling . . . . the Province of Upper Canada”, he had “not consulted His Majesty’s civil interests or followed the intentions of the King’s confidential servants respecting its military protection”^[10].

Prescott seems to have been as little regardful of the civil government of the Province as Dorchester had been: we find him forbidding Grant leaving his station to attend Council meetings, and a Council could not be held for a time. He also refused to allow Indian presents to be placed at York, or repairs to be made to the Huts at York; and Russell, hampered at every turn, longed for Simcoe’s return ^[11].

But Simcoe had sterner work to do. As a by-product of the French Revolution, the Blacks in San Domingo, the French portion of the beautiful Hispaniola of the Castilian adventurers, determined to be free. They rose against their former masters, and hideous scenes of outrage and blood occurred in every corner of the land. Both parties resorted to aboriginal brutality: reason seemed to have deserted her throne and wild cruelty reigned supreme—occasional instances of humanity and loyalty but made blacker the prevailing darkness. The Whites were forced further and further back and, 1791, in desperation they asked aid from Jamaica and other neighbours, in troops, arms, ammunition and food. A section of them made overtures to Governor (afterwards Sir) Adam Williamson of Jamaica to place their country under British protection. In common with most of the Jamaican planters who knew that insurrection and opposition to constituted authority had a way of spreading, he favoured the proposition and urged it upon the Home Government. They had too much on hand to send assistance from Europe, but finally in 1793 ^[12], they gave Williamson discretionary powers to take over such parts of the Island as the inhabitants might desire and to send from Jamaica a force sufficient to maintain and defend them.

Williamson undertook the task with enthusiasm. He made a descent on San Domingo in September, 1793, the armament consisting of the 13th Foot, seven companies of the 49th Foot and a detachment of Artillery, in all 870 rank and file, the first division of about 679 rank and file under Lieutenant-Colonel (afterwards Lieutenant-General) John Whitelocke ^[13] landing at Jeremie, September 19, 1793. At first the invaders were successful, taking the Fort at the Mole of Cape St. Nicholas; but the French Republican Commissioners called the Blacks to their assistance, issuing a sounding declaration that every kind of slavery was abolished and that the former slaves were to consider themselves, and be considered, free citizens.

The Town of St. Nicholas joined the Republican cause and the promised co-operation of the planters failed. Whitelocke failed to take Tiburon and the dreaded yellow fever broke out among his troops. After varying success during the following months, a reinforcement arrived under General Whyte, May 19, 1794. Port-au-Prince fell; but yellow fever again broke out and in two months slew forty officers and six hundred rank and file. Whyte was succeeded by General Horneck, and in the following April, 1795, a reinforcement came in of the 81st and 96th and part of the 82nd Foot. These were also stricken by the fatal disease.

In May, 1795, Williamson arrived at Port-au-Prince, having in the previous October resigned as Governor of Jamaica and been appointed Commander-in-Chief of all the British West India possessions with the Order of the Bath.

In August came the remainder of the 82nd Foot—980 strong on landing; 350 remained alive in six weeks. In May, 1796, came 7,000 troops under Brigadier-General Howe, and there continued to be much desultory fighting. The Republicans were gaining on every hand; the British were discouraged and scourged by disease. Affairs were desperate and Pitt determined to send Simcoe to command.

Simcoe stipulated for and was promised by the Government and the King himself, that his family should be provided for if he should “perish in the mission which he was about to proceed upon . . . .”; he had been “obliged to quit a Southern climate even without contagion to preserve life” twice already ^[14].

In other respects he was not so fortunate. He asked the Duke of York to be allowed to take with him “such officers as from personal attachment have offered themselves for this service”: this he deemed necessary “to the preservation of my character and comfort.” He particularly asked that Lieutenant-Colonel Talbot, his former Secretary, should be Quartermaster-General, saying “the multifarious duties that may call for exertion in that department under my Instructions cannot escape your Royal Highness nor the insufficiency of that Department in point of numbers.” The Duke refused this most reasonable request, and Dundas, apparently misunderstanding a passage in Simcoe’s letter, was about to involve him in a dispute with the Duke. Rather than have any dispute with the son of his King, he consented to take the San Domingo assignment without a staff of his own choice—“a submission, as I told the Duke of Portland on my return, I would not have made had (his beloved benefactor and friend) Sir Wm. Howe been Commander-in-Chief.”

Simcoe had no hesitation in writing to his friend Addington, who had informed him that Pitt had selected him for “the mission to St. Domingo for his integrity”—“happy and fairly dealt with should I have been, had I served solely under his directions or those of the Duke of Portland; but I soon found what I had been assured by officers of the first respectability would be the case, that Mr. Dundas and his office would make me feel that no authority but theirs was of any consequence or could be productive of public advantage or private reputation.”

Before finally determining not to resign his Commission under the Great Seal he consulted his old friend, Lord Percy, now Duke of Northumberland, who gave him wise if amusing advice how to deal with incompetent or untrustworthy officers ^[15].

His acceptance of the Commission came as a great shock to Mrs. Simcoe, but he determined to retain it. Appointed December 3, 1796, though he did not expect to live—but his father had died rather than quit his station: and sequitur patrem—he set sail from Portsmouth in H.M.S. James, a former Dutch vessel, a slow and heavy ship. Some ships of the French Fleet were about and two of them were actually seen one night but they did not attack as they had the option of doing. There was a “series of bad weather”, and after a passage of two months, he arrived at Mole St. Nicholas late in February, 1797 ^[16].

He soon left the Mole for Port au Prince to “diligently execute his functions” that he “might the more speedily return.” He had hopes of conquering not only the French but also the Spanish part of the Island. With characteristic energy, he at once proceeded to throw himself into the administration of the affairs, military and civil, of that part of the Island under British control. He went through his territory, personally examining into the situation. He cancelled the leases made by absentee planters, many of whom had gone to France or elsewhere out of the Island: he improved the Colonial corps and made other reforms: and he pressed the war with energy. ’Twas not in mortals to command success, but he deserved it; and he always contended that he was successful beyond all computation. He firmly asserted that for any apparent want of success it was not the fault of the soldiery, and he warmly resented and repelled the insinuation that they were less efficient than those in Wolfe’s army or those engaged in the Revolutionary Wars. Much indeed was due to the climate of the West Indies, much to the ravages of yellow fever, but more to those who were the directors at home and elsewhere, of the campaign.

So much was he feared in any case by the French that they had, the month of his arrival, called the celebrated Toussaint l’Ouvreture to the command of the forces ^[17]. Simcoe had to retire to the capital, leaving the fertile places to the enemy. Reports seem to have been made to London adverse to him, and at length, harassed and outnumbered by the enemy troops, worried and indignant at unjust and malevolent charges, he asked for leave of absence and returned to England ^[18].

He was not generously treated: he was not allowed the ship to return to England which he had been promised; but had to use a vessel in which he “had to dread pestilence, shipwreck and imprisonment.”

He was received by the Commander-in-Chief, not as a victorious officer, but as a culprit: the Minister, Dundas, to whose want of capacity he attributed the perilous condition of the country, did not choose to see him. He had even to meet—as he did without difficulty—the charge of abandoning his post. Junior officers whom he had superseded, were given regiments as were those whose military pretensions were unknown. No attention was paid to his representations of the practicability of the conquest of San Domingo and the ultimate good effect it must inevitably produce to the King’s service, the safety of the British possessions in the West Indies and national commerce. He accordingly resigned his San Domingo Commission. At the same time he resigned his Lieutenant-Governorship of Upper Canada because he would not keep a position he could not execute, and he was determined not to return to Canada in a subordinate position. He had had enough of that experience.

It should be said that while he always believed that a return to the West Indies meant death, had his representations been heeded, he was determined to return in the confident expectation that he could render great service in universum genus humanum by carrying into effect a scheme for the freeing of the negroes which was much in his mind, as it had been in Upper Canada some years before, and which he believed would unite the opinions of Pitt and Wilberforce as well as those of Addington and himself in the wisdom and practicability of its application.

It may well be that had Simcoe had his way, Emancipation in the British Empire would have been advanced thirty years.

He applied to the King for a Regiment as alms for himself and bread for his children: he had an interview with Pitt, the Duke of York and the Duke of Portland. The Duke of Portland told him that he destined him to succeed Prescott as Governor-General of Canada, and therefore he made no claim for remuneration as Civil Governor of San Domingo, as otherwise he would have done.

He received the command of the Western District in England comprising Devon and Somerset (except Plymouth), a service laborious and incessant but giving him the pleasure of serving with “English Generals and English Gentlemen.” Having obtained from the King two cannons as a mark of His Majesty’s appreciation of his military service, he withdrew to Wolford Manor and his District to await events.

He had on his arrival in England at once to take up with General Ira Allen of Vermont, the case of a vessel, the Olive Branch, loaded with military stores for that State which had been seized by the British authorities on the suspicion that these supplies were for the traditionary enemy France ^[19]. He also was consulted concerning the claim of Benedict Arnold and his family to a grant of land in Upper Canada ^[20].

Notwithstanding Dorchester’s veto, the settlement at Long Point went on apace, Russell being careful in his selection of persons for that purpose ^[21].

Russell, the Administrator, continued to hope for his speedy return to Upper Canada and to ask for his advice in connection with the Province: and other officers had the same hope, even after it was currently stated that he had resigned ^[22]. As late as May, 1799, the Executive Council considered him, Lieutenant-Governor and ordered the Receiver-General to pay him half the Lieutenant-Governor’s fees for Seals, i.e., for affixing the Great Seal to Grants, &c.^[23] Mr. Justice Allcock, the scheme for a Court of Chancery being broached, besought his influence that he might be appointed Judge ^[24].

It was currently reported in Upper Canada as well as in Lower Canada that he was to succeed Prescott, a rumor that did not receive its quietus until Prescott left for England in July, 1799, leaving the Lieutenant-Governor, Robert Shore Milnes, to carry on the Government.

NOTES

In 1796, an Act was passed for raising a very considerable body of Cavalry to be enrolled and kept in readiness for service when called upon—one horseman and horse for every ten men. These were to be under call for drill, &c., and the service was sufficiently onerous ^[1].

Mr. Speaker Addington had intended that Simcoe should have the command of this Force in the West of England and had unofficially announced this to him; but the exigency of San Domingo had induced Pitt to utilize his services in that Island ^[2].

When he returned from San Domingo, as we have seen, he was given a more extensive command—the militia as well as the army and navy were largely increased in that year ^[3].

All was not well with the Empire. Attempts made by Pitt in the previous autumn (1796) for peace with France, had totally failed: a run on the Bank of England followed and cash payments were suspended in February, 1797. While the victory off St. Vincent by Jervis was heartening, the Fleet at the Nore mutinied ^[4], and the Dutch Fleet threatened invasion. Ireland was on the verge of open rebellion and the prospect was dismal. One striking proof of the seriousness of the outlook is furnished by the fall of Consols to 48.

Renewed attempts at peace were made in April, 1797; but in the following November, they again failed.

A rebellion broke out in Ireland in 1798, and it was necessary to increase the Navy. The victory of the Nile, August 1, a little relieved the tension, while the capture of the Dutch Fleet in the Texel assisted in the same direction in the following year. The unfortunate expedition to the Netherlands under the Duke of York disgracefully failed: peace negotiations offered by Bonaparte near the end of 1799 were refused by Grenville with the approval of Pitt, and the War with France went on.

During this time, Simcoe continued at his post, and apparently his health was restored, for no complaints of sickness appear in the numerous letters written to and by him. Towards the end of 1799, it was publicly stated in the newspapers that he was to command a force to be sent to support the Chouans of France; but this came to naught ^[5].

Early in 1800, his close friend, Sir Charles Stuart, the conqueror of Minorca in 1798 (who, as we have seen, had in 1782 asked him to accompany him to Gibraltar but Simcoe’s want of exchange had interfered) was instructed to sail for the Mediterranean with a force of 15,000 men and he asked Simcoe to go as second in command, reminding him of his statement that he desired to serve with him. Only three weeks’ notice was possible. Simcoe replied that the condition of his wife, who expected to be confined in ten days, obliged him reluctantly to decline the friendly offer—he remembering the “severe shock which my sudden expedition to St. Domingo gave to her health.”

Lord Grenville later joined in Stuart’s offer. The child, Henry Addington (so named after the Speaker), was born, and Simcoe accepted, apparently too late, for the Duke of York had named another for the post, General Sir Henry William Paget (afterwards Lord Anglesey), who had been with the Duke in the Netherlands in 1799. On Stuart’s urging the matter, the Duke consented to Simcoe going as Paget’s superior and he was officially notified, April 2, 1800, that he was to go on the staff as a Major General with one aide-de-camp.

Simcoe did not go and Paget did. Stuart complained that instead of a reinforcement of 8,000 men which he had been promised, he was supplied with only “one thousand men and most of them felons afflicted with the jail distemper”, so that he could only bully and not attack Egypt or Italy ^[6].

Stuart returned from the campaign in ill-health. He was not reserved concerning the way he had been treated by the Ministry, and Simcoe was so outspoken that it was feared he had spoiled all his chances with the authorities.

When, on his return from San Domingo, Simcoe resigned his Governorship of Upper Canada, the Duke of Portland promised that he should succeed Prescott as Governor-General of Canada. Simcoe did not expect to be Commander of the Forces as well—that position being occupied by his friend, Edward, Duke of Kent ^[7]—but he always claimed the former position as his right. Time was passing, Simcoe was not very well off, his family had increased, and, in 1801, he began pressing for the fulfilment of the promise. He asked the Duke of Kent for his influence, but made it clear that he would insist on a Peerage. “The Peerage is the object for which alone I would willingly spend five years in the King’s American Dominions, colonizing, legislating, and with the concurrence of your Royal Highness as Commander-in-Chief, establishing, I trust, on immovable foundations His Majesty’s American Empire in Canada.” Nevertheless, just as in 1796, he had “in a dying condition . . . . undertaken what Sir R. Abercrombie had thought proper after its acceptance to decline” and had gone to San Domingo, so now he was willing to serve his sovereign in Canada ^[8].

The Duke probably took the matter up with Addington, but nothing came of it: Prescott, though absent from the Colony, remained Governor-General until 1807. The Duke was, the next year, 1802, made Governor of Gibraltar and his Commission as Commander-in-Chief in Canada ceased; no successor was appointed.

During the year 1801 and a little earlier, there were serious riots in the Somerset part of Simcoe’s district owing to the distress of the poorer classes arising from the War. He was able in conjunction with some of the principal gentlemen of that quarter to devise such measures of relief as to put an end to that kind of trouble.

In the same year, Simcoe requested the reversion of the Lieutenant-Governorship of Plymouth, the existing incumbent, Colonel Campbell, being advanced in years and not likely to live long. The Commander-in-Chief, the Duke of York, termed the request a modest one, and promised so far as it depended upon him that Simcoe should have the position.

But this promise was not kept; the Duke appointed Lieutenant-General England to the position; and Simcoe had to console himself with the thought that he was being reserved for a better position ^[9]. Lord George Lennox, the Governor, was in delicate health, and that position Simcoe used all his influence to obtain. His friend, Henry Addington, had become Prime Minister in March, 1801, and was appealed to.

But Addington was having his troubles. The Treaty of Amiens signed in March was indeed triumphantly approved in the House of Commons, Pitt and Fox joining in its support; but Pitt never willingly took a subordinate position, and Canning and others kept urging that he should be Prime Minister.

A General Election was imminent. Simcoe went up to London and as it was understood that Mr. Francis Glanville, a Member for the Borough of Plymouth, who had been elected in 1794 and 1797, would not offer himself as a candidate, it was arranged that Simcoe should seek the suffrages of the election in Glanville’s stead, as a strong supporter of the Government. Addington, however, asked him to wait for further instructions from him before taking any steps in that direction. Simcoe wrote Addington several times without reply, and concluded that Sir William Elford, the other member for Plymouth, would bring down verbal directions and that they would proceed to the canvass together. Through some misunderstanding, Sir William came down from London unknown to and without communicating with Simcoe and began his canvass alone. The same afternoon, Philip Langmead declared himself a candidate as a supporter of the Government. When Simcoe learned of this, he was extremely mortified—“every circumstance rendered a seat in Parliament desirable to” him,—but he feared that if he should offer himself also, the popular ferment was such that there was danger of some one being elected who would be less favorable to the administration of Addington than Langmead. He accordingly obtained from Langmead, in presence of the Mayor and others, a pledge to support the existing Administration; and abandoned all thought of standing for Parliament, although, he says, “the disappointment is incalculable . . . . I have only the satisfaction that I did not throw away the boon intended me”^[10].

The hope of succeeding to the Governorship of Plymouth came to nothing. Addington was forced in April, 1804, to give away to Pitt and Simcoe lost a powerful friend. He continued in his round of duty. His health failed, from time to time being improved by rest and a stay at Cheltenham Waters. Others were advanced—for example, he complains of “the flagrant job of General Ross having a Government”^[11]—but he was passed over.

He continued in the active discharge of his military duties although when in March, 1805, Sir James Craig was superseded in the command of the Eastern District, he considered his military career as finished: he thought that he had no military future owing “to the employment of the Scotch officers with so unaccountable a preference to the English nation”^[12].

Notwithstanding his gloomy view, what seemed the opportunity of his life was soon to come.

Pitt, who seems never to have cared for or appreciated Simcoe, died in January, 1806, having received his death blow from the news of Napoleon’s astounding victory at Austerlitz. Lord Grenville was sent for by the King and overcame the King’s determination to exclude Fox from office. Fox entered the Cabinet as Foreign Secretary, insisting that Addington, now Lord Sidmouth, should come in also—which he did as Lord Privy Seal.

Thus was formed the Cabinet of All the Talents, the Broad-bottomed Administration, to last till Fox’s death in the following September ^[13].

India had been troubled for some time by the Second Mahratta War. Cornwallis, sent out by the Court of Directors of the East India Company as Commander-in-Chief and Governor, with the determination “to bring this wretched and unprofitable war to an end”, died on his way up-country, October 5, 1805, and was succeeded as Commander-in-Chief by General (afterwards Viscount) Lake in February, 1806. Lake did not approve of the policy of abandoning hard won territory, and did not hesitate to say so. But a Treaty had been signed, November, 1805, which put an end to this Second War with the Mahrattas, and Lake was allowed to give up his command ^[14].

The Government of India at that time was peculiar. While in name the East India Company had full immediate control, Pitt’s East India Bill of 1784 (amended in 1793) provided for a Board of Control (commonly called the India Board), composed of six Privy Councillors to have control over all the British Possessions in the East Indies and the affairs of the East India Company. On the Board as constituted in February, 1806, was John Hiley Addington, a brother of Lord Sidmouth’s and a close friend of Simcoe’s. We need not search far to account for the fact that Simcoe came to be considered. He had, moreover, had experience in dealing with “natives” in Upper Canada, and there were already mutterings of insubordination at Vellore and Wallajabad. He was offered the command vacated by Lake: Lake had left behind him “a reputation for adventurous valor and high feeling which will not be forgotten”^[15], but Simcoe had no need to fear comparison even with him.

He accepted the assignment in July and began to make all preparations for departure. But he was fated never to see India.

Napoleon after Austerlitz was naturally more aggressive than before. Fox had been cured of his penchant for the French and recognized the absolute necessity of resisting Napoleon’s schemes with the utmost vigor. Hopes of a peace treaty disappeared early in the life of the new Administration. Napoleon was set on avenging the defeat of Trafalgar, and determined to invade Portugal with the army of 30,000 men then stationed at Bayonne. This came to the attention of the Administration early in August while Simcoe was still preparing for the East. “From perfectly reliable information it was believed that it was the object and intention of Bonaparte to dethrone the royal family and to partition Portugal, alloting one part to Spain and the other to the Prince of Peace or to the Queen of Etruria. The Ministers, thereupon resolved to send an army to the Tagus to be there met by a competent naval force, the whole to be intrusted to the command of Lord St. Vincent and Lieutenant-General Simcoe with full powers, conjointly with Lord Rosslyn, to negotiate with the Court of Lisbon.”

The celebrated Henry (afterwards Lord) Brougham was attached to the Commission as Secretary and (unofficially) as fourth Commissioner. St. Vincent, who was cruising off Brest with the Channel Fleet, received orders to proceed to Lisbon; and soon he was at anchor opposite that city with a Squadron of six sail of the finest ships of the line, six being the number to which the British were restricted by treaty to have in the Tagus at one time. The remainder of the Channel Fleet and the Squadron off Ferrol were held in readiness to reinforce the detachment if required. A large and well-appointed army was assembled at Plymouth ready to sail for Portugal at a moment’s notice. Simcoe and Rosslyn with Brougham and their Staffs were sent to join St. Vincent and, entering into communication with the supine Court of Lisbon, to endeavor to rouse it to a sense of the danger and induce it to adopt the best means of resisting with the cooperation of Britain. They arrived at Lisbon, August 25, and found St. Vincent with his Squadron at anchor in the Tagus.

On the voyage out on H.M.S. Illustrious, 74, Simcoe had for a time shown his usual vigor; he had discussed with intelligence and ability the object of the mission with his colleagues and was able to make his influence felt. But towards the end of the voyage he was taken ill; and after his arrival, the malady increased so rapidly that it was considered imperatively necessary for him to return at once to England. He resisted for a time, but it was not long before he recognized the wisdom of the advice of his physicians. The Illustrious was again put in commission and set sail for Torbay, arriving there, October 20th. A sloop was there prepared for him, and it took him up the River Exe to Topsham the following day. The next day, he was taken by carriage to the house of Archdeacon Moore in the Cathedral Close at Exeter, where he died, October 26th, 1806 ^[16].

He was buried by torchlight on the evening of November 4th at the family seat, Wolford Lodge.

Some years later his grateful County, Devon, commissioned the celebrated sculptor, John Flaxman, R.A., to execute a becoming memorial, and this monument stands in the South Choir Aisle of Exeter Cathedral. The inscription reads:—

Just north of the North-West Rebellion monument in Queen’s Park, Toronto, is a statue of Simcoe. On 27th May, 1903, in presence of His Excellency the Earl of Minto, His Honour William Mortimer Clark, and a large gathering of spectators, this monument to the memory of the first Lieutenant-Governor of the Province of Upper Canada, was unveiled. His uniformed figure in bronze, one hand resting on his sword hilt, and the other holding his helmet, surmounts a granite pedestal, on the front of which is the word “Simcoe” encircled by a wreath of acanthus leaves.

Wolford has now passed entirely out of the Simcoe family, in whose possession it had been since the eighteenth century. Mr. Linton Simcoe, who on the death of Mrs. John Kennaway Simcoe, widow of the General’s grandson, in 1920, inherited the fine old estate, was unable to retain the property, which, with the exception of “Windsor” farm was sold some months later. Various changes followed until finally General Kemball acquired Wolford. He had the stately, beautiful house demolished, erecting on the site, and of the same stone, a smaller, less dignified residence.

A pathetic link with the past still exists, however, in Wolford Chapel, built by Simcoe in 1800-2, where once stood the ancient chapel of “Wulphere”, which belonged to the Cistercian order of monks. At its opening services, the Vicar of Dunkeswell was asked by Simcoe to officiate:—

In the building which meant so much to him, Simcoe and most of his family are buried. Simple mural memorial tablets, set into the foot of the walls, record, inter alia, the date of death and the place of interment. The tablet of Simcoe, next that of his wife, reads:—

An atmosphere of neglect and disorder fills the interior, a painful contrast to the old days when Wolford was astir with life, and when at Sunday services congregations from scattered farms and hamlets gathered. Decay and dampness are doing their work. The entire interior is a mute appeal for preservation of the chapel which should still be a memorial to one who faithfully served his country and his God ^[17].

NOTES

After the famous Declaratory Act of 1766, no one in the British World imagined that the Imperial Parliament considered itself limited in its power of taxing any property within the British dominions: but when Parliament in the same year imposed certain duties upon certain specified articles, it was provided that the duties on such goods imported into any British American Colony or Plantation, while they should be paid into His Majesty’s Exchequer, were to be entered and kept separate from all other moneys and be applied “towards defraying the necessary expenses of defending, protecting and securing the said British Colonies and Plantations in America.”

The American Revolution, beginning formally with the Declaration of Independence in 1776, brought about an even more stringent self-denying ordinance, Parliament enacting that no duty, tax or assessment should be levied payable in any of the American Colonies or Plantations except such as were expedient to regulate commerce, “the net produce of such duties to be always paid and applied to and for the use of the Colony, Province or Plantation in which the same shall be . . . . levied, in such manner as other duties collected by the authority of the . . . General Courts or General Assemblies . . . . are ordinarily paid and applied.”

When the Canada or Constitutional Act was passed in 1791, it was thought proper to reserve to the Imperial Parliament the power of regulating or prohibiting or imposing duties for regulating navigation or commerce between the two Canadas or between either Province and any other country, or of giving the Provincial Parliament power to vary the law; but the important proviso was made that the net produce of any duties thereafter imposed should be for the use of the Provinces and at the disposal of the Provincial Parliaments.

In 1774, when the enlarged Province of Quebec was formed by the Quebec Act, Parliament by an Act of the same year provided for duties over and above all existing duties, and upon liquors, molasses and syrups imported into that Province (which, it will be remembered, included all the territory afterwards Upper Canada) and also for fees for inn licences to be paid into the hands of the Receiver-General of the Province “for the future disposition of Parliament.” All this legislation was in force when Upper Canada began her provincial career, 1791-2.

No duties were imposed by the Imperial Parliament under the provisions of the Canada Act: and that may here be passed over. Accordingly the Provincial Parliaments had no fund to draw upon.

But there were certain funds available for the use of the Provinces, namely those imposed by the Acts of 1766 and 1774. These were not paid into the hands of any Provincial Officer, and were at the disposal, not of the Provincial Parliaments, but of the Imperial Parliament.

This Parliament recognized the situation and provided a sum for the use of the Province each year.

For the year 1792, the House of Commons voted £6,565.7.0 “for the Civil Establishment of the Province of Upper Canada”^[1]. The money was to be spent according to the following Estimates:—

Some of the items for salary call for remark. While there were a Chief Justice, William Osgoode, and an Attorney-General, John White, there was no Solicitor-General, the first Solicitor-General of the Province being Robert Isaac Dey Gray, appointed in the fall of 1794 and sworn in in July, 1796 ^[2].

The Courts of Common Pleas, one in each of the four Districts, had as Judges, laymen who were paid by fees except in the District of Hesse in which there was but one Judge and he a lawyer, William Dummer Powell. It is not quite certain how the error arose ^[3].

There was a Clerk of the Crown and Pleas, David Burns, but there were four Sheriffs, one for each District. The Secretary of the Province and Register was William Jarvis; the (acting) Clerk of the (Executive) Council was Edward Baker Littlehales. The Surveyor of Lands was nominally Holland, the Surveyor-General of Lower Canada, without further salary, but David William Smith was Acting Surveyor-General: the Receiver-General was Peter Russell: the Executive Councillors were Osgoode, Russell, James Baby, Alexander Grant and William Robertson. Robertson never took his seat and there were only four Executive Councillors in 1792 ^[4].

The charge for the Commissions to Dorchester and Simcoe was in favour of certain civil servants at Westminster, much of whose emolument came from fees ^[5].

The Lieutenant-Governor, Attorney-General and Secretary added to their salary, fees for the grant of lands and from other sources. The Attorney-General had also fees for conducting criminal prosecutions at the Courts of Oyer and Terminer, and he was allowed to practise law privately. The Chief Justice made a little money in the allowance for travelling expenses, &c., on Circuit.

But from the very beginning, the pay of Provincial Officers was wholly inadequate, and the inadequacy sometimes gave rise to irregularities and occasionally to scandal. Jarvis and Simcoe were both implicated, but this was later.

The vote of £6,565.7 was by no means all the money that Upper Canada cost Britain. There were the Queen’s Rangers and other Forces, military and naval, kept up in the Province, paid for out of the military chest. Indians received gifts and Officers of the Indian Department were paid, in fact outside of the actual civil administration nothing was paid for out of this vote. Moreover, the Lieutenant-Governors of Upper Canada were authorised to draw upon the military chest at Quebec ^[6]. It would not be an extreme estimate to say that the Province cost Britain over £20,000 sterling per annum for many years, and returned practically nothing.

The first year did not go by without requests for supplies of one kind and another, stationery, a printing establishment, machinery for working salt springs and saw mills, axes, paint, &c.^[7]; and it must be said that the Home authorities never turned a deaf ear to such requests.

But there was no provision by Parliament for the expense of courts, gaols, &c.: for of course the Provincial Parliament had no power over the Imperial grant.

As a consequence, the Provincial Houses were necessitated to raise money and we have already seen the attempts made in that direction ^[8]. None of them succeeded.

The House of Assembly resolved to pay the following salaries to its officers:^[9]

There were no funds to pay these salaries or that of the Chaplain, and the officers went unpaid as did the officers of the Legislative Council ^[10].

Moreover, there were clergymen who had been paid by the Government of the former Province of Quebec, generally of the Church of England, but one Presbyterian ^[11].

The local Parliament bestirred itself to obtain funds and this time with success—an Act, Chapter 3, provided for an assessment to pay for building gaols and houses of correction, for paying gaolers, coroners, &c., for the support of prisoners, bridges, &c.; and also an assessment to pay the wages of the Members of the House of Assembly. Another Act, Chapter 10, provided a fund for paying the salaries of officers of the Houses and contingent expenses, the amount to be raised by a duty on wine.

Now, the Speaker of the House was to be given “a salary proportionate to his situation”—and to tide over until the money should be collected, the Lieutenant-Governor was requested by the Assembly to advance the necessary amount ^[13]. On this being brought before the Executive Council, it was approved and the Receiver-General paid the sum required into the hands of the Clerk of the House ^[14].

The Legislative Council resolved that their officers should be entitled to receive the same salaries as those of the House of Assembly ^[15]; but did not ask for an advance from the Governor.

We now come to a matter which was a source of constant irritation between the Provinces of Upper and Lower Canada until the Union of 1841.

Most of the goods which were imported into Upper Canada came up the St. Lawrence through Lower Canada, including wines and other liquors. Moreover, Lower Canada had laid a duty on wines by an Act passed in 1793. Upper Canadians considered it unfair that all the duty paid upon these goods should belong to Lower Canada; and Lower Canadians admitted the justice of the claim.

An Act was passed in 1793 for the appointment of three Commissioners, “able and discreet persons”, to meet an equal number appointed by Lower Canada to treat concerning regulations regarding the collection of duties or payment of drawbacks on goods passing from one Province to the other and also concerning any proportion to be received or paid of duties already imposed or to be imposed on articles passing from one Province to the other ^[16].

After some preliminary correspondence, the Commissioners met at Montreal, February 13, 1794, and continued their conferences until February 18, when they arrived at a conclusion.

Upper Canada was to receive £333.4.2 as her share of the duties on wines under the Lower Canadian Act of 1793, until the end of 1794. For the future, it was agreed that a proportion based upon the population estimated at 1 to 7 should be adopted. Upper Canada agreed not to lay any duty on any article coming from Lower Canada, but Lower Canada might levy any duty on articles coming from Upper Canada, paying Upper Canada one-eighth. This agreement was to continue until the end of 1796 ^[17]. It was approved by the Parliament of Upper Canada in 1795.

In 1792 a penalty of £2 Quebec Currency had been imposed for keeping any weight measure or yard other than those prescribed; and one of £10 Quebec Currency for a gristmiller demanding or taking a toll of more than one-twelfth.

In 1793, a penalty had been imposed of 40/ or 10/ for non-appearance of militiamen when called out, and for disobedience, and of £5 for selling accoutrements, &c., these to be sent to the Receiver-General; also 40/ for refusal to act by anyone elected at a town or parish meeting as clerk, collector, assessor, overseer of highway or pound keeper, to be paid to the Treasurer of the District (except in the case of overseers when the penalty was to go into the hands of the Commissioners of Highways): also of a penalty of £20 for omission to render an account, &c., by overseers and various smaller penalties for not doing statute labour, interfering with highways, &c., &c. The Militia Act also provided for the payment of composition money in lieu of militia service by Quakers, Menonists and Tunkers ^[19]. No special disposition was made of these moneys.

By the Royal Instructions, all laws of the province for levying moneys or imposing fines, &c., should declare the same to be granted to His Majesty for the public uses of the Province or as by the laws should be directed. This had been overlooked and the omission was rectified in 1794 by an Act which provided that all such moneys should be accounted for to the King through the Commissioners of His Treasury, i.e., accounted for by the Receiver-General to the Home Administration ^[20].

For 1795 the appropriation was £7,175 ^[21]. A penalty of £10 for practising medicine, &c., without a licence was to be paid into the hands of the Receiver-General, to be accounted for by him to the Commissioners of the Treasury: £100 for an unqualified person offering himself as a candidate for election as Member of the Legislative Assembly, half to the person suing for it and half to be paid to the Receiver-General and similarly accounted for ^[22].

There was no substantial change in 1796 ^[23] except that a penalty of £20 was imposed for selling liquor without a licence, payable and accounted for as by the Statute of 1794 provided ^[24].

NOTES

Simcoe was undoubtedly a sincere and devout Christian, a firm believer in the tenets of his Church and a devoted member of her communion. He was, too, a well-educated man, well read in Latin and English and was by no means ignorant of or indifferent to the advantages of a University education.

It is, however, difficult to avoid the conclusion that, pious and educated as he was, religion and education, the Church and the University, were chiefly valuable as means to a political end—the retention of Canada as a Colony of England to redound to the glory of England and the Empire. As to education, nothing can be further from the truth than the common idea that Simcoe was the father of our university system; to him as much as to any other person—perhaps more—was due the long delay in the establishment of a National University System.

He had, moreover, no conception of a national system of education in our modern sense: England in that regard, as in all else, was his model. The common people would be none the better for an education which would probably make them discontented with their station. As is well known, the system or lack of system in primary education in England was until but the other day a reproach to her statesmen and people generally.

Even when urging the institution of a University at the expense of the Treasury, the common people were, in his view, to be left to their own resources, and “such education as may be necessary for people in the lower degrees of life, necessarily requiring but little expense, may at present be provided for by their connections and relations”^[1].

And in fact no legislation in respect of education was passed in Upper Canada in Simcoe’s time or until 1799, when provision was made, largely based upon the English law, for what was called “the education and support of orphan children or children who may be deserted by their parents”: and that consisted in giving the Town Wardens of any Township, with the approbation of two Justices of the Peace, the power of binding the child apprentice until the age of 21 in the case of a male or of 18 in the case of a female ^[2].

It must in justice to him be said, however, that he foresaw a time when the “people in the lesser degrees of life” might be educated at public expense; for in the same Despatch which has already been quoted, he says that the education in question “may . . . . be provided . . . more remotely by Lands allotted for that purpose”. This was a thought which had not at the time occurred to any responsible English statesman for application in England, although long familiar in Scotland.

What has been quoted seems to be the only suggestion by Simcoe concerning the “lower classes” or primary education. He had very strong views as to the necessity of the establishment, largely at the expense of the Mother Country, of “schools of education . . . . for the higher classes”. He pointed out that “the cheapness of education in the United States” would “invite the Gentlemen of Upper Canada to send their children thither for education, by which means . . . . their British Principles will be perverted and one of the strongest holds that Great Britain has and which promises to bind Upper Canada for ages to her side, Loyalty which glories in the honest pride in having withstood all the tempests of Rebellion will be totally undermined and subverted by different principles being instilled into the rising generation”^[3].

Every loyal Canadian will wholly approve this eulogy of the United Empire Loyalists, and everyone at all acquainted with the almost fanatical hatred of England then rampant in many classes in the United States must recognize that it was a very real danger against which Simcoe was trying to guard, the destruction of the loyalty to British connection which should characterize the young “Gentlemen of Upper Canada”, “to whom their parents and connections . . . . look forward with fondness and hope as the means of transmitting the remembrance of their honourable principles to the remotest posterity.” As Upper Canada had no revenue from which this kind of education could be paid for, he urged that the British Ministry should supply the funds, at least for a few years. He thought a thousand pounds per annum would be enough for building, salaries, &c.

He recommended two school masters, one at Kingston and one at Niagara, at £100 per annum. The schools at these places were of course, intended to be like the Public Schools in England, not Public Schools in our modern sense.

Then as to a University, he advised “an University with a Head and professors in the Capital” (then intended to be on the River la Tranche) “all of whom should be of the Church of England and, the medical professor perhaps excepted, Clergymen.” He thought that the expenses might be lessened and in time extinguished by “expedients—Rectories might be appropriated in the room of salaries whenever they should become of sufficient value—an island which ought never to have been granted, and other desirable settlements might be let out to relieve the British Government as soon as possible from this burden”; and he hoped that “all classes and descriptions of Public men would lend their assistance . . . . and supply an increasing income to be strictly applied to that just and honourable purpose”. Where the public men were to get the money, he did not say.

Dundas did not see his way to accede to this request: he thought that for some time at least the University must wait—“the Country must make the University, and not the University the Country”. As to the Schools suggested by Simcoe, they or “at least one of them, should be of the first order” and, he adds significantly, “whenever any steps are taken by the Province for establishing such a seminary as on your representation will meet with the approbation of His Majesty, I shall with great satisfaction receive His pleasure with regard to the extension of the Royal Bounty in support of such a plan at a proper season”^[4].

This was a perfectly plain shelving of the project for a University, and an equally plain intimation to Simcoe that he and his Province should establish a School or Schools, and it or they would be assisted by the Imperial Treasury.

Simcoe replied:^[5] “In respect to a just attention to the Interests of Religion & a Provision for the Education of the rising Generation, who must take their due Lead in Society, under the present Constitution & principally fill up the Offices of Government I . . . beg . . . to refer you to my late Despatches on these Subjects. I have therein stated strongly what I have felt sincerely: and these momentous Concerns will not only involve in themselves the Comfort and Happiness of the Settlers in this Country and be the surest means of rendering it populous but will chiefly contribute to that intimate union with Great Britain which if duly improved & properly supported as Necessity requires at the present season, I see no reason why it should not become permanent for ages.”

He received no encouragement from Westminster and seems to have taken no steps whatever towards the establishment of Schools of any kind for some years.

In 1795, however, he took up the project again. Writing ^[6] to the first Church of England Bishop of Quebec, Jacob Mountain, he says: “Liberal Education seems to me . . . . to be indispensably necessary: and the completion of it in the establishment of a University in the Capital of the Country, the residence of the Governor and the Council, the Bishop, the heads of the Law and the general quality of the inhabitants consequent to the seat of Government . . . . would be most useful to inculcate just principles, habits and manners in the rising generation; to coalesce the different customs of the various descriptions of Settlers, emigrants from the old Provinces of Europe, into one form. In short, from these distinct parts would there establish one nation and thereby strengthen the union with Great Britain and preserve a lasting obedience to His Majesty’s authority”. He continues: “I naturally should wish that the Clergy requisite for the offices in the University in the first instance should be Englishmen . . . .” He hopes that “a few pious, learned men of just zeal and primitive manners” will be sent and that the Bishop will “not too strenuously insist upon learning as a qualification for ordination where there are obvious marks of religious disposition and proofs of morality”. This, he thinks, would insure the rising generation being “brought up competently learned and properly embued with religion and loyalty . . . . In short”, he continues, “My Lord, if the maintenance of religion and morality be merely considered in a commercial light as so much merchandise, the bounty I implore . . . . will augment that produce in which the union of the country with Great Britain and the preservation of His Majesty’s sovereignty may ultimately depend. These objects would be materially advanced by a University in Upper Canada . . . . Parliament voted £20,000 for the erection of the University proposed by Bishop Berkely in Bermuda . . . . certainly of trivial importance to what I now propose. The labors of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel are visionary as applicable to the conversion of the American Indians in their present state, but would be of most essential benefit by promoting a University which if placed in the port I meditate (i.e., London on the Thames, U.C.) would . . . . have great influence in civilizing the Indians and, what is of more importance, those who corrupt them ^[7]. The Episcopal Clergy in Great Britain, from pious motives as well as policy, are materially interested that the Church should increase in this Province. I will venture to prophesy its preservation depends upon a University being erected therein . . . . The Universities of England I make no doubt would contribute to the planting of a scion from their respectable stock in this distant Colony. In short . . . . I have not the smallest hesitation in saying that I believe if a Protestant Episcopal University should be proposed to be erected even in the United States the British nation would most liberally subscribe to the undertaking. . . .”

He returns to this again in another letter to the same Bishop from Navy Hall, Newark, October 16, 1795 ^[8]: “My views in respect of a University are totally unchanged: they are on a solid basis and may or may not be complied with as my superiors shall think proper, but should certainly appear as my system to the judgment of posterity.”

He continued to urge the matter on the Home Authorities. Writing to the Duke of Portland from Navy Hall, November 8, 1795, he says: “The state of the country calling loudly for a Public School of the first class, and the late Lieutenant-Governor Hope, having built a house for that purpose at Kingston, on consultation with the Bishop, Mr. Stuart ^[9], the respectable missionary at that place, has undertaken to superintend it until His Lordship (the Bishop) shall provide a proper person . . . . I have felt myself authorized to promise one hundred pounds per annum, the salary allowed at Montreal and Quebec . . . . At Niagara, the want of a school is most visible: the Reverend Mr. Addison is willing to undertake the office on the same terms as Mr. Stuart, and I hope for . . . . approbation of a measure most necessary for the welfare of the Province.”

Portland was sent a copy of the letters to the Bishop, including one of February 25, 1796, from York in which Simcoe regretted that there was scarcely the slightest hope of his views for the national interests being supported, and said: “In particular I have no idea that a University would be established though I am daily confirmed in its necessity . . . .”^[10]. The Duke, writing from Whitehall, London, June 22, 1796, says: “I am far from unwilling to recommend that some provision should be made for their (i.e., schoolmasters’) maintenance; but in doing this I must observe that my ideas of schoolmasters best suited to the present state of Upper Canada are such as are thoroughly competent to teach reading, writing, accounts and mensuration. The stipend . . . . exclusive of what they would receive from some at least of their scholars ought to be very moderate. With respect to a Public School of a higher order where the Greek and Latin languages and some other branches of learning may be taught, I should think that Quebec or Montreal would naturally offer themselves as most proper for an establishment of such a nature during the infancy of Upper Canada”. He goes on to speak of a good Seminary of the kind in Nova Scotia, and adds: “I shall await to hear from you in return before any final measures are adopted on a subject which requires due consideration in order that the establishment proposed may (not) either be above or below what the present exigency of the Province requires—for in either of these cases, but more especially in the former, they would be totally useless and thereby operate as a positive retardment to establishments of a higher nature and which would otherwise naturally take place in the Province”^[11]. This Despatch was far from satisfactory to Simcoe; but the closing words showed that Portland was in agreement with him as to who should be schoolmasters. “As this despatch relates only to the church establishment of your Province, you will of course communicate it to the Bishop of Quebec and will concert with him the best means of carrying into effect the objects to which I have directed your attention.”

Simcoe never took up the project for Schools of the character suggested by Portland; but in his last Despatch to the Secretary, dated from York, July 20, 1796, he again urged the University. He thought that the seventh reserved for the Crown in all surveys would become valuable and productive if sold for public purposes, “the first and chief of which I beg to offer . . . . must be the erection and endowment of a University from which more than any other source or circumstance whatever, a grateful attachment to His Majesty, morality and religion will be fostered and take root throughout the whole Province”^[12].

According to the recollection of the first Church of England Bishop of Toronto, Simcoe, in his desire for the erection of a University, authorised Cartwright and Hamilton, two of his Executive Councillors, to procure a gentleman from Scotland to organize and take charge of the proposed College or University; and on their applying to some friends, these friends “offered the appointment first to Mr. Duncan and then to Mr. Chalmers, neither of whom was yet much known, but both declined”. Then overtures were made to Mr. Strachan, and he accepted only to find, on arriving at Kingston, December 31, 1799, that Simcoe had left the Province and the University project had been postponed ^[13]. However that may be, it is plain from extant official documents that Simcoe’s view was that primary education for “people in the lower degrees of life” should be paid for “by their connections and relations”, at least for a time: that schools “for the higher classes” should be erected and maintained at public expense; that a University should be provided also at public expense; that University and higher schools, that is all State-supported schools, should be part of the Church Establishment of the Province, taught by the Church of England clergymen with the possible exception of the Professor of Medicine, and that the main function of this was to preserve British connection.

The Government at Westminster agreed with him as to who should teach in State-supported educational institutions, but thought the University must wait and that even the higher schools, important as they were, were not so important as schools in which the common branches of education, reading, writing and arithmetic, should be taught.

Simcoe’s efforts toward the foundation of a University in the Province have not passed without recognition.

The University of Toronto, a National University, on a non-denominational basis, a system of which he never would have approved, has nevertheless expressed its appreciation by naming its spacious Administration Building, “Simcoe Hall.” The reason officially given for the adoption of the name is that Simcoe was the first person to forecast the establishment of a University for the Province, and that as a result of his suggestion, but after his departure from the Province, the Legislature of the Province petitioned the Crown to appropriate a certain portion of the waste lands of the Crown as a fund for the establishment and support for a reasonable Grammar School in each district of the Province and also of a College or University for the instruction of the youth in the different branches of liberal knowledge. As a result 549,000 acres of Crown Lands were set apart for these two purposes.

The development of the University has been, it is true, on different lines from those in Governor Simcoe’s project. Nevertheless, it was considered that he first gave the impetus to the establishment of higher learning in this Province. The original National “College with the style and privileges of an University” created by Royal Letters Patent of March 15, 1828, “to continue forever, to be called King’s College” was such as he contemplated and desired. The Archdeacon of York was ex-officio to be President: the Lieutenant-Governor was to be the Chancellor: the seven Professors were to be members of the Established Church of England and Ireland who had subscribed the Thirty-Nine Articles, but “no religious test or qualification . . . . required of” Scholars or Graduates (except in Divinity). Perfect tolerance in respect of religion so far as students or graduates were concerned; but the University to be under the control of members of the Church of England, substantially as Trinity has been and is.

The abolition of the old King’s College and institution of the University of Toronto by Baldwin’s Act of 1849, 12 Victoriae, cap. 82 (Can.), Simcoe would have regarded with the same indignation as any other attempt to place members of other communions on a level with those of his own.

It cannot be said that the action of the University of Toronto in naming its new building, “Simcoe Hall”, was ungenerous.

Simcoe’s attitude towards the Church of England (which he not infrequently called the Protestant Episcopal Church) has been mentioned more than once, but at the risk of wearisome iteration, it will be discussed here.

His experience during the War of Independence had satisfied him that the Church was loyal and the members of the Church were opposed to the Revolution. In this view he had much support from undoubted fact—although there were many (and some distinguished) exceptions, it being sufficient to mention Washington and Weems. But Simcoe went further and came to the conclusion that those who were not of that communion were to be suspected of disloyalty.

With his fixed determination that everything should be done to ensure continued British connection, it necessarily followed that he favored the establishment in his Province of his Church. It is quite clear that he looked upon that Church as the Church of Great Britain and as one of the institutions to be established to make the constitutions of the Province “the very image and transcript of that of Great Britain by which she has long established and secured to her subjects as much freedom and happiness as it is possible to be enjoyed under the subordination necessary to civilized Society”^[14]. This view was shared by the Home Administration, and the Royal Instructions were framed in that sense. They were drawn, indeed, looking rather to the special needs of the Lower Province, but they are identical in this regard for Upper Canada. “Whereas the Establishment of proper Regulations in matters of Ecclesiastical Concern is an object of very great Importance, it will be your indispensable duty to take Care that no arrangements in regard thereto be made, but such as may give full satisfaction to Our New Subjects in every Point in which they have a right to any Indulgence on that Head, always remembering that it is a Toleration of the free Exercise of the Religion of the Church of Rome only to which they are entitled but not to the Powers and Privileges of it as an established Church, that being a Preference which belongs only to the Protestant Church of England”^[15]. This did not indeed formally establish the Church of England in the Province; but, taken in connection with other clauses, it came very near to doing so.

While freedom of burial of the dead in the Churches and Churchyards was “allowed indiscriminately to every Christian Persuasion”, much as in England—and liberty of conscience and free exercise of all modes of religious worship “not prohibited by law” were enjoined, it was specifically ordered that when the Governor presented to a Benefice, “the Person so presented shall be instituted by the Bishop (of Nova Scotia) or his Commissary duly authorized by him”; and the Governor was also instructed to recommend to the Provincial Parliament “to settle the Limits of Parishes in such a manner as shall be deemed most convenient.” He was not to present any Protestant Minister to any Benefice “without a proper certificate from the Bishop of Nova Scotia or his Commissary of his being conformable to the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England.”

There being no mention of any other Protestant Church, it is not to be wondered at that it was considered that the Church of England was alone in view in the provision made by section 36 of the Canada Act “for the support and maintenance of a Protestant Clergy”—particularly when by the same Act the Governor was given power with the advice of the Executive Council to erect “Parsonages or Rectories according to the establishment of the Church of England”, to endow them and (without such advice) to present “to every such Parsonage or Rectory an incumbent or minister of the Church of England who shall have been ordained according to the rites of the said Church”^[16].

With this legislation and these Instructions, it would have been practically impossible for Simcoe to hold any other view even had his inclination and principles been different.

But before the Canada Act was passed, we find him writing to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Moore, December 30, 1790, that he was “decisively of the opinion that a regular Episcopal establishment subordinate to the primacy of Great Britain is absolutely necessary . . . . in regard to a colony in Upper Canada . . . peculiarly situated amongst a variety of republics, every establishment of Church and State that upholds a distinction of ranks and lessens the undue weight of democratic influence must be indispensably introduced . . . . The neglect of this principle of overturning republicanism in former periods . . . . is much to be lamented: but it is my duty to be as solicitous as possible that they may now have due influence . . . . I . . . . feel the utmost conviction that the best mode of population and the best line of connexion with the United States is combined in giving due support to that Church Establishment which I consider as necessary to promote the national religion of which I am a sincere believer and to maintain the true and venerable constitution of my country”^[17].

A week later in a letter to Sir Joseph Banks, he says: “I am to have a Bishop”^[18]. In his Memorandum to Dundas of June 2 (or 30), 1791, he says: “I hold it to be indispensably necessary that a Bishop should be immediately established in Upper Canada. The State Propriety of some form of public worship politically considered arises from the necessity there is of preventing enthusiastick & fanatick Teachers from acquiring that superstitious hold of the minds of the multitude which Persons of such a description may pervert & are generally inclined to pervert to the Establishment of their own undue consequence in the State & often meditate & not infrequently to turn such an ascendancy to its injury & destruction”. This “mischief-making Enthusiasm of the Sectaries” is the more dangerous “at a Period when . . . . all men read & only one description of People write & when the Aim of the Sectaries is avowedly to destroy the national establishment.” He points out that Episcopacy has been happily introduced or is introducing into all the United States ^[19]: urges that the power and supervision of the Bishop over the Clergy would inculcate a sober, industrious, religious and conscientious spirit in all classes, “which will be the best security that Government can have for its own internal preservation”. An “Episcopal Church without a resident Bishop seems to be an absurdity in fact as well as a Contradiction in terms”^[20].

He returns to the same topic in his Memorandum to Dundas of August 12, 1791, and says that he considers “the present to be the Critical Moment in which that system (i.e., the Episcopacy) so interwoven and connected with the Monarchical Foundations of our Government may be productive of the most permanent and extensive Benefits in preserving the Connection between Great Britain and her Colonies”^[21].

We find nothing to indicate that these representations were thought worthy of consideration; the Act and the Royal Instructions contained all that was thought necessary.

It was not till after the troubles already mentioned in respect of the celebration of marriage that Simcoe returned to the charge. We find him very shortly after the close of the Session of Parliament, writing to Dundas from Navy Hall, Niagara: “the best security that all just Government has for its existence is founded on the Morality of the People and . . . such Morality has no true Basis but when placed upon religious Principles. It is, therefore, that I have always been extremely anxious both from political as well as more worthy motives that the Church of England should be politically established in Upper Canada; and I must be permitted to say, Sir, I received the greatest satisfaction from your expression ‘that you did not think that Government complete without a Protestant Bishop’, as I conceive such an Institution necessary to the support of the experiment that is now making whether the British Government cannot support itself by its own Supremacy in this distant part of the World”. He considered that “it would be the worst and most disabling of all Oeconomy to lose the great opportunity that is now open of forming the Character, Temper and Manners of the People of this infant Colony to British Habits and to British Principles . . .”, and that the “Influence of the Protestant Clergy” would be adverse to those “who shall be hostile to the Union of Upper Canada with Great Britain” and he thought that “sons of respectable Settlers would offer themselves for ordination and tho’ they might not in the first instance have the learning of the European Clergy, their Habits and Morals might as essentially promote the interests of the Country”^[22].

His hopes were raised by a reply from Dundas in the following May: “I take this opportunity of observing to you that the appointment of a Bishop’s See in Canada is now in contemplation and the attainment of many of the objects you have stated will naturally be the result of such an establishment should it take place”^[23].

These hopes were doomed to be disappointed; it was as Bishop of Quebec, not as Bishop of Upper Canada, that Jacob Mountain was consecrated, July 7, 1793; and Simcoe was told by Dundas: “I am of opinion that it is from hence for the present that the necessary supply for the Provinces of Clergymen properly and duly qualified for their duty must be looked for”^[24].

In all cases Simcoe restricted himself within clear law. When a claim was made on behalf of the Church of England that the Bishop or his Commissary should, as in England, issue Marriage Licences, he refused to permit it. Another claim of rather an anomalous character he also had to deal with. The Reverend John Stuart at Kingston was made Bishop’s Commissary: while firm in asserting the claims of his Church and wholly convinced of the position she should occupy, he was nevertheless conciliatory and desired to live in peace with those not of his Communion; he is known to have recommended some of their ministry for land grants ^[25], and to have helped others. He recognized that there was much discontent in respect of the monopoly of the right to perform the marriage ceremony possessed by the Clergy of his Church: and evolved, or at least favored, a scheme for granting to the ministry of the non-Anglican bodies, this right—under licence from himself as Commissary. The request to be permitted to grant such licences came before Simcoe: he referred the question as one of law to John White, the Attorney-General: White reported adversely, and the matter dropped ^[26].

Before leaving the subject a somewhat interesting incident may be mentioned. In 1746-7, the Hurons removed from their old Village near Fort Pontchartrain to the South side of the Strait at the Point de Montreal, the site of the present Sandwich, where a settlement had been formed called L’Assomption. There, a new Church was built in 1746 which was in use during all the remaining French period: it had a pew reserved for the Commandant at Detroit who represented the King. After the Conquest, the Commandant was not a Roman Catholic and the pew was not required. But when in 1792, the Hon. Jacques Baby was made Lieutenant of the County of Kent, he claimed the right to occupy the reserved pew as being His Britannic Majesty’s Representative in the County. This claim was contested: and at length the matter was referred to the Roman Catholic Bishop of Quebec, Bishop Hubert. The Bishop decided that a place of honor in the Church was due to the Government and was to be occupied by the one to whom the Government assigned it—consequently the matter was without his jurisdiction; but he added, if the Representative of His Majesty would but make it clear, neither the priest of the Parish nor the Church officials would have any further action except to allow a location suitable to the place of honor in the Church, to which a pew should conform in construction as well as to the other Sittings in design. This being communicated to Baby, he conferred with Simcoe and Simcoe authorized a letter to the Grand Vicar that “the said Pew and honors thereto appertaining are one of the privileges to which the Lieutenant or in his absence the Deputy Lieutenant has an undoubted right”, and ordered: “You will accordingly be pleased to give directions that the same conduct which was observed formerly towards the French Commandant be now kept towards the person who will in future occupy the pew in question”^[27].

NOTES

It has been not unobscurely hinted that Simcoe’s ground for asking for leave of absence was feigned, the conventional method of extricating oneself from an unpleasant position being to plead ill health.

But this is unjust. While Simcoe himself says little of it, the candor and straightforwardness which ever characterized him contra-indicate pretence of sickness; and the Diary of his wife, taken in connection with his previous and subsequent life history, abundantly justifies the conclusion that he could not stand the climate and conditions of Upper Canada.

We have seen that in 1781, he was so ill that in the opinion of his physicians his life could be saved only by a sea voyage—that even before this time, possibly even before joining the army, he was frequently indisposed, and that he left America for England to recover lost health.

He was in reasonably good physical health after reaching Canada, until August, 1792, when, standing too near the cannon which were saluting Prince Edward of Kent at Newark, he was seized by so violent a pain in the head that he had to keep his room for a fortnight. This neuralgia often affects the gouty. Simcoe had had for some time a gouty pain in the hand, and not long afterwards a similar pain in the foot. But neuralgia is a very frequent concomitant of malaria, and all indications suggest malaria as the inducing cause, accompanied, as it was, by the very great strain on the nervous system from mental overwork and anxiety ^[1].

The very acute pain in the head abated, and early in November, it was hoped that he would have fewer letters to write and fewer headaches. However, he continued in poor health until he made the long journey to Detroit to a great extent on foot, when the exercise and air, aided by freedom from worrying despatches, made him remarkably well—March 10, 1793.

The gout had not disappeared: it returned a few days later in the hand, but within the week he was able to be about and walk on the sands. In the following August, in York, he had gout in the foot but does not seem to have been disabled, and except for a cold in August, 1794, which was very unusual but by no means unprecedented, he seems to have had reasonably good health until his trip to the east in the fall of 1794.

In these previous illnesses, he seems to have been treated by Dr. James Macaulay or Dr. John Gamble, and no doubt, secundum artem.

In Kingston he was stricken, March 21, 1795, and became so ill that he could not leave his room for five weeks. The migraine recurred, so severe that he could not bear any person but his wife to speak loudly or walk across the room. This was complicated by total loss of appetite and an entirely new symptom, so severe a cough that some nights he could not lie down but sat in a chair all night.

He had left his surgeon in Newark and was attended by “a horse doctor who pretended to be an apothecary”. With characteristic unselfishness, Simcoe had left his medical attendants to look after the soldiers at York and Newark; but he had the great advantage of a tender and devoted nurse in Mrs. Simcoe. Molly Brant, the “Indian wife” of Sir William Johnson, prescribed a root which relieved the cough in a very short time. This root was probably the skunk cabbage which has still some vogue in certain rural districts; but possibly it was the sweet flag or calamus ^[2].

He never recovered from the attack; he got a little better, indeed, but in August he was again very ill, and after another partial recovery he became much worse; his affliction was diagnosed as bilious fever. “Bilious fever” is—or rather was—a generic term applied to what is now called malarial fever, and particularly to the aestivo-autumnal fever of the later summer and fall. It was well known in Upper Canada as country fever, remittent fever, etc.; the origin was supposed to be bad air from swamps, etc.; but it is now known to be caused through the bite of a particular kind of mosquito carrying the parasite from a sick person to some other. Ague is one of the forms of malaria: and Mrs. Simcoe seems scarcely ever to have been free from ague, which was notoriously prevalent at Newark.

Simcoe partially recovered when the cold weather came on, but always suffered from lassitude: and summer coming on, he was again very ill. His physicians were quite justified in saying that his only chance for health was to leave the Province ^[3].

That mosquitoes swarmed in Upper Canada then and for long after is notorious: Mrs. Simcoe as early as July, 1792, “was driven home by the bite of a mosquito through a leather glove”. She says “My arm inflamed so much that . . . . I fainted with the pain”; and she informs us that people went to Carleton Island “to get rid of the ague, a complaint which is very prevalent in this Province”. The same month at Newark she “suffered exquisite pain all the day from a mosquito bite which the extreme heat increased and at night my sleeve was obliged to be cut open”. When the mosquito net was left behind by mistake, she suffered severely and passed a wretched night. It was scarcely possible for her to write or use her hands “which were always occupied in killing them or driving them away”. At the Twenty Mile Creek, the place “abounds so much with mosquitos that the farmer does not sleep in his house from June till September but sleeps in his barn to avoid them”^[4]. As has been said, no one at that time knew that this insect pest was the vehicle for the transmission of ague, remittent fever, bilious fever, country fever, but there can now be no doubt of it. The sand flies of which she complains, were an annoying nuisance, indeed, but they carried no disease.

Mrs. Simcoe, as became a lady in those days, was a perfect compendium of the popular medicine of the place and time, “simples”. Turpentine from the cones of the balm of Gilead fir was a remedy for wounds greatly esteemed: “Elder flower leaves take off the pain of the gout or rheumatism.”

The negro of Carolina who obtained his freedom by the discovery that the juice of horehound and plantain cured the bite of a rattlesnake would have been a very great benefactor to Upper Canadians, in whose country at Newark, Niagara Falls and York, rattlesnakes abounded, but for the fact that the indigenous rattlesnake plantain (called by Charlevoix, Senega) was equally efficacious. So was pounded crayfish applied to the wound.

For ague, Mrs. Simcoe drinks “the buds of Sassafras in tea and it removed the symptoms”; for headache, “sweet majorie tea”; as a stomachic, “cat mint in tea”; the roots of the black haw boiled are “a cure for complaints in the stomach”: “sarsaparilla, golden thread . . . . the roots when steeped in brandy . . . make a fine aromatic tincture and liquorice”, while “the tough skins from the inside of wild pigeons’ gizzards hung up to dry and grated to a fine powder is an infallible cure for indigestion”. The Indian turnip cures a cough; the berries of the mountain tea or wintergreen “are of a very warm nature and raise the spirits”. The roots of the Oswego bitter infused in brandy make a wholesome cordial. The celebrated capillaire has all the virtues attributed to its Montpellier namesake by Formius ^[5]: ginseng is a root highly valued as a tonic; crowsfoot boiled in milk till it becomes red also cures stomach complaints; trippe de roche, a kind of liverwort, is good for diseases of the liver. Then there was the “Consumption Vine, a pretty creeper—Green’s daughter was cured of consumption by drinking tea made of it”. Toothache plant, “a beautiful species of fern”; sore throat weed, Dragon’s blood; “Adam and Eve or Ivy Blade . . . . which heals cuts or burns”; but beware of strawberry spinach, which though often eaten in Upper Canada, was considered poisonous in Lower Canada. So with the May apple, a pleasant fruit, but whose roots were poisonous. The cardinal flower was used by the Indians medicinally. Then there was a spring but recently discovered in the woods below the mountains whose water tasted like ink and looked very dark; it smelt very sulphurous as did the ground around it but it was said to “cure lameness and blindness and every disorder.”

To anyone not acquainted with the opulence in food material in Upper Canada in its natural state, the variety and abundance of the Simcoe table might be a matter of wonder.

The military supplies of beef, pork, etc., (the lady disliked pork) aside, the Governor and his family indulged in venison whenever so inclined. The Indians within an area of seven miles killed over five hundred deer a month, and venison toasted before a large fire became one of the regular accompaniments of a winter outing. An occasional bear—the Indians present the head to their chief and make a rule to eat all the bear’s meat which has been dressed but the bear tastes too much like pork. The Governor and suite on their Detroit trip ate raccoons and porcupines, the latter tasting like pork; a fat raccoon eaten with mint sauce tasted like lamb. Hares and black squirrels were also eaten; the black squirrel was boiled and was “as good to eat as a young rabbit”—a true English meiosis to anyone who had ever eaten a stewed black squirrel.

Chickens and turkeys, as well as eggs, are still as abundant as then, but the passenger pigeon has gone, and the wild turkey almost so. The pigeons flew “so low that at Niagara the men threw sticks at them from the fort and killed numbers; the air was sometimes darkened by them . . . . Sometimes they fix a bullet to a string tied to a pole and knock them down . . . . Besides those they roast and eat at present, they salt the wings and breasts of them in barrels and at any time they are good to eat after being soaked”. It is gratifying to local pride to hear that while those at Newark were particularly good, those at York, where the air was full of them, were fatter and better ^[6]. Wild ducks were much more abundant than at present—Coote’s Paradise (near Hamilton) and Ashbridge’s Bay (Toronto) were full of them. The large black duck had already asserted its pre-eminence and was “esteemed one of the best”. An occasional wild goose made its appearance, too.

Of fish, salmon were abundant, red and good, best in the month of June; at Newark they were speared at night, a jack light being used to attract them. They were caught in the Don also. Black Bass were extremely good, as large as carp, as firm as a dory; thirty had been taken out of one hollow tree. They were often trolled for in the St. Lawrence. An occasional perch was had, but this fish does not seem to have had much vogue.

We hear of “maskalonge (a superior kind of pike) and pickerell” in the St. Lawrence, and the former in abundance in Lake Simcoe.

Sturgeon about six feet long were caught in the Niagara; one person caught forty in one day, and the 5th Regiment a hundred; but caviare was not prepared from the roe as was done on the Pacific Coast by the Indians with salmon roe “beating them up with sorrel, a plant with acid taste, till it becomes a kind of caviare.”

Tortoises were also eaten though it would appear not infrequently “cut up and dressed like oysters in scollop shells”—they “were very good at supper.”

The large trout of Lake Simcoe, weighing about twelve pounds each, were not so good as the smaller trout; these were excellent and to be found in most streams. The small red trout caught in the Don through the ice were excellent, but were easily frightened away by sleighs being driven over the ice.

But all these were inferior compared with the Niagara Whitefish, whose praises are sung time and again, never too loudly or too fulsomely, me judice. “They, are most exquisitely good . . . . better than any other fresh or salt water fish . . . so rich that sauce is seldom eaten with them, but it is a richness that never tires, it is of so delicate a kind . . . .”^[7]. Generally taken in nets, the Lake Whitefish was speared near Gananoqui.

Fish chowder, Col. Pickering, the American Commissioner, taught his hostess to make of salmon, sea biscuit and pork stewed for twenty minutes; it proved a blessing, being easily dressed in the woods after being prepared in a kettle at home; and even at Castle Frank, the dinner was sometimes of wild duck and chowder.

Potatoes, of course, there were in abundance; bread made in the ordinary way or with rennet and whey without yeast or water and baked in wicker or straw baskets as was the style taught in the Moravian School at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania; Dutch cakes; corn just yellowing, boiled or roasted (that, horresco referens, was eaten with lemon juice)^[8]; maple sugar and, what is now unknown, walnut sugar—the maple sugar selling for 10 cents a pound. The walnut sugar was said to be made from black walnut trees and was darker and sweeter than that from the maple. Wild asparagus had to be eaten when very young; afterwards it became poisonous; walnuts, butternuts, “better than walnuts”, roasted chestnuts—apparently hazel nuts had not come to their own. Ever-lasting peas were good to eat when boiled.

Fruits and berries were abundant; apples, peaches—they were very small and high-flavored—Mrs. Simcoe ate thirty peaches in a day, but that was a trifle compared with what the young men, Talbot and others, ate; and “when tired of eating them raw, Talbot roasted them and they were very good.” Some peach trees were planted at Castle Frank. Cherries, the large May Duke variety of which the Indians were especially fond, and winter cherries which were preserved; plums, in which Carleton Island abounded.

Of small fruit, there were several kinds of strawberries. Some of the wild kind “were as large and as well flavoured as the best scarlet strawberries in gardens in England.” They became ripe about the first of June but even by the middle of May they were edible. Raspberries of the wild variety were “uncommonly fine” and raspberry vinegar in place of tea gave a good night’s rest. Cranberries, both the “low bush” and the “high bush” kinds—of the former some were as large as cherries and as good, the best growing under the water; they were a favorite gift from the Indians. The high bush kind were less bitter than those in England. Then there were fox berries, which we now call bear berries or bears’ grapes—apparently their medicinal properties had not been discovered, and no mention is made of the Indian smoking material, Kinnikinnic, made from the leaves. Only the domestic currant is mentioned, but the huckleberry (called hurtleberry or whortleberry), which ripened about the end of July, was larger than those in England, was quite black, and dried in the sun was as good as the imported Levant currant. Dried by the Indians it is like Irwin’s patent lozenges, but tastes of smoke. About the beginning of March, partridge berries were gathered; the scarlet berry adheres to the plant all winter, is eatable but dry and almost tasteless.

The May apple, our mandrake, has a fruit of the colour and near the size of a magnum bonum plum, which ripens in August. The root is poisonous (the French call the fruit, citrons sauvages). Melons were grown in large quantities and of the best quality near the Head of the Lake, and the finest water melons Mrs. Simcoe ever saw were at York; she ate two or three a day.

Wild rice is spoken of more than once as splendid food for wild ducks, but it does not seem to have been used on the table.

Tea drinking was of daily occurrence. In addition to the imported article, or rather in its absence, there were those of native growth. Mountain tea berry or wintergreen was so much thought of that it was planted at Castle Frank; Mr. McGill drank “tea made of hemlock pine; it is not pleasant but thought wholesome”; and tea and coffee made of peas were good, the coffee being the better.

Balls and dances were of very frequent occurrence. Mrs. Simcoe became a confirmed whist player under the tutelage of the “old bachelor”, Chief Justice William Osgoode, and had an occasional game of chess. She took some sumach wood to make chessmen, the wood being so beautiful.

So living, they suffered no harm from the earthquake shocks they felt in Quebec, December 5, 1791, and in York, December 27, 1795.

NOTES

The Royal Instructions named as the Executive Council for Upper Canada: (I) William Osgoode (the Chief Justice), (II) William Robertson, (III) Alexander Grant, and (IV) Peter Russell—a blank in the Instructions, Simcoe filled in with the name of (V) James (Jacques) Baby. These, with the exception of Robertson, were all sworn into office in July, 1792. (VI) Aeneas Shaw, was sworn in, June 21, 1794: and (VII) The Right Reverend Jacob Mountain received a Warrant or Mandamus for his admission as early as June 30, 1794. I do not find any record of his being sworn in or taking a seat in the Council ^[1].

March 2, 1796, a Royal Warrant or Mandamus was issued to admit and swear in (VIII) Captain John McGill and (IX) Lieutenant David (William) Smith as Executive Councillors-Extraordinary. They were not to act as such except when specially summoned by the Person having the Government of the Province and were not to receive any salary as Executive Councillors. McGill was sworn in at a Council meeting held at the Garrison at York, June 18, 1796, and Smith at a meeting at the same place, June 27, 1796, and both acted in Simcoe’s time ^[2].

(I)—William Osgoode—There has been a great deal of mystery thrown around the first Chief Justice of Upper Canada ^[3]; but the main facts of his life are perfectly clear largely owing to the letters to and from him, now the property of the Law Society of Upper Canada ^[4]. He was the son of William Osgood ^[5], Gentleman, of St. Martin’s Parish, London, and was there born in 1754. Educated at Christ Church, Oxford (matriculating 1768, B.A., 1772, M.A., 1777), he became an accurate Greek and Latin scholar while his English is clear and concise. He entered Lincoln’s Inn in 1773 and after a trip to and a stay of about a year in France, he was Called, November 11, 1779. He did not go on Circuit and apparently did not take Common Law briefs at all, confining himself mainly to Equity drafting. In 1779, he published a small quarto opposing certain of Blackstone’s views on the Law of Descent, which was highly thought of by competent judges but failed to convince the Bench ^[6].

The reasons for his appointment as Chief Justice of Upper Canada do not appear; his Warrant is dated December 31, 1791, but he did not sail until the Spring, when he accompanied John White, the Attorney-General, and Peter Russell, the Receiver-General, to Quebec, June 2, 1792, where they joined Simcoe accompanying him to Montreal about a fortnight later. Preceding Simcoe by one day they arrived at Kingston, June 29. He was there sworn in of the Executive Council, July 9, and took part in the deliberations. He also presided over the Court of Oyer and Terminer and General Gaol Delivery for the District of Mecklenburg trying a case of murder and some cases of other offences.

He became Chairman of the Executive Council, which position he occupied as long as he remained Chief Justice of the Province. He was a faithful attendant at the meetings ^[7] and did much useful work in the interval. It is to him that we owe the very well-drawn Judicature Act of 1794, the foundation of the Common Law practice until the more celebrated Judicature Act of 1881 ^[8].

He also drafted an Act respecting Marriage: and in the Legislative Council of which he was Speaker, exercised a supervision over the legislation proposed by the Assembly. He attended every meeting in the three Sessions of his stay in Upper Canada ^[9].

Appointed Chief Justice of Lower Canada, he resigned on a pension in 1802, proceeded to England and there lived until his death in 1823 at the age of 70.

Simcoe even before any experience with Osgoode seems to have formed a high opinion of him. In his Memorandum to Dundas of June 30, 1791, he says: “The administration of public justice has been nobly provided for in the selection of a Gentleman to fill its Principal office of such respectable personal & professional Character as may ensure the equal & just execution of its responsible Duties”^[10]. In a letter to Dundas from London, August 12, 1791, he says: “In regard to the legal Appointments, the placing of so respectable a man as Mr. Osgoode at the Head of the law Department leaves me nothing to desire on that Subject”^[11]. Throughout Osgoode’s tenure of office, Simcoe continued to speak of him in the highest terms and to rely upon him implicitly. When he was to take leave of him, he said: “I shall feel an irreparable loss in Mr. Chief Justice Osgood”^[12].

Dorchester watched his career in Upper Canada and when the death or retirement of Chief Justice William Smith of Lower Canada was imminent, he had urged upon the Home Authorities the appointment of a duly qualified Chief Justice as his successor; so when Osgoode was appointed he was content and wrote to Simcoe urging that he should come to Quebec as soon as possible ^[13].

A competent judge, and one not given to flattery, is Hon. Richard Cartwright, Jr., a Legislative Councillor; and he says of Osgoode: “The Chief Justice appears to be a very worthy and respectable man”^[14].

His portrait at Osgoode Hall shows him to have been a man of fine presence with a handsome and refined face. His correspondence and all that is known of him (if we disregard the malignant gossip of a certain class in Lower Canada) bear out what has been said of him. No person admitted to his intimacy ever failed to conceive for him that esteem which his conduct and conversation always tended to augment ^[15].

While he left no mark upon our jurisprudence, his name will be perpetuated by the title of the building, Osgoode Hall, the seat of our Supreme Court, the lineal descendant of the Court he did so much to establish although he never sat in it; and the name is the more to be venerated because it was given our Hall by one of the most illustrious of Osgoode’s successors in State and the Court ^[16].

(II)—William Robertson—William Robertson was of Scottish birth and descent. As early as 1777, his brother, Capt. Samuel Robertson, was established in Michillimackinac; he died in 1784. His father-in-law, John Askin, was carrying on business in Detroit and in the winter of 1782-3, William Robertson came to Detroit as his clerk. He rapidly became a personage at Detroit and soon established himself in business, apparently in 1784. In 1788 he admitted his brother David as a partner, the firm being “W. & D. Robertson.”

He took an active part in urging the necessity of local Courts at Detroit and when Dorchester in 1788 divided the territory afterwards Upper Canada into four Districts (the District of Hesse including Detroit and Michillimackinac) Robertson was named one of the Judges of the Court of Common Pleas for the District. He took a very active part in having the Bench of three lay Judges (including himself) replaced by one lawyer. He went to Quebec with that object which finally was achieved when William Dummer Powell was appointed First and only Judge with the powers of three.

He seems to have remained in the east as we find him writing from Montreal, October 15, 1790; and he certainly went to England shortly afterwards. Simcoe met him in London, found him “to be a person of very good manners & good sense” and approved of him as an Executive Councillor ^[17]: but thought that his associations would scarcely permit him to be much at the Capital, which was a great desideratum ^[18]. He was recommended for a seat in both Executive and Legislative Councils by Dorchester and Sir John Johnston, and received the appointment accordingly.

He did not find it convenient to return to Canada and during the first year of Upper Canada’s life, he sent in his resignation ^[19]. He never was sworn in and never became de facto a Member of either Council.

He returned to Detroit in 1795 and took a prominent part in the endeavor to secure large tracts of Indian lands in what is now the lower peninsula of Michigan and the northern part of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois ^[20].

Leaving Detroit in 1796 he went to Montreal where he lived four years; returning to Detroit in 1800, he left there the next year for Toronto and Niagara, then to England where he is said to have lived wretchedly in the vicinity of Billingsgate. He died in 1806 leaving an only child, his daughter Elizabeth Lucy who married Dr. Henry Ronald of Old Brentford ^[21].

(III) Alexander Grant—Alexander Grant ^[22] was the son of Patrick Grant of Glenmoriston, Invernesshire, Scotland; born at Glenmoriston House, May 20, 1734, he served three years in the Royal Navy, and in 1757 exchanged into the 77th Foot or Montgomery’s Highlanders, with whom as an Ensign he sailed for America in 1758. He was in the expedition against Fort Duquesne, being there Lieutenant in the 77th Foot in 1759. He was in command of a sloop of 16 guns on Lake Champlain and served under Amherst against Ticonderoga and Crown Point.

In 1760 he was appointed to the command of a sloop of 20 guns on Lake Champlain; when, in 1764, the Highlanders were disbanded, he was appointed by General Gage to command all the vessels upon the several Lakes. This caused him to take up his residence at Detroit where we find him in 1771 engaged in building two vessels for the King ^[23].

In 1773 or early in 1774 he went to New York to wait upon Haldimand recently appointed Commander-in-Chief of the British Forces in America, apparently to explain and press his plans for naval control of the Lakes. He returned to Detroit in the summer of 1774 ^[24].

Carleton before leaving for England in 1778, confirmed Grant in his position, giving him, in 1777, the command of the vessels on Lake Ontario, Erie, Huron and Michigan; but Haldimand when he replaced Carleton, confined him in 1778 to the three Lakes, Erie, Huron and Michigan, thinking the former command too extensive for one man and giving Captain Andrews command on Lake Ontario ^[25]. In this year he was of great assistance to Lieutenant-Governor Henry Hamilton in his attempt on Vincennes, having charge of the fleet conveying Hamilton and his troops to the Maumee, and also carrying supplies. Grant, however, went no further on the expedition; he returned to Detroit and escaped capture by Col. George Rogers Clark ^[26]. He remained in Detroit having brought back all the British vessels to that Port in view of a probable attack by Clark. He used all his force and even the prisoners of war in completing the fortifications; no army, however, reached Detroit.

Some apparent irregularities in his accounts led to Captain Shank’s being sent to Detroit to investigate, and the investigation cleared Grant of any imputation of dishonesty or other misconduct ^[27].

He continued in command, and in the summer of 1782 was stationed on the Miami River with all his Fleet to bar the advance of the Republican troops; there he built a Blockhouse but being taken ill was obliged to return to Detroit. In the fall he went to Sandusky.

After the peace he remained in Detroit and endeavored to obtain a grant to himself and two associates of the tract of land between Lakes Huron and Ontario but deservedly failed ^[28].

The forces were reduced in consequence of the Peace and Grant was relieved from active service. He had in 1774 married Thérèse Barthe, the daughter of Charles Barthe, a Canadian farmer ^[29], and had a growing family; he therefore bought and worked a farm of considerable size at Grosse Point near Detroit.

In 1788 he was appointed one of the first Commissioners of the Peace for the new District of Hesse formed by Dorchester’s Proclamation of that year; and assisted the Government in sounding the channel of the Detroit to find if possible a good channel between Grosse Isle and the right bank ^[30].

In 1789 he became a member of the Land Board for the same District and rendered important services in that capacity. He still continued head of the Naval Service.

We have seen that he was one of the Executive and Legislative Councillors named in the Royal Instructions to the Governor and took his seat at Kingston, July 11, 1792. He was a fairly regular attendant at the meetings of both Councils and always supported the Government ^[31].

In the troubles at Maumee he took an active part being in command of the vessels conveying the British Troops.

On the approach of the surrender of Detroit to the Americans, Grant left the farm at Grosse Pointe which he had improved and upon which he had erected suitable buildings and so adapted it for the lavish Highland hospitality for which the “Grant Mansion” became noted. His title to this property of about 236 acres was confirmed by President Madison, June 1, 1812, just before the outbreak of the war. He took up his residence at Sandwich, “handy to the Church” of Ste. Anne.

In 1799, on the death of Alexander McKee, Deputy Superintendent General of Indian Affairs, Grant was joined in a Commission given by Peter Russell, the Administrator, with James Baby and Thomas McKee to take his place, but on the arrival of Sir John Johnson the Superintendent the Commission was withdrawn. During this time there seemed a prospect of an Indian uprising against the British but it came to naught ^[32]. In the same year he became Lieutenant of the County of Essex.

On the death of General Peter Hunter at Quebec in August, 1805, he became Administrator of the Government, which position he filled until the arrival of Francis Gore, August, 1806. During his short term of office he had the misfortune to spend some of the money raised by the Provincial Parliament without obtaining legislation for the purpose. Following the advice of Attorney General Scott and neglecting that of a much shrewder man, Mr. Justice Powell, Grant made the matter worse by a weak and wavering reply to an Address by the Legislative Assembly complaining of it. The matter was amicably settled the next year by Gore on the instructions of the Home Government ^[33].

When General Hull made his invasion from Detroit, Grant took part in the meeting of Council, August 4, 1814, when Martial Law was directed on Prorogation ^[34].

His age was telling and Brock had already seen that he must soon be retired from active service; but he retained his title of Commodore and exerted himself to the utmost in defence of his country, Captain Robert H. Barclay taking over his office. His strenuous exertions were too much for a frame weakened with age, and he died, May 8, 1813. His body lies in the churchyard at Sandwich, and within the church is a tablet erected to his memory by his grandson, the late Judge Woods ^[35].

(IV) Peter Russell—Peter Russell, a descendant of the Russells of Bedford, was born at Cork, Ireland, 1733 ^[36]. After attending the University of Cambridge which he left without a degree, he joined the army in which he served for a time in the medical service. Receiving a Commission as Lieutenant, January 9, 1760, he was, on the reduction after the Peace in 1763, retired. In 1775, when troubles in the American Colonies were becoming acute, he rejoined the army, receiving a commission as Lieutenant in the 64th Foot, August 15 of that year and as Captain-Lieutenant and Captain in the same Regiment in 1778. He became Assistant-Secretary to Sir Henry Clinton, took part in the expedition against Savannah and Charleston, 1779-1780, and, on the Peace in 1783, was retired. Living on his half pay, he was in 1791 selected as his Secretary by Andrew Elliott who had been offered the Embassy to the United States; but Elliott finally declined the position and Russell was strongly recommended to Simcoe as a suitable person “to watch over every Branch of the Civil Revenue & Expenditures”. Russell “expressed a willingness to undertake any Post that might afford a competent Income & respectable Situation”; and Simcoe recommended him to Dundas, at the same time expressing a hope that in view of the important services he was to perform and “to the offices & Rank which Mr. Russell has hitherto borne”, he might be appointed a seat in the Executive and Legislative Councils ^[37].

He was appointed Inspector General of Accounts and Receiver General and his name appeared in the Royal Instructions as a member of each of the Councils. He set sail in the spring of 1792 along with William Osgoode the Chief Justice, and John White the Attorney General and joined Simcoe at Quebec, June 2, 1792. The three accompanied Simcoe to Montreal and leaving him to follow pushed on, June 21, for Kingston which they reached, June 29, two days before Simcoe’s arrival. Sworn in as Executive Councillor, July 9, he began a long and faithful service as Executive Councillor ^[38].

In addition to his position as Receiver General and Councillor, he in June, 1793, became Third Justice of the Court of Common Pleas for the Home District, which sat at the Capital ^[39].

He was an indefatigable office seeker and when the Courts of Common Pleas were abolished in 1794, he obtained a Commission as Justice of the new Court of King’s Bench, ad hoc, though he knew no law ^[40].

When Simcoe went to England in 1796, he became (as Senior Councillor) Administrator of the Government of the Province and continued such until the arrival of Peter Hunter in August, 1799. He had the unwisdom—to use no harsher term—to grant Commissions to himself as ad hoc Judge until checked by the stern rebuke of Portland ^[41].

His grants as Administrator to himself as an individual were notorious, but no legal objection was ever found to any of them ^[42]. As Administrator he considered himself Simcoe’s deputy and tried to carry out what he understood to be Simcoe’s policies; and in this, he was reasonably successful ^[43].

When he left the office of Administrator on the arrival of Hunter, he continued to exercise the functions of Councillor with diligence until nearly the end of his life ^[44].

The house built by him in York when the capital was to be removed to that place, was destroyed by fire in January, 1797; Russell failed to have an allowance made him on that account, and built on the southwest corner of Princess and Front Streets the house long known as “Russell Abbey” or the Palace ^[45].

“His portrait, preserved in the Baldwin family, shows a portly gentleman, with a face full of character not unlike that of Thomas Jefferson.”^[47].

(V) James (Jacques) Baby—The Canadian Baby family ^[48] is descended from Jehan Babie, Seigneur de Ranville of the petite noblesse of Guienne. His son, Jacques Babie de Ranville, born in 1633, came in 1665 to Nouvelle France as an officer in Captain de St. Ours’ Company in the celebrated Carignan-Salières Regiment and ultimately settled at Champlain. His posthumous son, Raymond, born in 1688, became a fur trader in the Western Country. It is possible, but not very probable, that it is he who was the person of that name living in Detroit in 1708. He died in 1737. His fourth son was Jacques Duperon Baby (Jacques Duperron Baby, Jacques Duperon-Baby) born at Montreal in 1731, who served in the armies of France against Britain on the Ohio, in Virginia and in Pennsylvania. Before the Conquest of Montreal in 1760 he had settled in Detroit ^[49]. On the approach of Major Rogers to take possession of that Port under Villeneuve’s Capitulation, he hastened his marriage, intending to depart. On possession being taken by the British he refused to take the oath and left with his bride for France. He went to Fort Pitt on his way. Illness prevented him proceeding for some time, but at length he left for Montreal. There he was arrested on the baseless charge of inciting the Indians to revolt but was soon released, the charge being proved false. He went to Fort Pitt again and once more to Montreal, and then to Detroit. He seems to have accepted British allegiance on the Peace of 1763 as we find him in Detroit assisting the British in defence against Pontiac. At all events, thereafter, he was a loyal British subject. Parkman in his Pontiac’s Siege of Detroit speaks of him more than once. He became a Captain and Interpreter in the Indian Service and was highly thought of by Haldimand.

When, in 1788, Dorchester formed four Districts out of the enormous territory afterwards Upper Canada, he appointed him one of the three judges of the Court of Common Pleas for the District of Hesse ^[50]. While Baby did not think it courteous to sign the Petition to that effect, he did all that he could to induce Dorchester to supersede the three laymen and appoint a lawyer Judge, which, as we have seen, Dorchester did in the person of William Dummer Powell. He was a man of considerable means, having a household of several white servants, and a score of slaves, black, mulatto and Indian (Panis). He died at Sandwich, August 2, 1789.

The Councillor James Baby was the third son of Duperon Baby—his two (twin) elder brothers and one sister having died in infancy, he is generally called the eldest. He was born at Detroit, August 25, 1763, during the siege by Pontiac. In the absence of satisfactory schools in the Upper Country, he was sent to Quebec to the care of his father’s brother, François, to be there educated. After a short stay at the little Seminary there,^[51] the only classical school in the city, which had taken the place of the Jesuit College, he was removed by his father and placed under the Curé of Longue-Pointe for private tuition until ready for the Philosophy classes in the College. He at the same time was provided with dancing and fencing masters by the care of his father who was determined that his education should be complete; he thus acquired that ease of deportment and grace of manner which ever characterised him.

He returned to Detroit and his home in 1783, but was in 1786 sent on a tour of Europe ^[52], principally in England; returning he engaged in trade with his father and took control of the farms and mills on the River Rouge. When the old Province of Quebec was divided into two in 1791, he seems to have been in the mind of all those competent to judge, as a proper person to represent the loyal French-Canadian element in the Detroit district. It has been said that Simcoe’s attention was called to him by his uncle, Hon. François Baby of Quebec ^[53]; and that is not at all unlikely. At all events, while Simcoe was still at Quebec, he requested the appointment of Baby to both Councils on the first vacancy ^[54].

As we have seen, Simcoe at Kingston filled in one of the two blanks left in his Instructions with the name of Baby; this he ventured to do because the Secretary of State did not answer his request, and silence, he considered, gave consent ^[55]. He attended the meetings of the Executive Council at Kingston in July, 1792, most faithfully; but thereafter he failed to attend until May 30, 1793; then attended every meeting during that year, the last being on July 24; he also attended the meetings in June and July, 1794, and then not until May and June, 1796.

He took an active part in the election in 1792 of his brother François to the Legislative Assembly for Kent in the first Parliament of Upper Canada ^[56]. In the same year he was made Lieutenant-Colonel of Militia and also Lieutenant of the County of Kent. He was a painstaking and competent Militia officer and his influence with his compatriots was of great value in the Miami troubles. He removed from Detroit in the Fall of 1795 to Sandwich, Upper Canada, in consequence of the approaching surrender to the Americans of that Post, under Jay’s Treaty ^[57]. He was made Deputy Superintendent General of Indian Affairs and had much influence with the Indians.

During the War of 1812 he commanded the 1st Kent Regiment Flank Companies and other Militia; his merits were conspicuous and his services disinterested. His family were driven from their home and he lost very severely in a financial way; in recognition of his distinguished services and in partial compensation for his great losses, he was given the important office of Inspector-General. For many years before his death, he was Senior Member and President of the Executive Council.

His health being impaired by the hardships of the War, he was ordered by his physicians to go to Lower Canada to which he had sent his children—his wife having died of a fever prevalent in Detroit and its neighborhood in 1812-13—when it was determined to withdraw the troops from the Western part of Upper Canada. On the return of Peace in 1815, he returned to Sandwich where he remained a short time, but when he was, in 1816, appointed Inspector-General he removed to York (Toronto), residing at that place until his death in 1833.

One who knew and loved him well, writes of him, “as a member of both Councils, he displayed the most uncompromising probity, and no influence could induce him to give up an opinion, which, after mature examination, he concluded to be right. Owing to his having cultivated both languages, French and English, and sometimes speaking in one and sometimes in the other, he seemed at times slow of apprehension, and after having made up his mind, somewhat pertinacious, but it was the result of high principle. There was nothing of levity or selfishness allowed in forming his conclusions”^[58].

It cannot be said that he exhibited any originality in the Councils; he was a Royalist and a consistent supporter of the existing Colonial system, having no sympathy with any of the movements looking to Responsible Government.

Much of such influence as he had was based upon his being considered to represent the French element in the Western part of the Province; as their relative importance diminished by immigration of the English-speaking, he was less regarded. In his later years, he was respected indeed, but almost a nonentity ^[59].

By his marriage with Elizabeth Abbott ^[60], daughter of James Abbott of Detroit in 1802, he had several children. Some of his descendants are still in the Province.

(VI) Aeneas Shaw—Shaw did not become an Executive or a Legislative Councillor until Simcoe had been some time in Canada. He was a native of Inverness, Scotland, and served in the Revolutionary War in the Queen’s Rangers. He was also in the 30th Foot for a time. On the reduction of the forces by reason of the Peace he was retired on half-pay with his rank of Captain. He went to New Brunswick and worked hard as a settler on the Nashwaak River for some years ^[61].

He had commended himself to Simcoe for we find him recommended as Captain in the Corps of Foot proposed to be raised for Upper Canada ^[62]; he received the appointment accordingly. He was then living on the Nashwaak, near to Fredericton, New Brunswick, and made the noted march with some others, a party of 12, from Fredericton to Quebec, some 370 miles. They travelled up the River St. John and then crossed the height of land on snowshoes; they are said to have made 240 miles in 19 days, and arrived at Quebec, March 4, 1792, there joining Simcoe ^[63].

Simcoe was impressed with the necessity of having a sufficient number of Executive Councillors always at the Capital to have the Council function efficiently; he thought that Robertson’s business would keep him away and that neither Shaw nor any French gentleman to be appointed would be able to be much at the Capital. We find him recommending Shaw, “a very able man as well as an officer, and who has a perfect knowledge of Infant Settlements, having with his own hands worked hard for some years in Nova Scotia to form one.”^[64]. Shaw took the command of the First Division of the Queen’s Rangers which, arriving at Quebec, May 28, 1792, pushed on to Montreal where Shaw joined them, and proceeded west to Upper Canada, arriving at Kingston before Simcoe ^[65].

On the Legislature closing, Simcoe took up the matter again and urged Shaw’s appointment by reason of the inconvenience arising from the small number of Councillors. He said of him: “a Gentleman of Education, Ability & Loyalty & who has served his Majesty during the greater part of the last War as Captain; on the reduction he retired to New Brunswick where with great Industry he formed a Plantation which he quitted to serve under me as Captain-Lieutenant risking the chance of his being reduced on half pay with an inferior income. He has a large family (seven by this time) & as he is one of those Gentlemen who is most likely to effect a permanent Landed Establishment in this country, I beg . . . in the strongest terms to recommend him to your Protection”^[66].

The application was approved in May, 1793: Shaw obtained his mandamus, but great delay occurred and he was not sworn in until June 21, 1794,^[67].

In the meantime he was recommended by Simcoe for a seat in the Legislative Council also, “as a character of approved Loyalty and unquestionable Attachment to His Majesty’s Government and a proper person to fill it”^[68]. This was approved by the Home Administration and Shaw took his seat, June 19, 1794 ^[69]. He was a diligent attendant at the meetings of both Councils ^[70] and proved a clear-headed, businesslike adviser: Simcoe had no difficulty with him at any time.

He came to Toronto in 1793 and built the first house on the east side of Garrison Creek, a small log cabin dignified by the name of “Lambeth Palace.” This later on became the Commandant’s office and Shaw removed to near the recent situs of Trinity College, Queen Street West, where he built a home calling it “Oakhill.”

In 1799, he was one of the three Commissioners whom Hunter entrusted with the administration of the Government temporarily during his absence in Lower Canada.

During all his life in Upper Canada he took the deepest interest in the Militia and was for several years in command of the Garrison at York. He was still Captain in the Queen’s Rangers in 1803 when they were disbanded. He continued an Executive Councillor until 1807; became a Major General in the Army in 1811 and died in 1814 ^[71].

As the Right Reverend Jacob Mountain did not act at all, and Captain John McGill and Lieutenant (afterwards Sir) David William Smith very little, I do not here sketch their career.

NOTES

The names of those directed to be summoned to the Legislative Council appear in the Royal Instructions to Lord Dorchester which Simcoe was directed to follow.

They were (I) William Osgoode, (II) Richard Duncan, (III) William Robertson, (IV) Robert Hamilton, (V) Richard Cartwright, Junior, (VI) John Munro, (VII) Alexander Grant and (VIII) Peter Russell ^[1]. Simcoe filled in a blank left for representatives of the French-Canadians with the name of (IX) James Baby: and these nine were, July 16, 1792, summoned by writ to the Legislative Council by analogy to the Writ of Summons to the House of Lords: June 19, 1794, (X) Aeneas Shaw produced his Writ of Summons and was sworn in.

In the first Session appeared Osgoode, Hamilton, Cartwright, Munro, Grant, Russell and Baby. Robertson never took his seat: Duncan was sworn in, June 17, 1793, and, as has been said, Shaw, June 19, 1794 ^[2].

We have given some account in the last chapter of Osgoode, Robertson, Grant, Russell, Baby and Shaw. Of the remaining Legislative Councillors, only Cartwright and Hamilton played any part in the affairs of the Province in Simcoe’s time, but some account may be given of the others.

(II) Richard Duncan. Duncan was the son of John Duncan, an officer in the 44th Foot: born at Berwick-on-Tweed of Scottish descent, he came to America about 1755 with his father. In 1775, he was residing in Schenectady, where he had gone as early as 1763, and was an ardent Loyalist. He received a Commission in Sir John Johnson’s Corps in 1776 and at some risk, he assisted General McLean and Captain John Munro in their escape in disguise to Canada. In 1777, Duncan joined Burgoyne with a few of his men and took part in the disaster at Saratoga. Then he came to Canada and served the remainder of the Revolutionary War, leaving 3,500 acres of land in Charlotte County, Vermont, which he had been deeded by his father in 1775 and which the father held under a New York grant. He left also houses and lots in Schenectady and over 6,000 acres of land in New York Province. He settled at Rapid Plat.

When Dorchester divided the territory afterwards Upper Canada into four Districts in 1788, Duncan was made one of the Judges of the Court of Common Pleas for the District of Luneburg; and at his house at Rapid Plat, William Dummer Powell and his family stayed one night on the memorable journey to his place of judicial labour ^[3].

Duncan did not serve as Judge after May 22, 1793; in the Legislative Council he attended, June 17, 1793, and was sworn in. He left for New York State to attend to his affairs there, and entered into business between the Mohawk and Buffalo. He wrote several letters still extant stating his intention to return to Canada permanently, but this he failed to carry out. His last appearance in the House seems to have been in February, 1804 ^[4].

(IV) Robert Hamilton. Hamilton was a man of different calibre. Of Scottish birth and descent, he established himself at Niagara. During the Revolutionary period he was in partnership with Richard Cartwright, Junior, afterwards his colleague in the Legislative Council, and with him established a business post on Carleton Island near Kingston which enjoyed a very large trade with the Indians. Shortly after the close of the War, he removed to Queenston, where, still in partnership with Cartwright, he carried on business in wheat, &c., and in supplying the Imperial Troops. The stone house built by him at Queenston was one of the marvels of the day and is mentioned by several travellers of the times. The American Commissioners to the Indians in 1793 were entertained here, and La Rochefoucault speaks of it and him with admiration ^[5].

When the Districts were formed in 1788, Hamilton became one of the Judges of the Court of Common Pleas of the District of Nassau and also a member of the Land Board of the same District. He was one of those named in the Royal Instructions as members of the Legislative Council for the new Province of Upper Canada. Being present the first day, September 17, 1792, of its Sittings, he continued a faithful attendant and took a very active part in its deliberations. From the beginning, his weight was recognized and during the first Session his conduct met the approval of Simcoe.

The second Session saw the spirited debate in the Legislative Council over the Marriage Bill. Hamilton from the beginning of the agitation in the previous year had taken a strong stand in support of his friend Cartwright’s measure ^[6]. During this Session the friends went rather in advance of Simcoe’s views, and in his Despatches he indicates that an opposition might possibly be looked for in the Council ^[7]. While saying that “no adverse party seems hitherto to have formed itself” he adds “as sooner or later it seems to be the natural result of all political institutions, if I were to indulge in a Spirit of Conjecture, I should be induced to think it may sooner take place in the Upper than in the Lower House . . . tho’ there be no direct and systematic opposition to Government, it is apparent . . . there is no direct support of its measures. . .” It was the deliberate policy of Simcoe to have obnoxious measures which had met the approval of the Assembly defeated in the Council so as to avoid the use of the Prerogative of the Crown in refusing Assent. He feared that this policy might not be successful—“In particular as it seems at the present season proper to avoid making use of the negative of the Crown, I am sorry to observe there is too great reason and probability that the Legislative Council are more likely to promote than to suppress any attempt that may demand the exercise of that prerogative.” Coming down to particulars, he says: “Mr. Hamilton is an avowed Republican in his sentiments and altho’ the merchants are justly obnoxious to the settlers of this Province and He is particularly so yet the ascendancy He and his friend Mr. Cartwright must acquire by being Agents for the Contract which supplies the King’s Troops with provisions is of that nature that there is nothing to prevent them from exercising it to the detriment of Government if they have any particular object to promote that may gratify their avarice, ambition or Vanity”^[8].

It was not so much their position in connection with the Marriage Act which raised Simcoe’s alarm: already the intention to change the Judicial system had become public. Hamilton and Cartwright were both Judges of the Courts of Common Pleas and were both outspoken in opposition to the change ^[9]. It is perfectly plain that both Hamilton and Cartwright claimed the right to think for themselves, declined to follow the lead of the Lieutenant Governor, and did not conceal their sentiments. As has been said, Simcoe rather boasts that a hint from the Agent for the purchase of stores for the Troops that their position under the Agent depended upon Simcoe’s approbation led to a “very visible change in the language of these Gentlemen”^[10]. However that may be, business considerations may have closed their mouth. When the Judicature Act was introduced in 1794, Hamilton and Cartwright openly opposed it. The result we have already seen ^[11]. Curiously enough, Simcoe does not complain of Hamilton in this connection but allows his wrath vent on Cartwright. It may be that Hamilton recommended himself to him by offering himself for active service, by furnishing information concerning matters in the United States in which were constant mutterings of war till after Jay’s Treaty, and in taking an active part in forming the Loyal Association of those in the Home District who were “anxious to maintain and preserve the blessings they enjoy from their connection with Great Britain and their participation in her happy Constitution.” They desired “to associate for the purpose of supporting the Laws, of discountenancing all seditious or incendiary opinions and of defending at the risk of their Lives and Fortunes their present Government against all foreign and domestic Enemies.” By becoming Chairman of this Loyal Association, Hamilton effectually answered and dissipated all charges of Republicanism and disloyalty to British institutions. We hear no more of such charges, but Hamilton continued an active Legislative Councillor during the remainder of Simcoe’s stay in Upper Canada. His last appearance in the Legislative Council was in the Session of 1806. He took a very active part in promoting a Bill for the relief of Methodists which, however, ultimately failed ^[12].

(V) Richard Cartwright, Junior. Richard Cartwright, Junior, was probably next to Osgoode the ablest member of Simcoe’s Legislative Council ^[13]. He was born at Albany in the Province of New York, February 2, 1759, the son of an English immigrant of the same name. His mother was of Dutch descent and was said to be of great ability. Her strength of mind, excellent judgment and tenacious memory were inherited by her son.

Educated privately, his reading took a very wide range both in English and the classical tongues. Sincerely religious and strongly attached to the Church of England, he intended to devote himself to her ministry ^[14], and with that view applied himself to the study of Hebrew and Divinity. He had not completed his preparations for Holy Orders when the American Revolution broke out. Theretofore he had not taken part in the agitation which disturbed the Colonies but now he took a firm stand. Coming to Canada with his parents, he joined Col. John Butler’s Queen’s Rangers and for a time acted as Secretary to the Colonel. He took part in two campaigns and was in service until the conclusion of the War. Amongst other services he took part in the much-misrepresented Wyoming expedition and the Cherry Valley campaign. Seeing no prospect in the Church, he joined Robert Hamilton in business. The partnership at Carleton Island being dissolved, when Hamilton went to Queenston, Cartwright remained at Kingston. When, in 1788, the Districts were formed by Dorchester, Cartwright was made a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas for the Mecklenburg District with headquarters at Kingston: he was also created a Justice of the Peace. During his whole life thereafter, he was active in the Quarter Sessions and until its abolition in 1784, in the Court of Common Pleas; he was a sound if not an erudite lawyer, rigidly impartial and “most attentive, mild and discriminating” as a Judge.

One of those named in the Royal Instructions of September 16, 1791, as Members of the Legislative Council, he attended the first day of the Session, and was a faithful legislator until called away by death ^[15].

We have a pretty full account of his legislative activities in his letters to his friend Isaac Todd, some of which have been published in the volume mentioned in note 1 These letters show a man of great ability and considerable learning, strongly attached to British institutions and with a more accurate knowledge of the actual British Constitution than was possessed by Simcoe, absolutely honest, wholly tolerant and sincerely desirous to do his duty whatever might be said by Governor or his associates ^[16].

He had a not unnatural and not unfounded dislike for the English practice of law, “the complicated, elaborate and artificial systems of Westminster Hall . . . fruitful sources of oppression and chicanery”. He resisted the project of Simcoe to have the Capital of the Province at London, saying that it was “a scheme perfectly utopian, to which nature has opposed invincible obstacles; unless Montgolfier’s ingenious invention could be adapted to practical purposes and air balloons be converted into vehicles of commerce”^[17].

No doubt it was the fact of his own marriage being irregular and perhaps legally invalid which caused him to urge a modification of the marriage laws. He made an excellent report on the subject which may still be consulted with advantage ^[18].

Simcoe although not at all satisfied with his proposed Marriage Act which he considered “a hasty and ill-advised Bill”, looked upon him as “a leading character” and gave him a Commission as Lieutenant of the County of Frontenac ^[19]. Cartwright while a firm, convinced and devout member of the Church of England differed toto coelo from Simcoe as to the propriety of making that Church the State Church. He was “astonished at the zeal and tenaciousness of the Executive” in matters “relative to the Church and Dissenters”, and was outspoken in his opinion that it was as impolitic as it was unjust to attempt to give that Church the same extensive advantages that it possessed in England “in a Province in which nineteen-twentieths of the inhabitants were of persuasions different from the Church of England”^[20].

Simcoe, while unable to see eye to eye with Cartwright, after he got over the irritation caused by his opposition to the Judicature Act of 1794, gave him full meed of praise and placed confidence in his patriotism and good judgment. Before he left the Province he did justice to Cartwright and removed an unfortunate and apparently unintentionally caused misunderstanding in the mind of the Secretary of State. During all the regime of Simcoe, Cartwright took his full share of the labor of legislation; his subsequent career, long and honorable as it was, does not concern us here.

(VI) John Munro. John Munro was of Scottish descent and (as is almost certain) of the Fowlis family of that name. Born in Scotland in 1731, he came to America in 1756 in Colonel Webb’s (the Northampton) Regiment, the 48th Foot. On receiving his discharge, he became a trader in a large way of business in Albany, having many transactions with Sir William Johnston and others.

He married Mary Brower, daughter of Cornelius Brower of Schenectady in 1760, in which year he was an Elder of the Presbyterian Church in Albany, becoming also a Trustee.

He obtained grants of large tracts of land in what is now the State of Vermont and was then claimed as their territory by both the Colonies, New York and New Hampshire—the well known “Hampshire Grants” controversy which more than once nearly precipitated civil war. Munro received his Grants from New York: in 1767, he built a house on part of the land in Shaftesbury (now in Vermont) and in the following year, making his home there, he called it, “Fowlis in the County of Albany”. Thereafter he was a storm centre in the dispute carried on, sometimes in the Courts but more often by open violence. Becoming a Justice of the Peace, he acted also in that capacity in upholding the claims of New York and he had the confidence of Governor Tryon.

In the troublous times of the Revolution, he took the Loyalist side and was one of the principal “Tories” of Shaftesbury. In June, 1775, he joined General Allen McLean in New York and was of material assistance to him in furnishing him with information—he accompanied McLean as far as Schenectady in his perilous journey to Canada by way of Oswego.

He took part in raising Loyalist troops but being captured, he was tried and sentenced—imprisoned, sometimes in irons, in Albany, he escaped but was recaptured and sentenced to death: but he escaped from his prison at Esopus. In 1777, he was driven from his home in Vermont by the Council of Safety and nearly all his property there was seized.

He made his way to Quebec where he received a Commission as Captain in the Royal American Regiment of New York: he was chiefly occupied in caring for the wants of the refugees; and was joined at St. John’s, Quebec, by his own family in October, 1778.

In 1780, he originated a scheme for an invasion of New York from Canada which received the approval of the authorities and was put into effect. With 100 men of the King’s Royal Regiment of New York nearly all being his former neighbors, some 34 Rangers and some Mohawks under Lieut. Langan, he left Crown Point, October 7, 1780, invaded the Colony of New York and took Ballston. Being unable to effect a junction with Sir John Johnson, and finding his situation perilous, he joined Major Carleton, with nineteen prisoners including Colonel Gordon, the whole expedition being effected without the loss of a man. One prisoner taken by Munro’s force was instantly killed by the Mohawks, but some others were saved with great difficulty from Indian vengeance by Munro’s care and vigilance.

Munro received the approbation of Haldimand and remained under arms until the Peace, not, however, engaged in actual hostilities.

When the Independence of the United States was acknowledged by the Treaty of Paris, 1783, Munro with a number of men of the Royal American Regiment, “Protestants”, petitioned for a grant of 12,000 acres in the District of Montreal, behind the Seigniory of La Veltrie: but the application was unsuccessful. He also went to Nova Scotia in the hope of obtaining land there but was again unsuccessful.

He then came to what was afterwards Upper Canada and, in 1784, obtained land in Matilda. Leaving his family in Canada, he went to England that Fall and in London presented his claims before a Commission—he estimated his losses at £14,231, New York Currency, ($35,577.50), not including household furniture and 6,000 acres of land in Vermont.

He returned to Canada in 1787 after two years in England and the following year when the new Districts were formed by Lord Dorchester, he was appointed on the Land Board of the District of Luneburg and also a Justice of the Peace.

In 1792, on the retirement of Richard Jessup, he was appointed a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of the District and continued to serve as such until its abolition in 1794. He took his seat as Legislative Councillor on the first day; and attended for the last time in 1800.

Munro was a consistent supporter of the Government; although himself a Judge of a Court of Common Pleas, he somewhat unexpectedly voted for the Judicature Act of 1794 and earned the good will of Simcoe.

His influence in legislation was negligible: but he was a very active and useful Magistrate.

NOTES

The Legislative Assembly in Simcoe’s time consisted of sixteen members representing the nineteen Counties into which Upper Canada was divided by Simcoe’s Proclamation of July 16, 1792 ^[1].

1. Glengarry had two Ridings and sent to the Assembly (I) Hugh Macdonell ^[2] from the First Riding and (II) John Macdonell from the Second.

9. Prince Edward and the Township of Adolphustown in the County of Lennox sent (VIIIa) Philip Dorland. He could not take the prescribed oath as he was “one of the persons commonly called Quakers” and he was replaced by (VIIIb) Peter Vanalstine.

12. Northumberland, 13. Durham, 14. York and the First Riding of Lincoln sent (X) Nathaniel Pettit.

15. Lincoln, Second Riding, sent (XI) Benjamin Pawling. Lincoln, Third Riding sent (XII) Parshall Terry. Lincoln, Fourth Riding, and 16. Norfolk sent (XIII) Isaac Swayze.

Of these the only legislators who are known to have had any influence in Simcoe’s time are (VI) John White and (XIV) David William Smith; but some short account will be given of the others.

(I) Hugh Macdonell. Hugh Macdonell was of Highland descent and birth and of the Aberchalder Branch of that illustrious Clan, the son of Alexander Macdonell (Aberchalder). Born in Scotland he came with his father and uncle to America and with them took up residence in the Mohawk Valley; in the eighth decade of the 18th century, 1773, he received a grant of 100 acres from Sir John Johnson. When the Revolution broke out, Macdonell with others of his Clan took up arms for the Crown: he was Lieutenant in the 1st Battalion of the King’s Royal Regiment for seven years. At the peace, he settled in what became Upper Canada: we find him signing with “other inhabitants in the neighborhood of New Johnstown”, a congratulatory address to Lord Dorchester, December 2, 1786. On the formation of the Province, he was in 1793 made a Justice of the Peace. He ceased to be a member of the Legislative Assembly with the First Parliament; but he was appointed in 1792, the first Adjutant General of Militia of Upper Canada, later Captain in the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Canadian Volunteer Regiment of Foot, the first Regiment raised in Upper Canada. Later, in 1805, he was Commissary-General at Gibraltar on the staff of H.R.H. the Duke of Kent (father of Queen Victoria) and Consul General at Algiers 1811-1820. He was also for a time Lieutenant Colonel of the Glengarry Militia.

In Parliament he was, in the Session of 1792, one of a Committee of two to ask a conference with the other House; the only other act noted is in 1793 when he moved a resolution that “such Acts as have already passed or may hereafter pass the Legislature of this Province be translated into the French language for the benefit of the inhabitants of the Western District of this Province and other French settlers who may come to reside within this Province and that A(ngus) Macdonell, Esquire, Clerk of this House be likewise employed as a French translator for this and other purposes of this House.”^[3]

(II) John Macdonell: an elder brother of Hugh Macdonell. He entered the Revolutionary War as Ensign in 1775; being then resident in Tryon County, New York, near Johnstown, he joined the 84th Regiment or Royal Highland Emigrants in which he served more than three years: then he served for nearly six years in Butler’s Rangers. Along with his kin, he settled in the Township of Charlottenburgh on the banks of the St. Lawrence about six miles east of Cornwall, where they drew a very large tract of land. When the Districts of Luneburg, Mecklenburg, Nassau and Hesse were formed in 1788, he received a Commission as Justice of the Peace and also as Judge of the Court of Common Pleas for the District of Luneburg. He continued to act as Judge until the abolition of the Court of 1794.

Elected for the Second Riding of Glengarry, he was present the first day of the first Session, September 17, 1792 and was unanimously chosen as Speaker. There is no record of any legislative activity on his part.

He was re-elected for the Second Parliament for the same Riding, but he does not seem to have attended the first session in 1797 ^[4]. David William Smith was elected Speaker and the respect in which Macdonell was held appears by the following entry June 9, 1798, “Mr. Speaker addressed the House in the following words to wit:

Gentlemen of the House of Assembly:—As you have done me the honour to call me to the Chair of the House, I feel it a duty I owe to the recollection of the services of Col. Macdonell to move you that in order to mark the sense I entertain of his former situation as Speaker, a place be considered as appropriate to him during the present Session being the first next to the chair on the right hand.” This was unanimously agreed to and ordered accordingly ^[5]. June 22, 1799, he received permission to absent himself from the House for the remainder of that the third Session ^[6]. He was not elected for the Third Parliament (1800) or any later.

He took a prominent part in military matters, was Colonel of the Glengarry Militia and was in command of the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Canadian Volunteer Regiment of Foot with headquarters at Fort George near Niagara; this, the Upper Canada Battalion, garrisoned the Province from 1796 until it was disbanded in 1802.

As we have seen, he was made Lieutenant of his County, Glengarry ^[7]. In that capacity, he proposed in 1807 the formation of a Corps of Glengarry Fencibles. This suggestion was not carried out at the time but the Glengarry Light Infantry Regiment which fought so gloriously in the War of 1812-14 was later raised by his kinsmen much along the same lines. His health and fortunes failing, he obtained the Paymastership of the 10th Veteran Battalion, but died at Quebec on his way to England.

(III) Jeremiah French, one of two brothers, (Gershom being the other) of English descent; born in America, they occupied a farm in Vermont, the present site of Manchester. Jeremiah was at one time High Sheriff of Manchester. On the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, he went to Albany and joined the 2nd Battalion of the King’s Royal Regiment of New York, in which he served as Lieutenant in Peters’ company for seven years. After his departure for Albany, his wife, Elizabeth Wheeler, who was an outspoken Loyalist, was expelled by the Continentals: his property had been seized and some of the chattels were now sold to pay for her transportation—then with a few belongings, she was sent to the British camp.

Lieutenant French drew lands in Cornwall and Montague. Elected in 1792, he gave way in 1796 to Robert Isaac Dey Gray, the first Solicitor-General of Upper Canada, and died in 1805.

(IV) Alexander Campbell. Of Campbell, little is known. His name appears as Lieutenant in McAlpine’s Company of the 2nd Battalion of the King’s Royal Regiment of New York, 1777. In the list of officers of the Corps of the Loyal Rangers commanded by Major Jessup he is described as born in the Province of New York, “a wealthy farmer of some considerable property in that Province lost by the rebellion”^[10]. He was present during the first, second and fourth Sessions: he was living in Johnstown in 1795, but he seems to have later removed to Montreal. He was not re-elected and his name is not connected with any legislation ^[11].

(V) Ephraim Jones—a descendant of Josiah Jones who came to Boston in 1665 and settled in Weston, Middlesex County, Mass., dying there, 1714, aged 94. His grandson, Elisha, American-born, had a large family of fourteen sons and one daughter: he lived at the mansion house and farm at Weston. He and all his family adhered to the Loyalist cause; some settled in New Brunswick, some in Nova Scotia and some in Upper Canada: Ephraim was the tenth son. When the Revolutionary War broke out, he was living at West Hoosac and he joined the British Forces at Pointe au Fer under General Riedesel. Afterwards he served under Sir Guy Carleton and General Burgoyne: in the latter command, he was Commissary of Forage and was taken prisoner at Saratoga. In 1781, he entered as a Volunteer in the Loyal Rangers, where he served as Commissary until the Corps was reduced in Canada. He drew land in the Fifth Township, Augusta, and was for a time Commissary of the Stores provided by the British Government for the settlers in Upper Canada. That, however, had ceased before he made an application before the Loyalist Commissioners at St. Johns, May 29, 1787, in which he claimed a share in the estate of his late father, Col. Elisha Jones, which his brothers gladly accorded him, one of them, Josiah, swearing that Ephraim had “served in the British Army the whole War.” No legislation is connected with his name and he was not re-elected ^[12].

(VI) John White—The first Attorney-General of Upper Canada was the only son of John White ^[13] of Hicks Hall in the Parish of St. Sepulchre in the County of Middlesex. He does not seem to have been a University man, but he was admitted to the Inner Temple, October 17, 1777. A fellow-student, the celebrated Samuel Shepherd, married White’s sister in 1783: White and Shepherd studied under Sergeant Remington, a Special Pleader of great eminence. White was called to the Bar in 1785; he married and went to Jamaica to practise law. There he was unsuccessful, and the climate seems to have sown the seeds of a sickness from which he suffered intermittently during the remainder of his life. He returned to Britain and went to Wales intending to take Holy Orders; but Shepherd recommended him to Osgoode who was to be Chief Justice of Upper Canada, and Osgoode recommended him as Attorney-General to Evan Nepean a Commissioner of the Privy Seal; through his influence, White was appointed. He came to Canada in company with Osgoode and arrived at Kingston in June, 1792. He was called into active practice at once as he had to prosecute a number of criminal cases at Kingston in August. While waiting for the Court of Oyer and Terminer to sit in August, White, remaining at Kingston, was elected Member of the Legislative Assembly largely through the influence of Simcoe. After the Court, he sailed for Newark (Niagara): and he had not been at the Capital a week when clients began to come in. As he was the only regular lawyer in this province except Walter Roe of Detroit (the Judges, William Osgoode and William Dummer Powell, were of course, not practising), he soon had a fairly large practice—and this, it may here be said, kept up until his tragic death, January 3, 1800, although the fees including his salary as Attorney-General were always pitiably small,—he complains that he was obliged to dig his own potatoes and cut his own firewood.

White in the Assembly in fact represented the Government, although he was not a member of the Executive Council. He took a very active part in the House “where indeed”, he says “there has been unusual ignorance and stupidity.”

In the session of 1793, he had charge of the Slave Bill and, as it is believed, made some changes to render it more efficient. The bill was unpopular with his constituents and it was openly prophesied that he would not again be elected by reason of his support of that measure—a prophecy which was fulfilled when Christopher Robinson defeated him at the General Election for the Second Parliament ^[14].

He also had charge of the Judicature Act in 1794, but in that instance there was no opposition.

While he was not a member of any succeeding Parliament, he continued as Attorney-General until his death.

He took an active part in the organization of the Law Society of Upper Canada, formed by the Statute of 1797; and nearly succeeded in introducing the English system wherein the same person cannot be Barrister and Solicitor.

He had expected to be appointed Chief Justice of Nova Scotia on the resignation of (Sir) Thomas Andrew Strange (1798) and had actually accepted the post; but other considerations intervened, and Sampson Salter Blowers received the appointment. He had also reason to expect the Chief Justiceship of Upper Canada on Osgoode’s removal to Lower Canada in 1794, but was disappointed.

At the Christmas season of 1799, he made use of language concerning Mrs. Small, wife of Major Small, Clerk of the Executive Council that must needs, according to the ethics of the time, lead to his death or that of the lady’s natural defender. If not true, it should not have been said and still less, if possible, if it were true. A challenge followed and White was killed. He died January 3, 1800 ^[15].

(VII) Joshua Booth—is almost unknown. There is no doubt that he was of English descent and his family was settled in Orange County, New York. After the war, in which he had served as Sergeant in the Loyalist Troops, he came to Canada and settled in Ernestown. He became proprietor of the King’s Mill, west of Kingston on the present Mill Creek. He was not re-elected and has no legislative activities to his credit ^[16].

(VIIIa) Philip Dorland. The peculiar experience of this Member has already been stated ^[17].

He belonged to a well known band of “Quakers” or Friends in Dutchess County, New York, who, however, were not prevented by their love of peace from taking up arms in the Loyalist cause. He, with many of his brethren, settled in Adolphustown and was a leader among his people.

Elected as Member, his conscience would not allow him to take the required oath; he accordingly never took his seat. A new Writ of Election was issued and his neighbour Peter Vanalstine took his place ^[18].

It is not without interest to note that not all the “Fighting Quakers” during the Revolution were on the side of the Crown.

A number of Quakers in Philadelphia took up arms in the cause of the Continentals. On the conclusion of peace, they were “churched” by their people for their part in the war. But, taking the name, Free Quakers, they built a church by public subscription which still stands on the southeast corner of Fifth and Arch Streets immediately across Fifth Street from the Quaker Burying Ground, where are the graves of Benjamin and Deborah Franklin. I have frequently seen this building with the block of marble inserted in its north gable with the inscription:—

(The “Empire” of course, means the Empire of the United States considered as beginning on the Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776.)

(VIIIb) Peter Vanalstine—Vanalstine was the son of Alexander Vanalstine ^[19] of Dutch descent and was born in Kinderhook, New York, where he lived until 1775. A Loyalist, he was, in 1776, chosen by those of that inclination a Member of the Committee of Albany. He found himself in the minority and he and sixteen others were made prisoners as friends of the King and imprisoned for seventeen days. Early in the following year, 1777, he was obliged to leave home, and after remaining concealed for a time, in September of that year he joined the Forces of Burgoyne with 30 men. In 1778, he went to New York and served as Captain of Batteaux men. Afterwards he did duty as Major of Associated Loyalists ^[20] serving at Smith Town, Long Island.

He came to Adolphustown after the Peace, and his somewhat extensive estates at and near Kinderhook were forfeited by the New York Commissioners of Forfeitures in 1783. He was placed in charge of the provisions for the settlers in Adolphustown assisted by Philip Dorland. They were responsible, acting under the instructions of a Committee for the distribution among the families. Vanalstine was not re-elected. He left Adolphustown for Prince Edward County where he had large holdings, and built the mill at the Lake of the Mountain; he subsequently returned to Adolphustown, where he died in 1811.

(IX) Hazelton Spencer. He was the eldest son of Benjamin Spencer, who was, like his son, born in America. The son was born at East Grenville, Rhode Island, August 29, 1757. The family removed to Durham County on the Winooski River, Vermont, to a farm of about 300 acres, which they farmed ^[22]. The father was elected to the Provincial Assembly or Congress, but proving loyal, he was forced to fly the country; he joined Burgoyne in 1777 and Hazelton joined with him. His father was present at the Battle of Bennington and died shortly thereafter at Ticonderoga. The son served as a Volunteer with Sir John Johnson until 1781, when he got a Lieutenancy in the 2nd Battalion of the King’s Royal Regiment of New York and served for the remainder of the War. When the regiment was disbanded, he settled at Fredericksburgh above Kingston ^[23].

When the Second or Upper Canada Battalion of the Royal Canadian Volunteers was formed under the Colonelship of John Macdonell, Spencer was appointed Major, and from 1797 to 1803 he was Commandant at Kingston.

He was appointed by Simcoe, Lieutenant of the County of Lennox and took a very prominent part in all militia matters. He was actively preparing for the war with the United States when he died February, 1813 ^[24].

(X) Nathaniel Pettit—the son of Jonathan Pettit who lived in the Province of Pennsylvania but had land also in New Jersey. It is not quite certain when Nathaniel came to Canada, but it seems probable that he came earlier than his brother Andrew and that is known to have been in 1787. Nathaniel took up land upon which Grimsby, Ont., now stands and was a man of some consequence in the community.

When Dorchester formed the Districts in the Upper Country, he made Pettit a member of the Land Board, and October 22, 1788, he also made him one of the Judges of the Court of Common Pleas for the District of Nassau ^[26]. When Upper Canada was to become a separate Province, Sir John Johnson and Lord Dorchester recommended Pettit for appointment as Executive Councillor ^[27].

He served only one Session in the House. It is not known whether as some think, he went back to New Jersey or died and was buried on his farm on the Lake Front.

(XI) Benjamin Pawling.—Benjamin and Jesse Pawling were brothers, sons of a Welsh immigrant who had settled in Pennsylvania. Remaining loyal to the Crown, they were forced to move to Nova Scotia, whence they made their way on foot and by canoe to Quebec. Enlisting there, they fought through the War. Benjamin became a Captain-Lieutenant in Butler’s Rangers and served in all seven years. Settling in the Niagara country he drew land immediately east of Port Dalhousie; he not only farmed ^[28] but also acted as Land Surveyor at times. He was commissioned a member of the Land Board of the District of Nassau in 1788; he was intended to be made a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas for the District, his brother Jesse was by mistake named in the Patent, but this error was quickly corrected.

He was not re-elected; he died at Twelve Mile Creek and was buried, December 16, 1818.

(XII) Parshall Terry. Some mystery has been made concerning this member of the first Assembly for the Fourth Riding of Lincoln and Norfolk.

Dr. Canniff states the name of the representative as “. . . . Young”, and is followed by Mr. J. A. Macdonell. The Quebec Almanac gives it as “Pashal Tarry”: Dr. James correctly reads this, “Parshall Terry”, but does not give a decided opinion. None of these had the advantage of the Wolford Manor Papers which contain the official list made up by William Jarvis, Provincial Secretary, June, 1796: these make it clear that Terry was the representative ^[29].

We are, however, not much farther advanced because beyond the facts that he came from New York State, that he was later associated with Isaac Swayze in furnishing supplies at the Garrison at York, that he came to York and conducted a milling business on the Don, that he became Swayze’s bondsman when an Information ex officio was laid against him in 1795, and that he was drowned in a freshet of the Don in 1808, he is quite unknown ^[30]. He was not re-elected.

(XIII) Isaac Swayze ^[31]. This member came from New Jersey; during the Revolutionary War he was a Scout—the Revolutionaries called him a spy. He was in the supply department furnishing horses, etc. to the Loyal Forces: the Revolutionaries called him a horse-thief. In any case, he was loyal and did his best for the cause of the Crown, and Lord Dorchester accredited him as “Pilot to the New York Army”. It does not precisely appear when he came to Canada, but as early as 1784, he is found on Lot 27 of Township No. 1 on Niagara River ^[32].

He was associated with Parshall Terry in supplying the Troops at York. A prominent Freemason, he was wont to boast in his cups that he had taken part in the abduction of Morgan; but he denied this when it seemed likely to get him into trouble.

In 1795, an Information ex officio was filed against him for sedition by John White, Attorney-General: he was tried and found guilty. Submission and expression of regret reduced his sentence to a fine of £10 Provincial money (say $40), to stand committed until the fine was paid and to find sureties for good behavior for two years ^[33].

In 1807, he had serious trouble as Inspector of Licences for the District of Niagara. He had collected a considerable sum, £178.5.8 ¼ Provincial Currency (say $713) for Duties on Licences issued January 5, 1806 and kept the money in his house. He claimed that on the night of January 28, 1806, his house was broken open and he was robbed of that money and a large amount of his own. He petitioned the House of Assembly in the Fourth Parliament (of which he was a member) to take his case into consideration and grant him such relief as they in their wisdom should think meet. A Bill was brought in for his relief, read the first and second time and referred to the Committee of the Whole. The Committee reported that consideration of the Bill should be postponed to the first week of the next Session. The Report was adopted by a vote 10 to 5 and Swayze had leave to withdraw his Petition. Notwithstanding this, the Bill was again referred to a Committee of the Whole. The Committee reported progress and asked leave to sit again. The House finally refused to resolve itself into a Committee on the Bill, but contented itself with passing a Resolution that in the opinion of the House, he had been robbed of the amount “and that he was at the same time severely beaten and wounded”. In the next Parliament of which he was not a member he represented his Petition but the House refused leave to bring in a Bill for his relief ^[34].

Swayze has received much notoriety and some obloquy, from the fact that it was he who initiated the prosecution of the celebrated “Banished Briton”, Robert Fleming Gourlay, in 1818. Gourlay treats him in his voluminous writings with the utmost contempt, calls him a spy, a horse-thief, a perjurer, &c; but the expressed opinions of the informant were shared by many in the highest stations in the land and he may have been perfectly honest as he was perfectly open ^[35].

(XIV) David William Smith—Smith was the only child of John Smith, sometime of Salisbury, England, who was Major (afterwards Lieutenant-Colonel) of the Fifth Regiment of Foot, stationed at Detroit, 1790-1792, and then removed to Niagara of which Post Colonel Smith was Commandant until his death, November 19, 1795. The son was born in the Regiment, September 4, 1764 ^[36]. He was appointed Ensign in the 5th Foot in 1779, and Acting Paymaster the following year by Earl Percy, afterwards the Duke of Northumberland, his lifelong friend and patron. When his father, Major Smith, was Commandant at Detroit and member of the Land Board for the District of Hesse, the son was appointed Secretary of the Board as well as to his father, 1790. He also became Fort Adjutant the same year and Assistant Engineer the following year.

His regiment was moved to Niagara in the spring of 1792 and he with it. He was created Deputy-Quarter-Master-General there, April 12, 1792, and Secretary to the Commandant in June.

He had aspirations for public life, and, after consideration, he selected the constituency of Suffolk and Essex ^[37] for which he was duly returned.

He became Deputy Surveyor General of Lands for Upper Canada the following month. In the Session of Parliament he took an active part and recommended himself to the Lieutenant-Governor. He was also made Deputy-Judge-Advocate.

Desiring to practise law, he was, June 2, 1793, articled to John White, the Attorney-General and was one of those so fortunate as to receive, July 7, 1794, from Simcoe, a Licence “to be and appear as Advocate and Attorney in all and every of His Majesty’s Courts”^[38]. There is, however, no record of his ever appearing in Court, and, when, in 1797, the Law Society of Upper Canada was formed, he was not called to the Bar ^[39], not being then practising law.

He became Captain in the 5th Foot in 1795, having obtained the rank of Major in the Provincial Horse Artillery, the previous year.

In the Second Parliament, he was elected Speaker, having been elected for the Third Riding of Lincoln; in the Third Parliament, he represented Norfolk, Oxford and Middlesex and was re-elected Speaker. In the meantime, he had become Lieutenant and Colonel of Militia of the County of York and Master of Chancery. He had been Deputy Lieutenant and Colonel of Militia for Lincoln. He had visited England from time to time for the benefit of his health, which was seriously impaired, his place as Speaker being filled by Samuel Street and Richard Beasley, and, finally in May, 1804, he resigned his Canadian appointments ^[40] and went to England, where the next year he became Commissioner for his friend the Duke of Northumberland. A Baronet in 1821, he died near Alnwick, England, May 9, 1837, aged 73.

There are many of his papers in the Toronto Public Library. In 1799, he published in London a work A Short Topographical Description of His Majesty’s Province of Upper Canada in North America to Which is Annexed a Provincial Gazetteer which is frequently referred to and is valuable historically and topographically. He also annotated that part of La Rochefoucault’s Travels which refers to Canada ^[41].

(XV) William McComb. The name is really “Macomb”—he was the son of John Macomb who came from the North of Ireland to America about 1750 and carried on business at Albany, New York, chiefly in supplying the British Posts on the large Lakes and Rivers from Montreal to Detroit. His two sons, Alexander and William, entered on the same business. We find them as early as 1776 supplying the Post of Detroit and with another person also at Michillimackinac ^[42].

William adhered to the Loyalist cause and was one of the most influential and affluent of the Detroit merchants. He lived at Detroit and became the owner of large tracts of land in that Post and the vicinity, including the Cass farm now in the best part of Detroit, Belle Isle, Stony Island, &c.

He chose British citizenship when the time came under Jay’s Treaty for the surrender of Detroit, but he died before the actual surrender in 1796 ^[43].

(XVI) François Baby. François (or Francis) Baby, born in Detroit, 1768, was a younger brother of Jacques Baby the Executive and Legislative Councillor ^[44]. He entered the political field at the instance of his brother to represent the French Canadians of the Detroit region. Jacques desired him to stand for Essex where the French people would be sure to vote for him,^[45] but finally he selected Kent where he seems to have been elected along with Macomb without opposition.

He became Colonel of the Kent Militia in 1793 and was an active and efficient officer. Electing British citizenship, he crossed the River when Detroit was surrendered to the Americans under Jay’s Treaty. In the War of 1812, he was on active service: he took part in the Battle (sometimes called the Massacre) of River Raisin, January 23, 1813, and exerted himself to restrain the ferocity of the Indians, ransoming captives from them when other means were unsuccessful. General Hull, when he made his impotent gesture against Upper Canada and crossed the River, occupied Baby’s fine house as his headquarters. The same house was Headquarters for Brock, Procter and Harrison, commanding as it did a fine view of the River.

Baby, after an honorable career of three score years and ten, died at Windsor, Upper Canada, in 1838.

NOTES

GENERAL NOTE.

Second Riding.—The remainder of the County of Glengarry, bounded on the east by the dividing line between the Provinces; on the south by the River St. Lawrence; on the west by the eastern boundary of the Township of Cornwall running N 24° W to the Ottawa—also islands on front.

2. Stormont.—Bounded on the east by Glengarry, on the south by the River St. Lawrence; on the west by the Township of Williamsburg running N 24° to the Ottawa—also islands on front.

3. Dundas.—Bounded on east by Stormont; on the south by the River St. Lawrence; on the west by the Township of Edwardsburg, running N 24° W to the Ottawa—also islands on front.

4. Grenville.—Bounded on east by Dundas; on the south by the River St. Lawrence; on the west by Township of Elizabethtown running N 24° to the Ottawa—also islands on front.

5. Leeds.—Bounded on east by Grenville; on the south by the River St. Lawrence; on the west by the Township of Pittsburg running north till it intersects the Ottawa—also islands on front.

6. Frontenac.—Bounded on the east by Leeds; on the south by Lake Ontario; on the west by the Township of Ernestown, running N 24° W to the Ottawa. Leeds and Frontenac formed one constituency.

7. Ontario.—Amherst Island, Gage Island, Wolfe Island, Howe Island and all the St. Lawrence Islands from Point Pleasant to the mouth of the Gananoque.

(This County of Ontario had no relation to the present County of Ontario which was then part of the County of York).

8. Addington.—Bounded on the east by Frontenac; on the south by Lake Ontario; on the west by the Township of Fredericksburg running N 31° W to the Ottawa. Ontario and Addington formed one constituency.

9. Lennox.—Bounded on the east by Addington; on the south by the Bay of Quinte, to the eastern line of the Mohawk Village then along western line of the Township of Richmond N 16° W, 12 miles, then N 74° E to Addington.

10. Prince Edward.—Bounded on the south by Lake Ontario; on the west to the Carrying Place; on the north by the Bay of Quinte—also the islands fronting.

Prince Edward and the Township of Adolphustown in the County of Lennox formed one constituency.

11. Hastings.—Bounded on the east by Lenox; on the south by the Bay of Quinte to the River Trent then along the Trent to the rear of the 9th concession then N 16° W to the Ottawa, down the Ottawa to Addington—also the islands on front.

12. Northumberland.—Bounded on the east by Hastings; on the south by Lake Ontario to the western point of Little Bay, then N 16° W to the Mississague Indian territory then east parallel to Lake Ontario to Hastings.

Lennox (less Adolphustown), Hastings and Northumberland formed one constituency.

13. Durham.—Bounded on east by Northumberland; on the south by Lake Ontario to the western point of Long Beach; then N 16° W to the Mississague Territory thence east parallel to Lake Ontario to Northumberland.

14. York.—East Riding.—Bounded on east by Durham, on south by Lake Ontario to the Mississague Indian Tract, then N 16° W 28 miles then N 74° E 14 miles, then S 16° E 16 miles to the southern limit of Indian Tract, then parallel to Lake Ontario to Durham.

West Riding.—Bounded on east by Mississague Indian Tract running N 45° W to the River Thames: on the south by Burlington Bay to the Carrying Place through the Mohawk Village to the River Thames, and along the Thames to the Mississague Indian Tract.

15. Lincoln.—First Riding.—Bounded on the west by York; on the south by the Grand River to the Indian Road leading to the Forks of Chippewa Creek (to be called the Welland) down the Creek to the continuation of the eastern boundary of Township No. 5, then north along that boundary to Lake Ontario and along Lake Ontario to York. Durham, York and the First Riding of Lincoln formed one constituency.

Second Riding.—Bounded on the west by the First Riding; on the east by the River Niagara, on the south by Townships Nos. 2, 9 and 10.

Third Riding.—Bounded on the east by the River Niagara; on the south by the Chippewa (Welland) on the west by the First Riding and on the north by the Second Riding.

Fourth Riding.—Bounded on the east by the River Niagara, on the south by Lake Erie to the mouth of the Grand River then up the River to the road leading from the Grand River to the Forks of the Chippewa (Welland); on the north by the road until it strikes the Forks then down the Welland to the Niagara River.

16. Norfolk.—Bounded on north and east by Lincoln and the River Thames, on the south by Lake Erie to the Barbue (Orwell) River, then N 16° W to the Thames; then up the Thames to York.

17. Suffolk.—Bounded on the east by Norfolk, on the south by Lake Erie to the Carrying Place from Pointe aux Pins to the Thames; on the west by the Carrying Place then up the Thames to Norfolk.

18. Essex.—Bounded on the east by Suffolk; on the south by Lake Erie; on the west by the River Detroit and Lake St. Clair at a distance of four miles to the Thames and up the Thames to Suffolk.

19. Kent.—All the territory (not being Indian territory) not included in other Counties.

There is a persistent and widespread tradition in the Craft of this Province that our first Lieutenant-Governor was a Freemason, and that he took part in the Masonic celebration of St. John’s Day, December 27, 1792, in the Freemasons’ Hall, Newark, and the opening meeting of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Upper Canada, August 26, 1795. That Simcoe was a Freemason is certain; but he neither did nor could attend either meeting, as a Freemason.

When, in 1773, he was made a Mason, Masonry was in England in a state of flux and transition. The original discrete and individualistic Lodges were practically extinct, although there were some of the Craft who contended that, as of yore, a competent number of Brethren had the inherent right to make Masons without a Warrant from any authority ^[1].

Most—indeed, practically all—of the Lodges gave their allegiance to a Grand Lodge; but there were more than one Grand Lodge in England. On June 24, 1717, was established the Premier Grand Lodge of England of Free and Accepted Masons ^[2], which is admittedly the mother of all regular Masonic Lodges of the three Craft Degrees in the English-speaking world.

But the Lodges of the York Rite formed a Grand Lodge, December 27, 1725, calling itself the Grand Lodge of All England ^[3]. This organization was reconstituted in 1761; and, although constantly losing strength, continued in existence until 1792, when it collapsed and joined the Grand Lodge of England.

Before this time, however, had occurred the great schism of 1751 by which a part of the Premier Grand Lodge of England had formed a Grand Lodge of England of Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons—commonly called the Atholl or Ancient Grand Lodge. Thereafter, the common name for those owing allegiance to the Premier Grand Lodge was “Modern” Masons or Lodges and to the Atholl Grand Lodge, “Ancient” Masons or Lodges ^[4].

The Atholl branch was in full vigor in Simcoe’s time and until 1813, when it coalesced with the Premier Grand Lodge, and the schism was healed ^[5].

In Simcoe’s time, each of the bodies considered the others irregular and schismatic, and scarcely considered the subjects of the others, Freemasons at all. No “Ancient” could visit a “Modern” Lodge, and vice versâ: to enable an “Ancient” to enter a “Modern” Lodge, he must be reinitiated ^[6].

Of the Premier or “Modern” Grand Lodge in 1766, Lord Blaney was Grand Master. As such, in 1766, he delivered to R.W.P.G.M. Brooke as Provincial Grand Master, a “Constitution” or Warrant to constitute a Lodge at the “Globe Tavern,”^[7] Exeter; and Brooke met with eleven other “Modern” Masons at the Globe Tavern, October 6, 1766, and there and then, Union Lodge was duly constituted.

This was the Lodge in which Simcoe was made a Mason,—a Lodge just, perfect and regular—and consequently he could, were he now living, claim Masonic fellowship with every Ontario Mason and entrance into every regular Ontario Lodge. But he was a Free and Accepted Mason, never an Ancient, Free and Accepted Mason.

To anticipate a little—William Jarvis, first Provincial Secretary of Upper Canada, and the governing head of the first Provincial Grand Lodge of Upper Canada, was initiated, February 7, 1792, in the Grand Master’s Lodge, over which His Grace the Duke of Atholl presided, and on March 7, he was created Provincial Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Upper Canada by His Grace as Grand Master of the “Ancient” or Atholl Grand Lodge—not the Grand Lodge to which Union Lodge at Exeter owed fealty; and it would be impossible for a “Modern” to have taken part with what his branch of Masonry looked upon as a schismatic and irregular body ^[8].

To return to Simcoe’s Lodge. The Union Lodge was from the beginning a Lodge of gentlemen, clergymen of the Church of England forming a considerable percentage of its membership. There were also officers in the army, students at the University and the Inns of Court, and a large proportion of country gentlemen ^[9].

Occasionally when gentlemen were made Masons, their servants were also made at the same time—a distinction, however, was always observed—servants did not become Members of the Lodge ^[10].

This at the present time would seem an anomaly, but not so then. There was full power in a regular Lodge to make Masons without admitting those so made into the Society or Lodge which made them, and we find many instances of the kind ^[11].

To make Union Lodge still more exclusive, the number of Members was by By-law limited to twenty-four ^[12], although thereby it lost one of its original, most active and useful Members.

Until comparatively recently, the only sources of information concerning Union Lodge were uncertain and unreliable tradition with the addition of a few references in old publications. In Robert John Trewman’s Freemasonry Delineated, published at Exeter in 1777, are to be found many Odes, Songs, Prologues and Epilogues, “Spoken at Plays performed at Exeter by the desire of the Union Lodge,”^[13]. Simcoe’s name is to be found in Robert John Trewman’s Rules and Regulations of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Devon, 1847. In a return made by Union Lodge of its members appears, “December 7, 1773, John Graves Simcoe of Exeter, Esq.; age 22;” and again in a list, “The following brethren were initiated or joined the Lodge during its existence,” for the year 1773 are given several names, one of which is “John Graves Simcoe, Joined”^[14].

It had long been thought that the original records had been destroyed but some of the older Brethren maintained that a Minute Book covering the years in question should be in existence. Diligent and persistent search was at length rewarded in 1907, when Bro. John Stocker, P.A.G.D.C. (England), found in the safe of a bank in Exeter the long-lost volume. The book was in a box which belonged to the estate of a Brother who had passed away more than half a century before. The record is in a good state of preservation and tells the story of Union Lodge from its first meeting, October 6, 1766, till September 1, 1778 ^[15]. From this record, it is possible to reconstitute the Lodge and determine its character and proceedings. Clearly it was the aristocratic and most influential Lodge in Exeter and its relations with the other Lodges in Exeter of the same allegiance at “The Swan” and “The Bear”, while fraternal, were not cordial.

The standing dispute in the Craft, not yet fully and finally settled, whether to celebrate St. John’s Day on the Festival of St. John the Evangelist, December 27, or that of St. John the Baptist, June 24, this Lodge solved by celebrating both ^[16]. The day was properly celebrated, too, generally, although not always on the day fixed by the Church Calendar ^[17]. At the Lodge immediately before the day upon which the celebration was to be held, a Master was elected for the half-year following. Not infrequently, the sitting Master was asked to continue for another term; if not, the Senior Warden was elected unless he “waived his right,” in which case some one who had filled the Warden’s Chair was elected.

On “the Day,” there was a dinner. One instance will suffice; December 18, 1770, it was “Resolved unanimously that the following advertisement be inserted in both the Exeter newspapers on Friday next. Thursday next being the 27th day of this Instant December, and the Anniversary of St. John the Evangelist, the Brethren of the Union Lodge ^[18] held at the Globe Tavern in Exeter will celebrate the Festival as usual. Dinner on table precisely at two o’clock. Admittance for Visiting Brethren five shillings each. N.B.—A collection for charitable purposes will be made after dinner.” At the same Lodge, it was “Agreed and ordered 20 ordinarys for St. John’s Day at 2s 6d. each ordinary, and that dinner be on the table at two o’clock,”—so it is clear that the Lodge would not lose by having visitors at 5s.^[19]. The Collection taken up for charitable purposes at the dinner or supper was sometimes substantial, e.g., £3 13s. 6d. on one occasion ^[20].

The Lodge caused to be played from time to time for its amusement, Farces, Comedies, etc., with recitation of Odes, Prologues, Epilogues, etc.^[21]. Care was taken to publish these; and Trewman’s book, Freemasonry Delineated, already mentioned as published in 1777, was the result ^[22].

The charity of the Lodge was generous but discriminating, not being limited to members of the Lodge or even to members of the Craft. Children and widows of deceased Masons were assisted, as were living members of the Craft afflicted with illness or poverty. “Bro. Bartlett,” who was a rather frequent object of benevolence, received “Seven shillings to buy a shirt;” a distressed brother, a guinea “to defray his expenses to London;” but also poor prisoners were helped, and “a poor Scot in the hospital who was scorched in the late fire on the Exeter Bridge was ordered to be relieved with ten shillings and sixpence”—although it is true that having afterwards heard that he had been amply provided for by the City Corporation, the Lodge suppressed the contribution ^[23].

The Lodge insisted on regular attendance; probably the smallness of its membership made this strictness necessary; at all events, we frequently find Members fined one shilling for non-attendance; and on one occasion, October 17, 1769, “the Master (Copplestone), and several other Members being absent, it was proposed and unanimously agreed to that some or one of the Brethren now present do at the next Lodge Night represent the inconvenience and impropriety of the Members absenting themselves on Lodge nights, and that the Master be particularly reminded of his obligation to a constant attendance.”^[24]

One curious feature was that in addition to the fees paid to the Treasurer (generally two guineas but sometimes more as in Simcoe’s case), half a crown, 2/6, was paid to the Tyler. This officer was not always a credit to the Lodge. We find, October 19, 1773, “The Tyler behaving improperly in the Lodge, it was moved that it should be considered the next regular Lodge Night whether for his misconduct, he should be discharged or not”: and this “was unanimously agreed to.” At the next regular Lodge, November 21, 1773, “The Tyler was reprimanded in the accustomed place and on his promising strict attention and care for the future was continued in his office.” He broke out again; and, July 19, 1774, the “W.P.M. took the Chair and gave the Tyler a very proper reprimand for his past conduct and advice for his future behaviour and in case of any future complaint, he is to be dismissed from the service of the Lodge.” Early next year, he had to be dismissed; but he petitioned, acknowledged his faults, and, February, 7, 1775, the Brethren compassionately reinstated him “as Tyler. . . after being properly reprimanded between the Wardens’ Chairs, but is to be dismissed without any further consideration for the next offence.”^[25]

We are not told what the offence of this Tyler was but can fairly well guess. Perhaps it was not wholly unconnected with circumstances like the following which occurred more than once; we find, June 16, 1772, “The Lodge being truly sensible of the honour and punctuality with which the R.W.M. has discharged his office, drank his health.”

This Lodge became the real Mother of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Devon, and one of its Members, the first P.G.M.

Such then was the Lodge into which Simcoe, a young man in his twenty-second year, sought admission; he was then an Ensign in the 35th Foot. We have no means of knowing what induced him to take this step; but the record shows that several military men were made Masons in this Lodge about this time, and it is not unlikely that he was influenced by their example.

However that may be, at a regular meeting of the Lodge held on November 2, 1773, with Bro. Codrington, R.W.M., presiding, and attended by thirteen Members of the Lodge and three visiting Brethren, “Brother Cholwich proposed Mr. John Graves Simcoe, and Bro. Rous proposed Sir Wilmot Prideaux, Bart., to be made Masons in this Lodge. They were balloted for and no negative appearing they were approved of to be made at the first Lodge they shall severally attend.”

Neither appeared at the next Lodge, November 5, 1773; but that was a Master Masons’ (Extra) Lodge. At the next Lodge, November 16, Sir Wilmot Prideaux, Bart., was made an Entered Apprentice, and afterwards raised to the degree of Fellow Craft, at the same time being admitted a Member.

At the Lodge holden at the Globe Tavern, December 7, 1773, “Mr. Jno. Graves Simcoe before propos’d and unanimously approv’d of as a proper person to be a member of this Society of Masons, was made a Mason & initiated into the two first degrees, vizt., an enter’d Apprentice & Fellow Craft.” “N.B.—Brother Simcoe paid his fees for admittance to the Treasurer £2 7s., and to the Tyler 2/6.”

January 18, 1774, Simcoe attended a Lodge at the Globe Tavern when “A Master Masons’ Lodge was open’d. Brother Chubb was propos’d & accepted. Bro. Rawleigh Gilbert, Br. . . . Simcoe & Bro. Chubb were raised to the Degree of Masters and paid their usual fees.”^[26]

Neither Simcoe nor Rawleigh Gilbert became a Member; and this Lodge is the only Lodge at which his name appears in the list as one of the Masons present ^[27].

So far as is known, Simcoe never attended a Lodge after he was made a Master: and I cannot find a word in all his voluminous correspondence and manuscripts indicating that he took any interest in the Craft.

Nevertheless he was a Mason and must needs be acknowledged as such by all owing allegiance to or in fellowship with the Premier Grand Lodge of England, the original Grand Lodge which, by what at first sight seems an anomaly, was commonly called the “Modern” Grand Lodge. The explanation, however, is very simple. In 1751, a large body of Masons claimed that the existing Grand Lodge was departing from the “ancient landmarks” and they separated in the “Great Schism”, forming an independent Grand Lodge on what were claimed to be the true and ancient principles. This Lodge, therefore, claimed the appellation “Ancient”, while the Premier body was called “Modern”^[28].

Simcoe came to this Province in the summer of 1792. There was at that time a Provincial Grand Master of the Province of Quebec, Sir John Johnson, appointed in 1788 by the Earl of Effingham, Acting Grand Master of the “Modern” branch. The “Ancients” having no Grand Lodge although there were in the Province three Lodges of that allegiance, these Lodges urged the “Ancient” Grand Lodge to appoint a Provincial Grand Master and, March 7, 1792, Prince Edward, (father of Queen Victoria), was appointed Grand Master for the Province of Lower Canada ^[29]. On the same day, William Jarvis was appointed Grand Master for the Province of Upper Canada; he, however, had no power given him to issue Warrants but only to grant Dispensations for Lodges to be afterwards warranted by the Grand Lodge of England.

There were in the country certain “Modern” Lodges—two in Detroit (then and until 1796, de facto if not de jure, part of the Province); one, the “Rawdon” or the “Lodge between the Three Lakes,” at Toronto; another had been warranted at Cataraqui (Kingston); one also at Michillimackinac; one, the Union Lodge at New Johnstown (Cornwall), and one, the St. John’s Lodge, at Niagara.

We have not full particulars of the inside history of Masonry for some years; but the first Provincial Grand Lodge was formed, August 26, 1795, by “five Lodges constituted under the sanction of the Warrant of the Grand Lodge of England to the Rt. W. Wm. Jarvis, Esq., Provincial Grand Master of Upper Canada . . .”; and it seems reasonable to suppose that these were formed in 1793 and 1794.

However that may be, these Lodges and the Grand Lodge were “Ancient;” and Simcoe would have no more right in them than a Priest of the Greek Orthodox Church would have to say mass at a Roman Catholic altar. If there were any doubt about the matter of his attendance at the Grand Lodge, it would be set at rest by the facts appearing in Mrs. Simcoe’s Diary. Tuesday, August, 25, 1795, Simcoe with his wife and infant child, Frank, went to Fort Chippawa, where the Governor was very ill, and they slept in the Block House. Next day, August 26, Mrs. Simcoe set off in a boat, while the Governor set out on horseback. Finding himself very ill he made signs for his boat to come to land “at a very good farm house he stayed the whole of the day till six in the evening,” when he “proceeded in the barge to Fort Erie.” He that night “slept in an indifferent house two miles beyond the Fort, kept by very dirty people”^[30]. So that he could not have been at Newark at the Grand Lodge.

It may be added concerning Simcoe’s Lodge that it was—if not the origin at least—the cause of the formation of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Devonshire, and furnished the first Provincial Grand Master, Charles Warwick Bampfylde, Esq., of Poltimore.

In 1769, Henry Bathurst, afterwards Bishop of Norwich, was initiated, and in 1773, Sir Wilmot Prideaux, Bart., and John Graves Simcoe. In 1774, Charles Warwick Bampfylde, already mentioned, afterwards Sir Charles, the fifth Baronet and father of the first Lord Poltimore; in 1785, Thomas Herbert Marsh, afterwards Bishop of Peterborough, passed through the portals of “Union.” Many others of note sought the privilege of Masonic brotherhood in this honoured Lodge.

What is of special interest to a Canadian Mason is that the late Mr. John Ross Robertson in 1908, obtained through the courtesy of Bros. Andrew Hope and John Stocker of Exeter, the gavel used by the W.M. when Simcoe was made a Mason. The gavel is of unpolished mahogany, and although sound and intact, bears evidence of having on more than one occasion brought the brethren to order. It is somewhat of a coincidence that the Grand Lodge of Canada in Communication at Niagara in 1908 was called to order with this old-time relic. Mr. Robertson, at the request of M.W. Bro. A. T. Freed, Grand Master, gave its history, thus entwining Masonry in the Mother Land with that of Canada through one who in the latter part of the eighteenth century opened Upper Canada’s first Parliament, a few miles distant.

NOTES

A
 
Abercrombie, Sir R., 309.
Addington, Constituency, 449.
Addington, John Hiley, brother of Lord Sidmouth, 313.
Addington, Mr. Speaker, 297, 300, 307, 308, 309;
  Prime Minister, 310, 311;
  forced to give way to Pitt, 312;
  (Lord Sidmouth) enters Cabinet as Lord Privy Seal, 312;
  resigns from Cabinet, 322.
Addison, Rev. Robert, Chaplain Assembly, 187, 334;
  his salary, 334;
  is willing to undertake a school at Niagara, 343.
Allen, Gen. Ira, 300, 306.
Allcock, Henry, appointed Puisne Justice, 248, 255;
  asks Simcoe’s influence on his behalf, 301.
American Commissioners, 194, 195.
American Revolution, 324.
André, Major, his ill-fated negotiations, 64;
  execution, 70.
Andrews, Capt., given naval command on Lake Ontario, 380.
Arnold, Benedict, his success at Richmond, Va., 64;
  claims grant of land in U.C., 300, 306.
Askin, John, 187, 446.
Assumption, (Sandwich) courts to sit at, 287, 288.
Atholl, Duke of, 454.
Atholl or Ancient Grand Lodge, 453, 460, 464, 468-9.
Attaint of Treason, 105, 112.
 
B
 
Baby, James (Jacques) recommended as Executive Councillor, 138;
  at Kingston, 155;
  summoned to Legislative Council, 156;
  attends First Session Legislature, 173;
  Lieutenant Kent County, 197;
  his claim to a pew in Church at Sandwich contested, 353;
  given the same privilege as French Commandants enjoyed, 354, 363;
  Executive Councillor, 385-389;
  educated in Quebec, 386, 387;
  contracts secret marriage, 401;
  considered proper person to represent loyal French Canadian element in Detroit District, 387, 401;
  his appointment to both Councils requested by Simcoe, 387, 401;
  Lieut.-Col. of Militia and Lieutenant of Kent, 388;
  his death at York, 388.
Baby, Jacques Duperon, 385, 386, 400.
Baby, Francis (François), M.L.A. Kent, 387, 402, 422;
  a younger brother of Jacques Baby, 437;
  Col. Kent Militia, 437;
  leaves Detroit on surrender of that place under Jay’s Treaty, 437;
  on active service in War 1812, 437;
  his residence occupied at various times as military headquarters, 437.
Baby, Hon. François, Quebec, 387, 401.
Baker, John, last survivor of slaves in Canada, 202.
Baker, William, builder, 283;
  given lot in Chatham, 283.
Bampfylde, Charles Warwick, 461, 465.
Banbury, Capt., accompanies Commissioners from U.S., 195.
Bank of England, run on, 307.
Baptists ask permission to perform marriage ceremony, 244, 245.
Barlow, Sir George, 322.
Barrington, Viscount, recognizes importance of Capt. Simcoe’s project regarding Quebec, 21;
  Secretary at War, 30.
Bartlett, Bro., assisted by Union Lodge, Exeter, 457.
Bathurst, Henry, 461.
Bay St., York, origin of name, 292.
Bear St. (Bay), York, 292.
Bears and Wolves, reward for killing cancelled, 288;
  depredations of, 292.
Beasley, Richard, 436.
Beaton, Commodore, 160.
Bemis, Prof., on Protest against Sodus, 260.
Berlon’s Tavern, Exeter, 463, 464, 465.
Bethune, Rev. John, minister Protestant Church, Cornwall, 172;
  appeals for support, 184;
  only clergyman of English or Scottish Church in Eastern District, 184;
  petitions House that Church of Scotland ministers be allowed to marry, 234;
  has £50 salary, 334.
Bidwell, Barnabas, elected to Assembly and unseated, 269.
Bidwell, Marshall Spring, 269.
Billop, Col., in Burlington Jail, 62;
  exchanged with Simcoe, 63.
Blaney, Lord, 453.
Blowers, Simpson Salter, 428.
Bois Blanc, not surrendered in 1796, 287;
  allotted to Britain, 287;
  town to be built at under consideration, 288, 291;
  subsequent history, 292.
Booth, Joshua, M.L.A., Ontario and Addington, 174, 421;
  in Loyalist Troops during Revolutionary War, 428;
  settles in Ernestown, 428;
  serves in War 1812-14, meeting a tragic death, 442.
Boston Port Bill, 48.
Boston Tea Party, 48.
Boulton, Mr. Justice, 292.
Bradlaugh, Charles, 442.
Brandywine, battle of, 42, 54.
Brant, Joseph, joins Simcoe’s expedition to Detroit, 191;
  meets Commissioners from U. S., 194;
  attends Indian Council, 194;
  reports regarding Western Indians, 396, 397.
Brant, Molly, prescribes for Gov. Simcoe, 366.
Breckenridge, James, Lieutenant Leeds, 1792, 197.
Briand, Bishop, 96.
Britain, in her interest to give U.C. support, 168.
Brougham, Lord Henry, to negotiate with Court at Lisbon, 314.
Browne, Leonard, 120.
Brunswick, winter quarters of British troops, 42, 43.
Buckerell Parish Church, 75, 83.
Bunker’s Hill, battle of, 47, 48.
Burke, Rev. Edward, suppresses discontent in Upper Country, 252, 263;
  declines parish in Detroit, 264;
  his loyalty, 264;
  Vicar-General Quebec, 263, 264;
  death, 264.
Burns, David, Clerk Crown and Pleas, 156, 162, 169, 327, 336.
Butler’s Barracks, additions to 206, 213;
  meeting place Legislature, 206.
Butler, Col. John, on the Delaware, 58;
  on the Susquehanna, 68;
  Dep. Supt. Indians, 195;
  unable to attend Council of Indians at Lower Sandusky, 204.
Butler’s Rangers, in Revolutionary War, 68.
Byng, Admiral, trial, 18;
  death, 25.
 
C
 
Cadoudal, George, leader of Chouans, 318.
Campbell, Alexander, M.L.A. Dundas, 421;
  in King’s Royal Regiment of New York, 425;
  “a wealthy farmer of some considerable property lost by the rebellion”, 425;
  resides in Johnstown and Montreal, 425, 439.
Campbell, Major, British Commander at Miamis, 250, 262;
  Governor of the Bermudas, 262, 263.
Canada, as a province of France, 94, 101;
  ceded to Britain, 94.
Canada or Constitutional Act, 97, 103, 104, 107, 112, 113, 145, 174, 176, 185, 268, 269, 324, 325, 349, 442, 443.
Canterbury, Archbishop of, 187.
Canvas Houses, Capt. Cook’s, 227;
  Simcoe’s, 227, 228.
Carleton Island, 157.
Carleton, Sir Guy—See Lord Dorchester—succeeds Cornwallis, 65;
  criticises the Rangers, 65, 66;
  Governor of Quebec, 95.
Carleton, Col. Thomas, Lieut.-Governor New Brunswick, 318, 319.
Cartwright, Richard, Jr., Legislative Councillor, 149, 410-413;
  summoned to Legislative Council, 162;
  introduces Bill to legalize marriages, 175, 176;
  reports on irregular marriages, 189;
  Lieutenant Frontenac, 1792, 197;
  independence of, 213, 214;
  authorized by Simcoe to procure a gentleman from Scotland to take charge of proposed University, 344, 345;
  next to Osgoode, the ablest member of the Council, 410;
  opposes Judicature Act, 410, 418;
  intended to enter Church of England ministry,411, 419;
  joins Butler’s Rangers and takes part in Revolutionary War, 411;
  is in business with Robert Hamilton, 411;
  active in the Quarter Sessions until its abolition, 411;
  a faithful legislator, 411, 413, 419;
  a man of ability, and strongly attached to British institutions, 412;
  resisted Simcoe’s project to have Capital of Province at London, 412;
  his Marriage Act, 412;
  differed from Simcoe as to propriety of making Church of England the State Church, 412;
  outspoken as to giving Church of England extensive advantages in the Province, 413;
  has Simcoe’s confidence in his patriotism and good judgment though they did not see eye to eye, 413.
Castle Frank, built, 223.
Cataraqui, 155.
Cathcart, Lord, Colonel of Provincials, 59.
Charlestown, burning of, 47.
Charlton, Captain, 166, 171.
Charlotteville, foundation of, 274;
  District Town, London District, 281.
Charmilly, M. de, confers with Gov. Williamson in Jamaica, 303.
Chatham, Simcoe’s intentions regarding, 191, 201, 275;
  plans for town submitted, 283;
  lots at, 283, 284;
  the place abandoned, 284;
  Howison’s description of, 284, 285.
Chouans of France, 308, 318.
Church of England, 181, 183, 190, 348, 349, 351, 357.
Clarke, Alured, Lt.-Gov. Quebec, 97, 130;
  his commission, 131;
  authorized to grant Simcoe credit on Military Chest, 169, 171.
Clarke, Robert, 157.
Claus, William, 419.
Clergy Reserves, 136, 142, 357.
Clinton, Sir Henry, succeeds Howe, 58;
  augments Rangers, 63;
  tells Simcoe of André negotiations, 64;
  permits Simcoe’s return to England, 65;
  resigns his command, 65;
  his offices on behalf of Rangers, 66.
Coffin, Thomas Aston, 171, 172, 291.
Coffin, William, Sheriff, 137;
  did not qualify, 162.
Consols, fall of to 48, 307.
Constituencies of U.C., 156, 158.
Cook, Capt. Master of Pembroke, 25;
  under Capt. Simcoe compiles chart of St. Lawrence River, 28.
Cooper, William, built first house in York, 228.
Coote’s Paradise, abundancy of wild ducks at, 369.
Cornwallis, Lord, at Yorktown, 64;
  capitulates, 65;
  sent to India, 312;
  death, 312.
Cotterstock, birthplace John Graves Simcoe, 17, 23;
  home Capt. Simcoe, 18;
  removal of Mrs. John Simcoe from, 23;
  letter to Capt. Simcoe at, 24.
Counterfeiting, penalty for, 287, 290.
Counties Province U.C., 158.
Court of Chancery, 301;
  District, 240, 247;
  General Sessions of Peace, Western District, 287;
  King’s Bench, 248, 268, 294, 447;
  Oyer and Terminer, 133, 161, 327;
  Probate, 211;
  Requests, 177, 178;
  Special, 287;
  Courts, Common Pleas, 178, 240, 327, 336, 447;
  County, 247;
  Division, 177, 186, 447;
  General Quarter Sessions, 211;
  system of local, 220.
“Cowan”—Chouan, 318.
Cromwell, Thirby, accused of “treasonable talk,” 140.
Crown Lands, for schools and University, 346.
Crown Reserves, 136, 142.
Currency in Province, 286, 287, 289-90;
  Ordinances concerning, 289;
  gold, 289;
  silver, 290;
  copper, 287, 290;
  New York, 229.
 
D
 
Declaration of Independence, 39, 40, 45, 111, 324.
Declaratory Act, 1766, 324.
Densham, William, P.M. “Semper Fidelis,” Lodge, Exeter, 463.
Des Jardins, Abbé, 258.
Detroit, position of inhabitants, 158, 159, 160, 163, 190, 201, 223;
  desires fire protection, 178;
  loyalty of, 226, 233;
  Court sittings to be removed from, 287, 291;
  request of merchants for establishment of town near Bois Blanc, complied with, 291.
Don River, York, 216.
Dorchester, Lord, recommends Sir John Johnson as Lieut.-Governor U.C., 79, 88;
  his Commission, 98;
  powers as Governor-in-Chief, 98;
  gives instructions to Commandants of Upper Posts, 100, 101, 102;
  expresses opinion on hereditary Legislative Council, 107;
  opposes site of Capital, U.C. 123;
  consults Sir John Johnson, 147;
  divides U.C. into districts, 177;
  antagonistic towards Simcoe, 217;
  determines to build port on Maumee, 224, 225;
  directs Simcoe to protest against settlement at Sodus, 250;
  acts upon Simcoe’s suggestions in dealing with Upper Country, 252;
  repudiates responsibility in connection with Charlotteville, 275;
  his letter announcing appointment of Prescott, 285;
  consents to Simcoe’s purchasing Huron Reserve, 291;
  declines to allow semi-military settlements at Charlotteville and Penetanguishene, 293.
Dorland, Philip, elected to represent Prince Edward County, 174;
  a Quaker, and therefore unable to take seat as M.L.A., 421, 429;
  assists Peter Vanalstine in taking charge of provisions for Adolphustown, 430;
  takes creditable stand in matter of oath, 442.
Drewe, Rev. Edward, Chaplain, 170.
Drummond, Peter, Lieutenant Grenville, 1794, 197.
Duggan, Thomas, 402.
Duncan, Richard, Legislative Councillor, 149, 406-7;
  Lieutenant Dundas, 1792, 197;
  an ardent Loyalist, 407;
  has Commission in Sir John Johnson’s Corps, 407;
  took part in Revolutionary War, 407;
  made a Judge, Court of Common Pleas, District of Luneburg, 407;
  uncomplimentary references of Anne Powell, to, 416.
Dundas, constituency, 449.
Dundas, Henry, Sec’y of State, Home Dept., 89, 152;
  observations on Simcoe’s Corps, 121;
  explains nature of Corps, 128;
  Sec’y State War and Colonies, 152;
  misunderstands Simcoe in San Domingo Mission, 297;
  ignores Simcoe on his return to England, 299;
  raising new Corps Queen’s Rangers meets his approval, 332;
  shelves project for a University, 340.
Dundas Street, location of, 218, 219, 228.
Durell, Admiral, at Halifax, 20;
  Journal, 25, 26;
  Wolfe’s opinion of, 26.
Durham, constituency, 450.
Dutch Calvinists, 190.
Duties, on spirits and wine, 179, 187, 210, 215;
  upon every still, 241;
  to be paid by Province, 288;
  on specified articles imported into any British American Colony or Plantation, 324;
  provided by Parliament, 325;
  none imposed by Imperial Parliament under Canada Act, 325;
  collection of, passing from one Province to another, 330.
 
E
 
Earthquake shocks, 373.
Edward, H.R.H. Prince, 130;
  visits Niagara and Kingston, 167;
  a “Modern” Mason, 469.
East India Company, 312, 313.
Elford, Sir William, 311, 319.
Elliott, Matthew, 283, 284.
Elmsley, John, Chief Justice, succeeds Osgoode, 248, 255;
  did not reach U.C. until after Simcoe’s departure, 301;
  sworn in as Chief Justice, 303;
  takes oath as Ex. Councillor, 303.
Empire, affairs in the, 307, 308.
England, Col., commanding at Detroit, 166, 171, 282;
  at Michillimackinac, 265;
  reports that Wayne intends advancing on Turkey Point, 282.
English Criminal Law, 177, 186.
Erskine, Sir William, 58.
Essex, 451.
Essex and Kent, confusion as to representatives for, and Lieutenants of, 402.
Estimates, 326, 332, 335, 336.
Executive Council, contemplated, 145;
  its part in legislation, 146, 147, 149, 150;
  Dorchester’s list, 147;
  Sir John Johnson’s lists, 150, 151;
  members, 153, 327, 375;
  salary of members, 153;
  first session at Newark, 180;
  decision regarding private disposal of negroes, 192;
  as late as 1799 considered Simcoe as Lieut.-Governor, 301;
  first meeting after Simcoe’s departure from Canada, 302-3.
Eyre, Robert, 170.
 
F
 
Fairfield, William, 441.
Farley, George, 148, 149, 151, 153.
Fees, 327, 334.
Fitzgerald, Capt. W., 440.
Fitzpatrick, Col. Richard, Sec’y at War, 152.
Fort Ontario, smuggling near, 249, 258;
  hostilities threaten, 250, 258.
Fox, Charles, his India Bill, 75;
  dismissed by King, 76;
  objects to hereditary honors, 108;
  urges elective council, 108;
  protests against electoral qualifications, 109, 110;
  on reduction of Army, 128, 129, 333;
  Foreign Secretary, 312;
  death, 312.
France, war with, 216.
Franklin, Benjamin, 96.
Fraser, William, Dep. Lieutenant, Grenville, 1794, 197.
Free Quakers, 429.
French, Col., commands Queen’s Rangers, 55.
French, Jeremiah, M.L.A. Stormont, 421;
  American born, has a farm in Vermont, 424;
  serves in Revolutionary War during which time his wife was expelled and his property seized, 424, 425;
  draws lands in Cornwall and Montague, 425;
  his death, 425;
  a pathetic incident in his life, 439.
Frith, Attorney-General Wm., charges Wm. Dummer Powell with disloyalty, 255.
Fromond (Vrooman) disposes of negro girl in his service, 192.
Frontenac, 155, 449.
 
G
 
Gamble, Dr. James, 365.
Gage, General, 380, 395.
Gansevoort, General, 258.
Garlies, Lord, 167.
Germain, Lord George, Sec’y of State, 63;
  opinion of Simcoe, 69.
Gibraltar Point (Hanlan’s), 216.
Givins, Lieut., accompanies Simcoe to Detroit, 191;
  detailed to go with Commissioners from U.S., 195.
Glanville, Francis, 310, 319.
Glengarry, Ridings, 448.
Globe Tavern, Exeter, 453, 456, 459, 462-3, 465.
Gloucester Bay, 222.
Golden, Thos., Tp. of Augusta, 132, 139.
Gourlay, Robert Fleming, 434.
Grand Lodge of All England, 452.
Grand Lodge of Canada, 462, 464.
Grand Lodge of Canada in Prov. of Ontario, 464.
Grand Lodge of Ontario, 464.
Grand River (Ouse), 168.
Grant, Commodore Alexander, Executive Councillor, 131, 148, 149, 169, 379-383;
  at Kingston, 156;
  attends First Session Legislature, 173;
  supports Cartwright’s Marriage Bill, 176;
  presents Petition of Detroit to Executive Council, 291;
  to command vessels upon the several lakes, 380;
  given less extensive command by Haldimand, 380;
  of assistance to Lieut.-Gov. Hamilton, 380;
  member of the Land Board District of Hesse, 381;
  a fairly regular attendant at meetings of both Councils, 381, 396;
  becomes Lieutenant County of Essex, 382;
  Administrator of Government, 382;
  his death, 383;
  tablet to his memory, 398.
Grant, Major Alexander, 399.
Grant, Gen. James, commands force from New York to the West Indies, 59.
Graves, Admiral Samuel, godfather John Graves Simcoe, 18, 75;
  Commander N. A. Fleet, 24, 40;
  witnesses Simcoe’s marriage, 75, 84.
Graves, Mrs. Samuel, foster mother of Elizabeth Gwillim, 75;
  attends Simcoe’s marriage, 75, 84.
Graves, Admiral Thomas, 318.
Gray, Major James, supports appeal of Presbyterians to Simcoe, 183, 188;
  Lieutenant Dundas, 1792, 197.
Gray, Robert Isaac Dey, first Solicitor-General, U.C., 249, 257, 326, 333.
Gray, Lieut. Thomas of 7th Regt., 137;
  accompanies Simcoe to Detroit, 191.
Grenville, constituency, 449.
Grenville, George, his theory of Colonies, 39.
Grenville, Lord, selects Simcoe as Lt.-Gov. U.C., 79;
  Sec’y of State, Home Dept., 89, 152;
  his scheme for an hereditary aristocracy, 107, 113, 114;
  Sec’y at War, 152;
  refuses peace negotiations of Bonaparte, 308;
  joins in Sir Charles Stuart’s Mediterranean offer to Simcoe, 308;
  overcomes the King’s determination to exclude Fox from office, 312.
Gwillim, Elizabeth (Mrs. Simcoe), daughter of Col. Gwillim, 75;
  marries Simcoe, 75, 83;
  marriage settlement, 83;
  genealogy, 84.
Gwillim, Col. Thomas, father of Mrs. Simcoe (Elizabeth Gwillim), 75, 82.
 
H
 
Haliburton, Thomas C., his ideas with regard to the Church similar to those of Simcoe, 360, 361;
  views as to cause of American Revolution, 361.
Hamilton, George, founder City of Hamilton, 419.
Hamilton, Lieut.-Governor, 380, 395.
Hamilton, Rev. Dr., 356.
Hamilton, Robert, Legislative Councillor, 149, 407-10, 417;
  authorised by Simcoe to procure a gentleman from Scotland to take charge of proposed University, 344, 345;
  in partnership with Richard Cartwright, 407, 408;
  his house referred to by La Rochefoucault, 408, 417;
  Judge Court Common Pleas, and member Land Board District of Nassau, 408;
  has active part in Council deliberations, 408;
  supports Cartwright in Marriage Bill, 176, 408;
  “an avowed Republican in his sentiments”, 409;
  independence of, 409;
  opposes Judicature Act, 410;
  dissipates charge of Republicanism by becoming Chairman of the Loyal Association, 410;
  promotes Bill for relief of Methodists, 410.
Hammond, George, British Minister to U.S., 229, 230.
Harmar, Gen. Josiah, 100, 102.
Hastings, constituency, 450.
Hastings, Warren, Impeachment, 80.
“Heaven-born lawyers”, 246.
Hembury Fort, home of Admiral Graves, 75.
Hereditary Aristocracy, 107.
Hesse District, 177, 178.
High Cost of Living in U.C., 255-7.
Holland, Samuel, Surveyor-General, L.C., refers to charts of St. Lawrence by Capt. Simcoe, 28;
  recommends his son to Simcoe as Surveyor-General, U.C., 172;
  Surveyor of Lands, 327.
Home Rule, local, 180;
  Municipal, 209.
Honywell, Rice, accused of “treasonable talk”, 132, 139, 140.
Hope, Andrew, P., Prov. G. D. Devonshire, 462, 463, 466.
Horneck, General, 296.
House of Assembly, resolves to pay salaries, 328.
Howe, Gen. (Sir William) British Commander, 41;
  pursues American troops, 42;
  changes seat of war, 43;
  resigns command, 58.
Hubert, Rt. Rev. Jean François, Bishop of Quebec, 252, 353, 363.
Hunter, Gen. Peter, 382, 385, 400.
Huskisson, William, Under Sec’y State War and Colonies, 152.
 
I
 
Illustrious, H.M.S., 314.
Imperial Parliament, provides annual sums for use of U.C., 325;
  votes £6,700 for 1793, 329;
  appropriation for 1794, 330;
  appropriation for 1795, 331.
Indians, Six Nations, 100;
  of the N.W. Territory, 100;
  the Miamis, 100, 101;
  hostilities between U.S. and the, 116, 117;
  at Detroit, 135;
  Councils of, 191, 193-5;
  determination to have Ohio River as territory limit of U.S., 196;
  Address to Simcoe, 196, 197;
  Council at Huron Village of Brownstown, 251;
  North of the Ohio, 221, 222, 231;
  Council Six Nations, 274, 281;
  movements in Western Country, 396, 397.
Inglis, Charles, Bishop Nova Scotia, 180.
Ireland, rebellion in, 307.
 
J
 
Jarvis, Mrs. Hannah, 202, 227, 257.
Jarvis, Samuel Peters, commands Queen’s Rangers, 1837, 58.
Jarvis, Wm. Sec’y Executive Council, 155, 162;
  Secretary and Register, 160, 327, 336;
  First Prov. Sec’y, U.C., 453;
  G.M. Grand Lodge U.C., 454, 460.
Jay, Chief Justice, Special Envoy to England, 249, 256.
Jay’s Treaty, 226, 230, 233, 249, 254, 257, 274, 275, 276, 281, 388, 436, 437.
Johnson, Dr., 76.
Johnson, Sir John, a man of influence in Canada, 130;
  recommended by Dorchester as Lieut.-Gov. U.C. 138;
  annoyance regarding Executive and Legislative Council lists, 149, 154;
  expected to have been Lieut.-Governor, 246.
Johnson, Sir Wm., his daughters, 203, 204;
  his views as to Dissenters, 359.
Johnson, William, Indian interpreter, 204.
Johnston, Wm. Sr., Lieutenant Addington, 1795, 197.
Jones, Ephraim, M.L.A. Grenville, 421;
  a descendant of Josiah Jones of Boston, 425;
  joins British forces in Revolutionary War, serving under various commands, 426;
  acts as Commissary in Loyal Rangers, 426;
  Commissary of Stores, 426;
  his family, 440.
Judicature Act, 235, 248.
 
K
 
Kent, Constituency, 451.
Kent, Duke of, Commander-in-Chief Canada, 309, 318;
  Governor Gibraltar, 310.
King, John, Under Sec’y State, 152, 171, 332.
King’s College, Toronto, 346.
Kingston, importance of, 144;
  a thriving town, 155;
  Protestant Church, 155;
  not selected as Capital, 160;
  gaol and courthouse to be built at, 178;
  considered indefensible, 220, 229.
Kingston Mills, 157.
 
L
 
La Claie, Lake (Simcoe), 222.
Lake, General (Viscount), succeeds Cornwallis in India, 312;
  allowed to give up his command, 312;
  failure to take Bhurtpore;
  consensus of opinion in his favor, 322.
Langhorne, Rev. John, Minister Church, Ernestown, 172, 334.
Langmead, Philip, 311, 319.
Law, George, Sergeant-at-Arms, 334.
Law Society of U.C., 435, 447.
Lawson, Thos., of 5th Regt., 258;
  pursues smugglers, 258-60.
Le Dru, Dominican Priest, ordered from place to place, 264-5;
  sansculotte Emissary, 265.
Leeds, 449.
Legislative Assembly, number of members in, 110, 114;
  the Speaker of, 110;
  rights of members, 214;
  names of members, 421, 422.
Legislative Council, chosen by Home Administration, 112;
  hereditary right of, 105, 106, 107, 112;
  appointment of Speaker, 109, 114;
  Dorchester’s lists of, 147, 149;
  Sir John Johnson’s list of, 150;
  independence of, 213;
  officers unpaid, 328, 334;
  resolves that officers be entitled to same salaries as those of House of Assembly, 329;
  names of members, 406.
Legislature, First, date of opening, 103, 167, 173;
  meeting place, 173, 184, 185;
  members Council and Assembly present, 173, 174;
  First Session, 173-188;
  Second Session, 31 May, 1793, 206, 216;
  Third Session, 2 June, 1794, 234-247;
  Fourth Session, 6 July, 1795, 267-271.
Legislature, Provincial, no power to naturalize, 269.
Lennox, 449.
Lennox, Lord George, 310.
Letters of Probate, 211, 215.
Licenses, liquor, 211, 240;
  marriage, 352, 362;
  question is referred to Attorney-General, 353;
  his report, 362;
  medical, 267;
  penalty for practising medicine without, 331;
  penalty for selling liquor without, 332.
Lieutenants of Counties, list, 197, 206, 252;
  Legislature authorises appointment, 198.
Lincoln, Benjamin, Commissioner on Indian question, 193;
  at Newark, 193-5;
  comments on Simcoe’s courtesy and consideration, 195, 202-04.
Lincoln, Ridings, 450, 451.
Littlehales, Capt. (Edward Baker), Military Sec’y to Simcoe, 143;
  Clerk Executive Council, 155;
  Major of Brigade, 170, 172;
  accompanies Simcoe to Detroit, 191;
  his Journal, 201;
  Acting Clerk Executive Council, 327, 334.
Livingston, Gov., intervenes on Simcoe’s behalf, 62.
London, site recommended by Simcoe as Capital Province, 123, 217.
Long Point, 274, 282, 301.
Louisbourg, Siege of, 25.
Loyal Association, 410, 419.
Luneburg District, 177, 178.
Lutheran Church, approves doctrine Church of England, 183;
  has one minister in Province, 190.
Lutherans, petition for allowance to their minister, 183.
 
M
 
Mabane, Judge, charges Wm. Dummer Powell with disloyalty, 255.
Mahratta (Second) War, 312.
Maitland, Sir Peregrine, 228.
Mallory, Benajah, 443.
Marchand, Jean Carliste, 363.
Markham, Capt., 167.
Marriage Bill, amended, 208;
  compromise agreed upon, 208;
  Royal Assent given, 208;
  spirited debate in Legislative Council over, 408.
Marriage Law in U.C., 175, 186.
Marriage Licences, 180, 187.
Marriages, irregular, 189;
  Bill on, 190, 198-201.
Marsh, Thomas Herbert, 461.
Martin, Peter, 192.
Masons, making without a Warrant, 452, 463.
Maumee, Fort on the, 224.
Mayne, William, 263, 265.
Mecklenburg District, 177, 178.
Medicine, Act regarding practice of, 267, 269.
Methodist preachers, 190.
Michillimackinac, Court sittings at, abolished, 287.
Military Chest, 169, 171, 328.
Military Force a necessity, 117.
Military List, 169.
Militia Act, 331.
Militia, a national organized, 22;
  returns, 155, 156, 163;
  called on, 250, 263.
Militia, 1707 Bill, 103;
  1793 Bill, 206;
  1777 law repealed, 214;
  1794 Act, 234;
  service age in, 206, 234, 241;
  for naval service, 241.
Militiamen, penalty for non-appearance, 330, 331.
Milnes, Robert Shore, Lieut.-Governor U.C., 301.
Mohawk Village, Council House at, 220, 228, 229.
Montgolfier’s invention, 412, 420.
Moore, Dr., Archbishop of Canterbury, 349.
Mosquitoes, swarmed in U.C., 366;
  Twenty Mile Creek abounds with, 367;
  transmitted diseases, 367;
  Robert Gourlay severely bitten by, 374;
  experience of John Howison with, 374.
Mountain, Jacob, first Ch. of Eng. Bishop of Quebec, 218, 341, 352;
  Legislative Councillor, 219;
  Executive Councillor, 228;
  deplores that settlers are without clergy or religious instruction, 359, 360;
  “a scholar, gentleman”, etc., 362.
Munro, John, Judge Court Common Pleas, 132, 133, 139, 415, 416;
  M.L.C., 149, 413-16;
  came to America in Col. Webb’s regiment, 413;
  becomes a trader in Albany, 413;
  obtains grants of land from New York (Vermont), 413, 414;
  Justice of the Peace, 414, 415;
  on Loyalist side in Revolution, 414;
  imprisoned and driven from home,414;
  invades New York from Canada, 414, 415;
  obtains land grant in Matilda, 415;
  a consistent supporter of the Government, 415;
  in favor of Judicature Act, 416.
Murray, General, of Quebec, 289.
Murray, Major Patrick, 135, 142.
Myers, Michel, 166.
 
Mac.
 
Macaulay, Dr. James, 365.
Macdonell, Alexander, R. C. priest (later Bishop), 181;
  petition on behalf of Church, 181-3;
  advocates creation Archpriesthood, 182;
  would confine obedience to Pope in matters spiritual, 183;
  patriotic, independent Churchman, 187.
Macdonell, Alexander, Sheriff, 137, 156, 169, 334.
Macdonell, Angus, Clerk House of Assembly, 179, 334.
Macdonell, Hugh, M.L.A. First Riding Glengarry, 421;
  of Aberchalder Branch Macdonell Clan, 422;
  receives grant of land from Sir John Johnson, 422;
  Lieutenant in King’s Royal Regt., 422;
  settles in U.C., 422;
  ceases to be a member of Assembly and appointed First Adjutant General of Militia, U.C., 422;
  moved a resolution that Acts be translated into French language and that Angus Macdonell be employed as translator, 423, 438;
  his career a romantic one, 438.
Macdonell, John, M.L.A. Second Riding Glengarry, 421;
  enters Revolutionary War, 423;
  settles near Cornwall;
  J. P. and Judge Court of Common Pleas District of Luneburg, 423;
  re-elected for Second Parliament and chosen Speaker, 423;
  took prominent part in military matters, 424;
  Lieutenant, Glengarry, 197, 424.
Mackenzie, Charles, his “Notes on Haiti”, 305.
Mackenzie, William Lyon, 403.
 
Mc.
 
McBride, John, doorkeeper Ex. Council, 334.
McCauley (Macaulay), Surgeon, 120.
McComb, “Macomb”, Alexander, brother of William McComb, 448.
McComb, “Macomb”, William, M.L.A. Kent, 422;
  from north of Ireland, 436;
  supplies money and goods to British Posts, 436, 448;
  adheres to Loyalist cause, chooses British citizenship, 436, 448.
McGill, Capt. John, to command in Simcoe’s Corps, 120;
  Commissary of Stores, 170;
  recommended by Simcoe as member Legislative Council, 416.
McKee, Alexander, Dep. Supt. Indians, 195, 291, 382;
  detailed to attend Indian Council, 195;
  Lieutenant Essex, 1794, 197;
  Report on Councils of Confederacy, 204, 205.
McNabb, Mr., Supt. Inland Navigation, 259.
 
N
 
Napoleon, his victory at Austerlitz, 312, 313;
  determines to avenge Trafalgar and invade Portugal, 313.
Nassau District, 177, 178.
Navy, necessity of, 135.
Navy Hall, Niagara, official residence at, 165;
  repaired, 165, 170, 171;
  marquees, 165, 171, 184.
Negro troops, objection to, 48.
Nepean, Evan, Under-Sec’y State, Home Department, 78, 88, 152;
  War and Colonies, 152.
Newark, named in honor of Newark, N.J., 167;
  First Legislature meets at, 173;
  gaol and courthouse to be built at, 178.
New Johnstown (Cornwall), gaol and courthouse to be built at, 178.
New London, 191.
New York, capture of, 47.
Niagara, temporary Capital, 166;
  named Newark, 167;
  Freemasons’ Hall, 173, 184, 185;
  canvas houses at, 184.
Niagara Whitefish, 370, 374.
Norfolk, 451.
North, Lord, Prime Minister England, 39.
North, Major, 258.
Northumberland, Duke of, 66, 67, 304, 321, 324, 436, 450.
 
O
 
Onondaga, H.M.S., 160, 161, 165, 293.
Onondago, Salt Works of, 258.
Ontario, 158, 163, 449.
Osgood, William, father of Chief Justice, 374, 393.
Osgoode, Wm. Executive Councillor, 131, 149, 375-78;
  Chief Justice U.C., 133, 148, 169;
  of L.C., 248, 377;
  arrives at Quebec, 137;
  at Kingston, 155;
  summoned to Legislative Council, 156;
  leaves for Niagara, 161;
  Speaker Legislative
Council, 173;
  mystery thrown around him, 375, 392;
  Chairman Ex. Council, 376;
  Speaker Legislative Council, 376;
  his death in England, 377;
  highly esteemed by Simcoe and Dorchester, 377, 394;
  his name perpetuated in Osgoode Hall, Toronto, 378;
  accounts regarding him, 393.
Oxford (Woodstock), to become a town, 191.
 
P
 
Paget, Gen. Sir Henry William, 308.
Parliament, first U.C., 103.
Parliamentary Constituencies, U.C., 448-451;
  wages, 209, 210.
Pawling, Benjamin, M.L.A. Lincoln Second Riding, 421;
  fought through Revolutionary War, 432;
  settles in Niagara district, 432, 445;
  member Land Board District of Nassau, 432;
  Judge Court of Common Pleas, 432, 444, 445.
Pawling, Jesse, brother Benjamin Pawling, 432, 445.
Pearl, H.M.S., 293, 294.
Pembroke, H.M.S. launched, 19;
  at Halifax, 20;
  off Anticosti, 20;
  took active part in siege of Quebec, 26.
Percy, Lord (Duke of Northumberland), his advice to Simcoe, 298, 303, 304.
Peters, John, Returning Officer, 174.
Peter’s Pence and Dispensations, Act concerning, 362, 363.
Peters, Rev. Dr., 122, 124, 125, 127, 162, 202.
Pettit, Nathaniel, M.L.A. Northumberland, etc., 421;
  had land where Grimsby, Ont. stands, 431;
  member Land Board and Judge Common Pleas, 431;
  recommended for appointment as Ex. Councillor, 431;
  “an active Loyalist”, 445.
Pickering, Timothy, Commissioner to treat with Indians, 193;
  at Newark, 193-5, 202-04.
Pilkington, Lt., fortifies Miamis, 225.
Pillory as punishment, 287, 290.
Pitt, William, Prime Minister, 76;
  his “India Declaratory Act”, 87;
  remarks on hereditary honors, 108;
  death, 312;
  East India Bill, 313.
Pollard, Richard, Sheriff, 156, 162, 169, 334.
Portland, Duke of, 74;
  disapproves appointment Lieutenants of Counties, 189, 197, 253;
  disapproves Simcoe’s corporation scheme, 253;
  approves Simcoe’s project for settlement at Charlotteville, 275;
  is approached by Simcoe on school question, 324-343;
  expresses views on schools and schoolmasters for U.C., 343, 344.
Posts in possession of Britain, 100, 115, 116;
  to be evacuated, 285;
  given up, 294, 303.
Powell, Wm. Dummer, receives Commission of Oyer and Terminer, 133;
  acts on authority of Quebec Commission, 133, 134, 143;
  first Judge, 149; charged with disloyalty, 153;
  salary, 170, 172;
  selected as Puisné Justice, 248;
  accused of disloyalty, 255;
  records Hon. Peter Russell’s ignorance of law, 255;
  Judge District of Hesse, 327;
  Judge King’s Bench, 336.
Premier Grand Lodge, Eng., 452;
  “Modern”, 453, 459, 464.
Presbyterians, ask support from Simcoe, 183;
  have one minister in Province, 190;
  in Grenville, petition that their ministers be empowered to marry, 241-3.
Prescott, General Robert, to take command after Dorchester, 291;
  does not sanction purchase of Huron Reserve, 292;
  apparently has little regard for civil government of Province, 294;
  leaves for England, 301;
  remains Governor-General of Canada until 1807, 310.
Prideaux, Sir Wilmot, 458, 461.
Primary Education, 337, 345.
Prince Edward (Co. Lennox), 450.
Princeton, Battle of, 42, 54.
Protestant Clergy, 150.
Province, troops removed from, 294;
  to be transcript of Great Britain, 347.
Provinces, funds available for use of, 325, 326, 329, 330, 331.
Provincial Parliament, has no fund to draw upon, 325.
Public Schools, 339, 343.
 
Q
 
Quebec Act, 95, 101, 102, 145, 176, 177, 325.
Quebec Currency, 330.
Quebec, division of, 81, 90, 96, 97.
Queen’s Rangers, Journal of, 45, 71-73, 76, 78;
  gallant conduct at Brandywine, 43, 54;
  history, 55-67;
  partisan corps, 55, 68;
  companies, 56;
  uniform, 56;
  discipline, 56, 57, 68;
  recruits from Washington’s army, 58;
  winter at Oyster Bay, 60;
  styled First American Regiment, 60;
  join Cornwallis, 60;
  embark under Arnold, 64, enrolled in British Army, 66;
  disbanded, 66;
  colors, 66-7;
  Simcoe’s encomium, 70-1;
  Second Corps, 67, 121, 123, 165, 216, 226, 227;
  Third Corps, 67;
  1925 Battalion, 67;
  Memoirs, 278;
  debate on, 332, 333.
Queenston or New Landing, 165.
Quorum, 134, 141, 148, 155.
 
R
 
Rainsford, Capt. Marcus, writes of San Domingo, 304;
  tribute to Simcoe, 305.
Randolph, John, Commissioner to treat with Indians, 193;
  at Newark, 193-5, 202-04.
Rawdon, Lord, thinks hereditary nobility unnecessary, 108.
Register (Registrar), 270.
Registry Act, 270.
Registry Office, 268, 270.
Republicanism, an amazing instance of, 417.
Representation Act, 267, 268.
Responsible Government, evolution of, 111, 145.
Richmond, Duke of, views on armament in U.C., 121, 127.
Robertson, Wm. Executive Councillor, 131, 148, 149, 378, 379;
  summoned to Legislative Council, 156;
  not in Canada, 169, 173;
  a personage in Detroit, 378;
  member Land Board, District of Hesse, 379;
  receives appointment as Executive and Legislative Councillor, 379, 394;
  never de facto a member of the Councils, 379;
  returns to Detroit and endeavors to secure tracts of Indian lands, 379;
  his death, 379.
Robinson, Christopher, defeats Atty.-Gen. White at General Election for Second Parliament, U.C., 427;
  his Bill for repealing the Slave Act, 440;
  his death, 441.
Robinson (Sir) John, seventh Ch. Justice U.C., 394.
Roblin, John, 443.
Rochefoucault, duc d’Estissac, 272.
Rochefoucault, Duc de La, 267;
  describes opening Legislature, 270;
  visits Newark, 272;
  forbidden by Dorchester to enter Lower Canada, 272;
  comments on Simcoe, 273;
  his Voyage dans les Etats-Unis d’Amerique, 276;
  description of Mrs. Simcoe, 276;
  publisher’s letter to Simcoe regarding book, 277;
  misrepresentations dealt with by Simcoe, 278-81.
Rockingham, Marquis of, Prime Minister, 74.
Roe, Walter, lawyer of Detroit, 427, 447.
Rogers, Cot. Robert, raises Queen’s Rangers, 55.
Ross, General, 311, 321.
Rosslyn, Lord, to negotiate with Court at Lisbon, 314.
Royal Assent, 103, 104, 105, 111, 112.
Royal Instructions, 104, 131, 148, 153, 180, 331, 333, 335, 348, 351, 354, 355, 357, 358, 375, 392, 406, 411.
Royal Letters Patent, 346.
Royal Pleasure, 104, 105, 111.
Royal Proclamation, 1763, 176, 177.
Royal Sign Manual, 105, 112, 153.
Royal Veto, 103, 111.
Royal Warrant, 375.
Russell, Peter, Executive Councillor, 131, 149, 169, 383-385;
  arrives at Quebec, 137;
  Receiver-General, 148, 327, 336, 384;
  at Kingston, 155;
  summoned to Legislative Council, 156;
  attends First Session Legislature, 173;
  has temporary Commission as Justice, 248;
  writes Simcoe of his land purchase from Indians, 291;
  Administrator, U.C., 294;
  Simcoe’s return expected and desired by, 294, 302;
  prepares to take up residence in York, 294;
  Simcoe’s influence to have him appointed a Puisne Justice, 302;
  wishes to be Lieut.-Gov. U.C. should Simcoe become Governor-in-Chief, 302;
  has Special Commission to act as Judge, 336;
  recommended to Dundas by Simcoe, 383;
  Inspector-General of Accounts, 384;
  renders faithful service as Councillor, 384, 399;
  third Justice Court of Common Pleas, Home District, 384, 399;
  Powell’s opinion of his knowledge of law, 399;
  leaves office of Administrator on arrival of Lieut.-Gov. Hunter, 385;
  his death, 385.
Ryerse, Samuel, 443.
 
S
 
Salaries, Provincial Officers, 326, 327;
  officers of the House, 329.
Salt, price of, 136.
Salt Springs, 136.
San Domingo, insurrection in, 295, 296;
  story of, 304-5;
  abandoned, 305.
Sandwich, 353.
Schoedde, Capt., commanding at Fort Ontario, 258.
Scott, Chief Justice Thomas, 419.
Scrope, Bernard, Under Sec’y of State, 152.
Schwerdfeger, Rev. Mr., Lutheran Minister, 183;
  loyal to King and Government, 183.
Seabury, Samuel, first Bishop American Protestant Episcopal Church, 361.
Secretaries of State, 152.
Seward, Anna, 76, 85.
Shank, Capt. David, recommended for command in Simcoe’s Corps, 120;
  en route to Niagara, 144;
  commands vessel in kidnapping negro girl, 201;
  examines Alexander Grant’s accounts, 381, 396.
Shaw, Aeneas, to have captaincy in Simcoe’s Corps, 120;
  at Kingston, 144;
  Executive and Legislative Councillor, 389-391;
  served in Revolutionary War, 389;
  a settler on the Nashwaak, N.B., 389, 404;
  makes noted march from Fredericton to Quebec, 390, 404;
  takes command First Division Queen’s Rangers, 390;
  his appointment as Executive Councillor urged by Simcoe, 390;
  obtains his mandamus, 390, 404, 405;
  recommended for seat in Legislative Council and receives appointment, 391, 404;
  his homes in Toronto, 391;
  Major-General in the Army, 391;
  his death, 391.
Sheaffe, Lieut. (Gen. Sir) Roger, directed to make formal protest against settlement at Sodus, 250;
  to confer with Commandant at Fort Ontario, 250;
  delivers Protest, 261.
Sheehan, Walter B., Indian interpreter, 205;
  Sheriff Home District, 214.
Sherwood, Justus, J.P., 132, 139.
Simcoe, Francis, accompanies parents to Canada, 81;
  newspaper announcement concerning, 90;
  memorial to his memory, 315.
Simcoe Hall, Toronto, 345, 346, 347.
Simcoe, Henry Addington, named after Speaker Addington, 308.
Simcoe, Capt. John, birth, 17;
  genealogy, 17, 24;
  appointments and commands, 17, 18, 19, 36, 37;
  coat of arms, 18;
  marriage, 18;
  children, 18;
  friend of Admiral Graves, 18;
  member Court Martial of Admiral Byng, 18, 24, 25;
  at Halifax, 19;
  at Siege of Louisbourg, 19, 25;
  death, 20;
  view regarding Conquest of Canada, 20, 21, 29, 30;
  education, 23;
  writings, 23;
  memoir in John Graves Simcoe’s Military Journal, 27;
  memorial St. Andrew’s Church, Cotterstock, 28;
  directs compilation charts St. Lawrence River, 28;
  scheme for “a marine brigade,” 21;
  urges formation of national militia, 21;
  advocates repeal of Game Laws, 21, 22;
  opinion on British fortified harbours at Isthmus of Panama, 22;
  last extant letters on attacking Quebec, 22;
  “Maxims of Conduct”, 23, 31, 35.
Simcoe, John, son of Capt. Simcoe, 18, 28.
Simcoe, Mrs. John (Catherine Stamford), marriage of, 18;
  children, 18;
  removal from Cotterstock, 23;
  death, 23, 82.
Simcoe, John Graves, birthplace, 17;
  education, 38, 39, 43;
  studies military science, 39, 44;
  enters army, 40, 46;
  opinion of War of Independence, 40, 45, 46;
  at Boston, 40, 41, 48;
  asks permission to enlist negroes, 40, 41, 48;
  in Grenadier Company, 41, 49;
  writes his mother from Boston, 46, 47, 49, 50, 51;
  his Boston letter to Mrs. Graves, 51-53;
  solicits command Queen’s Rangers, 42;
  wounded at Brandywine, 43;
  receives command Queen’s Rangers, 43;
  in Abercrombie’s expedition, 58;
  asks permission to join Butler, 58;
  falls ill, 59;
  declines Colonelcy, 59;
  wounded a third time, 59;
  Grant offers him service in West Indies, 59;
  taken prisoner, 60;
  plans escape from Burlington Jail, 62;
  is exchanged, 63;
  reported dead, 63;
  Lieut.-Col. of Cavalry, 63;
  in failing health, 64, 82;
  returns to England, 65;
  made Lieut.-Col. in the army, 65;
  opinion regarding André's execution, 70;
  promotions, 73;
  in Exeter, 74, 82, 83;
  his marriage, 75, 83, 84;
  a supporter of the King, 76, 84, 85;
  takes up residence at Wolford, 76, 85;
  as a poet, 77, 86, 87;
  plans capture of Cadiz, 77, 78, 85.
Simcoe, John Graves, earliest suggestion of Canadian appointment, 79, 88;
  correspondence of, 88;
  selection as Lieut.-Governor U.C., 79;
  returned member for St. Mawe’s, 80, 88, 89;
  proposal to raise a corps for public service in Canada, 80, 89, 117, 118, 119, 120, 126;
  takes part in discussion of Canada Act, 90;
  asks for a “Canvas House”, 81;
  sails for Canada, 81;
  his Commission, 98;
  powers as Lieut.-Governor, 98;
  Speeches from the Throne, 103, 110, 175, 270-1, 289;
  plans immigration, 122, 127;
  urges necessity of a capital for province, 122, 123;
  ranks as Colonel, 124, 128;
  advocates establishment of Church, 124;
  arrival at Quebec, 130;
  delivers Commissions, 130;
  recognizes necessity of Navy, 135;
  interested in salt springs, 136;
  suggests establishment of post offices, 137;
  fixes upon Niagara as Capital, 143;
  at Kingston, 155;
  takes oath of office, 155;
  divides Province into constituencies, 156;
  arrives at Niagara, 160;
  illness, 167;
  Proclamation July, 1792, 168;
  receives addresses and petitions, 170;
  opens Legislative Assembly and Council, 185;
  appoints Lieutenants of Counties, 189, 197;
  directs Osgoode to draw up Bill on irregular and future marriages, 190;
  journeys to Detroit, 191;
  opinion as to site of Capital confirmed, 191;
  presses legislation on slavery, 192, 193, 202;
  anxious for success American Commissioners’ mission, 195;
  details Col. John Butler and Alexander McKee to attend Indian Council, 195;
  disappointed at failure of negotiations with Indians, 196, 221;
  desires to promote an aristocracy in Canada, 197;
  opinion of Commissioners, 202, 205.
Simcoe, John Graves, his opinion of Toronto, 221;
  his journey to Lake Huron, 222;
  at York, 223, 254;
  view concerning inhabitants of Detroit, 223, 224;
  objects to Fort on Maumee, 225;
  considers defence of Detroit impracticable, 225;
  arrives at Maumee, 226;
  asks Home Authorities for English barrister in Osgoode’s place, 248, 254-5;
  given land on account of having been Colonel of Queen’s Rangers, 248;
  suggestions to Dorchester regarding Upper Country, 252, 263;
  forecasts Rideau Canal, 252;
  his desire to make U.C. a transcript of the Old Land, 253;
  urges reformation Indian Dept. 253-4;
  seriously ill, 254;
  receives copy Jay’s Treaty, 254;
  his dislike of U.S., 273, 277;
  desires peace with U.S., 273;
  wishes to have a semi-military settlement in vicinity of Long Point, and founds Charlotteville, 274;
  his scheme for settlement at Charlotteville, 274, 275;
  is not granted leave of absence, 267, 285;
  determines to remove Capital to York, 276.
Simcoe, John Graves, congratulates Houses on ratification of Treaty with U.S., 286;
  submits his General Accounts Current to date, 286;
  final speech to Legislature, 288, 289;
  receives refusal from Dorchester in respect to semi-military settlements at Charlotteville and Penetanguishene, 293;
  receives leave of absence, 293, 301;
  bids farewell to Castle Frank, 293;
  communicates with Prescott from Montreal, 293, 302;
  his arrival at, and embarkation from Quebec, 293-4;
  arrival home, 294;
  his return to Canada expected, 294.
Simcoe, John Graves, Pitt determines to send him to San Domingo, 296;
  arrival at Mole St. Nicholas, 298, 304;
  administers affairs, 298;
  is treated with ingratitude on his return, 299;
  resigns San Domingo Commission and Lieutenant-Governorship U.C., 299, 309;
  told by Duke of Portland that he is to be Governor-General of Canada, 300, 309;
  receives command Western District, England, 300;
  asked by Sir Charles Stuart to go to Mediterranean, 308;
  enlists influence of Duke of Kent in connection with Governor Generalship of Canada, 309;
  disappointed at not standing for Parliament, 311;
  his health again fails, 311;
  considers his military career finished, 312;
  offered command vacated by Lake, 313;
  to be entrusted with joint command with Lord St. Vincent at the Tagus, 314;
  taken seriously ill on route to the Tagus, 314;
  sails for Torbay, 314;
  his death at Exeter, 315, 322;
  burial at Wolford, 315;
  Monument to his memory in Exeter Cathedral, 315;
  monument in Queen’s Park, Toronto, 316;
  mural tablets, Wolford Chapel, 317.
Simcoe, John Graves, as a Churchman, 337;
  has no conception of a national system of education, 337, 338;
  letter to Sir Joseph Banks dealing with education, 354;
  urges that British Ministry should supply funds for educational purposes, 339;
  views regarding a University, 339-345;
  considered he first gave impetus to establishment of higher learning in U.C., 346;
  attitude towards Ch. of England, 347, 351;
  his various illnesses, 364-366, 373, 374;
  his policy in avoiding use of Prerogative of the Crown in refusing Assent, 409;
  accuses Hamilton and Cartwright of Republicanism, 409, 417;
  before leaving Province does justice to Cartwright and removes misunderstanding, 413;
  as a Mason, 44, 45, 452;
  proposed in Union Lodge, 458;
  receives degrees, 459, 468.
Simcoe, Mrs. John Graves, purchases Wolford, 76;
  references to American Commissioners, 204;
  visits Mrs. D. W. Smith, 204;
  at York, 216, 228;
  en route to Quebec, 250;
  meets Governor Simcoe at Pointe au Bodet, 253;
  at Johnstown, 253, 263;
  shocked at her husband accepting San Domingo Commission, 298;
  fixes date on which Simcoe receives leave of absence, 301;
  a devoted nurse, 365;
  suffers intensely from mosquito bites, 366, 367;
  an authority on “simples”, 367, 368;
  a whist player, 372.
Simcoe, Mrs. John Kennaway, 316.
Simcoe, Linton, 316.
Simcoe, Pawlett William, son of Capt. Simcoe, 18;
  memorial, 28.
Simcoe, Percy William, son of Capt. John Simcoe, drowning of, 18, 23.
Simcoe, Sophia, accompanies parents to Canada, 81.
Sinclair, Patrick, Lt.-Gov. Michillimackinac, 172.
Skunk Cabbage, 365, 366.
Slave Bill, 192, 193, 202.
Small, John, Clerk Executive Council, 334, 336, 428.
Smith, Chief Justice, traces causes of Revolutionary War, 113;
  as a legal adviser, 131, 138.
Smith, Lieut., D. W. (Sir), candidate for Essex and Suffolk, 157, 158, 163;
  introduces fire regulation Bill, 178;
  proposes land tax, 179, 187;
  accompanies Simcoe to Detroit, 191;
  Acting Surveyor-General, 283, 327, 336;
  submits plans for town of Chatham, 283;
  M.L.A. Suffolk and Essex, 421;
  appointments in 5th Foot, 434-5;
  Sec’y Land Board, District of Hesse, 435;
  created Quartermaster-General and Sec’y to Commandant, Niagara, 435;
  his constituencies, 435, 446-7;
  articled to Attorney-General, receives licence from Simcoe, but never called to the Bar, 435;
  elected Speaker, 435;
  resigns Canadian appointments and goes to England, 436;
  a Baronet, 436;
  his publications, 436;
  his amusing instructions as to election-canvassing, 446;
  methods of celebrating a successful election, 446-7;
  granted pension by U.C., 448.
Snake The, (Indian Chief) murder of, 161, 164.
Spencer, Hazelton, M.L.A. Lenox and Hastings, 421;
  with his father joined Burgoyne, in 1777, 430;
  a volunteer with Sir John Johnson and subsequently with King’s Royal Regiment, 430;
  appointed Major Royal Canadian Volunteers, 431;
  Lieutenant Lenox County and an active magistrate, 197, 431, 444;
  his military service, 444.
Spencer, Lieut., 77, 78, 85, 86, 120.
St. Clair, Arthur, Governor N.W.T. (U.S.), 100;
  defeated by the Miamis, 101.
St. John’s Creek (Humber River), 216, 228.
St. Vincent, to negotiate with Court at Lisbon, 314.
Statute of Frauds, 69.
Steuben, General, 258.
Stevenson, Capt., Quartermaster-General, 144;
  entrusted with despatches to England, 201, 223;
  gives Dorchester “Requisitions”, 224.
Stewart, Rev. J., 334.
Stocker, John, P.A.G.D.C. (Eng)., 455, 462, 463.
Stormont, 449.
Strachan, Mr. (Dr.), arrives at Kingston to take charge of proposed University, 345;
  a schoolmaster at Duninno, Scotland, 356.
Strange, (Sir) Thomas Andrew, 428.
Street, Samuel, 436.
Stuart, (Sir) Charles, asks Simcoe to accompany him to Gibraltar, 75;
  conqueror of Minorca, 308;
  wishes Simcoe to go as second in command to Mediterranean, 308;
  returns from campaign, 309.
Stuart, Rev. John, Minister Protestant Church, Kingston, 172;
  Chaplain Legislative Council, 180;
  claims right to issue marriage licences, 180;
  superintends school at Kingston, 343;
  favors performance of marriage ceremony by non-Anglican clergy, 352;
  Bishop’s Commissary, 353, 362;
  describes Bishop of Quebec, 362.
Suffolk, 451.
Swayze, Isaac, M.L.A. Lincoln Fourth Riding, and Norfolk, 421;
  called a spy and horsethief by the Revolutionaries, 433;
  a prominent Freemason, 433;
  tried for sedition, 433, 445;
  in trouble as inspector of Licences, 433, 434, 445-6;
  treated with contempt in R. F. Gourlay’s writings, 434.
 
T
 
Talbot, Lieut. Thomas, Private Sec’y to Simcoe, 137, 143;
  leaves Quebec with Simcoe, 137;
  goes to Detroit, 191;
  desired by Simcoe as Quartermaster-General in San Domingo, 297.
Tarleton, Lieut-Col. (Sir), assumes command of Gloucester, 64;
  his commendation of Simcoe, 70;
  opposes slave trade, 90.
Tax on land, 210.
Tenbrook, Peter, 445.
Terry, Parshall, M.L.A. Lincoln Third Riding, 421;
  some mystery made concerning him, 432;
  from New York State, 432;
  associated with Isaac Swayze at Garrison, York, and in milling business on the Don, 432;
  meets death in Don River, 432.
Thames, (La Tranche), 168.
Thornton, Edward, Sec’y to George Hammond, 232.
Thorpe, Judge, charges William Dummer Powell with disloyalty, 255.
Thurlow, Lord, on hereditary aristocracy, 107, 113.
Tickell, Richard Barnes, Confidential Clerk, 336.
Todd, Isaac, Kingston, 245, 246.
Toronto, natural arsenal, 136;
  becomes York, 192;
  Simcoe’s opinion of, 220.
Treaty of Amiens, 310.
Treaty of Peace, 1783, 46, 267, 269.
Treaty of Peace, Definitive, concluded, 1793, 230.
Trewman’s publications, 454, 455, 456, 466-8.
Trial by Jury, 177, 186.
Triton, Frigate, 81, 82, 130.
Turkey Point (Charlotteville), 274.
 
U
 
Union Lodge, Exeter, constituted, 453;
  a lodge of gentlemen, 454, 465;
  members limited to twenty-four, 454, 465;
  its original records found and copied, 455, 466;
  celebration of St. John’s Day, 455-6, 466;
  generous in charity, 456, 457;
  insists on regular attendance, 457;
  the Mother of Prov. G.L. of Devon, 458, 461;
  at meeting 18th Jan., 1774, Simcoe raised to degree of M.M., 459;
  the old gavel and its genuineness, 462-3.
United Empire Loyalists, 339.
University of Toronto, a National University, 345;
  institution of, 346;
  perpetuates Simcoe’s memory in “Simcoe Hall”, 347.
Upper Canada, mosquitoes in, 366;
  medicinal qualities of the flora, 367, 368;
  opulence and variety of food, 368;
  fauna, 368, 369;
  fish and game, 369, 370, 374;
  vegetables and fruits, 370-2;
  tea drinking, 372.
Upper Country, French settlements in; loyalty tampered with, 251.
Utica Award, 287.
 
V
 
Valentine, John, Preventive Officer, Oswego, 172.
Vanalstine, Peter, M.L.A. Prince Edward and Tp. of Adolphustown, 175, 185, 421;
  Lieutenant, Addington, 1792, 197;
  a Loyalist of Dutch descent, 429;
  imprisoned, 429;
  joins forces of Burgoyne, 430;
  Captain of Batteaux men, 430;
  Major of Associated Loyalists, 430, 443;
  his estate near Kinderhook, N.Y., forfeited, 430.
Vellore, insubordination at, 313, 322.
Vermont, State of, 116, 126.
 
W
 
Washington, George, Commander-in-Chief, 41;
  evacuates New York, 42;
  moves his troops, 43;
  his report re. Princeton, 54;
  at White Plains, 59;
  invests Yorkton, 64;
  selects Chief Justice Jay as Special Envoy to England, 249;
  abused for signing Jay’s Treaty, 257;
  saves Jay’s Treaty from rejection by U.S., 281.
Wawanesse, Chippaway Indian, 166.
Wayne, (Gen.) “Mad Anthony”, at Maumee Rapids, 101;
  observations of Gen. Lincoln regarding, 205;
  threatens Indians, 224, 231;
  his movements alarming, 224, 231;
  in region of the Miami, 249;
  defeats Indians, 250.
Wemyss, Capt., at Brandywine, 43;
  in command of Queen’s Rangers, 43, 54.
White, John, first Attorney-General, U.C., 137, 169, 426, 427;
  at Kingston, 155, 160, 162, 163;
  leaves for Niagara, 161;
  opinion in Cooley case, 192, 201;
  draws up Bill respecting slavery, 192;
  M.L.A. Leeds and Frontenac, 421, 427;
  called to the Bar, 426;
  returns to Britain from Jamaica and is recommended to Nepean by Osgoode, 426;
  in Kingston, 427;
  sails for Newark, 427;
  has charge of Judicature Act, 427;
  active in organization of Law Society, U.C., 428;
  is disappointed in Chief Justiceship of Nova Scotia and also that of U.C., 428;
  his death and cause thereof, 428, 440;
  will, 441.
Whitelocke, Lieut-Colonel John, lands at Jeremie, San Domingo, 296;
  fails to take Tiburon, 296;
  made disastrous attack on Buenos Ayres, 1807, 303, 319;
  Lieut.-Governor of Portsmouth, 319.
Whyte, Gen., at Port au Prince, 296.
Willcocks, Joseph, 292.
Willcocks, (Sir) Richard, 202, 292.
Williamson (Sir) Adam, Governor of Jamaica, 295;
  makes descent on San Domingo, 295;
  resigns Governorship Jamaica, 296;
  Commander-in-Chief, West Indies, 296;
  financially ruined, 305.
Williamson, Capt., at Sodus Bay, 260;
  remarks on Lieut. Sheaffe’s Protest against Sodus, 262.
Wilson, James, 443.
Winchester Measures, 178, 186.
Wolford, 316.
Wolford Chapel, 316, 317, 322, 323.
Woods, Judge, grandson of Commodore Grant, 383, 398.
Wright, Justus, Barrack Master, 170.
Wyoming, fall of, 68.
 
Y
 
Yonge, Sir George, Secretary at War, 152.
Young, Sir William, political writer, 80;
  opposes slave trade, 90.
York, Duke of, military success in Low Countries, 221;
  failure of expedition to Netherlands under, 308;
  names Gen. Sir Henry William Paget for Mediterranean expedition, 308;
  appoints Lt.-Gen. England instead of Simcoe, Lieut.-Gov. of Plymouth, 310.
York, designed as naval station, 216, 217;
  receives name, 221, 229;
  seat of Government, 294.
York, Ridings, 450.

Mis-spelled words and printer errors have been fixed. However, this work was riddled with inconsistencies: in punctuation, hyphenation, abbreviations, citations, quoting, and accents; only the very obvious errors have been fixed.

	PAGE
Preface	13

Chapter I
Birth and Descent	17

Chapter II
Education and Early Military Life	38

Chapter III
The Queen’s Rangers	55

Chapter IV
Life in England	74

Chapter V
Upper Canada of Simcoe’s Time	94

Chapter VI
The Constitutional Act	103

Chapter VII
Needs of the Province	115

Chapter VIII
Simcoe in Canada	130

Chapter IX
The Executive Council	145

Chapter X
Sojourn in Kingston	155

Chapter XI
Early Days in Niagara	165

Chapter XII
First Session of Legislature	173

Chapter XIII
Provincial Matters of Import	189

Chapter XIV
The Second Session	206

Chapter XV
Defences and Fortifications	216

Chapter XVI
The Third Session	234

Chapter XVII
War Clouds Dispersed	248

Chapter XVIII
The Fourth Session	267

Chapter XIX
La Rochefoucault at Newark	272

Chapter XX
The Fifth Session	286

Chapter XXI
Good-bye to Canada—In England Again	293

Chapter XXII
Simcoe’s Latter Days. . .	307

Chapter XXIII
Finances of the Province	324

Chapter XXIV
Religion and Education	337

Chapter XXV
Ills, Antidotes and Menus	364

Chapter XXVI
Simcoe’s Executive Council	375

Chapter XXVII
Members Legislative Council	406

Chapter XXVIII
Members Legislative Assembly	421

Chapter XXIX
Simcoe as a Freemason	452

	PAGE
John Graves Simcoe as a Young Man—(From an Oil Painting)	Frontispiece
H.M.S. Pembroke—(From Monument in St. Andrew’s Church, Cotterstock, Eng.)	19
Leeside House—Birthplace of Capt. Simcoe, R.N., Hilton, Durham, England	32
Where Governor Simcoe Was Born—Cotterstock, England	32
Exeter Grammar School	48
Merton College—The Quad, Oxford, England	48
Map of the Seat of War in the Environs of Philadelphia	57
Map of the Seat of War in North America	61
Uniforms of Queen’s Rangers, Revolutionary War—Light Infantryman and Hussar; Grenadier; Rifleman. (From Water Colors by Capt. Murray of the Queen’s Rangers)	64
Mrs. John Graves Simcoe in Welsh Dress—(From a Miniature)	80
Wolford Lodge—Honiton, Devon	88
Wolford Lodge Interiors—The Salon, The Hall, The Morning Room	96
Navy Hall, Niagara, From the River, 1792. (From a Drawing by Mrs. Simcoe)	132
Protestant Church (St. George’s), Kingston, 1791	156
Plan of Kingston, U.C., 1790	159
H.M. Schooner Onondaga—(From a Drawing by Mrs. Simcoe)	160
Castle Frank in Summer of 1796.—(From a Drawing by Mrs. Simcoe)	167
Members of Simcoe’s Administration—Chief Justice Osgoode, Hon. Peter Russell, Hon. James Baby, Hon. Alex. Grant, Sec’y. Wm. Jarvis, Hon. Robert Hamilton, Hon. (Sir) D. W. Smith, Hon. Alex. Macdonell	176
Some of Those Who Had a Part in the Affairs of Upper Canada—Sir Alured Clarke, Lord Dorchester, Chief Justice Smith, Rev. John Stuart, Bishop Mountain, Rev. John Bethune, Sir John Johnson, Colonel Talbot	192
Butler’s Barracks at Queenston, 1793—(From a Drawing by Mrs. Simcoe)	207
York (Toronto) Harbour, 1793, Near the Old Fort—(From a Drawing by Mrs. Simcoe)	224
Some Notables During Simcoe’s Regime—H.R.H. Prince Edward, Dr. James Macaulay, Hon. John Munro, Maj.-Gen. Æneas Shaw, Capt. (Sir) E. B. Littlehales, Mr. Justice Powell, Joseph Brant (Thayendanegea), Robert Isaac Dey Gray	240
Site of Charlotteville, at Long Point, 1795—(From a Drawing by Lieut. Pilkington, copied by Mrs. Simcoe)	280
Statue of John Graves Simcoe, Queen’s Park, Toronto	320
Wolford Chapel, West View, Near Honiton, Devon	336
Wolford Chapel, Interior	336
Gavel Used in Union Lodge, Exeter, 1766	462

Name	John Simcoe
Birthplace	v
Baptismal Certificate	v
First Entry	v
Passing Certificate	v
Seniority	Lieutenant 7 Aug. 1739; Captain 28 Dec. 1743.
Death	14 May, 1759.

Ship	Rank		Date of Entry		Date of Discharge
New-castle	Lieut.	(3)	7 Aug.	1739	11 May	1740
”	”	(2)	12 May	1740	15 Oct.	1740
Princess Caroline	”	(3)	16 Oct.	1740	14 Jan.	1741
Burford	”	(3)	15 Jan.	1741	26 Apl.	1741
Russell	”	(4)	27 Apl.	1741	7 June	1741
Cumberland	”	(2)	8 June	1741	1 May	1743
”	”	(1)	2 May	1743	18 July	1743
Thunder Bomb	Master & Commdr		19 July	1743	27 Dec.	1743
Kent	Captain		28 Dec.	1743	18 Feb.	1744
Seahorse	”		19 Feb.	1744	28 Jan.	1745
Falmouth	”		29 Jan.	1745	24 Oct.	1746
H.P. x	”		25 Oct.	1746	13 Mar.	1747
x—	Half Pay
Prince Edward	Captain		14 Mar.	1747	12 Sept.	1748
H.P.	”		13 Sept.	1748	2 July	1756
St. George	”		3 July	1756	4 Apl.	1757
Pembroke	”		5 Apl.	1757	14 May	1759

1763	Feb. 10,	Treaty of Paris, S. & D., pp. 97-126.
	Oct. 7,	Royal Proclamation, S. & D., pp. 163-168.
1774		Quebec Act, 14 Geo. III, c. 83, S. & D., pp. 570-576.
1783	Sept. 3,	Treaty of Paris, (Britain & U.S.), S. & D., pp. 726-730.
1791	Feb. 25,	Royal Message to Ho. of Coms., 28 Parl. Hist., Col. 1271.
	June 10,	Canada Act, 31 Geo. III, c. 31, S. & D., pp. 1031-1051.
	Aug. 24,	Order in Council dividing Quebec, D. & McA., pp. 3-5.
1791		Royal Warrant, Can. Arch., Q. 59 B., p. 199.
	Sept. 12,	Dorchester’s Commission, D. & McA., pp. 5-13.
		Dorchester’s Instructions, D. & McA., pp. 33-48.
		Simcoe’s Commission, D. & McA., p. 55.
	Nov. 18,	Clarke’s Proclamation, D. & McA., pp. 55-57.

“The King in Pros (ecution)	}	On the information of Thos.
Thomas Golden	}	Golden. The Court order that
v.	}	Rice Honywell and Thirby
Rice Honywell &	}	Cromwell be examined concerning
Thirby Cromwell.	}	the Complaint against them.

For Legislative Council:	For Executive Council:
1. William Dummer Powell	1. William Dummer Powell
2. Richard Duncan	2. Richard Duncan
3. William Robertson	3. William Robertson
4. Robert Hamilton	4. Robert Hamilton
5. Richard Cartwright, Jr.	5. Richard Cartwright, Jr.
6. John Munro	6. James Gray
7. Nathaniel Petit	7. Alexander McKee
8. George Farley	8. Edward Jessup
	9. Alexander Grant
	10. John McDonnel
	11. James McDonnel
	12. Peter Drummond
	13. Robert Kerr

Legislative Council:
	1. William Dummer Powell, Hesse.
	2. Richard Duncan, Luneburg.
	3. William Robertson, Hesse.
	4. Robert Hamilton, Nassau.
	5. Richard Cartwright, Kingston.
	6. John Munroe, Luneburg.
	7. Nathaniel Petite, Nassau.
	8. James McDonell, Kingston.
Executive Council:
	1. James Gray, Luneburg.
	2. Alexander McKee, Hesse.
	3. Alexander Grant, Hesse.
	4. Edward Jessup, Luneburg.
	5. John McDonell, Luneburg.
	6. Peter Drummond, Luneburg.
	7. Robert Kerr, Nassau.
	8. George Farley, Kingston.

	7.	Alex. McKie (McKee)
Off.	2.	Richard Duncan	7. Nathaniel Petit
Maj.	8.	Edward Jessup	2. Richard Duncan
Ser.	13.	Robert Kerr	4. Robert Hamilton, J.
Com.	9.	Alex. Grant	1. W. Dummer Powel, J.
	12.	Peter Drummond	8. George Farley
Judge	1.	W. Dummer Powel	6. John Munroe, off.
	6.	James Gray	3. William Robertson
Off.	10.	John McDonnel	5. R’d. Cartwright, Jr.
	3.	William Robertson
	11.	James McDonnel
Judge	4.	Robert Hamilton
	5.	Richard Cartwright, Jr.
Sheriff		Tyre
		Brown
		Baker

Commanding Officer at Detroit,	Mon. Beaufette,
	John Asken, Judge,
	Jac. Babye.

Glengary and Kent, each two members	4
Stormont, Dundas, Grenvil, each one	3
Leeds and Frontenac	1
Ontario and Addington	1
Prince Edward and Adolphustown Township	1
Lenox (except Adolphustown), Hastings and Northumberland	1
Durham, York, and First Riding of Lincoln	1
Lincoln, Second Riding	1
Lincoln, Third Riding	1
Lincoln, Fourth Riding and Norfolk	1
Suffolk and Essex	1
	—
In all	16

Salary of Lieutenant-Governor		£2,000
	Chief Justice	1,000
	Attorney-General	300
	Solicitor-General	100
	Clerk of the Crown & Pleas	100
	Two Sheriffs @ £100	200
	Secretary of Province & Register	300
	Clerk of the Council	100
	Surveyor of Lands (no salary)
	Receiver-General of Revenue	200
	Five Executive Councillors	500
	Naval Officer	100
		———
		£4,900

Lieutenant-Governor	John Graves Simcoe
Chief Justice	William Osgoode
Attorney-General	John White
Solicitor-General	(None until 1795)
Clerk of the Crown & Pleas	David Burns
Two Sheriffs	Richard Pollard and Alexander Macdonell
Secretary of Province and Register	William Jarvis
Clerk of the Council	(Vacant)
Surveyor-General	The Surveyor-General of Lower Canada
Receiver-General of Revenue	Peter Russell
Five Executive Councillors	Osgoode, Grant,
	Russell, Baby
	(Robertson, not in Canada)
Naval Officer	Alexander Grant

Major of Brigade—Capt. Edward Baker Littlehales, from the half-pay of an Independent Company	£172.	17.6
Commissary of Stores and Provisions—Capt. John McGill, from the half-pay of the Queen’s Rangers	172.	17.6
Surgeon—John Macaulay, Gentleman, late surgeon to the New South Wales Corps	172.	17.6
Chaplain—The Reverend Edward Drewe	115.	5.0
Fort Major—Ensign Robert Eyre, from the 32nd Regiment of Foot	86.	8.9
Barrack Master—Justus Wright, Gentleman, (since dead)	69.	3.0
	————
	£789.9.3 ^[8]

Rev. John Stuart, Minister of the Protestant Church at Kingston	£100	per	annum
Rev. John Langhorne, Minister of the Protestant Church at Ernestown, District of Mecklenburgh	£100	”	”
Rev. John Bethune, Minister of the Protestant Church of Cornwall, District of Luneburgh	£100	”	”
Patrick Sinclair, Lieutenant-Governor at Michillimackinac	£200	”	”
John Valentine, Preventive Officer at Oswego on account of such salary as may be fixed by the Lords Commissioners of His Majesty’s Treasury	£ 60	”	”

1792—Oct. 2—	Peter Van Alstine, M.L.A.	Addington
1795	William Johnston, Sr.	Addington, Wolf. I, 6, 95, 96, 97.
1792—Oct. 2—	John Butler	Lincoln
1792—Oct. 2—	(Hon.) James Bâby	Kent, 1 Correspondence, p. 261.
1792—Oct. 2—	James Breckenridge	Leeds
1792—Oct. 2—	(Hon.) Richard Cartwright, Jr.	Frontenac, Wolf. II, 5, 238; I, 11, 45.
1792—Oct. 2—	(Hon.) Richard Duncan	(Dundas), Sim. I, 5, 17,
		Stormont, Wolf. I, 11, 45.
1792—Oct. 2—	(Hon.) John Macdonell, M.L.A.	Glengarry
1792—Oct. 2—	James Gray	Dundas
1794—Apl. 7—	Peter Drummond	Grenville, Wolf. II, 5, 45; I, 11, 98.
	(William Fraser, Deputy Lieutenant)	Grenville, Wolf. II, 5, 46.
1794	Alexander McKee	Essex, 2 Correspondence, 390.
		(Kent), Wolf. I, 11, 45.
1794	Hazelton Spencer	Lennox, 2 Correspondence, 298: Wolf. I, 2, 320.

	(Signed)	Abel Stevens
		James Stark
Bastard, 12th May, 1796.		Thomas Knolton
		Philip Philips
		Obediah Reed.”

		1764			1777					1796
	dwt.	gr.					dwt.	gr.
Johannes of Portugal	(18....	6)	4.	16.0	4.	0.0	(18....	0)	4.	0.0
Moidore of Portugal	( 6....	18)	1.	16.0	1.	10.0	( 6....	18)	1.	10.0
Carolin of Germany	( 5....	17)	1.	10.0
Guinea	( 5....	4)	1.	8.0	1.	3.4	( 5....	6)	1.	3.4
Louis d’Or	( 5....	3)	1.	8.0	1.	2.6	( 5....	4)	1.	2.6
Spanish Pistole	( 4....	4)	1.	1.0
French Pistole	( 4....	4)	1.	1.0			( 4....	4)	0.	18.0
Milled Doubloon (4 Pistole Piece)							(17....	0)	3.	14.0
American Eagle	(11....	6)							2.	10.0

			1764	1777		1796
	dwt. gr.
Seville, Mexico or Pillar Dollar	(17.12)	6.0	Spanish	5.0	Sp. Milled	5.0
French Crown (6 livres)	(19. 4)	6.8		5.6		55.6
			(4 liv.)		(4 liv.)
French Piece (4/6 Halifax)	(15.16)	5.6	(10 sols.)	4.2	(10 sols.)	4.2
			(Tournois)		(Tournois)
French Piece (24 sols. Tournois)				1.1		1.1
French Piece (36 sols. Tournois)				1.8		1.8
French Ninepenny Piece		1.0
Pistareen (Spanish)		1.2		1.0		1.0
British Shilling		1.4		1.1		1.1
American Dollar						5.0

	£	s.
Clerk at 5/ per day for one year	91	5
Chaplain, per annum	25	0
Sergeant-at-Arms, per annum	45	0
Door Keeper, per annum	10	0
Stationery and other contingent expenses	20	0
	————
	£191	5

1794, March 26th	—Departed from the Grand River.
27th	—On the march.
28th	—Reached the River La Tranche.
29th	—Descended the River.
30th	—Arrived in the evening at the Delaware Village; encamped about two miles below it.
31st	—Reached the Moravian Village.
April 1st	—Mr. Dolson’s.
2nd	—Arrived at Detroit.
3, 4 and 5	—At Detroit.
6th	—Set off for the Miamis River, stopped at Captain Elliott’s.
7th	—To the River Raisin.
8th	—Arrived at the foot of the Rapids.
9-15th	—At Colonel McKee’s.
16th	—At the mouth of the Miami River.
17th	—Turtle Island.
18th	—On board the Ottawa, encamped in the evening on the West Sister.
19th	—The Bass Island.
20, 21 and 22	—Encamped on the North Bass Island.
23rd	—Altered our position, and encamped on the Islands, near Hope’s Cove.
24th	—In the afternoon went on board.
25 and 26	—On board.
27th	—Arrived at Fort Erie in the morning, and reached Niagara.

	To James Fitzgerald			Dr.
1794, June 4th	To Tea, Coffee and Supper for one hundred persons at one dollar per head			25
	”	20	pounds of Candles at 1/6¾.	1	11	3
	”	7	dozen and 9 Bottles of Madeira, 60/	23	5
	”	4	dozen and 1 Bottle of Port, 45/	9	3	9
	”	20	Bowls Sangree with 2 Bottles of Madeira in each Bowl, 12/6	12	10
	”	11	ditto with 2 Bottles of Port, 10/	5	10
	”	6	Decks of Cards, 1/10½	11	3
	”	3	Dozen of Porter, 33/9	5	1	3
	”		Supplies for Music	1	5
	”		Ditto for Servants	16	3
	”		A Woman attending the Ladies	5
	”		Half a cord of wood for Cooking	5
	”		Men attending to bring water, &c.	5
	”	5	Glass tumblers broke, 1/10½	9	4½
	”	4	Wine Glasses broke, 1/3	5
				—————
Errors Excepted			Quebec Currency	£86	3	1½
			Niagara, 16th June, 1794.

First Township, North Side.
First Concession	Second Concession
E. 5. Matt’w Elliot	M. 40 Wm. Mickle
Thos. McKee	Dr. Harffy
Coleman Roe	Simon Girty

Second Township, North Side.
Wm. Baker
Thos. Reynolds

First Township, South Side.
First Concession
Peter Curry
Col. McKee
D. 76 Thomas Duggan & D. W. Smith

Second Township, South Side.
First Concession
Thos. Clarke
Wm. Thorne and G. 19 John Goudie

Col. McKee	Thos. Duggan
Lt. Thos. McKee	Geo. Ironside
Capt. Mathew Elliott	Ranald McDonell
Prideaux Selby	Thos. Alexr. Clark.

Name	}	Date of Return	County,
			City, etc.
Francis Glanville, esq., vice	}
Sir Frederick Leman Rogers,	}	7th July 1797	Plymouth
bart., deceased.	}		Borough.

Francis Glanville, esq., of	}
Catchfrench, County Cornwall,	}	11th February 1794	Malmesbury
vice Benjamin Bond Hopkins,	}		Borough.
esq. deceased.	}

Salaries—
	Lieutenant-Governor	£2,000
	Chief Justice	1,000
	Attorney-General	300
	Solicitor-General	100
	Two Judges of the Common Pleas at £500 per annum each	1,000
	Clerk of the Crown and Pleas	100
	Two Sheriffs at £100 each	200
	Secretary of the Province and Register	300
	Clerk of the Council	100
	Surveyor of Lands (no salary)
	Receiver-General of Revenue	200
	Five Executive Councillors	500
	Naval Officer	100
	Agent	200
		———
		£6,100
		———

Expenses in passing a Commission under the Great Seal, appointing Guy, Lord Dorchester, Captain-General and Governor-in-Chief in and over the Province of Upper and Lower Canada in America and the Commission of the Lieutenant-Governor of the latter Province	465.7.0
	—————
In all	£6,565.7.0

Clerk of the House	£	91.	5.	0
Sergeant at Arms		45.	12.	6
Door Keeper		10.	0.	0
	—————
Quebec Currency	£	136.	17.	6
	—————

Contents

Illustrations

Preface

CHAPTER I Birth and Descent

NOTES

ADDITIONAL NOTE

CHAPTER II Education and Early Military Life

NOTES

CHAPTER III The Queen’s Rangers

NOTES

CHAPTER IV Life in England

NOTES

ADDITIONAL NOTE

CHAPTER V Upper Canada of Simcoe’s Time

NOTES

CHAPTER VI The Constitutional Act

NOTES

CHAPTER VII Needs of the Province

NOTES

CHAPTER VIII Simcoe in Canada

NOTES

CHAPTER IX The Executive Council

NOTES

CHAPTER X Sojourn in Kingston

NOTES

CHAPTER XI Early Days in Niagara

NOTES

CHAPTER XII First Session of Legislature

NOTES

CHAPTER XIII Provincial Matters of Import

NOTES

CHAPTER XIV The Second Session

NOTES

CHAPTER XV Defences and Fortifications

NOTES

CHAPTER XVI The Third Session

NOTES

CHAPTER XVII War Clouds Dispersed

NOTES

CHAPTER XVIII The Fourth Session

NOTES

CHAPTER XIX La Rochefoucault at Newark

NOTES

CHAPTER XX The Fifth Session

NOTES

CHAPTER XXI Good-Bye to Canada—In England Again

NOTES

CHAPTER XXII Simcoe’s Latter Days

NOTES

CHAPTER XXIII Finances of the Province

NOTES

CHAPTER XXIV Religion and Education

NOTES

CHAPTER XXV Ills, Antidotes and Menus

NOTES

CHAPTER XXVI Simcoe’s Executive Council

NOTES

CHAPTER XXVII Members Legislative Council

NOTES

CHAPTER XXVIII Members Legislative Assembly

NOTES

GENERAL NOTE.

CHAPTER XXIX Simcoe as a Freemason

NOTES

Index

TRANSCRIBER NOTES

CHAPTER I
Birth and Descent

CHAPTER II
Education and Early Military Life

CHAPTER III
The Queen’s Rangers

CHAPTER IV
Life in England

CHAPTER V
Upper Canada of Simcoe’s Time

CHAPTER VI
The Constitutional Act

CHAPTER VII
Needs of the Province

CHAPTER VIII
Simcoe in Canada

CHAPTER IX
The Executive Council

CHAPTER X
Sojourn in Kingston

CHAPTER XI
Early Days in Niagara

CHAPTER XII
First Session of Legislature

CHAPTER XIII
Provincial Matters of Import

CHAPTER XIV
The Second Session

CHAPTER XV
Defences and Fortifications

CHAPTER XVI
The Third Session

CHAPTER XVII
War Clouds Dispersed

CHAPTER XVIII
The Fourth Session

CHAPTER XIX
La Rochefoucault at Newark

CHAPTER XX
The Fifth Session

CHAPTER XXI
Good-Bye to Canada—In England Again

CHAPTER XXII
Simcoe’s Latter Days

CHAPTER XXIII
Finances of the Province

CHAPTER XXIV
Religion and Education

CHAPTER XXV
Ills, Antidotes and Menus

CHAPTER XXVI
Simcoe’s Executive Council

CHAPTER XXVII
Members Legislative Council

CHAPTER XXVIII
Members Legislative Assembly

CHAPTER XXIX
Simcoe as a Freemason

For Clerk	£	91	.5
Chaplain		25
Sergeant-at-Arms		45
Doorkeeper		10
Stationery and other contingencies		20
	———
	£	191	.5

No.	1.	Newark, Niagara.
No.	2.	Queenstown.
No.	3.	York.
No.	4.	Newark, Niagara.
No.	5.	................
No.	6.	................
No.	7.	................
No.	8.	................
No.	9.	Bertie, Fort Erie.
No.	10.	Barton.
No.	11.	Mohawk Village.
No.	12.	Stamford.