The Last Laird of MacNab Part 2

CHAPTER VI.

FRESH ARRIVALS.

The Chief being a Magistrate, had, by the law of the land, the power of celebrating marriages, after banns had been duly published. The mode of publis.h.i.+ng banns was by fixing written notices upon three of the most conspicuous pine trees in three public places in the towns.h.i.+p. The first marriage after this primitive fas.h.i.+on among the settlers was celebrated by the Chief at his residence, between Mr. Matthew Barr, a lumberer, and Miss Elizabeth McIntyre, daughter of John McIntyre, the oldest settler, who came out in 1825. After Mr. Barr's marriage, frequent inter-marriages occurred among the settlers, and since the trial of Alex. McNab, matters had subsided into a state of tranquility. Alex.

McNab left the towns.h.i.+p, but his family still remained, cultivating and improving the farm. He, himself, travelled westward, and obtained a school which he taught for some years. About this time (1830), a fresh accession of settlers increased the numerical strength of the inhabitants. They consisted of the McNabs, the Camerons, the Campbells, the McKays and the McNevins from Isla, and they took up land in the rear of the towns.h.i.+p, where there was a good hardwood country, viz., on the first, second, third and fourth concession, embracing the part of the country lying around White Lake, and what is called Canaan. The arrangements entered into with these settlers, whom McNab met in Montreal and induced to settle in what he called "his towns.h.i.+p,"

differed from all the rest. It will be borne in mind that they paid their own pa.s.sage money and expenses to McNab Towns.h.i.+p. It did not cost McNab or his friends in Scotland one single penny--yet, in direct violation of the Order-in-Council, quoted in the second chapter of this narrative he located them as follows:--

[COPY.]

I, Archibald McNab, of McNab, do hereby locate you, James McKay, upon Lot No. 18, in the Second concession of McNab, upon the following terms and conditions, that is to say:--I hereby bind myself, my heirs or successors, to give you the said land free of any _quit rent_ or free rate, for three years from this date, and also procure you a patent for the same at your own expense, upon you having done the settlement duties, and your granting me a mortgage on the said lands, that you will yearly thereafter pay to me, my heirs or successors in the Chieftains.h.i.+p of the Clan McNab forever, three barrels of flour, or Indian corn, or oats of like value, in name of Quit Rent, and fee duty for the same in the month of January.

Your subscribing to these conditions being binding upon you to fulfil the terms thereof.

Signed and sealed by us at Kennell Lodge, this Twelfth day of August, 1830.

(Signed) ARCHIBALD McNAB, [L. S.]

(Signed) JAMES McKAY, [L. S.]

In Montreal he met these people, told them he had a towns.h.i.+p of his own on which he would place them at a merely nominal rent--a trifle--that the land was fertile. It was a Highland settlement, etc. His affable manners, imposing appearance, kindness and condescension had its desired end. The poor settlers in their inexperience and simplicity, thought that three barrels of flour for 200 acres of land was a mere song. These people had been accustomed in the old country to see two or three hundred pounds annually paid as rent for similar quant.i.ty of land, and they eagerly embraced his offer and settled in McNab. It was there they found out by experience the difficulties and hards.h.i.+ps and labor they had to surmount in the arduous task of clearing the land for agricultural purposes. They then discovered that a lien upon their lands of three barrels of flour a year in perpetuity, was a heavy tax upon their industry and the proceeds of their labor, crippling their resources and cramping their energies, when they considered that it was imposed on themselves and descendants for ever. Both the settlers and the government were imposed upon, the settlers in being led to believe the towns.h.i.+p was _bona fide_ the Chief's, the government that there were new settlers brought out at McNab's expense. The first settlers had now began to pay their rents. They found that the bushel per cleared acre was a heavy burden, and they had to subsidize the amount by working on the Chief's farm at Kennell. From some (the Flat Rapid settlers), he had as yet received nothing. They had become involved in the Miller suit and fell into arrears.

Becoming disheartened, the McFarlanes and the McDonalds left the towns.h.i.+p entirely and went to Calabogie Lake, and James McLaren abandoned his lot, and settled in Horton within a short distance of the present village of Renfrew. Those who did pay the rent endeavored to procure some reduction. At length, in 1831, a Government commissioner was sent out to see how the settlement was progressing, and upon the complaint of the settlers, with the concurrence of the Laird of McNab, a reduction was promised to one-half, that is, one-half bushel per cleared acre, but this promise was never fulfilled. The full bushel was exacted, or a demand made for the pa.s.sage money and interest. McNab received the duty off every stick of timber cut upon their land by the lumberers; nothing was allowed them for this, and it has calculated that the Chief drew about 30,000 from this source during the time the Towns.h.i.+p of McNab was under his control and superintendence. Whenever the Laird received a large amount from timber dues it was his custom to make periodical excursions to Montreal and Toronto. At Montreal he picked up settlers, at Toronto he hoodwinked the government.

At both these cities he indulged in lavish expenditure, gave dinners, and entertained his friends and flatterers with the profuse generosity of a high-souled and magnanimous Highland Laird. When his funds had dwindled away by this exhaustive line of conduct, he returned to Kennell, and there his hospitality was proverbial. No weary and travel-worn wayfarer ever reached his Highland home in McNab without receiving a cordial welcome. Honorable poverty was treated with as much kindness as t.i.tled wealth. Prodigal in his hospitality, as well as in his promises, settlers from Perths.h.i.+re and other places flocked to his Towns.h.i.+p, and in 1832 his domain began to show signs of life and prosperity. With all his good qualities his conduct was characterized by many pernicious drawbacks. He never forgave. To oppose his wishes or his schemes was to provoke unrelenting hostility. To offend in the least or to offer the merest slight to his vanity or pride was to make a powerful enemy forever. Vindictive oppression and unabating persecution followed quickly and surely upon what he considered a wrong to his plans, his dignity or his pride. He had erected his residence on the bold and high terraced acclivity on the banks of the Ottawa in close proximity to the mouth of the Madawaska, on the very spot where now stands the princely mansion of Mr. H. F. McLachlin. It commanded a panoramic view of the Ottawa and Chats Lake in all its solitude and wild grandeur. No clearance broke in upon the loneliness of the forest vista.

On all sides of his abode were then trees and mountains, lakes and rivers; sometimes broken in upon by the pa.s.sing _voyageur_ or the adventurous lumberer, as they pa.s.sed on to their annual labors. Here he dispensed the hospitalities of his race. Here he sat in state as lord of the manor and the patriarch of his clan. Here he listened to the complaints of his settlers, and gave ear to one or two tale-bearers, who poisoned his mind against the "black sheep" and shut up his soul to reconciliation or mercy. Here he devised plans for the future, either of punishment on the refractory or of schemes for his own advancement.

Numbers of the settlers paid their rents regularly. Their sons had at this time (1832) grown up to be men--stalwart and hardy workers, and got employment and good wages from the lumberers, and thus contributed to the support of their parents and their families. At this period, too, the time had expired, as will be seen on reference to the Order-in-Council of 1823, for the payment of their pa.s.sage money unless compromised by rent. Now he was at liberty to proceed by law against the refractory. As I have before stated, the Flat Rapid settlers were the only ones that came beneath the banns of his vengeance for the part they had taken in the Miller case. They had as yet paid no rent. From them the Chief would receive no labor in lieu of rent. Their land was sandy and light and barely sufficed to support them. But the Chief cared not for this. They had opposed his vengeance on Miller in 1829, and now they must be made examples of as a warning to the other settlers for all time to come. Writs were accordingly issued by Mr. MacMartin in February of this year against John, Peter and Daniel MacIntyre, Donald McNaughton, James McDonald, James McFarlane and James McLaren, to recover the amount of their bond. These people got intelligence of this movement and prepared themselves accordingly. A road had been cut from their settlement to Kennell and the mouth of the Madawaska through dense swamps. It was a good winter road, but almost impa.s.sable in summer. The late Mr. Anthony Wiseman undertook the service of the writs. Having safely arrived at Kennell in the beginning of March of that year, accompanied by a guide he proceeded to the Flat Rapids. The appearance of a stranger was the signal for the ox-horned tocsin of alarm. No sooner had he stepped within the clearance than his ears were greeted with the trumpet sounds of horns resounding and echoed back from clearance to clearance, accompanied by a regular fusilade of small arms.

His astonishment was quickly dispelled when he reached the shanties.

Not a single male inhabitant was visible. The woman of the house "could talk no English." Poor Wiseman was in a maze, he had to return as he came, bewildered and discomfitted. Several unsuccessful attempts were made to effect a service with similar results. It was two years before any of them could be served, and those were the two McIntyres and Donald McNaughton. McDonald, McFarlane (Kier), and McLaren had left the Towns.h.i.+p and retreated further into the wilderness. All attempts to bring the latter within the jurisdiction of the law proved abortive.

Messrs. Duncan and John McFarlane, afterwards successful lumberers on the Madawaska, sons of James McFarlane of Kier, upon hearing of these proceedings, went to the Chief and offered him 80 in lieu of pa.s.sage money and in full of rent, but it was scornfully refused. "I don't want the money, my man," said the laird, "I wish to punish the d----d scoundrels." "Well, Chief," replied Duncan, "you will never get a copper, for this is the last offer we'll make," and to this day the Chief never received a farthing, through his own obstinacy and determination to punish. An anecdote is related of old "Bill Matheson,"

who was about that time Deputy Sheriff, which is worth mentioning. When Wiseman and other bailiffs failed to get the "_blister_" clapped on the defendants, Mr. William Matheson swore he would serve them. Accordingly he set out from Perth with an a.s.sistant, and reached Kennell in safety.

Here he got a guide by the name of John Madigan, one of the Chief's servants. Madigan very reluctantly accompanied him, for he had a friendly feeling towards the people. Accordingly they set out. It was about the beginning of June and the mosquitos were to be found in swarms, especially in the swamps. Now, it was seven good miles to the nearest settler, John McIntyre. Madigan came with them as far as Milk's meadow, about three miles distant from the Laird's; he turned off upon a shanty road and pretended to have lost his way. Telling them to remain in the same place till he returned, Madigan, who was a bit of a wag, quickly took himself to the clearance of Mr. James McNee, the Chief's piper, and having made a smudge at its outskirts quietly rested there till evening and then approached the house, told the story of having lost his way, etc., and remained there all night.

In the meantime Matheson and his man stayed in the same place where they had been left by their guide, vainly expecting his momentary return, ever and anon cheering up their spirits by frequent applications to the brandy flask, which was usually carried about the person in those anti-temperance days. At length the shades of night warned them it was time to look out. They proceeded backwards and forwards, and became involved in the swamps, wet, footsore and splashed all over with mud.

Shouting was useless, for there was no one to hear them. At length they made a fire and camped out all night. In the morning Madigan returned to Kennell, told his story and feigned sickness owing to what he called his exposure. A party was instantly formed to search for the lost officers of the law. About noon they were discovered in a sad plight and brought back to Kennell, and Matheson swore he would never return on such an expedition, and he kept his word.

CHAPTER VII.

A DIGRESSION.

In the fall of 1831 Chief McNab had become acquainted in Montreal with two young gentlemen of some capital, who had just emigrated. These were Messrs. George and Andrew Buchanan. He had persuaded them to settle in "his Towns.h.i.+p," and erect mills. He spoke in glowing terms of the rapids at the mouth of the Madawaska, and of the advantages to be derived from an early settlement in that locality. Lavish of promises and protestations, he offered them the mill site free, and timber for sawlogs to any amount for an interminable length of years for a trifling consideration. Further, he claimed them as distant relatives, being descended, as he discovered, from a collateral branch of the Buchanans of Arnprior. The young men accompanied the Chief from Montreal, and proceeded up the river to inspect the place. Impressed with the favorable nature of the locality, they agreed to the Chief's terms and named the place (in compliment to McNab, as well as on account of their origin) Arnprior, which name it bears to the present day. As has been before stated the Chief's grandfather on the mother's side was Buchanan of Arnprior. In 1745 he became connected with the rebellion, and on the final suppression of the revolt by the disastrous defeat of Culloden _The Buchanan_ was arrested, brought to Carlisle, where his offence against the House of Hanover was first committed, tried and beheaded.

His estates were all forfeited with the exception of Leney, which he had previously a.s.signed to his daughter. In 1809, Francis, Chief of McNab, uncle to the gentleman whose adventures we are recording, by his influence with Lord Breadalbane and the Scottish n.o.bility, with whom he was a great favorite, owing to his eccentricity and originality, procured a reversal of the attainder, and being the only legitimate heir, succeeded to the possession of the Arnprior estates in Kippin. In 1819, Archibald, the last chieftain of the McNabs, the subject of this narrative, sold the estates to a manufacturer for 80,000, and squandered most of the proceeds in Paris, and paid a small sum of it to Breadalbane, in part of his lords.h.i.+p's _wadset_ against the Kennell estate. So that now a cotton spinner and cloth manufacturer is King of Kippin instead of the descendants of those who rivalled King James V. of Scotland in magnificence and hospitality. The Laird of McNab, in detailing this piece of historical biography to Mr. Andrew Buchanan, suggested the name and it was at once adopted, and a glorious jollification of it they had at Kennell that night. James McNee, in the full glory of a new set of pipes, decorated with beautiful ribbons, performed the part of the Ancient Minstrels at the castles of their lords and blew forth in joyous peals the martial strains of Scotland's music--strains that have led on the sons of the heather and hill to those daring deeds of bravery and dazzling exploits of valor that have adorned the victories and triumphs of Britain in every age, and still have the same exhilarating effects wherever the trump and the drum, the roar of cannon and the clas.h.i.+ng of steel, proclaim the strife, the battle and the victory. And thus the Arnprior of Canada was named, thus Arnprior of the Ottawa came into existence, a village which many years afterwards was visited by the eldest son of our gracious Queen, the descendant of that house to which the forefathers of the Buchanans of Arnprior were opposed in deadly strife from pure but mistaken loyalty to an unfortunate race of princes, whose tyranny and violation of const.i.tutional rights drove them from a throne of now the greatest and proudest united nation in the universe.

The arrangement between the Laird of McNab and Messrs. Andrew and George Buchanan was finally concluded. McNab was to give them a free deed of lot No. 3 in concession C of McNab, subject to the reservations in the Patent from the Crown, and permit them to cut all the timber within three miles of the Madawaska river for saw logs, while they or their a.s.signs occupied the mills. On their part they and their a.s.signs were to pay the Chief for this privilege 300 per annum. In January, 1832, McNab procured the Patent from the Crown, with certain reservations of a peculiar nature, which we will treat of hereafter in the proper place, and the Buchanans were making the necessary preparations for bringing up goods in the spring, and of commencing at that season the erection of a grist and saw mill near the very spot where McLachlin's mills now stand. Mr. Rogerson, the manager of the Buchanans' concern, accordingly came up with the goods in the beginning of April, 1832, but he would not open a bale or make the least preparations for the works until the transfer deed of the Arnprior property was placed in his hands. Such were his instructions. It seems that the Buchanans had some suspicious conjectures respecting the Chief's good faith, as he had taken the same lot from Messrs. Dan. and Alex. Ross, after they had begun to improve it, and even after they had made a considerable clearance upon it. The Chief reluctantly gave Mr. Rogerson the required transfer. It was executed on the 27th of April, 1832. The Buchanans gave the Chief a bond for the performance of their part of the contract, and immediately commenced operations. The land was cleared. Workshops built of logs were erected, a store and dwelling-house of the same rude material were speedily thrown up, goods were opened out for sale, and energy and business and work and stir and bustle were in the height of activity. A large dam was thrown completely across the Madawaska, and over the summit of the dam a bridge spanned the river from bank to bank. A grist mill was erected on the small island where now the present bridge rests one of its piers, and the saw mill stood exactly on the site of one of McLachlin's lumber mills, on the east side of the river. By the spring of 1833, all the works were in active operation. The mills were finished, saw logs were driven down the river, cut up into lumber, and sent to market. A gang of eleven saws were kept continually at work, and Arnprior then bid fair to become the nucleus of trade and manufacture for the surrounding country, under the auspices of the Messrs. Buchanan.

A medical gentleman named Dr. Higginson, was induced to settle in the neighborhood, but finding the people too robust and the climate too salubrious, he was compelled to "_vamoose the ranche_." Mr. Andrew Buchanan was appointed a Justice of the Peace, and he sat with the Chief to administer the law, and also acted the part of clergyman in celebrating the marriage ceremony in the absence of the Chief. A number of emigrants from Scotland settled in the towns.h.i.+p this year (1833.) They were princ.i.p.ally from Breadalbane, and it was about this time that Mr. James Morris, father to the High Sheriff of the County of Renfrew, took up his abode in the Canaan settlement of McNab. The settlers had a peculiar _penchant_ for giving scriptural names to the several settlements which continue to this day and are used in common parlance.

Thus they have Canaan on the 2nd line, and Goshen on the 4th and 5th, Dan on the East side of the Madawaska, etc., etc. The Chief was now receiving the rents pretty fairly. He had a number of settlers who looked upon him with respect and awe, and they thought that the Flat Rapid people were in a state of sinful rebellion.

The following letter, written by the Chief about this time, shows the kind of feeling that prevailed at the time between himself and the majority of the settlers. It was written to a person then on the most friendly terms with him, who from the force of circ.u.mstances five years afterwards, found himself impelled to join the other settlers in a strong remonstrance to the Government.

[COPY.]

KENNELL LODGE, October 16th, 1832.

_Mr. Matthew Barr:_

DEAR MATTHEW,--I again am to trouble with more letters. This will be put into your hands by James Dunlop, his brother accompanying him. He wishes to have 100 acres of land, and if you could show him a half lot of land that you think would suit him, I will thank you to point it out to him. I am certain Donald McNaughton or Donald Fisher will give them a night's lodgings if your house be throng.

Excuse this and believe me,

Yours truly, (Signed) McNAB.

There were no taverns in those days, but the people were, as they still are, remarkably hospitable.

The Chief always signed himself "McNab," except in legal doc.u.ments, and considered it a gross insult to be styled Mr. McNab.

It was in the commencement of 1834 that McNab procured judgment against Donald McNaughton, Sr., John McIntyre and Peter McIntyre, for the amount of their bond. The others of the "black sheep" could not be served with process, notwithstanding all the efforts of the Sheriff and his bailiffs. Donald McIntyre came to the Chief's terms and settled with him. It was about this time too that the Buchanans and McNab had a serious quarrel. Mr John Powell had been member of the Legislature for Lanark, and he had discovered the tenure under which McNab held the towns.h.i.+p. George Buchanan had married his sister, and the fact came out that he was only an agent for the Government, consequently, when the annual subsidy of 300 became due, the Buchanans refused to pay, upon the grounds that they had been induced to sign the bond under misrepresentations. McNab instantly went to law and invoked the common law courts to his aid. The Buchanans appealed to Chancery for an investigation upon the grounds they had alleged. The Buchanans, on their side, stated that the Chief had allowed Matthew Barr, Mitch.e.l.l & Sutherland, and other lumberers to make timber on the particular localities set apart for them, viz., within three miles on both sides of the Madawaska, and had therefore broken his contract. The injunction was granted, and both parties were induced by mutual friends to leave the matter to arbitration, which was held at Fitzroy Harbor during the fall of 1835, and the arbitrators decided against the Chief. McNab then appealed to Chancery, and the case was going on when the Buchanans failed in 1836, and handed over the property to Messrs. Gold, Simpson & Mittleberger, and McNab lost the whole. The Buchanans had offered to compromise the matter by giving the Chief 150 per annum. This McNab indignantly refused.

CHAPTER VIII.

NEW SETTLERS--SHERIFF'S RAID--INCIPIENT REBELLION.

In the year 1834 a large party of Highlanders from Blair-Athol arrived, and finally settled in the towns.h.i.+p of McNab. They were hardy, healthy, robust and industrious men. They consisted of the McLachlans, the Stewarts, the Fergusons, the Robertsons, and the Duffs. The majority of these families still remain in the towns.h.i.+p, although some of them, as late as 1849 and 1850, removed to the Huron tract, and remained there.

This was a great acquisition to the numerical strength of McNab. Being all located on lands of their own selection, a.s.sisted in this choice by others of their countrymen whose long residence had given them experience and knowledge, their location tickets were similar to the last band of settlers, with the exception of a new feature which was introduced into their agreement by the Chief, that "all the pine timber was reserved for the use of the Arnprior mills." Their lands might be slashed, trees might be felled, roads cut through their lots, brush and rubbish and tree-tops acc.u.mulated, thus increasing the difficulties of clearing, and no compensation made for anything in the shape of a recompense or remuneration for the greater labor thus imposed, ever offered to them. They were, of course, serfs. They must submit without a murmur to their liege lord, and to those to whom he had partly a.s.signed his rights, or his a.s.sumed rights. They did for a time acquiesce, believing that the whole property was McNab's, and that he had the right to dispose of it as he pleased. The question was afterwards tested in the law courts of the country, and there was then discovered by the people that the "Law of Trespa.s.s" existed in Canada as well as at home.

Matters went on smoothly and tranquilly until the first Monday of January, 1835. Then an event occurred that sent an electric shock through the whole settlement, and the people looked on in consternation and apprehension. The towns.h.i.+p had by this time been regularly organized. They had come under the jurisdiction of the _quasi_ Munic.i.p.al Law as then administered by the Quarter Sessions, composed of broken-down gentlemen and half-pay officers from Richmond, March, and Perth. Every half-pay officer was made a justice, and every justice was a Socrates, combining in his person a knowledge both of military and civil law; but in their judicial decisions (and they were sometimes very lucid, especially when good old Jamaica used its influence,) the martial prevailed over the civil. This court, besides taking cognizance of a.s.saults, petty thefts, and misdemeanor, laid out the _statute labor_, expended the taxes, and administered all the internal and munic.i.p.al concerns of the District. The executive munic.i.p.al officers were elected by the people at their annual meeting held in January. The officers then chosen were Town-Clerks, a.s.sessors, Collectors, and Pathmasters--all of them under the authority and jurisdiction of their Wors.h.i.+ps, the military and dilapidated Dogberrys in General Quarter Sessions a.s.sembled.

The town-meeting of 1835 for the towns.h.i.+p of McNab was held in the shanty of Mr. John McIntyre, in the Flat Rapid settlement, being the central lot of the towns.h.i.+p. It had just concluded its session.--Almost all the male inhabitants of the towns.h.i.+p had a.s.sembled, more for the purpose of seeing each other than for the business they had to transact.

They knew that the Chief was able to manage all the business of the towns.h.i.+p if they did not attend. The people were about to disperse, and were standing at the door, preparatory to their departure. All at once a Deputy-Sheriff of Perth, with a _posse_ of bailiffs, made their appearance, and having seized all John McIntyre's cattle, were driving them off. Mrs. McIntyre, with the spirit and courage of her grandfather, who had fought at Culloden, regardless of law or of the consequences, rushed with a wooden pitchfork on the bailiffs and belabored them soundly, till she was disarmed and carried off a prisoner to Kennell.

All her cows and all the cattle of Peter McIntyre were swept away, under the execution obtained a year before, but which could not previously be enforced. Taking advantage of a large a.s.sembly, and seizing the opportunity of making a durable example before the eyes of all the settlers, that they might continue true to their allegiance and not swerve in the slightest degree from their future loyalty to the Chief, McNab improvised the occasion, and completely effected his purpose. This judicial raid filled the minds of the people with anxiety and apprehension, blended with pity for the sufferers. To a.s.sist the McIntyres was to impoverish themselves, and provoke the undying enmity of their leader. That year the rent was well paid: not a bushel was withheld. What had occurred to John and Peter McIntyre might any day happen to themselves. The Laird was all-powerful. He was supported and a.s.sisted by the Government. He held the social position of a great gentleman, and was undoubtedly a Highland Chieftain--reduced in circ.u.mstances, it is true, but still the legitimate head of a clan, which office had been hereditary in his family since the days of Malcolm Canmore. To oppose him was useless, and not to submit and obey was worse than madness. Those who had not yielded implicitly to his commands had come to grief. Both Miller and Alexander McNab had been compelled to fly the towns.h.i.+p; and now the McIntyres had been harried and ruined. Thus reasoned the poor Highlanders of McNab; and had the Chief at this juncture used his power and influence with moderation and prudence, the chains of feudalism would have been firmly riveted around the necks of his followers, which nothing but a legislative enactment, backed by adequate pecuniary compensation, could have burst asunder. Mrs.

McIntyre, without as much as a cloak, was hurried to Kennell in the dead of winter, but was released next day by the advice of Mr. McMartin, who was there at the time. She had suffered so severely from exposure to the cold that she was confined to her bed for weeks.

The cattle were sold and barely paid expenses. It was no joke to travel with an execution any distance in those days. The expense was enormous, owing to the paucity of travelling facilities and the state of the roads.

In the fall of this year the Chief turned his attention toward the back settlement of the towns.h.i.+p. He had heard from the settlers and others that there was a good tract of hardwood land around White Lake. Thither he betook himself in October. He sent the "_fiery cross_" through the people, and a.s.sembled on a spot where the village now stands a large concourse of settlers to a.s.sist him in making a new colony. A few acres were instantly cleared, and a small stone house with pavilion roof was erected, which he named Waba Cottage. The Chief's first motive for settling here was to be at a distance from the Buchanans, with whom he had quarrelled a few weeks before he began his new undertaking; but upon inspection he at once perceived the natural advantages for milling purposes, and the employment of all kinds of machinery afforded by Waba brook--the outlet of the lake,--and it was judged both profitable and expedient to secure the land in this neighborhood for his son Allan, whom he represented to the Government as a settler; and his pliable friend, Sir Francis Bond Head, Lieut.-Governor of Upper Canada, the year following made and ordered out a patent for 720 acres, round the lake, to Allan McNab, _as a settler under McNab of McNab_. This was making a splendid provision for his son (_by the bar sinister_) without impairing his own grant of 4,000 acres--an amount of land formerly given to a field-officer.

While these transactions were going on about White Lake, let us turn our eyes to other portions of the towns.h.i.+p, where improvements were being steadily made, and the furthering of which was the origin of a quarrel with the settlers which led to important results. The lands on the north side of the Madawaska were being rapidly filled up, and it became necessary to connect both sides of the river by a bridge at "Johnson's Rock" (the site of the present Burnstown Bridge). For this purpose, through the representations of the Chief, the House of a.s.sembly, in February, 1835, on the motion of the Hon. Malcolm Cameron, granted a sum of money for that and other improvements, and appointed Duncan McNab (Auchessan), Donald McNaughton, (Mohr), and James Carmichael commissioners to superintend its expenditure. These were the men nominated by the Laird himself. They were his particular friends.

They, he imagined, would do as he bade them, and expend the money as he desired. It was 200. A moiety of this money was to be appropriated to the Madawaska bridge. The Government handed the money to McNab to bring down to the commissioners. McNab called a meeting of these gentlemen to ascertain their views. He wished the other half to be expended at White Lake. To his utter astonishment the commissioners refused to accede to his proposal. They were independent men. They had paid their rents regularly. They had nothing to fear from the Chief. They firmly but respectfully suggested the plan of dividing a portion of the funds among other parts of the towns.h.i.+p. The Chief fumed and puffed with indignation at their presumption of even remonstrating.