The Canadian Portrait Gallery Part 8

Schultz was a marked man. Warning letters from Riel and other insurgents were sent to him. Some of the Hudson's Bay Company's officials openly accused him of having been the means of bringing about connection with Canada, and in the gathering of the storm there seemed to be an ominous future for him whom many of the Canadians then in the country looked upon as their leader, and trusted to for their defence. He was unfortunate, too, in the situation of his residence and trading post, which were the nearest buildings to Fort Garry, and within easy range of the field guns which Riel afterwards planted to force the giving up of the Canadian Government provisions. Upon the actual breaking out of the insurrection, Dr. Schultz suffered severely, both in person and in purse. His pecuniary losses were recompensed to him by the Government, but the bodily privations to which he was subjected were the means of inflicting a shock upon his const.i.tution, the effects of which are still to some extent perceptible. After the seizure of Fort Garry by the insurgents, the loyal Canadians of the settlement were placed under surveillance. About fifty of these a.s.sembled for mutual safety at Dr.

Schultz's house, about eight hundred yards from the Fort. Here they were besieged by several hundred of Riel's followers for three days. The siege does not seem to have been incessant or very active, but there were more than two hundred armed French half-breeds who kept continually on the watch, and the inmates were prevented from egress. It is said that two mounted six-pounders were drawn by the insurgents outside the walls of Fort Garry, with their muzzles pointed in the direction of the beleaguered house. The little force inside the building was too small to enable the besieged to make a permanent resistance, and at last they were compelled to surrender. They were then marched by the rebels to Fort Garry and imprisoned there. Dr. Schultz himself, who was the especial object of Riel's hatred, was placed in solitary confinement, under a strong guard. His wife, who had insisted on remaining by his side, was at first permitted to share his imprisonment, but after a few days she was forcibly separated from him, and it seemed not unlikely that this separation had been effected by Riel with a view to wreaking his vengeance on the Doctor by taking his life. Riel himself alleged that there was no intention of harming any of the prisoners, but that he considered it desirable to separate Mr. and Mrs. Schultz, lest the husband should be enabled to escape through the instrumentality of his wife, who of course was not a prisoner, and who was permitted ingress and egress at all reasonable hours. Dr. Schultz, however, placed little reliance on the word of the arch-insurgent. Knowing the sentiments with which he was regarded by Riel, he felt that his life was liable to be sacrificed at any moment, and he determined to make an attempt to escape. This purpose, after being confined for nearly three weeks, he successfully accomplished. Mrs. Schultz contrived to secretly convey to him a pen-knife and a small gimlet. With these inadequate means he made an opening through his cell, large enough to enable him to pa.s.s through into the inner quadrangle of the Fort. On the night of Sunday, the 23rd of December, 1869, he cut into strips the buffalo-robe which served for his bed, fastened an end to a projection in his cell, pa.s.sed through the opening he had made in the wall, and prepared to descend to _terra firma_. While he was making the descent one of the strips of buffalo skin snapped, and he was precipitated violently to the ground. The fall rendered him temporarily lame, and caused him great suffering, but even in this disabled condition he managed to scramble over the outer wall near one of the bastions, and found himself at liberty. He stole away in the dead silence of night, and after a toilsome march of some hours in a blinding snow-storm, took refuge in the house of a friendly settler in the parish of Kildonan. There, in the course of the next few weeks, he and other Canadians organized a force about six hundred strong, with a view to releasing their friends who were still imprisoned at Fort Garry.

Everything being in readiness for action, a message, demanding the release of the prisoners, was despatched to Riel. The demand was vigorously backed up by the influence of Mr. A. G. B. Bannatyne, a prominent citizen of Red River, and Miss McVicar, a young lady from Canada who was on a visit to the settlement. These two called upon Riel at Fort Garry, and begged him to avert the bloodshed which would certainly result if he persisted in detaining the prisoners. Riel, under the combined influence of his interlocutors and the demand which had been made upon him by the Canadian forces, displayed the better part of valour, and promptly released the captives. He was determined, however, to recapture Dr. Schultz, and sent out several expeditions to discover his whereabouts. He declared that he would have Dr. Schultz's body, dead or alive, if it was to be found in the Red River Settlement.

Disappointed at the non-success of his emissaries, Riel started out himself at the head of an expedition, to scour the settlement, and to recapture the object of his enmity. The expedition reached the Stone Fort, or Lower Fort Garry, about midway between the capital of the settlement and the entrance of Red River into Lake Winnipeg. They entered the enclosure, and searched every nook and corner of the Fort.

Ill would it have fared with Dr. Schultz had he been discovered there; but he was far away, and was every hour increasing the distance between Riel and himself. A large meeting of loyalist settlers had been held, at which Dr. Schultz was requested to proceed to Canada, and to lay the real state of affairs before the people there. Such a mission involved grave perils and hards.h.i.+ps, for all the roads leading to Minnesota were closely guarded by the insurgents, and certain death would have overtaken the Doctor had he again fallen into their hands. He determined, however, to make the attempt by way of Lake Superior. On the 21st of February, accompanied only by an English half-breed named Joseph Monkman, he started on his perilous expedition. News of his having done so came in due course to the ears of Riel, who sent out scouts in every direction to intercept him. The Doctor and his companion eluded their vigilance, and with snow-shoes on their feet struck across the frozen south-easterly end of Lake Winnipeg to the mouth of the Winnipeg River.

They made their way past the rus.h.i.+ng cascades of that stream to the Lake of the Woods; thence across to Rainy Lake, and thence across the northern part of the State of Minnesota to the head of Lake Superior.

Numerous camps of Indians were encountered on this adventurous march, and from time to time guides were obtained from the latter. "Over weary miles of snow-covered lakes; over the watershed between Rainy Lake and the lakes of the Laurentian chain; over the height of land between Rainy Lake and Lake Superior; through pine forests and juniper swamps, these travellers made their way, turning aside only where wind-fallen timber made their course impossible. Often saved from starvation by the woodcraft of Monkman; their course guided by the compa.s.s, or by views taken from the top of some stately Norway pine, they found themselves, after twenty-four weary days of travel, in sight of the blue, unfrozen waters of Lake Superior. They had struck the lake not far from its head, and in a few hours presented themselves to the astonished gaze of the people of the then embryo village of Duluth, gaunt with hunger, worn with fatigue, their clothes in tatters, their eyes blinded with the glare of the glittering sun of March." They then learned for the first time of the terrible event which had occurred at Fort Garry since their departure--the murder of the unfortunate Thomas Scott. From Duluth they made their way to Toronto, whither news of their adventures had preceded them. On the 6th of April an indignation meeting was held in Toronto, at which a stirring address was delivered by Dr. Schultz, wherein the whole nature of the Red River difficulty was reviewed. Resolutions expressive of indignation at Scott's murder, and calling aloud for active Government interference, were pa.s.sed. Similar meetings were held, and similar resolutions pa.s.sed in Montreal, and in various other cities and towns in both the Upper and Lower Provinces. The expedition under Colonel (now Sir Garnet) Wolseley was soon afterwards set on foot, but the account of it has no special bearing upon Dr. Schultz's life, and need not be given here. The Doctor soon afterwards returned to Manitoba, where he has ever since resided, and where he exercises a potent influence over public affairs.

For nearly ten years past Dr. Schultz has been engaged in active political life. At the first general election after Manitoba became part of the Dominion, he was elected to represent the county of Lisgar (which comprises most of the old Lord Selkirk Settlement) in the House of Commons. The following year he was appointed a member of the Executive Council of the North-West Territories, which sat in Winnipeg under the Presidency of the Lieutenant-Governor of the Province. In this capacity he was able to utilize his knowledge of the Indians and their wants much to their advantage, in the pa.s.sage of a Prohibitive Liquor Law for the whole of the North-West, and in other measures for the amelioration of their condition. He was reelected to represent Lisgar at the general election of 1872, and again at that of 1874, and again by acclamation at the last general election. He is a member of the Dominion Board of Health for Manitoba, a Director of the Manitoba Southwestern Colonization Railway, one of the Board of Examiners of the Manitoba Medical Board, a Director of the Winnipeg and Hudson's Bay Railway, and of the Great Northwestern Telegraph Company. He is moreover one of the largest land owners in the Province. He is enthusiastic in his views as to the future of Manitoba, and of the North-West generally, and takes an active interest in promoting the welfare and prosperity of that part of the Dominion. Of late years his health has been somewhat less robust than formerly. This result is partly due to a native energy which frequently impels him to overtax his physical strength, and partly, doubtless, to the sufferings and privations above referred to. The North-West, however, has upon the whole been propitious to the Doctor.

His speculations have made him a thoroughly independent man, so far as worldly wealth is concerned, and he can well afford to take repose for the remainder of his life. He is a member of the Liberal-Conservative Party, and a staunch supporter of the Government now in power at Ottawa.

THE HON. GEORGE WILLIAM BURTON.

Judge Burton was born at the town of Sandwich, the most ancient of the Cinque Ports, in the county of Kent, England, on the 21st of July, 1818.

He was the second son of the late Admiral George Guy Burton, R.N., of Chatham. He received his education at the Rochester and Chatham Proprietary School, under the late Rev. Robert Whiston, LL.D., a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, who subsequently occupied the position of Head-Master of the Grammar School at Rochester, and who was the author of several works remarkable for sound scholars.h.i.+p and independence of thought. Mr. Burton has always held his tutor in honoured remembrance, and to this day is accustomed to speak of him with the respect due to his great learning and attainments.

In 1836, the year before the breaking out of Mackenzie's rebellion, Mr.

Burton, then a youth of eighteen, came over to Upper Canada and repaired to Ingersoll, in the county of Oxford, where he began the study of the law in the office of his paternal uncle, the late Mr. Edmund Burton, who then carried on a legal business there. The gentleman last named had formerly held an office in connection with the Admiralty, and had been stationed at the mouth of the Grand River during the War of 1812, '13, and '14. After the close of the war he devoted himself to the law, and spent the rest of his life in Upper Canada. His presence in this country was doubtless to some extent the cause of his nephew's emigration from England. The latter spent the regular term of five years in his uncle's office in Ingersoll. Upon the expiration of his articles, he was called to the Bar, in Easter Term, 1842, and settled down to the practice of his profession in Hamilton, where he was not long in acquiring a large and lucrative business. He identified himself with the Reform Party in politics, and took an active part in various local elections. He was frequently importuned to enter Parliament, but he preferred to confine his best energies to his professional duties, and, as the years pa.s.sed by, his business a.s.sumed such dimensions that he had full occupation for his time. He formed various partners.h.i.+ps, but was always the guiding spirit of the firm, and became known from one end of the Province to the other as a sound and learned lawyer. His connexion with Mr. Charles A.

Sadleir lasted for many years, and the firm of "Burton & Sadleir" was one of the best known in the western part of the Province. On the 9th of June, 1850, Mr. Burton married Miss Elizabeth Perkins, daughter of the late Dr. F. Perkins, of Kingston, in the Island of Jamaica, and niece and adopted daughter of the late Colonel Charles Cranston Dixon, of the 90th Regiment.

The life of an industrious lawyer, though interesting to himself and his clients, is uneventful, and there is not much to be said about Mr.

Burton's professional career, except that it was a remarkably successful one. He had many wealthy merchants and corporations for his clients, and was regarded as an adept in the law relating to railway companies. He was for many years Solicitor for the City of Hamilton; also for the Canada Life a.s.surance Company, of which he is at present a Director, having been elected to that position soon after his elevation to the Judicial Bench. In 1856 he was nominated a Bencher of the Law Society of Upper Canada, and when that body became elective by the profession at large, under the Ontario Act of 1871, he was elected to the position. In 1863 he was invested with a silk gown.

His elevation to the Bench took place on the 30th of May, 1874, when he was appointed a Judge of the Court of Error and Appeal. He then removed to Toronto, where he has ever since resided. Upon the elevation of Mr.

Justice Strong to a seat on the Bench of the Supreme Court at Ottawa, in October, 1875, Mr. Burton became, and still continues to be, the Senior Justice of the Court of Appeal for this Province. He has filled his position worthily, and with acceptance to the public and profession. He has delivered many important judgments. One of these, in the case of _Smiles vs. Belford et al._, is of special interest to persons connected with literary pursuits. The plaintiff was the well-known Scottish writer, Samuel Smiles, author of "The Life of George Stephenson,"

"Industrial Biography," and various other works of a similar character which have enjoyed great popularity among the young. The defendants were a firm of publishers in Toronto. The case came before Judge Burton in the month of March, 1877, by way of appeal from a judgment previously rendered by Vice-Chancellor Proudfoot; and the effect of Judge Burton's decision was to affirm the Vice-Chancellor's conclusions. It was held that it is not necessary for the author of a book who has duly copyrighted the work in England under the Imperial statute 5 and 6 Victoria, chapter 45, to copyright it in Canada under the Canadian Copyright Act of 1875, with a view of restraining a reprint of it there; but that if he desires to prevent the importation into Canada of printed copies from a foreign country he must copyright the book in Canada. The judgment is an elaborate one, and well worthy of the careful perusal of literary men.

LORD DORCHESTER.

Prominent among the band of heroes who accompanied Wolfe on his memorable expedition against Quebec in 1759 was a gallant hero who held the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in the British army, and whose name was Guy Carleton. He was an intimate personal friend of General Wolfe, and was at that time thirty-seven years of age, having been born in 1722, at Strabane, in the county of Tyrone, Ireland. He had embraced a military career in his earliest youth, and had already done good service on more than one hotly-contested field. He had served with distinction under the Duke of c.u.mberland on the Continent, and had acquired the reputation of a brave and efficient officer. He was destined to attain still higher distinction, both in military and civil affairs, and to preserve for his king and country the realm which Wolfe died to gain. He has been called "the founder and saviour of Canada," and if these terms are somewhat grandiloquent, it must be admitted that they are not altogether without justification. "If," says a well-known Canadian writer, "we owe to Wolfe a deep debt of grat.i.tude for the brilliant achievement which added new l.u.s.tre and victory to our arms, and placed the ensign of Great Britain on this glorious dependency of the empire, where he fought and bled and sacrificed a life his country could ill spare, we a.s.suredly, also, owe much to those brave and gallant men who preserved this land when conquered, through dint of hard toil, watchful vigilance, and loss of blood and life."

Guy Carleton's friends.h.i.+p with Wolfe, who was four years his junior, dated from their early youth. There are many friendly and affectionate references to him scattered here and there throughout Wolfe's published letters, and it is evident that their friends.h.i.+p was founded upon the highest mutual respect and esteem. Wolfe seems to have lost no opportunity of pus.h.i.+ng his friend's fortunes, and to his patronage the Lieutenant-Colonel was indebted for many signal marks of favour. When the General was appointed to take charge of the operations against Quebec, he was informed by Pitt that he would be allowed to choose his own staff of officers. He accordingly forwarded his list of names to the Minister, and among them was that of Colonel Carleton, to whom he had a.s.signed the office of Quartermaster-General. Carleton, however, had made himself obnoxious to the King by pa.s.sing some slighting remarks on the Hanoverian troops--a most heinous offence in the eyes of the Elector. When the Commander-in-Chief submitted the list to the Sovereign, His Majesty, as was expected, drew his pen across Carleton's name, and refused to sign his commission. Neither Pitt nor Wolfe was likely to humour the stubborn monarch's whim. Lord Ligonier was therefore sent a second time into the royal closet, but with no better success. When his lords.h.i.+p returned to the Prime Minister he was ordered to make another trial, and was told that on again submitting the name he should represent the peculiar state of affairs. "And tell His Majesty likewise," said Mr. Pitt, "that in order to render any General completely responsible for his conduct, he should be made, as far as possible, inexcusable if he should fail; and that, consequently, whatever an officer entrusted with a service of confidence requests should be complied with." After some hesitation Ligonier obtained a third audience, and delivered his message, when, obstinate and unforgiving as the old King was, the sound sense of the observation prevailed over his prejudice, and he signed the commission as requested.

And so it came about that Colonel Carleton accompanied the conqueror of Quebec in the capacity of Quartermaster-General on that memorable expedition, which was fraught with such important consequences to both.

The story of the siege of Quebec is already familiar to readers of these pages. The only further reference to that siege necessary to be made in this place is to chronicle the fact that Colonel Carleton was severely wounded in the hand on the plains of Abraham, and was only a few paces distant from his commander when the latter received his death-wound. For his services on that eventful day he was advanced to the dignity of a Brigadier-General. The next important event in his life necessary to record was his accession to the Governors.h.i.+p of Canada, as successor to General Murray. He was already regarded with great favour by the colonists, who had begun to look up to him as a protector. His character and conduct have been variously judged, some attributing his wisdom and gentleness to native goodness of heart, others to a prudent and far-seeing policy. There is no necessity for inquiring too curiously into his motives. Suffice it to say that he was regarded with the highest favour and admiration by the colonists. The Government of his predecessor, General Murray, had, at the outset, been an essentially military Government, and had been the reverse of popular with French Canadians generally. During his _regime_ the French Canadians seem to have been morbidly given to contemplating themselves as a conquered people, and to have been ever ready to avail themselves of any pretext for establis.h.i.+ng a grievance. Nor were such pretexts altogether wanting.

The civil and criminal law of England had been introduced into the colony by royal proclamation, and Courts of King's Bench, Common Pleas, and Chancery had been established for its administration. Now, the law of England was a system of which the French Canadians knew nothing, and for which they could hardly be expected to have much enthusiasm. Trial by jury was an especial bugbear to them. It was incomprehensible to them that any man who was conscious of the goodness of his cause should wish to be tried by twelve ignorant men; men who had never studied the principles of law, and who were very imperfectly educated. That a suitor should prefer such a tribunal to an erudite judge, whose life had been spent in the study of jurisprudence, was, to the French Canadians of those days, pretty strong evidence that the said suitor had little confidence in the justness of his plea. Moreover, trials were carried on in the English language, of which the French Canadians in general knew little more than they knew of English law. A native litigant was compelled to plead through an interpreter, and not seldom through an interpreter who could be bribed. Even the higher officials of the courts were sometimes appointed for political reasons, and were utterly unfit for positions of trust. It is not too much to say that there were flagrant instances in which judicial decisions were literally bought and sold. General Murray's report on the condition of the colony, published after his return to England in 1766, affords indisputable evidence that the alleged grievances of the French Canadians were not wholly imaginary. The ex-Governor cannot be suspected of any undue prejudice in favour of the native population. He describes the British colonists of the Province as being, with a few exceptions, the most immoral collection of men he had ever known. Most of them, he alleged, had been followers of the army, of mean education, or soldiers disbanded at the reduction of the troops, who had their fortunes to make, and who were not very solicitous as to how that end was accomplished. They were represented as persons little calculated to conciliate the natives, or to increase the respect of the latter for British laws. The officials sent out from the mother country to conduct the public service are described as venal, mercenary, and ignorant. "The Judge fixed upon to conciliate the minds of 75,000 foreigners to the laws and government of Great Britain," says the report, "was taken from a jail." Both the Judge and the Attorney-General were unacquainted with the Civil Law and with the French language. The chief offices of state were filled by men equally ignorant, who had bought their situations for a price. Such a state of things was little calculated to endear British rule to the French Canadians. The picture is a dark one, but hardly darker than the facts justified. And such was the posture of affairs when Guy Carleton succeeded to office as Murray's successor.

He was wise enough to perceive that such a system could not be lasting, and just enough to desire the establishment of a better one. Scarcely had he succeeded to office before he made some important changes among the higher state officials. He deposed two obnoxious councillors, and set up two better men in their stead. He then turned his attention to law reform. Previous to the Conquest, the law in vogue in the Province had been a modification of the Civil Law known as the "Coutume de Paris." This system, abridged and modified so as to meet the requirements of the colony, he set himself to reestablish. Under his direction some of the leading French lawyers set to work at the task of compilation. Upon the completion of this work he crossed over to England, taking the compilation with him for the approval of the authorities there. He met with strong opposition, and for some time it seemed doubtful whether he would be able to accomplish the object of his mission. He was subjected to repeated examinations before the law officers of the Crown, and before Committees of the House of Commons.

Thurlow, the Attorney-General, opposed the measure with all the forensic learning he could summon to his aid. The Mayor and Corporation of London also threw the weight of their influence into the same scale. The great Edmund Burke exhausted against it all his unrivalled powers of rhetoric.

Finally a compromise was effected, and the famous "Quebec Act" was pa.s.sed. It repealed all the provisions of the royal proclamation of 1763, annulled all the acts of the Governor and Council relative to the civil government and administration of justice, revoked the commissions of judges and other existing officers, and established new boundaries for the Province. It released the Roman Catholics in Canada from all penal restrictions, renewed their dues and t.i.thes to the Roman Catholic clergy from members of their own Church, and confirmed all cla.s.ses except the religious orders and communities in full possession of their property. The French laws were declared to be the rules for decision relative to property and civil rights, while the English law was established in criminal matters. Both the civil and criminal codes were liable to be altered or modified by the ordinances of the Governor and a Legislative Council. This Council was to be appointed by the Crown, and was to consist of not more than twenty-three, nor fewer than seventeen members. Its power was limited to levying local or munic.i.p.al taxes, and to making arrangements for the administration of the internal affairs of the Province; the British Parliament reserving to itself the right of external taxation, or the levying of duties on imports and exports.

Every ordinance pa.s.sed by this Council was to be transmitted within six months, at farthest, after enactment, for the approbation of the King, and if disallowed, was to be void on its disallowance becoming known at Quebec. Such were the princ.i.p.al provisions of the Quebec Act, under which Canada was governed for seventeen years. There can be no doubt that its enactment was largely due to Carleton's representations, and it is not to be wondered at if, when he returned to Canada in the autumn of 1774, he was received with rapturous enthusiasm by the French Canadians, who made up nearly the entire population of the colony. The Legislative Council, composed of one-third Catholics and two-thirds Protestants, was inaugurated. The "Continental Congress," which was then in session at Philadelphia, made vain overtures to the Canadians to join them in throwing off the British yoke. The French Canadians believed that they had more to lose than gain by a change. They had not even yet much love for British inst.i.tutions, but they thought they saw a disposition on the part of the Imperial authorities to accord to them some measure of justice, and were not disposed to rebel. They were moreover greatly attached to the Governor who had fought so gallantly on their behalf.

"The man," says M. Bibaud, "to whom the administration of the Government had been entrusted had known how to make the Canadians love him, and this contributed not a little to retain, at least within the bounds of neutrality, those among them who might have been able, or who believed themselves able, to ameliorate their lot by making common cause with the insurgent colonies."

A time soon arrived when the fealty of the French Canadians was to be subjected to a stern and an effectual test. On the 19th of April, 1775, the revolt of the American colonies a.s.sumed a positive shape, and the skirmish at Lexington took place. The colonists then proceeded to strike what they believed would prove a deadly blow to Great Britain on this continent. American forces under the command of Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold pa.s.sed over to Canada, believing that they would find the country an easy prey. Crown Point, which was invested with a very small garrison, was compelled to yield to the invaders. A similar result followed the attack of the Americans on Fort Ticonderoga, and the capture of the only British sloop of war on Lake Champlain gave them entire supremacy in those waters. Then General Carleton manned himself "to whip the dwarfish war from out his territories." He at once determined to recover the forts which had been lost, and proceeded to raise a militia. But when he appealed to the French Canadians to flock to the side of their seigniors in accordance with the old feudal customs for which they professed so much veneration, and which he himself had been instrumental in restoring to them, he found that he could not count upon their aid. The seigniors, indeed, were most of them chivalrous and willing enough, but the peasantry refused to lift hand in a quarrel which was not of their seeking. Much eloquence has been wasted in attempting to prove that the French Canadian habitans refused on principle to rally at this juncture. It has been said that their hearts warmly sympathized with the struggle of the Americans for freedom, and that they believed that to aid Great Britain would be to strike a blow at liberty itself. The facts of the case do not justify any such a.s.sumption. Looking back upon that memorable rebellion by the light of the hundred years which have elapsed since its occurrence, there are not many right-thinking persons of British blood who will be disposed to regret its issue. But the "shot heard round the world," of which Emerson so eloquently sings, produced no echo in the hearts of French Canadians.

They were simply indifferent. They had no stomach to draw their swords and perform military service in behalf of a cause which did not appeal to their enthusiasm. Whatever sympathies they had were undoubtedly enlisted on the side of the Americans, but these were too weak to impel them to endanger their lives. They had enjoyed an interval of peace, and many of their most pressing grievances had been redressed. They owed a debt of grat.i.tude to their Governor, and they were willing to repay it by pa.s.sive fealty; but they were as lukewarm as erst were the people of Laodicea. It was in vain that the seigniors mustered their tenants and expatiated on the nature of feudal services, and the risk of confiscation which they would incur by refusing to render such services in this hour of need. They almost to a man denied the right of their seigniors to exact military services from them. In a word, they refused to fight. The Governor was thus placed in an extremity. He had only two regiments of troops at his disposal--the 7th and the 26th. Their combined strength was about 850 men. The British colonists were even less disposed to draw sword than the native Canadians. The American Congress believed the Canadian people to be favourable to their cause, and resolved to strike a blow which should be decisive. They despatched a force of nearly 2,000 men into Canada by way of the River Richelieu, under the command of Generals Schuyler and Montgomery. Another expedition, consisting of a force of 1,100 men, under Colonel Benedict Arnold, was simultaneously despatched from Boston to Quebec by way of the Rivers Kennebec and Chaudiere. The campaign was not badly planned.

The larger of these forces was to capture the forts on the way from Albany to Montreal. Upon reaching Montreal that town was to be captured and invested, after which a descent was to be made to Quebec and a junction formed with Arnold.

Carleton's situation was sufficiently embarra.s.sing to have dismayed a man less abundant in energy and less fertile of resource. It only spurred him on to increased exertion. His two small regiments were divided between Montreal and Quebec. The colonists, both British and French, had refused to a.s.sist him, and it was doubtful if many of them would not join the ranks of the invaders. Having proclaimed martial law, he invoked ecclesiastical aid. The priests were believed to be all-powerful with the French Canadian population, and he knew that he could count upon the cooperation of the priesthood. He appealed to De Briand, Bishop of Quebec, to rouse the peasantry of his diocese. The Bishop complied with his wishes, and put forth an encyclical letter enjoining the people to bestir themselves in defence of their country and their religion. Even this appeal was in vain. The French Canadians still remained apathetic. Many of the British colonists openly professed their sympathy with the Americans. The Governor then sought to raise a militia by offering liberal land-bounties. This appeal to the cupidity of the colonists was more effectual than the appeals of a more sentimental nature had been, inasmuch as a few volunteers promptly enrolled themselves. Valuable a.s.sistance also came in from another quarter. The Province of New York had by this time become an unsafe place of residence for persons of British proclivities. Colonel Guy Johnson, who had just succeeded to the position of British Colonial Agent for Indian Affairs in North America, was compelled to seek safety in Canada. He was accompanied by Joseph Brant and the princ.i.p.al warriors of the Six Nations, who had resolved to "sink or swim with the English." These warriors, with Brant at their head, formed themselves into a Confederacy, and rallied to the side of Governor Carleton. The American armaments were meanwhile steadily advancing to the attack.

Early in September the forces under Schuyler and Montgomery reached Isle-aux-Noix. Proclamations were sown broadcast among the Canadians, in which it was stated that the invaders had no design whatever on the lives, the properties, or the religion of the inhabitants, and that their operations were directed against the British only. General Schuyler having returned to Albany, the chief command devolved on Montgomery, who invested Fort St. John, and sent a detachment of troops to attack the fort at Chambly, while Ethan Allen was despatched with a reconnoitring party towards Montreal. Allen being informed that the town was weakly defended, and believing the inhabitants to be favourable to the American cause, resolved to attempt a capture. Carleton had already arrived at Montreal to make dispositions for the protection of the frontier. Learning, on the night of the 24th, that a party of Americans had crossed the river, and were marching on the town, he despatched all his available force, consisting of about 275 men, nearly all of whom were volunteers, against the enemy. The American force, which was only about 250 strong, was compelled to surrender. Allen and his detachment thus became prisoners of war. They were at once sent over to England, where they were confined in Pendennis Castle. Meanwhile General Montgomery was besieging forts St. John and Chambly. Both these fortresses, after a brief and ineffectual resistance, were compelled to surrender. Nearly all the regulars in Canada thus became prisoners of war, and there was nothing to prevent the Americans from advancing upon Montreal, which they at once proceeded to do. To defend it with any hope of success was utterly out of the question, and Carleton, antic.i.p.ating Montgomery's intention, burned and destroyed all the public stores, and left the town by one way just as the Americans entered at the other.

During the night he had a narrow escape from the enemy, who were encamped at Sorel, and whose sentinels he had to pa.s.s in an open boat.

This he successfully accomplished, and arrived at Quebec on the 19th of November. He hastily made the most judicious arrangements in his power for the defence of the place. He expelled from the city all those who were disaffected. Arnold had meanwhile made his desolate march through the wilderness, and though his forces had suffered terrible privations, and had been greatly reduced in number by starvation and other perils of the march, he was now in a position to cooperate with Montgomery. The united forces succeeded in gaining the city on the 4th of December, and after concocting their plans, they divided their strength, so as to attack the city in several places. The siege lasted throughout the month. Montgomery waited for a night of unusual darkness to make a daring attempt upon the city from the south. Arnold entrenched himself on the opposite side of the city. The provisions of the besiegers began to fail, their regiments were being depleted by sickness, and their light guns made but little impression on the ma.s.sive walls. At last an a.s.sault was ordered. It took place before dawn on the 31st of December (1775). In the midst of a heavy snow storm Arnold advanced through the Lower Town from his quarters near the St. Charles River, and led his 800 New Englanders and Virginians over two or three barricades. The Montreal Bank and several other ma.s.sive stone houses were filled with British regulars, who guarded the approaches with such a deadly fire that Arnold's men were forced to take refuge in the adjoining houses, while Arnold himself was badly wounded and carried to the rear. Meanwhile Montgomery was leading his New Yorkers and Continentals north along Champlain Street by the river side. The intention was for the two attacking columns, after driving the enemy from the Lower Town, to unite before the Prescott Gate, and carry it by storm. A strong barricade was stretched across Champlain Street from the cliff to the river; but when its guards saw the great ma.s.ses of the attacking column advancing through the twilight, they fled. In all probability Montgomery would have crossed the barricade, delivered Arnold's men by attacking the enemy in the rear, escaladed Prescott Gate, and gained temporary possession of the place, but that one of the fleeing Canadians, impelled by a strange caprice, turned quickly back and fired the cannon which stood loaded on the barricade. Montgomery and many of his officers and men were struck down by the shot, and the column broke up in panic and fled. The British forces were now concentrated on Arnold's men, who were hemmed in by a sortie from the Palace Gate, and 426 officers and men were made prisoners. The remnant of the American army was compelled to retreat to some distance from the city. On being reinforced, however, during the winter, they made a stand for another attack on Quebec, but disease and famine at last compelled them to retreat. In the spring, reinforcements arrived from England, and Carleton having first possessed himself of Crown Point, launched a fleet on Lake Champlain, which, after several actions, completely annihilated that of the Americans. Further reinforcements soon afterwards arrived from England under the command of Major-General Burgoyne, who thenceforward took the military command. He succeeded in gaining some rather unimportant victories, but was finally compelled to surrender at Saratoga, with his force of 6,000 men. This may be said to have put an end to the war. The French Government recognized the new Republic as an independent nation, and all hope of keeping the latter under British subjection was abandoned.

Governor Carleton, who had done so much to preserve Canada from falling into the hands of the Americans, and whose efforts, considering his limited resources, had been almost incredibly successful, was not a little chagrined at being superseded in his military command. He considered that he had been slighted by the Government, and that his brilliant successes had merited a different reward. And he was right. To him, more than to any other man, is due the praise of having prevented Canada from becoming, at least for the time, a part of the American Republic. Mr. J. M. Lemoine, the historian of Quebec, pays a well-merited compliment to his memory. "Had the fate of Canada on that occasion," says Mr. Lemoine, "been confided to a Governor less wise, less conciliating than Guy Carleton, doubtless the 'brightest gem in the colonial Crown of Britain' would have been one of the stars of Columbia's banner; the star-spangled banner would now be floating on the summit of Cape Diamond."

With a heart smarting under a keen, if not loudly-expressed sense of injustice, Carleton demanded his recall. His successor, Major-General Haldimand, having arrived in Canada in July, 1778, Carleton surrendered the reins of Government to him and proceeded to England. The ministry of the day, however, mollified his resentment, and paid a.s.siduous court to him. Various honours and substantial emoluments were conferred upon him.

In 1786 he was raised to the peerage of Great Britain, by the t.i.tle of Baron Dorchester of Dorchester, in the County of Oxford--a t.i.tle still borne by his descendant, the fourth Baron. During the same year he was requested to once more take charge of the Canadian Administration. He consented, and came over to this country as Governor-General and Commander-in-Chief of His Majesty's forces in America. He retained both these positions for ten years--a period marked by many important civil reforms, and by the pa.s.sing of the Const.i.tutional Act of 1791, whereby Canada was divided into two separate Provinces. Lord Dorchester's tenure of office tended to still further endear him to the Canadian people, and to this day his name is held in affectionate remembrance by the inhabitants of the Lower Province where he resided. He took his final departure from our sh.o.r.es in the summer of 1796, amid the heartfelt regret of the people over whose affairs he had so long presided. Upon reaching England he retired to private life, and did not again take any prominent part in public affairs. His old age, like that of King Lear, was "frosty, but kindly," and for twelve years he lived a life of cheerful and dignified repose. He continued to correspond with friends in Canada, and in one of his letters, still extant, expresses a wish to revisit the scenes of his past achievements, and mayhap to lay his bones among them. The wish, however, was not gratified. He died, after a brief illness, on the 10th of November, 1808, in his 83rd year.

He married, on the 22nd of May, 1772, Maria, daughter of Thomas, second Earl of Effingham, by whom he had a family of seven children. His three eldest sons died in his lifetime. He was succeeded by his grandson, Arthur Henry, son of his third son, Christopher.

THE HON. WILLIAM PEARCE HOWLAND,

_C.B., K.C.M.G._

Among the hundred pa.s.sengers who landed from the _Mayflower_ at Plymouth Rock, on the 22nd of December, 1620, was a G.o.d-fearing Quaker named John Howland. He seems to have been unmarried at the time of his emigration; or at any rate his wife, if he had one, did not accompany him on the expedition. He settled in the colony of Ma.s.sachusetts Bay, and left behind him a numerous progeny, whose descendants are to be found at the present day in nearly every State of the Union. From him, we understand, the subject of this sketch claims descent. The father of Sir William was Mr. Jonathan Howland, a resident of Dutchess County, in the State of New York. The latter was in early life a farmer, but subsequently engaged in commercial pursuits at Greenbush, in Rensselaer County, on the west bank of the Hudson River. He died at Cape Vincent, Jefferson County, in the year 1842. The maiden name of Sir William's mother was Lydia Pearce. Her family resided in Dutchess County, and were well-known and influential citizens. This lady still survives, and has attained the great age of ninety-four years. Soon after the death of her husband she took up her abode in Toronto, where she has ever since resided.

The subject of this sketch, who was the eldest son of his parents, was born at the town of Paulings, Dutchess County, New York, on the 29th of May, 1811. He was brought up to farm work, but early displayed an apt.i.tude for commercial life. After attending at a public school, and afterwards for a short time at the Kinderhook Academy, he determined to embark in a mercantile career. In the autumn of the year 1830, when he was barely nineteen years of age, he came to Canada, and settled in the village of Cooksville, on Dundas Street, in the towns.h.i.+p of Toronto.

Here he obtained a situation as a.s.sistant in a country store of the period. In this store was kept the post-office for the village, the management of which largely devolved upon his own shoulders. The postal system in this Province had not then been very elaborately systematized.

The mails for the whole of the western part of the Province pa.s.sed over this route. The mail-matter for the different offices was not cla.s.sified, but thrown into a bag, from which each successive postmaster selected such matter as was addressed to his office. The state of the roads was generally such that the mails had to be carried on horseback.

Young Mr. Howland's duties required him to get up at one o'clock in the morning to receive the mail, which arrived at Cooksville at that hour.

He was accustomed to select the mail-matter himself from the bag, after which he would hand the outgoing mail to the carrier, who then pa.s.sed on westwardly to Dundas and Hamilton. Such was the primitive method of handling His Majesty's mail in Upper Canada in the year of grace 1830.

It is scarcely to be wondered at that Mr. Howland, after such practical experience of the necessity for reform, should have allied himself with the Reform Party when he began to take a share in the politics of the country.

His share in politics, however, lay as yet far distant. For some years he devoted himself exclusively to laying the foundation of the princely fortune which he subsequently realized. A man with such a remarkable faculty for success in mercantile life was not likely to remain long an a.s.sistant in a country store. Erelong we find him embarked in business on his own account, in partners.h.i.+p with his younger brother, Mr. P.

Howland, now of Lambton Mills. Their operations were conducted with the most careful circ.u.mspection, and were so successful that they soon had several establishments in the towns.h.i.+ps of Toronto and Chinguacousy. In addition to a general commercial business they engaged in lumbering, rafting, the manufacture of potash, and other pursuits incident to pioneer mercantile life. Their operations increased in volume yearly, and they became, both commercially and otherwise, men of mark in their district. The subject of this sketch for some time kept the post office at Stanley's Mills. Although the quant.i.ty of matter distributed by the mails was infinitesimal in those days as compared with the present, a country postmaster had no sinecure. The greatest difficulty he had to encounter was the collection of postage on letters. Those, be it remembered were the days of high postage. The rate on a single-weight letter from Great Britain to Upper Canada was 5_s._ 9_d._ sterling--equal, in round numbers, to about $1.50. From Quebec, the rate was 1_s._ 6_d._ sterling; and the rates from other places were proportionate. There was little money in the Province, and commercial transactions largely took the form of barter. The postmaster was constantly compelled to give credit, for it was an altogether exceptional thing for a settler to have so large a sum as 5_s._ 9_d._ in ready money; and to refuse to deliver mail-matter to a poor but deserving settler would have been neither gracious nor politic for a man keeping a country store. In this way the postmaster was frequently compelled to wait for his money for a year, and he was fortunate if he was not then compelled to receive payment in ashes or produce.

At the time of the rebellion Mr. Howland had become a prosperous man, and his operations were still extending. There was a good deal of feeling in his neighbourhood that Mr. Mackenzie had been badly used by the Family Compact Party, and that many reforms were needed in the body politic. A deputation of these malcontents waited upon Mr. Howland, and endeavoured to enlist him in the insurrection which broke out in December, 1837. Mr. Howland, however, was too wise to connect himself with an enterprise which never had any chance of being permanently successful. Moreover, he had not then been naturalized, and as an alien, he did not deem that he had any right to engage in political contests of any kind. His naturalization took place soon after the Union of the Provinces. He did not, however, take any very active part in the periodical election contests until the general election of 1848, when Mr. James Hervey Price successfully opposed the Conservative candidate in the West Riding of the county of York, just prior to the formation of the second Baldwin-Lafontaine Administration. Mr. Howland's sympathies were with the Reform Party, and he worked hard to secure Mr. Price's return. He thenceforward took a not inactive part in all the election contests, and always on the side of the Reform Party, with which he became identified. He had meanwhile removed to Toronto, and had embarked in a large wholesale business, with large interests in the produce, milling, and other branches of trade. Among his commercial friends he enjoyed a high reputation for capacity and genuine business worth. He became a magnate among the wholesale merchants of Toronto, and ama.s.sed a fine fortune which has steadily augmented. His political views became more p.r.o.nounced, and he supported the wing of the Reform Party led by Mr. Brown after the disruption in its ranks. He soon came to be looked upon as an eligible candidate for Parliament. His eligibility was proved at the general elections of 1857, when he was returned to the a.s.sembly by the const.i.tuency of West York, in which he had resided for many years. He continued to sit for that const.i.tuency during the whole of his Parliamentary career, which was terminated by his acceptance, in 1868, of the Lieutenant-Governors.h.i.+p of Ontario.

In Parliament, though a steady supporter of the Reform Party, Mr.

Howland was by no means demonstrative in enforcing his views, and was doubtless valued as a party man chiefly because of his respectability and personal influence. When the Reform Party came into power in April, 1862, under the leaders.h.i.+p of the Hon. John Sandfield Macdonald and Louis Victor Sicotte, Mr. Howland was offered the post of Minister of Finance, which he accepted and held for a year, when he was succeeded by the Hon. Luther H. Holton in the Macdonald-Dorion Cabinet, which was then formed. In that Cabinet Mr. Howland was a.s.signed the office of Receiver-General. He held this position until the defeat of the Government in 1864. He was not a member of the Coalition Government as formed in June of that year, and consequently was not present either at the Charlottetown Convention, which a.s.sembled on the 1st of September, or at the famous Quebec Conference that met on the 10th of the following month, at which, during eighteen days' deliberation, the "Seventy-two resolutions" were agreed to. He was, however, an active and most influential supporter of the Reform wing of the Coalition; and on the elevation of the Hon. Mr. Mowat to the Bench in November, 1864, he succeeded that gentleman as Postmaster-General, and became a member of the Executive Council. He continued to be Postmaster-General until the retirement of the Hon. Alexander T. Galt in August, 1866, when he succeeded the latter as Finance Minister. This office he held till the Union, when, on the formation of the first Dominion Government, on the 1st of July, 1867, he was appointed a member of the Privy Council, and Minister of Inland Revenue.

In the discharge of his public duties while a Minister of the Crown, Mr.

Howland accompanied Mr. Galt on the mission to Was.h.i.+ngton, in 1865, concerning the then proposed renewal of the Reciprocity Treaty. This mission is memorable for its political rather than its commercial results, for while with respect to the latter it merely taught Canada that she must rely upon herself, with respect to the former it almost led to the breaking up of the Coalition, and to the indefinite postponement of Confederation. That these grave political results were merely threatened, instead of having become realities, was largely due to Mr. Howland, who, considering the gravity of the situation, and endorsing, also, the Cabinet policy on the Reciprocity question, refused to follow his leader out of the Government. He accepted instead a commission to fill up the vacancy created by Mr. Brown's resignation with an Upper Canada Reformer, thereby preserving the balance of parties as established in 1864. Mr. Howland was one of the three delegates representing Upper Canada at the London Conference at which the Union Act was framed; and for his services there, as well as generally for the prominent part he had taken in promoting Confederation, he was one of the two Upper Canada Ministers decorated with the Order of the Companions.h.i.+p of the Bath, on the 1st of July, 1867.

There was another conference which Mr. Howland attended in 1867, and one of much political significance--the great Reform Convention held at Toronto in June, for the purpose of reuniting the Reform Party and abolis.h.i.+ng the alliance with the Conservatives. Messrs. Howland and McDougall were both present, and vigorously contended against the restoration of party lines on the old basis; and their course there and subsequently at political gatherings throughout the country no doubt did much towards determining the result of the general election held during the summer of that year.

The work of confederating the British American Provinces was one of compromise among the statesmen, the political parties and the people concerned. n.o.body, perhaps, got exactly what he wanted; no Province secured the full realization of its own views; no political party was able to put its hand upon the scheme, as first framed at Quebec in 1864, or as subsequently re-modelled in London in 1866-67, and say, "this is exactly what we wanted." Concessions were made to Conservative opinion and to Reform opinion; to Protestant feeling and to Catholic feeling; to the necessities of the several Provinces according to geographical or other reasons; and in a great degree to the divergent views on const.i.tutional government held by the representative men who took part in the negotiations. When, therefore, Mr. Howland, who had been a leading spirit at the inception of the scheme, claimed that those who had so far matured it as to fit it for the consideration and judgment of the Canadian Legislature had deserved well of their country for the political and personal sacrifices they had made in the cause of general harmony, he claimed no more than was due to him and his colleagues, and no more than was, at the time, freely accorded by their supporters.

Mr. Howland's health, which had not been very robust for several years, became so enfeebled that he desired to retire from the double drudgery of Parliamentary and Ministerial life; and in July, 1868, he was appointed Lieutenant-Governor of the Province of Ontario, which position had been, from the Union up to that time, held by Major-General Stisted, under an _ad interim_ appointment similar to that which had been conferred on the first Lieutenant-Governors of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. Concerning Mr. Howland's tenure of office as Lieutenant-Governor there is nothing to be said except that he discharged his duties with ability, and with acceptance to the people. He continued to be Lieutenant-Governor until the month of November, 1873. In 1875 his services were again called into requisition by the Government of the day to report on the route of the Baie Verte Ca.n.a.l.