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The Rebellion of 1837-8. —
William Lyon Mackenzie's subsequent Letter to Earl Grey—Extracts from Bishop
Macdonell's Address. — No Rebels in Glengarry.— Statement showing where the
Disaffection prevailed in Upper Canada. — Outbreak in Lower Canada in
October 1837.—Four Regiments in Glengarry.—List of Officers.—Sir John
Colborne notifies Colonel Macdonell that he has called on the
Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada for Assistance and to keep up
Communication with the Upper Province.—Requests the Glengarrys Regiment to
Proceed to Lower Canada.—Two Thousand Men Muster at Lancaster. — Temporary
Suppression of the Rebellion.
"A course of careful
observation during the last eleven years has fully satisfied me that, had
the violent movement in which I and a good many others were engaged on both
sides of the Niagara proved successful, that success would have deeply
injured the people of Canada, whom I then believed I was serving at great
risks; that it would have deprived millions, perhaps, of our own countrymen
in Europe of a home upon this continent, except upon conditions which,
though many hundreds of thousands have been constrained to accept them, are
of an exceedingly onerous and degrading character. I have long been sensible
of errors committed during that period to which the intended amnesty
applies. No punishment that power could inflict or nature sustain would have
equalled the regrets I have felt on account of much that t did, said, wrote
and published but the past cannot be recalled." * * * " There is not a
living man on this continent who more sincerely desires that British
Government in Canada may long continue and give a hand and a welcome to the
old countrymen than myself. Did I say so, or ask an amnesty, seven or eight
years ago, till under the convictions of more recent experience? No; I
studied earnestly the wordings of the institutions before me and the manners
of the people, and looked at what had been done, until few men, even
natives, had been better schooled. The result is not a desire to obtain
power and influence here, but to help, if I can and all I can, the country
of my birth." —William I,yon Mackenzie to Earl Grey, Secretary of State for
the
Colonies, February 3rd, 1849.
* * *
(Extract from a pastoral
address of Bishop Macdonell, dated 1st. December, 1838.)
"In exculpation of the
Canadian Rebellion little can be said. The Canadians had no real grievances
to complain of; they paid no tythes but to their own clergy; no taxes or any
other burthen but what was imposed upon them by laws of their own making;
their religion was not only free and uncontrolled, but encouraged and
protected by the Government when threatened to be shackled by their own
Catholic Assembly; parishes were multiplied by the consent of the
Government, and subscriptions were raised by Protestants and even by the
representatives of His Britannic Majesty to build their churches—in a word,
the French-Canadians lived freer, more comfortably and more independently
than any other class of subjects perhaps on the whole surface of the globe;
and they were perfectly contented and seemed quite sensible of the blessings
they enjoyed under the British Government until the folly and madness of
Irreligious Papineau, Atheistical Giraud and Camelion O'Callaghan (whose
religion is as changeable as the colours of that animal) of the Protestant
Nelsons, Browns, Scots and others of that kidney, who, taking advantage of
the ignorance and simplicity of the unfortunate habitants, made them believe
that they were groaning under a galling yoke which they did not feel but in
imagination, and succumbing under unsupportable burdens which had never been
laid upon them; that they were to found a glorious Canadian Republic which
was to surpass those of Greece and Rome, and even the overgrown mammoth of
our own days.
"An unfledged gang of
briefless lawyers, notaries and other pettifoggers and a numberless horde of
doctors and apothecaries, like the locusts of Egypt, spread themselves
through the land, and by working upon their prejudices against the British,
and flattering their vanity which the hopes of the distinguished situations
which they would occupy in the new republic, they unfortunately succeeded in
seducing but too many of the credulous Canadians.
******
"The most inexcusable part,
however, of the conduct of the Canadians was not to listen to the advice of
their clergy, who knew well the intention of Papineau and his associates was
to destroy their influence and extinguish the Catholic religion, which he
publicly declared to be absolutely necessary, before liberty could be
established in Lower Canada,
* * * * *
"I have slid that your
loyalty is based upon the sacred obligations of your holy religion. The
Apostle commands us to obey and be submissive to the powers that be.
That is to say, under the government of a King, we must honour and obey the
King, and give unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's."
In a history of Ireland once
written there was a chapter on Irish snakes, which shortly disposed of the
matter by stating the fact that there Were no snakes in Ireland. In similar
manner might one dispense will} a discussion of the Rebellion in Upper
Canada of 1837-8 so far as Glengarry was concerned by simply mentioning that
there were no rebels in Glengarry; but as its people had much to do with the
suppression of the Rebellion, not only in our own Province, but in the
Province of Lower Canada as well, it is now in place to narrate the
honourable and loyal part which our fathers bore in the events of that
critical period in the history of the country.
Rebels against the British
Crown and those institutions which flourish under its aegis were not
indigenous to the soil of Glengarry, nor is that to be wandered at when we
consider the character of the early settlers, whose views had naturally
descended to their sons. Those settlers were in large part United Empire
Loyalists, who had laid down at the very inception of our system of
government, when the Upper Country of Canada was erected into a separate
Province, the principles upon which this country was thereafter to be
governed, and had declared that so far as the circumstances of the country
would permit, our Constitution was to be similar to that of the Motherland,
which had stood the test of ages, and which guaranteed to those who lived
under it as much freedom and happiness as is possible to be enjoyed under
the subordination necessary to civilized society. We have seen that the
largest addition to those original settlers was composed of the soldiers of
a disbanded Highland Regiment, the Glengarry Fencibles, brought to this
country and established were in their homes by that loyal and devoted
subject of the Crown, their Chaplain, who soon became the first Catholic
Bishop of Upper Canada, who still survived, and who stood so high in the
confidence of successive representatives of the Sovereign. When the country
was invaded by the people of the United States, we have seen how materially
they contributed to its defence, how many of them died and all risked their
lives in order that our institutions should be preserved intact. That the
sons born of those parents Were Worthy of them, and in their turn furnished
an example for future generations to follow we shall now see.
Previous to the outbreak of
the Rebellion, murmurings and muterings had for some time been heard Colonel
Denison, from whose able essay I have already quoted, shows that the weak
point in the policy of Colonel Simcoe, the first Lieutenant-Governor of the
Province, was that in his anxious desire to secure additional population for
the Province, his liberal offers of land induced considerable emigration
from the United States, many of these Yankee settlers, coming from mere
mercenary motives, and bringing with them republican sentiments most
obnoxious to the loyal element which had opened up the first settlements in
the Province, and it was in large part owing to the known sentiments of
these undesirable residents, and the assistance expected to be derived from
them, that the Americans hoped to make such an easy conquest of Canada when
War was declared in 1812. and although the result cf that war left us in the
enjoyment of the blessings of our free institutions, it did not eradicate
the views of the disloyal faction, though during the war and for some time
after, bearing in mind the example afforded by the execution of the traitors
hanged at Ancaster by the order of General Drummond, and the imprisonment of
others, they took care to avoid public expression of them, yet they at the
same time instilled them into the minds of their children, and they bore
fruit in the Rebellion of 1837-8. These people and their descendants have
been a curse to this Province, and are a standing menace to British
institutions.
A numerical abstract of the
names and residences oi persons arrested in Upper Canada and placed in
confinement in the various prisons throughout the Province on charges of
insurrection or treason from 5th December, 1837, 1st November, 1838, shows
the parts of the Province where these renegades were to be found, and where
the embers of rebellion were ready to burst into blaze: Eastern District,
none. Ottawa District, none. Johnston District, 8. Bathurst District,
none-Prince Edward District, none Midland District, 75. Newcastle District,
12. Home District, 422. Niagara District, 43 Gore District, 90. Talbot
District, None. London District, 163. Western District, 11.
In the Province of Upper
Canada but thirteen hundred regular troops, including artillerymen, were
scattered here and there from Kingston to Penetanguishene, while in the
Lower Province about two thousand soldiers were stationed at various points
to overawe nearly half a pillion, of partially or wholly disaffected
habitants. The situation of affairs in the latter Province was set forth in
Lord Gosford's despatch of 2nd September, 1837, to Lord Glenelg, the
Colonial Secretary. "It is evident," he wrote, "that the Papineau faction
are not to be satisfied with any concession that does not place them in a
more favourable position to carry into effect their ulterior objects,
namely, the separation of this country from England and the establishment of
a republican form of government," and he added that with deep regret he was
under the necessity of recommending the suspension of the Constitution of
the Province. Communications had been passing between the leaders of
sedition in both Provinces, and their aims, so far as the overthrow of
existing institutions was concerned, were identical. When Sir Francis
Bond-Head arrived in Toronto, and relieved Sir John Colborne (who was then
appointed to the military command of both Provinces) of the Government of
Upper Canada, he found that not even the famous Grievance Report contained a
recital of all the wrongs the malcontents had been able to furbish up, Mr.
Marshall Spring Bidwell, a very advanced "Reformer," stating to him in an
interview that "there were many grievances not detailed in that book which
the people had long endured with patience; that there was no desire to
rebel, but a morbid feeling of dissatisfaction was daily increasing,"(0 On
the 31st July, a precious document, styled "A Declaration of Independence"
was published by Mackenzie and others, the first step in the road to
insurrection, committing all who accepted it to share the fortunes of the
rebels in Lower Canada, and a permanent vigilance committee was appointed.
Mackenzie had promoted a run on the Bank of Upper Canada, and the
machinations of himself and his friends had brought about the failure of the
Commercial Bank at Kingston and the Farmers' Bank at Toronto, while they
were daily declaiming against the loyal element as false Canadians, Tories,
pensioners, placemen, profligates, Orangemen, Churchmen, spies, informers,
brokers, gamblers, parasites and knaves! who he alleged were plundering and
robbing with impunity, their feet on the people's necks, responsible for all
the woes and waifs, and pauperism and crimes, the ruin of the merchants and
the want of the settlers who, " seldom tasting a morsel of bread, were glad
to gnaw the bark off the trees to keep away starvation, and were leaving the
country in thousands for lands less favoured by nature but blest with free
institutions and just government." Had a. few of these impassioned gentry
been summarily dealt with in the first instance as Lount and Matthews were
subsequently, there would have been infinitely less want and misery abroad,
and many more valuable lives would have been saved; but, unfortunately, the
Government permitted an undue license, not only of speech and writing, but
allowed the vigilance committees to become the nuclei of military
organizations. Shooting matches became fashionable, a brisk business in the
manufacture of pikes was carried on, and drilling; was practised more or
less openly, while Mr. Lindsey states that an occasional feu de joie on
Yonge street in honour of Papineau would be nude the subject of boast in the
press. Mackenzie, meantime, was appointed agent and secretary of the Central
Vigilance Committee, a convention of delegates of the Reform unions was to
be held, and the functions of the Legislature usurped by these sons of
sedition, and by the end of November fifteen hundred names were returned to
Mackenzie of persons enrolled and ready to take up arms at an hour's notice.
In Lower Canada the crisis
had been reached in October of 1837, collision had occurred between the
Governor and the Legislature, which had abrogated the Constitution by a
continued abandonment of its duties, had refused to vote the supplies, and
had consequently been prorogued. Meetings were held in different parts of
the country, one at St. Charles, on the Richelieu, being attended by over
five thousand people. At St. Hyacinthe the tricolored flag was displayed,
while the tavern keepers substituted eagles for their former signs. Officers
who had been dismissed from the militia were elected by the habitants to
command them again Moos paraded the streets of Montreal, singing
revolutionary songs, and nothing but the firm, loyal and patriotic stand of
the Catholic hierarchy and clergy prevented the actual outbreak. M. Lartigue,
the Catholic Bishop of Montreal, who had previously addressed a large body
of ecclesiastics at Montreal to discourage insurrection, now, "actuated by
no external influence, but impelled solely by motives of conscience," issued
a pastoral enjoining the clergy and faithful to discountenance all schemes
of rebellion.. The people, however, became more and more restless as they
felt the influence of the clergy setting against them, and priests were
insulted in their churches, on or the occasion in the presence of Papineau
himself. Law and religion were on the side of the Government, and rebellion
and infidelity on that of the misnamed Patriots. The popular frenzy was too
great to be at once brought under control even by the powerful influence of
the Catholic Church, yet even so pronounced an enemy of that Church as Mr.
Lindsey admits that "there is reason to believe that the influence of the
Roman Catholic clergy eventually did more than even the British troops to
crush the insurrection in Lower Canada."
On the 6th November, 1837, a
riot occurred in Montreal, the " Sons of Liberty',' being appropriately led
by a Yankee, one Thomas Sturrow Brown. The Loyalists dispersed the rioters,
captured their banners and some guns, and threw the printing material of
their organ, the "Vindicator," into the street on the 12th November a
proclamation was issued directing the suppression of seditious meetings.
Bodies of armed peasantry began to assemble near the Richelieu River,
particularly at St. John and Chambly, and Sir John Colborne, perceiving that
the crisis was at hand, moved his headquarters to Montreal, where he
concentrated all the troops that had been withdrawn from Upper Canada and
all that could be spared from Quebec.
On the 23rd November a battle
took place at St. Denis, the insurgents being commanded by Dr. Nelson and
the troops by Colonel Gore, in which the " Patriots" had considerably the
advantage, the troops being fatigued by a march of twelve miles through the
deep mud, and their ammunition being -insufficient, while a large number of
the Patricts were safely lodged in a large stone store, four storeys high,
from which they were enabled to keep up a galling fire on the troops, whose
loss is stated to have been about fifty, while of the Patriots nineteen were
killed.
In the meantime the loyal
people of Glengarry were re-organizing their Militia Regiments of which
there were no less than four, the First or Charlottenburg, Second or
Lancaster, Third or Lochiel, and Fourth or Kenyon. They were respectively
commanded by Colonels Alexander Fraser, Donald Greenfield Macdonell,
Alexander Chisholm and Angus Macdonell, all of whom fortunately had had
previous military experience. Colonel Fraser had held a commission in the
Canadian Fencible Regiment and had served through the War of 1812-15;
Colonel Donald Macdonell had commanded one of the flank companies of the
Second Regiment of Glengarry Militia, as well as being Assistant
Quarter-Master-General of the Midland District during that war, and had been
gazetted to the command of his Regiment in 1814; Colonel Chisholm had been
an officer in the Royal African Corps for several years before settling in
Glengarry in 1816, and Colonel Angus Macdonell had seen much service during
1812-15, when he held a commission in the Glengarry Light Infantry which, as
we have seen, had been in almost every battle and action in that campaign.
The Toronto Almanac of 1839, which contains the militia list, gives the
officers of these Regiments, with the dates of their respective commissions,
though I believe the Regiments were largely reorganized for the active
service which they were about to be called on to perform, some of the
officers having become disabled by reason of age and other causes from
undertaking further active service. I am unable, however, to procure further
information than is furnished by the source mentioned. The force on service
in 1837-8 was paid by the Imperial Government though the commissariat, and
all returns made thereto, which accounts for so little information being
obtainable in the Militia Department.
to acquaint you that the
District of Montreal, being in a stale of revolt and the rebels having again
collected in force on the Richelieu and preparing defensive works, he has
called on the Lieutenant-Governor Upper Canada for assistance, and he trusts
that several Battalions will be ordered to march to our assistance.
The Lieutenant-General thinks
that measures should oe adopted to keep up the communication with Upper
Canada by the Coteau du Lac.
I have, etc.,
Thos. Leigh Goldie, A.D.C.
Colonel Macdonell, Second
Glengarry Militia, Cornwall.
Colonel Macdonell immediately
notified the commanding officers of the several regiments, took such other
active steps as were necessary, and knowing full well how readily any call
would be responded to, wrote to Sir John Colborne for further instructions.
In answer he received the following:
Headquarters, Montreal,
December 8, 1837.
My Dear Sir,—I am desired by
Lieutenant Genera Sir John Colborne to acquaint you, in reply to your letter
of the 15th instant, that provided your march is sanctioned by the
Lieutenant Governor he is persuaded that the Glengarry battalions under your
command may render essential service to our cause by marching to the Coteau
du Lac to the ferry at Vaudreuil, opposite St. Anne's, at which place arms
and ammunition shall be forwarded to you. Afterward! he would wish you to
proceed through Vaudreuil by the take of the Two Mountains to Point Fortune,
to escort he arms which are intended for the corps now forming at the
Carillo; under the direction of Mr. Forbes. ' On your arrival there you will
receive further orders respecting our operations against the rebels at St.
Benoit and Grand Brule
I have, &c.,
Thos. Leigh Goldie, A.D.C.
Colonel Macdonell, Second
Glengarry Militia.
Sir John Colborne had
effectually suppressed the Rebellion in that quarter before the Glengarry
Regiments were able to proceed to Lower Canada, his force consisting of the
First Royals, Thirty Second and Eighty Third Regiments, with a strong party
of Military, the Queen's Light Dragoons (Provincial), the Montreal Volunteer
Cavalry and Rifle Corps and other militia. At St. Eustache some slight
resistance was offered and a few lives lost. At St. Benoit Grand Brule, two
hundred and fifty insurgents surrendered at discretion, and were for the
most part dismissed, only the ringleaders being kept prisoners. The militia
appear to have destroyed considerable property in retaliation for the
injuries inflicted upon that of volunteers and other loyal persons- Papineau
and Wolfred Nelson had now led the country.
It will be observed that the
date of the first letter to Colonel Macdonell, advising him of the call for
assistance from Upper Canada, was the 1st December. In nineteen days, two
thousand men from all parts of the County of Glengarry were under arms at
Lanaster, on the River St. Lawrence, ready to proceed to the relief of the
loyal people of the Lower Province.
Mr. Christie, in a note to
volume 5, page 14, quotes as follows in The Cornwall 'Observer' of the 21st
instant, mentions that on the day previous the four Regiments of Glengarry
Militia, mustering about two thousand strong, assembled at Lancaster for the
purpose of marching down to Montreal, under the command of Colonels Donald
McDonell. Fraser, Cbisholm and Angus McDonell. The field-pieces belonging to
the different Regiments were mounted on strong sleighs, with horses and
everything necessary for active service, which with flags and martial music
of the pipes, formed a most interesting spectacle. It was intended that the
troops should march on the 21st, but an express arrived from Sir John
Colborne with a communication expressing his warmest thanks to the colonels
of the different regiments for their exertions and activity in this critical
period, and requesting them to inform the officers and men of these brave
Glengarry Regiments, that in consequence of the Rebellion being put down he
does not wish them to march from their homes at present.' 'We can appreciate
the feeling of disappointment,' says the Cornwall "Observer," "with which
this communication was received by the hardy Highlanders, anxious as we know
they are to distinguish themselves as brave and loyal subjects of their
Queen.'" |
